A more updated picture.

Me (21 weeks pregnant with Baby Carr III), Mari (two months away from two), and Jake (two months away four).

Jake and Mari help James put together a shed!

Jake was "reading" the directions:)

Mari did actually help, she was exhausted from helping so much. I just didn't get a good picture of her helping as I was working on a paper.

New Orleans (Saturday night and Sunday)

New Orleans at night, taken along the river walk near our hotel.

Jake and Mari really liked the trollies!

Mari did not want to go to sleep. Finally, after we all laughed at her antics long enough, she at least quit crying.

The next morning, Jackson Square and Cafe Du Monde beignets.

The Aquarium of the Americas.

You can see more of Baby Carr number three sticking out in the picture above and below. I can feel s/he moving quite a bit now and it is not really comfortable to carry Mari on top of him/her but she doesn't understand. At one point Jake was really lagging behind and I threatened to carry him and he said no, I don't want to hurt the baby. I felt really bad for him (James was carrying Mari and I was just going to switch with him and there really is NO way I can carry Jake) as he obviously was tired of walking, but he was more worried about hurting me and the baby. He finally agreed to ride in the stroller and was content there most of the time, Mari not so much.

Jake liked looking at the sharks and below I took his, James' and Mari's picture in the shark jaws.

They both loved the "Nemo" tank that had "Dori" fish and "Nemo" fish.

James petting the rays.

Jake and Mari having fun on the indoor play equipment at the aquarium.

Mari "petting" the (nurse) shark.

At this point you can see Mari had enough so we headed home.

Jake really liked the Lake Ponchatrain Causeway (24ish mile long bridge).

Taking a nap for part of the way home!

Ship Island (Saturday)

Two sleepy children woke up very confused as to why we were in the car and how they got there! Luckily, they were not fussy for long, we fed them breakfast in the car and told them we were going to the beach and they quit fussing (for the most part).

All three babies on/in my lap. Jake and Mari loved the boat ride!

Above you can see dolphins rolling through the water. Jake is sure they are dolphins, because dolphins don't eat people (his words). I guess if they had been eating a person, that would have made them sharks. Although, he did see sharks the next day at the aquarium and they weren't eating people?!? He gave the woman at the shark petting pool a good laugh though, when she asked him if he wanted to pet the shark too (Mari was attemtping to pet the shark at this point) and he replied that "No, its to scary, they eat people".

Jake proudly showes off the shells he collected.

Mari playing with the sand (she was working on a sand castle with me, but I didn't get a picture of it because Jake tore it down, while I was getting the camera).

If you click on the picture above, you can see Jake asleep in the beach chair. Mari really enjoyed the water, but Jake was happier on dry land. We did make him get in the water (I held him) to make sure he just wasn't scared of it, and he just really preferred to sit in the chair and eat his food or look for shells.

More Mari playing with sand and Jake taking a nap!

Above, Mari and her Daddy enjoying the water. James was sitting down, it wasn't deep although it looks like he is up to his chest in the water. Mari really liked being splashed by and riding the waves.

Unfortunately, James' phone (it is less than two weeks old) went for a swim as well. Here it is drying to dry off on the beach.

Jake was taking such a good nap (below) and Mari was starting to get over excited, so we decided it was nap time for her as well. She took a nice nap while I went and got James some more food/drink. They really did have good hotdogs at the island snack bar.

After some more fun in the sun and water, it was time to catch the 2:30 boat back. We could have stayed until 4:30, but I was worried about over exposure (sun burn, which I ended up being the only one who suffered from it and it was because I was putting it on everyone else and forgot to put it on my own back/one shoulder, but even mine wasn't bad and is already gone).

Above, the kids throwing a fit about leaving the island. You can see the old Spanish fort in the back ground. We didn't even attempt to tour the fort, but we had more than enough fun with just the beach.

Jake and Mari are excited about getting to eat another hotdog (on the boat) and about being back on the ship.

Jake slept on the trip back and Mari should have, but she didn't give up the fight until we got in the car. Instead, Mari made friends with the baby in front of us.

Mini Vacation!

