Ready to meet Sam

It is late Tuesday night and Samuel will be arriving early Thursday morning. I am so excited and so ready to meet my newest little guy. I just can't wait to kiss his little cheeks and count his little toes. I really wonder what he is going to look like! Despite all of the troubles of pregnancy, it really is all worth it. The feelings of anticipation and excitement when expecting a baby really can't compare to any other feeling in the world! It is like waiting for Christmas morning times a million :)

I know I am going to miss Nathan and Luke so much. I am so happy they have each other though. Having Paypo to come stay with them is awesome, they probably won't even have time to miss me :) I am looking forward to that moment when they meet their little brother.

I am feeling Sam squirming around right now. He is definitely my most active belly baby yet. I wonder what he has in store for his ol' mama! I love him so much already :)

36 weeks

Only 2.5 weeks until Sam is here!!!! I feel ready finally. I remember with Luke I felt like I could keep him in forever, but I am honestly ready to get on with the show with Sam, haha. He is still really high up and my poor ribs and lungs are taking a beating. I am all poofed up and bloated and soooooo incredibly slow with everything I do. Sam moves nonstop in there, I have no idea what he is doing but it seems like he is trying to entertain himself. He bounces off my ribs and throws himself into my hip. He is a silly silly boy already and I wonder if he is going to be this full of energy outside the womb ;-)

I can't wait to see his little face and kiss his tiny toes. I am getting vibes that he looks more like Nathan. I am calling dark blonde hair, blue eyes, a squishy face, and funny toes :)

Nathan and Luke are excited to meet their brother as well. Sammy in the belly gets lots of attention from them already.

31 weeks

I can't believe I have less than two months to go! I am getting to the waddling stage of pregnancy, haha. Everything takes me 5 times longer than normal to do. I pee every 15 minutes. Going up one flight of stairs gets me winded. But I don't have too many complaints. No back pain and limited pelvic pain. Sam feels so high up, I think he is lounging on my lungs! He is so strong too, I swear he is bruising me from the inside out. He is a hard kicker! He never ever sits still either. At least I never have to worry about him!

I failed my one hour glucose test (darnit) so I have to get the 3 hour one on Monday. I pray I pass, the whole thing is such a pain in the patoot. My Dr put me on iron supplements too, I am hoping they help with energy.

The boysies are doing great. Nathan is really into asking questions---I get bombarded with them all day long. "What does the inside of a spider look like?" "How does Sammy breathe in your belly?" "What kinds of vitamins are in this strawberry?" etc etc etc. He loves to learn! Luke is a crazy guy as usual. He wears a superhero cape 24/7 and is always pretending he is Iron Man or Spiderman.

I am enjoying the last few weeks with just my older boys. We are relaxing and doing fun things together. I can't wait to meet little Sam though. I love him so much already!

22ish weeks?

I lost count how many weeks I am, haha. But I am chugging along. Sam is doing great and moves nonstop. I actually see my belly jumping around now. I wonder if he will be a hyperactive baby, haha. No real cravings right now but I am eating a lot of grapefruit and salad, so that is good :)

Christmas was awesome but then we got the killer flu that wiped us out for a full week. Luke got hit the hardest and just tonight ate a meal for the first time in days. I have honestly never been THAT sick before, it was nuts. We were lifeless and useless for a while there.

The boys had a great Christmas. They got a lot of shared gifts this year because they like to play with the same things. "Guys" aka superhero figures and building blocks like legos and knex made up the majority of the presents. Nathan could spend hours making creations out of legos. Luke is addicted to playing "guys".

We got to see a lot of family in a few days and pigged out on great food. I went all out and made so many batches of cookies this year. I couldn't eat many because sweets are still an aversion for me. Stinks!

I am looking forward to us all being 100% again and getting out of this house! Being quarantined is noooooo fun.

20 weeks

Sooooooooooo the news is out! We are having our third baby boy. I am so excited to be having another boysie. I just love my little guys :) We brought Nathan and Luke to the ultrasound with us, that was fun. They were making video game noises as the lady took pictures. They are excited to be having a baby brother. We decided on the name Samuel, no middle name ideas yet. :) I can't wait to meet baby Sam!

