Sibling T-shirts

I decided to make the t-shirts for the kids this time, and they didn't turn out too bad. At least I don't think so. If he turns out to be a she, then I'll just make a new onesie in the same colors as Mykenzi's t-shirt.

6/23 - 37 Weeks

I'm approaching 38 weeks (on Tuesday) so I thought I'd post my 37 week picture. I've now gained the same amount of weight I gained with Camden, and I'm sure I'll pack on a few more pounds before baby arrives. Since I'm anxious for July to be here, I put July on the dry erase calendar today (with the last few days of June as well). There are now 16 days until the due date, and labor/delivery day couldn't come soon enough for any of us! Mykenzi was shocked to see how close we are to the actual due date when she saw it on the calendar. Since Jonmark and I have both made predictions on baby's arrival date, I thought it would be fun to see what day Mykenzi would pick. Jonmark says any day now through July 3rd, I say July 2nd through 8th (though I'm starting to wonder if it'll be closer to the 14th), and Mykenzi chose July 7th. We'll see soon enough!

Mykenzi's Birthday Party

We had Mykenzi's big 5th birthday party on Saturday, and it was great! In the past we've alternated years between small parties (cake/ice cream) with each side of the family and the other years just doing something special with her as a family and having cake/ice cream with just us. We decided long ago that we'd have a big party for her 5th if she was interested, so during the last year, we talked to her about it often, trying to find out what she'd want to do at her party. Earlier this year she told us she wanted a circus party. She doesn't like clowns so she didn't want one unless someone we knew dressed up as the clown, but we never really found anyone to do that. She wanted pony rides, a bounce house (that part may have been my suggestion), chicken wings on the grill, clown cupcakes, and we added a big top style tent since it's the middle of June and we knew it would be hot. That's an understatement! About two hours before her party it poured and thundered, and when it cleared an hour before the start of the party, we went outside to finish setting up and found that it was so humid, it was miserable. We had some fans for the tents, but in that humidity they didn't provide much relief unless you were right in front of them. During the party it rained several times, but everyone stayed under the tent (except the kids who were busy having fun with pony rides and the bounce house) and after a few minutes of rain the sun would come out again. Overall, it was a wonderful day and Mykenzi really enjoyed getting to spend time with her favorite preschool friend! Unfortunately I didn't get to take a lot of the pictures I wanted to take because my camera fogged up everytime I went in/out of the house, and I couldn't leave it outside to defog with all of those kids running around, so most of these pictures are from Jonmark's dad. Some are mine, but they're just snapshots because at 36 weeks 4 days pregnant in that humidity and all the cooking/baking I did that morning, I was exhausted by 2:00 (actually, long before that). Jonmark did most of the work for the party with a ton of help from his parents and even the party guests.

Mykenzi wasn't happy about the bounce having a sports theme, but when the bounce house was originally reserved we requested one just like this that looked like a castle with the slide on the side. A week or so before the party I mentioned to Jonmark that the bounce house I thought we reserved was no longer on their website, so he called to confirm. As it turns out we were put down for the wrong bounce house, and the one we had reserved had been ruined at a party. To make up for the sports theme at a little girl's birthday party, the own gladly threw in a sno cone machine, which was also a big hit at the party!

Eating a snack at the start of the party, and already looking tired.

Camden decided to ride the pony, several times. Unfortunately Mykenzi never rode the pony, she was too afraid even though she requested the pony rides, but all of the other kids definitely enjoyed Frank the Pony!

Riding again.

Waiting for his turn on the pony, again!

I wouldn't have posted this because it's an awful picture of me, but then I don't like any pictures of myself (who does?) and I figured I'd post it anyway because it shows how absolutely HUGE I am. My favorite comment/question from people that Jonmark and I both get a lot, "is the doctor going to to do anything about that?" As if I'm just so ridiculous looking, and the baby is possibly so large, that the doctor needs to induce me now. I am worried he might be bigger than Camden (who was only 7 pounds), but I honestly carried all out front like this with Mykenzi (6 pounds 6 ounces) and Camden and we all thought they were both going to be huge. As of yesterday my weight gain was only 1 pound less than my total weight gain with Camden, though I'm sure I'll continue to pack on the pounds until the baby is born so my total weight gain will most likely be more, but so far it's not too bad.

