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Thursday, September 29, 2011
Gibs' Ears
Gibs had an ear appointment on Tuesday that Joe brought him too and it turns out that one of his tubes already fell out:(. I was hoping they were both still in since it's been just over 6 months since he had them put in, but one was stuck in his canal (no idea how long ago it might have fallen out). He goes back for a follow up appointment the end of November and I'm hoping at that appointment that if he's going to need it put in sometime in the future, they can do it by the end of the year (since we've already paid for one ear sugery and a pregnancy/delivery by that time, we might as well do it all in one year!). So anyway, kind of annoying that it's out already (although I realize that can happen), but better now than early next year when our dectible starts over!
Bedrest
I've had lots of time of my hands lately, but for some reason keep putting off updating the blog! When I went in for a dr appointment 2 weeks ago this past Monday, my doctor said that at 28 weeks (which was that Wed or Thurs--not really sure which day, but not like a day really makes a difference--I like to go by Wednesdays so I can check off the weeks quicker but my dr goes by Thursdays since that's what I must have told him originally) I'd need to start bedrest again. Hopefully doing the progesterone shots will prevent me from going into labor, but just to be precautious, he wants me on bedrest just like we did with Gibs (and made it over 3 weeks longer with him than I did with Layla). He didn't check me at that appointment since I wasn't having consistant contractions like I had with Layla and Gibs (and he doesn't like to check me too much). I had another appointment this past Monday (so like at 29 1/2 weeks) and I was dilated to a 1 but not effaced yet, so he said that's not too bad for being a third pregnancy and almost 30 weeks. And I'm still not having contant contractions, so maybe this baby will make it full term! It'd be funny if we make it close to full term and can deliver at Zeeland, then all 3 kids would have been born at different hospitals:). This week I did have both shots of beta methazone for the baby's lungs in case it does arrive early and had the fetal fibronectin test which came back negative which means there is a super small chance I'd have the baby in the next two weeks. Hopefully things keep going well and that bedrest works. It's been really nice not having to be in the hospital this time hooked up to meds and at home on bedrest on meds. I'll continue the progesterone shots until about 36 weeks and my doctor says I'll remain on bedrest until then too. So 6 more weeks!
We're very thankful to family, friends and people from church for helping us out! We've already had some meals delivered and help with the kids which is much appreciated!!
Last week we relaxed at my cousin's house (she only lives a mile from us) for a change of scenery so the kids enjoyed playing together and we were thankful to Mandi for taking care of us!
The kids enjoying their horsey ride with Daddy:).Normally Gibs rides on Joe's calves (and then basically walks, but he doesn't mind) but he wanted to try it like a big boy the other night:).
Grampy came over an afternoon last week to help distract the kids while I rested and the kids of course had fun playing with him...
Layla has started Young Children in Worship at church, so she now is only in church with us for a bit and then goes to Sunday School. She really likes the Sunday School part, but still doesn't love going up for the children's message yet. Joe said last time went better, but she still sobbed a bit on her way out of church. She enjoys taking her new doggy purse to church with her which helps keep her sobs quiet:). I was only able to go to one church service where she walked out (the first time YCW started) due to bedrest, so hopefully she keeps doing better for Joe (I think she's only gone once more).
And here's my largo 29 week picture...
Thursday, September 22, 2011
3 Year and 18 Month Pictures (and 4 Year)
You Photography by Julie took the kids pictures in July and did a great job! It was for Layla's 3 year, Gibson's 18 month, and Gavin's 4 year. Here are some of the ones she took.
Sibling love:)
Gibson didn't have any great ones of him smiling. He was more interested in running off towards the pond, which would have made for some interesting pictures had he stumbled down the slight hill leading to the water. Thankfully he did not trip and remained clean and dry throughout the session:).
Last pic of the fam without baby (well, without baby outside of utero)! Joe came at the very end of the session, so we thought we might as well quick get a family pic.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
20 Months, 27 Weeks and 39 Months
So I know you don't normally do post for 39 months. And probably not even 20 months, but I thought I'd just do a quick update on all my kids since I tend to forget to blog about their everyday progress.
