24 Weeks!

I am 24 weeks along today which means only 16 weeks to go... maybe 18 if she hangs out as long as her brother did. At this point I am just figuring I will have her mid to late April, hopefully before May though :)

We had some friends over for dinner last night and talked a lot about babies and birth stories. It was nice to talk to someone who understands wanting a natural labor and delivery. I am really hoping that I will not have to be induced and will be able to experience a completely natural labor this time. Oh well we have 4 months before we need to worry about making that decision.

On a different topic Chris has already received notice that he will be asked to interview with the Southern College of Optometry! We are so excited to be in this stage of his schooling and getting ready to take the next step in his college career. I think he is going to be the best Optometrist ever!

Pictures

So I was getting a Christmas present ready for Chris' Mom which was lots of fun for me. She wanted lots of pictures of Matthew and us for her digital picture frames and hopefully to show off how cute he is. I am very sad that she doesn't get to see him very often, hopefully once Chris is done with Optometry school we can fix that. So I got to go through all my pictures from the last year, which was a great reminder of all the fun we have had! Matthew has grown and changed so much this year. I will not put to many pictures up right now because I am using Chris's computer and all our pictures are on mine. However I do have our family pictures and Matthew's one year pictures so I wanted to share some of those tonight! He is such a sweet boy, we love him, and we have had a great year together as a family. It has been rather stressful at times and I feel like we are barely hanging on at some points, but it has really been a great year and we have been blessed more than I see at the time of course, but looking back I can see the blessings much clearer.

**** photos all taken by Melissa Kilner Photography in July 2011

Finals Week

It is finals week for Chris which apparently equates to me being super stressed out with him. It has been a rough week between finals and Matthew teething with all the other kids here. Anyways that is sorta what I am going to write about but mostly that is just venting.

Ever since I got pregnant I have been exhausted and moody. I don't remember it being this bad with Matthew, I feel like I was in the beginning and then the end of my pregnancy with him, but this time it has been constant. I really don't like feeling this way all the time! I am so excited to have our baby girl, and everyday I just get more excited, sometimes I think it is because I want to start feeling like myself again. I want my patience back, I want to feel good again, I want to not feel tired all the time (I know that will be awhile, but at least once she comes I will be closer to sleeping normal again).

Now don't get me wrong as far as being pregnant goes I have it easier than a lot of people. It just drains me of energy, kills my back (I get pregnancy sciatica), steals my patience, and makes me grouchy. That's all :) At least I am not sick all the time, or on bed rest, or have high blood pressure, or countless other things that can truly make pregnancy miserable.

I guess I know in many ways I am lucky that this is all I have to deal with, but it is still no fun.

On another note: I love my little Matthew, he is such a great kid and he just gets better everyday. He is learning so much now, we are still adding signs to his vocabulary and he is trying to use more verbal words. He is super grumpy right now because of all the new teeth, but the thought of molars coming in doesn't sound like it would be pleasant, so we understand. He is going to be a super big brother, I just wish he understood what was happening so that we could prepare him, oh well he will adjust. He has always taken to transitions easily, sometimes amazingly easy. 2012 is going to bring lots of changes to his little world, I just hope that he handles them all okay. We will be having a baby, a couple months later closing the daycare (meaning he will loose his friends), and then moving somewhere completely new. That is a lot of changes in a few short months for our little guy!

Goodluck!

Yesterday was a busy day. We left the house around 8 in the morning and headed up to Coeur d' Lane, Id where we met a lady off Craigslist and bought some cute girl clothes from her. Now I feel like we will be able to dress our little girl, especially since we have some good friends (the Jackson's) who have of offered lots of hand me downs for baby girl!

After we got the clothes we headed over to Spokane and saw our friends Tim and Liz and Matthew got to play with Travis while Chris and I made a quick trip to Costco (we got really neat things like paper towels, Kleenex, and toilet paper). Matthew had fun playing and it was great to see our friends even if it was a quick visit.

Then we were able to go and see our friends Adam and Bridgett who are moving to Kansas next week! It is crazy to think they are moving so far away but it will be great for them. Adam got a job in Kansas and we wish them the best of luck in their new adventure! It was nice to hang out with some great friends for awhile, we were all close while undergrads at WSU and have remained friends through all the changes life has brought, we were missing a few good friends from the group they know who they are.

