The Peterson Party

29 Memories

2012-01-23T19:26:00.001-05:00

I saw this idea on my friend, Abigail's blog, and I knew right away that I wanted to borrow it for Andrew's birthday. I sent a request to all of our family and mutual friends on Facebook, asking that they send in a memory or a few memories of Andrew (from any time in his life). I wanted to fill 29 envelopes with these memories. I ended up having 22 people participate in this project, but because some people sent in more than one memory, I was able to fill all 29 envelopes with at least one memory. I didn't give people very much notice with this project, so most emailed me the memories, but we also received a few handwritten memories. Andrew got memories from some of his family, some of mine, an old college buddy, and a few family friends. The memories brought him back to a few moments that he had previously forgotten about and there were some memories that we speak of often. There were LOTS of laughs. Andrew really enjoyed this project. Thank you to everyone that too the time to participate and make Andy's day even more special and thank you to Abigail for the idea!

29 Days for Daddy # 28 & 29

2012-01-23T16:08:00.000-05:00

Day 28: The Gift to Choose

On this day, I let Andy choose what he'd like as his gift. As it turns out, it was the exact same thing that I had originally planned for him. He chose homemade cinnamon rolls, using his mom's recipe. I have not made them yet, but will in the next day or two.

And so that brings us to Day 29. The final day for this project. Originally, I was going to title it "The Gift of a New Experience" or maybe "The Gift of Flight" but as it turns out, I think I will name it "The Gift of Disappointment" or if I am looking for a positive spin, I could call it "The Gift of Safety". No matter what you call it, it did not work out. Bummer!

I took Andy out to Wallaby Ranch this morning, where we had intended for him to hang glide. But, as soon as we arrived, they said it was too windy and they would not chance it. So, it just didn't work out, but it is something to look forward to. We will try it again in a week or two.

While we were there, the girls played on the playground, which they loved. They did not see this as a disappointing trip at all. (and of course, Andy would rather be safe than take a risk)

29 Days for Daddy: #25, 26, & 27

2012-01-21T21:53:00.001-05:00

Day 25: The Gift of Entertainment

I had planned going to the movies as one of Andrew's gifts, but last minute decided we'd just rent a movie to watch at home (you know, easier with the baby). The girls and I went to Redbox and picked out the movie. They really wanted to see "Cars 2", but it was out of stock, so we picked "Zookeeper". I set up a blanket on the living room floor and we had a picnic dinner as we watched the movie. I thought, "Ok, it's Kevin James. Andy likes Kevin James. And it's talking animals. The girls love animals and what could be more fun than talking animals? This will be great." Wrong! There were talking animals, but it wasn't really a kids movie. It was "how does the guy win the girl?" kind of movie and the animals give advice. Lame for the adults and too old for a three and five year old. Disappointment, but the picnic dinner was fun :)

Day 26: The Gift of a Favorite Dinner.

One of Andy's favorite meals is Hot Wings. We ordered his favorite take-out wings - enough that he could have them for several meals :)

Day 27: The Gift of the Night Sky

Our local astronomy club hosts an astronomy night once a month, which is open to the public. Andrew loves astronomy, so we signed him up for the class. Andrew and I had gone to an astronomy night once in Hawaii. It was a lot of fun. We looked through the high-powered telescopes at different constellations and what not. I had it in my mind that this would be a similiar event. Nope. There was too much cloud cover, so we did not get to look through the telescopes tonight. Instead, it was a two hour class about different types of telescopes, and looking at pictures of the night sky that some of the members had taken, etc. The good news is that Andrew loved this. He was able to meet some people with similiar interests and he plans to meet with them again. The bad news was that we brought the three kiddos, expecting to let them see the sky through the telescopes, which didn't happen, so it was terribly boring to us. Next time, Andrew will do this by himself, which I am assuming will actually be even more fun for him. No pics of this event, since we were just sitting inside the whole time.

29 Days for Daddy # 24

2012-01-18T19:57:00.000-05:00

Day 24: The Gift of Art

The girls painted pictures for their daddy.

One of Arin's favorite acitivities to do is painting. She knew right away that she wanted to paint a "beautiful rainbow" for her daddy.

Ella came up with a few different ideas. She asked me to paint a heart for her. She also thought about painting a dinosaur, but in the end, she decided to paint a picture of her mama :)

We were able to include Kaelyn in this project. I was disappointed that her toes were smudged in this picture and I am debating re-doing it with some help.

29 Days for Daddy # 23

2012-01-17T19:53:00.000-05:00

Day 23: The Gift of Fun Memories

Today's activity was all Arin's idea - silly string! It was the first time that my kiddos have used silly string and they sure did have fun spraying their daddy :)

Kaelyn enjoyed the fun from the sidelines :)

29 Days for Daddy: #22

2012-01-16T19:25:00.000-05:00

Day 22: The Gift of Speed

Andrew has always wanted to take a train ride, so that is what we did on this day. We took the train over to the next train stop and back. The trip was about an hour and a half (we never got off the train). We also didn't walk around the train. We did pack a lunch to eat while on board.

We would eventually like to take a more scenic train trip, but this was a lot of fun too. Now Andrew can say that he has taken a train ride :)
This was also all three girlies first train ride.

29 Days for Daddy: #21

2012-01-16T19:11:00.000-05:00

Day 21: The Gift of Service

Normally, Andrew takes over the job of cleaning out and washing the car, but for this day, the girls took their opportunity to serve and they did the cleaning for their daddy.

My Sweet Trio

2012-01-15T21:18:00.000-05:00

29 Days for Daddy #20

2012-01-14T19:08:00.000-05:00

(I've posted several times today, so if you have missed any of these entries, click here and you can see the whole series)

Day 20: The Gift of a Favorite Sport

Andrew's favorite sport is racquetball, but he doesn't get to play it often, so I arranged for his oldest brother to meet him at the courts for a couple of games.

29 Days for Daddy #19

2012-01-14T18:57:00.000-05:00

Day 19: The Gift of Family Time

On this night, I made Andrew homemade caramel popcorn, using the recipe that his mom has always made.

excuse the poor lighting :(

Then, we played SORRY! together as a family. We played two rounds of this game. Arin was especially excited about this day, since this is her favorite board game. Last week, I was at my Weight Watcher's meeting. In the meeting, we were talking about exercise and the leader asked what was something that we could commit to doing everyday. Arin leaned over to me and said, "I could play SORRY! because, you know, it'd be exercising my fingers!" haha. I love that kid!

We all had a lot of fun playing this game. There was A LOT of laughs and in the end, Arin won both games!

29 Days for Daddy #18

2012-01-14T18:43:00.000-05:00

Day 18: The gift of Cake

What celebration would be complete without cake? And it is the perfect shade of pink for Andrew, don't you think? :) Strawberry happens to be his favorite flavor boxed mix cake.

29 Days for Daddy # 17

2012-01-14T18:40:00.000-05:00

Day 17: A Gift for Your Sweet Tooth

Arin wanted to make sure that we added a gift of her Daddy's favorite candy (Twizzlers). I found a four pound tub of them and knew that would be perfect!

29 Days for Daddy: #16

2012-01-14T15:06:00.000-05:00

Day 16: A Favorite Beverage

When we lived in Georgia, Andrew was introduced to Virgil's Rootbeer. It was love at first sip for him. Then, we moved to FL and we were only able to find this beverage in one grocery store here and it is not cheap, as far as soda goes, so he only gets this on very special occassions now.

29 Days for Daddy # 15

2012-01-14T15:00:00.000-05:00

Day 15: the Gift of Youth

This was Arin's idea. She LOVES to go to the indoor playground/arcade and she was sure that her daddy would also love to go. He went there when he was younger, but this was his first time there with his kids.

Kae woke up right before we left :)

29 Days for Daddy #14

2012-01-13T22:47:00.000-05:00

Day 14: The Gift of Literature

This has been my favorite day so far! The girls wrote and illustrated books for their daddy.

You can read Arin's story by clicking here

and Ella's story by clicking here.

29 Days for Daddy #13

2012-01-12T20:45:00.000-05:00

Day 13: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

We bought Andrew a one-year subsciption to Sky & Telescope magazine. He recently purchased a new (to him) telescope. He really enjoys astronomy, so we thought this would be a nice addition to his hobby. The first issue has not arrived yet, so nothing to take a picture of for this post. When we told him that we bought him a subscription he was super excited about it. Apparently, it was something that he had been planning to purchase. Love it when it works out that way and we give something he really likes!

29 days for Daddy # 12

2012-01-11T18:09:00.000-05:00

Day 12: The Gift of Baked Goods

The girls made Apple Banana Muffins for their Daddy. Around here, we also refer to them as "Crack Muffins" because once you eat one, you want another, and another and another. I'm not even completely sure what it is that makes these muffins so good, but we really enjoy them. We enjoy them so much that I have refused to make them in over a year until this day. The result was the same for us as it has been in the past. So these were a very special treat that probably will not be invited back into our house for another year :)

You can see the modifications we made for these muffins (mainly the amount of sugar) by clicking the above link. We originally found the recipe here.

grating the apples

29 Days for Daddy: # 11

2012-01-10T22:48:00.003-05:00

When the girls and I were planning the different surprises for their daddy's birthday, Ella came up with this idea. This was actually the only idea that she had. She wanted to sing him a song. She LOVES to sing and often makes up her own songs to sing for us. But for this gift, she learned a song, which she did not previously know (the theme song to Barney). She practiced it for several days before getting it "just right".

