On Being Pregnant a Third Time

Even with varicose vein troubles with this one, and acid reflux problems with the previous two, I have to report the third pregnancy has been my favorite so far.

Why?

For one, I'm no longer a "new" mom. I'm sorta a "pro" at this point. Little unknowns,like "how will I remember to feed the baby at night???" Don't have me worried like I did back as a new mom to be, pregnant with my first son.

I have come to realize that the baby WILL let me know what it needs.

Having a second child enabled me to realize that I can't break the baby. And it is OK if he eats a cheerio off the floor. That was certainly something I would have swooned over with my first, by with the second, I would shrug and go, well, the germs will make him stronger....and at least he isn't crying.

With the THIRD boy on the way, I have to say, I feel completely relaxed about it. A sorta "I got this" kinda of sentiment. Sure, I know three is way more outnumbering to me than two, but on the flip side, the two have each other to play with, and unlike when I went from one to two, I already know what a shock the whole juggling thing will be. In fact, I do really anticipate the juggling act to be a bit easier with the third, just because the other two do play and entertain each other so very well.

When Little Dude was not yet two, we had JR, and let me just TELL you how much of a shock that was, so suddenly juggle entertaining a VERY active Toddler (that couldn't talk yet either) and a very fussy preemie. OMG is all I have to say to that. And thank GOD (and Fisher Price) for this swing.

But now, with Little Dude being 4 1/2 and JR being almost 3 when Champ gets here, I really do have a calmness about it that I certainly did NOT have with my other two. I could sum up the last trimester of my other two pregnancies as a "bundle of nervousness" , but this one, so far, I still just feel excited to hold a little baby again, and in a way, I am looking forward to the midnight feedings.

Perhaps because I know they will be gone all too quickly, and this will probably be last time to experience them.

Time And Again

How in the world has December almost gone by without me finding the time for a single post? Wow. I really can not believe it is the 20th already! That just seems crazy to me. Time has certainly come up on me way too quickly this year!

For a baby update, our little Champ is growing perfectly, kicking and moving tons, and likes to scare me with sudden, hard jabs. It is pretty fun being at this point; I love feeling him moving and growing.

My varicose veins are doing horribly though, so while I will miss being pregnant when this one is over, I will also be happy and relived, as I am not sure I can handle the veins getting any worse. Apparently they get worse and more painful with each pregnancy-not sure, but I think it will take a super long time and lots of memory loss for me to want to take on this pain again. Let alone if it keeps getting worse at the same rate it has with each pregnancy...that thought makes me cringe.

But we will see. In 3 years when this guy is saying bye and wanting to go to school I might decide the pain isn't too bad and decide we need another baby....we shall see.

On a Christmas update, Christmas is ALMOST here!! WOW! I am so crazy excited. Since the boys can't read yet, I'm safe to say they are getting what they asked Santa for. JR is getting a bike and Little Dude is getting a trick scooter. Supposedly you can do jumps with it-not sure I want him doing that yet, but I'm prepared with all the safety gear, and hopefully he won't be able to do any jumps for a few more years. I can't wait for the kids to open their gifts!!

Starting mid January I won't be watching Emily anymore, as we get ready for the baby to come. I'm really sad about that; she has been so fun to have around. I just bought some new sparkly red nail polish so I can make sure we have one last "manicure" moment together. Sigh, girly stuff is just so fun to do with her. I am hoping it works out that I can watch her again after the baby comes, but we will see with that, too. I'm sure it will be crazy enough with three boys, let alone adding a fourth to the mix all day as well. We will see.

We will see-that has certainly been my motto here lately. It goes for Bill's job as well. We have been a bit nervous, as the construction industry just has not been strong lately; hopefully they will land some work, and if not, hopefully he will still be employed until the baby comes. I don't even want to think of what kind of insurance nightmare it would be to try to change things just before the baby comes.

With work, I have been SO super busy-and that partly is why I have not been able to make it to my own blog much. I am glad we have been busy, but I am again nervous about how having the baby will force me to back off on my hours; especially if Bill gets another pay cut or gets laid off...but then, we will see.

So, the new year has many unknowns for us, as well as many exciting changes that are coming. I know if we just trust in God's plan and leave ourselves open to His ideas, then many great things will happen, even if we don't understand-or even like-what it takes to get to them.

Keeping Christmas Simple

I love Christmas so very much-and my favorite part is getting gifts for everyone.

One thing I really want to make sure for this year is to keep everything simple. I don't want my kids opening truck loads of toys, nor do I want to be just buying little gifts for people just because-I want to make sure everything has meaning.

Quality over quantity is what I'm going for this year, and that means most of my gifts are coming from sites that benefit charities. I'm very excited about that.

But does anyone have any advice on how to get the kids on board to scale back the presents? To help them understand that it is far better to give than to receive? I was thinking about signing us up to hand out food at the local food shelter, but I'm not sure the kids will "get it".

I'm going to take the kids with me when we buy gifts for the angel tree at church, and hopefully they will not have meltdowns over buying toys for other kids without getting. I'm pretty confident they will be able to do well, but kids live to surprise their parents, so we will see.

What do you all think? Any ideas you have in your family for teaching compassion and sharing to your kids? Are there any traditions you have for keeping gift giving simple, budget friendly, and charitable?

I hope that in a few years, I can have quite a few wonderful traditions in place.

It's A .......

BOY!!!

We found out a few weeks ago that we are going to have a third son here soon!! I have been so busy I haven't had a chance to get on here an update.

We are super duper excited and it is SO FUN to pull out all the itty-bitty baby boy clothes and remember all the things the other two did in them-and wonder about what this new little guy will do in them!