Last night we got back from our mini vacation. We have had a hard year with me working full time on my first year of Ph.D. courses, Mari being in the hospital, James having to travel for work and then the stress of the bad ecomony on his work environment with lay offs, cut backs, etc. Also, now, just when things are starting to look up at James' (and Daddy's) work and I was starting to see the end in sight with my course work we are surprised by Baby Carr #3! Needless to say we wanted to take the kids somewhere where we could all relax and have fun, that wasn't too far away and that we could do without cutting into James remaining vacation days so he can be off with us some at Christmas (Mari being in the hospital, and she and Jake being sick ate through a lot of vacation days for him). We decided to plan a trip to Ship Island, which is a national sea shore off the Mississippi Gulf Coast (boat leaves from Gulfport) and then to the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans (among other New Orleans attractions weather and attitudes permitting). Labor Day was the best time option we saw, but we were really worried about weather (that is kind of peak hurricane season). We decided we would just do it and I am so glad we did. Despite forcasts of thunderstorms we did not encounter many problems with the weather at all. We got rained on leaving the aquarium, but apart from that and some heavy rain while driving, the weather was beautiful! We could not have asked for better beach weather! New Orleans was a little too hot for a four month pregnant woman pushing a double stroller (although James helped a lot with the pushing when I got to hot/tired). We will definintely do both again. We just might try New Orleans again when the weather is cooler, like one December or when I am not pregnant! Mari is a good age for traveling now, but I do not anticipate taking any long trips for awhile with the new baby. Maybe by next summer we will all feel more adventurous again! I love the group picure they took as we boarded the boat to Ship Island as it really captures out live right now! The kids are in pajamas because we put them in the car at 3:30ish so we could get down to the coast at a decent hour and so that they would sleep in the car and not be too fussy! I am carrying their shoes, while James is carrying them because we were incredibly lucky and arrived JUST in time to catch the first boat (9AM) instead of the noon boat we anticipated leaving on. We decided to go straight to the marina and check to see if they had room on the boat (it never hurts to ask) because we figured if they were under capacity they would probably not leave on time, waiting for possible last minute travelers. We were in luck and ended up being the last to board the boat! They were so nice about it, the man in the background saw our car tag and realized we when he realized we had driven straight there, he even helped me unload our stuff (and carry it) while James got the tickets! I am a strategic packer and so we were able to jump out of the car with what we needed and on the boat in about five minutes (kids included). We dressed the kids on the boat! Jake and Mari had a good time, Mari more obviously than Jake, but I think Jake walked more than he normally would and so that is part of why he was a little fussy (Mari had the luxury of being carried a lot of the time). I was worried that he did not enjoy the beach very much, but when he realized we were going home (he started recognized the road around West Point) he cried and told us to turn around, he wanted to go back to the beach and the trolleys. Tons of pictures to follow, of course! I will divide them into Ship Island/boat/car ride down and New Orleans/trip home.

Cherub Choir performance at Genesis Sunday

Jake is on the left, the third row from the front.

Although he sang in every practice, he did not actually sing when he got up there. He did smile and looked very please that all eyes were on him and the other cherub. He told me he likes being in the big people church because it is pretty and that is why God likes to live there (so I guess he is sort of learning something in Sunday School). Oh well, we will sort out his theology when he is older.

Carr Family Reunion

Jake loved riding this renovated golf cart! You can't see to well in the picture but I promise "Mr. Safety" is hanging on to the bar behind his seat!

Joan has coy (I think) in this pond that will actually come to the surface and "kiss" (nibble/suck) on your fingers if you touch the surface of the water.

At one stage or another we have referred to Jake and Mari as "kicky squirmies" this is kicky squirminess in action.

These shots of the kids in action show why I am so tired after the reunion!

The hosts of the reunion where James' dad's first cousin Joan and her husband Danny. It was at their photography studio between Water Valley, Oxford and Batesville.

Jake playing with the table centerpiece.

Here are pictures from the Carr family reunion a few weeks ago. The Carr family motto translates to mean "late but in earnest" which is the most appropriate family motto I have ever heard. Of all those attending the reunion, James, Jake, Mari and I were the only people with the last name Carr to show up on time (and we ended up accidently being early because we were told the wrong time). Everybody else with the last name Carr was late:) The kids seemed to have a good time. They wanted to play outside most of the time and it was just to hot for me. It took me a few days to recover, but hopefully it will be the last family reunion I will ever attend while pregnant.

