Oh Baby!

Tomorrow I will be 37 weeks preggo with my 4th baby. I don't which part of that sentence is harder for me to believe - the fact that I'm already 37 weeks pregnant or that I am about to be a mother to 4 little ones!!! James took the above picture so I could finish this post - I rarely ever take pictures of myself but I know one day I will want to remember what I looked like at the end. This has been my "uniform" for about the past 8 weeks - work out shorts and tank top :) I'm never one to anticipate an early delivery and my track history is to go full term with Gracie actually coming five days early. So I'm trying to just enjoy this last bit of my pregnancy but I honestly have a hard time imagining being pregnant for another 3 weeks or more! I've been able to exercise at least 4 days a week through this entire pregnancy (this is the first time I've exercised at all during a pregnancy) which has helped me to feel pretty good and I'm still working out but I honestly have lost my motivation. Now I'm just trying to keep moving and maybe hurry this little guy along. I am very interested to see if exercising has any impact on my labor, delivery, recovery, and especially weight loss after. Sunday as we were getting all the kids in the car for church I looked at Jeremy and said, "before we know it we are going to be loading up 4 CARSEATS for church!". I often get asked if I'm ready, excited? I am excited to meet this new little Allen - to see who he looks like; will we have another Jeremy mini-me or will this be our red head boy finally? Will he be as laid back as I have prayed for him to be and just roll with this crazy family? I must say, he is one lucky little boy. He has no idea the party he is about to join. His big brothers and sister are a blast and I know he is going to have so much fun with them :) To the question of being ready - are you ever really ready for any baby? I'm as ready as I'll ever be. His bed is ready, bottles are washed and put away, diapers are cleaned and ready, his itty bitty diapers are waiting him in the changing table. One thing I am ready for is my 2 day vacation at Hotel Brookwood. As much as I miss my babies I do love that brief little bit of one on one time with my new baby, not having to do anything but feed him, sleep, eat, and relax as best I can before I jump back in to life :)
Oh, diapers! My wonderful friends gave me a little "diapers and dinner" party last night. I honestly wouldn't have cared if no one brought diapers- I was just elated to get to eat out with my favorite girlfriends but it seems we have to have an excuse to do something like this - sans kids. So thankful for each of these ladies.
I love this pic because you can see Taryn and Meredith cracking up laughing behind us - that is why I love these girls night out! Nothing like a night of belly laughing!
So, we're ready whenever you are sweet Benjamin - can't wait to meet you :)

John-Mark is 3!!

Yesterday was John-Mark's 3rd birthday. We started the day singing him happy birthday then he was ready to see his surprises. I was a little worried he was going to be disappointed because he kept thinking he was getting a "bideo" game like his brother but when he saw his bike he was super excited. For some reason he calls it his "jumpy" bike. After church we came home and John-Mark's special breakfast was chocolate chip pancakes which were a big hit:) Then last night we took the boys out for a Mexican Fiesta for a last birthday hoorah! Complete with sombrero's and singing, oh, and of course chips, salsa and "soft cheese" as James calls it :) Our favorites!
If I thought James' 4 years of life have flown by, John-Mark is really a blur! As I was looking back through pictures of him I just started crying - not able to believe my baby John-Mark is no more. I think he has grown up even faster than James to me because for the past year and half he has been on the fast track to catch up to his brother in everything so I forget that he once was little too :(
Oh, my handsome, silly boy. I always tell people that you are the one that is going to keep us laughing and scratching our heads at the same time. Right now you can be the sweetest boy in the world. I think at almost every meal at some point you will say to me, "thank you mommy for cooking breakfast, lunch or dinner for me and Gracie and James" (so sweet). You also often will tell me "mommy, this is dewicious!"
One of my most recent favorite John-Mark stories is when you were playing with your daddy and brother and ya'll were rough housing and you looked at your daddy and said, "I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts!", something you had just heard David say in a new David and Goliath video. Love it!! You are always easy to give up a hug or kiss and love to come and sit with your mommy. I can't wait to see your little personality bloom even more over this next year. I am sooo blessed to be your mommy!

Welcome to our family John-Mark!

Happy First Birthday Happy Boy!

I love this pic because this is where you have been since you were able to crawl to him - you love your big brother or "my James" as you call him. I pray you boys always love each other and are close!Happy 2nd Birthday Blue Eyes!!

What a difference a year makes! This is John-Mark at the same time last year in the same airplane as above!

Loving life with his brother and sister! Our family is so not what I would have "planned" but I am so thankful the Lords plan is better and overrides mine! Can't even imagine life without one of these precious ones or what they would be like without each other! We are all so blessed to have each other!

James being sweet and letting John-Mark play his new game

Showing off his new ball and glove

He's running out of the pic to tell his daddy about his new bike - but you can tell he's pretty happy!

Going for a ride! I took the boys to the park yesterday that has a great riding area and they LOVED both having bikes to ride! Looking forward to some nice fall weather so they can ride more -

Happy 4th Birthday James!

My baby boy is 4!!! If it weren't for all these other babies we have around here I don't think I would be able to believe it but I know it must be true! I know he's not a full big boy yet but he most definitely isn't a baby anymore

Welcome to the world baby boy!

Happy 1st Birthday! Just 3 days before he became a big brother for the first time!Happy 2nd Birthday!

The Big 3!

Yesterday morning we started with everyone climbing in mommy and daddy's bed and singing Happy Birthday to James! He was so excited. He said, "am I 4 now!!" The night before I had told him we had some surprises for him so he was ready to go check them out!

Opening his new "real" bat - so far all of his bats have been plastic but this is a real bat.

