My life is much better now

Ken is home! He was gone for 3 days, home for 4 days, then gone for 6 days. He got home late last night and I'm SO glad.

So I had a doctor appointment on Friday - my first one. She gave me a huge bag of information - lol. She has 3 kids too and was telling me that 3 is a piece of cake. She is so reassuring I just LOVE her. I got a pap smear and blood work - so fun. She said she'd see me in a month, but then she said, "Unless you want to come back earlier...." The she said, "How about you come back in 2 weeks and we'll do an ultrasound?" Oh I LOVE her! Unfortunately I couldn't get an appointment and an u/s on the same day until June 17, but still. I'm excited.

I've been having a great time with Madeleine lately - we've been hanging out for a good hour and a half during John Paul's morning nap - playing outside, reading, doing art projects. One day we spent the entire nap lining up elaborate structures with dominoes and knocking them down. She loved that. I've also taken the kids to a few playgrounds - and our favorite splash park is now open. And we've spent some fun time in Grandma's pool. I can tell I'm going to LOVE summer with these two.

Setting the record straight.

I'm kind of getting over it now, but I was REALLY upset at some comments we got when we announced number 3 was on his/her way. I mean, come ON, number 3?

So here we go.

1. Yes. We know what causes "that." After 3 kids we finally figured it out.

(Excuse the vulgarity but I'm just answering actual questions we got for all the world to see.)

2. No, Ken is not going to start keeping "that thing" in his pants. He did that before we were married. He doesn't have to anymore.

3. Neither our math skills nor our sex ed skills are lacking, thank you very much. In fact we could teach a class. And Bonus, our "trusting in God's plan for our life skills" are doing just fine too.

Everything is good

The ultrasound was great today. The baby is measuring 9 weeks 4 days, and heart rate was 194! That is the highest of any of my babies so far. The bleed is still there, but she said it was fine and would probably get reabsorbed without me even knowing about it. The baby has arms and legs now and was wiggling around. So fun to see that!

I have my first actual doctor's appointment tomorrow (because they couldn't schedule me for an ultrasound tomorrow so I had to go 2 days in a row.) I love my doctor so it should be fun ;)

Ultrasound #2 tomorrow

I'm excited to check in on #3 again, and hopefully the bleed is fixing itself.

I'll try to post pics and/or a video tomorrow.

I am going to have a rough week for a reason I can't mention on here (yet). Please pray for me!

It's not all bad

I've lost 9 lbs in 5 days ;) No end in sight either. I guess this is the only way to lose my post pregnancy John Paul weight from a year ago - oh well!

Luckily my headache is much better, and I didn't even have to take tylenol today. Still really stuffy nose, still throwing up, but what can ya do. If my past pregnancies are any indication, I should only have a few more weeks of this. Unfortunately Ken is leaving me again for 6 days during that time. Not so happy about that. Plus we were supposed to go to Memphis for part of that time but now we can't. Who wants to come stay with me?? hahaha

I've got two knitted projects to work on - hopefully I can power through them and go back to my usual laying on the couch!

Survival mode

I've had a pretty miserable cold for about two weeks now. I figured it would be gone this weekend for sure, and one of my best friends from college was supposed to come tonight and spend the night and hang out with us tomorrow. Unfortunately right when Ken left for a business trip in Sunny Florida (which he so nicely sent me pictures of his ocean view and TWO shower heads), my cold turned into one of the worst sicknesses I can remember. My head hurt SO badly I could barely function, much less take care of everything myself with no husband to help me! The kids were lucky they got fed and bathed. On Thursday evening, every time I moved my head I would get a sharp shooting stabbing pain in my temple. In addition to this my nose and head was completely stuffed up. Not to mention morning sickness on top of all this. Luckily mom mom came to my rescue, coming over in the evening to put Madeleine to bed, and even cooking dinner for the kids and feeding them on Friday night while I laid on her couch. I finally called my ob on Friday morning to see what drugs I could take, because tylenol wasn't cutting it. She said from my description it sounded like I have a sinus infection, so she called me in some antibiotics, which she assured me were safe for everyone involved. I've lost about 6 lbs in 3 days, I feel dehydrated, and I'm SOOOO glad that Ken came home last night! He took care of the kids all morning while I rested.

I think the antibiotics are finally kicking in after 2 days, because although my head is still killing me, the edge is taken off. I'm pretty weak from not being able to eat and throwing up, but, I'm on the mend and hopefully will be in top shape for our road trip to Memphis this weekend ;)

If you're still reading after all this complaining - thanks and sorry about that! I did get to offer up some pretty bad pain and nausea for some big intentions, so hopefully that helped some of my friends.

In happier news, Cathy and Joe FINALLY had baby Drew - 15 days late and after 3 days of labor. He is adorable and perfect ;) Makes me excited - I get to do that in only 31 weeks! haha.

