How cute are they??

We just had pictures taken of Makenzie and Micah -- go check them out!  It's late and I'm tired (the story of my life), so I'll write more another day...SOON though, I promise! 

http://lifeartphotos.blogspot.com

I ALMOST forgot I was pregnant….

I’ve decided that EVERYTHING changes when you’re on round 3 of being pregnant…and I don't want to just take this pregnancy for granted because this baby isn't any less of a miracle than the first two, but life is busy....and that business just changes things!  For instance, with both the other kids I’ve taken regular belly pictures starting at 12 weeks, this time we finally took the first picture today (16 weeks).  With Makenzie I read about every book their was to read on being pregnant….with Micah I reread a couple of my favorites and this time, I haven’t even thought about reading a book – I think I’m doing good if I read my weekly email to see what baby is up to this week.  And today, I literally nearly forgot I was pregnant.  I honestly don’t know how – particularly given that I’ve been running around all day with my jeans unbuttoned because they’re just too tight AND just this morning I was giving this baby a serious lecture about how its time to be done making his/her mama sick now that we’re 16 weeks along (isn’t morning sickness supposed to end with the first trimester)?!?
But tonight, I was doing a little online shopping (wishing may be a better word) and I found the cutest sweater that I was seriously thinking about ordering…..and then I remembered that I’m pregnant, and already outgrowing most of my “normal” clothes….and that I’ll be pregnant until April 22nd (give or take a few days) which means sweater season will be over and gone before I could even fit into a sweater if I bought one.  So, I’m headed to the basement to do a little shopping….in my tub of maternity clothes from the last two pregnancies.  And I’m blaming my forgetfulness on this baby…my brain seems to be missing and I’m just hoping it comes back soon! 

Reason # 6,542 I’m not winning any mom of the year awards…..

My poor little man spent the last 2 days running around with a fractured wrist.  AND….he fractured that wrist in the church nursery, under MY supervision.  ugh!

I’m not sure exactly how he did it – I watched him climb up into a glider rocker in the nursery Sunday morning and he was sliding back out of the chair when I turned to look at another kiddo, and the next thing I knew he was laying face down beside the chair screaming.  I didn’t think a lot of it, he did cry pretty hard, but he’d been overly emotional and clingy all morning…we came home from church and he didn’t eat any lunch, instead he snuggled on the couch with me and we both fell asleep.  He woke from his nap much, much happier and that was the end of it (or so I thought).  He went to daycare yesterday and I didn’t even mention anything to our daycare gal, then I was home with him today and several times he complained of his arm hurting, twice when I was holding his hands to pull him up.  After 4 separate incidents of him crying about his arm hurting (all before noon), I decided I better have him checked out….after 2 hours at the doctors office, we found out he had a buckle fracture in his wrist.  Poor little man!  Honestly though I think the cast bothers him almost more than the fracture!  He’s so stinkin cute though! 

Still feeling a little sorry for himself….and maybe hoping for a little sympathy!

Hamming it up for mom!

Letting sissy decorate his cast.  I think it might be just as hard to be the big sister who had to spend 2 hours in the doctors office and go home WITHOUT a cast!  

Just out of the bath….check out the plastic bag on the arm!  Is it permissible to resort to sponge baths when your toddler has a cast??  I can’t fathom how we’re going to keep that thing dry (or even slightly clean!!) for the next 3-4 weeks! 

It hasn’t slowed him down a bit, and thankfully he even went to bed without any trouble tonight… the glow in the dark cast must have been a good choice!  It was either that or purple.

Dilemma….

With Baby #3 on the way, we have a HUGE problem at our house.  I think I mentioned in my last blog….we have 2 bedrooms on the main floor of the house and the new house won’t be built for AT LEAST a year (I’m banking on it being closer to 18 months or 2 years…..but that’s another story).  Anyway, the bottom line is we’re stuck with the house we have now and we’re just going to have to make it work.  The solution: move everyone to the basement where we have 3 rooms that can be used as bedrooms.  I’ve decided to put Makenzie and Micah in the biggest room in the basement so that we have more room for toys in their bedroom (which will hopefully translate to less toys all over the rest of the house).  We have a set of old bunk beds that I’m going to paint black – and leave as 2 separate twin beds….no bunks yet!

So here’s the dilemma:  how do I decorate their room???  I’m trying to come up with semi-coordinating bedding that will look good together now but that I love enough to want to keep when we have a new house and they have their own rooms…..so far I’ve looked at no less than 50 websites and found NOTHING.  I take that back, I found one set…pink polka dots for Makenzie, blue polka dots for Micah….but I wasn’t thrilled with it. 

Today I started thinking about maybe just trying to find bedding for each of them that has one common color – maybe a green or brown….something that I can use for curtains and paint, and just not worry about the bedding matching or even coordinating for that matter. 

Any suggestions, comments, good ideas, etc are welcome – ready?? Go! 

A picture worth a thousand words…

That’s right, #3 is on his/her way!  Total surprise, totally unplanned.  Guess that’s what happens after your hubby is gone for a month! I might have had a minor freak out because (a) we only have 2 bedrooms on the main floor of our house and I thought we’d be moved into our newly built house by the time we had a baby #3 (b) I already had a size 4 bridesmaid dress in my closet for my sister’s January wedding and I’m pretty sure there’s no way in [you.know.where.] that my 6 month preggo belly is going to squeeze into that thing, (c) my due date is April 22nd….a mere 7 days after tax season ends…which means if this baby comes early my partners may want to kill me and (d) Micah man and this baby will be 26 months apart….which means there’s a good chance Micah man will still be in diapers and probably just in the swing of acting out his terrible twos!  Not to mention, Micah keeps me SO SO busy I thought it would be good to have an even bigger gap between he and the next one than we have between he and Makenzie!  Oh boy! 