First off, I'm 27 weeks pregnant today and doing great! I'm still having some braxton hicks, but they're actually much better than they even were a few weeks ago. I'm hoping this keeps up and can maybe (although I'd hate to jinx it! :P) even avoid strict bedrest. We will see! Joe has still been giving me my progesterone shots at home weekly and that is going well. It's definitely nice to not have to drag 2 small children with me just for a quick doctor's appointment (or drop them off on the way or whatever). I feel like suddenly this baby has grown a ton. It's reaching that point where it feels like the baby is trying with all its might to stretch out forward through my belly button at times and where I can better feel body parts (never sure what's the head and what's the buns) sticking out. Layla likes to feel the baby, but the baby will be pushing her hand like crazy, so much that I can see Layla's hand moving and my stomach, and Layla will still say she didn't think that was the baby. She wants to hear the baby. I'm sure in a few months, when the baby is here, she will change her mind about that:).
99%, well, maybe even 100% of the time she still calls the baby a girl. When I talk to her about how Gavin (my sister's son) is having a baby sister she has said that if we have a boy, maybe Gavin could have the little brother and she'll have the sister:). She also has a hard time understanding how he knows what kind of sibling he's having, but only Jesus knows what kind of sibling she's having. :) That reminds me of a dream I had a couple of nights ago--I dreamt that there was an app you could get on your phone that did ultrasounds. Just the other day Joe and I were laughing thinking back to when we were in high school/middle school and people had pagers or car phones or maybe a cell phone, but we never would have imagined having internet and apps on our phone, so then we were talking about what we will have in another 10-15 years and how then that will seem normal--maybe I'm on to something with my ultrasound app, haha:). In my dream, one of my friends was pregnant and we were looking at her baby and saw that the little even had cute seersucker pants on:). I've had such crazy dreams this pregnancy, which I had with Layla too. I know that's normal in pregnancy since your mind has a lot going on in preperation, but apparently I am more afraid of the change this time and with Layla, than I was with Gibs b/c I didn't have weird dreams when I was pregnant with him.
Gibs is 20 months and still has a little mischievious side to him. He doesn't have much fear and will leave my side in public which is annoying and scary. Although, at the same time, he's very much a mama's boy. He does well with sitters (which is always just a family member) and being dropped off in nursery, yet sometimes I leave the room and he just screams for me like he thinks I'm never coming back.
His talking is about the same as it was at 18 months. It is still mainly just single words, but then every once in awhile he'll copy what you say into a two worded phrase like "Hi Da" if you say, "Say 'hi' to Daddy". He is starting to like talking on the phone like Layla. When Joe calls on his way home from work, she doesn't let him hardly get a word in--she just keeps talking about how her day was and what we're having for dinner or what her and Gibs are playing. And Gibson used to shy away from the real phone (loves talking on pretend ones), he just wanted to look at it instead of talk into it or just would listen but clam up as soon as the phone was by his ear, but now if you tell him to say 'hi' or whatever, he'll often copy what you tell him to say. He loves to get dirty outside. It's amazing how much dirtier he can get in our backyard than Layla, even though they play with the exact same things. He LOVES to dance just like Layla and it is just too cute to watch them dance together. He also enjoys wearing princess dresses and tiaras and wants his nails painted like his big sis, so lately we have brought some trucks and such to play with upstairs as to balance out his interests:). And he definitely plays with trucks/cars more than Layla ever did. She likes them now, but that's b/c they both like whatever the other one is playing with. He definitely copies his sister with basically everything and follows her around and does what she tells him to do (most of the time--sometimes she tells him to do things that are a little too complicated or sometimes he just doesn't want to listen:D).
There are times when they play great together, but then suddenly she pushes him or he pulls her hair (and TONS of it), but thankfully that normally doesn't last very long and they're back to playing like buddies. Awhile back he learned the word "mine", but surprisingly it hasn't been as much of an issue (so far) as I had expected. I had expected hearing lots of "mine" arguments all the time. He also says "no", but never in disobediance, although I'm sure that is still coming:).
He is wearing 18-24 month clothing and with the cold weather lately, I've put some 2T shirts on him that are a little big, but not too bad. Him and Layla were wearing the same size shirt the other day:). I don't think he'd ever fit in any 2T pants though--they are 18 or 18-24 and some 24 month. He still naps every afternoon and is super tired if we are out for some reason and he misses it. He needs about a 3 hour nap to not be sleepy, but a couple of times a week lately it's only been about 2 hours. He goes to bed just before 8 and is up around 8, 8:30 or later if I'm lucky:) and 7:30 if he went to bed too late.
