Mission Accomplished!

If you remember last week I wrote about working very hard to get both boys settled into their own beds before the new baby comes. Well it only took me a week.

With a couple bumps in the road here and there, I successfully have both children sleeping in their own beds at night. They are both in bed, and asleep by 10pm with the help of Cars.

Ben has developed the habit of waking up at 4:30-5:00am... getting up, finding Daddy and wanting to go back to sleep with him as he has to get up for work so it has been a rough couple days, including this morning, but it certainly is getting better.

This morning after he went back to sleep, he slept till 8:30! I had to actually get up and check on him because it was so unlike him.

I feel so much better about a third child now that we have accomplished this HUGE hurdle!

Couple Pictures from our Thanksgiving...

Because my children, and husband know how to eat, then sleep... the true activities of Thanksgiving...


Happy Thanksgiving again!

Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving tomorrow, I am looking back on 2010 and really reflecting how much we are thankful for as a family. I thought I would put together somewhat of a list to share with my family and friends.

• We are grateful for Ben coming such a long way, and being discharged from the Birth to Three program in October.
• We are grateful for the health, and well being of our children, and the light they bring into our lives on a daily basis.
• We are grateful for the big September surprise we got in a third child we never planned on having.
  
• We are grateful for all the opportunities Will has got for school, and certifications he has obtained in the past year. One more and he will be ready to start applying for paid fire departments, and be able to have a career he truly loves.
• We are unbelievably grateful for the writing positions I have picked up, especially in the last three months.
• We are grateful for the new car we were able to purchase.
• We are grateful for our families, and their active involvement with our children, and support in all the new choices we have made.
• We are grateful for our health.
• We are grateful for a roof over our heads, food on our table, and utilities, as well as having jobs to be able to afford these opportunities.
• We are grateful for our good friends.

There is so much to be happy and grateful for, and thankful for in 2010. Here is to another great year in 2011 too!

16 Weeks

The kids helped me take a couple pictures last night...

The Tale of a Saturday

Saying that Will and I have had a funny couple days would probably be a serious understatement. Last night we had a car behind us laying on the horn, literally for a good 5 minutes while we sat behind a school bus. Needless to say it turned into a joke, after we both ended up pissed off. LOL

Well today we had a nice lazy morning before bringing the children to get haircuts before the holiday. The day started off like this...

This... driven by Daddy dropped off special "sprinkles"

A special Saturday treat! Seriously, how many children do you know that have a fire truck stop at their house to bring them donuts? Camden is totally the coolest kid around. Haha!

After playing for a couple hours, and before leaving for hair cuts, Ben decided he was going to play until he fell asleep. The boys were playing with their toys on the living room floor, and then of course my couch pillows became a toy.
This is how it ended...

This kid could sleep anywhere... He curled up on the floor with his blanket and knocked out. He proceeded to sleep there for about an hour. I was scared to move him because I knew he would be up, and super cranky because he didnt get a nap.

Then we went for our hair cuts, and on our way home stopped at the ATM. The local bank only has a drive up, so we waited behind 4 cars for our turn. There was an elderly lady in front of us that really didn't know what she was doing. You could see her shaking while she was using the ATM, and then quickly pulled away.
We pull up to the ATM and her account was still open. It was asking how much we wanted to withdraw.
I quickly hit "return card" to close it out and I handed Will the card and he RAN to try and chase her down. Luckily she had pulled around to the other side of the building and park. She was going to try to go into the bank to get her card back. :( The bank was closed.

Needless to say I felt horrible for her, but I am so glad we are the people who pulled up after her. How many people would be honest and do what we did? How many people would have taken the maximum amount of money they could have out of the account? My heart broke thinking about what could have happened to her!

Thankfully she had honest people pull up after her!

That... was our Saturday in a nut shell!

