WHOA MAMA: 32 Weeks!

UPDATE: This morning I had my 32 week appt (I'm 32.5 weeks) and baby looks nice and healthy. Her HR was in the 150's and I'm measuring just over 36 weeks! We'll be having another ultrasound in 2 weeks because doc says that if she doesn't slow down she's on track to be 10 or more pounds and he really wants to keep an eye on how big she's getting! YIKES. I know they always say each baby gets bigger, but I truly didn't think this baby could be bigger than Lincoln (he was 9 lbs 6 oz), but it looks like if I go until my due date she could be! I'm glad their keeping a good eye on her (and I LOVE all of the ultrasounds) and will be surprised if they let me go past my due date or even to it...I guess we'll have to wait and see. You never know she could just be going through a growth spurt right now and will slow down anytime!

Oh man, are you ready for this? I think baby had a growth spurt the past couple of weeks. Here I am at 32 weeks and getting really uncomfortable:

Literally none of my maternity clothes (except for my dresses) fit anymore and it's kind of depressing since I still have 8 weeks to go. My belly literally hangs out of the bottom of every shirt! I need clothes that mom's of multiples wear, I think...even though I'm not having multiples! Oh and at 30 weeks I had my waist measured and it measured at 42 in :)!

Just for fun, here are comparison pictures of when I was 32 weeks pregnant with Riley, Lincoln and baby #3 (in that order): I wore the same shirt so you can tell if I'm bigger or not...I'll let you be the judge!

Lincoln's 2nd Birthday Party

This year was quite a bit different than the previous years, as far as having a "party" for the little guy. It was bitter sweet, definitely. I really missed having a big party with all of our families, a theme and lots of food. We did, however, still have a party--just the four of us. I made a cake and we had dinner and opened gifts. His favorite gift was the trampoline (although, I think it is Riley's favorite gift too). Here are a few pictures of my two year old.

Happy Birthday Lincoln!!

Two years ago, May 8th, our lives changed and even though I didn't think it could get any better, with the birth of Lincoln it did! I cannot even explain the amount of joy, fun, and love he has brought into our lives. Yes, things are so much more hectic with two babies, but he is so worth every challenging moment!

Here are his physical statistics at 2 years old:

34 inches (48th percentile)

27 lbs (48th percentile)
48 head (48th percentile)

Doc said he was the most proportionate kid she's ever seen on the growth chart at 2 years old--every measurement was in the 48th percentile. Guess that means he's perfect :)!

I cannot believe how much this kid talking. He talks like crazy and can say just about anything you tell him to including his favorite phrase, "Go away" and "Come on". Wonderful. It must help that he's got a big sister to imitate and she loves teaching him her words. Thankfully she doesn't know any naughty ones! He loves playing with cars and figures and he's got such an imagination for a 2 year old. He'll play with Riley's doll house all by himself and make the characters "talk".

He got into the terrible twos just in time for his 2nd birthday. This child of mine who is fairly calm and laid back sure can throw a mean fit. If he's tired watch out he can flip in an instant--but I guess who can't, right? Speaking of sleep, he's an awesome sleeper. He sleeps from 7:30pm until 7am and takes a 3-4 hour nap.

He is very much a Momma's boy. He may rough and tumble with his sister and Daddy, but with me he is so sweet. Often he will come up to me for no reason at all and plant a kiss on my lips or give me a "tight squeeze" anytime I ask for one (which is often :)!) Is very polity and "thanks mama" no matter who gives him something. So if Riley gives him a toy he says "thanks, mama" :). I think he may have a hard time when the baby comes along because anytime I hold another baby or toddler he throws his hands up for me to hold him and tells the other baby to "Go away"! YIKES, I hope he does better than I think he's going to!

All of a sudden within the past month or so he has become a very picky eater which is extremely frustrating. He LOVES peas and broccoli and bananas. Asks for crackers when he wants something to eat and water when he wants something to drink...even if he wants a banana and milk. It's his way of telling me he's hungry/thirsty.

