5 on Friday

Linking up to share 5 things this Friday!

1. Our school started doing words of affirmation that the students write the teachers. It really is sweet to feel appreciated :) I love that one student wrote "i love what you were".

2. The kids started preschool #1 this week (entire wrap up post to come as soon as I get all the pics off of my camera!). I am a labeling machine! I'm so glad my monogrammed lunch boxes and sticky labels came in just in the nick of time!

My first time packing lunches

we have NO napkins in the house so jay came to the rescue when he pulled the tailgate ones out of the tailgate stash in the basement! 

first day of school pic!

3. Being left handed sucks sometimes! Look at the permanent marker smear! (I ended up flipping it over and using the back!) Our chalkboard is on order.

4. I ordered these lovlies in JULY and they just now showed up! UGH! Can't wait to wear them next year though! (i'm getting a pedicure today....)

5. I had to send family pictures into preschool and found this sweet one of my baby girl. Its amazing how much she has changed in the 2 months since this picture was taken!

Baby #3 Week 8

It is so different being pregnant for the second time. I often forget that I'm pregnant until I pray with the babies at night and we pray for their little brother or sister. Today was the first day that I remembered I was pregnant right off the bat. I was hit with morning sickness mid-teeth brushing. I thought I was going to escape morning sickness this time around but I guess not! It happened around the same time last pregnancy. We had a crazy busy week with lots of travel to the mid-west. We told our families (well my immediately family knew, but Jay's family and my extended family) that we were pregnant. The twins' reaction was priceless! I can't wait to get the picture from my mom! I listened to my body and took a break during our hectic weekend because I started having some cramps. We headed back to the hotel to watch a movie while the babies explored the room. I've been dreaming of nurseries and know that we are sticking with a light grey. The twins also started preschool and I've felt the need to share with people that we are pregnant but we haven't yet!

Pregnancy Highlights:

Today's Date: Friday, September 6th

How Far Along: 8 Weeks (I can't believe I'm two months!)

Size of baby: Babies are the size of raspberries.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Up three pounds total

Maternity Clothes: No, although I want to! I feel like my tummy is getting "puffier" but definitely no baby bump. Hopefully I can make it through this clothing transition time without having to purchase maternity clothes!

Gender: I'm feeling a boy but the morning sickness is throwing me off.

Movement:  None yet! 

Sleep: I'm tired but can't stop with a hubby in grad school and two toddlers. I try to get at least 8 hours though. I've woken up around 4am the past few mornings but easily went back to sleep.

What I miss: Wine, fall pumpkin beers! 

Cravings: Still Coke Icees, bland cereal (Special K, Crispex)

Symptoms: tired, crampy, nauseus at times, a few bouts of morning sickness

Best Moment this week: Seeing all of our family and announcing our little surprise!

your baby's the size of a raspberry!

Now she weighs in (yay!) at about .04 ounces and measures about .63 inches. This week, she's growing about a milimeter each day.

Labor Day Weekend (lots of pictures!)

We loaded these babies up for a long road trip to Indiana for labor day weekend. Most of my mom's family was headed into the town that my grandfather lives in to celebrate his 77th birthday. It was a long drive for a short trip but we had a ton of fun seeing family that we don't see very often. Originally we had planned to leave really early in the morning and get a good chunk of driving underway while the kids slept but they scheduled preschool orientation (for preschool #1) the Friday morning before labor day so we didn't get out of town until 12:45. My mom drove up with us and my Dad met us up there. My sisters weren't able to come because of their work schedules and we missed hanging out with them!

Our first stop (one hour outside of Charlotte) was Cracker Barrel for lunch. You can't road trip with my family without stopping at Cracker Barrel.

this girl LOVES sweet tea like her Daddy!

A look back at the packed car. We bought the new car just in time for this trip! Jay had a bit of a fit because my mom gave the kids crackers! Haha, there went his clean car!

this DVD player is old, like from back in the day when I used to be a passenger on my parent's road trips and we didn't have a DVD player built into the car. My Dad suggested we use them for the kids to keep them entertained. We don't normally let the kids watch a ton of TV but all the rules go out of the window on vacations. They watched movies the entire way there and back (when they weren't asleep). It was GREAT! Thanks Dad for the recommendation!

After a stop at the Ohio border (where I left a bag of dirty cloth diapers! UGH!) we continued traveling and ate a late dinner at Bob Evan's (another mid-west travel favorite). The kids needed a little release and the restaurant was pretty empty so I let them run around barefoot for a little (ew gross, I know). We finally arrived in Indiana at mid-night and after some playtime with their cousins, we got the twins to bed at 1.

The next morning we met everyone for breakfast and all went out separate ways. My mom is one of 5 and they all decided to get my Grandpa a new lazy boy for his birthday and all of the siblings went to the store to pick it out with him. Jay, my cousin Erin, the kids, and I headed to a park in my Grandparent's old neighborhood (where we would visit for 4 weeks each summer). I couldn't believe all the old playground equipment was still there 23 years later. You can't find slides like these anymore!

"Rocket Park" Arlington Neighborhood, Fort Wayne, Indiana

This teeter totter was so fun!

I don't think they make these anymore (my 16 year old cousin had never seen one). I have tons of memories of my sister and I spinning each other so fast around this thing!

They added some new equipment too

slide faces 

We all met back up for a huge celebration lunch for my Grandfather at Triangle Park restaurant. My mom has all these pictures as I was busy taking care of the kids (we were there for 3 hours!). There were 19 of us total and everyone took turns walking the kids outside to feed the ducks at the nearby pond.

