Almost There

Well, I keep thinking that I have to upload new pictures in order to post a new blog entry, but that process is not so easy and I keep putting it off! There are quite a few new exciting things going on, that I'll just have to post pictures later.

First, we are officially three weeks away (or less) from welcoming a new member to our family. We're all so excited about the baby and can't wait to meet him or her. We finally came up with a girl and a boy name that we like as well as middle names, so this baby can officially arrive any day now and we won't be paniking, or at least not about names. I still have some organizing and cleaning projects that I want to complete - so I need at least another weekend and two would be better. So far I'm still doing well (noticing some swelling in the ankles especially at night, but my hands and face don't feel or look that swollen, so I think I'm okay). And the baby is still VERY active - I don't think he/she sleeps any longer than 20mins at a time! My doctor hasn't even put me on weekly visits yet and I'm only three weeks away from having this baby (we're scheduled to go to the hospital on April 7th). I guess she doesn't seem to be worried about our health or that I'll go into labor early.

Next is the exciting news that Ryan is officially a big boy now! Yes, he is fully potty trained and we're all LOVING it!!!! Boy he took his time getting to this stage, but something clicked and he pretty much decided on his own that it was VERY COOL to use the potty and not have accidents anymore AND absolutely loves his new big boy underwear. He even picks out his underwear days ahead of time and plans which one he's going to wear next. With Charles we had quite a few accidents in big boy underwear so I'm a little shocked that Ryan is doing so well. We don't have to ask him if he needs to go, he goes on his own, or if we're on the road or running errands he'll let us know he needs to go. He is really taking this big boy thing seriously and honestly does not need any of our help. He even unzips, zips AND snaps his own pants, and recently has sown me that he can put on his shoes all by himself. He only occasionally needs help getting shirts off because his head is so big. Oh, I forgot, he does still need our help figuring out which way to put his new big boy underpants on. He gets confused with front and back - but even that he's catching on! :-) My little boy is so grown up and doesn't need mommy's help, I think I'm going to cry! Good thing I'll soon have a new little one that will need lots of my help. Actually I shouldn't be feeling like this, it is truely a blessing that Charles and Ryan are now so independant. I will most likely need to be nursing the baby in the morning and probably will not be able to help the boys get dressed near as much as I have in the past. I will just supervise the opperation.

The other news is that I just signed Charles up for soccer this spring. I'm so excited that he'll get to do something special. He loved soccer camp last year and we were late signing him up so he never actually made it on a team, but this year I'm on top of things! The season falls right when I'll be on maternity leave so I should be able to take him to all of his practices and games without any problems. I could have signed Ryan up too, but decided that we should wait a little longer as I didn't want to be overwhelmed with keeping up with two practice and game schedules and caring for a newborn all while recovering from a c-section etc. I want this to be enjoyable - not a chore. And Ryan still enjoys watching his brother play and can practice with him in our backyard etc. One day it will be Ryan's turn, and maybe soccer or maybe even a different sport - who knows.

Okay, that's probably a long enough update for now. The next one might be a birth announcement with lots of cute baby pictures!!! :-)

Doctor's Appointment

I had my routine appointment with my Obstetrician today and took Charles with me since it was a Teacher's Workday and he didn't have school. He could have gone to daycare, but I thought it would be fun to have a special day together. He came to my doctor's appointment with me after we dropped Ryan off at daycare. I was so impressed with Charles' behavior, he acted perfectly. Almost to the point of crossing his legs and putting his hands in his lap - and all of this on his own without any prompting from mom! He actually told me in the car that he was going to either stand still or sit still, and that he hadn't quite yet decided which one he would do. His reasoning was that he had learned both of those abilities. Lol! Sure enough, as soon as we were called back to see the doctor Charles immediately sat down in the chair and put his hands straight down by his sides with his palms against the sides of his pants. He sat like that the whole time! Between the time that the nurse left and the doctor came in, I asked Charles where he learned to be so still and then I asked if his teacher taught him in school. He said "no mommy, I just thinked it in my brain!". Lol! So he invented how to be still on his own. :-) Night and day from his little brother. But there is still hope, as I don't think Charles was quite this well behaved two years ago either.

Oh I guess I should say something about my appointment. Everything is so normal that there is hardly anything to talk about. Seriously though, I'm not complaining!!!! My weight gain is good, blood pressure is still good, passed my glucose test and any other tests that I have taken so far, the baby is a stroooong kicker and kicks often, and I'm not having contractions, or none that are regular and occur more than 4 in an hour. I am having occasional troubles with allergies and with heartburn but my doctor has prescribed some medicines that seem to be working well. Anyways, there was nothing new to report from today's visit. Everything still looks good. I'm now on a 2-week visit schedule and will be for the next 6 weeks, after which I'll switch to weekly appointments. I did take some time after the appointment to stop by the anesthesiologist and pre-register at the hospital. Both of those took less than 30 mins combined. I guess by the 3rd kid they have all of the info in their database and it's just a matter of adding the new baby's due date and checking that the insurance hasn't changed. So, I'm all set if this baby comes early - oh except for the fact that I don't have a bag packed, don't have the bassinet set up, don't have a car seat... don't have any names picked out.... hmm, we have some work to do.

Christmas Card Photo Attempt #1

We decorated our tree two weeks ago when Caitlyn was home and we had just enough time before Caitlyn had to leave to get the kids dressed in red, white and green and take pictures. I originally thought that we would use these for our Christmas cards, but the lighting was poor and the resolution on these pictures is not great. Out of about 30 pictures, these two were the best. Whew, I don't ever want to have the job of being a photographer!!!!