Christmas Check List

I have been thinking about things I must get done before Christmas... Obviously I have a lot of shopping to do, although I got a ton of it done already, mostly for the children. I also saved a ton of stuff I picked up at BlogHer earlier in the year and stashed it at my parents house for the kids.

In an effort to really help me get things rolling... I needed to get my list up :

• Make a list of people we are shopping for
• Get the Christmas decorations down from the attic
• Put up the Christmas lights outside - DONE
• Plan our Christmas Eve, and Christmas day calendar so we know where we are going to be on what day and at what times.
• Pre-write posts for December... Considering I have obligations for X amount of posts a week, etc.
• Buy the kids Christmas outfits
• Take pictures of the children for our Christmas cards
• Actually fill out and mail out the Christmas cards
• Get pictures with Santa done
• Bake for the Holiday Party at the fire house
• Bake for the Festival of the Trees through the fire house

I am sure there is so much more that is going to end up getting tacked on to the end of this list between now and Thanksgiving though... Speaking of Thanksgiving.. 8 days from now we will be celebrating it.

I know last week I was kind of in the skip the meal mood, but the past year has brought so much happiness, success, and blessings to our family, we have so much to be thankful for... and who isn't excited for my mothers amazing Chef like cooking?

Christmas Lights

As promised, a couple pictures of the Christmas lights we got up.
I plan to take some better ones in a couple weeks though.

P.S. Don't mind the blinds my children broke!
'Tis the Season!

Over Doing It : Mommy Style

Yesterday like any typical Sunday I headed to my parents house with the children. Will had the long awaited live burn for training... so you can see why I would be needing to get away and totally take my mind off of it...


Yes, clearly you get the picture of why I would be worried. LOL! So the boys and I went down to Mom and Dad's house, and we decided to go on a nice walk down to the beach. It was beautiful out... how could we not take full advantage of it? 60 degrees in mid November after we have already had snow!

We packed the wagon up and headed to the beach...


Me and Grandma took turns pulling the boys, and Camden even decided at one point he wanted to get out and pull Ben. It was tooo cute!

We let them play on the beach for a while, Ben was in his glory! He ran after a seagull going "Ducky Ducky" until it took flight. He kind of looked at me with the expression of... "Uh... Mom catch him!"

He clearly had big plans for the "Ducky" which probably included his mouth... ICK!

We walked back to the house, had dinner, the kids took a nap, which I took advantage of myself and laid down too. Woke up, and snacked some more before heading home.

I landed myself in the ER that night though. I am not sure if the walk, having to lift the wagon over the fence, or what did it to me but by 6pm I was in bad shape. Cramps, stabbing pain, a headache... I was miserable and worried.

I was taken in immediately, even before the poor guy in front of me who stepped on a nail. Everything with me looked fine. Blood pressure, temperature, all that jazz. The on call ER Doctor strolled in moments later with an ultrasound machine.

They weren't messin' around. He seemed kind of excited to get to use it too. I am sure they don't have a ton of pregnant women coming through the doors that they actually have the chance to check out since Labor and Delivery typically does most of that.

I was really happy to be able to see little Elwood #3. He/She was waving at us the entire time, and it also confirmed that the movement I think I have been feeling for about a week or two now, is in fact the baby moving around. I got to see him/her move around and feel it at the same time. Totally awesome.

The doctor was so excited using the machine, he even gelled me all up a second time to make sure I had a nice picture of #3 to go home with. Which is the above picture. I need to go scan it, but I wanted to share. The baby had it's hand right next to its face waving.

He totally tired to check out a crotch shot, but he/she wasn't showing much so we can wait till our big scan on December 9th.

Needless to say, it was a hectic Sunday.
Today, I am resting!

Mission : Get the boys in their room

I have been struggling to try and get some kind of "bedtime routine" for as long as I can remember. The boys have always thrived, and been frankly better behaved than most children I know who have iron clad structure in their lives, but I realized with a third child coming... we just can't wing it anymore.