Sno cone time!

I took a picture with my fogged up lens anyway. These were the cupcakes that Mykenzi wanted with the little clown heads on top. I made a batch of chocolate and a batch of vanilla for variety, even though vanilla is Mykenzi's absolute favorite!

She had to have a big 5 candle!

Nice look! I think this was when she was getting impatient waiting for Jonmark to come over so she could blow out the candle and eat her cupcake!

Eating her cupcake and ice cream while blowing her party horn, which she was very disappointed did not make noise like the ones we get on New Year's Eve. All the kids were disappointed because they were silent, but I'm sure the adults appreciated it.

Opening presents.

Mykenzi giving Chloe some love! One of Jonmark's cousins is always saying he wants Chloe, and Mykenzi was convinced that day that he was taking her. At one point during her party she even cried on my shoulder because everyone was forcing her to give away her dog. Not sure who, but that's what she said. At the end of the party his cousin told me before he left that Mykenzi had just asked him if she could keep Chloe! Poor girl!

Enjoying the bounce house with her friend after all the guests left and it was much cooler out.

What an awesome 5th birthday party! Jonmark and I got present that night as well when both Mykenzi and Camden slept all night long in their beds!

6/19 - Mykenzi's 5th Birthday

Our baby girl turned 5 on Friday! It's so hard to believe! Her 5th birthday was a huge one to us, and actually all of her birthdays are because of the difficulties she had at birth so we planned a huge party for her on Saturday. On her actual birthday we spent the day running around getting last minute things done for her party, but we did manage to squeeze in a few hours of swimming for her and later that evening after putting up the tent for the party we let her open some presents and had some ice cream cake.

Birthday breakfast request: french toast, which she chose to eat on the Thomas the Train plates leftover from Camden's birthday

Camden has been eating with a fork for so long now, he does it really well. This was a skill that took Mykenzi quite a while to master, but Camden hates for his hands to be messy (unless he's playing outside) so he's been eating with a fork and spoon (not as well with a spoon though) for about a year now.

Camden loves french toast too!

Mykenzi's reaction to me singing Happy Birthday to her.

Silly girl!

Before we left for the day I took Mykenzi outside for a quick mini session. I just wanted a few decent photos of her on her birthday before we started running around and in case I didn't get any photos at all.

She wasn't really into it.

Once the baby is born and I'm able to move around better, I'll be taking Mykenzi and Camden in the studio for more photos.

We decided to go swimming since we had a few hours in between things that needed to be done, but Mykenzi didn't want to get in because her older cousins (12, 9, and 8 years) were there and swim/play a little rough for her, so it took her a while to get in and we had to leave a few minutes after she finally decided to swim.

Laughing at one of her cousins probably.

My two guys! (Won't be long before I'll have three!)

Aww, Daddy love!

Camden is the biggest music lover! Here he is playing the drums, and he's just about always either singing or dancing.

Splashing the cousins!

Getting ready to blow bubbles!

So proud of himself!

Camden went off the diving board for the first time.

Opening her presents from Kelly, Brian, and Trenton!

She can't wait to decorate this jewelry box.

Getting some help from Camden.

He was very excited for her! Lots of oooing.

Bead necklace kits, one of the things she really wanted! The stamps were a big hit also, and were perfect for her because she loves to draw people pictures and make them cards. She's already made several with her new stamps.

One present from us on her birthday, an umbrella for her picnic table, which she's wanted since she got the picnic table last year. We figured it would come in handy at the birthday party on Saturday, and in the future when I pull the picnic table out on the back deck for lunch where there isn't any shade.

Mykenzi's first ice cream cake.

More help from Camden!