favorite memories: play hard

i don't know about you but when i take my kids to a public place like a water park, or even take walks down the street, i see bunches of kids playing.....but no parents interacting with them! it makes me so sad! some of my favorite memories are doing fun things with the kids! there are totally {a lot} of times where i am sitting to the side, relaxing, but just don't miss out on fun things with your kids out of laziness or because you are distracted with other things, aka your phone, computer, tv shows, friends....

here is one of my favorite memories with the boys

we went to Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach and were having a fun night just walking around. the boys were thrilled to see the big fountain! they took off their socks and shoes and then were big babies and wouldn't go through it! so i said " you guys want mommy to go in with you?" they looked at me like i was crazy! even my mom said "Alivia! your 7 months pregnant, your in your clothes!" 

                      

here we are before

before you know it, my heels were off and if you look closely you can see hunter and i in the middle!

all of the kids around us were cracking up and all the parents probably hated me because their kids wanted them to get it!

carter and i

it was such a fun night....until 5 minutes after and we were freezing!!! we had no towels or a change of clothes so the boys started crying! but it was fun while the moment lasted! :)

do fun things with your kids! shock your kids one day and do something "crazy"! i want my kids to always have fun memories of me and know that their mommy likes to have fun! let loose and know its ok to mess up your makeup and get your hair wet! 

here is another favorite memory: rock on

knowing that God always comes through

after my last post baby mama drama i wanted to follow up with this one! after having low progesterone levels and the doc finding a blood clot in my ultrasound at 6 weeks,  the doctor found a "band" that wrapped around my uterus at our 12 week ultrasound. it totally freaked me out! she specifically said not to look up anything online, but what do you do when you find out something is in your body and you know nothing about...you look it up online! shawn had to keep asking me if i was staying off line and would tell him i was then one night i started crying telling him how there were different stories of babies born with out arms, legs or something! they got tangled up in the band and the blood flow got cut off and they babies would lose a limb while still in the mom's belly! after those stories i HAD to stop looking things up!

we all knew that i wanted a baby girl but after that i was just thinking "all i want is a healthy baby" the doctor said they wanted to do another ultrasound around 16 weeks and not to worry because the babe was to small to get tangled in the band for now.

the night before our ultrasound i was just laying in bed and i just was thanking God that we would go to our ultrasound and the band would be gone! i pictured going in and the technician saying "looks like it has disappeared "

we went in at 15 weeks and 5 days.....

the lady put the jelly stuff on my belly and right away says " looks like the blood clot has cleared up..... ok, and i don't see that band anymore so that's good (and it was so distinct on the ultrasound before i questioned what it was) and do you want to know what you are having?"
she said all that in one breath!!!!! i was just thanking God! and "YES, we want to know what we are having!" i was so jittery inside knowing that everything looked awesome i was hanging on to having a girl, haha! i was thinking "its so another boy if she knows what we are having, it's so early and she saw "something" right away!

"ok,well, if you look right here, it looks like you are having a GIRL"
omg... i couldn't even talk! i was thanking God again and i just looked at shawn and had tears running down my face! he couldn't even say anything either! then i asked "are you sure?" haha
she said she wouldn't of said anything if she wasn't sure!

talking about God coming through, he gave us a beautiful, healthy baby girl!

6 week vs. 12 weeks

they change so much

16 week ultrasound

next post: all about our gender reveal party!

this was SO much fun!!! i had to keep the secret for a week that

 we were having a girl!

true love waits

true love waits.... some teenagers probably haven't heard that quote before! it was one of my faves when i was growing up! 

shawn and i celebrate 6 years of marriage this weekend! this post was inspired by one of my favorite traits of his. the one thing that i have always loved about him is that he is such a gentleman. he has been since the time we were dating. 

