Summertime and SO READY FOR BABY!!!

Anyone who knows me, knows I am so not patient. I think the suspense of not knowing the sex of our baby has made the end of pregnancy that much more frustrating!! I just want to know!! Well, I want to know if it's a boy or girl and we are bringing the baby with us to Megan's Wedding in the Dominican Republic Sept 1st so we have to get it a passport. I am starting to get anxious about getting everything in time. We have to get the birth certificate and then get a passport photo of the baby with it's eyes open and then get the passport. I'm due Aug 3rd and we are leaving sept 1st...see where my stress is coming from?? I had Jackson really early, 32 weeks and had Leah at 38weeks, so I'm really hoping this one will come in the next 2 weeks, I'm 36 weeks on Tues. I have started having a lot more contractions this week and even went to the dr to make sure nothing was going on, we are going to Texas this weekend for a short trip...last one as a family of 4!!! He said nothing yet, I told him I was fine with that, being that I was only 35 weeks and we are going to be gone this weekend, but I expect better news next week, he just laughed. We have been trying to keep busy to keep my anxiety down and keep me distracted :)

Leah is turning 4 on Wednesday the 6th and I just CANNOT believe it!! She has grown up so fast and has turned into such a bright little girl. I think she is starting to sense the baby is coming soon, though. She has been more emotional this past week and definitely more needy. I have heard that kids can sense these things and I just hope she will adjust ok. She has been our baby for so long :( Jackson seems thrilled with the idea of the baby coming, he talks about it constantly and has even started to talk to the baby through my belly saying "Come out now baby because I love you and want to see you." Hopefully not too much longer!! Scott's good friend who I've mentioned on here a few times, Jeff and his family moved this week to California and we helped them pack up their moving truck, or Scott did, I played with the kids and their baby. We are really going to miss them, our kids always played so well together. We were able to go to the Sprinkler park with them and the Children's museum before they left. Here are Leah and Maryn at the Children's Museum.

Leah doing her favorite thing...COLORING

Ryan and Jackson playing in the airplane at the Children's Museum.

I've gotten past the point of caring what I look like in a swimsuit. I'm huge, I'm uncomfortable and most of all I'm HOT!!! We have all shade in our backyard so it's not a good place to put the kids pool, so we put it in the front yard where we have tons of pretty grass and lots of sun. Last weekend, we set up the pool, I wore my tankini and shorts and Scott made an obstacle course for him and the kids. It was a lot of fun to watch them play, I can't wait until I can join them for games like that again!!! Scott is such a kid at heart!

This is their starting stance to run through their obstacle course

Scott running back through the pool to the finish line

A shot of Scott DIVING into the pool, it's amazing he didn't pop it :)

Jackson running through the sprinklers, he looks so funny here!! HAHAHA!

Action shot of Jackson diving into pool

After we were done with the pool, I was out front and our mailman was delivering the mail he said he walked by earlier and saw us playing in the pool. He said at first he didn't see the kids and he thought Scott and I were practicing some waterbirth. Hahaha!!

Anyway, hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July!! Keep your fingers crossed that baby Ludlow makes their appearance soon!!!

Megan and Jared's Wedding Shower

The day we had been planning for the last 3 months finally arrived!! Megan and Jared's wedding shower!! It ended up a ton of fun. Most of Megan and Jared's close friends are in the Oklahoma City area now, so we had the shower at a bowling lounge there called Red Pin Bowling Lounge. It was right on the water in Bricktown and it had a very trendy feel to it. It had lots of yummy food you could order and we even had our own lounge to visit with everyone if you didn't want to bowl. We drove our new MINIVAN (yes you heard me right, minivan) to Oklahoma City and it was so nice to have all that room. Jason and his girlfriend Jessica and Nj and Mel rode with us and we had a ton of room. Scott got to practice his "Dad Skills" in the minivan and practiced yelling at us when we asked him to change the DVD's in the car :) It really is a nice car and it is going to perfect for our growing family. I never thought I'd drive a minivan or actually be EXCITED about driving one, but the dorrs open by themselves, the kids can buckle themselves in the car and there is a ton of room. Thanks to Jeff and Abby for upgrading their car and selling us their van!!!

