Baby #3 Gender Reveal!

Okay, so I posted this picture up on facebook yesterday, with the promise that we’d reveal the gender of Baby #3 on Saturday. (I had a Star Wars announcement, so I HAD to have a Harry Potter themed reveal! And I’m wondering HOW I got through 2 other pregnancies without doing anything Harry Potter related!! What was I thinking?!?!)

Well, we had the ultrasound this morning and got the news and decided I couldn’t keep it to myself for another 2 days. ;)

Baby #3 is a…

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU GUYS! I am SO EXCITED! And completely shocked, to be honest. I really, really thought this one was a boy. When the ultrasound technician told us, I lifted my head up off the bed and was all “ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” and looked and John and said, “I can’t believe we ACTUALLY made a girl!!!”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still terrified of raising a girl, this is completely uncharted territory for me, but we are very, very excited for baby sister to join us in October!!! Looks like Nathan was right, he’s getting a baby sister!

Now I can get going on choosing a name! I already have my baby books from the library, so if you need me, I’ll be browsing the GIRL section!! :) :)

The First Break

Well, it has happened. We’ve experienced our first broken bone since having kids. Spencer broke his right forearm on Monday night. We always knew it would be Spencer who broke a bone first, we just didn’t think it would happen so soon!

We had the sister missionaries over for dinner that night and right as they were leaving, the boys were being their normal crazy selves when Spencer climbed up the back of our upholstered chair in the living room, sat on the back, lost his balance, and fell backwards off the chair. John could see immediately that his arm was broken. I’m so grateful it happened when John was home, I don’t know if I would have realized right away it was broken. As soon as John told me, we got him some tylenol (of course, he kind of choked on it as I gave it to him, as he was screaming in pain, but I wanted to get some pain meds in him as soon as possible). We spend the next 30-45 minutes running around trying to make arrangements for Nathan because I wanted both John and I to be with Spencer while we got him taken care of. We were able to take Nathan over to his friend’s house to stay while we took Spencer to the urgent care. We grabbed a few things for Nathan, like his pillow and blanket, to take with him, and quickly stuffed a bag with things for Spencer. Mostly comfort items and some snacks and water. Trying to calm Spencer down at the very beginning was the hardest for me. He was completely inconsolable, screaming and saying “my arm! my arm!”. I hated that I couldn’t make it go away :( It was also a struggle to get him to not move his arm, John and I had to alternate holding him because he kept switching who he wanted comfort from, while the other one ran around getting the bags together.

We got Nathan dropped off at his friend’s and then we took Spencer over to the urgent care just a few minutes away. We were able to get him seen pretty quickly. In a stroke of what I think was inspired genius, I had grabbed my iPad with the Cars movie on it and by the time we were waiting at the urgent care, the tylenol had kicked in, Spencer had calmed down and was content to watch the movie while we waited to be seen and while they looked at his arm. It was a very efficient distraction! At the urgent care we had x-rays done, which showed us that he had broken both bones in his forearm (the radius and the ulna). They splinted and wrapped his arm and then told us that we needed to get to an ER to set the arm and get a cast on him. (The reason being that little kids are more likely to fall on the injury and make it worse) They gave us a phone number and an address of where to go. We called ahead and I’m really glad we did because it was closed! So we went over to another hospital.

And there we waited FIVE HOURS. Spencer was in much better spirits by then. And getting antsy. He was running up and down the hallways in the waiting area, spinning in circles, walking backwards, and John and I are freaking out all the while, trying to make sure he doesn’t fall on his arm. He got bored with Cars on the iPad after the first full run through…

They took his vitals in triage around 11pm but we weren’t seen until after 2 in the morning. And THAT’S when they tell us that they won’t put a cast on him because they give it about 48hours for the swelling to go down. I was way too exhausted and drained to be too angry about it at the time, but now I’m EXTREMELY GRUMPY about how the urgent care people told us to get the cast in the first place (if we hadn’t gone to the ER we would have been home by 9:30-10!!!), and then how we waited FIVE HOURS for them to do basically nothing. And we’ll still get billed for it (if anyone can give me any insight on how to fight that when the bill comes, PLEASE talk to me). They looked at the x-rays, told us they aren’t going to put the cast on, and gave me a phone number for an orthopedics office. Gee, thanks.

We finally rolled out of there after 3am to pick up Nathan. We got home and into bed around 4 in the morning. Thankfully, Nathan had fallen asleep while at his friend’s so he at least got a better night than the rest of us. Spencer was still up at 7:30 that morning, crazy kid. John stayed home to work, and that was amazingly helpful. Nathan had preschool, so it was nice to have a few hours to try to rest with just Spencer. I don’t know how well it worked, but he got to watch Mater Tales and I tried to rest on the couch with my squirmy boy.

This pretty much sums up Tuesday ;)
 

It was a very long day, but I think we all coped pretty well considering the circumstances.