some people could probably careless but we "saved ourselves for marriage" we dated 7 1/2 years before getting married and that's a long time to wait! haha! i am so glad we did! not once before marriage did shawn ask or try to have sex with me! some people may think that is so weird but to me nothing says i love you more than "i have saved myself for you and only you, for our wedding night"  i will definitely be sharing this with our kids and promoting abstinence! most parents will probably think i'm crazy when the kids get older but "hey honey, if your going to have sex at age 13, let me put you on some birth control" is not happening in my house! just because abstinence is becoming less and less common in high school and college, doesn't mean it's not worth teaching your kids about it. it's definitely not easy but so worth it. in reality, who wouldn't love for their child to wait until marriage?  anyway, i could do a whole other post on abstinence but ill save that for another rainy day! (wink)

that above showed me how much of a gentleman Shawn is! it created so much security and trust in our marriage. he is so sweet and i'm so blessed he chose me to be his wife! 

happy 6 year anniversary shawn! 
love you
xoxox

baby mama drama

pretty much from the start of my pregnancy there was "drama" :)

i should of known i was pregnant with a girl! 

so, i found out i was preggo and scheduled a visit to the doc, to make a long story short i didn't know exactly how far a long i was so they did blood work and wanted to do an ultrasound. i got my blood test results back and they called me and said my progesterone levels were low. the same day i got an ultrasound, where the technician showed me the babes heartbeat. i was so excited to see that little "blinking light" in the middle of a tiny bean! :) i had never gotten an ultrasound that early before, but i thought it was weird that she didn't say "everything looks great" like they always had in the past with the boys! as soon as i got home, a nurse called me and said they had found a blood clot where the baby implanted. i was so freaked out. she did said it wasn't normal, but also that it wasn't uncommon. they put me on  "pelvic rest" and said not to lift anything over 10 pounds. she also wanted me to come in to get progesterone shots because of the low progesterone levels. with the boys, my pregnancies had been so worry free! 

seeing our little bean for the first time

i was debating if i should even do the shots because i like to go the more natural route and i had also never heard of anyone getting progesterone shots before. i looked them up online and decided to go ahead with them. the only side affect i found was that you have "vivid dreams" and can get super tired, but being a mom of two crazy boys and being pregnant in general  i knew that was going to happen anyway! i also had to take progesterone supplements 2 times a day until i was 12 weeks. the nurse told me the supplements would be $135, when i went to pay they were $305. this little girl was spending her daddy's money right away!! :)

i went in for the shots 3 days apart from each other  one in each hip. i guess she said the shots were progesterone and oil. it hurt like heck going in. she said i would be sore for up to a few days and i was definitely tender. i had to lay on my back or belly while sleeping because i was so sore. in the midst of this, i told my fam i was preggo and a few friends but didn't tell too many about what was going on. the last thing you need is to tell someone about what's going on then hear them say, "i knew this one person who....." 

let me back track, i am usually a person that shouts from the mountain tops the day i get a positive test, "HEY WORLD, I'M HAVING A BABY!!" haha. but i was in fear that something was going to happen. a few months before this pregnancy,  i was 2 weeks late on my cycle and took a pregnancy test while out with a friend. i saw a faint positive. i went home and told shawn, and the next morning i started bleeding. i called the doc right away and they said occasionally it's normal to bleed for some women. i went in for blood work and they called me back and confirmed my pregnancy. they had me go back 3 days later and called me and said my levels had only took a small dip and that i should go back again in a week. longest week ever, esp, not knowing whats going on! after that week they said there was a huge decline in my levels and that i had miscarried for sure. i had really mixed feelings about it! i felt like i didn't have too much time to celebrate before i started bleeding.i was definitely sad , especially  because i was thinking "what if this was my chance to have my girl?"  it had all happened so quick, it didn't really have time to sink in. i found myself thinking about it as other friends got pregnant, then when they hit "milestones" or were finding out the sex of their  baby, i was thinking "we would be finding out next week". i can't say that i even thought about it a lot, just every so often. this whole situation made shawn kinda scared to have another babe. he was super quiet during that whole week and really didn't say much. he said he didn't want that to happen again and was concerned for me too! 