I had my 20 week appt yesterday. The Dr scheduled my Csection for April 30th. Wow, that seems so early! The Dr said it was the best time to do it though, so I will trust him. The ultrasound results were perfect, YAY! I love hearing reassurance that little Sam is doing well :)

After my last post saying I was feeling no discomfort, all of a sudden I am having a lot of pelvic pain at night. I might just be doing too much though, with Christmas coming and all. Speaking of Christmas, the boys are so excited! Nathan is counting down the days. Luke keeps saying Santa is bringing Spiderman, so I have to run go get a Spiderman guy tonight, haha. I plan on cooking and baking lots :)

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

19 weeks

I am 19 weeks today, hard to believe I am almost halfway done! I was just looking at fetal development sites, wow, hard to believe my baby is that big and developed already! I have my ultrasound in 2 days, I am so excited. Everyone claims I am having a girl, but I will not be surprised at all to see that we are having another boy. I will be thrilled either way :) We still don't have names picked out, but I think a boy name would be easier than a girl's to choose as of this moment.

I am still feeling sick at night (BLAH) but other than that I have no complaints. No heartburn, no discomfort, no cramping, etc. If I could just get this darn nausea to go away, I'd feel fantastic! Glad to be feeling good this time of year. I love decorating, baking, shopping, doing Christmas crafts, etc. The boys are so excited this year! I am *almost* done my Christmas shopping :)

This baby has definite opinions on food already. My favorite is a turkey bacon, lettuce, cheddar, and mayo sandwich on wheat toast. I could go for one right now! I also am loving turkey chili covered with cheese. Anything salty, meaty, and cheesy sounds good to me! Everytime I eat fast food I get sick and I have an aversion to sweets.

Next post will probably be my ultrasound update! I am so excited, I feel like a 6 year old waiting for Christmas morning. I am praying that the baby is healthy and I can put my mind at ease. I am also excited to start decorating the baby's room and picking up little baby things after I know the sex. I can't wait!

15 weeks

Hi all! I am 15 weeks now and finally feeling a bit better. My Dr recommended a combo of unisom and B6 and that is helping some.

I am starting to feel little baby flutters, it is so exciting! I have my big ultrasound in a few weeks, I can't wait. Still have no idea what sex this baby is and we are clueless with names.

I am craving carbs and cheese and have a big aversion to sweets. My belly has popped out a lot more!

The boys are doing wonderfully---just getting so big every day. I will update more later, but it is lunch time and my boys don't like to wait for their food, haha.

10.5 weeks

Oh man, I keep forgetting to update. I have been sooooo sick, so that's my excuse, haha. Seriously, this baby's name is going to be "Trouble" until further notice. I won't go into details, but let's just say it hasn't been good. I haven't had a meal in a week, just bites of random carbs like french fries and rice-a-roni and big glasses of cranberry juice and natural lemonade. Thank heavens for prenatal vitamins to give my baby the good stuff! I even had to take a raincheck on my birthday because I was so sick that day. As soon as I am feeling better we are going out for italian and a big piece of birthday cake :)

I had an ultrasound to see the little booger at 9 weeks. Bubsy kept turning his/her back and wouldn't stop moving so the picture we got is just a baby blur, haha. But it was so cool to see him/her in there swimming around! Like a perfect little baby already---all the major parts in place :) The heartrate was 171 and they moved my due date up one day to May 9th.

I am holding out until 12 weeks---for some reason I have it in my head I will feel better by then.

Boys are doing great, by the way. Nathan had a fabulous birthday and Luke is going through a language explosion, just chatting away in full sentences now!

Been a while....

Wow, it has been a while since I updated! A lot is new :)

I am expecting baby #3 on Mother's Day, May 10th. I couldn't be more excited! Since I blogged about my pregnancies with both boys, I don't want this baby to be left out, haha.

So here goes! All is well so far, just having lots of tummy troubles. I hope they don't last too long and I can get into the fun cravings part of pregnancy. I am pretty bloated already, I wonder how early I can get into maternity clothes this time around. :) I have baby fever big time, my boys are getting SO big.

The boysies are fabulous. They crack me up every day and I am so blessed to have them! Nathan is a character. Too smart for his own good, extremely imaginative, and a total pain in the patoot arguing about every single point. Luke is a total goof, can cheer anyone up, super sweet to his Mama, but never listens!