After that we ran a few more errands got some dinner and headed home. I was sad I forgot my camera and was not able to get pictures of any of our adventures but it was a good day. On another note I think that Chris and I are more than ready to move on from Pullman, there are a few people we will miss a lot who are in the area, but other than them. We are pretty much just ready to leave. We have been going to church and activities and all the things you do to make friends and for some reason, maybe we smell bad, but we have only made a couple new friends in church. If those few people are not there then we literally sit alone at activities. People have even taken chairs from our table to move them to another table that was full. Not trying to complain but I am ready to stop going to activities and start out in a new ward that we might actually feel like a part of. We really attribute a lot of this to the set up of the ward, because it is all married students who are super busy like we are, and if you can't make it to certain things the relief society organizes then you don't really get to make friends. We don't have anything against people in the ward in fact they are all nice people from the little that we have interacted with them, we are just ready to move someplace with a more welcoming ward.

22 Weeks

I had another check up today. So far everything looks good, the doctor said that I am measuring small, and the ultrasound put me 4 days or so later than we thought, which would be about the 14th or 15th of April. He however doesn't think we need to change the due date at this point. The difference in days is not big enough. He thinks that I am not measuring as large as I should be is simply because she is hiding inside me so well, that doesn't explain the difference in the ultrasound, but he is not worried at this point.

Other than that she has a nice strong heartbeat, and is very active. He even felt her kick while he was getting her heartbeat, which apparently is good considering they don't really expect others to be able to feel the kicks until 24 weeks. Chris has felt them a few times though, starting about a week or a week and a half ago.

First Hair Cut

Matthew went and had his hair cut for the first time tonight. I had been debating about doing it myself or taking him somewhere, but with Christmas coming up I really didn't want to ruin his hair. So we took him over to Super Cuts to see what they could do. He sat in my lap while she was cutting his hair, she was really good with him too. He was even a trooper he started to get upset at first with the trimmer but then she started saying "tickle tickle" whenever she would put the trimmer up to his head. So we came out of it with no tears and much shorter hair, we might not cut it the same way every time, but we didn't know how else to do it this time. I brought my camera but didn't take pictures... so here are some after pictures.

"CHEESE!"

Signing Time

I went to the library the other day and found a movie for kids called "Signing Time" and it is great! Matthew loves it and each time he watches it he picks up another sign which is wonderful, hopefully we will get more spoken words soon, but for now this will help us communicate a little better.

So far he has learned:

Milk

Food

Ball

Dog

We have watched it about 3 times so that is pretty good I think. Now he knows those signs plus:

More

Please

Love it and totally recommend it to everyone with toddlers, especially those lacking spoken language like mine :) We will be moving on to volume 2 here at the end of the week I think.

Names

Now that we are having a girl we get to talk about names.
Lots and lots of names, we have some favorites,
but I'm not sure if they are the only ones we want to consider...

Here is how we named Matthew,
We looked at hundreds of names,
made lists,
and then more lists,
and evenually narrowed it down to about 5 names,
we took that list to the hospital with us.

At that time I thought naming a girl would be so much easier!
Ha! So here is what I am asking,
Do you have a favorite name for a girl?
Or maybe a few favorites?
Why do you like them?

We are (I think) going to copy a friend of mine who gathered a bunch of names and then made a bracket, they then went down the list choosing one over the other, they ended up with a great name, which they both liked, and it was not one they would have thought originally. Now we may do this a few times or take the runners up with us to the hospital also. Then when we meet our baby girl we will have a nice list of names and can choose the one we feel fits her best.

Please comment with some awesome names to add to our list!

Thanks!!

Bed Time

I need to go to bed but I am still up and on blogger again.

I just thought maybe if I do a post about all the things running through my head I might be able to fall asleep.

I don't really think it is going to work, but it's worth a shot!

We're having a girl!

I have been saying this all day long

and jumping for joy inside.

I didn't know how much I really wanted this baby to be a girl,

but I am just so excited.

I am excited for Matthew to be a big brother,

I am excited to see Chris be the daddy of a girl,

I am excited to have a daughter to dress in cute clothes,

and put pig tails in her hair,

I am excited to help her grow into a wonderful person,

I am excited to find out if she will have red hair,

I am excited to see if she is a girly girl or a tom boy,

I am excited to see it all I guess.

