Scratch that..

Our baby girls name will be

Ellasyn Clair

{{So excited that Tripp decided to go with the 'y' in her name. Thank you babe!}}

Miss Ellason Claire

I am so in love with my baby girl already that it is just about indescribable.

We got to see her sweet face again this past weekend and she officially confirmed that
She is still a She.
No doubt about it.
Thank you Jesus!

The sono tech (incredibly sweet lady, I highly recommend Sono-Care in Tyler) said that it was amazing how much her bone and facial structure looked so much like Alex's. He thinks it is pretty cool that she looks like him. Awe!

After the sono, we headed over to a bow shop that I have been wanting to shop at for a long time and got her a few goodies. Those suckers are expensive! Good thing I can learn how to make them myself. :)

I am 17 weeks today. My nausea has just about dissapeared. I am still taking the zophran as a precautionary but I don't think that will be necessary much longer. My appetite is BACK! Like, crazy back! I lost 15 pounds during my first trimester so now I need to get myself under control for a while. (that way I can enjoy pigging out later, lol!)
I am really starting to enjoy this pregnancy. I have been happy about it all along, even while being so sick, but it is nice to be to this point.

Ellason has been practicing her ninja skills a lot lately. I am so excited for Tripp & Alex to get to feel her move. That should happen before too much longer I guess.
I am incredibly blessed! Incredibly!
Katriana

Two Funny Alex Stories..

...for the memory bank :)

Funny Story #1: " Mom, open your mouth really big." I ask why so he asks me again really nicely. I give in and open my mouth as big as I can. Alex them proceeds to get in my face as close as he can and yell the following into my open pie hole, "I love you Ellason Claire! I can't wait to meet you!"

Tripp and I laugh hysterically! We asked him why he did that and he said he wanted to make sure his baby sister could hear him. He thought it would be better to talk through my mouth than through my belly hole. The kid cracks me up so much! It was incredibly smart of him to even think of talking to his sister that way. Now, honestly, it's not quite as funny anymore. Him getting super close to my face & yelling has lost a bit of its charm, to say the least. :)

Funny Story #2: Alex was buckled in his carseat in my car this morning. I forgot my phone on the counter so I ran in to get it. I get back in the car and he says, "Mom, you don't know you are beautiful." I start laughing and he says, "Don't laugh, it's never crossed your mind." I continue to laugh and he says, "You are not that kind."
It finally dawns on me that the tail end of Sammy Kershaw's song is playing on the radio. Then Alex starts to sing the song to me as opposed to saying the phrases. He is so stinking funny!!!

It's hot!

Like you didn't already know that! Ha!

I have been struggling in this heat...big time! It has zapped my energy completely, there is no mas. It has been incredibly hard to explain this to Alex but I think he is starting to get used to the idea that Mommy is just not going to go outside for a while.

I have to share a funny story. Slightly uncouth but funny all the same.

Last night we let Alex sleep with us. (who am I kidding, the kid sleeps with us every night, lol!) He 'accidentally' passed a wee bit of gas. When I asked him if he needed to excuse himself, this is what he said:

"Mom, you may not know this but when girls are pregnant, it makes them hot and stinky. Maybe you need to excuse yourself."

Tripp and I laughed hysterically! He said it with that mischievous grin on his face knowing that he was about to say something funny. Such a character!

Gross topic but I want to record my babe's funny personality.

Hope everyone is having a good day! Oh yeah, did you know it was hot outside! UGH!!! :)

Bleh...

I'm feeling pretty bleh these days.

While I am incredibly thrilled to be pregnant, this first trimester is kicking my tail! Kicking it! It is a struggle to drink water, eat food, go outside, you name it, I'm struggling with it. No bueno. I can tell that it is starting to lighten up slightly so that is the positive side to this depressing post.

I don't think the heat is helping much either. We took Alex to the movies, Fresh & the Zoo yesterday and I think I could have overdone it since it was so warm out as I am completely wiped out today. It will be nice to have some energy back in my next trimester, that's for sure.

Alex loves Fresh. I took him back in the early spring and he has been asking to go back over and over again. It was Tripp's first time to go and he was very impressed. Alex had a great time pushing & adding things to his cart. It was pretty cute!

Then on to the zoo. Tripp didn't get to go with us, sadly. It was a members only event and Tripp is not on our membership. We decided early on to share a membership with my mom since Tripp's availability would not allow him to go as often as hers would. That mentality backfired on us yesterday as it would have been really nice if Tripp could have gone with us. All of the animals were so active last night! It was amazing! They were all playing and goofing off, very cool to see!