Update on Baby Carr "The Big Surprise"

Baby 'C' at 10 weeks (three weeks ago now)

So James and I have decided to try our best NOT to find out the gender of this baby (until s/he is born). Whether s/he is a boy or girl won't really change much for us as most of our baby stuff is gender nuetral anyway and what is not gender nuetral we already have for a girl and a boy. We have picked out two sets of names (one set for a girl, one set for a boy). People have been having strange reactions to our decision so far, but I mean it is our decision and I don't honestly care if people think I am weird. Also, I also want to know what color his/her eyes are and what his/her voice will sound like and when his/her birthday will be, but I am becoming more patient in my old age:) I am entering my second trimester (well the baby is, anyway) and at my appointment on Wednesday we were measuring just fine, and his/her heart rate was 178 beats per minute. The doctor called her/him "Speedy Gonzalez" (sp?) as the heart rate is high and the baby was moving away from her everytime she tried to get a reading on him/her. Jake asked what we call the new baby, we decided on "Baby C". The "C" is for Carr and it is also the third letter int he alphabet, so it just kinda fits for now. I go in for another appointment the week before labor day and then three weeks after that we will have another ultrasound (around 18 weeks) to check for anatomical issues and at that point hopefully I will removed from high risk at that point. I am including an ultrasound picture from our last ultrasound at 10 weeks (I have been so tired since then to scan it in and post it). I am working on my fourteenth week now!

Baby Carr the Grand Finale (hopefully)

If all goes well this will be my LAST pregnancy! I was a little farther along than I thought and will be 8 weeks this Saturday. The baby's heartrate was 145 at 7 weeks and 7 weeks and 3 days gestation (Jakes was 155 at 6 weeks 5 days and Mari's was 133 at 6 weeks 5 days). Estimated due date from the ultrasound was February 21st. Jake and Mari both came before their due dates. According to those dates I will enter the second trimester the week I go back to work and enter the third the week of Jake and Mari's birthdays which is just two weeks before the close of the semester. Second trimester is the best time to be in school if I have to when pregnant! I am still sick and so far this pregnancy reminds me more of Jake's than any of the others. Aversions to meat, only want to eat carbs, I have already gained almost five pounds (from all the carbs I am sure). I am trying to adjust to a more healthy system of eating but it is already very different than my pregnancy with Mari, where eating healthy wasn't that difficult (I didn't have many aversions just cravings!). James is busy painting the house, but he promised he would quit in a little bit so we can go on a walk. I haven't walked at all since he was gone last week and I know that is probably part of the problem. You can't go from walking 5 miles 5 nights a week to nothing at all and expect not to change your eating habits and not gain weight!

More pictures from work on the house today

As you can see James has been really busy! When I took the kids outside earlier Jake exclaimed: "Oh Daddy, I love that color it is just like mayonaise!" It does look like mayonaise now that he mentions it. He is so funny!

He has already got the first (of two) coats on the back and one side. He also got half of the front done.

I took this picture from the street so you can see how much work James has done on the grass. You can cleary see where our yard begins and the lot next to us begins!

Our grape tomatoes have gotten huge (they almost look like Roma's instead of grape tomatoes) and they still haven't started turning red. Below are some pictures of some more peppers that have just started turning red!



A regular (slicing/sandwich tomato) the only one we have so far (but we have TONS of the grape tomatoes). Above is Jake's birdhouse that he got from Nana and Papoo for Christmas. We posted pictures of him painting it in January or February.

Above is the Spanish moss in the crepe myrtles and below is the crepe myrtle blossoms.

A close up of the two types of vines we have planted on the back of the fence (the lattice work James put up for this reason). I got both of these from Mama, the top one develops pretty purple flowers and decorative purple bean pods and the bottom one makes dainty pink flowers (it is called cyprus vine).

Here is a hot of most of the patio (the length of it anyway) so you can see what a big improvement it is.

This is the flower bed to the side once again.

Here is another shot of the flowers in the back.

Here is the back going in the other direction (behind the swings and grass part of the yard, where as the other picture is of behind the patio.) You can see our humming birds have drank all their juice (as Jake calls it).

Above is another shot of the vines (the purple bean ones are more visible closer to the ground in this part of the yard). Also it looks like the moon flower is coming back on its own (yay!). The tiki torch is blocking our bird seed feeder, but it needs refilled too!

Here is a shot from one end of the back flower bed to the other. The two trees closest to view are birch trees and then we have assorted zinnias, dhalias, assorted marigolds, daylillies, lantanna, moon flower (not blooming yet), one group of four o'clocks came up, cyprus vine and the purple vine whose name escapes me at the moment. If you click on the link below you can see a post I made in March 2007 (well I actually posted it in April but it is about March) and you can see what the house and yard looked like when we bought it.
http://islanne.blogspot.com/2007/04/march-madness.html

Around our house!

The flowers at the end of the patio.
The "flower" bed to the left of the patio (when you walk out the door). We moved Daisey's house in the corner of the fence underneath the Crepe Myrtle tree (Natchez variety- tree not bush, white not pink).