The audio isn't great since it was recorded on a cell phone and thanks for ignoring the junk pile beside the couch :)

Super Sisters

2012-01-08T23:59:00.000-05:00

The girls' cousin turned two recently and we celebrated with him this weekend. His party was Super Hero themed. The kids were asked to wear their favorite super hero t-shirts and they were given capes as party favors.

29 Days for Daddy: #8, 9, & 10

2012-01-06T19:22:00.001-05:00

Day 8: The Gift of Rest
Back of Tag: "My favorite thing to do for daddy is take care of his socks" ~ Ella (everyday when Andrew gets home from work, one of the girls puts his work boots away and the other puts his dirty socks in the hamper)

Kaelyn had her two-month check-up this week. It was on Andrew's day off. That would normally mean that he would either go with us or he'd get up and keep the big kids while Kaelyn and I would go on our own. But, I know how much Andrew loves to sleep in and how hard that is to do on his day off with three littles :)
So, I woke the kids up and we tip-toed and whispered until it was time to go to the pediatrician. We didn't even tell him we were leaving. On the way home, I told the girls that we'd go through the drive-thru and bring daddy home breakfast. Arin said, "He gets TWO gifts????" haha :)

Day #9: A Gift to Snack on
Back of Tag: "My favorite thing to make for daddy is muffins" ~ Arin

Nothing too much to say about this day. Andrew likes beef summer sausage and beef jerky and sharp cheese, so the girls gave that to their daddy.

Day #10: A Gift from the Vine
Back of Tag: "I like it when daddy plays Mario Cart with me" ~ Arin

Andrew likes to try new wines, so we picked out a bottle that he had not tried before.

29 Days for Daddy: #7

2012-01-03T22:43:00.000-05:00

Day 7: A Gift to Increase Knowledge
The back of the tag read: "I love my daddy because he loves me" ~ Arin

While I was at my Weight Watcher's meeting last week, Andrew and the older girls spent their time at Books-A-Million. That night he was telling me about a book that he had been looking at and how he regretted not buying it. So guess what we did? Yup, we replaced one of the gifts that we had planned with this book that I knew he'd really like. Sometimes you just have to be flexible in gift giving :) We picked it up the next day while he was at work, but we waited a few days to give it to him.

Two Months

2012-01-02T21:46:00.000-05:00

Our sweet Kaelyn is two months old already! This month she has started smiling, though I haven't been able to catch it on camera yet. She is still an excellent sleeper, but is starting to have more periods of awake time. Evenings continue to be her toughest time of the day, but she is fussy for shorter periods of time now. Once she gets to sleep at night, she consistently stays asleep for 4-5 hours at a time (wakes just once in the night and once in the early morning between 6:30-7:00am). My sister is letting us borrow her swing that rocks from side-to-side. Kaelyn loves it and sleeps in it for several hours during the day. During tummy time a few days ago, Kae almost turned over, but her arm got in the way.

This morning, I took Kaelyn to her pediatrician for her two-month check-up. She is off the charts for both height and weight for her age. She is 24.5" long and weighs 14lbs! She is right on track with her sisters. They were both big in the beginning too, but their growth slowed by six months. Arin is average now and Ella is on the small size for her age.

29 Days for Daddy: #4, 5 & 6

2012-01-01T00:50:00.001-05:00

Day 4: "The Gift of Fruit"
The back of the tag read, "I love daddy because he is really nice" ~ Arin

Arin drew a bicycle because she loves to take bike rides with her daddy.

Andrew's gift for this day was dried figs. He loves the Jenny brand of dried figs and typically we can only find these in our grocery store in the fall, so it is a special treat each year.

Day 5: "The Gift of Clothing"
The back of the tag read, "I love daddy because he buys me scissors" ~ Ella

Day 6: "The Gift of Accuracy"
The back of the tag read, "I love my daddy because he's so sweet and every time he golfs, he let's me too" ~ Arin

Drawing by Ella

This was the first gift that we didn't do with Andrew. This was the gift of guy time. I had set it up with a couple of his brothers and his dad for them to go to the gun range. Arin was upset at first that she wasn't allowed to do every special activity with her daddy, but once I explained that it was a real gun and that she was too little to go there, she seemed ok with it. Besides, she had her own special day of playing with her cousins :)

You can read more about this project here.

29 Days for Daddy: #3

2012-01-01T00:29:00.000-05:00

This day was by far Arin's favorite and the one that she looked forward to the longest.

Day 3: "The Gift of Competition"
The back of the gift tag read "I love my daddy because he's the best daddy I ever had in the whole entire world" ~ Arin

On this day, we took Andrew bowling. Arin had already planned bowling as one of the activities. Then, we received a coupon via email for a free game of bowling. Bonus! We wrapped the coupon as that day's "clue".

Drawing by Ella

Yes, we did play with the bumpers, so Mommy and Daddy's scores aren't too impressive considering the help we had ;)

After bowling, Andrew and the older girls went to Krispy Kreme, where we had coupons for free donuts :)

You can read more about this project here.

29 Days for Daddy: #2

2012-01-01T00:10:00.000-05:00

Day # 2: "A Gift to Make You Swing" also could have been called "The Gift of Green"
The back of the gift tag read "I love my daddy because he shares his chips with me" ~ Ella

The girls took their daddy to the driving range. Andrew and the older girls really enjoyed this gift. It had rained earlier in the day and a cold front had moved in, so Kaelyn and I stayed in the car most of the time to keep warm.

29 Days for Daddy: #1

2011-12-31T23:31:00.001-05:00

Andrew's 29th birthday is at the end of January and Arin wanted to do something very special for her daddy. Arin is a planner and she especially likes to surprise people with a drawing or a letter left in a mailbox, a special gift, or some other gesture to know that you are loved by her. One morning, early in December, her and I were talking about her daddy and we came up with the idea of "29 Days for Daddy". Starting 29 days prior to Andrew's birthday, the girls would give their daddy a gift or plan an activity to do with him.

Each day, I wrap a gift (either the gift itself or something telling what the activity will be). Then, the girls take turns drawing a picture on wrapping paper. Attached to each gift is a tag with a clue about the gift and on the back of the tag, the girls tell their daddy what they love about him.

Day 1: "The Gift of Food"
On the back of the gift tag, it read "I love my daddy because he is pretty" ~ Ella
We took Andrew to nice steakhouse. It is one of his favorites, but we haven't been to it in a long time (it is expensive), like years, like since before Arin was born. It was a fun surprise and a great way to start this project. The girls really loved this because they were able to dress up, something they always look forward to.

Drawing by Arin

Inside the box was a piece of paper with the restaurant's logo on it.

Andrew and his princesses

Arin working on her photography while waiting to be seated.

I know, you would have thought I would have taken a picture of his meal, or something to show we actually went to the steakhouse, but that did not happen. Maybe next time.

Thumbsucker

2011-12-29T20:22:00.000-05:00

We have our first official thumbsucker of the family. Kaelyn has been chewing and sucking on her fist for the past several days. Tonight, after she fell asleep on her daddy, we realized that she was sucking on her thumb, not just her fist.

Why I Love Florida...

2011-12-25T21:41:00.000-05:00

Reason #847: Swimming in December!

This is how the kiddos spent the majority of today ~ swimming at their uncle and aunt's pool. This makes me especially happy because I do not like cold weather. It is incredibly mild for this time of year. The weather is beautiful and actually enjoyable to be out in, unlike the miserably hot summer days.

While the kids were enjoying the swimming pool, the guys were all breaking a sweat, building a deck for their brother's new pool. We will all be so thankful for their hard work come this summer when we are spending more time in and around the pool.

And while the older kids enjoyed the pool, and the guys worked hard, and Grandma spent the day in the kitchen, Kaelyn enjoyed a day of being held almost non-stop. She loves to be held, so I know this was a real treat for her.

Kaelyn (8wks) with Aunt Jessica

Seven Weeks

2011-12-18T15:49:00.000-05:00

Playing in the Park

2011-12-07T16:46:00.000-05:00

Last week, my mom, little sister and nephew came to visit for a few days. Oh how I loved the company, but the time went way too quickly! We spent most of the time here at our house, but were able to get out to the park one afternoon. I'm not sure who had more fun, the little guys or my mom and sister :)

One Month

2011-12-01T10:16:00.000-05:00

I can't believe Kaelyn is one month old already! The time has been flying by since she was born. It's been a fun month. She is such a sweet baby, but has some issues in the evening with being fussy and having a hard time staying asleep. That hasn't been so much fun.

The girls adore Kaelyn and Ella told me yesterday that she wants me to get another baby in my tummy. Arin has already requested a boy next. Silly little girls!

I weighed Kae yesterday. My chunky monkey is already 12 pounds!

Kaelyn loves to be held and she loves bath time. If she's in the right mood, she likes floortime and time in her swing. She sleeps in bed with me at night, but naps during the day in her crib.

Did I mention what a sweet baby she is and how much we love her? :)

Our Buddy Tyson

2011-11-30T15:48:00.000-05:00

Remember our little buddy, Tyson? There's been pictures of him throughout this blog for the past three years. Here's a picture of him with the girls from our most recent visit with him.

Recently, he had his first paid photo shoot. We know someone famous :) If you live in Florida, you may see him in the Beall's ad this weekend. Check out his picture on their website. Good job, Ty!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T23:15:00.000-05:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. Our day consisted of:

Lots of food and fun with family,

Swimming,

Sister bonding,

Music,

Relaxing,

Being Silly,

and Napping!

What more could we have asked for? :)

1st Road Trip

2011-11-21T21:37:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, we took Kaelyn on her first two hour road trip. She did very well on the way up and ok on the way home.

During our trip, we saw my best friend and her family.

Ella and Tyson were born six days apart. They exchanged gifts this weekend.