The rest of this blog might be classified as TMI….so read on at your own risk. 

Saturday (Aug 20th) I got up thinking that my period should have started by now.  I was mildly annoyed by the fact it hadn’t because we were leaving the following Saturday for a 3 day camping trip….not what I wanted to be worried about while we were camping and tubing on the Niobrara River.  I thought then that I might be a day late but didn’t think much of it.  As the day went on, I realized I hadn’t even had any symptoms (i.e. cramping) which is pretty unusual…still didn’t think much of it though because I also hadn’t really had any pregnancy symptoms.  By late afternoon, I was beginning to get a little nervous so I got out the calendar….and then I freaked out.  I was an ENTIRE WEEK LATE….hello, this does not happen at least not to me, unless I am pregnant.   So I did what all rational people do….called one of my best friends.  Me: Uh Kim, what are you doing?  Kim: I’m at the mall with Connor. Me: Oh okay, I have a problem…..I think I’m pregnant.  Just what every friend wants to hear while they’re at the mall! Thank you Kim for helping me keep my sanity and assuring me that everything would be okay! 

I did tell Tom later that night (“uh….if I have earth shattering news, would you like to know??”), and then took a test the next day to confirm what I already knew.  BUT…we had to drive all the way to Kearney to get a test because I refused to buy on in Holdrege.  Well, I tried to buy one in town, but stupid Pamida keeps them behind a locked glass case…are you kidding me?!?!  Do you really think I’m going to go stand in a line of no less than 6 customers and then ask for a pregnancy test?  No thank you, I’ll drive to Kearney. 

Other than Kim my sister was the first to get to know…uh, Jenilea, how much do you love me?  Would you still love me if I had to wear a size 14 dress to your wedding?!?    Luckily, she said yes!  So that Monday morning I skipped out of work and drove straight to the bridal store to figure out what I needed to do about a dress.  Unfortunately, the answer really was order a size 14….its only 4 inches bigger in the belly than the size 4.  ugh!  The new dress is here and the lovely lady at the bridal store is prepared to work a miracle with this dress come December.  Three days later we finally let grandparents know…they got the frame with pictures at the beginning of the blog! 

One more funny thing….the week before I figured out I was pregnant, Makenzie told the babysitter her mom was going to grow a baby in her tummy (our babysitter is also pregnant), then two days later Makenzie asked me why my tummy was getting bigger…..I’m thinking this girl knew before I did!    She says we’re having a baby sister, so we’ll see just how much she knows….if she starts talking twins, I’m going to be scared!! 

Now we’re officially 10 weeks…had our first appointment today and had another minor panic attack when the doctor couldn’t find a heartbeat, but she did a quick ultrasound in the clinic and I got to see baby wiggling and bouncing around like a crazy kid!!  Nothing like seeing that tiny little perfectly formed human being  to make you thankful for the miracle growing in your belly!

What I’m Loving (this week)

Micah
* will FINALLY sit and read a book with me and it doesn’t even have to be a touch and feel book, we made it through Dr. Suess’ Foot Book three times today!
* won’t go to bed without kissing and hugging his sister….seriously, cutest thing ever!  He also loves to crawl in her bed and pretend he’s going to sleep there….tried it, it doesn’t work, but cute nonetheless!
* his enthusiasm every time he answers a question, whether it’s “are you ready for bed” or “do you want to go outside” the answer is almost always an cheerful “yah”…unless of course the answer is “uh-uh”
* tries to mimic EVERYTHING his sister does, her gymnastics moves, the way she spits her toothpaste out after she brushes her teeth, holds her stuffed animals…seriously Pete and Repeat.  Love it! 
* is cooking, cooking cooking….I love that he loves to help me cook, pretend he’s cooking…anything to do with cooking! 
* his love for EVERYTHING BOY –sticks, locust shells, anything he can turn into a weapon (although I don’t love it quite so much when he uses his new found “weapons” to beat his sister which also happens on a regular basis)
Makenzie
*  loves “bynastics”…and I love even more than she calls it “bynastics”
* has an uncanny ability to make her brother giggle – I love that she recognizes when he’s getting sick of the situation (particularly at the grocery store or any where else we might be shopping/running errands) and she goes into entertainment mode doing whatever she can to entertain Micah man.  The two of them laughing together is no doubt the best sound on earth! 
* is my favorite little helper!!  She loves to help with everything – she folds all the towels and washcloths on laundry days, she helps unload the dishwasher, cleans the lint trap on the dryer everytime we change loads of laundry, and LOVES to crack eggs when we’re cooking (which may or may not have meant daddy got egg shell in his birthday cake this week!)
* talks like she’s 3 going on 16….this week I’ve heard, “also,…” and “mom, I was going to tell you”
* tells me everyday “I love you and I like you….”
I think its safe to say I am blessed!! 

Growing Up Too Fast

How does it happen?  How did my "baby" Makenzie get big enough to go to gymnastics?  I managed to avoid all "big girl" things like preschool, for one more year but Makenzie decided this year that she wanted to do gymnastics, so we said goodbye to Kindermusik and signed her up.  Tonight was her first class and I was about in tears.  Pitiful, I know.  It's only a 45 minute class and she spends 9 hours on Mondays and Wednesdays in daycare....it's not the leaving her that gets me (although even after nearly 4 years of that it's still not easy), the thing that really gets me is just how grown up she is.  All of a sudden she's not even a toddler anymore (Micah man probably fits in that category....and I still think he's my baby)....she's a little girl.  A little girl who will start preschool next fall and Kindergarten the following year.  Oh my!  Time goes too fast! 

But it was super fun to watch her little gymnastics class and the smile on her face as she showed me all the things she learned was priceless!