Siah's 2 yr Checkup (2 mo late)

It took some time, but we finally got Josiah switched to a new pediatrician. Same office location, so fortunately there was no new paperwork, but now our kids will be seeing a different doctor. The process took time and delayed Josiah's
2 yr well visit, but it was worth the wait.

Since I'm on bed rest, Chris got to take Josiah to his appointment today. This pic is of Siah waiting at the door for his daddy to arrive from work and pick him up. He was excited to go out with his dad, didn't know that soon he'd be getting stabbed by a needle for immunizations! I was told that Josiah did extremely well with his exam and that the doc was pleased with his development. In fact, I was surprised to hear that she felt his verbal skills were "spectacular", as I've been concerned that I don't spend enough time teaching him things lately. A few weeks ago a random woman heard him speaking and was commenting on the very same skills, but I thought maybe she was making polite small talk. Every parent loves hearing their child is bright...especially from a professional...so this doc's conclusion made my day! LOL

I love my baby boy so much and I'm so proud seeing him grow into a big boy...and soon he'll be an official Big Brother!

Pink Eye

As if we don't have enough going on right now with this pregnancy and selling our home and everything else in the world, Josiah had to go and get pink eye!I've never had it, nor can Chris ever remember having it, and this is a first for our offspring. When he woke Thursday morning, Siah had a lil' somethin' in the corner of his eyelid which we figured was from sleeping...so we wiped it away, and went on with life. But as the day progressed, both his beautiful blue eyes got gooey and gross! I knew something was up, but wasn't sure if it could be a sinus issue or if we should jump to the conclusion of pink eye. I had an OB appt that afternoon just down the street from the pediatric office, so we made Siah an appt right after mine.

This was our first visit w/ JoJo's new doc (same office, but we switched physicians). As soon as she walked into the exam room and saw the yuckiness, the doc said, "Oh, someone has pink eye!" LOL Yeah--she's good! I thought it only spread a couple different ways, but she told us it could be from any bacteria that lives all around us. We hit up the pharmacy drive-thru on the way home--and after insurance coverage our cost was $77! Wowsa! But that's ok, they've been magic drops--totally worth every penny! Doc said our son was contagious the first 24 hrs, and thankfully nobody else in our house got pink eye and Bubby was already looking waaaay better the following day. Still, daily for 7 full days Josiah's getting eye drops to make sure everything completely clears up.

He looked so pitiful with his squinty eyes, but still so super cute at the same time!

Before

Eye drops

Poor lil' fella

After (24 hrs later)

38 out of 40

We're full-term...and we're fully anticipating
the arrival of sweet Addison Olivia!

This is what 38 wks pregnant looks like on me
the 3rd time around:

Bed Rest

Recently, midway through our 38th week, my OB nurse put me on bed rest. I think most often pregnant women are put on bed rest when there is distress or urgency with the baby, but fortunately that's NOT our case---Addison is doing spectacular! It's her momma who's in distress!

As baby's been dropping and labor stages progressing (dilating, cervix thinning, etc), my discomfort has become intense. It's no longer just my back, but serious pelvic pain. One to two times per day there's writhing and crying, pleading with God and Chris and the toys on the floor to please make it stop! It's normal to feel pressure when baby's dropping at this stage in the game, but not pain. The conclusion? Doc says Miss A is sitting on a nerve. And since she's already entering the birth canal, she'll simply stay in that position until delivery. There is nothing we can do about this situation...except "rest".

I'm on bed rest. I'm not to stand much or walk far, no squatting or bending (no using my midsection), no vacuuming or sweeping (no stretching from the core), and no "heavy lifting"--which I was informed includes taking a gallon of milk out of the fridge and lowering it to my side as many people would naturally do. And it's no longer a suggestion, I'm officially not allowed to pick up my kids.

The best things to do? Lay on my left side, which gets my belly off my pelvic area (as opposed to sitting, where my belly rests on my lap!) and it keeps my feet up for good circulation. Also, drink lots of water, and rest. REST? Hahaha! I have 2 young kids at home, it's simply impossible! But I'm trying. I feel like a lousy wife and mom, but even the slightest things wear me out. I can shower on my own, but I only do so when Chris is home (morning or evening) because after standing on my feet just for a few minutes I need help stepping out and sitting down. Oh, and shaving my legs? OY, such a chore! Frugal as I am, I now totally see the value in paying for laser hair removal! LOL

People have asked me if it was like this with my previous two pregnancies, and the answer is NO! Lol I had textbook pregnancies with Kyleigh and Josiah, so when we found out we were expecting a third child, we never imagined our journey to be like this. But who does, right? Tough as it's been on the family, we're all grateful for Addison and nothing short of elated to be a part of the miracle of her creation. I'm so thankful to the Lord for her safety & well-being, and would gladly walk through fire...or go through this!...for her. It won't be long before Addison becomes an exterior baby we'll get to hold and kiss and love on, leaving these tough days a faint and distant memory!

