38 weeks {Itty Bitty}

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 38 Weeks 

Size of baby:  Itty Bitty is about the size of a 6-7 lb watermelon!!

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  Gained 22 lbs total

Maternity Clothes: Yes, I'm having a hard time finding shirts that cover my tummy.

Gender: We are having a boy! We announced it here, in case you missed it.

Movement: He shoves his feet and heels in to my ribs. I am pretty sure that he has dropped now so there is a little more room up top.

Sleep: Acid reflux has been my worst enemy. I have had the weirdest dreams lately. Sometimes it feels like I haven't even slept from such active, vivid dreams!

Symptoms: Just Braxton Hicks, heartburn/acid reflux still, no appetite {no room!}

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy. Being able to do more with the Littles. 

Cravings: Not much of an appetite any more, I haven't been craving anything really.

Best Moment this week: Realizing that we are so very close to having another newborn and our THIRD child... 

What I am looking forward to: Honestly, not being pregnant and I just can't wait to hold this baby boy in my arms. :)

And for comparison, here I am at 38 weeks with Little Dude, the day I went into labor!

Little Dude {15 Months}

My handsome boy, you are 15 months {and some days...} old.

And you are finally walking! 

You are talking all.the.time! It's seriously the most warming thing to my heart to hear you and your big sister talking to each other and playing together! You two play together all the time and laugh, oh the laughing. I don't even know what you are all laughing about most of the time, you just feed off of each other. I pray that your relationship with each other continues to grow and you can be friends as you go through life. 

Of course, things are perfect and you guys have your moments. You are so different from your sister when it comes to discipline. If I tell you "NO" sternly you just look back at me and laugh. As soon as I tell you no you throw yourself on the floor and kick and grunt, giving attitude. It's challenging figuring out the best way to discipline you being only 15 months old. 

You take after your daddy in so many ways. You love to study everything and will spend a long time pulling, tapping, twisting, etc until you are satisfied with all that the object does. If you are going to attempt something, taking walking for example, it's got to be perfect or you just don't want to do it. After you stand and maybe take a couple steps but fall or step on a toy and fall down, you get upset and either just sit there mad or continue on crawling. I love watching you stand up {especially when no one is watching} and wait a few minutes, determining in your mind that you can do it before even take a step. You are vary thoughtful.

Lately you have a couple things you say that just melt us or have us in stitches:

1. You put your little hands up in front of you and say "Hug?" You love to give hugs! And blowing kisses, gah! You learned to give them from your sister but oh.my.goodness. It is the sweetest thing ever!

2. You started to make a thinking sound "mmmm" before you say what you would like to have, for example, "Mmmmm, milk?" Cutest thing.

3. Your favorite book right now is 'Good Night, Gorilla' and the way you say gorilla, ok I'll admit, I ask you to say it over and over because it doesn't get old! It sounds more like 'Lala' but you roll the l's in just the sweetest way. You love to read it and make the animal sounds on each page. You now do elephants, tigers, dogs & monkey sounds.

4. I think you learned it from your sister, but you pat my swelling tummy and say 'bro-der' and I wonder if you have any idea what it means... You do the same when you see the pack'n'play set up in our room and the Boppy pillow. It really melts my heart. And I pray that you are excited about him someday as you are right now.

I can't believe you are on the move, but I know you will go great places! I pray that you grow to be a man grounded in the Lord, steady in your steps as you trust in Him. 

We love you so much, little dude. 

Happy 15 months!

Our 'big' girl.

It's been a week.

Little lady has made the 'big' transition from crib to toddler bed. It didn't happen the way that I had imagined it would happen. We have put it off for so long because she has always done so well with her crib and, well why mess with something that is working!

She had crawled in and out of her crib maybe twice and when I told her sternly that she wasn't to do that, she never did it again. But it came time that something had to change.

Roughly two weeks ago she started having, I guess I'd call it panic attacks when we would put her to bed. She would act afraid but not of anything in particular. She would just start screaming and franticaly crying as soon as we would leave the room, in fact she wouldn't want us to leave the room but stay while she fell asleep. And even if she would wakeup and we weren't there she would scream and cry until we came back in. This would go on until she was hysterical and not able to talk through her heavy breathing.

It was probably the most difficult situation we have faced as parents so far. I was at the point of hysterical crying myself and felt so helpless as to where to go for help or what to do to resolve the issue. I desperately wanted to help her feel safe and know that she could sleep and fall asleep without any fear.

We tried all that we could think of on our own. We prayed with her, prayed over her room, prayed for her while she fell asleep with us sitting right by her bed. Sang worship songs, talked to her about how Jesus is with her and she can talk to Him when she is afraid. She understands and knows these things, but she was still having anxiety about us leaving her.

She would just cry that she misses us and wants us to stay with her, right by her side. It was heartbreaking. Finally we did what we should have done first. Hubby and I went on our knees before the Lord and asked for wisdom and direction on how to take care of our baby girl. How where we to handle the situation to help her work through it without causing more problems or catering to possible age related control battles.

After crying out to God for His direction and wisdom in the situation we decided to look online for any kind of information. Hubby found an article that pretty much described exactly what we were experiencing. It said that it was a form of separation anxiety and that being a toddler and still in a crib can sometimes make it worse. That is creates a barrier and they can feel trapped.