While we were gone, we got together with my family. This was the first time that Kaelyn met much of her extended family.

My little sister threw a surprise party for our parents' 48 wedding anniversary!

Some random pictures from the weekend:

Baby Doll

2011-11-15T13:05:00.000-05:00

More Random Pictures

2011-11-13T21:26:00.000-05:00

Life is settling in to a new norm. Andrew has been back to work for four days. The baby is two weeks old today. The older girls started back to school today after a nice, long break. For me, the adjustment from two to three has been a piece of cake - other than the baby had her days and nights mixed up a few times. Overall, it has been an easy adjustment. Arin and Ella are older and more independent. They also have each other to play with and they entertain themselves well. When I made the switch from one to two, it was a very hard adjustment to me, but this go round has been much easier. Andrew, however, feels like the adjustment from two to three is much harder. He says the older girls are so much more independent and now it is starting all over, which is harder to him. Arin and Ella seem to be adjusting well. They love to hold their sister and talk to her. Arin tells me every single day (multiple times a day) how adorable Kaelyn is and that she is the cutest baby. Arin also told me that our lives are so much better now that we have a baby :) Here are a few miscellaneous pictures of the girls.

Adjusting as a Family of Five

2011-11-08T23:15:00.000-05:00

I wanted to thank everyone that has been checking on us. We are doing great! Kaelyn is such a great, sweet natured, content baby. I told Andy that we needed to have at least a half dozen more :) We are all enjoying our time together. Andrew goes back to work tomorrow, after being home with us for eleven days. It is bittersweet. Financially, we need him to go back to work since his time off has been unpaid, but we will miss him. We've really had a wonderful time together. I feel like so much has happened over the last week and a half. Here's a glance of how life has been around here.

~ We brought Kaelyn home last Sunday, a few hours after birth. Both girls were thrilled to see their new sister.

Arin's first look at her new sister

~ The next day, Arin came down with the stomach bug. Eeek! Not what you want with a brand new baby. I sent my sister home, so neither her nor her seven month old son would catch the sickness. Smart move because that evening, Ella came down with the stomach bug. Then, Arin relapsed on Tuesday. Thursday it was both mine and Andrew's turn to get it. Not a fun first week home.

~ Tuesday, I took Kaelyn back to the birthing center for her PKU test. I found out that they had weighed Kaelyn with receiving blankets at birth and hadn't subtracted anything for their weight. Weird, huh? So we weighed two receiving blankets and changed Kaelyn's weight on her birth certificate to 8lbs 13oz. I didn't know at the time to change her height too. That wasn't done right either (should have been 21").

~ Tuesday we also took Kaelyn to her first pediatrician appointment. Her weight was down to 8 lbs 5 oz and her skin was showing signs of jaundice. They wanted to do a blood test for jaundice but agreed to let me "work on it". We went back Friday for another weight and jaundice check. Her weight was up to 8lbs and 11oz and her skin coloring looked good, but just to be sure we set another appointment for today (Tuesday). Today, she was up to 9lbs and 1oz and her skin color was great. So we never had to do a blood test. So happy that I have found a pediatrician that listens to me and doesn't try to pressure me into anything.

~ On Saturday, the rest of Kaelyn's cord fell off. Arin is super excited about this because now she is allowed to change the wet diapers. I love that that is exciting to her and I hope it doesn't wear off too soon :)

~ The older girls have had a lot of good bonding time with their daddy. They have gone to lunch with him and run errands with him. He has taken them fishing, to the park, swimming, and has had them help with projects around the house. They love this time with him.

~ I have had to end my 30+ year love affair with chocolate. I have eaten it twice since giving birth and within a few hours, my normally sweet, content baby turns very cranky, has a hard time settling down, and acts as if she's in pain. So I've broken up with chocolate...for now.

~ In the weeks prior to birthing Kaelyn, and especially while birthing her, my back was killing me. The pain improved drastically after giving birth. That was until this week. Now it is back to hurting A LOT. So I started going to the chiropractor. I have had two appointments so far and am planning on ten more over the next few weeks. We took an x-ray and my hips are very uneven and my neck curves to the right.

~ Kaelyn is our least photographed child. I have to remind myself to take the camera out and take pictures of her. Why? Because I am so busy holding her and staring at her, I forget to take pictures of her. She is so sweet and I just love to look at her and hold her. I know that I had those feelings with all of our kids, but I can't remember loving to hold them like I love to hold Kaelyn. I think this is because life has been so relaxed (thanks to Andy taking over almost all of my duties) and I have had the time to just sit and enjoy the kids.

~ Andrew's work sent us a congratulations gift of a rose, balloons, and a stuffed animal. The girls thought they were sent to them. Arin claimed the rose and Ella claimed the other things. It's good for them to feel special too :)

~ Some of the people from our playgroup have started bringing us meals. I think this is the best gift ever for a new mom!

I am sure there are things I am leaving out, but I have been writing this post on and off for the past four hours! Yes, tasks take a lot longer with a new baby to adore :)

Random Baby Pictures...

2011-11-07T20:31:00.000-05:00

...From Kaelyn's First Week of Life!

Kaelyn's Birth Story

2011-11-04T22:55:00.000-04:00

Three Days Old

Thank you everyone that has congratulated us on the birth of our newest daughter, Kaelyn! I have been asked a few times to share her birth story, so here it is :)

Kaelyn was the first child that I have birthed naturally, so she was more or less like a first birth. I didn't really know what to expect. I knew it would hurt, but I really hadn't put a lot of thought into it otherwise.

On Saturday night, we celebrated our sweet Ella's third birthday. I was miserable. I was ten days overdue at this point and I was tired. My back was killing me, as it had been for several weeks. I just felt worn out. I was ready to have this baby and I felt like the time clock was running out on me. The birthing center was required by law to send me to see an OB for an ultrasound and non-stress test between my 41st and 42nd weeks of pregnancy. The appointment was set for Monday morning. I was sure that I had planned the route of natural childbirth and this was going to be taken from me at the last minute. So on Saturday night, my little sister sent me a text and jokingly asked me if I was going to try castor oil. My midwife has suggested it a week before and I had already tried every other "trick" without producing labor. I had the castor oil idea tucked away as a last ditch effort. I started talking about it with some of my family members and we decided we had nothing to lose by trying it. I called my midwife and she asked that I at least waited until the next day. They had eleven births due in October and it seemed everyone was delivering within a few hours of the previous person. It was a busy, busy month for the birthing center and everyone was working on little to no sleep at that point. So I agreed. Afterall, I wanted a good night's sleep. So, at almost ten o'clock at night, when all our guests had left, we loaded up the kids and headed to CVS to buy castor oil.

We went home, put the kids to bed and then we went to bed. It was hard for me to get to sleep. My back was hurting, I was overtired, but I was excited at the possibility that the castor oil would work and I would be able to labor and deliver the way I wanted to. About 11:30pm, I was finally able to drift off to dreamland.

Around 2:30am, I woke up. What was this that I was feeling? Contractions? On my own, without the aid from anything? They were light and manageable and I had to wonder if that was really what I was feeling, but they were different from previous cramps that I had had. The came from around my back and moved forward. Oh wow, this was exciting! I started timing them - every five(ish) minutes, for about 40 seconds. I sent a text out to my sister. She was asleep, so she didn't answer. I had a few more contractions. I decided I better let my other sister know. It seemed this was the real thing and since my sisters wanted to be present, I needed to let them know. They both live about two hours from us. My older sister answered my text. Then, I decided to call my mom. She wasn't originally going to be able to make it, but still wanted to know when I went into labor. I decided to go back to bed. I couldn't sleep. I was way too excited.

I got up again and took a long shower. The hot water felt good on my back. Not only had my back been hurting for weeks, it turns out I was in store for a lot of back labor. The contractions started coming every two minutes. Wow, I couldn't believe how quickly it changed from five minutes to two minutes. They were still manageable, and still only lasting 35-45 seconds, but why the closeness now? Was I going to have a quick labor? I sure hoped so. I was in labor for 12 hours with Arin and six with Ella. I was hoping this was going to be another quick one like Ella. I decided to call my midwife and tell her that I had been having several contractions, now two minutes apart. She had just gotten home from a delivery and she was almost delirious with exhaustion. I told her I didn't know if it was too soon to go in since I had never done this before. She decided to meet me at the birthing center, but said that she'd call the other midwife in to take over. The other midwife lives about an hour and a half from the center.

So, we quickly got ready and called Andy's brother to make sure it was ok to bring the girls over there. Wouldn't you know it...those every two minute contractions slowed down. It had been like eight minutes since I had a contraction. I was really worried. I woke everyone up, my family, midwives, Andy's brother and his wife, and now labor was stopping, or at the very least slowing down. We decided to go to the birthing center just the same. In the car, the contractions came back about every five minutes for 40 seconds.

Once we got to the center, I was checked out. Fifty percent effaced and five centimeters dialated. Ok, so progress was being made. I didn't feel so bad now. It could go quickly from here, right? I started walking. My midwife said the walking would help it progress faster. I'd walk, walk, walk, then stop and lean against the wall while the contraction was happening, then walk, walk, walk some more.

Handling the contractions was really not that difficult. The only previous experience I had with contractions was the pitocin induced type, which I have always been told come on harder and faster than natural ones. I still assumed that these contractions would have to get stronger, but for several hours they stayed consistent in their intensity.

About an hour after we got to the birthing center, my sisters and my mom showed up. They decided to make a breakfast run at McDonald's. I was hungry too, but decided not to eat. I was sure this labor was going to start progressing quickly and I didn't want to get sick during it because I ate. So they got the food and came back to eat it. Wow, I was hungry! So back out to McDonald's they went and came back with an egg and cheese biscuit for me. That could have been the best sandwich I have ever eaten! My sisters laughed and commented that they couldn't believe I was interested in eating during labor.