Right after he turned two he started climbing out of his crib. However, after doing it two days in a row, one night he was screaming bloody murder and when I "ran" up to his room he was stuck on top of the rail. I think it scared him to death and he hasn't even attempted to climb out since! I will prolong the transition to a big boy bed as long as possible! He is also great using a regular cup, in fact I'd say he's better with it than Riley is. He always uses a big cup unless we're out...then we take a sippy for him! He's got great fine motor skills

Lincoln loves going to church and gets so excited when we tell him we're going. We pray that he continues to feel that same way as he grows! I pray every night that each of my children have a personal relationship with the Lord and that they will strive to please him. Lincoln is so special to us and I cannot imagine my life without my sweet boy. He has made me such a better person and I am lucky to be his mom.

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy!

Our Trip Back Home

Ty has been gone for what seems like forever, in fact, this week will mark his 7th straight week of being out of town...and we hate it. So, on a whim and with a little nudge from friends I decided to take the kids back to Michigan since I am tired of being home by myself. I figured why not? It's going to be much harder for me to drive with all three kids once the baby gets here! We left at 8am on Thursday morning and the kids were awesome in the car. Maybe it helps that I've got the drive down pat and a strict schedule in the car--probably more for me than for them, but it seems to help a lot!

8-10:30 they play, sing, etc.
10:30-11:30 watch a movie.
11:30-12: Stop for gas, potty and eat lunch while driving.
12-2 Naps.
2-3: Movie
3-3:30 Snack and play games in car seats.

We went to my Dad's house the first few days and Riley and Lincoln have so much fun! They were so excited to see Nani and Papa and ran around the house for hours, probably glad to be out of the car! My sisters are still at that age where they love playing with the kids so they spent a lot of time in the basement playing Barbies, instruments, playing doctor, etc. I love it because it gives me a little break and the kids have a blast.

That Saturday was Lincoln's 2nd birthday and Ty was really upset that he wasn't going to be with Lincoln so I told my Dad we wouldn't celebrate Lincoln's bday much because we would do it the following weekend when Ty was home. However, my dad made his famous donuts that I love (and the kids do too) we stuck a couple of candles in them and sang Happy Birthday. Not sure he knew what was going on. He looked a little confused!

That evening my G and G came over for a steak dinner and cake for Grandad's and Lincoln's birthdays. Lincoln's bday is the day before Grandad's. Lincoln was having so much fun with Grandad and actually sat still for a while on his lap!

My camera, unfortunately died, after my first day there so I don't have many pictures. These are all from my Dad's camera or Jori's. On Sunday we went to church with my Dad then went to Papa Vino's for lunch and to celebrate Mother's Day. Afterwards we went to Ty's family's house to hang out for a while. We were there a few hours then the whole incident with Riley and the ER happened so our stay was shorter than I was planning, but we're going back in two weeks.

After getting back from the ER with Riley we took off to my mom's because the kids needed dinner, I had to drop off Riley's prescription, and they needed to go to BED. This was the night Lincoln decided he was going to start climbing out of his pack-n-play. These 3 nights at my mom's were probably the most frustrating in a LONG time. It was taking him 1.5-2 hours to get Lincoln to bed because he kept getting up. I was NOT happy and I was exhausted. Thankfully my mom would take over and of course it only would take her 5 minutes to get him to sleep...what the heck?!!

It was so nice to be home and it was great to have a break from my everyday routine. The kids had so much fun with the family and I know after this next weekend (Memorial Day) we won't be home for a long time! Hopefully we'll have some visitors though instead.

Riley's new favorite thing to do: PUZZLES. She's good at them and it keeps her occupied for at least 10 minutes...that's a long time for her!

Cuddling with Gma, watching Veggie Tales and ready for bed!

31 Weeks and an Ultrasound!

I had my 31 week appt. this morning and everything looks great. I gained 1 lb in 2.5 weeks. I met the other doctor (Dr. Aliff, my actual doctor's wife) in the practice today and LOVED her. She's young and has two kids the same age as Riley and Lincoln--she was also very understanding and sweet about me having to bring the kids to my appts, it's nice when the doc's don't act annoyed when they are there!