A Family Affair

Chris and Siah have both needed haircuts, Kyleigh wanted one, and I realized I've only had one trim in the past year, so we decided to turn haircuts into a family affair this morning. We decided we'd all go together to the same salon to knock it all out at once.

Before we headed out for the day, Chris got ready and then he dressed the kids. Every t-shirt my husband owns is either scarlet or gray (go figure!) so by chance he wore khaki shorts and a red t-shirt. Then he grabbed the first thing in Josiah's closet and put it on our boy. The result??? Twins!

LOL I ♥ my guys!

The guys ended up with great trims, but we were disappointed with what Kyleigh and I got. Kyleigh's stylist was more focused on curling Kyleigh's hair than cutting it.












For myself, I asked only for a minimal trim since I've purposely been letting my locks grow. My designated stylist did as I asked...she cut very little. The only problem? It's not cut evenly across the bottom! We noticed the issues with Kyleigh's hair and mine after we got home and were getting ready to attend our afternoon baby shower, so we'll have to go back Monday for touch-ups, uugghh!

After our haircuts, Chris hung out with JoJo and treated Kyleigh and I to some time at the nail salon! Paying for mani/pedis is extremely low on my list of priorities, and therefore something I typically only allow myself to at the end of each pregnancy--and this weekend it was definitely a lovely treat! Kyleigh got her nails polished with a cute bright pink + sparkles! She was just in heaven!

I'm so fortunate
to have such
a fun family!

Men on a Mission

Last weekend our family went to BG to do a walk-thru of our house w/ our tenant of the past year. Fortunately, the interior of the house was in great shape. The busy single mom of two boys, though, had done little-to-nothing outdoors for upkeep with the landscaping, so that left some manual labor for us:

*Shrubs to be shaped in the front yard
*Trim backyard tree limbs (they were touching the ground!)
*Bushes needing hacked in the side yard
*Mulch to be spread around all plants
*Paint touch up around the front door frame
*Serious pressure-washing on the back of the house/patio

Even though I couldn't pitch in to help, we knew we wanted to save money from paying services to do these projects, largely for two reasons: One, we're just frugal, and it makes more sense to do work ourselves if capable; And two, we're not comfortable paying someone when we're not in town to supervise or be assured we'd get what we'd be paying for...and with a baby due in mere weeks, we don't have time to drive there and back constantly to supervise--we just needed to get it done and get it done right the first time so it's ready for a new owner/renter!

Those are all normal house projects I helped Chris with when we purchased the home and together we kept it up as homeowners while we lived there, but this time around I can't do that kind of 'manual labor' without going into 'baby labor'! So would Chris have to do this by himself???

Early on Saturday morning, not 1 or 2, but 4 of our friends showed up at our driveway to carpool to BG and help Chris get some work done around the property! Yay! I definitely don't take any of these sacrifices of time for granted!
What a blessing to have such incredible friends!

(L to R: Howard, Chad W, Josh, Chad L)
(Before they could go anywhere, the guys were first entertained by Kyleigh's ballet dancing and Josiah dragging a broom around the house trying to prove his strength in effort to convince the guys to take him along to BG...
here's Kyleigh dancing for our friends!)

*We learned on Friday that a local realtor showed our property...which was before any landscaping was done, but hopefully the interior spoke for itself and let the showing go well. We're hoping for feedback from that showing in the next few days.

*On Saturday while the guys were doing manual labor, a local realtor came by to check out the house; later, a neighborhood resident saw the yard sign and stopped to view and inquire about the house, so Chris showed it to a potential renter!

Here are some pics of some of our buddies hard at work:

Here are "before" & "after" pics of the guys' work:

36 out of 40

Wow, we're getting so close to meeting Addison!

Oh, the anticipation!!!

I really don't know how to make an ordinary update exciting, as it's kind of just the same ol' stuff as we wait through these next couple of weeks. Our girl's growing, and staying active. I'm also growing, but not so active! Ha! There's no way to say it without sounding like a whiner, but I'm simply hurting. My back discomfort keeps me from standing long, sitting long, or walking very far at all (seriously, at home it's on a room-to-room basis!).

