38 Weeks

38 weeks today...no baby yet but there is certainly a lot going on around here!  We have had two crews in our front and back yards all week long...no one is done yet but man its sure shaping up out there! 

goodbye pool!

all broken up now

and in the front our trees got trimmed...you can actually SEE our house now :)

from our front door step...that's A LOT of branches cut down.  Now its time to add grass!

the pool is officially leveled! today the patio was demolished and hopefully they are going to begin working on the sod

37 Weeks

20 days from my due date with Andrew

20 days from my due date with Andrew

Three days before Nicholas was born (13 days from my due date)

Officially 37 Weeks today.  Absolutely can not believe that things are getting so close!  Curtis came 5 days early and Nicholas came 10 days early...anyone want to place any bets on when Andrew will come?  I'm going to officially guess Fathers Day the 17th.  Here are a few pictures to compare my belly to the belly with the other boys...(couldn't find one of Curtis...I have lots of actual pictures but not too many on our computer :(  ) 

Firsts

Today was a big day of firsts for Curtis today.  It was his first day of vacation bible school and his first swim meet.  VBS was really exciting for all of us.  He has never done a class or school or activity when we have dropped him off and come back to pick him up later in the day.  As many sports as he has played and classes he has taken I have either volunteered to help or stayed to watch.  I decided that being 37 weeks pregnant was a good enough excuse to sit this one out!  Mommy was a bit nervous to leave him...and of course Curtis wasn't at all!  He was super excited to see a few of his friends from swim team and baseball were there and barely turned to say bye to Mommy before rushing off with his friends.  When I picked him up he talked my ear off about everything they did and recounted every second of their day :) When I asked his teacher how he did she said "he is super smart and jumped right in to answer all of the questions we asked"....that's definitely my boy...I'm sure he had more than enough to say :)  I asked him if he remembered to raise his hand before he answered questions and he assures me that he did.  I'm not too sure about that but was glad that he had such a fun day!  He goes every morning the rest of the week and can't wait to see all of his friends and to tell his teacher all about his swim meet. 

The swim meet was super fun! Curtis had a cheering crew there as always (Nana, Pop Pop, Papa, Jacob, Nicky, and I) all armed with cameras and loud cheers.  My mom calculated that she went to swim meets for 19 years of her life...then had an 8 year break...and is now back at it again!  These meets bring back SUCH memories for Mommy!!  Curtis's freestyle relay won first place (they were the only ones swimming in their heat :)  ) they were all super excited to get blue ribbons!!! so funny!  He did really well in his individual freestyle, placed fifth, and was excited about his yellow ribbon.  Jacob and I have been proud of how hard he is working in practices and how much he has improved from the beginning of the season.  We can't wait to see how much more he will improve by the end of the season!

Curtis with his super sweet friend Megan waiting to get "tagged" with his races

Nicky of course wanted to get tagged too...

his first ribbon!

Curtis has really been working hard on his dive and really did a great job!

swinging his ribbon on his ear...silly goose

all the kids packed on the waiting benches before their races

Jacob's Home

Jacob's home!!!! Praise God!!!! May is over and the "month of Andrew" has begun.  Curtis has been looking forward to changing our calendar for quite some time.  We had a lot of blessings wrapped up in May...but our hearts were torn being away from one another all month.  Since Jacob has arrived home we have all been literally curled up in his lap just soaking him in (poor Jacob...I'm a bit large to be doing that now days! )   our plans for the rest of June involve lots of swim meets, vacation bible school, lots and lots of pool time, and preparing for little Andrew.  We will be 37 weeks on Wednesday so things are really getting close!! The hospital bags are mostly packed...we can't wait to meet our little man!! Here are a few cute pics from our Memorial weekend stay in Galveston with the Counts family...

May Updates

oh how we LOVE bubbles!

May updates:

Curtis is done with tee ball and loved every second of it.  It was a wonderful season and we will definitely play in this league again next year.  Swim team is chugging right along and Curtis is doing really well. He is improving a ton and can hardly wait for his first meet on June 4th.  Today they practiced diving in and experienced what a race feels like.  He asked me as soon as we got to the car if he was the first one to finish :) sweet boy loves some competition!

