22 Weeks

A side by side comparison of all three of my boys at 22 weeks.

Mardi Gras

We went to our first Mardi Gras here in Texas!  Our neighborhood likes to throw parties, and a good portion of our neighbors are from Louisiana.  So they hold an annual Mardi Gras parade-family style.  The kids in the neighborhood decorated their bikes/trikes while grownups did trucks and golf carts.  It was a cute little parade where they went around the park throwing candy and beads.  We even got a stuffed animal.  At the end of the parade we went to the park for some cajun food gumbo, jambalaya, and king cake.  I love that our neighborhood does these fun block parties.  Its always fun to get to know our neighbors a little better.

 These aren't even all the beads we collected.  We probably have at least 10 pounds worth!  And even a few days later Tanner still loves trying to wear them all.  Gonna save them for next years parade!

Another Brother!

Wow a house full of boys!  It was so wonderful to see him.  He is such an active little guy and my ultrasound tech had a hard time getting measurements because he wouldn't stay still!  He is absolutely perfect and measuring right on track.  I fell completely in love.

Carson actually took it the hardest.  He kept saying "but I thought it was a girl!" "why can't there be a girl baby be in mommy's tummy?"  I'm sure that he'll be excited to wrestle and play superheros in no time.

(The nurse said the picture turned out well and I believed her, but she totally cut Brad's head off!  Note to self always check the picture.)

We made a fun day out of today.  We went and had some yummy greek food and then went to the children's museum.

We are just so excited for this little 4th of July firecracker to arrive!

Thoughts on Gender

Wow, 9 out of 13 people on the poll thinks I'm having a girl!  For a while there it was 100% girl and I was a little surprised not even 1 person thought I was having a boy, but then BAM the last few votes were all boy.  Girl vote still wins though.

When I first got pregnant with this pregnancy, I thought I was for sure having a girl.  I was so excited, because after 2 boys it would be fun to add some pink to the family.  Then around Christmas time I was starting to go crazy thinking about it and the thought came to me that it was another boy.

Now for the past couple of weeks I keep going back and forth on whether it is a boy or girl.

Boy: boys run in the family.  Have I mentioned that I was the first girl  born into the Murphy family in 185 years?  In both Brad and my families we tend to come in groups of three.  The Clarks have 3 boys and in mine its 3 girls and 3 boys.  I might just be meant to carry on the tradition.  Plus I know boys, he'd totally fit right in.

Girl: I don't know if its just a desire to dress up a little girl or what, but I still keep coming back to the thought of how fun a girl would be.  It would totally change the dynamic of our family, and thats kind of exciting. Even though this pregnancy has been very similar from the boys there have been some slight differences that fit with the old wives tell of having a girl.  My face feels like a teenager again and has broken out and I tear up easily.  I cried in the Lego movie.  Yes, I'm a little sensitive especially when those P&G commercials come on during the Olympics.  Gets me everytime.  I also have the Chinese Gender Calendar saying its a girl so that has to be right, right?

These are just my thoughts and ramblings.  Nothings official until its official right?  I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Pinot's Palett

On Wednesday night my friend Erin from my neighborhood had a birthday party at Pinot's Palett.  Its a place where they give you instructions on how to paint a picture while you drink wine (or in my case a Martinelli).  It was such a fun girls night!  I had never heard of this before, but apparently is really popular in this area.  I loved it!  Such a different way to get all the girls together and have some fun.

Here's the picture we were supposed to paint.

and here is my Master piece.  I did yellow flowers instead of blue to match my house.

And here is the group of girls with their finished paintings.  Its fun to see how everyones personality comes through.

Update

Carson:  He is so inquisitive.  He is constantly asking questions, lots of church stuff as well as scientific stuff.  Its a good thing his daddy knows a lot of science, because its not my strong suit!  Carson loves preschool and does really well in school.  At his parent teacher conference last month his teacher complemented him by saying how he is so eager to learn and is a friend to everyone, which is something you just can't teach and is a good quality to have.

All of a sudden he is really into zombies and star wars right now.  Not sure what brought on the fascination with zombies all of a sudden, but everything Carson has learned about Star Wars, he's learned through Angry Birds.  He even knows that Darth Vader is Skywalker's father.

Tanner: Tanner vocabulary is expanding more and more and he's even putting two words together.  He also got his two year old molars in last week.  He loves to cuddle with his daddy, but not me.  He just loves his daddy.  He copies everything Daddy does.  I told Brad this is one reason I needed another baby, so I can have someone to cuddle with.

He also loves wrestling with Carson.  He never wants to sleep in his own bed, only in Carson's.  Which most of the time is ok, but every now and then Carson wants his space, and Tanner freaks out when he has to sleep in his own bed.

Brad & Emily:  I started a making a quilt for our living room and Brad is training for another race in March.  We've also have been enjoying watching the Winter Olympics in Russia.

In other news, I thought Arizona weather was up and down!  Texas is far worse.  We go from cold to warm constantly throughout the week and are excited for the few days when it is warm, by going to the park.  Though lately its mostly been unusually cold, so we've been staying inside a lot.