After breakfast, we decided to go outside for a walk. We walked over to the lake and then down the street. I gave them all a bit of comic relief because I was outwalking them. I was determined to get this labor going somewhere. It seemed like it was stalling. I'd walk fast, then every few yards, I'd have to stop and hold on to Andrew, or a tree, a street light pole, a street sign - whatever was available at the time. The contractions were painful even though they were still short in duration. Forty seconds seemed to be their magic number.

We went back to the center and I bounced on the exercise ball for a little bit before deciding I was getting pretty tired, so maybe I should lay down. So I laid down and the contractions STOPPED!!! Ugh. I had what you call dysfunctional labor. It did not do what typical labors do where they start out slow, but progress. Nope, my labor was all over the place depending on the position I was in. So the labor stopped for a good fifteen minutes. Then a contration hit and this time it lasted a minute and twenty seconds. This contraction was not messing around. It was much more intense that the previous ones. But I didn't get another one for a good thirteen or fifteen more minutes. Once it hit, it was also strong and long, but it just took a long time to get one. Eventually we decided for me to get out of bed. Immediately I got another contraction.

It went on like this for what seemed like forever. Sometimes the contractions were long and strong and close together. Sometimes they were short and sporatic. It just didn't make a lot of sense. They were here and there and just all over the place.

Oh yes, and at another time I got really hungry again and ate a peanut butter granola bar, which also tasted like the best thing that I had ever eaten. Again, my sisters were amazed that I could eat during labor. I threw up shortly after eating it though.

I finally made it to 7 cm dialated after hours of labor. I thought surely things would progress quickly now. Nope!

Everything was going well until the last hour or maybe two. I stopped keeping track of time, so I am just guessing. I was tired. Really exhausted by now. The contractions were finally coming strong and very close together, unless I'd lay down. Then they would go away. But like I said, I was tired, I was frustrated, I was scared. You know how you see people in the movies screaming during childbirth? Yeah, that was me. The contractions hurt so bad at this point, mostly the back labor, that I would scream with them. I was not a graceful laborer. I cried real tears everytime I felt the contractions. I felt overwhelmed.

I had considered waterbirth at one time, but to use their waterbirth tub would have costs us almost $200 and I just couldn't justify it. There were moments in those last hours that I almost told them to fill the pool, but then talked myself out of it. I did get into the bathtub for a while (that's free to use). I could not get comfortable.

No matter where I went, bed, bath, birthing stool, squatting, I just could not get into a comfortable position to deliver. I felt defeated and did I mention that my back felt like it was breaking? At one point I told Andy just to take me to the hospital to cut the baby out. I was hurting that badly. I really should have listened to my mother and gone to the chiropractor previous to labor. I was paying for my stubborness during labor.

I was checked again. Fully effaced, fully dialated. They wanted me to push. I didn't feel the urge to push and when I did, it felt like my back was pulling in half. My midwife had her hand inside me holding back some cervical lip or something and telling me to push. Worst pain I have felt and I kept telling her to leave me alone. I think I was frustrating her. I was getting more and more frustrated with everyone and the whole situation. I felt pressure to get the baby out immediately, but I hurt so badly. I still could not get comfortable. I was so tired. I told Andy that I needed a nap and I'd push the baby out when I woke up. Haha!

I guess I finally offended everyone. I told them to stop asking me questions, stop giving me advice, stop pressuring me, and just let me do this myself. Everyone left the room. Everyone except Andy. He had been silent in the situation, but by my side all the time.

Once everyone left, I relaxed a little. I got up and went to the bathroom where I sat on the toilet. There was a handcap handle installed on the wall on one side of the toilet and a sink on the other side of the toilet. I sat there, holding on to both, resting my head on the wall. I gave myself a little pep talk to stop being scared. At this same time, my two sisters had decided to go for a lunch run, even though it was nearing 3pm. They sat in the parking lot and prayed for me. Once I was alone, everything went VERY quickly. I got a contraction. I finally felt the urge to push and I did with everything I had. I could feel the baby coming. Only Andy was in the bathroom with me. I started yelling, "Catch her, catch her". The student midwife ran in. She could see Kaelyn crowning. It all happened quickly. She started yelling for gloves and then told me to slow down. I was pushing too hard, too quickly. I slowed it down. Kaelyn's head was born, then another contraction and her shoulders and then she slid out.

(My sisters were upset that they missed the event. They left because I didn't seem to be progressing, then within 3-5 minutes after they walked out, Kaelyn was born. I don't think they had even driven out of the parking lot yet. Oops!)

The midwife wanted to hand her to me. I wasn't interested. I was so exhausted. I hadn't even looked at her. I just laid my head on the wall and closed my eyes. The midwife thought she was losing me. She kept saying, "Cara, look at me" I assured her I was fine, just tired!

It would probably be half an hour before I was cleaned up and back in bed, ready to hold my baby. I am not even sure that I was ready for her then, but they said I needed to nurse her. Giving birth to Kaelyn was the hardest thing I have EVER done. Her birth did remind me a lot of Arin's birth though. Both were eleven days late. Both were 12 hour labors (Kaelyn's was actually a little over 12 hours). Both were new experiences. I was completely worn out with both. I was uninterested in either right after birth because of the extreme exhaustion. But in case you were wondering, that feeling has passed and we have been bonding wonderfully. Kaelyn (like our other girls) is an amazing blessing. She is a sweet, sweet baby and we are thrilled to finally have her here!

It was a student midwife that actually caught Kaelyn. I had met with her (under the supervision of a licensed midwife) during several of my visits. I liked her and was comfortable with her being present. She was so excited that she made it to the birth (baby was born shortly after she arrived). This was her first toilet birth. Hahaha - a first of the kind for me as well. It just happened to be the only place that was comfortable.

Also, I loved being home right away. My recovery time has been so much quicker than that of Arin or Ella's births. When I was asked right after birth which way I'd go next time, I think I said epidural, but after this wonderful recovery, I am thinking I would go birthing center (or home) again next time. I would just have more experience and know things like to stay home longer and to offend people sooner so they'd leave me alone :) Ok, maybe not the last one, but you understand what I mean - I'd know what to expect and I think it'd go a little smoother next time :)

(I may or may not add pictures to this post later (just haven't decided yet), for now I just want to get it published for those that have been asking for it)

Ella's 3rd Birthday

2011-11-01T19:59:00.000-04:00

Ella turned three on Thursday and we celebrated on Saturday night with a family dinner party. She was so excited to have a party. We always do special things with our kids on their birthdays, but this was her first party. She chose to do a pink princess theme, no surprise there. She also chose a mermaid cake.

For dinner, we had pizza, salad, fruit, and crackers with dip. We also served pink lemonade in recycled Starbuck's bottles.

On the dessert table, I set up the cake and lots of pink candy. The candy was later divided up and sent home as favors with the kids.

The guests:

The Gifts:

We didn't plan any activities for the kids, but since it was a night party, we did give them all glo sticks and glo stick masks/hats.

Thank you everyone that helped make Ella's birthday so special :)

She's FINALLY Here!

2011-10-30T21:40:00.000-04:00

Eleven days later than her due date, Kaelyn Marie joined our family today, Oct. 30th! She weighed 8lbs 15oz and is 20.5" long. We are home now and doing well :)

Pregnancy Journal: 41 weeks and Counting

2011-10-27T15:21:00.000-04:00

Today I had my last prenatal appointment at my birthing center. There's been almost no change since my last appointment. My cervix is high and thick. The baby has moved back up, so the midwife could no longer touch her head. I have tried every "trick" I know to get the process started, but nothing is helping. I am feeling stressed.

On Monday, (if the baby has not arrived on her own) we'll take the hour and 15 minute drive to meet with an OB. She'll be conducting a few tests: non-stress and ultrasound. Then, she'll make the decision if I need to be induced right away or if I can go x amount of days longer. If she allows me to go longer and I don't go on my own during that time period, I'll have to go back for a second non-stress test. Since my body is not progressing, I am preparing myself for yet another hospital induction type birth. This is not the route I wanted to take this time. I do not like the thought of being delivered by a doctor that I have no relationship with. Still praying baby will appear on her own in the next couple of days.

Almost Three!

2011-10-25T23:23:00.000-04:00

Ella will be three years old in just a couple of days. Tonight, we celebrated by taking her to Toys-R-Us, where she was given a crown and a balloon (they were out of their normal birthday club balloons). Toys-R-Us's birthday club is something that we learned about last year and both of the girls look forward to going there on/near their birthdays.

Next, we headed to the mall for Chick-Fil-A's monthly birthday celebration. The girls both had their faces painted and both were given a cupcake and a cookie. Ella was given a stuffed cow and a balloon and she was able to pick a birthday surprise - she chose a Tinkerbell Notebook :)

Because they didn't have quite enough sugar at Chick-Fil-A (*sigh*), we took them home to roast marshmallows, which I was lazy (*ahem*) and didn't take any pictures of this event.

On an unrelated sidenote, baby number three is being super stubborn. I am 41 weeks pregnant now and having a hard time being patient for her arrival. I am wondering if she is waiting to show up on her sister's birthday??

Ella's Haircut

2011-10-24T20:24:00.001-04:00

So it's not super easy to see in pictures, but this is the reason I do not like my little kids to use scissors. They always seem to think it's a great idea to cut their hair! This time, Ella thinned out the top of her hair and chopped up her bangs here and there. Eek!