ok, so all that, to say when i found out i was pregnant with Capri, i didn't tell too many people, i didn't post about it on facebook, i didn't shout to the world like i usually do.  then all of the sudden i was sitting at home and thought "why am i waiting for something bad to happen?!?! i am expecting the best. i'm having this baby and i'm just so excited!" 

 i took this pic a few minutes later and posted it on fb and told everyone i knew!  this was at 7 weeks! yes, that's a lot earlier than most do it, but for me that was almost a month later than i usually did! haha  also, it was me telling myself (if that makes sense) "we are going to have an awesome, healthy pregnancy!" i love to celebrate my babies and pregnancies as long as possible! i know so many people wait till the 2nd trimester to tell everyone, but to me...why wait?!?! believe the best! some people are just more private people, and everyone has their reasons for waiting, but for the most part i hear women say "we just wanted to make sure we were out of the woods!"  

don't be waiting around for bad news! 

hey world, I'M PREGNANT 

now, ill say this, i know their have been many times when people did tell their news and they ended up miscarrying  i think when that happens, you can really be there for other women that are going through the same thing. i don't know why that has happened to people, but don't let previous circumstances put you in fear for your new pregnancy. start thanking God for your next pregnancy and that it will be a healthy one! 

 we got some news  on our second ultrasound at 12 weeks. another opportunity came along to exercise our faith and to be positive ! :) 

next post... knowing God always comes though

how capri came to be

 a little bit about how capri came to be (besides the obvious, wink)

shawn and i had our two cute baby boys, but i so wanted to have a girl! i talked to him over and over about having another babe.

 shawn: no, i'm good with the two boys

me: but shawn, lets just have one more!
 i'll always have wondered if the 3rd babe
 would of been a girl. please?

shawn: no

me: ok, then let's pray about it

shawn: no (what a stubborn guy) 

 that's how most of our convos went.....and then one night, i said
 "ok, well, i am just going to pray about it myself and if we are suppose to have another it will happen!" 

all along shawn was just trying to be a tough guy and say he didn't want a baby girl but i knew he did! :)  when we would talk about it he would say "i don't want a daughter because i don't want to have to give her away some day!" 
don't let him fool you, he's a softie!!! 

my sweet friend, deb baldwin and i were talking one day and i remember her saying  while we were shopping at target "God wants to give you the desires of your heart, if you want a baby girl just pray that God changes shawn's heart about having another baby and that you have a girl"

so we did end up praying about it together, i would talk to the boys about having a baby sis, i even bought baby girl clothes and blankets. i would literally thank God everyday that i would have a daughter some day! 

this is crazy but the month before i got pregnant hunter brought this home from preschool! i almost pee'd my pants!

let's get to the point of this.... on january 12th 2012 i randomly took a preggo test....and while we are talking about pregnancy test, i have a confession....you have probably never met anyone that has taken as many pregnancy tests as me! haha! i am crazy sometimes, i would take one, look at it, inspect it, think i see a line , and take it a part, stare at it some more, text a pic to a friend and do the same thing the next day! i sound crazy don't i?!? so, i stopped by the dollar tree on my way to the salon, ran in, took the test, heard my client come in, so i was washing my hands when i look down and see two lines on the test.....o.m.g...i was preggo! eeeekkkkkk!!! i was so excited but got that crazy, nervous, freaked out feeling too! i had to tell my client the second she walked in because i was so excited.

i wanted to tell shawn right away and usually i'm so creative at how i tell him i'm preggs , but i was too excited to come up with a plan that involved a lot of time. i ended up telling my co-worker too because she said i was acting weird!  after telling those gals, we did think of something cute to do! i decided to write "hi daddy" on my stomach and go see shawn at his office.

 so i called him and said: hey babe, can i stop by and bring you lunch?

shawn: hey, sorry, i'm leaving the office in a few!

me: well, can you wait, i'm 5 minutes away

shawn: ok, if you can be here in 5 i'll wait!

so i drove there as fast as possible, went into his office and his co-worker was in there. i didn't want to lift up my shirt in front of him too! so i just told Shawn i would walk out with him.