Luke loves to yell "no a baby!" when I call him my baby. Nathan spends most of his time watching Transformers, pretending to be a Transformer, building transformers out of blocks, or begging to buy Transformers. And of course Luke spends most of his time doing everything his big brother does. They are eating me out of house and home and I can foresee that only getting worse!

Things are good with me. After a few months of medical issues (kidney stones and a pregnancy loss) I am feeling strong and healthy and foresee a great pregnancy. Mike and I were doing the crossfit workouts before pregnancy left me devoid of all energy! Hopefully I will feel better and can be more active soon.

Still pursuing tons of goals--being more frugal, continue learning how to cook and bake, being more environmentally conscious in our home, becoming healthier, becoming a better photographer, etc etc etc. These are neverending goals for me, I think :)

Hopefully I will remember to update again soon! Pregnancy brain is hitting hard this time around, haha.

Christmas 2007

What a fabulous Christmas! Best ever! Luke and Nathan were absolutely thrilled and the excitment and anticipation made me feel like a kid again. :)

The boys got some really great gifts. I think Nathan's favorite was the box filled with Cars cars and Luke's was a book where you can pet the animals on the page. The boys took time to play with each gift before moving on so Christmas morning took 4 hours long! They stayed in their Christmas pjs all day and gorged themselves with cookies. Great day!

Nathan is a bit scared of Santa so he needed to be reassured the big guy had already left after dropping off the loot, haha. Luke gets so excited about everything so every time he opened a gift he gasped and hooted and hollered and acted like it was the best thing ever.

I had a fun year trying out new recipes and getting the BIGGEST tree on the lot. Mike had to chop the top off just so it could fit in our house. It was our first year getting a real tree so we went all out. :)

We have a few more Christmas celebrations to go, then we can try to settle down and have a normal January. Looking forward to a bit of normalcy! :)

My boys are really beginning to play and fight with each other. It is hilarious to watch Luke try to tackle Nathan and to see Nathan try to teach Luke the "right" way to play with things. Luke is obsessed with animals, especially dogs. He nearly flips his lid everytime he sees a dog or even a picture of a dog. Luke is saying quite a few words and phrases now. I love hearing his LOUD voice. He is such a character. He loves to make people laugh and is so determined once he gets an idea in his head. Nathan is my little professor and loves to learn facts. He has the most creative ideas and thoughts and is really so intuitive. I love just hearing what he is thinking about. Luke is a bit more trouble, haha. He learned to climb up on tables and loves to dump out containers of toys and knock over block towers. He is so much fun, but worries his poor mama, haha.

Off to try to contain the plethora of toys covering every inch of floor space in this house!

lookalike meter

October 2007

Wow, it has been a while since I have written. My boys are changing so much! Luke took his first steps at 9.5 months and now at 10 months is walking all over the place. He can climb stairs and walk carrying big toys in his hands. He is a powerhouse, haha. We went to the pumpkin patch and he was straining trying to pick up the big pumpkins. He is now saying (in order of when he started saying them) mama, hi/hey, dada, no, and all done. He is such a sweetie pie and is always trying to make everyone laugh. He puts blankets on his head and walks around like that. He makes these funny sniffy faces where he puts his head back and snorts. Luke cracks me up! He is getting really good at throwing and catching balls. I'd say balls, drumsticks, and maracas are his favorite toys.

Nathan is such a smarty pants. He spelled his name for the first time today. He is doing very well at potty training. He pooped on the potty a few days ago and has been doing it every day since. He is earning stickers on a potty chart and filled it up and picked out a prize (a tow truck from Target) about a week ago. I now put food coloring in the potty and ask him to turn the water colors with his pee---like I put in blue and tell him to make it green. For some reason this clicked with him and he is doing so well now!