Anyway, back to the shower. I made the cake for the shower and it turned out super cute if I may say so myself. I don't have pics because I am stupid and forgot to bring my camera, so I'll get some from Megan. Everyone devoured the cake and kept telling me how delicious it was, so that made me feel good. I filled it with homemade Bavarian Cream and topped it with cream cheese frosting. I'll post pics. We went to dinner first at a mexican restaurant and with 17 of Megan and Jared's closest friends and then went to the bowling lounge where there was about 30 people or so. One of my closest friends from college and roommate from college Amber, her husband Gideon and their new baby Grace were able to come and it was so fun to catch up with her!! Scott had too good of a time that night, but as he said he usually has to watch me, since I was pregnant he didn't have to worry and could just have fun :) Love that guy!! He did have good time, I'll tell you that. We shared a room at the hotel with Jess and Jason and of course had to order room service!! Fun trip and so excited for Megan and Jared! They are going to have such a wonderful marriage and I can't wait to see them grow as a couple and enjoy their lives together! Lauren Conner, Leah and Megs

Jess, NJ, Lauren, Leah, Megs and Megan

Megan, Jess, Amber, Me and baby Grace and Lauren. I didn't bowl- didn't seem like the best idea at 32 1/2 weeks pregnant with 30 other partying people :)

Scott (blinking), Jared and Joe

Nj and Megan- couldn't figure out how to turn this pic

Carley sisters, Steph came earlier in the day with my parents but left before the shower- we missed her at the party :(

Cute couple

Beautiful pose- my sister is so photogenic!!

Now it's time to plan the Bachelorette Party before this baby gets here...the party will be AFTER the baby comes but I need to get planning, hopefully not too much longer until we meet this baby!!

Insomnia....and Hand Sanitizer

I CANNOT SLEEP ANYMORE!!!! I don't remember it being this bad with the other 2 kids, but I guess that is why people get pregnant again, they forget all these wonderful pregnancy side effects. I seriously cannot sleep anymore. Last night I was awake with obsessive thoughts of hand sanitizer. I was thinking how we no longer had any in the house and I really needed to start getting the kids in the habit of using it. Then I couldn't stop thinking of where the best places in the house are to keep the hand sanitizer for optimal use by me and the kids when the baby is here....see what i mean, SCARY stuff!! So today Scott is home, we got ready and went to Target for a trip to pick up some (you guessed it) hand sanitizer. I got 2 big bottles and then a little one for the diaper bag, but then got really confused when we were in the check-out line and they had 2 bottles for $1.74 instead of the one for $0.99. I stood in line pondering which one to get and Scott just burst into laughter and couldn't stop at how perplexed I was over hand sanitizer. I realized at this moment how ridiculous I was being, yes I know it took me almost 24 hours for me to finally realize I was losing it!!! You would think it was my first baby!! This is totally not like me! I don't know what is wrong with me?!? Just thought I'd share my insanity with you :)

P.S. I decided on the 2 bottles for the price of $1.74, their size was better for the diaper bag

Megan's Visit!!!

Megan came to visit this week and we had such a good time!! It kind of made me sad this was our last sister trip before she gets married and I have the baby. Good ole Scott watched the kids so we could go to the movies and see Bridesmaids-it was my second time to see it and it was just as funny the second time!! I love it, but it is so inappropriate :) Speaking of bridesmaids, we finally picked out the dresses for her wedding-being that I"m coming up on 32weeks pregnant, I obviously couldn't model the dresses, so Megan got to model her own dresses and I had to guess on a post-baby size. Hopefully that works out ok....We went to the sprinkler park one day with the kids, which was sooo much fun. We also did what megan and I do best together, we went shopping :) She doesn't live anywhere close to a mall in the boonies so this was a real treat for her. We had lots of yummy food and just enjoyed being together. It was a fun visit and ended to soon, but glad she was able to come. We were bad about taking pics all week, as I usually am, but we got some from the week. Scott, the kids and I treated ourselves to some Steak n Shake, we hadn't been there in like 2 years and it was delicious. The kids really enjoyed their milkshakes!

