Let the good times roll! Indeed they did! We had been planning a trip to New Orleans since September and somehow managed to keep it a secret from my momma. Her 50th birthday was Mardi Gras day this year and I really wanted to surprise her. During our trip home, we had the boys' birthday party and my baby shower so although invitations went out a month before we arrived, no one said a word to my mom! Well done, everyone!
We arrived in New Orleans on Valentine's Day and were greeted at the airport by Gene and Donna. As soon as the boys saw them, they took off running into their arms! It was worth the terrible five hour flight with two toddlers just to see them so happy.
That evening, we snuck into my mom's daycare which is attached to her house and had the boys knock on the door to her living room. When she opened the door, we watched her look back and forth at the boys completely baffled until she saw Joshua and I hiding in the corner. She said that seeing the boys out of context had her so confused that she wondered how neighborhood kids got into her daycare! She was definitely surprised! Here are some pics of the boys at her house during our trip:
A few days later, my amazing friend from childhood and one of my best friends forever, Rachel had us all over to her house for dinner. Boy, was it wild with a total of six kids there, five of them boys! Really there were eight kids if you count our husbands!
The following day, Saturday, February 18th, we had my mom's annual crawfish boil at her house for her birthday. This is something we look forward to every year, but especially this year since I was dying for some crawfish!!
My baby shower was that weekend on Sunday, February 19th. Rachel hosted the event and put so much love and thought into the party that it certainly showed. I am so very thankful for all of the time and effort she put into planning this, and I just feel so lucky to have such a wonderful friend. Friends and family came together and showered Marigny with so many beautiful gifts. She hasn't even been born yet and she's already so loved!
Lundi Gras was the following day so Joshua and I took the boys out to the French Quarter for the day. We took the ferry from the westbank which was one of the things I missed most about living there, and then walked all around Jackson Square and the river. Donna and Gene met us out there for a little while too, and it turned out to be such a beautiful day in town.
Of course, the day after Lundi Gras is always Mardi Gras! We got a great spot out in Metairie where we stayed last year, but with plenty more room despite having more people with us. Joshua, Gene and Frank did a fantastic job finding and holding our spot at the break of dawn! The children had so much fun running around and catching beads. There was no way we could have them miss out on this! They were both yelling, "Heeeeeeey!!" to the floats and Beckham was even calling out, "Throw me something, Mister!". They were so cute!
After the parade, Frank and Tasha had Isaac's first birthday celebration at Gene and Donna's house! Yes, Mardi Gras day was his birthday too! The little cutie!
Later that week, we took the boys to my great grandmother, Marian's house to visit with her, my Maw Maw Marilyn and my dad. Everett kept walking up to them and smiling big but would then run away. Beckham was so sweet that at one point he actually crawled into Grandmother's lap all by himself and laid there with her while playing with her collection of bells. Since we've been home, I notice he refers to her as Grandma which I think is sweet because everyone else calls her Grandmother.
On Saturday, February 25th, we had the boys' 3rd and 2nd birthday party a month early so that we could celebrate with friends and family. It was also a great way to get everyone together in one spot! We had the party at the same gymnastics place as last year, and the boys enjoyed it just as much. I really think we'll end up having their party there every year!
That night, we went out to eat at my favorite restaurant, Crazy Johnnie's, with Joshua's family and my sister, Kate. Beckham was so happy to be spending time with Kate's daughter Theresa that he would not leave her alone! He insisted on holding her hand as they walked out of the restaurant together and then he would not stop hugging and kissing her. It was absolutely wonderful to see them together again, and it was really the cutest I had ever seen Beckham be with anyone.
We had family pictures taken uptown the following day by my friend Laura Emerson who took our last family pics! I was 25 weeks pregnant and we ended up doing some family/maternity shots. I wasn't planning on taking any pictures by myself, but now I'm so happy that I did so that I can frame one for Marigny's room. :)
I also spent some time with my girl, Ariana or Aniana as Everett calls her. We had some coffee in The Marigny one day near Marigny Street so I had to take a pitcure with the street sign! ... I had my sweet Marigny in The Marigny on Marigny Street. lol
Here are some more pics of the boys in NOLA:
We left New Orleans on Monday, February 27th and although we had an even better time than we ever could of imagined while there, it felt good to be going home. I was exhausted! And still am! LOL. I had a rough time the first week home as far as my body is concerned. I really thought I just over did it on our trip. But as the weeks progressed, I realized that I wasn't getting any better. In fact, things were getting worse. I began having contractions and headaches again, morning sickness returned, the fatigue was increasing and then there's the pain... everywhere. Head to toe. Sometimes I literally cannot move no matter how badly I want or need to. Caring for the boys is getting more and more challenging; and so, we ended up making the decision to have Donna come stay with us for a couple of weeks to help out. She will be staying for about two weeks, then she is returning to New Orleans with Beckham for a couple of weeks, and then is coming back to stay until after the baby is born. I really do not know what I would do without her doing this for us! I never had difficult pregnancies before so this is all very unexpected, but I feel so blessed to know that I have family around for me when I need someone. Here are some pics of Donna with the boys in New Orleans:
Things were especially hard for us the last couple of weeks because Everett became sick to the point where he did not eat or sleep for an entire week. He was crying all day and night with fevers that would return once the meds wore off every four hours. And because he was coughing, he was also throwing up about twice a day do to his poor gag reflex. After taking a visit to the hospital on Saturday (Beckham's birthday), he is now doing much better.
Speaking of Beckham's birthday, my baby boy turned three years old on March 25th! I cannot believe how quickly the last three years have gone by. Like he always tells me, "I'm growing up, Mom." Ah, I just wish it weren't so. Everett's birthday is in three days so my next blog post will be all about their birthdays and Easter!
Before I go on to baby #3, here are some pics of the boys playing on the beach! The weather was finally nice enough to go back and the boys loved digging in the sand, although the water was too cold to play in.
Baby Breaux #3:
Well, I've already talked about how I've been feeling. Not good! But there is some good news. I passed my glucose test! Yay! I'm soooo happy because I cannot live without sugar! And it shows on the scale! At my last appointment, I had gained 10 lbs over 5 weeks. Wowzers! I like to blame it on all of the king cake and Raising Cane's chicken fingers that I ate while in New Orleans, but let's face it... that was only two weeks! So at the time of my last appt in which I was 27 1/2 weeks, I had a total weight gain of 17 lbs so far. The baby's heartbeat was 150bpm.
I'll now end this post with some pictures of the boys back home in Cali during the month of March:
saw it!
