The gender has spoken...

And it confirms my belief I'm destined to live a life of all boys. We are having another boy. The ultrasound tech told me the baby was a boy and I just started laughing wondering what I'm going to do with 3 boys. The idea of another boy has grown on me in the last couple hours. I already know what boys bring to the table, we already have a lot of clothing and gear (even though it is all in VA still) boy related, and when they are teenagers I won't have the annoying boyfriend coming over. My boys will be going to the girls house and being annoying. The drawback is we're back to square one with names. I've exhausted all my acceptable boy names, so it should be interesting. For now we will continue to call him Smalls.

Here's his little body with his arm above his face. His profile is similar to Talan's.

Here's a look at his face. A little alienish still, but he should be gaining fat soon.

Now I want to know which three of you thought Small's was going to be a boy! Fess up!

Christmas and beyond......picture style...

If you're noticing some extra coloring on Talan's face you are not mistaken. He found my 6 year old nieces purse which contained her precious lipstick. Talan wanted to be beautiful for Santa. As I mentioned last year I really get annoyed with the idea of Santa and all the work it brings for me. So, this year since Ashton is fully aware of the myth of Santa and Tal is still little I elected not to leave out cookies. Plus we didn't have milk in the house, and I wasn't buying any because Tal was having the beginnings of an asthma attack and hacking up a lung and thought water or juice would be a better choice for him. It is absolutely impossible to tell that boy he can't have milk if it is in the fridge. Out of sight out of mind.
I was telling Brad it didn't look like we hardly had any presents in front of the tree. We have a rule that the boys only get 3 presents because Jesus only got 3 presents and they aren't better than Jesus. Only this year alot of things were big things and not wrapped, making the tree a little bare.

As soon as Talan rounded the corner Christmas morning he yelled "Choo-Choo!" It was really hard to tear him away from his train table and he insisted that some of his trains be in the picture as well. Not going to fight with morning Talan.

Wahoo! Guitar picks!

Talan was convinced that Santa was bringing him candy this year. If that fat man didn't deliver we would have problems.

It was a good lazy Christmas day. We had a massive snow storm Christmas Eve which made even going a mile to my sister in law's house difficult. The snow drifts were definitely taller than little Tal, and even Ashton in some spots. Luckily we have a Jeep with 4 wheel drive that can handle the snow.

Sunday, Ashton and Brad went out to play in the snow and made this super cute snowman on our front porch.

And some sort of face plant snow angel.

Talan, being unable to go outside because of his not so pretty asthma attack, (which I would like to add did not result in a hospital trip! yay!) all the sudden he insisted on giving all his diapers to baby Carson and wearing underwear. Weird because previously he was deeply offended if you asked or even mentioned anything having to do with him putting on regular underwear. The only catch is he insists on putting them on himself which most likely ends up inside out. No big deal, but he doesn't quite grasp yet the idea of pulling them ALL the way up his booty. I spared the booty picture, but just FYI his underwear are half way down his booty and if you try to pull them up he once again gets deeply offended. So, we just take pictures instead. Potty training lasted until 1:00 the next day. He is now back in diapers for the time being.

Notice right...

Tuesday is the big day to hopefully find out the gender of Smalls. Vote for which team you're rooting for. You have until 2:00 pm CST on Dec. 29. Sometime after that I'll be making the announcement.

May the best gender win!

A week ago I was thrown into the world of duct tape crafting. You can make practically anything out of it. Ashton has his hopes set on a duct tape backpack for 3rd grade. I don't know that I'm that skilled, but a little intrigued to try.

Anyway, I asked my neice, Lyndsey, if I could make her a duct tape prom dress, just joking really. Before she could answer both parents said NO. Bummer! Then for some reason I was given permission to make a bra out of the crafty tape. If anyone thought in my blaze through 2 rolls of duct tape (which also included several different kinds of flowers, and a couple wallets) didn't include some sort of clothing item they were mistaken. Wether they were joking or not Lyndsey was getting and wearing that bra.

Today, Lyndsey, who had no idea any of this was happening, received her new bra and was appropriately excited.

Just to add....I was also given permission to post this on the blog.

Today Brad fell asleep and Talan decided he looked like the perfect place to put all of his stickers. I guess that is lesson not to sleep in this house unless Tal is also sleeping...

Meet the artist posing with his subject...

Victory!!!

Notice anything? Something missing perhaps...

Earlier today I explained to Talan he was a big boy and it was time to stop having a dinkdi because dinkdis are for babies. He gave all his dinkdi's to baby Carson (fyi Karolyn--Carson just inherited 23 of Talan's closest friends) because he loves baby Carson. There were only two instances of utter devestation tonight until I offered to let him listen to music because, you know, music at bedtime is for big boys. Ashton is also thrilled because the musical choice was Jonas Brothers. I guess after night one has been accomplished there is no turning back. We are holding high hopes for night two.

Here is what Small's likes to eat....

Sonic Grilled Cheeses. I could eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for the next 24 weeks. So yummy.

Sonic ice water with lime slices. Sometimes Small's wants to switch it up and go with lemon slices, but we definitely prefer limes.
Here's the new one. Tonight I ate baked beans with a dollop of cream cheese. It was fantastic!

In other Small's news....

I am now 16 weeks.....heartbeat has been consistant at 150....my pre-smalls pants no longer fit, but neither does maternity....I can't sleep well on my stomach anymore.....and Small's pretty much doesn't like Talan to jump on him/her.

Next update: Dec 29th where we will find out if Small's is a he or she.

I feel pretty...oh so pretty

I happened to leave my tote of daily primping items on Tal's level which he noticed immediately. No one else, however, noticed until we realized we hadn't seen Talan in a while, and it was quiet. Here's what he was doing....

He is so proud to show daddy how beautiful he looks.
After looking in the mirror and realizing he did truely look gorgeous he would not take the lipstick off.
And just because this is how we roll with the black mail photos in the Coates house, we added a headband.

I love when they wear these hats. And if it was fashionably and socially acceptable I would be wearing one too. Sometimes I want my nose to be warm too.When does one acquire so many stuffed friends? It seems as though it happened over night. Talan needs every one of his friends sleeping either on or next to him every night, and he knows instantly if there is one missing.

If you can find Talan in the above picture please take note that he is down to one....yes ONE dinkdi. He now knows he can in fact live a happy and normal life without three. Now we just have to convince him he can be equally as happy with zero. After this dinkdi experience, Smalls will get none!

All about Ashton...

Here's a couple fun things going on in this 7 year olds life.

He's finally lost the other front tooth. That baby tooth put up a good fight, but sadly (or not so sadly) was no match for that gigantic adult tooth. He was excited that he could want his two front teeth for Christmas, but we've had to change the words a bit. Now all he wants for Christmas is one and two-thirds teeth. (and every toy he sees in a commercial or magazine of course)

He's also getting to be a budding guitarist. Since his first teacher moved out of the country we have a new teacher who I like to call Jack Black because of his striking resemblance and tendency to always be wearing the same thing every week. Hopefully it does get washed at some point. Despite that he is a fantastic fit for a teacher for the crazy kid. After Ashton learned the fundamentals, Jack Black had him pick his favorite song off his ipod, which without question was a Jonas Brothers song called That's The Way We Roll. He's spent the last month and a half or so learning parts to this song which has been great because it is something he WANTS to play.

Here's a link to the actual song in case you don't know all the words and haven't listened to it in the car 37,000 times.

That's The Way We Roll

Next monday he has to bring Jack Black a new song to start learning. Last night we scoured Itunes, had a bit of a dance party, and ultimately Ashton picked his next song...

Slow Ride