On Wednesday I got to have another helper, as John had to get back to work – my brother has been visiting my parents while his wife is touring with the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble so he drove up for the day to help me out and it was sooooooo wonderful to have some company and an extra pair of hands, and someone to hang out with Nathan because Spencer had his appointment with orthopedics that morning to finally get that cast on. Thankfully, they did not have to set it and they estimate that he will only need the cast for 3 weeks. Yay!

It was funny they tried asking him what his favorite color was (he can’t even say most colors) when they were ready to put the cast on. I told them blue was the only color he could say, so that’s what we went with. We’ve been calling it his ‘blue arm’. You know how you’re not supposed to get the cast wet? On the way home I see Spencer licking and trying to chew on his cast on the way home…oh boy…

I don’t think it bothers him, though he will ask us to ‘open it’ (take it off) when he gets frustrated that he can’t use that arm/hand for different things. But overall, it hasn’t slowed him down one bit! John and I were discussing earlier how grateful we were that it wasn’t his leg that he broke. He gets pretty mad when he can’t use that arm, I can’t even imagine the frustration he’d experience if he couldn’t walk!

My sweet brother brought us a little care package with some treats and some new toy cars for the boys and they loved hanging out with Uncle Jason that day

Watching Mater Tales (yes, again, it’s Spencer’s favorite) with Jason

We’ve received so much help and support this week and I’m so grateful to everyone that has helped and offered to help! Hopefully we won’t have to do this again anytime soon, whew!

22 Months!

Whew! Now that I’ve posted all of Nathan’s birthday fun I can get to my next monthly post for Spencer. I can’t believe how fast the time is going by – only 2 months to his 2nd birthday! Eek!

*His vocabulary continues to explode and he’s really starting to put words together. Being a total copycat seems to help expand his vocabulary. Nathan has taught him ‘movie’ and “Elsa” and “llama llama time to share” (though it comes out as ‘llamamama SHARE’). I think some of my favorite things to hear him are ‘strawberries’ and ‘help!’. I think ‘help’ is funny because it’s usually him saying it when he wants me to do something he’s totally able to do on his own.

*He has finally cut more teeth! I felt so bad because a couple of top molars totally came through before we realized he was teething. I think he has about 4 molars now. And no canines. Weird.

*He’s got some awesome dance moves and can jump getting both feet off the ground, which is definitely a favorite activity.

*He is a total copycat. He mostly copies Nathan but will imitate mom and dad occasionally. One of my favorite examples was when we were all walking down a sidewalk and Nathan was running ahead and tripped and fell in the grass (he didn’t hurt himself, whew!), and Spencer, following, ran over and just fell over in the same spot that Nathan did. Nathan noticed and it became a game of them falling over in the grass. Being a copycat can be a good thing – he’s usually really good about folding his arms when we say prayers because everyone else is doing it.

*Has SUCH a sweet tooth! The words ‘brownies’, ‘cookies’, and ‘donuts’ are prominent additions to his vocabulary ;)

*Can be such a stinker sometimes! He thinks it’s so fun to antagonize Nathan when things are getting too quiet around here and will run up and snatch something Nathan was playing with and run off as fast as he can. This usually ends in tears of at least one of them. *sigh*

*Still very affectionate, which I totally love. He gives the best snuggles and loves and it’s awesome.

*Makes really awesome facial expressions and his antics still keep us laughing!!

Love you little man!!

Nathan is 4!

Oh my goodness you guys. I have a 4 year old! We’ve had lots of birthday fun going on this week that I’m really excited to tell you about.

His birthday was earlier, and we did a few things to celebrate on his actual birthday. I had to run a few errands, but he got to pick out a couple of new cars to bring home. We got Chick Fil A and took it to John’s office to meet him there for birthday lunch. The boys always love to visit Daddy at work, so that was really fun. We had Nathan’s favorite meal for dinner (pasta with tomato cream sauce, aka “Nathan’s Favorite Pasta”) and brownies for dessert. After that was PRESENTS.

Spencer getting in the way… ;)
I think this has been his favorite thing so far. I was hesitant to get Legos, but he loves them and so far Spencer hasn’t tried to eat any…so…I guess we’re okay for now.
I think all of John’s dreams for fatherhood were starting to come true right here…at least until Nathan got bored with the building part and just wanted to play with the finished product, so I sped along the building process because Spencer was waving bags of Legos in my face saying “open NOW!”.
 
So they had a good time playing with his new presents. :)

Today we had a large-ish little party for Nathan and his preschool friends. I kept telling myself that I needed to keep it simple, but then I kept thinking of things I wanted to do and it got bigger and bigger (at least with the food – I just can’t help myself)

My biggest self-imposed task with the birthday cake. I had so much fun doing the Tiffany’s bridal shower cake that I was itching to make something else.