Flowers at the back again, with an unexpected shot of the compost pile. If you enlarge the picture you can see the vines are starting to climb back up the lattice work.

All of our junk! James pressure washed the house yesterday in anticipation of painting it today and he decided to power wash the patio as well so he moved every thing onto the grass. It doesn't normally look like this! You can see he has finished the brick work around most of the patio. There is just a little bit left as you can see at the bottom right of the picture above.

Our tomatoes and peppers (and one surviving eggplant). That coiled up wire is my clothes line (it hooks to the house when in use).

The front of the house with everything pulled off the porch (and in the yard). You can see where James has started painting. The new color is a light yellow. MUCH better than the peach it has been!

Here is a closeup of the color. Old color (peach?) on the left, new color (silk sail) on the right.

Coat one of two on the pack! Looks good. You can see the difference in color in the one little strip he was working on painting (behind him) when I took this picture.

Another close-up of the difference in color. When he is finished I will post before and after pictures. Two years ago (this past March) we moved in. Since then we have put up a fence completely landscaped the yard (it didn't even have grass), leveled the yard, poured the patio, and a few other little things. We still need to paint the interior, put the other door on the panty/ washroom, replace the ugly countertops and clean it really good before we put it on the market (hopefully before September).

Also, we picked our first ripe pepper today!

Fathers' Day

I forgot to take a single picture on fathers' day as we were blown away by some news we received that morning. We discovered early that morning that we might be having a baby this February. We were (and still are) in such a shock. My doctor called me back and told me to start taking the baby aspirin again (which we ideally would have started prior to planned conception) and my blood test yesterday put me at somewhere between 4-5 weeks. We have our first real appointment and ultrasound on July 8th. Hopefully it will be an uneventful pregnancy and I won't have anything to report anytime soon. My doctor seems to think as early as we found out the baby aspirin will still be effective. I am posting about the pregnancy here because I am excited and want to share it with those of you who look at this blog, however I would appreciate it no one makes any obvious mentions of it on Facebook as we are still trying to sort out some things (like school/work) and it is too early to make any real announcements yet (especially with our history). I am just trying to take it one day at a time at the moment. I am trying to finish my coursework for my summer school class which will be over by 5 p.m. Saturday. It is harder than I thought it was going to be seeing as I am exhausted and can't drink coffee to help me through it. Only other symptoms I am having are lightheadedness, extreme hunger, exhaustion, bladder pressure (which will go away for me in a few weeks, I know from past experience that it is from the unusual position of my uterus), my hair is falling out, my finger nails are brittle, my brain is fuzzy, I am highly emotional and my skin is breaking out. No morning sickness yet, so I am kind of nervous about that. However I had extreme morning sickness with my last miscarriage and almost none with Jake until I was about 8 weeks along. So who knows. Prayers are much appreciated. James is excited (in case you are wondering) and I go back and forth between denial, excitement and worry.

Fun at the Coffee House!

Saturday we went to the Coffee House to take Papoo his fathers day/grandfathers day cards and to see Nana as well! As you can see much fun was had!

Jake before his haircut.

I took this on our way home from his allergy test appointment (he came out just fine so no idea what the rash is about, but he still gets it from time to time. DR said it could be a mild food allergy). I had promised him a chocolate chip cookie if he could be good for the whole trip and after they stuck him (skin test) he asked if he could have two cookies. We stopped at Kroger and bought cookies (and ran into Christie and Elana). I gave him the cookies when we got to the car and then we went to get gas for the car. By time I had finished pumping gas he had eaten both cookies and fallen asleep. I couldn't resist taking a picture!

Mari! Mari! Mari!

I should have know something was up when she waltzed past me in Jakes wellies! I was just so glad to get to unload the dishwasher without 'help'. She pulled Jakes milk off the table and did a little dance in it (wearing his frog wellies). She was so proud of herself. She had been asking me to go outside, but it had been raining. Oh well. When I got on to her she ran and got a dishtowel and helped me clean it up. Such a sweetie!

IAHS Class of 1999 Ten Year Reunion

Above, Carrie Cromeans Koon and I pose for a shot and below I took a picture of James and Catherine Dement Honan's husband Shane.
Here are some of the group shots. There were a lot of people not there. Hopefully the next one (15 year) will be better attended.

Another group shot. We took a lot of them trying to get everyone to pay attention at the same time.

Catherine Dement Honan and I. Turns out we were both pregnant I just didn't know I was at the time.

Shane, Catherine and I. It was really nice to see them. They have been stationed in Kansas but they are currenlty moving to Virginia.

Alix (our sitter) took this picture of us before we left.