I stressed about getting him this but after lots of research and talking with friends we decided to get him a little hand held learning game - we went with the MobiGo. We don't let the kids play on the computer yet so I felt like it would be good for him to have some experience with more "hi-tech" toys but I didn't want to start a trend of him wanting to play video games all day - of course I can control that since I can set time limits but I still was unsure. I also wasn't even sure he would like it since he's never even really played or seen one so one day I took him to the store and just for fun let him play some of the display games to see how he liked them/if he caught on, etc. He liked it and the more I thought about his personality I really didn't think I would have a problem with him playing it all day since he is such a social, needs to play with other kids kind of kid. Soooo, here he is opening his present. He was pretty happy about it. He said, "wow, a video game!"
.We opened up and started playing one of the games that came with it. It required him to touch the screen and draw the things it outlines for you - he did really good and enjoyed watching the squirrel jump around. We also got him a Toy Story game that has several letter, shape, and number games. He played for about 4 minutes and then was ready to head outside and play with his new bat. It actually made me happy. I know he liked it but he likes being outside better :)

You can't see it but he got a great hit!

Then it was back inside for our special chocolate chip cupcakes! Yummy!

Sis liked them too - CHEESE!

After a fun filled birthday morning James and Jeremy headed off to Atlanta for the day and night to go to a golf tournament one of Jeremy's college buddies was playing in (Graham McDowell). When they got in the car to leave he had his bat and ball in his lap and was holding his MobiGo with his little legs crossed. Jeremy told him he could set his bat and ball in the seat next to him but he wanted to keep them all right there :)
I missed two of my boys while they were gone but I know James had a great time getting one on one Daddy time and I'm sure Jeremy learned lots too! James is hysterical and especially when he has you all to himself - I can't wait to hear about all the conversations they had!

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy! I remember when John-Mark was born when you were so little I kind of felt bad that you had such a short time as our "only" but I see now how perfectly God created you for your place in our family. You are a wonderful Big Brother. You are so sweet to your sister and always quick to make sure John-Mark is following the rules :) You keep an eye on them when mommy isn't close at hand and you are always trying to be mommy's helper - whether I want one or not :) I laughed last week when I found you trying to put John-Mark's diaper on after bath time. You are going to be a great help with your new baby brother soon :) I love absolutely everything about you and am so humbled that I get to be your mommy!!!

Slip n' Slide Party take 2!

The last weekend of July we celebrated the boys birthdays a little early with a Slip N' Slide party (just like last year). They loved it so much last year that James has been talking about his slip n ' slide party he was planning on having this year for months. He has been sooo excited about turning 4 where as John-Mark must really love being 2 because if you ask him if he's almost 3 he'll say, no, I'm 2 and if you ask James how old he is he will tell you "I'm 3, almost 4 on August 11th!"
Aside from being a crazy hot day I think all the kids had tons of fun at the party and the parents probably sweated off a couple pounds :) I think next year we need to make it a family affair and make a super long slip n' slide for everyone to cool off with :)
Most of the boys favorite friends were able to come to the party which makes them happiest of all. They LOVE getting to see and play with their friends. (For my memory, here is who came to the party - Cooper, Beau, Nally & Fallon, Ava & Naomi, Mary Claire, Jeremiah & John Daniel, Zach, and Blake)

John-Mark and Naomi getting ready to double slide :)Jeremy added some bubbles to add some extra "slip" :)Some of the crew hanging out in the poolNothing, absolutely nothing makes this boy happier than being in water - pure joy!Some of the girls enjoying their pizza lunchGracie with her two favorite girls, Nally and Fay Fay

Blowing out the candles on their homemade icecream sandwiches. I decided to do something a little different this year and made these yummy desserts. I don't know if I will do them every year because they aren't as easy as icing some cupcakes but they were a hit - probably more so with the adults than the kids - but who doesn't love cookies and icecream :)Daddy's Girl for sure!! This girl loves her Daddy (or Dadden as she often calls him). He had to run out to get the pizza's and the pic below is of her standing in the driveway yelling, "Come Back" as he drove away. How cute is that ruffle hiney :)

Over the past couple of months whenever you would ask James what he wanted for his birthday he would tell you this, "party hats, cupcakes, balloons, party chairs (?), and slip n' slides. Somewhere along the way he started adding in presents as well but they were always the last on his list. When you would ask what presents he would tell you motorcycles and monster jam trucks, which was pretty crazy since that is what his mom-mom and papa steve had already gotten them - they know him too well :)

John-Mark opening some cards and presents. He was so funny - everything he opened he would say "ooooh" like it was the greatest thing ever!

Playing their new Gone Fishin' game with Mom-Mom

Trying to figure out how to make their motorcycles race!The Allen's :)
The gang with Mom-Mom and Papa Steve

The boys actual birthdays are this Thursday and Sunday. We have special traditions of giving them their presents from us as soon as they wake up and then making an extra special birthday breakfast (chocolate chip muffins for James and Chocolate Peppermint Pancakes for John-Mark this year) for each of them. We also have a fun birthday Mexican Fiesta planned!

The weekend we did the boys birthday also happened to be my birthday weekend. Jeremy did an AMAZING job this year and even wrote me a super cute riddle about all the fun things we were going to do which included dinner with some of our favorite friends at one of our favorite restaurants (Chuck's), a movie, and he also took me to see the play Hairspray! I LOVE anything that has to do with the theatre so it was perfect! On my actual birthday he also got me all of my favorites, peanut M&M's, a flashback Pepsi, and a People! :) It was a perfect birthday weekend!