Christmas 2010

This year was a GREAT Christmas. Chase's excitement on Christmas morning made the entire day so wonderful and I wonder why I was ever a grump preparing for this moment. He woke me up at 6:00 am talking extremely fast saying, "Mommy, mommy we got to hurry and see the presents Santa brought. I just know he came because I was such a good boy, let's go, let's go...."!

I let him open his stocking but we waited on the Santa gifts until Ethan woke up an hour later! Poor Chase was dying to see if Santa left him any presents (they were locked in the playroom so he couldn't see anything).

Chase was really into every single gift, but Ethan preferred to play with whatever gift Chase just opened. We had an amazing morning and a great time visiting with both families.

Merry Christmas everyone! (I have a video that I will post eventually....)

Sharing the slide:
Ethan rocking out on his new horse...he's a wild man on that thing!

Chase playing with his new Tag books:

Baking a cake for Baby Jesus:

Posing next to Santa in their new Saints & Southern Miss outfits from MawMaw & Pops:

Santa's Loot:

Posing by the tree the morning of Chase's Christmas Program:

A rare family pic with just Ethan:

Chase before his Christmas Program:

Fun times in the bath:

Hornets Game

Tonight Shane and I had an awesome experience. Shane's company's law firm gave Shane and a coworker of his two court side tickets to the Hornets game. Fortunately for me, his coworker couldn't make the game, so I got to go in his place.

The seats were on the court, the first row, only two chairs from the half court line. Shane said the only better seat in the house are the owner's seats. I still can't believe how lucky I was to be able to sit there.

The players were so close you could feel the floor shake when they ran up and down the court. We had VIP parking that was literally 20 steps to the arena's door plus a free buffet dinner before the game.

Hugo the Hornet came and sat on my lap before the game and Shane & I just took it all in. What an amazing game!!!!

Shane and the view from our seats:
Shane & Belinelli throwing in the ball (I actually had to scoot back to fit this in my camera's view, he was practically standing on my feet)!

Me after the game standing in front of my seat on the court. I was still very excited, but one tired mama:

20 Weeks!

We are now at the halfway mark, 20 weeks! I took a progression picture and then compared it to my 20 week progression pictures with Ethan & Chase. What an eye opener! Not only is my stomach showing way more this pregnancy, but I believe motherhood has aged me. I feel like I look like a baby in my progression picture with Chase. I didn't realize how much I aged until I did this comparison. But Chase knows how to make me feel better, he said I look "handsome" in my picture...gotta love him!

Things are going great. I feel fine with the exception of my circulation issues and I'm exhausted by the end of the day. If only I had as much energy as my boys!

The baby now weighs about 10 1/2 ounces and is the size of a large banana.

20 Weeks with baby #3:
20 Weeks with Ethan:

20 Weeks with Chase:

Baby McCarthy Pics

Today we had an ultrasound of the baby. Everything is measuring right on track...19 weeks, 2 days. We saw all 4 chambers of the baby's heart and it's heartrate was 130. We were not given any clues about the baby's sex, as it will stay a mystery until delivery time :-)

A skelaton view of baby's face. Since the baby was facing down the entire ultrasound, we couldn't get a profile view of the face or a view of the baby's cord. We will have to do another ultrasound to check on those things in a few months. But this is a skelaton view of the baby's face (a little scary if you ask me). Baby is upside down, you can see it's arm, eye socket and sinus cavity.
Baby McCarthy says, "Hey everybody, everything is going great"!

Baby's footprint:

A view of the baby's spine while baby is facing down.

Breakfast with Santa

This is what happens when you leave a wrapped Christmas gift under the tree. I found the unwrapped gifts behind the closed door of Chase's room with Ethan locked in. Chase unwrapped MawMaw's gift, realized it wasn't something that interested him and then locked Ethan in his room and tried blaming it on him!
Ethan saying, "Cheese"!

Chase trying to ride his bike without training wheels. In only lasted for about 10 minutes in our neighbor's yard, but at least he tried!

This Saturday we took the boys to a pancake breakfast with Santa. Well three years in a row, and still no picture with Santa. In fact ,the only pic we have with Santa was when Chase was 4 months old. Chase completely freaked out and Ethan let me take him close to Santa but refused to sit on his lap.

Story time at Santa's breakfast:
Driving the fire truck at Santa's Breakfast:

Chase's award ceremony for Soccer. His very first trophy:

Ethan and Chase enjoying a yummy treat from TCBY:

Recent Pics

I can't believe how big my boys are getting! Chase looks like such a big boy and Ethan no longer looks like a baby. They are so stinking cute!

Recently...

Shane and I have both been sick for a solid week, making things at home a little tough with two very energetic little boys. We're both on the last leg of our Z-pak and hoping that we start to feel better soon.

On Wednesday, I had another doctor's appt. As soon as Dr. Lobello put the doppler on my belly, we heard the baby's heart beat. She said that it's right in the middle, so this kiddo is not giving any hints if it's a boy or a girl :-)

This morning on the way home from soccer, Chase asked me, "Mommy, do you have a baby in your belly"? I responded with "yes". Then Chase asked, "Well, why isn't it coming out"? Too cute! I think Chase is ready to be a big brother again, Ethan on the other hand, well we'll find out soon enough.

Nap Time

Ethan thinks it's so funny to sit in the middle seat next to Chase and not his car seat. As soon as Chase opens the door, Ethan climbs in to this spot, laughing hysterically. Unfortunately, it always ends badly when I have to strap in a kicking, screaming and scratching Ethan into his car seat. Oh the joys...

Lost and Found

Last night, before Shane and I went to bed, I went to check on the boys. When I walked into Chase's room, his bed was empty and he was no where to be found. I felt a little nervous as I looked all over his room trying to find him, but then I figured he must have woke up and went into our room and found Shane. When I headed back to our bedroom, this is what I found (he's never done this before)....

Here's a short video of the boys playing one afternoon...silly boys!

Happy Halloween

2nd Trimester!

Goodbye awful 1st trimester and welcome part II! I am so happy to be out of my first 13 weeks, and look forward to the next 13. The 2nd trimester is probably the best of the three. The first was filled with morning sickness and migraines and the last is usually pretty tough on me with the "vein" issues in my right leg.

Here are some progression pictures taken by my little photographer, Chase! Shane's usually at work, so I enlisted the help of Chase and he did a pretty decent job. I think I've gained about 6 lbs so far, which is average to my previous two pregnancies. I'm sure not all of it is baby, as my eating habits have changed to accommodate my nausea and my workout routine is definitely not as strict!

This week Ethan has been sick with a fever. I'm taking him to the doctor in a little while to make sure he'll be good to go on Halloween. Here are some pics of him during that time.