Yesterday was fun but honestly, Alex had quite the attitude for a good bit of the day. Very frustrating! Tripp and I felt like we went out of our way to do some really fun things for him but he was just stuck on being cranky and full of complaints. We did have our highlights of the day though so again, there is the positive side of the negative, lol. There were several times of sweetness between Alex and I that overshadowed his cranky attitude. That all went south though when a bee flew into his snocone. It all went straight to heck after that. Boo...

After the meltdown, we decided quickly to head straight for home. Do not pass go. Straight home! Alex went straight to bed and Tripp and I watched a movie. A horrible movie by the way! We do not recommend Black Swan. Way too strange for us...but to each their own.

Ok, that wraps up my thoughts for the moment. I am about to take a much anticipated nap with the squirt. He is not going to be happy about it...my joy should be enough for the two of us, hahhahahah!

Changes....

Things sure have been changing around here a lot lately.

Summer is coming.

Alex is growing up.

I have a new job.

Tripp is traveling quite a bit.

Nosmo, well, he is still Nosmo...

While we are trying to acclimate ourselves to the hotter temps, embrace Alex growing up, adjust to my new full time work hours and deal with Tripp being on the road a bit more, we also get adjust to this...

Whooooooo Hooooooooo! We are so excited!

I am currently about 6 1/2 weeks pregnant and due around the first of January. It is so amazing how God works. After trying for about 8 months to conceive, Tripp and I decided (or started trying to convince ourselves rather) that it was ok that we were not pregnant yet. We would just wait until the fall and start trying again. Our goal was for a spring or summer baby. I had myself convinced that it was ok that I wasn't pregnant yet as of February because now we would avoid the super sick season with a newborn and the cold weather. God's timing is always perfect even when His plan differs from ours! From the looks of it, we conceived the latter part of March...when we weren't even trying, lol! Guess what 'they' say is right, once you quit worrying about it and quit trying to micromanage, it happens. At least it did this time anyway.

We were really hoping that this pregnancy would go smoothly and I would not have near the issues I had with Alex. So far, not the case. I have been super sick, not just nausea. No fun. I am on zofran again which seems to do the trick without knocking me out like the pfenergren did.

I want to sleep all the time. Seriously all the time. That is not as easy as it was when it was just Tripp and I. While Alex is incredibly thrilled to be a big brother soon, he doesn't quite understand why I have no energy or why I am so sick. Hopefully this first trimester will zoom by and the sickness will be over soon. That is our prayer.

I am scheduled for my "first" appointment June 3 for a sonogram & a visit with Dr. Yancey. We had a small bump in the road yesterday though that sent me in for an emergency appointment. I have had a stomach bug for the last few days that was accompanied by a lot of cramping. I didn't pay too much attention to the cramps until I started spotting yesterday. I tried really hard not to freak out too bad...but honestly, I freaked. Having had a miscarriage before Alex and spotting while pregnant with Alex, I am a bit gun shy to say the least.

I definitely calmed down once I saw the little babe's heartbeat. I am not far enough along to hear the heartbeat, but seeing it was enough. The baby measured at 6 weeks, though I thought we were closer to 8weeks along. The sono tech did notice that I have a small sub cortical (sp) rupture behind my uterus that is causing the bleeding. They are not too terribly concerned with it now because it is so small but they will continue to monitor it. I was told to take it easy over the weekend, read I get to sleep a lot, whoooo hooo!

This post has rattled on. If you are still reading, you are a trooper! This is mainly for memory sake so that I can remember the details. I need to post about how we told Alex. I definitely want to remember that for forever! :)

We haven't announced that I am pregnant on facebook because honestly, I don't want to deal with the fallout should something happen. I will probably do that after I go to the doctor in June. If I didn't have the history that I do, I would be screaming it from the roof tops! I'm posting about it here for a few reasons. One, mainly family and friends who can be discreet read this and two, I want to record the happenings while they are fresh on my brain. I know that not many people read this so I am thinking it is pretty safe. Lol!

I'm going to have another baby!!!!! Whooo hoooo! I didn't think we would get to experience this again. I am so grateful to God for this miracle in my belly! Sick and All!

We have got ourselves a T-Baller!

