things i love....

since i found out i was pregnant i feel i have become increasingly negative. i haven't been feeling well most of the time and i don't like acting like that....so i'm stealing an idea from my dear friend carly....here is a list of things i love....(this is more for me than you....i need to be positive)

1. waking up to "mama, mama...let's read" or "mama, let's go see the dinos"
2. christopher andrew bovard
3. laughing
4. hot showers
5. sunny, hot days
6. kids
7. maxwellington bovard
8. finding a great book to read and knowing in the first chapter that you will love it...
9. the office
10. crocs
11. watching max do anything....
12. play
13. nina, sasha and their parents
14. swimming
15. ceiling fans
16. taking pictures
17. biting my nails
18. my office at work
19. coming home from work
20. talking to people
21. green
22. summer
23. finding killer sales
24. brushing my teeth
25. college memories

these are a few of my favorite things....i feel quite a bit better...we need to take more opportunities to state what we like and appreciate about life...corny but true

a few funny things...

first some photos from recently. bek, chris, and i took the kids to the zoo. super fun

day...this is the bum of a polar bear in the water...nina was un-phased and

max was un-impressed. we loved it. 

they both loved this part...so cute...

max got this wagon for christmas. it's cute but not so much fun for the zoo.

super hilly and they both were in and out...they do much better walking on their own. 

they looked cute though...

alright, i wanted to share some of max's fabulous statements as of lately...

"oh mama, that's so stupid"

"maxwell bovard, we do not use that kind of language in this house."

(two days later...and completely to himself)

"that paper is so stup-oops, i can't say that word anymore."

his use of the term...."actually"

"those are bushes actually. those over there are trees"

or

"mama, that's not a unicorn, that's a horse actually."

or 

"actually i didn't even have any fruit snacks today" (untruth)

(to anyone who will listen)

"i bought that at target and it cost thirty-nine nine."

most things that i buy from the "dollar bin" at target cost $300 according to him

"who lives in mama's belly?"

"i do" 

"really, you live in mama's belly?" 

"no mama i live in pittsburgh, the baby's in dere."

"ok mama, i need to draw or paint something RIGHT NOW"

he has become increasingly interested in dinosaurs...i had just told someone of his indifference 

to them and now he doesn't stop talking about them. i bought him the movie "land before time" and his comments about that movie are hilarious.

"c'mon guys let's watch the dino movie"

"yikes...sharp tooth."

"that egg bounces far. oops, it cracked...oh my gosh...little foot"

he has seen the movie 5 times and he still can't believe that egg is little foot. 

(he licks people he loves because when he asked me why the mama licks little foot after he's born, i told him that it's because she loves him very much....well, he loves dinos, they do that....therefore, he will now do that...we are all licked often.)

he continues to amaze us on a daily basis. 

as for us, i am still nauseated pretty much all day. it's gotten A LOT better. i don't that it's eased up but i'm coping better. i was a WHINER for awhile....

chris continues the job hunt. pray for him...he doesn't like the bank...it's definitely time for a change....

dumbest posting ever

ok....i'm in shock. chris and i love law and order. one time, during a rather unpredictably delightful ending chris said "Thank you Dick Wolfe." well, tonite....it was a rerun....i hadn't seen it before. i had been really sick all day...queasy, stretching, discomfort....typical first trimester stuff...so i layed around ALLLL DAAAY....

well, bekah is visiting us and she and chris knocked out early....i had some last minute energy and was able to make it through to the end....holy crap....i am not a huge TV fan. i love the office and law and order but i'm not ridiculous...we don't have TIVO and we don't videotape shows....

i am in shock...tonite was an episode with the "seventh heaven" dad...OMG (gosh). unbelievable ending....i hate that i'm blogging about a TV show but i had to....

i choose hope...

last tuesday we found out that i was pregnant....bean #2 is officially on the way...

i realized how "numbers based" i was that night. i always get paranoid when people announce their pregnancy at 6 weeks. i did that with max...i was too excited. then i experienced some painful losses from friends and realized that those "numbers" are important. i put in my head that...

6 wks is when you tell your family

12 wks is when you tell everyone

20 wks is when it becomes public bc you can't hide anymore

37 wks you can deliver

40 wks is really 10 months!!!