Trying on bridesmaids dresses, pictures taken by Jackson

Aunt Megan with the kids at the most delicious pizza place in Memphis, the Mellow Mushroom!! So good!!!!

Scott and I

At the mall Jackson just had to try the "bouncy trampoline, high in the air thing"...I'm not sure what the real name of it is, but this thing looks scary to me, so I was shocked he wanted to do it, but he did and he loved it. They strap you into this harness and connect you to giant rubberbands and then you jump on a trampoline as they raise you into the air and you can do flips in the air and everything. It was fun to watch him!

Big Boy

Leah decided the Carousel was a safer bet for her, and the horse she rode on was as far off the ground as she wanted to get

Leah and Mommy waiting to get on the ride

Jackson's Pre-K Graduation

Jackson graduated from Pre-K last week and I was so proud of him. He has learned so much in school over the last year and he loves going to school. When we picked him up on Friday he just cried because he was sad school was over. We were so nervous to have the kids in school for the first time and have someone other than family watch over the kids but this school turned out to be such a blessing. We always knew they were in good hands when we left them everyday and we absolutely loved their teachers. We are sad Jackson is going to public school next year for Kindergarten, but it is one of the sacrifices we had to make in order for me to stay home with the new baby. He is excited for the new school year, he keeps saying he gets to meet new friends :)

Memorial Day Weekend

We decided to take a last minute trip to Nashville with just the kids. We decided it would probably be our last family trip with just the four of us, which kind of makes me emotional in a weird way. It makes me excited that the baby will be here soon, but it makes me a touch sad because it has been just the four of us for almost four years now, kind of hard to explain, but it's a whole mix of emotions....ahhh the wonder of hormones :) We went on Priceline and got a really good deal on the Doubletree hotel in downtown Nashville and as soon as the kids heard they had a pool, they were in! It was only about a 3 1/2 hour drive from our house, so it wasn't too bad. Nashville was BEAUTIFUL!! I totally get why the country music stars live there. The houses are gorgeous, there are a ton of plush green hills/mountains and the people are so friendly. I could see us living there one day, if only we could bring our family and friends with us. We checked into our hotel and immediately went swimming. The kids LOVE to swim. Jackson actually had his swimmies off for a good 30minutes with Scott and was swimming really well. He could find his to the side of the pool and swim in between Scott and I. He felt like such a big boy! Leah preferred to keep the swimmies on and just hang out in our arms or on the stairs of the pool. The State Capitol Of Tennessee

After swimming we all showered and got ready to go to dinner. There was a cute man on the side of the street making balloon animals for all the kids and he made me a little poodle with a "baby" in the tummy. It was so cute!

Jackson and Leah waiting to go into dinner...Jackson chose an Anteater balloon, don't ask me why :)

Leah and Jackson with their balloons, Leah chose a purple horsey.

On our way home we decided to stop by the Gaylord OpryLand and I was so glad we did. This hotel was ridiculous!!! It was so big. The landscape inside was beautiful!! They had Gondalas inside the hotel you could ride, which the kids wanted to do so bad but it was already 2:00 so we decided we should save it for when we come back. We already decided we are going to try to go back for Christmas with the kids, they do a huge Christmas show and light display.

Jackson, loving the pool

Leah and her Daddy

Gaylord Opryland

So Pretty

Sweet kids

Jackson and Leah

It was a fun little trip and the kids were so sad to go, Leah cried for the first ten minutes of the car ride home that she didn't want to leave. We look forward to our next trip there as a family of 5!!!

Starting to get the Babies Room Together...

I'm in desperate need of some help decorating the babies room and my friend Amanda is so good at coming up with cute things for the walls. I told her I'd post a few pics of what we have so far so we can try to get together when I'm in Texas next to make some things for the walls to match the giraffe theme. This is by no means close to being done. My mom is working on the bumper pads now with a comforter for the crib. This is what we have so far... Cute little giraffe basket from Hobby Lobby

The dresser and changing table

Love this giraffe Scott's mom got for the baby!!! It is so cute!

I painted these to put the babies name on once they are here and to hang in the walls, I got the idea from a website they sold them for $23 a letter!! They will be really cute when they are done.

And just to brighten your day...Leah!!