We did Peanut's party about five weeks early this year because of the Trifecta's expected arrival date. I'm so glad we did too, because I was/am feeling every bit of 37 weeks pregnant. I can't imagine doing the party at 39 or 40 weeks OR even one or two weeks postpartum AND nursing at the same time. There's just no way!
It was SO ridiculously HOT this last Saturday, but the kids had a great time swimming in my parents pool. So thankful to have that option of entertainment! I'll just share the rest in photos.
I am not even going to go there about how late this is. Considering this happened at the end of May.
Ahem.
OR how I even feel about Kindergarten "graduation." I mean, really?!?!??
But I found these pictures all edited and ready to go and realized how I never even posted them. And considering school starts a month from today, I better get these posted. Otherwise, what's the point--amIright?
Why, yes, yes, I am.
Our girl with her wonderful Kindergarten and music teacher. What a year this was!
Yep, still alive and doing well. Hard to believe I have only about 4 weeks to go. Say what??!?! Just wanted to put up a quick pictorial update of my/his progress. Doctors confirmed today that while I do have gestational diabetes, I am doing really well maintaining it (with diet and exercise)and our littlest love doesn't seem to be affected by it--at least according to my ultrasound on Friday. PTL!
Busy planning our girl's seventh (!) birthday party (we are doing it early due to my expected due date), taking naps, taking the kids swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's, and trying my hardest to take it easy these last few weeks. Hope you all are having a relaxing summer! xoxoxo
Peanut INSISTED I add their prospective ages. Ahem.
In my defense though, I've pretty much stopped gaining weight since I started watching my carbs about 6-8 weeks ago. Just goes to show what those pesky carbs that I love so much do for your body. Or at least what they do in abundance like I like to enjoy.
Ahem.
I had my last midwife appointment on Friday and my belly is measuring right on target for the number of weeks I am, so rest assured our little guy hasn't been starving at all. At least, not like his mama! When you subside on meals of nearly all proteins and veggies (and some fruits--oh, and cheese, LOTS of cheese), I sure seem to be way hungrier all. the. time. I know "they" say proteins are supposed to make you seem fuller and sustain you longer, but that just doesn't seem to be the case? At least not for me.
Anyhow, this one is a very active little guy. He's busy kicking around as I sit here and type. I'm trying to savor these moments (the feeling of the baby kick is by far, my very favorite part of pregnancy!), 'cause as far as I'm concerned, this will be our last. I know I said that last time, but seriously, I am so not getting any younger. I'm thirty-six, which I know is a "baby" in the "advanced maternal age" scale, but holy smokes, there is a BIG difference in carrying a baby at twenty-nine (our Peanut) and our little guy, now at thirty-six. BIG difference. HUGE. Besides, I'm not nearly as righteous as Sarah or Hannah or Elizabeth....so I can't foresee God having any other surprises either!
I should fully disclose that my husband was not behind this at all. Don't even get him started on how he thinks it completely narcissistic and the whole idea of "revealing the gender" {in a big way} is ridiculous. He thinks it is completely self-centered and is purely driven by social media to "one-up" the next person.
Me? I just thought it was a cute idea.
Plain and simple.
It ended up being a partial compromise on my part, because I wanted to be completely surprised and have the ultrasound tech seal it up in an envelope and we could take it to a bakery and have the cake done and be completely surprised. We may or may not of had a heated discussion about this the morning of.
Ahem.
But then, he pulled out the "I always give in [to whatever] and I think you should do this for me." Well, that laid it on pretty thick.
Ahem.
So we found out the day of the ultrasound and we each told our immediate families right away. Because I had my heart set on doing a cake, we revealed it to my extended family this afternoon, on our normal day for Sunday Family Dinner. No special party needed. Ha!
So drum roll please....................we are having another...........................
BOY!
Most important though is that from what they can tell, he looks really healthy, with all his measurements being right where they should be.
And to that I say amen!
And PS......
(Please excuse the cake as it looks a little green here on the good ol' internet. I even
photoshopped it, adding in some more blue and for WHATEVER strange
reason, it looks nice and blue on my own personal computer file, but
when I upload it, it takes on the green tinge again! Anywho......)
There are three things that instantly come to mind when I compare these pictures:
1. I realize I was working full time when I was pregnant with the Peanut, but gosh, I looked tired and haggard! Couple that with the fact that we didn't know about using the manual settings on our camera and using things like oh, you know, natural light. Finally, my natural hair color certainly didn't help! (Oh, and FYI....my mom has been doing my weave for the last six months....doesn't she do good work?)
2. Look at how big the Peanut has gotten! Whatta' doll!
3. Yes, I am much bigger this third time around. With that, two things:
a) So are most of the other bloggers I see who post their pregnancy progress pics with their #3. So mom, it's not just me. Ha!
b) I've been testing my blood sugar (I had gestational diabetes with Peanut, so I still have all my "gear" to test my blood sugar) and I am pretty much for sure that I have it this time around as well. I have my next check up on Monday and I'll talk with my midwife about it then. I am sure she will order up the glucose test early this time around, so I am guessing I should know for sure quite soon. (Although I don't really need a formal test to tell me what I already know.) Also, I've been trying to be careful for the last month or two, but I certainly wasn't denying myself--not to the point that it hurt anyway. For the last week, I have been pretty much going high protein, high fat, and low, low carb. And you know what? I feel so much better. I'm still tired with having a very rambunctious 2.5 year old little boy keeping me on my toes, but wow, what a difference this last week has made. Hmmmm......and I won't even get into the implications this has on my overall long term health--except all these years of no exercise are catching up with me. Boo!