I've been going to PT once or twice a week, and tomorrow I'm getting another massage (Chris sent me 2 wks ago, and it was just heavenly!). We're trying anything to reduce pain and discomfort at this point.

It's that time in our journey where I have weekly OB appointments and all is going well according to my doc. Because I was so petite at the start of this pregnancy, my doc encouraged me to try to gain 30-35 lbs. So far, we're 36 weeks down and 31 lbs up, so we're on a wonderful track!

If all remains healthy with Baby and me, my doc has scheduled an induction on a date we know she's on-call and will get to deliver for us. My babies love to stay put in my cozy womb, so both Kyleigh and Josiah were induced in their 40th week, so I'm prepared for the process. Anything from about 37/38 wks on is "full-term" and reaching that point is really our only plan right now--and that's just a couple weeks away! If you've ever had a baby, ya know it's all a wait & see process, so we'll wait and see! Here's hoping for a couple more weeks and maybe a couple more pounds!

$1 Deals

It was suggested to me to check out the $1 bargain section at our local Target store for some educational materials for my lil' kiddos. I'm not supposed to walk in big chain stores or department stores because of my current level of back pain, but I was out and about town for an appointment today and had items to exchange there, so I stopped in w/ the kids.

I thought that since the bargain section is at the very front of the store it would be a quick, easy stop. And I'd suspected I would pick through the "leftover" items that have been on the shelves a few days, and maybe I'd find a handful of things...but that wasn't the case at all!

I found:

(try not to mind the bad pics, the lighting is terrible)

23 workbooks (various subj: coloring, math, science, etc)
8 dry erase practice mats (writing, math, games)

5 classic novels
5 preschool puzzles (body parts, animals, etc)
2 lg 100-pc puzzles (USA & space)

3 indiv fun dry erase boards w/ multiple markers
dictionary/thesaurus/Spanish dictionary +

math bingo/alphabet bingo/time bingo

20 pkgs of flash cards (various subjects)

***That's 72 items!

(I thought there was 1 more, Spanish words on flashcards, but I'm going to look around and see if I come across it)

My kids love to learn, so finding materials that
combine fun and education is great!
And at $1 a piece, even better!

Good Things

Some of the good things happening lately:

*Chris found his wedding ring! He'd taken it off one Saturday at home while working on things in Addison's nursery, and Josiah apparently picked it up and hid it and we found it a week and a half later in a random place!

*Our house (in KY) is officially on the market! Our tenant is out and a sign is in the yard! Now we'll wait and see.

*Family time! We've been enjoying LOTS more family time than we've ever been accustomed to, and it's great! It's not always "fun" time, but it's together time. So whether we're playing board games or chillin' out or doing laundry, we're appreciating our time together. I'm so thankful for Chris's improved work schedule!

*Healthy baby reports! Addison's measuring well, and remaining plenty active. At my last appt we were 35 wks down, 29 lbs up and we found out we'll meet our daughter before the full 40 wk due date! Hooray! Obviously everyday counts toward her health and development and we'd never wish her to arrive "too soon", but we're eyeing a great
time line within "full term" limits, so that's exciting!

T-ball Pizza & Trophy Party

Kyleigh's t-ball season ends this week, so yesterday was a pizza/trophy party to celebrate! Before the party, I explained to Kyleigh what a trophy is, showed her some pics online, and told her how she'd earned one. She was soooo excited! But then...

I told her about the pizza party, and she became more excited about that than the trophy for a while! Ha! Obviously she can't eat "regular" pizza due to allergies, but Chris had prepared ahead of time and purchased an individual size frozen gluten-free/dairy-free pizza from Kroger, which we baked and carried with us for Kyleigh to enjoy! Oh, she had the best time celebrating like everyone else! We're so proud of Kyleigh for her progress this season, and so glad she's enjoyed her time on the t-ball team!

Coach & Kyleigh

Daddy & Kyleigh

Mommy & our lil' t-baller!

In the 24 hrs she's had the trophy, Kyleigh's wanted to hold it and touch it...and yes, even sniff it! HA! So bizarre, but she's 3 and it's shiny so she just thinks it's the greatest thing ever!

Here are some pics from the season:

Team photograph:

(Kyleigh's in the front row, bottom left of pic)

Indiv. photograph:

(How seriously cute is she?!)

*This pic below is an action shot taken by another mom of the team! I videotaped each child's first at-bat experience at their first game to put on a cd/dvd for the parents to save, so this sweet mom took a still pic at one of the final games of each child at bat & she framed these for every parent! She captured Kyleigh w/ a GREAT hit
(click to enlarge & see play in action!)
and I love it so much, it's like I got a lil' trophy, too! haha