Photography by Addie

Lately Addie has been taking a lot of pictures on my phone. She has also learned how to play some games. This afternoon she was snapping photos of all of us. Thought I would share a few.

Dad taking a 3 minute rest.

Our handsome man.

I actually like this one.

More dad.

And she wanted to get a picture of "Johnny's cute legs".

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On a different note, the kids got haircuts today. Addie wanted hers cut short, like to her ears. I wanted chin length, we got something in between. She loves it, I want to have it shaped in to more of an A-line bob when it grows out a little.

Not a day does by that Johnny does not get in to some kind of mischief. Today: marker on the wall. I was trying to get lunch cleaned up and get him ready for a nap. I heard him scribbling on something but I didn't know what until I saw this...

Addie asked me why I was taking a picture. I tried to explain that it is not funny that he did this but I wanted a photo to document this moment. I know I will look back at these photos when the kids are older and wish they were still small. Look at that face? I really don't know how I am going to have enough snuggles and kisses to give him AND the new baby!!

Baby #3, 26 weeks!

Gymnastics Field Trip

A couple weeks ago Addie's preschool went on a field trip to Roach Gymnastics. She was beyond excited! I was not so excited to bring Johnny. Last year little siblings were not allowed to join in the activities and I knew he was not going to just sit with me and watch (did I mention it was nap time also?). Thankfully, this year they let other kids run around and play too! I tried to get lots of pictures of Addie while trying to keep an eye on little man. He spent a lot of his time playing in the huge foam pit and slide with his buddy Brody.

They let the kids run free for the first part. Then they stretched and broke up in to their classes to do more structured activities. Addie had a blast! Now she wants to do ballet AND gymnastics classes!

Johnny really wanted to participate in the parachute games. That meant I had to also. They made this bubble/tent. Everyone had to sit down inside kind of scrunched. It didn't occur to me until after I sat down inside that my pregnant self should not be doing that. I was in serious pain for a minute, trying to keep smiling because Johnny thought it was awesome.

The weather was actually decent that day and I thought it would be a waste to just go straight home so we stopped at 7-Eleven to get Slurpees! And I needed to load up on treats for my midnight showing of Hunger Games that night. Yea, I know you are not supposed to bring your own candy to the movie but it really is sooo expensive at the theater! Plus I ended up buying a milkshake there anyway.

Bartholomew and the Oobleck

I was on Pinterest one day a few weeks ago. That website can really suck you in! I ended up clicking on a blog that had tons of ideas for kids. Some how I came across a recipe for oobleck. Memories from my childhood came back to me. I remember playing with the ooey gooey stuff on more than one occasion. I thought this would be a great activity for the kids. I am always looking for ideas for our Family Home Evening nights so I wanted to make this one of them. I checked out the book Bartholomew and the Oobleck from the library. While Daniel read that to the kids I mixed up the fun stuff and we let the kids go at it!

I was a little unsure how Addie would like it because she usually doesn't like to get her hands dirty/sticky but she seemed to have fun!

This kid was all over it. I had to help hold on to the plate because I was worried the whole thing would end up on the floor!

He was pretty happy that we were allowing him to get messy.

Daniel claims he has never played with oobleck before (although I am pretty sure I made it once before earlier in our marriage) so we made him get his hands in it when the kids were done. I think everyone enjoyed it and it was a success!

A pregnancy first and annual illnesses...

In my previous post I mentioned that I was having a lot of pain in my side and was going to get an ultrasound. I had a feeling that they were not going to find anything, but for every one's peace of mind we went and had it done.

We took the kids with us because we knew it was going to be quick and we thought they might want to see the baby. When the ultrasound tech came out to get me we were informed that the kids were not allowed to come in the room with us. What? So Daniel had to stay in the waiting room with the kids while I went in by myself. I've never had an ultrasound done and was a little sad that Daniel was not in there with me. The tech told me she was a little confused as to exactly what the doctor wanted her to do. I told her I really only wanted that area looked at and I didn't really want the whole anatomy scan done (the doctor really wanted me to get the entire 20 week anatomy ultrasound done). I didn't really want to see the whole baby, honestly the images freak me out a little bit. I just want to see the baby when it's born and it's a fully developed baby. Anyway, she was ok with just doing the minimum that I asked for and she got to work.

We were pretty sure we did not want to know the sex of the baby but I was still wavering a little bit. Once I was in there by myself with a very pushy and not so friendly lady, I was sure I didn't want to know anymore. I don't think she even looked. The only thing she saw on my left side were the baby's feet. Maybe he/she was kicking a nerve that was triggering all that pain. Everything looked good. I was in and out of the room in about 4 minutes. I didn't really want a picture to bring home but since the kids didn't get to come in the room I decided to get one. When I showed them they seemed pretty confused as to what it was and didn't really want to keep them.

So the picture is tucked away in my pregnancy book as a souvenir of this pregnancy.

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There has been a lot of sickness going around in our area lately. Fortunately we avoided the stomach bug that went around. Unfortunately, I got my annual case of strep throat and Addie got her annual case of pink eye (twice!). For the past month someone in the family has had something, I think I have been coughing for the whole month! After the strep I got some kind of virus that causes a super sore throat and a yucky cough that people are telling me takes weeks to go away. Not fun. And this poor baby gets squeezed every time I cough and my whole belly contracts. This week we spent our family night cleaning and disinfecting the house. I am done being sick!!