Nicholas is an awesome little man and really has been fantastic at all of Curtis's activities.  He is very much in love with Mommy and definitely is enjoying all of our special one on one time while Curtis swims and plays ball.  He continues to challenge his guardian angel daily...seriously this kid is an accident waiting to happen.  Thankfully he is really tough and while he takes my breath away gasping in fear he is usually able to jump back up and get going again with a smile on his face.   He has a very persistent ear infection and we are headed to the pediatrician for the third check on it tomorrow. Praying it has finally decided to leave my baby alone!

Mommy is TIRED and emotional and swollen and 35+ weeks pregnant...kinda a mess...praying lots and getting very ready to meet sweet Andrew.

Jacob is out of town all month except for the weekends...hence the Jillian is tired part...come on June 1st...traveling will be done then.  We are all looking forward to that!  We can't wait to be back under the same roof again!!!

We got a few precious days with our dear friends the Groves.  Unfortunately they were in town for a funeral and drove in and out very quickly.  But, we enjoyed soaking up every moment with them none the less.  We even got to keep two of the kiddos here overnight for a sleep over!

We got our new countertops!!! Thank God the "beautiful" mauve counter tops are gone!!!! Now we are looking forward to replacing the back splash and getting our bathrooms renovated.  The pool demo project will resume and be completed the week of June 4th.

my sweet boys giving high fives during our last tee ball game

Curtis thanking coach Paul after a great season

Goodbye pink countertops!!!

Hello gorgeous new granite counter tops!  Back splash tile is the next project on our list...definitely not keeping the beautiful pink tiles!!

Our master bathroom also got granite as well as the boys bathroom.  Now its time to paint, replace mirrors, change out light fixtures, add towel racks...etc

Happy Mothers Day

 Happy Mothers Day to my best friend & twin.  You are the most amazing mother and friend a daughter could ever ask for.  Thank you the the million things you do to love and support me.  For all the diapers you changed, dresses you made, messes you cleaned, swim meets you attended, tears you wiped, boo boos you kissed, and all the generous love you always provide.  I love you more than words could ever say...and as always "I can't breathe without you!"

May...you exhaust me!

May is here...an exciting month FULL of fun, travel, and exhaustion!  Curtis is wrapping up his first tee ball season on the 15th.  It was a ton of fun and a great learning experience for him.  We are so glad that we signed him up and will definitely be playing more in the future.  Curtis also just joined his very first (of many hopefully) swim team.  He has always been our little fish and LOVES the water.  He truly enjoys swimming and is really excited now that he can actually swim some laps.  I love it when he turns to the swimmers next to him and says "wow, that was exhausting!  we did two laps!!!!"  One of the reasons I put him on the team I did was because of the head coach.  He was my coach in HS and I knew he would get a kick out of coaching a "little Schwartz".  Curtis has improved already in the first week of practice and we can't wait to see how much more he will improve before their first meet.  Nicholas is such a trooper right now, following big brother and waiting patiently during his activities.  I try to make it worth while for him with lots of special snuggle time, digging time, and of course lots of stick throwing :) oh and of course some M&M's if mommy is desperate!   I am constantly reminding Curtis that in a few months he will have to sit through gymnastics/swim lessons/or some other kind of class for his little brother and he better remember how patient Nicky is being now....

Jacob has been and will be a weekend guest at our home this month.  His project in Albuquerque is (prayerfully, hopefully, fingers crossed, hail mary pass pumped and ready...) coming to a close this month.  His hard deadline for travel is June 1st (thank you Andrew) so unfortunately, he will be practically living there until then.  We keep discussing how quickly this pregnancy is going to be over.  By the time he stops traveling we will be full term and ready to go.

Jillian is BIG and HOT :) loving feeling Andrew and all his antics in-utero.  33 weeks and blossoming in the heat of the summer...oyyyyy!

We had a wonderful weekend with my parents Cinco De Mayo weekend and stayed in the Woodlands to catch the Casting Crowns concert.  We really love them and it was a perfect first concert for our kiddos.  Everyone had a blast and it was definitely something we would all like to do again soon.