I have to admit, at first I was a bit bummed it wasn't a girl-this pregnancy has been SO DIFFERENT from the other two, that I think I just had it in my head that it was a girl, so the ultrasound was a bit of a shock.

All the Men (little and big) are SO EXCITED for another guy to play with, and I have to admit, it is SO nice to know what to expect. Been there, done that, I think I know how to handle a boy-and from what I've been told, I seem to do a pretty great job of raising boys, thus far at least.

ALSO-I found THE PERFECT little boy outfit for this guy and snatched it right up, so I am pretty happy. Pictures of his new outfit to come in about 5 months! Whoo hoo!.

So, boy it is, my three sons. I see lots of football, baseball, and soccer in my future. And, if I'm lucky, maybe I can get one of them to be in band! That would be SO awesome.


And Bill has said I must come up with another blog name for "pumpkin" as that is just not manly enough. Pumpkin has kind of grown on me though, so we will see :)

Getting To Know You

I'm 18 weeks, exactly today, and tomorrow we find out if a little boy or a little girl is growing and kicking inside me.

I'm terribly excited and CAN.NOT.WAIT. to find out.

But on the flip side, I am a little sad, because I know today will be the last day of our "wondering" what if it is a boy, maybe we will do...or what if it is a girl, we will do this....

I feel the little kicks, the little flutterings and I want SO badly to know who it is growing inside me.

But on the flip side, I can't believe I'm already about halfway done. I want to slow down time and hang onto these last few moments of "early" pregnancy. The unknown, the excitement of counting down the days to knowing.

Time just seems to be going too quickly for me, and perhaps because it seems that the holidays get promoted earlier and earlier every year, and that just seems to coincide with my pregnancy going by so quickly this time around, unlike my other two.

Or perhaps it is because this will most likely be our last pregnancy.

And I'm just a basket of tears lately; finding the silliest things to cry about. I cried thinking about not watching Emily anymore when the baby comes, I cried during Toy Story 3 like no other. I mean, heck, I'm crying over the fact that I find out tomorrow what the baby is...even though there is no way I wouldn't want to find out. I know, I'm crazy.

Anyways, today I'm 18 weeks, and I don't know who is baking inside me. Tomorrow I'll be 18 weeks and one day, and I'll know who is going to be here in April. And I'll finally be able to go through the increasing piles of baby clothes and things that have taken over the nursery.

Little Dude's Birthday

I'm way late posting photos, partly because awhile back I got a huge memory disc and it holds THOUSANDS of pictures...so I don't save to my computer as often as I used to.

Actually, I had forgotten what all was on there until I realized it was full! Whoops!

Anyways, here are some photos from Little Dude's fourth birthday:

Gus going over fire safety rules and how to get out of the house quickly. Little Dude got a special seat for the talk.

Little Dude putting on the fire fighter outfit Gus and Liz had so he could "drive" the truck with Gus, Daddy and JR. I got a ride later with Little Dude, of course.

Liz putting on the breathing mask and talking-it sure did make her voice sound scary! Though the kids didn't want to put it on themselves, it was cool they got to see it on and hear her talk; you don't usually see that when you visit the station and it was great for the kids to know.

JR and the Birthday boy getting ready for another ride.

Needless to say, he is WAY into firefighters right now, and make a trip every few weeks to the local fire stations.

We had Gus and Liz, a couple I found here in our home town, come and do a big demonstration for the kids. They have a restored fire truck from the late 60's early 70's, so they brought that and gave all the kids rides, let them play with the hose, and try on all the equipment. Gus and Liz also went over fie safety, how to get out of the house and have a meeting spot, and put on the gear so kids could see what a fully geared up firefighter would look and sound like. It was SUPER cool and the kids seemed to love it.

For food we got a bunch of Fire House Subs and gave out all the little hats as party favors for the kids, so everyone had their own fire hat.

After the truck rides, food and cake, the kids also got to climb up on top of the truck and pretend to operate the big sprayer up there. I don't know who had more fun, the kids or my husband who went up with each one for safety!

And everything was super budget friendly, with around 12 little friends and their parents.  I think around total for all decorations, food and the truck we were just over $200.00, and if we had really wanted to it could have been cheaper for food by just making sandwiches, but the subs were just so fun to go with the whole firefighter theme, and it enabled us to get great hats for all the kids to have while playing with the fire gear.

It was SO much fun, and I'm so glad we were able to do it for him.

We Felt The Baby Kick

On the 27th of October, I felt the first, huge KICK from Pumpkin. It was right in the middle of dinner, and seriously I about jumped out of my skin; I just wasn't expecting to get smacked on the inside at that moment.

But now, the few kicks and pushes that have come are not quite the surprise, since I am now aware Pumpkin is big enough and strong enough to say hi.

I need to start taking photos of my belly each week; I'm at 17 now and just starting to really show a baby bump-which is nice, since now I don't just feel fat with my jeans not wanting to zip. I've broken out the maternity items early-really as soon as my jeans got snug. No messing with rubber bands and do hickeys to make my pants last longer-I figure I'll have to buy (or bought) maternity pants, so I might as well get some good use out of them.

For being super short, I did get a treat from my super hubby in the form of TWO pairs of short maternity jeans from Motherhood. They are divine and fit my leg length perfectly. Love. Really.

And I have a nice group of mom friends who are letting me borrow/have winter maternity clothes, since both of my other pregnancies were in the summer. Love them, too.

Those are all the updates for now. The countdown is on to blue or pink day-we go in on the 11th to find out and seriously, I don't know how people wait til delivery day to find out. I think I am going to pee myself with excitement and anticipation and I still have 8 WHOLE DAYS we have to wait. Sigh.