right when we were about to walk out, i opened my coat and lifted my shirt......
 and turned around, smiling so big.....
what do you know, he was turned around the other way looking at something. i just said something like "hey, babe, whats this?" to make him turn around.he looks once , then takes a double take and smiles so stinkin' big and 
says "what?are you serious?" 

we walked out to the car and he was literally beaming, i was kinda shocked! we hugged and kissed then he sent me some of the cutest texts to tell me how excited he was that we were having another babe!

 and that's how capri came to be....

 i have lots more to write about like,telling our parents, getting progesterone shots, lots of ultrasounds, finding out we were having a girl and our gender reveal party (which was the most fun thing ever) but for now here is a video that my sweet friend stephanie made me :)

makes me cry. everytime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EaylLVi7MkE#!

my baby blue

my little hunter lewis will be 5 on april 1st! it is seriously so stinkin' crazy how fast time has gone by! my parents always told me "wait till you grow up, time goes by so fast" and it really does when you can see time go by in your kids! to think i was in the hospital with him almost 5 years ago is just nuts!

i am SO bummbed that i don't have pics of hunter and i on my computer from when i had him in the hospital. my hubby "misplaced" the external hard drive that all of our pics are on from my old computer! ahhh! it makes me so sad!

ok, so i am writing this to celebrate his birthday....

woohoo, happy birthday hunter.

but also to write about my first weeks as a new mom. 

first off, i loved being preggo so much! i literally didn't get sick once my whole pregnancy. it was amazing. so since that was oh so amazing, i thought motherhood would be too!

i was induced on march 31st at 8 pm . four days overdue. i wasn't dilated at all, wasn't having contractions, but my fluid was low. 

this was the 4d ultrasound we got the day before he was born

i love this so much

i texted/called all my family and friends and they all met me at the hospital, i think there were at least 20 people at the hospital by 10pm, i remember my brothers bringing their friends from their b-ball team, haha, all my sweet friends were there, my family, it was really a lot of fun and my labor was going really smooth, especially after my epidural!!!! that was  the most amazing thing on earth!!!!!! i can not put enough exclamation points after that!

ok, so i have this adorable little babe within 8 hours from the time we checked in the hospital,

he was born at 4 am on the dot 

april 1, 2008

6 pounds 14 ounces 

21 1/2 inches long

 i think everything is going to be even more amazing from here on out....

well, my epidural eventually wore off and i could feel some major pain.  i cant take pills but tried to choke down a pain pill in yogurt ,jello, crushed up , then in pudding but kept gagging, for some reason they didn't have liquid tylenol, so the pain continued, i hadn't slept since the night before because i had visitors the whole time i was in labor, i'm nursing this babe (which was one of the hardest things i have ever done in my life, which will be a post for another day), and  the thought of circumcision for  hunter made me cry....all day long!!! 

so here i am, boobs sore, baby making parts sore, crying, trying to nurse him, in between having a ton of visitors and crying, fun times!

have you ever heard the phrase "cry me a river"...i could of done that within the next few weeks!

i cried and cried....and cried. then would go to sleep and wake up in the middle of the night and cry....then cry, you get the point! i cried non-stop for the first two weeks of hunter's life and then would cry more because i didn't know why i was crying! i would stop then cry more because i felt like the worst mom ever for crying, haha!

a picture of a picture

this was when hunter was a week old

no one ever told me that "crying" was some what normal! i had never heard of anyone doing that before! the only person that knew i  was so emotional  was shawn. i told him not to tell anyone because i was so embarrassed! i didn't even tell my mom! i remember people would bring us dinner, i put a happy face on for them and just say i was tired, then as soon as they walked out of the door, and i mean the second they walked out, the door closed i would lock it and cry! i felt so bad for my sweet hubby! he didn't even know what to do!! i didn't know what i wanted him to do! so he would just hold me! :)