And Layla is still our sweet little Layla. I love this age. Some people say 3 is worse than 2, but I don't agree (so far anyway!). I think she hit her "terrible 2s" right around 2 and then has much improved since then. There are definitely times where she is bratty, but normally it's because she's tired and if she just calms down for a few minutes, she's fine. She's just at such a funny age for what she says. And asks SO many questions that are so difficult to explain to a 3 year old! Lately she's been really into her pretend babies (as has Gibs:D) and the other day was talking about how she just pushed the baby out, but that she had an "airadural" (epidural) so it didn't hurt so bad:). I think she's seen too many Baby Story's! I also found it funny when the other night I heard her up, after I had tucked her in bed, so I asked her what she was doing up and she yelled from the bathroom, "I'm going poops!! Jesus wants me to go poops!" Having a 3 year old and having recently read "Heaven is for Real" really has made me think more about the innocence of a child and their child-like faith. I can see why Jesus loves them so much:). She can also be so funny with how polite and nice she is. She often asks how I'm feeling and if my belly hurts. When she eats supper, she'll often say things like, "Thank you, Mommy. This is delicious. Thanks for making this." Her and Gibs still eat basically anything. I was just thinking about how fortunate we are that they eat anything I make as I watched them both scarf down their stuffed green peppers last night (the only thing I can think of that she doesn't like are raisens--she'll eat a few, but not many, and I'm pretty sure she only eats any at all b/c Gibs loves them so she doesn't want him to have hers--and she'll sometimes like Sushi but then at other times doesn't (not that she has it very often). And I really can't think of anything Gibson hasn't liked. If they don't eat something, it's because they don't feel like eating, not b/c they don't like--they'll eat it the next day.) We'll probably end up with a really picky eater with our next one! Hopefully not though!
She no longer naps. Every once in awhile she does, but I don't encourage it b/c it then leads to her not wanting to go to bed right away and I like my down time at 8pm:). She will nap in the car quite often for 10 minutes or whatever, but if she falls asleep at home, it's like a couple of hours and then we hear her up for a bit after she's supposed to be in bed, so I'd rather she not nap. Ideally, she would need about a 15 minute nap every other day. She has rest time downstairs each afternoon which is anywhere from 2-3 hours normally. She just plays quietly while Gibson naps. And then she goes to bed at 8 and is up normally between 8:30-9. She currently wears 2T clothes, but all her fall/winter tops are 3T and some pants are as long as they have the adjustable waist. She just doesn't gain much weight even though she eats a lot! Lucky girl:).
We love all three of our kids to pieces and feel so blessed to have them! Joe just asked what I was blogging about and I responded with, "Our three kids" and he then asked if the third was the one in my belly or the furry one. So actually, I should be blogging about our FOUR kids:). Elv is doing great too. I think he gets a little annoyed by his little brother and sister and would rather just sleep, but deep down I'm sure he loves them:). Gibs just REALLY loves him and sometimes gives him a little too much attention:). Anyway, we love all four and can't wait to meet the littlest one--just hopefully not for a few months yet:).
And here are a few recent pics.
Gibs was super tired after we got home the other day (and had been sleeping in the car) so Joe decided to give him a minute before he woke him up...(pretty sure Joe enjoyed the rest as much as Gibs did:D)
I give the kids their afternoon snack on Gibs' highchair--just lowered down--and I thought it was funny the other day that he apparently felt a little lazy while eating his snack so he decided to tip over the laundry basket and use that for a chair:)...
Showing off their blue tongues...