Don't get me wrong

most of those things also apply to Matthew.

I assure you I was just as excited 

when I found out Matthew was a boy,

but now,

now we will have one of each gender.

I have been blessed with the amazing opportunity

to raise a son and a daughter!

We bought her two outfits today and I love that my husband asked me to wait until he could come. He is an amazing father and husband.

I just keep looking at the clothes over and over,

and at the ultrasound pictures over and over,

and tomorrow I will be cleaning out some drawers in a dresser,

just for her.

Now we also just for hand-me downs and good deals to fill those drawers, 

because with out them Matthew wouldn't have many clothes either.

I could keep making this list all night

Maybe I'm crazy

but I'm happy and crazy 

so it works!

***Good Night All***

It's a.....

Girl!!

We are very excited to welcome a brand new baby girl into the family.

The ultrasound tech said everything looked wonderful and SHE seems healthy as can be. It is always so neat to watch them do the ultrasound, it is really amazing everything that you can see and measure.

I'm super excited right now

so 

here are a couple pictures and I am going to look at some name books.

Lots of Fun

So every once in awhile while looking for an activity for all these young kids I come up with a good idea. This one worked particularly well so I thought I would share it with everyone who reads this blog, just in case you have some young kids to keep busy for awhile.

It is Simple all you need are:

• Some plastic dinosaurs 
• Salt
• A Cookie Sheet

This is what you create:

Tomorrows the Day!

My ultrasound is tomorrow morning!! I am excited and nervous but mostly excited, I think the nervous comes from the possibility that they will find something wrong. 

I try to push that to the back of my mind and remember that no matter what we will get through it, and this is the baby Heavenly Father gave to us, we just pray he or she was given a sound and strong body and mind. 

I am really super excited to find out boy or girl so that I can figure out names and start looking for clothes especially if it is a girl! I could have so much fun dressing a little girl, but we will love either of course.

I am also excited because then we can start talking about baby brother or baby sister with Matthew, maybe prepare him a little for the changes coming up, I'm just not sure if he will understand what we are trying to tell him.

Thanksgiving and Science Center

For Thanksgiving we went to Spokane and spent a couple days with our friends Tim and Liz. It was a great dinner, great company, and great fun. 

After dinner we went through the ads while the kids played and made a plan for our black Friday shopping, which started at 10pm on Thursday but it was still fun. Liz, Chris and I went out we stood in some lines, figured out that Best buy was ridiculous, Target was crazy so we just skipped those. We went to Walmart which was pointless basically because everyone went super early got the deals they wanted and then waited in the store for the sale prices to start (not worth giving up Thanksgiving for in my opinion but that is what they did), so we only got one thing that we wanted. We had success at Shopko at Midnight, Khols, and at Fred Myer and Sears in the morning. We loved Fred Myer because we got there at about 8:00 and they still had everything that we wanted and were not crazy crowded at that point. Then we went over to the Mall and hit up the last few stores. 

Our buys were Matthew's Christmas present ($9.00), new socks for him (50% off), a second set of tupperware which we needed ($8.00), a Harry Potter Movie-part 1 ($7.00), and I was able to get a nice sterling silver and gemstone ring that will work as my wedding band during my pregnancy. It was a $130.00 ring that we got for $30.00, not too bad. Considering the other option we found we paid almost $15.00 for and the lady said that the rings sometimes turn peoples fingers green so I should put clear nail polish on it to prevent that. So we spent a little extra and were able to get a nice ring, we picked out one with Chris's birthstone in it which I really like. We have a very tight budget this holiday so we are sticking to needs (minus the movie and the ring I didn't really need, but I really don't like not wearing a wedding ring)

After we were done shopping, we had lunch the kids took a nice nap and then we took the older two boys (Matthew and Travis) to the Mobius Children's Museum. While Chris and Tim worked on Chris's application essay which he finally was able to finish! Thanks Tim!! 

Anyways it was a great trip, we love spending time with our friends, and Matthew loves playing with his buddy Travis! Here are a few pics of the boys together.

Oobleck!

Cornstarch and water are really fun to play with, especially on the table!

Writing in the Oobleck

"Thanks for letting me make a BIG mess Mom!"

