2:12pm April 16, 2002...

10 years ago at this very moment i was trying my very hardest to push out 6 pounds and 15 ounces of pure joy out of my lady parts. looking back, there's not a moment that i haven't forgotten. i remember watching my family pace around the room anxiously awaiting the arrival of the first born grandchild. i'm not going to lie, the room was a little crowded. with me, The Husband, my mom, my mother-in-law, my nana, a very close friend, my nurse, the baby nurses, the doctor (who really only showed up 5 minutes prior to the big show), and a couple nursing students, you would think we would've been breaking a couple dozen fire codes.

luckily for me, and being my first experience with baby making, it was a fairly easy process. labor really only lasted a few hours and then there were the 2 hours of pushing, but at 2:12pm C finally made his appearance. there was a lot of oohing and awing, a little crying, and a big sigh of relief. he was healthy, happy, and bald. i can't believe they let us take him home 2 days later. we had no clue what to do once we left the hospital. we eventually figured it out, because i like to think we've molded him into somewhat of a good kid.

i've spent most of the day looking through pictures and baby books laughing at the silly outfits, bad hair, and chubby cheeks. i did very well at keeping up with his baby book (not so much with the next 2). one of the entries was a question about his name and what other names we had considered. i honestly don't even remember how we decided on his name, but some of the other candidates i had listed were: Carter, Caden, Camden, and Mason. funny, because i can't see him with any of those names now.

i hope that one day he'll know how much he has meant to us and how proud we are that he has turned out to be such a handsome well-rounded little man. and yes, i can say little, because that's what we are...little. i hope he doesn't hate us for being hard on him about turning off the lights in his room or turning his socks right side out every time he takes them off. i hope he doesn't frown upon the fact that he will probably always be the short one in the group (trust me, it's tough). i hope he appreciates his brothers and never takes them for granted. i hope he knows we love him...

Happy 10th Birthday C!

this week in sports...

here i go again...completing slacking in the upkeep of the blog. i'll keep it short, but there were a few highlights from the last week or so...

P-Donculous started off baseball season with a huge win for their first game...20-3! since it was the first game, we're going to say it was a bit of luck that they completely blew the other team away, and they only played 4 innings. in our small town baseball is kind of a big deal, so they have this huge opening ceremonies shindig where all the teams from t-ball on up to the big leagues take over the ball field. they announce all the teams and have them run the field. it's really kind of cute, but when there are over 500 kids playing baseball, it takes a long time to get all of them out on the field.

in the same weekend we also had to squeeze in a soccer game for C. his season has been going on for a while now, but i took this shot and had to post it. this is a typical play for him. he's become known for 2 things 1) being king of the slide tackle and 2) crazy headers. please take note of how high white boy has jumped and how high is hair reaches off his head. it's almost time to put a ponytail in that mop!

last week was another crazy weekend. on top of the usual soccer games i decided running a relay in the Dallas Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon would be fun. my mom flew in and ran the other half of the relay. i'll have to admit, we make a pretty good relay team. i almost feel guilty about making her run the first half, which was entirely uphill. we made excellent time and finished in 1:49:09 (it would've been a little faster if i hadn't stopped for a beer around mile 10). according to the results we ended up finishing 3rd in the lady relay division...not too shabby...

Chuck E Cheesus...

i'm really getting bad about posting anything on time, or posting at all for that matter. NoNo's birthday was 10 days ago, and i'm just now getting to it. it's not like i've been uber busy the past 2 weeks or anything, i'm just lazy (and not afraid to admit it). we let NoNo decide where he wanted to have his party this year, and yep, he chose "Chuck E Cheesus". thankfully, the Chuck E Cheese has had a little overhaul, and is quite clean and updated. and if you plan a party in the middle of the week...no one else is there! he had a really great time with all his friends, and we still managed to leave there with 100 extra tokens (argh...just means we have to go back). 

i can't believe he's 4. 4?! in a year he'll be going to kindergarten. where does the time go? 

Purgatory...

you probably thought this post was going to be about something totally different, didn't you? well, i guess it depends on how many pseudo Catholics out there happened upon this blog based solely on the today's title. well, folks, Purgatory isn't just a place for temporary punishment before being allowed into Heaven, but now i get why this quaint little ski resort is called Purgatory. 

after months of planning (and saving! skiing = $$$) we packed up the gear and flew out to Colorado. we were lucky enough to be staying with friends that allowed us to crash at their house for the week, but even with the cost of lodging out of the way, taking the family skiing is a wallet buster! Whoa! taking the family skiing has got to be one of the most expensive vacations you can take. on top of the usual stuff you're paying for (flight, hotel, and food) there's the gear and the rentals. and with 5 of us, that's A LOT of gear!

The Husband and I have been skiing before (it's been 9 years since the dreaded skiing accident), but it had been so long since we actually spent so much time on the slopes that my nerves were shot. i spent the entire morning the first day sick to my stomach and sweating with anticipation for what was about to be quite a pleasant experience. we put the boys in ski school and took off. of course, NoNo was not having any part of ski school and we could hear him crying half way up the mountain. i don't blame him, the boots are painful, it's cold, and falling down is scary. at least he didn't have to ride the lift to the backside of the mountain with the wind blowing so hard that you were afraid you might fall off. yep, i was the one clenching the back of the seat and closing my eyes for the dreaded ride up the mountain. 

after 5 days of hitting the slopes hard, my body was done. let me tell you, no amount of working out can prepare your body for skiing. even after spending the last month "preparing" for the ski trip, i was still completely in pain, exhausted, and beat down. maybe it's just my age, because the kids are already asking when we can go back, and i'm glad ski trips are only once a year! i actually brought the big camera out, so enjoy the pictures...