Finally, and most importantly, we had our ultra sound this week and the baby looks really healthy. So praise God for that--cause that's the most important, amen? Amen.
The last week has been pretty busy around here. Busy for us that is. I know plenty of people that are much busier than we are, but either way, we've had lots going on!
Last week, our little Peanut had her second trimester awards assembly, for which she received a certificate for Highest Honors. She essentially got straight A's or pluses in our case. I didn't even know they did this in Kindergarten, but apparently they do. And while one part of me thinks it's kinda silly (I mean it is just Kindergarten), the other part of me is really proud! Kindergarten or not, this girl has learned a TON this school year. She is reading now, learning to tell time, learning addition and subtraction, to count by 2's, 5's, 10's--the list goes on and on. So the fact that she is learning so much and retaining nearly all of that information is impressive.
She also had to do a country report this week (with a fair amount of help from mom and dad-which was expected) and we had the opportunity to sit in on her little presentation. She did well--she just needs to learn to speak up a little. I have no idea where she gets that from! Ahem.
Yesterday, while the little brother and daddy were both taking naps, the Peanut and I snuck (apparently this is not a word? whatev) off to the library to pick up a book I had requested for her. I have been reading Beverly Cleary's Ramona series to the Peanut before bed. My mom and dad gave her a big ol' boxed set of Beverly Cleary books at Christmas. However, for whatever reason, the publisher's included all but one (!) of the Ramona books in the set.
So I requested it from the library and it finally came. Since it was just us (sans the 2.5 year old), we got the Peanut set up with her own library card now that she can write her own name. Well. That just about made her year. Yes, her year. As the librarian was entering her application in the computer, she pulled out a box from underneath the counter with these cute little crocheted library card purses that some sweet little volunteer ladies make for kids who are getting their first library cards. Oh my. You would have thought the Peanut was just handed the moon. Excited does not even begin to describe it. She tried to wear the purse to bed last night, which I quickly nixed for fear of strangulation. But then, when we got to school today to watch her give her presentation, I saw her wearing her little purse. Apparently, she brought the library card purse to school. Which neither her daddy or I knew about. Nice. I fear the teenage years already.
Lastly, the Peanut had her spring voice recital on Monday night (Grandpa's 60th birthday! Happy Birthday, Dad!) and she sang her solo, Singing in the Rain. Me? I cried. Because I am a sap like that. She did really well though. It's amazing to see her confidence grow on stage each time she gets up there.
So I will end with the video of her performance. It's kinda cute.
Thought I should give an update on this good ol' blog. You know, since I dropped some fairly big news the last time I wrote. I've been feeling pretty well. I was pretty nauseous and tired there for awhile, but the nauseousness is pretty much all gone (yay for me!) and while I am still tired on occasion, I am feeling much more energetic than I was even just a month ago.
As of this writing I am 15 weeks along, which makes the graphic below entirely inaccurate. But, close enough, right? 15.....16 weeks? Gosh, I am already starting to sound like a three time mom. I am just too tired right now to pull up CS5 and create that photo all over again. In my defense, I didn't even have a photo with me and the little brother between 13 and 19 weeks, so the fact that I am keeping up with a pregnancy photo every four weeks is a definite step up from last time!
According to all sorts of information on the internets, the baby is the size of an apple. Or in my case, a sack of apples. Whichev. Apparently, the nauseousness from a few weeks back certainly didn't inhibit my caloric intake. As of about three weeks ago, I started testing my blood sugar again (I had gestational with the Peanut, but NOT the little brother) and since then, I've been trying to be really good. And I've succeeded for the most part--I've had dessert at a few family functions, but I've curtailed my nightly candy intake completely. Yes, I know.Like I really needed that! Just know that that is a very REAL sacrifice for me and I've been doing it. I've also been watching my overall carb intake, so hopefully my glucose test will be good like last time.
We celebrated my sweet Hubs birthday yesterday. The last year of his 30's. Wow. Because we are always on such a tight budget, we celebrated by taking the kids to a nearby park--one in the northern part of our county that we rarely, rarely visit. Our weather has been unseasonably dry and also warm--at least for this part of the country. We packed a picnic lunch and the kids got to play for hours on the play structure and kick the soccer ball and play catch with daddy. They even got juice boxes--a rarity. (You should have heard them telling my parents about it later when they stopped by....juice boxes AND the park. It was the best. day. ever. At least they are easy to please!) Then we came home and we all took naps (every one of us!) and for dinner we had the Daddy's birthday dinner request--grilled carne asada. It was a really nice, relaxing day.
Finally, just a little picture I snapped of the kids a few weeks ago with my parents lab. It's one of my new favorites!
