30 weeks.

I cannot believe we are already into the 30's.  Even though the discomforts are increasing, it seems to be going very fast now.  Perhaps the pace of our life these past couple weeks has made it go by even faster. Already into my 2 week appointments and just over 2 months to go.  Anyone who does not know me does not believe I can possibly be as far along as I say, which oddly doesn't make me feel any better about myself!  I am still uncomfortable, peeing a lot, not sleeping well, and exhausted, yet, if you aren't HUGE you don't seem to get much sympathy! I have a very active baby and I enjoy watching the big movements from the outside when we go to bed at night.

These two excited older siblings came with me to my appointment.  I was not excited to bring the two of them by myself to the doctors office, but they did extremely well despite the 45 minute wait.  Thank goodness for stickers!  They both heard the baby's heart beat and looked up with their big bright eyes and very big smiles-priceless.  They may not totally understand but sure are excited about the "idea" nonetheless.  I am getting more and more excited for the newest addition to our family and have even daydreamed about holding the little peanut in my arms once the two older ones are sleeping and the house is quiet.  Until next time...more growing, I'm sure!

Some Time With My Girl.

I have been fortunate to have some alone time with Kadence the last couple weeks while big brother is at Preschool.  It has been fun and very good for both of us.  She loves her mommy time and Landon isn't feeling left out because he is at school having a blast.

Today we took advantage of the gorgeous Fall morning and spent some time walking around Falls Park. It is almost as though she doesn't know how to act without big brother to run and play with.  I am definitely treasuring this special time we have been spending together, especially since soon there will be little brother or sister taking up some time, too!  Love this girl to pieces.

Preschool Update.

It has been a rough week and a half at our house on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  It has been the dreaded preschool drop off.  I was beginning to wonder if I was going to make it through this rough transition.  Every morning we would pain through a tearful goodbye at preschool which left me in my car bawling.  On Tuesday when Landon woke up, he cried for 15 minutes telling me he didn't want to go to school and he wanted to stay home with me.  Much to my surprise, he did a little better when I left him Tuesday morning and I actually left without crying myself.  Then today, he did it!  He did not shed a single tear when we said our goodbye.  I am not sure what had changed but it was such a great thing!  Oddly, as I was walking out of the church, my eyes filled with tears-tears of happiness.  I was just so glad that he did not have to be sad today!  It is so hard to see your child sad and not be able to do anything about it.  When I picked him up from school he was so happy.  He was singing a new song he learned and was very anxious to show me his painting project and tell me that apples had stars in the middle of them.  Then when we got to the car he gave me a big hug and kiss and said, "Mommy, I didn't cry today!"  He was so excited and I was so very proud of him!

Swimtime.

Love these pictures of the kids swimming with Daddy.  We made time in our busy weekend to take the kids swimming a couple times.  Let me rephrase that, Ryan took them swimming and I watched from the sidelines.  I was not thinking putting on a swimsuit at 7 months pregnant was going to make me feel too good about myself, so I just watched.  The kids had such a fun time and stayed in the water until they were shivering, blue-lipped, and exhausted.

Kadence is such a little fish.  She loves swimming and will jump in the water completely fearless.  She also goes completely underwater and comes up smiling and happy!

Landon's a little bit more reserved in the water, but still loves to swim.  He is just not quite as fond of going underwater and is just getting brave enough to jump in.

My kids are blessed to have such a great dad!  They love the time they spend with him so much and he loves it even more.  Even after a night of free beer (and lots of it) he was a trooper and took them swimming early the next morning.  Love him so much!

I can't wait to get the kids into swimming lessons.  I am hoping for a winter session this year.  We'll see, we have just a few things going on in the next few months...

Beautiful Wedding.

Last weekend we traveled north to St. Paul for my cousin Amy's wedding.  The weekend was perfect and everything was beautiful.  Amy made such a beautiful bride and what a great guy she nabbed.  The kids survived a busy, long weekend with very few meltdowns which is always a plus.