First off, I'm 27 weeks pregnant today and doing great! I'm still having some braxton hicks, but they're actually much better than they even were a few weeks ago. I'm hoping this keeps up and can maybe (although I'd hate to jinx it! :P) even avoid strict bedrest. We will see! Joe has still been giving me my progesterone shots at home weekly and that is going well. It's definitely nice to not have to drag 2 small children with me just for a quick doctor's appointment (or drop them off on the way or whatever). I feel like suddenly this baby has grown a ton. It's reaching that point where it feels like the baby is trying with all its might to stretch out forward through my belly button at times and where I can better feel body parts (never sure what's the head and what's the buns) sticking out. Layla likes to feel the baby, but the baby will be pushing her hand like crazy, so much that I can see Layla's hand moving and my stomach, and Layla will still say she didn't think that was the baby. She wants to hear the baby. I'm sure in a few months, when the baby is here, she will change her mind about that:).
99%, well, maybe even 100% of the time she still calls the baby a girl. When I talk to her about how Gavin (my sister's son) is having a baby sister she has said that if we have a boy, maybe Gavin could have the little brother and she'll have the sister:). She also has a hard time understanding how he knows what kind of sibling he's having, but only Jesus knows what kind of sibling she's having. :) That reminds me of a dream I had a couple of nights ago--I dreamt that there was an app you could get on your phone that did ultrasounds. Just the other day Joe and I were laughing thinking back to when we were in high school/middle school and people had pagers or car phones or maybe a cell phone, but we never would have imagined having internet and apps on our phone, so then we were talking about what we will have in another 10-15 years and how then that will seem normal--maybe I'm on to something with my ultrasound app, haha:). In my dream, one of my friends was pregnant and we were looking at her baby and saw that the little even had cute seersucker pants on:). I've had such crazy dreams this pregnancy, which I had with Layla too. I know that's normal in pregnancy since your mind has a lot going on in preperation, but apparently I am more afraid of the change this time and with Layla, than I was with Gibs b/c I didn't have weird dreams when I was pregnant with him.
Gibs is 20 months and still has a little mischievious side to him. He doesn't have much fear and will leave my side in public which is annoying and scary. Although, at the same time, he's very much a mama's boy. He does well with sitters (which is always just a family member) and being dropped off in nursery, yet sometimes I leave the room and he just screams for me like he thinks I'm never coming back.
His talking is about the same as it was at 18 months. It is still mainly just single words, but then every once in awhile he'll copy what you say into a two worded phrase like "Hi Da" if you say, "Say 'hi' to Daddy". He is starting to like talking on the phone like Layla. When Joe calls on his way home from work, she doesn't let him hardly get a word in--she just keeps talking about how her day was and what we're having for dinner or what her and Gibs are playing. And Gibson used to shy away from the real phone (loves talking on pretend ones), he just wanted to look at it instead of talk into it or just would listen but clam up as soon as the phone was by his ear, but now if you tell him to say 'hi' or whatever, he'll often copy what you tell him to say. He loves to get dirty outside. It's amazing how much dirtier he can get in our backyard than Layla, even though they play with the exact same things. He LOVES to dance just like Layla and it is just too cute to watch them dance together. He also enjoys wearing princess dresses and tiaras and wants his nails painted like his big sis, so lately we have brought some trucks and such to play with upstairs as to balance out his interests:). And he definitely plays with trucks/cars more than Layla ever did. She likes them now, but that's b/c they both like whatever the other one is playing with. He definitely copies his sister with basically everything and follows her around and does what she tells him to do (most of the time--sometimes she tells him to do things that are a little too complicated or sometimes he just doesn't want to listen:D).
There are times when they play great together, but then suddenly she pushes him or he pulls her hair (and TONS of it), but thankfully that normally doesn't last very long and they're back to playing like buddies. Awhile back he learned the word "mine", but surprisingly it hasn't been as much of an issue (so far) as I had expected. I had expected hearing lots of "mine" arguments all the time. He also says "no", but never in disobediance, although I'm sure that is still coming:).
He is wearing 18-24 month clothing and with the cold weather lately, I've put some 2T shirts on him that are a little big, but not too bad. Him and Layla were wearing the same size shirt the other day:). I don't think he'd ever fit in any 2T pants though--they are 18 or 18-24 and some 24 month. He still naps every afternoon and is super tired if we are out for some reason and he misses it. He needs about a 3 hour nap to not be sleepy, but a couple of times a week lately it's only been about 2 hours. He goes to bed just before 8 and is up around 8, 8:30 or later if I'm lucky:) and 7:30 if he went to bed too late.
