Accomplished August {2016}

I couldn't really think of a good adjective to describe our August, but since both boys were staying busy and doing well in their first quarter of school and were both getting back into sports, accomplished seems appropriate.  Somehow, Mom and Dad survived it so that is an accomplishment as well.  Ha!  Also, Mattox finally accomplished walking on his own without holding on for support.  So yes, I guess it was an accomplished month.

Big boy Mattox accomplished eating some big boy lunches like this cheese quesadilla Mommy made him. 

Big boy Brody accomplished being a very brave and tough little man at his 5 year check up and getting his last shots for kindergarten.  He is always a tough boy at the doctor and nothing like his big brother Evan.  Mattox accomplished being silly and entertaining. 

Mattox accomplished learning to love football and just being busy busy busy all the time. 

Brody accomplished losing his first tooth and letting Mommy pull it out when it was stubbornly hanging on by one little thread.  It even bled quite a bit, but he was so brave and tough.  He already accomplished getting the replacement permanent tooth too.  

We all accomplished celebrating the Olympics with some Olympic ring donuts. 

I somehow accomplished getting a picture of this awesome rainbow from inside the car while Eddie was driving. 

These boys accomplished getting awesome dinosaur balloons at dinner at Mellow Mushroom.

Mattox accomplished looking cute and so big while making big messes. 

Brody and Mattox accomplished modeling their Chick-fil-a bandanas. 

Evan and Brody accomplished doing homework while waiting for Daddy at Moe's.  We head there on Tuesday after school to do our homework and then eat an early dinner before Evan's football practice. 

Brody accomplished getting all of his weekly homework done.  He loves it!  He is also a very accomplished artist and drew me (Mom) for letter M, stars and the moon for night and letter N, and an orange for  letter O.   We also do our nightly reading and enjoy picking either a fiction or nonfiction book.  He is getting so good at recognizing his sight words and sounding out words. 

 Mattox accomplished continuing to be a big boy feeding himself his first sandwich and taking some good naps.

We all accomplished a few more fun pool days.  These boys love playing tug o' war with Daddy. 

Brody accomplished beating up big brother with a pool noodle while Mattox enjoyed hitting Daddy with a ball. 

Our pool doesn't have a kiddie pool so Mattox accomplishes his free time in the pool playing on the steps.  He loves playing ball. 

Mommy accomplishes getting lots of cuddles and sweet smiles from her big baby. 

These two accomplish some fun Daddy and me time and just looking like twins. 

Brody accomplished drinking his first warm herbal tea with honey for a little sore throat. 

Mattox accomplished learning to walk on his own and practicing on the soccer field. 

Brody accomplished starting another season of soccer.  He was all decked out with a little soccer ball tattoo he got at dinner at Zaxby's. 

Brody accomplished being extra silly putting his pajama pants on his head.  Mattox accomplished stealing a big slice of pizza. 

Brody accomplished getting to care for his class pet Buster, and Mattox was a big helper too.

Mattox accomplished trying out the merry-go-round and riding a whale at the park one evening. 

Mattox accomplished feeding himself breakfast while watching his favorite toons.  He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and I am trying to get him to appreciate an old favorite, The Wonderpets, by showing him our very own flyboat.  

And Mattox accomplished taking super cute pictures like the bottom middle one, learning to play football, and growing out his hair a lot.  It was wild!

My three baby boys accomplished looking like handsome little men.  *Sniff*

This silly boy accomplished one of his first soccer games on a very hot Saturday and then going to watch big brother play in some scrimmage football games. 

Brody accomplished taking silly pictures and selfies.  He got this lovely shot of big brother in his football uniform behind the fence.  Haha!

Mattox accomplished playing at the park like a big boy walking and climbing everywhere. 

So proud of himself for climbing and loving to drive. 

Swinging is okay too for a few minutes. 

But he would rather be climbing.  He accomplished climbing this really high climbing wall by himself. 

He accomplished walking and riding a horse. 

And he accomplished a major bed head while looking at old pictures from Mommy and Daddy's honeymoon.  

Yep, it was an accomplished month!

An Early Christmas Present

Our family is going to get a special early Christmas present this year.  My husband has been on me for weeks/months to write this post.  In my defense, I have had some computer issues and just felt that I needed to get caught up on other posts first.  But I know time is ticking so here it is.  This story begins way back in mid-March right after Mattox's first birthday.  That was a crazy month with his birthday, our Spring Break vacation, Evan's birthday, and Mattox being sick.  In April after finishing breastfeeding, I felt that my thyroid was still causing me problems so I went in for a doctor visit and recheck.  I was just feeling so tired, not losing any weight and other usual symptoms.  Although my numbers seemed in the normal range, we decided to officially check to see if my hypothyroidism is the autoimmune kind called Hashimoto's.  After verifying that I had really high thyroid antibodies still attacking my thyroid gland, I assumed that my immune system working overtime was probably a big cause of my symptoms.  The next step was seeing an endocrinologist to see what other treatment options may help.  In May, my symptoms were increasing along with some additional ones like being really hungry all the time.  By the end of May, I suspected I needed to take this...

