I hate the smell of soap...

...I gag when I brush my teeth and I don't really feel like myself.
Let me just start by saying that I LOVE being pregnant. I love that God has blessed me with the miracle of life. I know there are so many women out there who are dying to be pregnant. So many women that are heartbroken every time they hear of someone else getting pregnant. I know because I was that woman once. So...I have to make it very clear that I LOVE BEING PREGNANT. Unfortunately, I'm not thrilled with the way I feel when I'm pregnant. I'm only 9 weeks in and all the symptoms that I had last time are already setting in. Here are my TOP TEN complaints about how I feel:
10. I gag every time I brush my teeth. Something about all the toothpaste in my mouth makes me want to throw up.
9. The smell of soap is like the smell of manure. We used to have Irish Spring and I couldn't even stand to cuddle Chad after he showered. We switched to Dove and it's slightly better. But I think I'm going to have to switch to something with no scent at all.
8. Gagging over the sink is a bit embarrassing. I very frequently stand and gag over the sink. It could be a smell or just something that makes me feel better for a moment. It's embarrassing.
7. I can't do much cooking. Cooking meat, garlic, anything really is a serious chore. Right now I am cooking pasta and baked potatoes. Poor Chad has to cook his own food and often he cooks for Brooks as well. Everyone is suffering.
6. Dirty diapers are the worst. Chad graciously changes diapers when he's home, but there have been a few times when Brooks poops in his diaper and I am the only one around. I try to breath out my mouth and not throw up on my son.
5. I have to constantly be eating. It's actually a chore. I have to remind myself to eat every few hours otherwise I get sick.
4. Acid Reflux has set in again. I threw up twice last night just because of the acid in my system. It feels like my food is just sitting on top of my stomach instead of being digested. Instead of burping...I throw up. Gross.
3. Almost every afternoon is when my nausea sets in. That means that I don't really feel like playing with Brooks or being active at all. I eat to feel better, and then I throw up to feel better, and then I have to eat again. It's a vicious cycle.
2. Forget sleeping in on the weekends. I HAVE to wake up to eat. I drag myself out of bed to eat something and some times I can go back to bed, but often I'm up for the day. I joke that between this, having an infant, and breastfeeding for a year -it'll be two years before I get to sleep in again.
1. I'm exhausted. Working all day with 19 first graders, coming home and attempting to play with Brooks, making dinner (kind of), and hanging out with Chad is leaving me completely wiped out. My bed time is getting earlier and earlier. And 5:45 am comes WAY too soon every morning.

With all of that off my chest, I was telling Chad that really in the end, you forget about all of this. I "remember" feeling bad with Brooks but really I don't. Does that make sense? All of these aliments are only temporary, and in the end a new life is born. And having a healthy baby is really the only thing that matters. 7 more months of this and a lifelong with another child...not much to compare.

Brooks has an announcement to make...

(I tried to get him to smile...he just wasn't that into it)
Baby Hoffman is due to arrive November 30th.
Please pray for a healthy pregnancy without the complications that I had with Brooks. The possible of it happening again are pretty high. That also means that an earlier than usually birth is possible. Just pray that God will give us the strength to deal with whatever comes our way. Thanks for sharing this journey with us through prayer. We feel so blessed to be adding to our family!

Bluebonnets

When we were in Colorado last year I remember being so jealous looking at everyone's bluebonnet pictures. I was so excited to go out with our family and take some pictures. I love Bluebonnets! Bluebonnets make me think of...
...when Cari and I went on our first vacation by ourselves (our freshman year in college) down to San Antonio. On the way back we pulled off on the side of I-35 to take pictures in the bluebonnets.
...when I was little. Do you remember hearing the rumor that if you picked a bluebonnet the cops were going to come get you? I wouldn't ever dream of picking a bluebonnet in fear of the law. Brooks didn't know that law and picked his fair share of bluebonnets the other day. I was mortified!
...the beautiful Texas Spring season. I complain sometimes because I miss Colorado and all its beauty. But Texas can be beautiful, too. We never had bluebonnets in Colorado.
Here are a few of my favorites:




This one is my absolute favorite. All of a sudden Brooks was quite a ham and started posing for the camera. We snapped a bunch in hopes to get the perfect one:

Easter Sunday

After church - we had a little Easter egg hunt for Brooks in the front yard. He had a great time collecting his eggs. He's had some practice with the neighborhood hunt last weekend, his egg hunt at school, and the one at church this morning. The kid is not short on candy!