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Here are some random photos that we've taken over the last couple of weeks:

21 weeks!

Yes, we got our fix of Girl Scout cookies. The 2 boxes of Thin Mints did not last long enough!

My little man and me!

Baby #3 so far...

Now that I finally have the blog up to date, I feel like I can post a little about this pregnancy.

This has definitely been the hardest of the 3 pregnancies so far. It could be that I am not 24 anymore or that my body is a bit worn down from already doing this twice or maybe because I am chasing 2 other little ones around. I still have it pretty good compared to a lot of women I know. I am blessed to have mild and pretty easy pregnancies!

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Two of my biggest complaints at this point:

1. The varicose vein that appeared at the end of my last pregnancy made it's appearance early this time (maybe around 14 weeks?). I get to wear compression tights for the remaining 5 months of the pregnancy. Good thing we don't live somewhere where it actually gets warm outside before July!

2. For the past 6 weeks or so I have had on/off stabbing pains under my left ribs. I can't pin point what triggers it and the only thing that helps is to sit still. A pretty hard thing to do with the 2 other kids. Daniel has been so great and on the days that it's really hurting me, he sends me to lay down as soon as he gets home. He makes dinner and get the kids in bed. I am glad it's off and on, it usually only hurts 1 (sometimes 2) days a week. I am going in for an ultra sound tomorrow to make sure everything looks good.

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Other than those 2 things, everything is going great! I feel so much bigger this time that I did with the last 2. I go to Zumba 2-3 times a week. It makes me feel good although I have gained more weight at this point than I did with the other 2. At 20 weeks I feel like my belly really looks like a baby bump. It could be because I gained 6 pounds between 16 and 20 weeks!! The baby much have grown a bunch! We thought about finding out the sex of the baby this time around but we've decided against it. This baby sure does move around a lot! Daniel has been able to feel it but every time I get Addie to put her hand on my belly the baby stops kicking. I am waiting to see Addie and Johnny's reaction the first time they get to feel it kick!

6 weeks

12 weeks

16 weeks

20 weeks

Addie's VIP Day and Daniel's 29th Birthday

Last week Addie had her VIP day at preschool. This is just a glorified show and tell basically. The VIP is allowed to have family, friends, cousins, whoever come to the first part of class to see what she does in the classroom and her show and tell. We did it on Daniel's birthday again this year. It was fun to see her at school and celebrate Daniel turning 29 on the same day! She was super excited. The night before she said to me, "Mom, I'm too excited to sleep!".

We made a poster all about her with a few photos.

First thing she did when we got there was write her name on the board and pick a letter that she wanted to do for the day. Surprise, she chose A!

This picture makes me laugh now. At the time it was a little stressful because Johnny D wanted to be up in front helping her with everything. The teachers were really nice and didn't mind him running around. She is handing out every ones name cards.

Using the giant pointer to show the letter A.

We had to get a picture of Addie and her Dad with the birthday hat on!

She really wanted to bring Sammie our cat for her show and tell. I convinced her that the cat might not like that. So she settled on our toy piano.

I have some cute videos but I can't figure out why they won't upload! After show and tell the class read books, worked on a whale picture then headed outside for a few minutes on the playground! Addie chose to stay outside for a little longer and just give her friends their snacks (popcorn and M&Ms) to go. It was so fun to see her in her classroom and see what she does everyday! Johnny did better than I was expecting and Daniel and I both got to stay the whole time even though it was during nap time.

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After preschool we headed over to see our midwife. At 20 weeks everything is looking good! I'll post more about the baby later!

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Our tradition is to eat at Red Robin for every one's birthday. So after we left the midwife we headed over to our favorite restaurant. I didn't get the camera out in time to video the servers singing to Daniel. I also failed to take any pictures of him opening his cards and gifts. :/ I did make him a banner though! Daniel and I celebrated his birthday by shopping and dessert on Friday night.

Randomness

One night for our family night we talked about the Wise Man and the Foolish man. The kids were really in to which makes me happy. I love it when they have fun and they can remember what we talked about! I got the lesson idea here. We filled a plastic bin with sand and a big rock from outside. The website had little houses to cut out and use for the 2 men's houses.

They had fun pouring the water on and watching the house in the sand fall apart.

And they wanted to keep pouring...

And finally after a dozen pails full of water (and some hands in the muddy bin) this is what was left. I think Addie got the idea, Johnny just liked the mess. :)

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Addie likes to play anywhere that Johnny is not. She comes up with games and things to do upstairs all the time where he won't bother her. One day I found her on the stairs with her pillow, blanket and lots of books. Of course once I discovered that she was there little Johnny D wanted to join her. Our stairs are not the safest to play on but I let them do it as long as they were being calm and no one fell down.

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My little guy is super destructive. I seriously cannot leave him alone for more than 2 minutes. The pictures below are just 1 example of messes I have to clean up every day. I am really going to be in trouble when this new baby comes along and I am distracted.

This was about 2 rolls of wrapping paper and an entire package of pulls ups dumped out and unrolled in less than 2 minutes. He is so quiet too, I usually don't know he's even in to anything until it's too late!