So I decided to go all out and make a pirate ship cake. SO FUN, right?!
If I had actually taken the time to plan this out better (I basically found a picture on pinterest and was like “oh yeah, I got this”) I would have done a few things differently, but overall I’m really happy with the way it turned out since I was totally ‘sailing’ by the seat of my pants here. I was realizing that even though I decorated a sculpted cake at pastry school, I have never actually made one with real cake (most of that one was styrofoam). So again, I was just kind of putting it together as I went along. ;)
And Nathan LOVED it, and that’s all that matters :)

Nathan doesn’t really do group party games, so I didn’t plan any games, but I had the kids make pirate hats and hooks and they all seemed to really enjoy that. Say “ARRRRGH!”

And they mostly just played – we had plans to go to the park for the first half of the party, but it RAINED ALL DAY TODAY. Lame. But I think they all still had fun playing here.

I had a fun table spread for lunch. This would be where the rest of the self imposed complexity happened. I love setting up themed food tables ;)

Chicken salad sandwiches for the moms and “sea serpent” (chicken) nuggets for the kids :)
I realize this is a misnomer, as it’s supposed to be citrus that prevents scurvy, right? Just work with me here…
I just HAD to make cookies too, you know ;)
I’m pretty sure the treasure map numbers were my favorites – I LOVED the way they turned out!
Spencer was SUCH a stinker and kept swiping cookies from the table. But he’d only take one bite of each one before moving on to another. After the 5th cookie I finally moved the whole platter back into the kitchen. He was kind of mad about that…

After lunch we had cake!! I put the candles into the sides to look like cannons :) We sang (and at the end of the song, Nathan got a surprise kiss on the cheek from his little preschool crush! eeek! All of us moms were DYING) and had cake and there was general chaos until it was time to send everyone home.

I’d say it was a success! Now to clean up alllll the kitchen mess I’ve made in the last week ;)

Happy birthday Nathan! We love you and are so glad you are a part of our family!

Happy Star Wars Day! And Baby#3 FAQ

This post is brought to you by the fact that my mom (unintentionally) made me feel guilty about not making a cute/pinterest-y announcement for Baby #3. I mean, I did cute stuff for the other two…Oh yeah, by the way, we’re pregnant ;)

Since this idea had been in the back of my mind anyway and today is Star Wars Day, I thought it all worked out perfectly, don’t you? ;)

(these are the decals on my car – fun, huh?)

And since I’m here, some FAQ’s

When in October are you due?
Mid October! That puts me at about 16 1/2 weeks along right now. Soooo not far enough if you ask me ;)

When do you find out the gender?
We find out May 25th. The anticipation is KILLING ME, PEOPLE!

8 Week Sonogram

How are you feeling?
I’m not doing too bad, actually. This first trimester was my easiest first trimester of all my pregnancies. I haven’t thrown up once!! That’s not to say that I haven’t felt sick, but I’m grateful it hasn’t been worse. My gag reflex is still on high alert though. I gag every time I brush my teeth still. And I get hungry about every two hours (sometimes sooner). I’ve been that way every pregnancy now. I eat ALL THE TIME. At least I’m not waking up in the middle of the night to eat anymore. Now that I’m a little bit further along, I have a little more energy, so that has been nice. But my current children make me oh so very tired. Sooooo tired…

What’s this I hear about a blood/antibody issue?
So after my initial bloodwork, they came back and told me that there were antibodies in my blood that were not mine, and that my red blood cells were attacking these antibodies. Well, they belong to the baby, and the baby needs them, so that’s a little bit of an issue. (I’m still not sure at this point how they ended up in my blood, because it’s possible that Nathan and/or Spencer have this same antibody, and we didn’t have this problem with either of them, but I have yet to receive an explanation that I actually understand) At this point I just have to get monthly blood work done so that we can keep an eye on the ratio of my red blood cells to this antibody to make sure my system isn’t getting rid of too many (if that happens, the baby could become anemic). So far things have stayed at safe levels, and the doctors don’t anticipate it being a big issue, but we’re going to watch it.

Have you picked out any names?
I’m completely stumped on names, so I’m open to suggestions. I don’t think I’m going to seriously think about it until after we know the gender. It narrows things down quite a bit, you know.

12 Week Sonogram

Are you hoping for a girl this time?
We will totally be happy either way, but if I could choose, I think I want another boy. I have all the stuff already, and John doesn’t want me to spend all our money on girl clothes (hee hee). Also, I’m kind of terrified of the idea of raising a girl. I’m at least used to the idea of raising boys, even if I don’t really know what I’m doing. ;)

What do your boys think about all of it?
Well, Spencer has no idea, he’s just not old enough to understand what’s going on. I’m not big enough for him to really notice a difference in my physical appearance just yet, but we’ve told Nathan there’s a baby in Mommy’s tummy and he talks about it occasionally. I asked him the other day if he thought it was going to be a brother or a sister and he told me (with this huge grin on his face) that it was going to be a sister. We’ll see if he’s right in a couple of weeks!

 

And I think that’s it for now, we’re just plugging along and staying busy and being crazy. You know, the usual.

May the 4th be with you! ;)