Birdie had given Brooks a basket with Easter eggs, some special treats and some cascarones. We took some of the cascarones out in the front yard as well. Chad showed Brooks how to smash it on his head and he thought it was pretty funny.




We had a wonderful day celebrating the resurrection of Christ and having some fun with eggs as well. Nothing is better than having a fun day with family.

SomeBUNNY is pretty darn cute...

Brooks had a special brunch at school today and they got their faces painted in the afternoon. I would have loved to see my son sit still long enough for her to paint his face. I swear Ms. Kelly has magically powers! On the way home from school I kept telling Brooks what a cute little bunny he was. And he would respond, "no". And I'd say, "Yes Brooks...you're a bunny!" And he'd say, "no". This when on for the entire ride home because I thought it was funny. As a 21 month old, he is starting to put little 2-3 word sentences together:
> Most of his sentences end with "Mommy": "More snack, Mommy" "More milk, Mommy." "No, Mommy!" "Go outside, Mommy?" You get the drift.
> He'll hide his bear under his blanket and say, "Where'd he go?!" He'll go ahead and answer himself, "I don't know?!" Then he'll reveal the bear that was hiding and say, "There he is!" It's pretty entertaining
> "I love you, Mommy!"
> "Night, night Daddy?"
> "Here's a stick!"
> And our favorite, "Hook 'em!" (it's a work in progress)
As a 21 month old he is also becoming more independent and confident in himself. He has pretty much mastered eating with a fork and spoon. He still is messy, but he gets 90% of it in his mouth, 5% on the floor and the other 5% in his lap...not too bad. He still eats like a champ and is constantly asking for a bite of our food. Chad is still working on sharing, so Brooks doesn't even really bother with him, and he'll come straight to me. I'm such a sucker when he says, "A bite, Mommy?!" The newest things he has tried are sun-dried tomatoes and dried fruit. He's a fan of them both. But I think he would eat those little mini breakfast sausages everyday if he could.
He is also remembering more from day to day. This is helping with discipline so I can say things like, "Do you need to go to your room?" He can remember how much he hates going to his room by himself and he usually stops whatever he's doing. His increased memory is also fun for other reasons: We always stop and get the mail together (since we have a community mailbox). We sing a little mail song and he gets really excited. Whenever we're driving in that direction, even when we're not getting the mail, he'll sing, "MAIL!" I thought it was a coincidence, but now I've noticed that he does it every time. He also knows when we're driving down our street and he'll say, "Home, Mommy!"
He doesn't sit still for long, but when he does it's usually for a sweet hug and a kiss. Poor kid - I smoother him with hugs and kisses all day because I want him to be loving towards others. He's starting to catch on. And when he tells me he loves me, my heart just melts...man, I love that kid!

Up too late

It's 10:27 - but that is LATE for me. On the weekdays it's considered "late" if I can make it to 10:00. But I am positive that I could fall asleep around 8:30 every night. Anyways...tonight Chad is at a movie with a friend, and I am left searching the internet and wasting my precious sleeping time. Let me share with you the website that is keeping me up and I assure you that it will keep you up, too. Just go to Hostess with the Mostess and you, too, will be hooked. I know I need to go to bed, but I can't help but browse all these adorable ideas for parties. Brooks' birthday party is 3 months away and I am already thinking about it and getting excited about it. Really? I have 3 months to plan it and this is what is keeping me up tonight? My creative juices are flowing and I'm so excited to make some things for his party. People think that I'm creative, but really I just know where to look and do a good job copying from other people. So...if you like to copy ideas from other people then make sure and check out the website. And in case you're curious: I'm considering the Cookie Monster theme or the Monkey Business theme. What do you think?

I promise I will be shutting off the computer and closing my eyes now. Good night.

My Little Fish

The first day that we got to Birdie and Scoops' house we went outside to play in the beautiful sunshine. Brooks immediately was drawn to the pool.
It started with simple splashing over the edge:

It wasn't long before splashing wasn't enough and Brooks was in the water "swimming":

That video was taken in about the first 5 minutes of him being in the water. He had absolutely NO fear of the water. He jumped again and again and again. (It took awhile for us to teach him how to count before jumping.) He kept pushing Birdie away and would have been very happy to be in the water by himself. I am so excited to get him in swimming lessons this summer - I don't think it will take for him to catch on.