Today I tore their room apart from head to toe and started organizing, packing crap away, and getting their beds prepared for a full nights sleep. Camden's bed has his jazzy Car's themed bedding all set and ready to go, and Ben will be giving the crib converted into a toddler bed a try. I was hesitant to switch it, but he can get in and out without an issue, and it seems like the mini baby cage would have been more of a fight with him.

I never realized how much STUFF those kids have! I could not believe all the toys, clothes, and everything I was finding hidden all over the place. Not to mention I think Camden has been hoarding shoes under his bed. At least I know where to go looking for them from now on.

I still have some more things to do, but I think I rocked it out while Will was outside working on the finishing winter touches of the yard, and hanging the Christmas lights. I will post pictures later, I am super excited at our display this year as we added a little something new.

Oh, I also re-organized the cloth diaper stash. I originally had the inserts folded in a large basket on top of the changing table, with the covers squeezed in between the inserts where ever I could fit them. Today I took one of my rubbermaid containers with drawers and consolidated some of my paperwork and childbirth class stuff I had in them, and freed up three drawers I could detach and use.

Top drawer is flush-able liners and boosters, middle drawer is the inserts, and the bottom drawer is my adorable Applecheeks covers. I was super excited to get two new colors in the mail today that were back ordered. Their limited edition Orange Zest and retired Chocolate color.
I can't wait to see what they come out with next!

Christmas Time

I have fully come to the conclusion that Thanksgiving isn't really a holiday, and once Halloween is over I am full speed ahead into Christmas mode. This was further accelerated by the snow we had to kick this week off.

Not only that, but it is super fun to harass my husband with Christmas music, insisting on putting the holiday lights up, and shopping for new ornaments for our family Christmas tree we have been slowly working on since Camden was born.

This year feels different to me though. This will be the second Christmas where I am pregnant, our third Christmas as a whole family, and shortly after Christmas will mark our four year mark as a couple. It seems like life is starting to settle into everything we planned together, and the holidays just make things so much more... magical.

This weekend I really want to get the outside lights up, at the least. I think the Christmas tree may be pushing it, but maybe I can do that while he is at work one day next week so he can't complain too much?

'Tis the Season!

Wishful Thinking? I Think So!

Screw the ultrasound. I am convinced I am having a little girl. I am sure in 4 weeks I am going to be shocked back into reality with the fact that my husband can apparently only produce male offspring, but for the time being I am having one hell of a time fantasizing and decorating a little girl nursery.

On Etsy I found some of these adorable must haves that will go into our owl themed little girl room, if of course the baby shares the same anatomy as I!

I am debating between darker walls with this wall art :


Or light pink walls with a wall art along these lines :

Super cute either way... I am going to be doing the crib in Wonder Bumpers either way, and mark my words, this child will sleep in the crib!

As for the owl theme, I figured even if we have a little boy, we can still do owls, but we won't be doing a whole new nursery. We picked out our new swing, since Ben killed the last one too, the Woodland Animals swing, which includes mostly owls. New obsession of mine!



We got it on sale at Target.com and along with free shipping, also scored the matching bouncer for FREE! It was a great deal, and now I feel like once we get the new infant car seat, we really will be all set minus a couple small things like the bumbo, and the new diaper bag I want. Shhh don't tell Will about the diaper bag!

Baby planning is FUN!

Toddlers Vs. Work

My children have a sense of humor, that is for sure. But when it comes to Daddy and him having to go to work, I am lucky that he leaves before they are awake because he would never make it out the door.

This morning I was woken by Will getting his clothes ready for work, and telling me that it was snowing. I didn't believe him, so of course I got up and checked it out myself. I then went to lay back down when he came into the bedroom and started listing off a ton of random crap.

• Three fire trucks
• Two monster trucks
• A toy screw driver
• A toy hammer
• A ball
• Jimmy Neutron Action Figure
• A Red Robin Cup
• A Toy Saw

I looked at him with a blank stare and asked what the hell he was talking about. I was beyond confused considering it was long before my wake up time.

