february

February has been a busy month. Wow...that's an understatement!

I had another sonogram several weeks ago and, much to the shock of family and friends, I did NOT find out the gender of the baby. We still think that it's a boy (probably because we would LIKE Finley to have a sister and the baby is measuring about a week big). Everything looks great so far, which is a first (the sonograms we had with the other kids caused all kinds of concerns: low-lying placentas, possible genetic problems, kidney problems, amniotic bands/sheets, ginormous babies, etc). This will be my first pregnancy without seeing a perinatologist. I was pretty shocked that everything was so normal this time around. Hope it continues to be that way (we'll see how the blood glucose screening goes next week). Only 13 or so weeks left...

Anden turned five (which thrills him to death and scares us silly) on the 5th and already has a growing list of presents for next year's birthday! It was really low key (no surprise there) and celebrated at home. We did go out for pizza for dinner, but he wasn't very hungry after eating birthday treats earlier that afternoon.

The day after his birthday, we headed out on our very first road trip with all three kids. We did take Anden to San Antonio a few years back while I was pregnant with Mckay (for a family reunion), but this one was significantly different: It was 14 hours long! Well, only 12 were spent driving, but we spent 14 hours in the car one way. I think Raegan and I lamented the decision to drive more than a few times...even though it was (and is) much cheaper to drive with so many kids. I do NOT think it is easier for one minute--even admitting that the hassle of flying is just that, a hassle. Next time we'll either have much older kids (meaning we won't be driving that long for many years) or we'll make sure to have family come and visit us!

Regardless of the long trip, we had a fun week with Grandma and Grandpa. Too bad we didn't plan it very well (it was a last minute trip) and they both had to work, as did Raegan. He flew home for the week after driving out with us--and flew back to help us drive home to Texas. Add to that some random cold and snowy weather for part of the week, plus a sudden case of strep (complete with fever, vomiting, and scarlet fever) for Mckay and it was bound to be memorable! :)

The kids had a blast and are really sad that we weren't able to do everything we wanted to do, but loved spending time with Grandma and Grandpa (ME, TOO)! We did manage to make it to the aquarium one day--which is like heaven for our kids. Such an amazing place--boy do I wish we had one close by that was even the tiniest bit comparable. Anden was SO excited to see the sea horses and Mckay looked everywhere for sea ponies (ummm, we have no idea where he came up with that?!) and was somewhat bummed they weren't there. Part of the aquarium was closed and won't reopen until the fall--Anden is already talking about when we can go back to see the bigger animals.

The drive home was hurried since Raegan's flights kept getting cancelled due to snow in Texas and we ended up leaving later than expected. Of course, I wasn't anxious to get a sick Mckay into the car, so I didn't mind. He did fine, but Anden managed to throw up on the way home--and we seriously didn't think anything of it until the following day when we found out he, too, had strep! Miraculously no one else got sick and he only had about 1.5 days of feeling bad before the antibiotics kicked into high gear...

Hard to believe the month is almost over, yet it's been so crazy for us that I feel like March should be here by now! I'm certainly ready for some much wanted sunshine and warmth!