All done

This was painting on a different day, but isn't he the cutest!

20 Weeks!

HALF WAY!! It seems crazy that we have already reached the halfway point in this pregnancy, it is still surreal to me for some reason, I think I felt that way with Matthew. Sometimes it still seems surreal that I have the best, cutest, most wonderful toddler in the world :) 

Well now I jump as I am being kicked, punched, and used as a gym to do somersaults in. This baby seems more active than Matthew was, maybe I can just feel everything easier, but even Chris has already felt it move and kick over and over and over. That does help it all seem a little more real, I get little reminder punches every few hours, or most times I am still for awhile.One week  until our ultrasound!! I am so excited to see our little Jelly Bean and make sure all is going well, and then to either pick out a nice pink or blue outfit :) Just think if my dreams are right maybe I will get to pick out both
(HA HA! Definitely not ready for twins!) 

Anyways so far so good and I will be anxiously counting down the days. Chris is lucky he is distracted with all his essays and papers, so it is not what he is counting down for. He is excited, but I think he is just as excited to only have 2 more weeks of class and then finals! This has been a rough semester and he is looking forward to a nice break, and then an easier final semester at WSU.

Babysitting

So this may just be me and the way I interpret the word babysitting, but it drives me crazy when parents say they are babysitting their own children. I just want to sit them down and explain that they are parenting their children not babysitting them. Now I know that not everyone views the word or maybe interprets it like I do but I just think it is silly. I never ask Chris to babysit Matthew when I have to leave because Matthew is HIS son, so it is not babysitting he is just being Matthew's dad and taking care of him without me, like I do when he is gone. I'm sorry for the rant but it is just a little pet peeve of mine and thought I would blog about it :)

On another more personal note I had a cyst drained that developed while BF Matthew and it was a normal non-malignant cyst so that is good news (it was what they thought - 99% sure but we checked it anyways). The radiologist was able to explain why I still have pain there, and what I need to do in order to BF successfully with less pain for this next baby, because of some abnormal ducts. So despite the needles and pain tonight I feel like it was a good visit and at least I understand a bit more about what is going on!

First Time Playing in the SNOW!!

He walked back and forth over and over, I'm not sure he knew what else to do.

He found a leaf

Trying to ride his giraffe

Smiles :) He is so cute!

Found some ice

"Yummm"

All Done! Look at those red fingers.

I'm sorry about the sideways pictures, I changed them in my picture editing software and saved it, but for some reason they didn't upload that way. 

It was so much fun to watch him explore and play in the snow. He was apprehensive at first, but really started smiling and having fun as he got used to it. 

 

I think it helped him to have a friend here who loves to play in the snow, he showed him how it was done. He even tried to teach him about snowball fights (Matthew was not liking that though). At the end I think he figured out how cold he was and then it was all over, but it was fun while it lasted!

Not Alone After all

It was great, Matthew was asleep, Chris is in the room studying, and I sat down and thought "Yay! some time for myself with no one to worry about!"

Ha! I was forgetting about someone because all of a sudden I start feeling tiny little baby kicks and punches. I then silently laughed to myself and thought I'm not really ever alone :)

Not really a sad thought though. In fact I love being surrounded by people I love, even if I do get tired sometimes. It is still the best and I am lucky to have so many people to worry about!

19 Weeks

So I will not be putting up weekly updates every week I'm sure but I am counting down until we get to have our ultrasound! Only 2 more weeks!! We will have the all-telling or at least gender telling ultrasound in two weeks when I am 21 weeks along. I have been feeling baby move quite a bit more and I am sure the big kicks are coming soon. I am just glad to have a little while left before the rib kicking starts :) 

Funny story, ever since I found out I was pregnant I have been having dreams about having twins. After the first ultrasound (7weeks) I though they would go away because it confirmed a single baby, supposedly. Ha the dreams just changed slightly to include the fact that they missed the 2nd baby in the first ultrasound. The tricks my mind can play on itself!  Yet one more reason I am glad the next ultrasound is coming up, maybe I can finally kick the twin dreams, that would be great.

Funny Story

I just have to blog about this, one of the many times I wished I had a video camera happened last night. I just think this would be a great video to show at someones graduation party or wedding reception (yup, I'm a nice Mom).