He looks at me and says "That is what I just found in my shoes"

Apparently the children thought if they piled his shoes up with all their toys, then he wouldn't leave and go to work on Monday morning.

I must say, they are creative little critters, but their attempt didn't work too well.

LOL

Big Weeks Coming Up

The next few weeks are going to be really busy...

Today I went for my check up, 13 weeks and counting!
I found out that I have to have my 1 hour glucose test at 16 weeks, which sucks. I normally would have been able to have it at 28 weeks, but because I failed them all with Ben and was treated as a "gestational diabetic" I have to go early this time. Total crap!
The following week, at 17 weeks I will go back for my check up.
Then the exciting week... 18 weeks!
I will go for my anatomy scan on December 9th... aka find out what this dang baby is!

Total exciting weeks coming up, besides being busy with work, Thanksgiving and the Holidays!

Preggo Update

Well, we are 13 weeks pregnant and I have finally settled on a provider, and game play for May when the third, and most likely last Elwood will arrive. It took us a long time, a lot of soul searching, and research to come to our decision. We did not know if a trial of labor, and the chance of a VBA2C would be safest, or opting for a third c-section. I saw two OB/GYN's and two midwives, as well as consulting with professional friends, and mentors in the birth community.

After looking at surgical reports, taking my last labor and birth into consideration, and all the factors in between, I have made the very educated and hard decision to opt for a scheduled cesarean this time around. I think one of the biggest statements, and ideas that has remained in my head through all of this was my midwifes speculation on my pelvis. And the more I think about Camden, and Ben’s births, the more I think that there very well may be a malformation that doesn’t allow my babies to get down into the pelvis. Neither ever made it, and there is little hope this one would either.

With the damage done by the two surgeries, one NICU stay, two emotional recoveries, and serious lack of support after my first son, I know that I can make things different this time around. Do I want to have another cesarean? No. Not at all, I never wanted to have one, or even two… it was just the cards that I was dealt. Do I want to plan to have a scheduled delivery after bitching about other people doing it for years? No.

This situation I am facing has a number of medical reasons. And if I felt like there wasn’t going to be hundreds of people picking the reasons apart, I would certainly share them more openly. Unfortunately in recent weeks, it seems like internet harassment over medical choices that peaked, and it is something I am not going to deal with.

I have opted to go to the backup OB/GYN’s that my personal midwives I used last time around have. And my midwife from Benjamin has signed on to be with me for my surgery, and postpartum time in the hospital as my doula, which means the world to me since I lost Karen (My doula) a year ago unexpectedly. It makes me know my experience will be more comfortable, and I will have not only my husband, but her with me, two people I trust very much to help my experience.

I will be writing a positive cesarean birth plan over the next couple months in a real attempt to make this not only a Family Centered Cesarean, but a positive experience for all of us.

Am I dreading the recovery? Yes, I am scared to death.

After my first c-section, I had a newborn I was able to lay and rest with all day. Breastfeed in my bed, and change his diaper right there also.

With my second c-section, my husband was home and able to help me through my recovery. I laid in bed for weeks, not only in pain, but an emotional wreck from a failed VBAC.

This time around, I will have a 3 year old, a 2 year old, and a newborn to take care of after the surgery with little help. It is scary!

Halloween!

While I am on a slight sugar high from all the candy I stole from my children, I figured I would get some pictures up. I see myself crashing very soon!

Benjamin as a Monkey
Camden as a Fireman... like any of us were surprised at what he wanted to dress up as?

The boys playing in the leaves...
My favorite picture of Camden from the day. Even though he was being cheesy.

The nicest picture I could get of both children together. Notice the puss on Camden's face?

Benjamin with Grandpa Momo dressed up.
Camden being himself and wondering why we were still waiting to go trick or treating...


The awesome cupcakes Mom made!