Annabelle and Kadence were two of three flower girls in the wedding.  The three of them were adorable with their ring man Henry.  Kadence actually walked down the aisle which I was very surprised of!

Being a flower girl is tough work.  She did make it down the aisle at the beginning of the service, but fell asleep almost right after and this is how she walked out of the church.

I love this snapshot of Kadence, Annabelle, and Audrey.  They were all so cute.  This was at Harriet Island after the ceremony.  It was beautiful, but a little chilly.

Here's the girls right by the river.  It is hard to believe that they are less than a year apart!

Landon was feeling kind of left out a few times as we were hyping up Kadence's role in the wedding (mostly just so she actually would do it).  We told him he had a very important job, he had to wave Kadence down the aisle so she would come.  He felt better after that.  And, it turns out Kadence told Ryan she wanted to see Landon, so that is really why she probably walked to the front of the church!

The reception was at the Wabasha Street Caves which was such a neat place.  It is amazing how much entertainment Ryan's tie brought!  The kids did really well but were very anxious to DANCE!!

This guy was a dancing machine.  I can not even imagine how many calories he burned in such a short time.  It was so fun to see him dancing with everyone and anyone which is unusual for him!

All four of the kids danced a ton.  They had such a good time, it was very fun to watch!

Amy and her husband Mike are in a band and they performed!  I really enjoy their music and it was so neat to see.  It isn't often you see a bride and groom performing during their own dance!  They are both so talented!

Amy and Kym (her sister) also performed a couple songs together.  They were so good together and it was so fun!  They have so much musical talent, I wish I had just a little of it!

This is what happens after a long couple of days and some serious dancing!  We stayed at the dance until about 10:45.  This is extremely late for our children and they did so well!

What a great weekend!  We felt so blessed to be able to share this wonderful weekend with Amy and Mike and wish them a life filled with love!  

28 weeks.

28 Weeks.  The Third Trimester.  Not Comfortable.

Well I am now 28 weeks and had my lovely first appointment into the third trimester.  I passed my glucose tolerance test which is a good thing because I love sugar.  The baby seems to be  doing well with a heart rate of 150 this time.  He or she should weigh about 2 1/4 pounds and be just over 14 inches in height.  The little munchkin is still moving around like crazy and has the hiccups all the time.  I am starting to have some hip pain which I also did with Kadence-not enjoyable.  I also most likely have developed an inguinal hernia on my left side which is also not enjoyable.  It bothers me most when I am up walking around or standing for long periods of time and of course with straining.  I was told it will only get worse as the baby gets bigger, but on the bright side it will most likely not bother me after I have the baby.  I can deal with the pain and burning as long as it doesn't effect my delivery.  I am starting to get anxious for the baby to come and to be done being pregnant.  With that said, it could be a long couple months!  I have wanted to buy some things very badly for the new little one, but it isn't really worth it until we know the sex.  So I will just wait patiently and save some money for that matter!  Oh the joys.  Have I ever mentioned that I am definitely not one of those ladies who LOVES being pregnant?

Coffee

My guilty pleasure.  My sweet addiction. Starbucks Coffee.  

As most of you know I LOVE Starbucks coffee.  It really started out as a caffeine necessity working 12 hour night shifts on 2 East.  I still love that black brewed coffee to pieces, but if I have the choice I prefer to indulge in lattes.  I have had to decrease my intake being pregnant (and also the fact that it is an extremely expensive habit) but still fulfill my guilty pleasure enough (probably too much).  It is that time of year where they have the seasonal drinks and I happen to really like the pumpkin spiced latte.  

The point of this information was to share a cute story.  The other day we had the kids in the truck where they can reach the window button and roll down the windows themselves.  We were headed to get some ice cream to celebrate Landon's first day of preschool.  We pulled up to the drive thru to order and Landon rolled his window down and said, "a grande natte, please" and then rolled his window back up. He was pretending to order my coffee!!!  It was the cutest thing in the world, but just confirmed that I may have a problem.