Beach

2011-10-23T13:44:00.000-04:00

We spent 10 days at the beach with our families, both mine and Andrew's. All together, there were about 35 of us there throughout two weeks. We had a great time together. Arin loved being with her cousins and she cried the night that they left. Here are a few of the beach pics from our trip.

Pregnancy Journal: 40 weeks

2011-10-21T12:55:00.000-04:00

I am officially OVERDUE! My due date was originally the 19th, but the birthing center said the 18th, and then this week, I met with the owner of the birthing center and she put me back at the 19th. Either way, this baby is late! That is not surprising at all, since I was overdue and induced with both Arin and Ella.

We did just get home from spending 10 days with our families and I am so happy that I did not go into labor while we were gone, but now that we are back home, I am more than ready to have my baby! At my forty week prenatal appointment, we saw a bit of progression over my 37 week appointment, which was the only other time I have been checked. Now I am 2cm dialated and about 30% effaced. Baby is at 0 station, meaning the midwife could feel her head. This morning I started showing slight signs of baby coming soon, but that seems to have all fizzled out and so the waiting game continues. Even though I know that babies rarely come on their due date, it is so hard to be patient!

My back has been hurting a lot over the past couple of weeks and I have been pretty emotional, but otherwise, all is well :)

Marshmallows

2011-09-30T00:28:00.000-04:00

About once or twice a year, we buy our girls kosher marshmallows. They LOVE them, but we don't get them very often because they are super expensive, not exactly healthy, and giving them to the girls rarely keeps them special :) This year we took pictures of the girls getting their surprise.

Do you think they were excited? :)

Pregnancy Journal: 37 weeks

2011-09-27T21:11:00.000-04:00

Yay! I have now made it to 37 weeks in this pregnancy which means, I am now considered full term and I am now able to birth outside of a hospital. Unfortunately, I found out a couple of weeks ago that my main midwife does not accept my insurance for homebirths (only birthing center) and it is unlikely that the other midwife will be on call when the event happens, so we are preparing for a birthing center birth instead.

If I make it to 41 weeks, I will have to see an OB for a non-stress test and another ultrasound and wait for the "ok" to be released back to the birthing center, so...I am hoping that the baby is born on her own before then. I had my check-up today and I am nowhere near ready to deliver yet, which is okay since I have three weeks until my due date. The midwife was somewhat concerned today because when she measured my belly, I only measured 33 weeks. I tend to hide my big babies well. At 32 weeks, I had an ultrasound. At that point, the baby measured 5 lbs and according to the ultrasound, I was measuring two weeks ahead. But, my midwife said that later ultrasounds are less reliable than earlier ultrasounds.

The only other concern at this time is my iron. When it was checked last week, it was 33 which is the lowest it can go without me being referred to an OB for further instructions. I have been doing some stuff to try to increase it and will be checked again next week.

Otherwise, all is going well. I am getting super anxious to meet our baby girl!

Disney World

2011-09-22T12:42:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, we took the girls on their 1st trip to Disney's Magic Kingdom. We wanted to do something super special for them before the new baby is born. Even though they've only seen a small handful of Disney movies, they have been asking for months to go to Disney World. It took a long time to convince Andrew that it was a good idea and I'm pretty sure it'll take at least seven years to convince him to go back (it's expensive and crowded), but we sure did enjoy our day. It's always so much fun to see the girls' faces light up as they try new things.

So Excited

Almost There

The park was open from 9am until 9pm. The day ended with a fireworks display near Cinderella's castle. The fireworks were over about 9:20pm or so, but because of all the people leaving at the same time, we didn't get out of the park until 11pm! Yes, LONG day!

The girls were both given "1st Visit" buttons, which they wore the whole day.

We were able to do almost everything that we wanted to do, despite the lines and also the late afternoon rain shower.

Ella said the horses were her favorite thing about the day.

When I was three, we lived in Texas. We went to Florida that year to observe the biblical Feast of Tabernacles. After the Feast was over, my parents took us to the Magic Kingdom on our way back home to TX. Dumbo was my favorite ride and my dad took me twice that day! So, of course, I wanted my girls to experience the classic Dumbo ride too! Arin rode with her daddy and Ella with me. Ella loved this ride and asked to go a second time :)

Waiting in Lines = A Lesson in Patience :)

The girls were both excited to go on the Snow White ride, but both were scared during the ride.

Don't they look thrilled? lol

Getting Sleepy...

Snoozing! And Arin is such a sweet sister that she fanned Ella (without being asked) while she slept.

We took a ride on the steam ship.

The girls loved the upper deck.

Waiting for the parade to begin.

Arin's favorite part of the parade was seeing Donald Duck and Cinderella!

By 4:00, I needed a break! We went over to Tom Sawyer's Island. Andrew and his brother, Todd, took the girls to explore the island for about thirty minutes, while I sat in the shade and rested :)

Arin said this Barrell Bridge was her favorite part of the day. She also told me that I would have been scared on it :)

It's a Small World ride

Ella loved It's a Small World and asked to go a second time.

I wanted a picture of the girls in front of Cinderella's Castle. They tried really hard to stand there for me to get a good picture, but there was a street parade happening at the same time and all Arin wanted to do was...

DANCE!!!!

We told the girls when we first got to the park that they could each pick out one treat of their choice after lunch. We told them there'd be stuff to pick from like cotton candy, ice cream, pop corn, candy, etc. Ella picked a five-pack of character shaped lollipops and Arin picked one big princess lollipop. Smart girls, both picked multi-serving treats :)

Who knew there'd be ducks to feed at Disney?

Three goofy people on the PeopleMover. This is the only ride we did twice. The only reason we did this a second time was because it rained in the late afternoon.

Buzz Lightyear interactive ride

The day before we went to Disney, we stopped by the Dollar Tree and picked up some glo-sticks, which we gave the girls once it was dark outside. They LOVED this special treat and it kept them entertained while Andrew and Todd went on Space Mountain.

Waiting for the Fireworks

Fireworks and Cinderella's Castle

Ella was asleep for the night before we got back to our car and Arin was asleep for the night almost as soon as we got in the car. Both slept until 10:00 this morning!

A Special Surprise for the Girls

2011-09-20T16:43:00.000-04:00

We wanted to do something super special with the girls before their new sister is born. Check out their reaction to the news :)

Baby Shower #2

2011-09-18T14:37:00.000-04:00

Almost 36 weeks :)

I feel so blessed to have been given not one, but TWO baby showers for our third baby. Even though this is baby number three, and it is another girl, we are basically starting all over. Ella and this baby will be almost exactly three years apart (baby is due the week before Ella's birthday). We've moved three times since Ella was born, which means I have cleaned out and decluttered almost all of our baby gear and baby clothes. Since having two showers, plus people passing their un-needed baby stuff along to us, we have almost everything we'll need for our new baby. How awesome is that? :)

This weekend, my niece and my sister-in-law threw me a super fun family baby shower. Unfortunately, not all that planned to attend were able to. They were missed, but we all had a great time being together.

hostess Lauryn, me and hostess Angie

There was lots of yummy food!

Chicken Salad on Homemade Bread which was tinted PINK!

Frosted Sugar Cookies in the shape of a Onesie
The basket is holding party favors - Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies

Decorated Tables ~ "It's A Girl" confetti, pink fabric, decorative glass charms, party favors

Red Velvet Cake Pops!

YUM!!!

We played four fun games!

Guess how many M&M's are in the jar.

Amber was the closest. I think there were 474(?) and she guessed 468(?) I remember there were A LOT more than I thought would be in the jar and that Amber was extremely close with her guess.

The next game was drawing a baby on top of your head.

Some of the drawings were SO good and so hard to judge. I chose Kayla's drawing because she put the extra detail of a curly-q on the baby's head :)

Game #3 - the classic "How Big is my Belly?"

Arin misunderstood. She thought she was supposed to guess how big her belly was :) She was very close, so Aunt Angie rewarded her with 3 cookies!

The real winners were between me (I guessed to short ~ wishful thinking!) and Brianna, who guessed just a tad too long. Brianna won the prize :)

The final game was only for the adults. We all had to put paper bags over our heads.

Then, we were told to take off whatever we didn't need on. Aunt Becky was quick at this game. While the rest of us were thinking about accessories that we could remove (glasses, jewelry, watches, etc), Aunt Becky slipped off her sandals and then it dawned on her that she didn't "need" that bag over her head, so she took it off! She was the winner :)

The Gifts :)

We were given lots of sweet baby clothes and also some money to put towards a crib (we got rid of Ella's during our move from GA to FL)

The Guests:

Thank You Angie and Lauryn for hosting a super fun day! Thank you everyone else that attended and made my day so special!

Baby Shower #1

2011-09-12T19:44:00.000-04:00

35 Weeks :)

If we are friends on Facebook, you may have already seen these pictures (I posted the whole slideshow on there). If not, here are a few pictures :)

Lynn & Me

Yesterday, my friend Lynn, threw a baby shower for me. Lynn did an awesome job and we all had a great time! She really paid attention to the details. When we pulled up, there were pink and blue balloons outside. These colors were not picked by accident. Arin's favorite color is blue and Ella's favorite color is pink. As soon as we got out of the car, Arin noticed the balloons and told Ella they were their favorite colors :)

Lynn used the owl theme for the shower.

Decorations

Sign-In Table and Thank You Gift (hand sanitizers)

Yummy Food

Drinks and Sweet Treats

I LOVE cupcakes!

Lynn added her touch of creativity to these yummy cupcakes.

gifts

We played three games. The classic "how big is my belly" game was a lot of fun and provided so many laughs.