Matthew was playing with his toys on the floor while Chris and I were talking. Well I look down and Matthew has a hot-wheels sized tricycle, he was just pushing it across the floor, well he decided that it would be more fun to ride.

So Chris and I watch as Matthew tries over and over to sit on this tiny little tricycle. It was hilarious and oh so cute. After a few minutes he gave up and resumed pushing it across the floor.

The story may not be funny to you all, but trust me it was the cutest and most funny thing I have seen in a long time! We love watching our little boy grow and explore :)

So Frustrating!

Okay so I opened a home daycare this year and although the rules drive me crazy, I have jumped through the hoops. Now they have added new requirements and rules that we must be able to follow by March of 2012. I think it is ridiculous because they were already making it extremely difficult to get licensed and follow all the laws, and now it is just even worse, we may not be able to even continue our business in the home we are in now..  GRRR

His Favorite

So I had a doctors appointment earlier this week, and I came home to Matthew laughing away. Well it turns out Chris had found Shaun the Sheep on Netflix, and Matthew loved it. This is the first TV show that he has even shown an interest in, so we have turned it on for him a few more times and we get the same reaction. I am not really into pushing TV on toddlers, however it is nice to have a show that he is interested in. It is pretty funny so Chris and I don't mind watching it with him. It is by no means educational, but I don't see a harm in it every once in awhile :)

 

Hungry Boy!

This kid of mine must be going through a growth spurt because he has eaten more food than I can believe in the last couple of days. He just always seems hungry! This morning he ate a huge bowl of Cherrios, some peanut butter toast, a good portion of my eggs, some of Chris's toast. Then not even 45 minutes after finishing breakfast he started whining for milk and a banana! Oh my!

18 Weeks

I am 18 weeks pregnant today! It is crazy to think that in 2 more weeks I will be at the halfway mark, and then 1 week after that we have our ultrasound to find out if it is a boy or girl (and to make sure he/she is developing properly). I have started to feel the baby, not all the time, but every once in awhile I can feel it move or push up against me.
At my checkup yesterday the doctor was trying to measure the little ones heartbeat, but the baby just would not hold still. It took him quite awhile to get the heartbeat without being interrupted by little baby kicks. We have an active little one it there!

By Leaps and Bounds

Here is my little guy and his finished pumpkin, I realized I never posted a picture of him with his pumpkin completed. He stuck the face on himself, I was impressed that he managed to get the eye's, nose, and mouth in the correct order.
This little boy is learning new things like crazy lately, he is starting to talk more, I think only Chris and I can understand most of the words at this point, but it is still one step closer. I asked the doctor about that and he said jumbled is okay as long as we are understanding what he is saying, it will get clearer soon. Not only is he talking more but he has learned to use his mega blocks, shape sorter, and more. He is learning his body parts and loves to find his belly button and nose, he loves to comb his hair while Mommy brushes hers (sometimes even brings the comb to Chris so he can help).
He is also playing pretend. He pretends to feed the baby dolls with the bottle. He also will grab a bag (sometimes a doctor bag, sometimes a play dog purse) and come up to Chris and I making kissy noises, so we give him a kiss and he says "bye" and then he walks down the hall or out of the room we are in. Super cute!
We love our little boy, he makes everyday amazing :)

Trick-or-Treat!

Well I dropped the ball this year on picking a costume for Matthew. I just couldn't justify spending a bunch of money on a costume this year, our budget is just too tight. So I just never decided on anything. So last night around 5:00 I wanted to take Matthew to the mall in Moscow, ID to trick or treat. One of my idea's had been to make him a scarecrow, so I pulled out my yellow felt and attached it to some overalls and a flannel shirt and called it good. He actually looked really cute and everyone knew what he was dressed up as, so I am calling my 30 minute costume a success!

Here are some pictures of my sweet little boy!

All ready to go!

He thought the "straw" was fun to play with!

Looking at all his candy from the night.

He is one happy boy! It was a great night and he had lots of fun :)

Pumpkin Painting 2011

Here is our little guy and his pumpkin! I like to let him paint his pumpkin and when he is big enough to draw a face we will carve his pumpkin for him (with his help of course).

Here is Matthew with his pumpkin last year at 3 months

This year at 16 months

What a big difference a year makes!

So happy!

He did great and made a nice big mess doing it!