And Layla is still our sweet little Layla. I love this age. Some people say 3 is worse than 2, but I don't agree (so far anyway!). I think she hit her "terrible 2s" right around 2 and then has much improved since then. There are definitely times where she is bratty, but normally it's because she's tired and if she just calms down for a few minutes, she's fine. She's just at such a funny age for what she says. And asks SO many questions that are so difficult to explain to a 3 year old! Lately she's been really into her pretend babies (as has Gibs:D) and the other day was talking about how she just pushed the baby out, but that she had an "airadural" (epidural) so it didn't hurt so bad:). I think she's seen too many Baby Story's! I also found it funny when the other night I heard her up, after I had tucked her in bed, so I asked her what she was doing up and she yelled from the bathroom, "I'm going poops!! Jesus wants me to go poops!" Having a 3 year old and having recently read "Heaven is for Real" really has made me think more about the innocence of a child and their child-like faith. I can see why Jesus loves them so much:). She can also be so funny with how polite and nice she is. She often asks how I'm feeling and if my belly hurts. When she eats supper, she'll often say things like, "Thank you, Mommy. This is delicious. Thanks for making this." Her and Gibs still eat basically anything. I was just thinking about how fortunate we are that they eat anything I make as I watched them both scarf down their stuffed green peppers last night (the only thing I can think of that she doesn't like are raisens--she'll eat a few, but not many, and I'm pretty sure she only eats any at all b/c Gibs loves them so she doesn't want him to have hers--and she'll sometimes like Sushi but then at other times doesn't (not that she has it very often). And I really can't think of anything Gibson hasn't liked. If they don't eat something, it's because they don't feel like eating, not b/c they don't like--they'll eat it the next day.) We'll probably end up with a really picky eater with our next one! Hopefully not though!
She no longer naps. Every once in awhile she does, but I don't encourage it b/c it then leads to her not wanting to go to bed right away and I like my down time at 8pm:). She will nap in the car quite often for 10 minutes or whatever, but if she falls asleep at home, it's like a couple of hours and then we hear her up for a bit after she's supposed to be in bed, so I'd rather she not nap. Ideally, she would need about a 15 minute nap every other day. She has rest time downstairs each afternoon which is anywhere from 2-3 hours normally. She just plays quietly while Gibson naps. And then she goes to bed at 8 and is up normally between 8:30-9. She currently wears 2T clothes, but all her fall/winter tops are 3T and some pants are as long as they have the adjustable waist. She just doesn't gain much weight even though she eats a lot! Lucky girl:).
We love all three of our kids to pieces and feel so blessed to have them! Joe just asked what I was blogging about and I responded with, "Our three kids" and he then asked if the third was the one in my belly or the furry one. So actually, I should be blogging about our FOUR kids:). Elv is doing great too. I think he gets a little annoyed by his little brother and sister and would rather just sleep, but deep down I'm sure he loves them:). Gibs just REALLY loves him and sometimes gives him a little too much attention:). Anyway, we love all four and can't wait to meet the littlest one--just hopefully not for a few months yet:).
And here are a few recent pics.
Gibs was super tired after we got home the other day (and had been sleeping in the car) so Joe decided to give him a minute before he woke him up...(pretty sure Joe enjoyed the rest as much as Gibs did:D)
We had snow cone making the other night and both kids loved it! It was a lot more work than I remember now that as a parent I (well, mainly Joe) had to do the crushing:). I asked on Facebook how many other people had this same Snoopy Snow Cone Maker (I figured probably someone had) and quite a few did which I thought was funny. Oh, the memories:).
Showing off their blue tongues...
Labor Day
We had a pretty relaxing Labor Day just doing stuff around the house. Then at night we went to Joe's parents for dinner and a hayride.
On the golf cart before the hayride...
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Pre Labor Day Celebration
We celebrated Labor Day today with my family. We had a delicious dinner followed by time with the fam as well as Layla getting splashing mud all over herself with a net:). The only pics I took were of the kids:).
Funny that I didn't even notice until looking at this picture that Gibs is drinking out of Layla's sippy instead of his own:). Also, we did feed Gibs, he had just finished his first plate full and Joe was getting him seconds:)... (Natalie and Gibs on the left and Layla, Gavin and Caleb on the right)
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