There were four people that came very close to winning this game, but ultimately, this is me with the first and second place winners. Fun Fact: I won this game at my sister's shower and she she won 1st place at my shower :)

Game #2 - Basket Memory Game. Lynn filled a basket with baby items. She carried the basket around the room and then left with the basket. Once the basket was out of the room, we were to write down as many of the sixteen items that we could remember. Bonus: I got to keep all the items in the basket :)

Game #3 - Baby Trivia. These were fun baby related questions. They were also really hard questions that most of us just guessed at.

We received so many sweet and thoughtful gifts. These are shirts, tu-tu's and matching barrettes that Lynn had someone make for the girls.

"Bigger Sister Arin", "Big Sister Ella" and "Baby Sister Kaelyn" Notice the colors? Arin, the oldest, has her favorite color listed first, then Ella, the middle has her favorite color listed second, and until Kaelyn, the third child, is old enough to pick her favorite color, we'll use purple for her, which was listed last :)

My friend Karen, handmade bibs and matching burp clothes for the baby :)

The Guests: Other than my mom, two sisters and a few of my nephews, this was my "friends" shower. Next weekend is my "family" shower, hosted by a couple of our family members.

Baby Bellies! Jennifer is due just a few weeks before me :)

Loving the Baby

My mom, two sisters, nephew and myself

A HUGE THANK YOU to Lynn and everyone else that made my day so special!!! Friends, Fun, and Food - the perfect combination :)

Busch Gardens

2011-09-09T11:15:00.000-04:00

We took the girls to the aquarium for a family field trip this week. It was a quick field trip - we were only there about two or so hours. Since we had already driven over to Tampa, we decided to take advantage of our Busch Gardens season passes. It was a fun, spontaneous trip. We only stayed there a couple of hours as well, but we enjoyed every minute of it!

We saw the new cheetah exhibit. We learned that cheetahs are not classified as a LARGE cat like a lion would be. This is because females typically top out at 100 lbs and males top out at 120 lbs. Cheetah's cannot roar. Typically, only half a litter survives. These cubs will live with their mother for about a year and a half. Then, the cubs all leave and live together. Eventually, the females leave and the males will live together for the rest of their lives. The females wander on their own.

We only saw female cheetahs while we were at the display. These females are only about 80 lbs and not old enough for breeding yet. Also, the cats know their names and are called over at feeding time. We saw them eat an afternoon snack of ground meat and organs. Yum! They are also fed whole, dead rabbits, whole, dead chickens, chicken breasts, steaks, etc., but we did not see any of that.

Andy rode the new Cheetah Hunt roller coaster. It launches you in three different places and is a three-minute ride. He LOVED it and can't wait to go on it again. The girls had so much fun in the kiddie area. Because it had rained all morning, the outside kiddie area was closed at the aquarium while we were there, so I was happy that they were able to enjoy their time at Busch Gardens.

The girls were especially excited that I had packed their bathing suits, so they could take advantage of the new water area. There's another water area too, but this particular spot was not opened the last time we were at the park.

Do I Look Like a Boy?

2011-08-30T22:49:00.000-04:00

Arin says some of the funniest things.

Let me back-up. Arin wears dresses/skirts everyday because that's what she likes best. Today, we were going to the playground, so I told her to put on shorts instead. She thought that was the most terrible idea, but agreed jeans would be ok, even though I told her she'd be hot in them. So she got dressed in her shirt, jeans and tennis shoes. Then, she came out and said to me, "If I was a boy, I'd look like this everyday! If I didn't have on this girl shirt, wouldn't I look like a boy?" She was very serious. I had to laugh (to myself of course).

Andrew and I tried to reassure her and tell her that she looked like our pretty little girl. We went to the park and we had a lot of fun playing together.

We went out to eat for lunch. Both of the girls had to go potty, so I took them. Arin was in one stall and Ella and I were in another. A little girl walked in with her mom and apparently she looked in the crack of the stalls (her mom quickly told her to stop that). But then the little girl said, "Mom, why is there a boy in here?"

Hahaha, I guess that proved Arin's theory. She quickly changed into a dress when we got home :)

Before Bed Snack

2011-08-13T01:11:00.000-04:00

Yummy, juicy, drippy, messy, sweet peaches!

We have been enjoying an abundance of fresh summer produce!

Ella's First People Drawing

2011-08-08T23:50:00.000-04:00

As part of the girls' school (if you missed it, click here to see our new homeschool blog), I have been having them send cards to their grandparents (the set that doesn't live near us) once a week. Arin writes "Dear Grandma and Papa" and "Love, Arin" and then she dictates what she wants the letter to say and I write it for her. Ella dictates her whole letter, then scribbles a little on the inside of the card. Both girls draw a picture on the outside of their cards.

Today, Ella asked me to help her make a flower on her card. She had already drawn the stem and I held her hand to draw the flower's petals. Then, I got busy organizing our next project and wasn't paying too much attention to her. When she was done drawing on the front of her card, she said, "I drew Grandma and Papa!". I was amazed! This was the first people (or really anything recognizable) that Ella has drawn.
I really hated to send her first people drawing away, but I know that it'll make Grandma and Papa happy!

Waterpark Fun

2011-08-04T22:37:00.000-04:00

Andrew's work bought us tickets to go to Adventure Island waterpark last week. We had so much fun. Arin had been to a waterpark when she was almost two, but Ella had never been to one. It was a hot, crowded day, but everyone had a good time. Arin especially loved the wave pool.

Pregnancy Journal: 29 weeks

2011-08-01T22:33:00.000-04:00

This was a belly pic taken tonight. I am going to try to get one next time to include my face. No promises though as I am not photogenic at all!

We took our refresher birthing class a couple of weeks ago. Seriously, I felt like I was out on a date! We dropped the kiddos off at my sister-in-law's house then went to dinner before class. During class we practiced breathing techniques and then the instructor encouraged the birthing partners to practice back massages on us mamas. Awesome! After the class, Andrew took me out for dessert before going back to pick up the kids. Can we have birthing classes every week??? :)

I've been feeling pretty well. I am learning how to control my heartburn. With Arin and Ella the heartburn was so bad that I would throw-up and it would be again this time, I'm sure, if I hadn't learned a few tricks along the way. My new number one friend is lemon water. I am amazed at how well this stuff works at taking away heartburn or in many cases stopping it before it starts. I typically squeeze half a lemon twice a day to add to water and then right before I settle in for the night, I squeeze a whole lemon and put it in a bit more water. Drinking that before bed has kept me from getting sick like I was with the girls.

I had my 28 week prenatal appointment last week. It was also my second glucose test, which I will get the results for at my next appointment. I am down to the every two-week appointments now, which makes it more exciting. I have gained 11 pounds so far, which my midwife said was great. The baby's heartbeat was nice and strong and she is super active, but she did measure 26 weeks instead of 28 weeks. My midwife said it was most likely just position and should be back to normal at my next appointment.

I've flip-flopped several times on my decision of where to birth, but for now, I am back to the decision to birth at home (vs. birthing at the birthing center). I am beginning to gather my supplies and looking into buying a birthing pool. I am starting to get very excited and anxious to meet our new baby, even though we still have 11 +/- weeks to go.

Cinderella

2011-08-01T15:37:00.000-04:00

Remember this post (The one when Arin was three and she loved to mop on her hands and knees while wearing her dress-up clothes)?

She's graduated to using a mop, but she still LOVES to mop and she still loves to do it in her dress-up clothes.

It is hard work, but she's really very good at it, so it is almost always her job (which makes me very happy).

Wiping the sweat fom her brow :)

Our New Toy

2011-07-29T19:21:00.000-04:00

The girls were both anxious to try this out and were sad when we ran out of regular pencils and colored pencils to sharpen! Who knew a pencil sharpener could be so much fun?

A Fun-Filled (Free) Day!

2011-07-26T21:39:00.000-04:00

Today was a big day. It was Arin's 5th birthday, plus the start of my third trimester, plus Andrew's day off. Any of those things on their own would be awesome, but all three together seemed like a reason to celebrate! We had a birthday party for Arin a couple of weeks ago, but still wanted to do something fun for her today.

No school for the girls today. Instead, we headed to the free summer kids' movie this morning. We saw Yogi Bear. This was the first time that any of us had seen this movie. Arin loved it! She was cracking up throughout the movie. It was so cute to hear her giggling so much!

After lunch, we needed to stop by the bank, so we asked for the free lollipops for the kids and we let them eat them in the car, with the windows rolled down. Yup, we're super fun parents like that. Hahaha!

Next, Arin went with her daddy and her Uncle Todd to dig at his house. Todd is getting a pool, but before that can happen, they have to get this massive stump out of his backyard. It's a lot of work and may not seem like a fun project to the average person, but Arin loves being included in this activity. Ella and I stayed home and napped :)

Before dinner, we took Arin to Toys-R-Us, where she got a paper birthday crown to wear and a balloon. Plus, they announced her birthday over the store's intercom system. Yes, Arin felt super special!

Next, we headed to Chick-Fil-A. Arin had been invited to a special birthday celebration where she was given a free kid's meal, a special present, a cow stuffed animal toy, a balloon, a craft, her face painted, a cupcake and ice cream! Wow!

Chick-Fil-A included Ella in the special dessert :)

After dinner, we had planned to take the kids to the park, but the rainy weather prevented that, so we took them to the mall's play area.

Finally, we took the girls to the pet store to look at the animals. They love this!

It was a super fun day!

Princess Academy

2011-07-24T08:14:00.000-04:00

Friday afternoon, I took the girls to Princess Academy, which was a free event celebrating the kick-off of Disney's Dare to Dream Tour. The girls were so excited! They loved being able to wear their party dresses - that was until we got there and several of the other little girls were wearing dress-up clothes, so Arin immediately wondered why she wasn't also wearing dress-up clothes, especially her dress-up shoes. After a little heart-to-heart, she was happy again about wearing her party dress and regular shoes!