There were other suggestions to help her work through the separation fears. That's when we knew it was time to take the crib down and bring out her toddler bed. We had a toddler bed in storage that a friend found for us at the thrift store back before Little Dude was born. I was nervous about how it was going to go but I really think the desperation for something to help with her separation anxiety overshadowed any reservations I had about how the toddler bed would go.

We set it all up and made a big deal about it. We got her a 'grown up' size pillow and rearranged her room {she has so much more free space in her room now with out a bulky crib!} to be more of a play room. She was so excited and both kids came in and immediately went up on her new 'big girl' bed! So far the transition has been a very positive one and Little Lady is begging me to go up there and play in her room all day long! Sometimes I let them go up there and put a baby gate in her door way so they can play and I'm able to get stuff done! It's really been great.

That's day time anyway. Nights and naps are hit and miss. Part of the process is to tuck her into bed and assure her that you will be back to check on her. Sometimes I sit with her for a couple minutes but then I leave and wait a while before I come back. At first I could only be gone for 2 minutes before she would start to panic again. But gradually we have made it longer and longer and now I can leave and sometimes she is out cold before I return to check on her.

The hardest part is having to leave her door open now, but she prefers it open. Hubby and I have to tip toe around until she falls asleep and that can be frustrating. But as soon as she's asleep we can go through the upstairs freely and she usually sleeps through even her brother waking up.

It's hard to believe my baby girl is a 'big' girl now, I can still remember setting up her nursery when I was  pregnant and then bringing her home and just holding and rocking her in there. I'll always have those memories!

36 Weeks {Itty Bitty}

I'm so behind on pregnancy updates! I can't believe the last time I updated was 28 weeks at Thanksgiving...

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 36 Weeks 

Size of baby:  Itty Bitty is about the size of a 6 lb watermelon!!

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  Gained 22 lbs total

Maternity Clothes: Yes, and out growing what few I do have... 

Gender: We are having a boy! We announced it here, in case you missed it.

Movement: He is all knees and elbows! It's getting so cramped so I feel everything! From a full roll over to his little hiccups. 

Sleep: Acid reflux has been my worst enemy. I have to not eat several hours before going to bed, which usually means I go to bed hungry but I guess it's the lesser evil. I also wake up in the night and can't get back to sleep so I just lay there or turn from side to side until I can get back to sleep.

Symptoms: Lots of Braxton Hicks contractions lately. I have to take it easy and try to not lift the kids too much or I'll start having contractions. I'm so winded whenever I use the stairs, which is everyday because we live in a split level house! 

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy and not needing a body pillow in bed. Being able to do more with the Littles. Eating only 3 meals a day instead of having a few bites of something every other hour and being full because I have no room for food anymore!

Cravings: Not much of an appetite any more, I haven't been craving anything really.

Best Moment this week: Getting Little Lady into her big girl bed and having her like it so much! I think she is going to do really well when her new baby brother comes!

What I am looking forward to: Honestly, not being pregnant and getting back to being a not pregnant me. I just can't wait to hold this baby boy in my arms. :)

a little bit of independence

The first time my baby falls a sleep in their bed with out me rocking them, it's always difficult for me.

I don't know what it is but there is something about rocking my sleepy baby and having them give in to the weight of their eyelids, hearing that heavy sigh of total relaxation as their bodies and minds drift off to dream land. I know it's not for everyone, to allow a 15 month old to need me rocking him or her to sleep before putting them in their bed. That's ok.

Ever since I held my daughter in my arms for the first time I knew that I would hold her, rock her to sleep for as long as she allowed me to. They only stay little for a short time. I never wanted to look back and think I should have rocked her to sleep longer. Or regret rushing her into a little bit of independence.

And when my son came along, I decided that any way that I could I would do the same with him. I would rock him to sleep until he didn't want to be rocked to sleep any more. It's been much more challenging having a toddler running around the house who needs my supervision pretty much all the time still. But we have managed and I've been able to rock him to sleep for bed and for naps.

Today was different. I didn't see it coming, I didn't with his big sister either. Lately my little 15 month old son will fight going to sleep, even though he is too tired to keep his eyes open. He fights with them shut. If he resists me by arching his back then I simply lay him in his crib and tell him 'night-night' and leave the room. Usually I return when the sound of his tears turns to a sound of surrender and I pick him up and rock him to sleep.

Today he resisted and I laid him down, but he never cried. He talked and moved around and stayed content. So I left him in there. I knew I would go back in if he began to cry enough that I knew he was ready. It wasn't long though, before I couldn't hear him moving around on the monitor. I listened closer... nothing.

Being the panicky worrier that I am my first thought is he's dead! and I swiftly but quietly crack open his door to check. He's asleep. He's asleep!.... He's asleep... no crying, no fussing... no rocking.

And don't get me wrong, it's bittersweet. With the birth of our third baby around the corner I've been {secretly} praying that he would get to this point. And just the way his sister did, in the eleventh hour of our third child's birth, he gains a little bit of his independence. And I'm proud of him.

Spring day in January!

The weather is so perfect today that we had to venture outside and play after nap time!

The real thing

And finally...



This afternoon Little Dude kept asking me to 'wok' with him and he would hold on to one of my hands and we would make laps around the kitchen and living room. Tonight after dinner he said the same thing but this time he let go and took off for his daddy!! So began the 45 min long session of him going back and forth between us, all on his own accord and a much longer distance at one time than ever before!

I can't believe I finally have another walker on my hands...