Baby's heart rate was in the 140s and when she measured me I was measuring at 35 weeks--pretty big, especially considering 2 weeks ago I was measuring right on (then, at 29 week) so she sent me over for an ultrasound just to make sure the baby wasn't too big and to make sure I didn't have too much fluid. The ultrasound went very well and we even got to see her in 4D--baby definitely has Ty's squinty eyes!! We had her look again, just in case, but this time are reassured 100% that our third little peanut is definitely a girl!

It's hard to tell in this picture but she was smiling!! It was so cute...

Everything checked out fine and they've determined that I'm measuring big because of two reasons. 1. Baby is big, but not huge. Average babies around 30 weeks are about 3 lbs. our baby was measuring at just over 4 lbs. and 2. I have a lot of fluid, but it's in the normal range, just high in the normal range. So these two things combined are making me measure bigger and further along. Not that I'm surprised because I am larger than most 31 weekers :)!

I love the chance to get a sneak peek at my baby so I welcomed the ultrasound! I also discussed with her that my hips which are killing me (actually it's only my left side). She said it could be either my sciatic nerve or my hip but either way she said she'd recommend massages/chiropractic services so our insurance will cover it. Oh I hope they do because I'd love to regularly have a massage and I'd LOVE for this pain to go away. It's getting to the point where by evening I have to limp up the stairs and can't roll over in bed because it's so painful! Good thing all this pain is worth it in the end. I cannot believe that in two months (or maybe less??) we'll be meeting #3. We really need to nail down a name for her but I think we're getting closer!

The ER "bites"

I had a very Happy Mother's Day, but it wasn't quite what I expected...

I enjoy every one-on-one moment I get with each of my children, and I guess Riley really wanted to spend some time with me because she and I ended up in the Emergency Room on Sunday afternoon. We had gone to church with my dad and family, gone out to lunch then headed to Ty's house to visit with his family for the afternoon. I was packing up the van to get stuff ready to take back to WV and Riley, Lincoln, Ty's Gma, Mom and Aunt were by the barn. All of a sudden I heard Riley screaming and Ty's Aunt Sherry scream...I literally started running over to the barn where they were (I could see them the whole time, I just wasn't right there). Come to find out one of the stupid dogs on the farm had "attacked" Riley. It bit her on the forehead and her head was literally gushing with blood. I scooped her up, grabbed a blanket from the car and held it against her head to stop the bleeding. Sherry drove to the nearest ER while I sat with Riley in the back still holding the blanket to her head and Ty's mom followed behind us in her car.

I think we attracted a lot of attention upon arriving. Here I am huge and pregnant, blood covering my shirt and hers, and a screaming 3 year old in my arms. At least we didn't have to wait :)! They cleaned up the wound and determined she wouldn't need stitches (thank goodness!!). While we waited Gma saved the day and got Riley a ring-pop (her favorite). Riley screamed and screamed and screamed when they put the steri stripes on her head but she was very brave. She was bouncing off the walls again in no time. She was so good that I took her straight to Burger King for a BIG chocolate milkshake (isn't it standard to get ice cream after getting hurt??!). I am so thankful that the bite wasn't worse because it definitely could have been, I am glad it didn't get her eyes or now pray that it doesn't get infected. I know head wounds bleed a lot more than any other, but I couldn't believe the amount of blood pouring out of her head, literally it was like a running faucet.

She's on antibiotics now and we'll continue to watch the wound for infection...otherwise we're good to go and hope it doesn't leave a scar. Ty wasn't with us and lets just say he was furious and worried the whole time. I think that was the hardest part for him; getting a phone call saying we were on the way to the ER and not being able to be there with his little one. We kept him posted and it calmed his nerves too. Lets just say we definitely won't be getting a dog EVER (not that we ever would have before this incident) and they won't be playing with the farm animals anymore. I don't think she'll want to be around dogs anytime soon anyways because she is now terrified of them.

Weekend Project

I had a theme and paint colors all picked out for the kids' rooms but Ty thinks it's not worth it to paint since we (hopefully) won't be here too long...so I decided since Lincoln's walls are pretty bare and white that I'd make his name in letters. It gave me something to do and it was way cheaper than buying them from online.