Even though they don't look like it, they were super stoked to be here!

The city's mayor came to kick-off the event and each of the girls took an oath for stuff like, using their best manners, protecting the kingdom, etc. Then the real fun began!

There were seven stations set up with activities. The girls were to complete each activity to get a sticker on their report card. Once their report card was completed, they went through Princess Academy graduation, where they received a diploma and became a real princess. Oh yes, my girls were super excited about this!

The girls decorated tiaras.

They constructed castles.

We took a carriage ride and the girls practiced their royal wave. This was also my first time on a carriage ride and my favorite activity of the day! Arin said her favorite activity of the day was when I let her dance in the rain! (It's the simple things...)

The girls learned a few dance steps. I didn't get a real good picture of them dancing, but here they are with their dance instructors.

They learned how to curtsey.

Ella thought it was more fun to eat her dress than to curtsey!

The girls went through cake designing class. Each were given a cupcake and then let loose to decorate it with every kind of junk food imaginable: sugary cereals, M&M's, gummy bears, marshmallows, sprinkles, chocolate chips, jelly beans, animal crackers, lollipops, and I'm sure I am forgetting some things. We don't eat gummy bears or marshmallows, so I gave Arin a quick reminder about that, which she was completely ok with, especially since there was SOOO much other stuff to choose from. And to wash down all the sugar, the girls had a pink lemonade drink. Yes, they were on top of the world. Funny thing was they both had a bowl full of sugar and they both chose to eat their lollipops first!

The last activity they did was Princess Glamour. I didn't have my camera with me at this point, so no more pictures. The princess glamour consisted of the girls having glitter sprayed in their hair and sparkles applied to their faces and lips. Next, was graduation and diplomas. We had a super fun afternoon!

New Homeschool Blog

2011-07-21T21:10:00.000-04:00

Next week is a big week around our house. Arin will be turning five and we'll also begin our new homeschool year. With the start of a new homeschooling year, I have decided to start a new blog, so that we can keep our learning activities separate from our family activities. I will continue to post on this blog, but it'll be all family life stuff. Our new blog to document our learning activities is called Sandbox Scholars. By the way, it was REALLY hard to come up with a new name. Everything I thought of was already taken (you can see how creative I am!). This was the first name Andrew came up with. It happened to be available, and I think it's a cute name, so that's what we're going with :)

Backyard Photo Shoot

2011-07-20T07:45:00.000-04:00

Arin's Party

2011-07-17T13:56:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Arin's 5th birthday several days early with a family party, which was so much fun! Including us, there were 29 people in attendance.

The night before the party, the girls helped their daddy blow up several balloons. It was Arin's request that we had lots of balloons.

That night, the girls had a ton of fun playing with the balloons. They enjoyed sitting in the big pile, tossing them around, and running after each other with the balloons.

Who knew the adults at the party would find the balloons equally as fun as the kids did? The grown-ups sat around and played a game of keep the balloons in the air. There was so much laughter. Lots of fun!

We had set up a family-sized blow-up pool and a baby-sized blow-up pool in the backyard, along with a slip and slide. These kept the kids busy for several hours throughout the afternooon.

For lunch, we served take-out pizza, along with several other snacks. I made deviled eggs, a platter with carrot, celery & ranch dressing dip, black olives, cream cheese and pepper jelly with crackers, tomatoes topped with mozzarella and fresh basil, strawberries, and cherries.

After we ate, Arin opened her presents. She got lots of fun, new toys!

Next, it was time for Arin to give presents. She gave each of the kids at her party a wrapped present, which also doubled as an activity. We had ordered horse hats from Oriental Trading. The kids assembled them. They were a bit more challenging than expected, but they made for a good laugh. Even the teenagers were good sports and got in on the fun!

Next, we moved the party to the front yard where all the kids got giant bubble blowers. I've seen these bubble blowers all over the internet. They look like so much fun, but unfortunately, our's did not work as great as the ones we see on other people's blogs. I think it could have something to do with too many kids in too small of an area? We gave the blowers to everyone, so hopefully they will try them again at home and have better luck with them.

Next, we enjoyed dessert. I made three flavors of cupcakes - chocolate, strawberry and confetti. Along with the cupcakes, we set up an ice cream sundae bar. The bar included vanilla ice cream (of course!), whipped cream, chocolate, strawberry and caramel syrups, nuts, cherries, chocolate and rainbow sprinkles crushed Oreos, Mini Reese's Cups, Mini M&M's, jelly beans, and bananas.

Arin had so much fun with her family. She cried when it was time for them to go home.

And though completely unrelated, I thought I'd share a belly pic of me at twenty-six and a half weeks! Almost to my third trimester :)

Rainbow Cake

2011-07-15T22:15:00.000-04:00

When we go to visit my family for an extended period of time, one of the girls' favorite things to do is bake with their Aunt Candace. This time, they worked together to make a rainbow cake. Yum!

Windmill

2011-07-11T20:52:00.000-04:00

I recently bought the girls a set of Tinker Toys, which they have been having a lot of fun with. Their favorite thing so far was the windmill that we built together. They especially liked that they could spin the windmill's paddles.

Pretend Play

2011-07-10T22:26:00.000-04:00

Ella: "Look mom, Rin's my puppy!"

Cousins

2011-07-10T00:01:00.001-04:00

We've been spending the last week at my parents' house. My girls have been having a blast. They are especially fond of their newest cousin Tyler.

Color-A-Puzzle

2011-07-09T14:17:00.000-04:00

The girls were recently given a floor puzzle that you put together, then color the picture on the puzzle. This puzzle has been a huge hit! Over the past couple of days, they have worked together on it, along with the help of their grandma, a couple of cousins and me. We have all had a blast adding to the puzzle.

Yellow Watermelon

2011-07-01T14:03:00.000-04:00

Have you ever eaten yellow watermelon? My girls hadn't before today. In fact, they didn't know such a thing existed. Before lunch today, I told the girls I had a surprise watermelon. They were so excited. I asked them what they thought the surprise was. Arin guessed that the watermelon would be filled with candy. Boy, was she going to be disappointed!

I cut the watermelon in half, but let the girls pull it apart. Sure enough, Arin was not amazed. She was super disappointed and did not want to try it because "watermelon is supposed to be red!"

Ella, on the other hand, was more than willing to try it. She loved it!

Arin finally decided to try it, but also confirmed she was not a fan.

I was disappointed with the quality of the watermelon. I think that Arin might have liked it better if it would have been the consistency it should have been, crisp like a regular watermelon, instead of mostly mushy/over ripe like it was.

When Lightning Strikes...

2011-07-01T00:01:00.002-04:00

We've lived in our new home for three weeks now and it has rained just about every afternoon/evening since we got here. One week after moving in, we had a big storm in the afternoon. It cleared up for a couple of hours and then the storm started again that night.

I put the girls to bed late that night. Ella asked me to lay down with her on this particular night. We hadn't been in bed for more than three or four minutes when lightning struck. It sounded like it struck right outside the girls' window. Andy had been in a different room and thought it had hit a tower at a factory close by.

It wasn't until the next day when Andy and Arin were cleaning up the yard that we actually found out where it hit. Andrew found a hole in the yard, about a foot and a half wide, which had a all its dirt displaced a couple of feet away. We're assuming this hole is where the lightning actually struck.

Then, we assume it traveled the wires underground, coming out here.

And it traveled up the tree and out here.

Or perhaps it hit the tree first and came out the other spots???

We hadn't been in the house long enough to pay much attention to the tree, but the owners said they do not remember the bark looking like this (how it looks now).

We also found several chunks of bark all over the yard. I laid the second from the front and the second from the back up on their sides to see how thick the pieces were.

And where is the tree in relation to our house? The house to the left (only the corner is pictured, is our house) and you can see the bamboo shoots in front of the tree (that's where we think the lightning struck). I have personally never been so close to a lightning strike!

We had a power surge, which fried a few things: Andy's ethernet card, the router, the dishwasher, a dimmer switch on a set of lights, and the cable was snowy for a few days, but we are thankful that we were safe and it wasn't worse!

Happy Helpers

2011-06-30T16:07:00.000-04:00

I love this age, when the kids are still excited to help with housework!

And when I told the girls they had cleaned the window long enough, this was Ella's reaction...

Pregnancy Journal: Ultrasound Results

2011-06-10T18:31:00.000-04:00

My ultrasound appointment was at nine o'clock this morning. Andrew's been slammed at work this week and was not able to make it to the ultrasound with me. It was the first ultrasound he's missed and we were both bummed. My mom and my little sister were down visiting this week (we made our move and they've been helping me get things in order), so they were able to go, which was special. It was the first time that either of them had been to an ultrasound with me.

Once the ultrasound started, Arin and Ella started their friendly, sibling, competitive bickering. Arin would say "Boy!" and Ella would immediately follow with "No, Girl!" And it would go back and forth like this for a couple of minutes. This pregnancy has been pretty easy, so all along, people have been thinking it is a boy. Arin has become accustomed to hearing that and was getting excited for a brother. Ella never thought boy. She always said it was a "Pink Baby".

The tech did all the measurements, then tapped several times on my stomach, on the left-hand side. I didn't ask what she was doing, but I am assuming, she was tapping on the placenta and maybe seeing the position of the cord?? Just my guess. Once the measurements were done, she announced "GIRL!"
We'll be adding a third princess to our family this October. The baby is measuring right on time. According to the ultrasound, the due date is October 17 (October 18 by the birthing center's calculations and October 19 by babycenter.com's calculations). The tech said the baby is "perfect". No sweeter words could have been spoken today!