I surprised my husband with this little present on a Sunday.  We were a little shocked, but since I had been feeling accelerated symptoms for a few weeks, I felt I was probably more like 8 weeks.  I could not exactly pinpoint a date when this little surprise happened because I had not had a cycle since I stopped breastfeeding in March. 

June was a little crazy with the boys being out of school and then traveling for half the month.  I wasn't able to get a doctor's appointment until early July.  At that time, we needed to do an ultrasound to check the age of the baby and get an accurate due date.  Since I had to wait so long for an appointment, I decided to try my home Doppler to see if I could hear a heartbeat, and I got a clear one in the 140s.  I assumed I may be about 12 to 14 weeks by the time of the appointment.  When I went in, the ultrasound tech thought she would need to do an internal ultrasound but was quickly surprised to see a much larger baby.  We switched techniques to see this...

So yes, we were measuring over 16 weeks already and could even see an important piece of anatomy.  Ha! 

Yep, it's a boy!  Daddy thinks he is working on his own football team.

Our official due date is calculated to be around December 15th, but since we will try to induce by 39 weeks, I suspect baby will be born around December 8th through the 10th.  We have chosen the name Grayson because it meets several name criteria for us.  For one, we like that it literally means "son of a gray-haired man," and Eddie thinks that is appropriate given his advancing age and graying hair.  Ha!  I also like that it has two syllables like all of his brothers' and sister's names.  We were considering another M name to match Mattie and Mattox but decided we liked all of the boys to have different initials.  I also like that it has 7 letters.  I started with Evan having four letters, Brody has five, Mattie and Mattox have six so 7 seems like the obvious next choice.  I also like for each of our kids to have one "new" name and one "family" name.  Grayson will share his daddy's and great-granddaddy's middle name of Edwin. 

I think we have another cutie on our hands.

We went back for our official anatomy ultrasound at about 19 weeks, and everything looked great.  Grayson was still measuring on track although Mommy does seem to be measuring a little larger now at 28 weeks so we will be getting another growth scan in a couple of weeks. 

So here is the official announcement:

of our family becoming a family of 7!

Some people refer to a last rainbow baby as a "pot of gold" and I liked that description.  Grayson will be our sweet little pot of gold. 

Bump pictures to come! 

When Little Boys Grow Up {Mattox}

What is it about the first hair cut for little boys that instantly turns them into little men?  I knew cutting off Mattox's adorable little golden locks would be a little sad for me, but I am just never prepared for how grown up they look afterwards.  I think it was a pretty drastic effect on Mattox because his hair had just grown out so much in the last few months.  He had about two inches of length to be trimmed off and still left well over an inch of hair.  I really wanted to wait longer, but his hair is so fine and had just become a wild and unruly mane when not wet down.  I think with little girls, they seem to grow up as their hair gets longer which does seem to be a more gradual change.  Little boys just instantly change after that first little snip of the hair.  And it doesn't help that Mattox is just becoming so independent these days and has been running all over and trying to do so many things by himself.  I am also beginning to glimpse a little of his two year old temper coming out when something doesn't go his way.  Regardless, I think he is as cute as can be and just a handsome little man.  Yes, I may try to eat him up occasionally when I can get my hands on him.  Haha!

He looked so serious and all business, but I swear this kid loves a car so he was happy to be driving.  Anytime we go out to the garage to go somewhere, he tries to get into his little blue car to drive.  Yes, he will throw a little fit when removed from said car.  These pictures show his hair wildness pre-cut.  

He sat so perfectly still watching Mickey Mouse on the TV and driving his car while getting snipped.  From what I have been told, he shares the trait of being very well-behaved during hair cuts with his daddy.  

Trying to peek around to see the TV.  Daddy did get him to smile and laugh some.  

Starting to look like a little grown man.  The hair stylist was even able to use the electric clippers around his ears.  

And the handsome little man emerges after his first haircut.  We visited a cute little kids' salon in Durham because our town doesn't have one.  I am not sure how many times we will visit as we usually cut the big boys' hair ourselves now, but I suspect we may visit a few more times while Mattox is still young.