Check out our little t-baller, Alex. Today was opening day for Sabine and boy, was it a full opening day! We had a our first double header as well as our first game. Not the greatest of combinations to be honest with you! The kids did great though. Alex played catcher during the first game and did not enjoy it at all. I wish I had a nickel for each time he said he was bored as the catcher. Drove me crazy!! :)

He shook it off though and ended the first game with a pretty decent attitude. He did AMAZING in the second game! They all did! We are so proud of them because we were expecting complete and total meltdowns for the second game! Alex played second base and loved it! He got right in there, chased the ball, fielded it and seemed to really enjoy himself.

There is still much to learn and plenty of time to do so. For the most part, the kids enjoyed themselves and are eager to play again. That is a definite plus in the parents' book, lol!

I love this picture of my two favorite Rangers. I really appreciate Tripp for coaching. It is hard to try to teach your own child a sport, no less be the coach, but my guys are handling it very well. I love the extra time they get with each other and to see Tripp encourage Alex in something they both really like. This could be the beginning of a family love for all of us so we are excited!

Texas Rangers, Spring 2011, Sabine League

Allergies get TWO THUMBS DOWN!

Ok, so not that anyone out there actually likes allergies or anything, but here at the Griffin house.....we reeeeeaaaaaaallly don't like them! My poor baby is struggling to put it mildly. I feel so bad for him because it is incredibly obvious that he is miserable. Yet he manages to be so sweet in spite of it. Alex has always had allergies but this year is by far the worst. I am attributing it to his trampoline of all things. He just got it for his birthday and loves it. Like every thing else in East Texas, it is covered in pollen just about every day. We usually let him bounce on it later in the evening and I'm guessing it is what has triggered this 'Allergy Attack' if you will.

Here is a pic of him from yesterday about an hour before his eyes were completely swollen shut. You can barely see the rashes starting to appear beside his mouth and nose. I had some eye drops called in yesterday that seem to have helped a bit but this is still the outcome after 3 doses of Benedryl.


And here is a shot from this morning. After what has to have been the WORST night of sleep ever, he still woke up smiling. His lips are starting to crack from being so swollen. Poor thing!

He has a doctor's appointment this afternoon with his pediatrician so hopefully he will be on the mend soon. I am currently listening to him try to breath through his nose. I laid him down for a nap at 1:25 and he still hasn't been able to fall asleep (1.5 hours later). Prayerfully, his appt will go good, he will get some relief, and we will ALL get to sleep good tonight. Though this sounds like a lot of complaining, we are super excited for spring time!

Allergies just get two thumbs down! Actually...that would be 6 thumbs down for the Griffin fam...or 10 if you include Nosmo's...hehe!

Katriana

Amazing..

Because every post needs a pic..here is a random pic of Big Daddy tasting Alex's butternut squash at Christmas. SO sweet!

Amazing that in all of my "free time" I have neglected to blog.

Amazing that my little man is now 5 years old.

Amazing that I am quickly approaching my 10 year anniversary with my awesome hubby.

Amazing that I finally feel like I am getting my focus back.

Amazing that I have never felt more alone & still be ok with it like I feel now.

Amazing that I feel like my relationship with God is getting stronger and stronger.

Amazing that I am allowed breath each day and able to be amazed.

Alex is getting so big and saying the funnies stuff lately.

For example, he was singing this song the other day in the backseat of the car, "For he makes really good jello, for he makes really good jello, for he makes really good jello, which nobody can deny!"

He randomly sang out the following while playing with his daddy tonight: "We are Farmers, dum da dum da dum dum dum!"

For Valentines he got me diamonds from Walmart because they are a girls best friend. They cost him $5 dollars and he quickly told me that he could have gotten a footlong but decided to get me a best friend instead..haha!

He is obsessed with the zoo and all things museum related. The Legend of the Guardians and MegaMind are his two favorite shows right now and he quotes them frequently.

Tripp and I are taking a money class by Dave Ramsey at church. BIGGEST BLESSING EVER! We love it and I have really gotten on board..which makes Tripp one happy man! We are also participating in a bible study with some other young couples at church. AMAZING! We are learning so much and finally realizing why we believe what we believe. It's so awesome to have our ideals and thoughts actually line up with the principles God wants us to follow. Awesome!

Ok, let me think of what other randomness I can throw in here since the odds of me posting again soon are rather slim... :)

I'm working less...dislike...painting more.....like, getting to spend a ton of time with Alex....AWESOME...and really getting to focus on my family. I am one blessed lady!

Toodles!