When Arin heard girl, she cried and cried. She said she didn't want another sister and that she wanted a brother. She was sure it was a boy and she's not real good at losing. She has accepted girl now and I know once the baby is here, she'll be super in love :) Ella, of course is excited to be getting a little sister!

I was not given any regular pictures from the ultrasound. I tried to upload the video, but blogger will not accept it. These two pictures were taken from my phone during the ultrasound, so not the best quality.

On a side note, I was required to have an early glucose test because I have big babies. They received the results this week. My sugar is actually on the low side (which is the tendency even when I am not pregnant). Not sure what that means as far as the pregnancy is concerned, but I know it has to be better than high sugar during pregnancy. I will discuss it with my midwife at my next appointment. I will have a second ultrasound to check the baby's size at 34 weeks.

Update

2011-06-02T08:43:00.001-04:00

We're alive and well! I have not fallen off the face of the earth, but I have been super busy and tired, and I have been lacking the motivation to blog, or to even take pictures for that matter. I am sure that'll all change in a few weeks when life settles down and a routine is once again established.

So what have we been up to?

Arin will be five in July, which means that she will be officially starting kindergarten this year. I have been going back and forth as far as the decision to homeschool vs. sending Arin to school. Andrew stayed consistent and encouraging to continue homeschooling her. After much discussion, I agreed that it would be the best for her/us at this time to continue going the homeschooling route. We had taken a nice, long break off from regular, structured learning activities during my first trimester, while I was taking it easy (after my bleeding scare at 7 weeks), but we were all excited to get back into the "school" routine. I ordered books (and after reading Michelle's post here, I think I will be adding a few more books to our schedule) and we decided to start school at the end of April. This went well for all of two weeks or so. Then, we got hit hard with sickness. Every one of us ended up sick, though not all with the same thing. Arin got hit the hardest and I had the easiest time. After two weeks, we were all finally feeling better, though Andrew and I have continued to be more tired than usual.

Last week there was quite some excitement at Andrew's work. An ex-employee, who had not worked for the company for two years, came to Andrew's work with a gun. He started shooting as soon as he got out of his vehicle and continued once inside the building. He also set fires inside some of the offices. Apparently, he was on the search for his former boss, though the motive was not clear. Andrew's brother's wife also works for the company, in a different area than Andy works in. Andrew's brother sent me a text stating that there was a man at their work shooting people, but he had no other details. It was only about 3 to 4 minutes before Andy called to tell me that he was fine, but it felt like forever. All kinds of thoughts swirled around my head, not knowing what was happening, where Andy was in relation to the gunman, etc. Life is precious and it can change in the blink of an eye. As it turns out, Andrew had no idea what was happening. He was out in the warehouse and didn't know to leave until the fire alarm went off, and everyone was told to leave. It was only once he was outside in the parking lot that he found out what had happened. His sister-in-law was much closer to the gunman, though she didn't realize that's who it was at the time. Everyone was fine (some close to the situation were emotionally disturbed, of course). Only one person was actually hit by a bullet. He was an unintended target and the bullet only hit the top of his foot. I am sure it was a painful injury, but not life-threatening.

We are currently in the process of moving again. Andrew and I have been married a little over eight years and we this will be our eighth move! I am so excited to be moving out of the apartment and into a house again. However, this is the first time that I have moved pregnant and I have been wearing out quickly! In general, I am at the point that I am ready to settle down. We'll be renting this house, so I am not sure that this is the place that we'll be settling down long-term, but I am at the point in my life that even thinking about moving again does not thrill me! But again, I am super excited about getting into this new house. We'll be living two streets over from Andrew's family, we'll have an extra bedroom, more room (especially to add baby gear), lots of storage, a fenced in backyard and a screened in patio (both great places for the girls to place and enjoy the fresh air). We'll have a bigger kitchen, so I will be able to cook/bake with my kids again, we'll have a full-sized washer and dryer again, so I will be able to conquer the laundry once again. I am so looking forward to it. Moving has been a lot of work and we only have about three more days to finish up before we make the big move.

Yesterday, I hit the 20 week mark in my pregnancy! The baby has been very active, especially at night when I am winding down. Andy has been able to feel the baby kick a few times. The girls are anxious to feel it too, but they are usually in bed during the baby's most active period of the day. My ultrasound has been scheduled for Friday, June 10th. We are looking forward to knowing our new baby's gender.

So those are the things that have been taking up the majority of our time over this past month. I do plan to get back into more regular blogging, but not until we are settled in to our new home.

Pregnancy Journal: Week 18

2011-05-18T21:54:00.000-04:00

There's been one big change since I last updated my journal. Exactly two weeks ago, I first felt tiny baby movements! I don't feel them every day, and somedays I feel more than other days, but this is the part where pregnancy is feeling real and fun. I love every little movement that I feel. Amazing! I am getting very anxious to know the gender of the baby. This pregnancy is so different than that of the girls that we all think it's a boy (except Ella who continues to say it's a girl), but we are looking forward to knowing one way or the other. The ultrasound has not been scheduled yet. They only have the tech come once a month to the birthing center and since I cancelled the early May appointment, I have to wait until sometime in June.

Mother's Day Interview

2011-05-08T11:33:00.000-04:00

Mommy: Why do you like Mother's Day?
Arin: Because we get to give cards to mothers.

Mommy: Why did God make mommies?
Arin: So they could marry dads and have healthy babies.

Mommy: What are mothers made of?
Arin: skin and blood

Mommy: What do mothers do?
Arin: Play, clean, and do schoolwork with their kids.

Mommy: What food do you like your mommy to make:
Arin: spaghetti

Mommy: What's the best thing about being a mommy?
Arin: You get to give the best hugs and the best kisses!

Mommy: If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
Arin: She'd take me to the best park ever every week!

Mommy: What do mommies do for fun?
Arin: Play with their kids and give them lollipops!

Mommy: What's the best thing about your mommy?
Arin: You let me watch tv.

Mommy: What's your favorite thing to do with your mommy?
Arin: Swim!

You might also be interested in Last Year's Interview

Five Senses: Hearing

2011-05-05T20:16:00.000-04:00

This week, we started learning about the sense of hearing. We read fiction and non-fiction books related to the subject each day and did an activity to go along with the lesson.

Arin learned the simple parts of the ear and now knows that sound travels through the outer ear, down the ear canal, through the ear drum, to the middle ear, and the inner ear, and finally to the brain. We made a model of an ear drum. We used a plastic cup with a piece of thin rubber (we cut open a punch balloon to use) stretched tight over the top, and secured with a rubber band. Then, we put a few grains of salt on top of the balloon. Finally, we made noise (we used a knife to tap on a plastic egg, but any noise maker should work). We watched the grains of salt vibrate, just like sound vibrates through the ear drum.

We also made a noise shaker matching game. We put matching objects into two identical containers (we used plastic eggs because they were readily available in the stores when I planned the project, but any identical, non-see through containers would work). We had a total of eight identical containers, so we were able to make four pairs of shakers. I mixed the containers up and handed them to Arin. She shook them and listened carefully to find the matching eggs. Some were a bit tricky, but she was able to get them all on the first try. Ella just liked shaking the eggs and saying they all matched.

We learned what it means to be deaf. The girls also watched their Baby Signing Time dvds and they learned to finger spell their names.

We played a game of what is it? I didn't get any pictures of this, but I had Arin sit, blindfolded, while I made several noises. She guessed what the noises were. Some of the noises I made were tearing paper, crumpling paper, tapping a fork on a plate, knocking on a window, shaking coins, etc.

The girls played several rounds of Neighborhood Sounds Bingo. It's a listen and match game. Instead of calling out what the picture shows, the "radio" plays the picture's sound. The girls find it on their board (if it's on there) and cover it up.

We also took a field trip to use our sense of hearing. We went to see a Wind Ensemble at a nearby college. The girls liked this, but it was a bit loud for them.

Books we read:
How Do Our Ears Hear? by Carol Ballard
What is Hearing? by Jennifer Boothroyd
Sound and Hearing by Angela Royston
Hearing by Robin Nelson
Our Senses: Hearing by Kay Woodward
Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr
Can Anybody Hear Me? by Jessica Meserve
Moses Goes to a Concert by Isaac Millman
The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle

Pregnancy Journal: 16 weeks

2011-05-03T20:32:00.000-04:00

Wow, sixteen weeks and I feel great! This is such a different pregnancy than I had with either of the girls. It's been so, so easy, which has been a welcomed change. Originally, we had planned to have our ultrasound for yesterday, but due to a few factors, we decided it'd be better to wait a few weeks. Now I am not sure when it'll be scheduled - probably four to five weeks from now. I had a prenatal appointment today. We met with a new midwife at our birthing center and are excited to go forward with the decision to birth outside of a hospital. We heard the heartbeat today, which still sounds healthy and strong.

The girls are super excited about this baby. They talk about it every day. One night, Arin woke up in the middle of the night, came into our room and told me that she was so happy about our baby and she thought it was a boy! She told me that if it is a boy, she wants to name it Blueberry and if it is a girl, she wants to name it Strawberry. Both girls pretend to have a baby in their tummies. Arin typically "gives birth" to her baby every night before bed. Ella is more patient and her baby has not been born yet. One night, Ella finished her dinner and asked for seconds. I questioned her to make sure she really wanted to eat more. She paused for a second, put her hand on her belly, and said, "Baby's still hungry!" Also, one afternoon, she had hiccups and she told me to feel her belly because the baby was moving!