after about a week, i was at my mom's and asked her if she ever cried after she had any of us. she said "no, why hunny? do you?" and then i started balling!!!! she called a nurse friend of hers and told her about my little situation! the nurse told her to make sure i was eating protein and getting some sleep! sleep?! ahhh, what was that?! i was nursing hunter morning, noon and night, and not eating because i didn't have the energy {the plus side to that is i lost all my baby weight the first two weeks} my mom then came and spent the night with us and got up with hunter and would make me plates of food and make me eat them! she and shawn were my lifesavers. shawn was up every single night with hunter and i at least for the first month to help me {and to hand me tissues}

thankfully the  "baby blues" only lasted 2 weeks! it was the longest two weeks of my life! but you know how crazy a mama can be, i would love to go back to when he was a tiny babe and hold him in my arms again. i guess maybe i'd pick when he was a month old or older! 

{wink}

this probably isn't the happy birthday post you were thinking it would be for hunter! but that was my reality the first two weeks of his life! thank God everything has been smooth sailing after that!

 he is the sweetest, funniest, craziest little boy ever.

 love my baby boy so much!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY HUNTER LEWIS HERSHBERGER!

my favorite night of the week: date night

i love dates with my husband!

there is nothing better than giving kisses to our sweet kids, and driving off, holding hands, smooching the night away, pulling into a restaurant and having an un-interrupted conversation over a nice meal!

have you ever seen those couples who sit at the table and don't talk?! it's so awkward. most times they are  on their phone or starring at menu cards or something! how sad!  and i hate to say it but it seems like it is always older couples and or couples with kids! and i can tell you why that's happening.....

they stopped dating years ago. maybe after they had kids....

it's so easy to make everything about the kids, the kids, the kids...then bam, your kids are adults and moved out and your sitting across the room from each other with nothing in common! maybe your kids are even still young and the one time you go out, you have an awkward silence or have nothing to talk about but the kids.

start dating.

 it will change your marriage. 

i think its kinda crazy that if i put a picture on social media, people are surprised that we go on so many dates, especially having small kids. setting aside 3-4 hours a week or sometimes every other week , is not very much time together. i wonder, why isn't everyone dating?

when i was little my parents went on dates every week! every monday night to be exact! when i got old enough, i was the baby sitter and would make hot dogs and mac n cheese every single monday night

 {i remember that like it was yesterday}

 i was probably like "come on, i have to baby sit so you can go on another stinkin' date!" haha, but i am so glad they did! it really showed us kids that date night was a priority!

there is no excuse not to date. but here are some common ones:

we have kids.

get a baby sitter.

 my kid cries when i leave them. 

i heard something i thought was a super good point from a pastor that came to our church, do you want your kids crying now because they miss you for 3 hours? or would you rather them be crying in a few years because your getting a divorce?

 BAM.

i understand not wanting to leave your kids. carter would cry sometimes when we left for dates and  i would feel so bad. i had to put those feelings a side and realize, he will be fine, we are just going away for a few hours, he's in good hands and i need to do this for our marriage. nine times out of ten he would stop crying 5 minutes later:) 

we have a small babe.

when each of our kids were little babes,  we still made dating a priority. i pretty much nursed the kids on demand too, but that's not an excuse. we would go somewhere 5 minutes away, so if i was needed we could be there!

we don't have the money.

um, when you were dating before you were married, did you ever just go get 

a pizza and go to the dollar theater? do the same! it might make it fun to reminisce too!

it doesn't take a lot of money to go on a date! 

and if you can't afford a babysitter, see if you can switch baby sitting for another couple!

your too busy...

you will make time for things you value, 

so if you don't have time for your spouse , you need to rearrange your priorities!

this is just a little bit of encouragement to start/keep dating! 

we hadn't been on a date in 2 weeks (which is a long time for us) so we asked my parents to watch the kids while we went to get coffee, a donut and looked at Christmas lights for an hour!

this is a double date we went on to a really cool place in 

akron called "dante boccuzzi"

casual date night

our most recent date night 

p.s. when you are on your dates, 

don't get on your cell phone unless its your babysitter calling, make that a rule! so if you don't have kids, don't get on your phone!