Summer 07

We are having a great summer! We just spent a week in Ocean City along with Jon, Jenny, Bradley, and Hannah. Here are some of the memories of our vacation that I do not want to forget:
*Nathan laying down on the towel of a sunbathing cute teenager
*Luke covered head to toe with salt water and sand, but still grinning ear to ear
*Seeing Nathan being so brave trying out all the rides on the boardwalk
*how much Luke loved that silly maraca we bought for him---he never let it go!
*holding Nathan's hands and pulling him up to jump over the waves
*early morning coffee and donuts on the beach
*digging for sand crabs with Nathan---he'd gather as many as he could in his hand and then put them back in the sand and watch them dig
*Sharing goldfish crackers and juice with my boys on the beach blanket
*when Nathan stole the huge expensive chocolate truffle out of my hand and popped it in his mouth and gobbled it down in one bite
*floating around the indoor pool with my snuggly baby
*Luke dancing to any music he heard when we went out to eat
*Nathan sticking his head in the sand and trying to do flips on the beach
*taking all 4 kids down to the beach before bedtime and seeing them run back and forth from the waves
*how easily Nathan made friends on the beach
*Luke exclaiming "oooooooh!" at all the lights and sounds on the boardwalk

June 28, 2007

Everything is going great over here. We just bought a townhouse that we love and the boys are completely fantastic. I look forward to every day with my boys (especially now that they are both sleeping through the night---ahhhhhhhhh)! Luke is now crawling all over the house and starting to pull up on the step.

Here are some moments and memories I don't want to let myself forget:
*how Nathan will make a funny sound and Luke will crack up and then try to imitate it. This morning it was a loud exaggerated gasp sound. Hearing Lukey do that made us all just lose it laughing
*how Luke feels the need to bop up and down everytime he hears even a few beats of music. I will bust out singing a silly song and he will just immediately start to dance. Love that kid! :)
*How Nathan loves to name his cars, tv characters, even food after family members
*The way Nathan begs to go outside every moment he gets the chance
*Nathan is learning the names to all the cars and tells me which ones are Fords and which ones are Hondas. He loves "Ford Trucks" and jaguars, haha
*the way Luke grunts all excitedly when he first wakes up in the morning and is famished, wanting to nurse
*the wild "mad scientist" concoctions Nathan makes in the tub with different bottles and bowls
*how Nathan will make mud and start playing in it, the moment he gets a chance with the hose
*how he told me he wants Frankie to live in his playhouse and that Frankie is "his favorite"
*how Nathan calls juiceboxes "schooboxes"
*how Luke gives huge kisses right on the mouth, and grabs your face and smooches you on the lips even when you are aiming for his cheek. He is quite fresh! haha
*the overly exaggerated way Nathan chugs his drinks
*how louuuuud Luke is when he nurses and how he hums and mmmms everytime he eats
*when I have both my boys snuggling in the recliner

Life is good.

Luke's 6 month checkup

Luke got his 6 month checkup today. He was 18lbs 6 oz and 26 inches. The Dr kept commenting that he was the "golden child" and how lucky I was. He said Luke was one of the most easy going sweet babies he's ever met. He didn't even make a peep when he got his shots! I love my little guy!

We started with some baby food recently. He gives me such a hassle! He spits out the food, smears it everywhere, and chews on the spoons, but doesn't really eat anything, haha. He is holding out for the real stuff! He is always begging for what I am eating. Soon enough, Lukey!

Luke is crawling everywhere now. He is such a little nut. He loves playing with Nathan's cars and books and ignores his baby toys. He is at that stage where he is much less interested in snuggling and just wants to play all day. He is a very content baby and can entertain himself playing on the floor for the longest time!

May 21, 2007

Lots of new activity here at our house! Luke has started crawling! It is amazing to watch him pull himself, scoot, lunge, and push himself around the room. He can get into so much trouble in such a short amount of time now, haha. He is also starting to sit up! He can sit for about a minute before getting distracted and wanting to play on his tummy again.

Nathan is such a sweet little boy. He wants Luke around all the time. He wants to take every bath with Luke and wants him to read naptime and bedtime stories with him. He gets so much joy out of making Luke laugh. My boys crack each other up!

Yesterday we all just wrestled and played and sang silly songs in the grass! It made me feel like a kid again and laughing so hard is such a HUGE pick me up. I love my boys!!!!