1 year is when they can try milk and sit forward in the car

these have becoming paralyzing numbers for me...i fully support people wanting to hold on to these numbers....especially those who have experienced loss but i was becoming troubled by them....

i didn't want anyone to know....

then, i had to tell people in "authority" at my school. my job isn't always safe (aggressive kids) so i had to let them know that i wasn't available for that anymore....whew....

then, i told my family....my dear sister in law posted it on facebook and friends found out so the general announcement has gone out!!!

then, i found out that bekah is having the major surgery next month that we were, in the backs of our minds, hoping wouldn't ever happen....

this lead me through many tears to choose hope.

i can't live through this pregnancy with fear and worry about what may happen and i can't live through the next month worrying about the possible outcomes of my sister. 

"we are not a people without hope" 

the sooner i believe that...

busy weekend

we had a crazy weekend....trying to balance family activities, responsibilities and the penguins....wow....it's been a wacky weekend....max and i crashed at 730 last night...

friday was the series kick-off so chris went with my brother and their friend dan to the arena to watch it on the big screen outside...apparently everyone in the free world was there so they ended up at a sports bar...max and i relaxed and played games. we had a fun night....saturday i went to the special olympics all day with some of our students from school. it was a terrific experience. i really like all of the staff from my school that volunteered so it was a fun day. max dragged chris to the dinosaur exhibit again. he loves those dinosaurs right now. all he talks about is big dinos, little dinos, "carivores" and his personal favorite the "t-rex". he is enthralled by the history museum and has gone at least 2 times a week for the past month....he begs for it every time we drive through oakland. he just started this new interest about two months ago. he still loves his trains and cars but dinos have become very important. 

sunday was  a fun mother's day. we walked and chris ran for "race for the cure". we had another great time with wpsd (my school---western pa school for the deaf) pal's and stacy joined up too. altogether we probably walked 5-6 miles instead of the standard 3.2 of a 5K because parking was tricky....then we ALL got together with my parents and chris' parents. it's so cool when we can all get together....some fun gifts too. roses, pictures, a great book from max, and a target giftcard. we are all big with gift giving...we still do easter gifts, valentines, christmas, birthday, etc...i know a lot of families stop doing that when you are adults but none of us can stop...we love it too much...

no pictures right now...but i'll add some soon....happy belated to all you mama's...

this kid is so fun!

we've had a really interesting few weeks. max has been HILARIOUS!!! since he was 

about 16 months old, he's been able to pick out books by the title. it's

hilarious...now, he's been finishing every book. he has been doing that for awhile

with finishing sentences but now he's "reading" the books. he skips words, 

doesn't care about punctuation at all. he does an amazing job...

he gets his memory from his dad.

this is a baseball game between the boys.

this is max on the day he came back from bunna and poppy's house (my parents)

i gave them clothes for warm weather but it ended up at 55 degrees...

he's wearing bekah's sweatshirt...he went straight for his zebra

we have been looking for a good water table for a long time. we finally found

one at aldi's. tink told me about it and then bekah bought one....then i got

one....it's fabulous....he loves it.

this is his "happy earth day" shirt...

his latest stance... 

"why you do dat mama?"

when he was small i used to lay him down in the water

and hold his hands. he LOVED it. he would tilt his head to the side

and sip the water. we would crack up. we caught it on film a few times.

however, now he's gotten brave and now lays back by himself

and just lays in the tub. we, AGAIN, were cracking up, watching him

sip the tubby water.

note: we asked the doctor a looong time ago if this was likely to give him ear infections. he said that it was highly unlikely...so, full speed ahead...he needs to be a fish like his mama. we are going to swim from sun up to sun down SOON!

tonite was the hardest night i've EVER had putting him to sleep....he fought me for an HOUR! part of his issue could have been these boots. they seemed so hot! he refused to take them off. (i'll going to sneak them off when i go to bed)

i was always so enthralled by toddlers who marched to the beat of their own drummer and their moms who let them. is it all of them?? i hope this continues...

6 am

for some reason, mr max wellington chose to wake up at 6 this morning. he hasn't done that in a long time...now the dillema, should WE get up or should he read in his room til WE are ready to start the day. today we gave him his little DVD player....we NEVER do that....we just wanted more sleep...he has been watching thomas in bed with us for awhile and talking about how terrific trains are....it's times like these that i am so thrilled to simply know him....i wish i had my camera...what a sweetpea. 

he really loves thomas...i never wanted him to love thomas per se, but trains of other sorts were fine. i just feel like that commercialism and the fact that it is NOT a cheap hobby made thomas really undesirable. being unable to control his grandparents, he now owns most of  the thomas videos and trains. i find myself buying him the trains too...when they really love something...whether it's trains, dinosaurs, cars, etc..it's really tough not to indulge that....especially when you love someone so much....