I get to go to another ultrasound on Thursday, because although last Friday they found a healthy baby with a strong heartbeat, I also have a subchorionic bleed like I did with John Paul, so they want to keep an eye on it. My doctor told me not to worry if I start bleeding (I certainly worried last time - I didn't know I had the bleed and ended up in the ER). I'm really glad I asked for the first ultrasound and that I get another one on Thursday.

Thank you!

Thanks so much for all the congratulations and support. We are excited! But more about number 3 later. Let's talk about D's visit to our house last week.
A friend this week said that I was brave (or maybe crazy) to have all these houseguests. I said, Heck, I don't have to entertain any of them! D is one of those friends that I'm just comfortable with - the best kind of friend. She must feel the same way.... ;)

I love love loved meeting baby Lucy! We've been praying for her since before she was conceived, and I got to meet her for the first time. I love her! She is such a sweet baby. I could have held her all week. We tried to get a picture of us, but Lucy was sleeping and John Paul was NOT cooperating...

and apparently Madeleine was picking her nose...

We got to get all the little baby stuff out for Lucy's visit - the cradle, the swing, the baby bathtub, and everyone's favorite.... the bouncy seat.

Everyone's favorite.

And I do mean everyone. If Lucy wasn't in it, someone else was.

Lucy really like Madeleine and John Paul - they're pretty entertaining to watch, I have to say!

John Paul loves his Godmother

The weather cooperated nicely and we got to go on a few walks. This was was just around the neighborhood.
This was when we walked down the Monon trail - I took the kids in the stroller and D carried Lucy in the Baby Bjorn. Can you tell where we went?
We walked down to a really cute candy store, where Madeleine and John Paul got thoroughly spoiled before supper.

Is this picture going to look great in their wedding slide show, or what??

Sorry D, this was my favorite picture that we took this weekend - Hm... what is that Bud going for?

We had such a great time, and thank you D so much for facing your fear of flying - with a baby especially! - and bringing Lucy to us! We love you and had such a great time! And also thank you for coming to my ultrasound (Jenny too) - that really meant a lot to have you there. You guys are the best!

:-)

Brainstorm with me

So I am helping to teach a little class (Parenting 101) at our local home for unwed mothers. My friend who works there says that the moms think that sitting with the kids and watching TV is interacting with them. We're having a meeting tomorrow to discuss what we'll teach. My idea is to give the moms a huge list of fun things to do with their kids, so if they have time they can look at the list and get some ideas. Here is my list so far:

read a book
eat a meal together
go outside and play catch or swing
play a game like Chutes and Ladders or Candyland
do a puzzle together
draw a picture
paint
go to a bookstore or library and read some new books
go on a picnic, even if it's in the backyard
turn on some music and dance and play instruments
tell a story from your childhood
make up a story - and let the kid make up parts
Thumb wrestle
play rock, paper scissors
draw a letter on your child's back and see if they can guess
try on your jewelry together
play I spy
pick a number between 1 and 10
count by 1s, 2s, 3s, 5s 10s
do some nursery rhymes, with or without hand motions
say, "tell me 3 things you did today"
hide something in a hand and have them guess the hand
ask for favorites, tv show, animal, color, movie, thing to do outside
go for a walk together
go get ice cream together
play Simon says
take a class together
go to the nature center at Cool Creek
go on a hike together
stickers
playdoh
get a book at the library on simple crafts for little kids
play hide and seek
let them help you make something in the kitchen
make a paper airplane
find a large cardboard box and make a fort or house
blow bubbles
play in the sprinkler
catch fireflies
color a picture
go to a park
find some ducks and feed them
free movies at Regal in the summer - Tuesdays and Wednesdays
go play at a toy store
bake cookies
make a scrapbook
play freeze tag
write a letter to a family member or friend
create a treasure hunt - leaving things around the house or yard
make and eat a popsicle
fly a kite
create an obstacle course
paint each other's faces
play with water balloons
look for bugs in the yard
play school
play house
do shadow puppets
take turns saying tongue twisters
build stuff with legos or blocks


So what else do you have for me? I know you all have wonderful ideas! Also any other ideas about what to teach at the Parenting 101 class? Most of the moms have infants and young toddlers.

Thanks in advance!

In one week

John Paul went from mostly crawling to mostly walking! He is walking everywhere now, and he is really good at it! I hardly worry about him falling at all. He seems to be really coordinated. It's really interesting to see the difference between the two kids. Madeleine didn't start walking until about 15 months, but she was saying about 100 words at that time. John Paul only says maybe 10 words, (and still mostly Mama and Tee Tat) but he is a super walker at 12 months.

Pray for my friend Cathy - she is 2 days past her due date! :)