My boysies

Everyone is doing great over here! Luke is going to be 5 months in a week---I can't believe it! He is such a happy, energetic baby. Nathan is being quite "two" lately, but he is still my sweet little man. Here are some things my guys are up to:

*whenever I pick Luke up, he wraps his hands around my neck and open and closes his hand (like a light scratch)---it is sooo sweet!
*Nathan tells me "I am not feeling so well" when I ask him to do something---haha
*Luke is blowing raspberries constantly!
*Nathan telling Ava "you need a nap" when she is whining
*Luke jumping like a madman and spazzing out grabbing all of his toys wildly in his exersaucer
*Nathan naming his two new fish "Slarley" and "Starfish" and excitedly feeding them every morning
*When I read to my boys on the bed before naps, they like to hold hands and snuggle

I just recently switched to cloth diapers for the boys. I am loving it but am quite addicted to buying new cute diapers already----haha.

February 2007

My oh my, where does the time go? I cannot get over how big my boys are.

Luke is almost 3 months old. He is such a sweet, silly baby. I love him so much! He laughs all the time now, especially when I call him "Boogers" or nibble his toes. His laugh is contagious, it is way too adorable. He hates being tickled though. He gets so mad and grunts when I try, haha. His new trick is trying to fling himself out of his swing so he dangles upside down. We put the toy bar up across his waist though so he can't do the fling thing and now he gets mad that he can't. I have so much fun with my baby. I absolutely adore this age. Can I keep him this age just a bit longer???? :)

Nathan is my little walking encyclopedia. He chats all day long about dinosaurs like the parasaurolophus and trucks like the giant excavator. He loves to line up his dinos or trucks in little lines. Everything in order! He will be in trouble once Lukey starts crawling. :)

Weird/cute little thing Nathan does: sometimes I lay Luke in facedown on my lap and pat his little bottom to help with gassiness. Sometimes while patting him, I count the pats for no particular reason. Well, one day Nathan took over and was patting Luke's little bottom. He kept counting to 20, but would go "18, 19, hit the butt!" Well now, everytime he counts to 20, he says "18, 19, hit the butt!" instead of "18, 19, 20", haha. It cracks me up because it is hard to explain the context of why he does that.

Luke's 2 month appt

We had Luke's 2 month appt yesterday afternoon. He was 13lbs and 23in meaning he gained 3lbs and 1.5inches in the past month. Woohoo! The Dr said not to change his diet at all in the next two months. He seemed very happy I was exclusively breastfeeding.

Talked to the Dr about Luke's off and on congestion. Seems like one minute he sounds stuffy and the next he is fine. He gets stuffy when he gets upset or excited or if the heat is running too long. Poor guy. The Dr said he is fine and just use saline drops. It will probably get better when it gets warmer and when he gets older and starts breathing through his mouth more. Poor guy always sounds sniffy and snorty though. Plus he snores!

Luke got 4 shots yesterday. Mike came to the appt right after work and made it just in time to hold him for his shots. I have such a hard time with that! Luke fell asleep about 30 seconds after his shots, lol. I guess it took a lot out of him.

Anyway, the Dr was so happy with how strong and verbal he is. He cooed and chatted for a while with the Dr. and charmed all the nurses. He loves people!

7 weeks

Everything is going great over here! I wish I could freeze this moment in time and have more time with my boys at this age. :)

Lukey Poo is such a snuggle bum. He loves to be held as much as humanly possible. I think he would still be in my stomach if he could, haha. He curls up into a little potato and snuggles so hard against my chest. He is a great nurser and eats every 2-4 hours. He is very efficient and nurses for only a short time and then is done with it. He is not a comfort nurser like Nathan was. By the size of his cheeks and thighs though, he is definitely getting enough! :) He is 13lbs according to our scale. He is growing out of his size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothing so quickly. He sleeps well as long as you don't put him down, haha. Quite the struggle! He really doesn't like sleeping anywhere but in your arms.

Luke is cooing and talking so much lately. He loves it when you talk to him. He can "agoo" with his mouth shut, which is very talented, haha. His eyes sparkle and he nods his head and coos and clicks his tongue like he is really carrying on a conversation. He is a very social guy!

Nathan is such a sweet, smart little boy. He sings the "Lukey Poo" song: "Lukey Lukey Lukey Poo...Lukey is a baby", haha. He is always so thoughtful and loves making us laugh. He makes his trains and cars talk to each other all the time. A typical train conversation: "You want lunch?" "I want a cereal bar." "NO cereal bars!" "Awww!" He really does play so well independently. He loves playdoh and painting and reading to himself.