It's A...

BOY!

Can you believe it? We were a little surprised, merely because we figured the odds of having 7 grandsons on the Motley side in a row was a little unlikely...not that all 7 were ours, but you know, it was just in our heads a bit, though we didn't truly acknowledge our expectation to most...until after hearing our news.

We loved the pictures that the Ultrasound tech got...check out that cute profile! I thought the profile looked like Sean, so we'll see if that's true or not. With our other boys, we got front facial shots so they looked very skeletal. This really looks like a little baby! Ahhhh:)

Now the goal is to NOT have this baby on April 8...Sean's birthday. And since my due date this time is April 12, it's also unlikely that their birthdays will be separated by much.

Cheers!

The ultimate Fall experience

One of the songs Ryan learned at Preschool was about Leaves Falling! Well LOTS of leaves that fell in Virginia! Sooo many! It was only appropriate that we have a true FALL experience whilst visiting true Fall on the East Coast!

Magical is how I would describe it! When Ryan finally got shoes and a coat on, there was a perfect pile of leaves for him to run to and he did! Unprovoked, he ran right to it and jumped right in! How fun! Thank you Aunt Syd for your amazing photo skills! She froze time so that we can remember that day always! LOVE YOU! THANK YOU!


I love these two shots. The focus is opposite of each other and I can't decide which I enjoy most! After lots of running into, being thrown into and falling backwards into the leaves, Ryan came up with the idea to get the slide from the backyard! Great idea! However, the slide ride wasn't too exciting as it was short and you just sorta poofed into the leaves. Shortly thereafter, Ryan was standing atop and jumping into said leaves. All his ideas. Of course, Sean was in for all the same fun. And...not only did Ryan have the time of his life jumping into leaves, then he decided to get to work with dad and grandpa! He raked and raked! Then after soo long and so much helping, he announced he was done for the day, but later after discovering a whole back yard full of HUGE leaves...he got started AGAIN! Seriously, the mountain of leaves in the front yard, didn't even compare to the back yard's pile! And...only half the leaves had fallen from the trees at that point in time!



A perfect day. The sort of thing, I wasn't sure we'd ever experience in California...not that we don't have trees! We do! But not quite like my parents. Not all neighborhoods in Virginia even have the amount of trees or leaves as my parents. So it was for me priceless! Alrighty, for a few more shots I love...you can see Syd's blog at http://photogal98.blogspot.com. (I'm on her computer and can't figure out why I can't link to her site.)

Warning: Brain dumping

Mom trauma: Going to the dentist and learning your 4 year old has cavities! Not only does he have cavities, the dentist will not fix them, referring you to a pediatric dentist out of plan, therefore impending much higher costs since he's already hit his 2 exam per year limit and new pediatric dentist cannot possibly work on him without examing and making own diagnosis...instead of looking at x-ray that was provided by original dentist and starting up the good old drill!

= So much frustration!

More of my frustration...our dentist has two or three children of her own and used to WORK at the VERY pediatric dentist she is referring us to! Hello! Therefore = qualified to work on my child! Hello! Did they have fancy "open bay" exam rooms (no room barriers between children so they can see other children going through similar procedures) 30 years ago? Did they have televisions inserted into the ceiling back then? Yadda Yadda. Alas, I found a "pediatric" dentist in Sacramento covered through our insurance today and have an appointment tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, the cavity in my son's mouth will not be fixed until we return from Virginia because the new guy couldn't possibly fix the big one we can see with the naked eye until doing a 45 minute "inital exam!" Mind you I am bringing the x-ray that we have already and he just had a cleaning and exam on monday. My issue is, does it really take 45 mintues to look in his mouth and say, "yep! that there is a cavity and needs to be filled." It really didn't help that my kids totally lost it whilst on the telephone with one of the dentists office.

I know I have a retired dentist, current dentist, dental hygenist, dentist in training and former dental assistant that will or have spouses that see this post. I myself spent two summers working as a dental assistant! Loved it! You guys are all fabulous people! I'm sorry, really. But now that I know we have this thing eating away in my son's tooth I want it gone and it just doesn't need to be this difficult! (not to mention he has some of my husband's genes and they all have terrible teeth...whereas I got my first cavity my second year of college) Now I have to stress about it the whole time we are on our much anticipated trip to Virginia!

Meanwhile, a crazy busy Saturday has left my 2 year old still recouping with much needed rest. The lack of sleep can turn a sweet 2 year old with a few "terrible two" qualities into a raging "TERRIBLE TWO!" I might have mentioned previously that he has WAY more "terrible two" tendencies than my first, but Sunday and Monday was crazy and thankfully it's getting better due to the regular naps. I was beginning to wonder if the attitude was going to stick!

Anyhow, we are super excited to get away and go to Virginia, this time bringing my hubbie along! Yea! Now friends and aquantences in Virginia will have proof that he still lives (his last visit was 1 month less than 3 years ago).

ALSO...I am a unicorn! Yes! You heard me, a UNICORN! I don't get a huge amount of zits. Even in adolescence, it was pretty manageable. In fact, it's not much better now that I'm a few weeks away from 31! The trouble is, when I do get a zit, it is usually smack in between my eyebrows with a HUGE underground mountain! Ridiculous I tell you! Oh yea, and the last two days I've had serious nerve pinching issues by days end, probably caused by cooking for several hours on Sunday on my feet of course...but it's lingering and not so fun:( Am I old or what? I never had that issue with the first two!

Again, sorry for the yelling! I know these are little issues. I haven't lost sight of the big picture, and there are far worse problems than these. Promise, I know. Just slightly annoyed for a bit. Argh. Pictures have a great way of cheering me up...therefore I'm including a few from some of the good old days. They capture the glory of an instant, those precious moments I don't ever want to forget! (a few of my favorites of my little tykes when they were about 5-7 months old) Looking forward to another one of these...a girl or boy? What do you think it's going to be, any bets out there? We talk alot about a little girl, but can you blame us? We only have two boys, but there are 4 others in Scott's family without a girl amongst them! We find out on Nov. 28! YIPEEE!!!

I'm so glad when daddy comes home!

Quarantine is over. Ryan is so sweet and smart. Sometimes he's such an adult in a little body and really likes to know what's going on. Yesterday when I reminded him that he got to play with Dad and he got to come home with us, Ryan says, "But will he make me sick?" I say, "Nope, you get to hug him! The yucky medicine is all gone now!" When we visited him on the lawn on Sunday, Ryan stayed mostly by the car not wanting to get close at all to Dad who might make him sick. So I was wondering what his reaction was going to be when we went to see Scott.


It was perfect! Both boys ran up the walk running into their dad's arms, yelling, "Daddy!" They so love their dad and are great buds! It is so great to be all together again...not that we've haven't been apart before...but the boys and I were off galavanting through Virginia being occupied and having fun! Dad wasn't 10 minutes away staying somewhere else...and the idea of him being kept from us purposely made it different this time.

So our first night back together was Halloween and it was great! The boys loved trick or treating, though they still have issues not going into the homes of strangers...and they don't yell Trick-or-treat very loudly yet. Ryan kept a keen eye out for the houses with their lights on and Sean made sure we were going to another house after each house!

Their candy bags were embroidered special by Grandma Great...and they thought that was cool...unfortunately, Sean's was just barely dragging on the ground and made a few holes in the bottom (even though Scott drapped it over his shoulder). THANKS!!!
Happy Fall-idays! On the way home from trick-or-treating...Ryan asks how many days there were til Thanksgiving! Yes! He loves the Fall-idays too! Also, today we were taking down our Halloween ghosts and Ryan asked to put the Christmas decorations up! A boy after my own heart:)