After lunch we headed back to my Grandpa's house (he lives way out in the country with his girlfriend Susan) for ice cream and cupcakes. Shortly after we packed up and headed back into town for the Tin Caps (their minor league team) game. These lawn seats were awesome and the kids had a blast running around and dancing (they are turning into dancing machines). Emma Cate sat on my Uncle Scott's lap for the majority of the game. The game ended with the loudest fireworks show I have ever seen but the kids LOVED it. They were troopers and stayed up past 10 with no afternoon nap. 

Part of the family on the lawn

we teased my uncle scott and dad about being a "couple", especially when Scott had EC on his lap and the couple kiss cam came on!

EC's new buddy

Cousin Erin (Scott's daughter) and EC

Gigi and a tired Holdy (and yes, we borrowed blankets from the Hotel to use for the game!)

loving the fireworks

tuckered out babies

Sunday morning before heading home we all went to brunch and took a bunch of family pictures (I don't have any of them though!) We packed up and headed south to Columbus Ohio with my mom's sister Barbara, her husband, my Dad, Jay and the babies. We checked in and had a little playtime before heading to lunch at Skyline Chili (another mid-west treat). The babies were a disaster but LOVED it!

Jay and I enjoyed (for a little while at least) the drive through all of the small farming towns and corn fields. We were both pretty intrigued by these large windmill farms.

The babies were obsessed with the luggage cart!

double bibbing it at skyline.

We took a little driving tour of Columbus (my aunt and uncle used to live there) and Jay, the babies, and I headed back to the hotel for some playtime while the rest of the adults went shopping. We ended the night with room service cocktails and Donatos pizza ordered in! We were all pretty pooped by this point!

We left early the next morning and had a pretty uneventful ride back! The babies are SUCH awesome car riders and made the trip so easy! We're already planning a long drive up to Traverse City, Michigan to stay at my Aunt and Uncle's lake house next 4th of July! We had such a fun visit with family :)

Lately

I am so disappointed in my blogging lately. I felt like I'd have ton of time when school started but we have remained busy, busy, busy! Jay is taking classes for his MBA and doesn't come home until nine 3 nights a week. I'm still coaching two nights a week and play tennis once a week. The kids have been amazing and are adjusting so well! I took yesterday off to take them to preschool orientation and we ran a TON of errands. I went to 5 shoes stores on the hunt for new back to school kicks. We found some cute narrow Naturino shoes for Emma Cate (14.5 months and size 4 shoe) and Polo and Keds shoes for Holden (14.5 months and size 5 shoe). Taking two toddlers shoe shopping Wore. Me. Out. We also managed a park visit with friends and a whole foods trip all without taking a nap. The kids and I were both ready for bed at 7 last night :)

Unfortunately I still had a ton of chores to do. Making healthy lunches for babies is no joke! I also try to layout their clothes, socks, shoes, and hairbow the night before to keep things running smoothly in the morning. Jay is super helpful when he gets home and even ironed my clothes for work today!

Today was our first morning of two working parents and sending two kids to preschool. Everything went SOOO well. We woke up our two sleepy heads at 6:45. They went to bed at 7 last night but we may need to bump that up. My mom arrived at 6:55 to finish feeding the kids breakfast and getting them dressed. Jay and I were both able to get out the door on time and hopefully didn't forget anything. I think everything is starting to work out :) My mom also showed up with a lovely new red and black Maclauren double umbrella stroller for us to share. I've been toting the bob around with me and she's had the city select and both have become cumbersome for quick trips in and out of the store.

I ordered new NC State smocked outfits for the kids today and I'm excited for them to wear them to their first game of the season in a few weeks!

whole foods trip. love that they have cereal bars and fruit to keep the kids busy while you shop!

Babies' new kicks! (Emma Cate has a red pair on order)

We're pregnant!

I found out on Monday, August 5th, that I was pregnant! The lines were super faint but my mom and I could definitely see two of them! I called Jay and we were both so excited but so scared. I think with the second time around you know all of the things that can wrong in a pregnancy and it has made me more worried than the first time. I hate to say it but I sort of expected this pregnancy to work because the last one did and it seemed like they had everything figured out. I wasn't necessarily surprised to learn I was pregnant but more relieved, excited, and nervous.

Jay came home on August 8th and we took another test together. This one was digital and we were both so excited to see "pregnant" pop up on the screen. The word seems so much more real than the two little lines!

On August 11th I had my first beta test and the results came in at 303 for my 11dp6dt beta. With the twins I was 433 on 9dp5dt so I had a feeling that I am only pregnant with one baby this time. I was definitely hoping for twins because that would mean this is my last pregnancy but I am really excited about how easy one baby will be (watch my child turn out to be a non-sleeping, colicky baby!)! 

On August 14th we did the second beta and it was 1280 on 14dpt6td. This was closer to my second number with the twins so it made Jay think that we were having twins... I still think its just one due to how different I'm feeling this pregnancy. 

Our last beta was on August 16th and was 2572. They schedule us for our ultrasound and we are so excited to get a peek at this baby!

Unfortunately, that same evening I was had some cramping during dinner and when I used the restroom before bed I realized I was bleeding a significant amount. I burst into tears and Jay was visibly upset too. We had been pretty casual about the baby up until this point but all of a sudden it felt so much more real. I called the doctor and he was very optimistic that I wasn't miscarrying but that I should sleep on it and depending on how much blood I lost overnight would determine our baby's fate. I prayed and prayed that the bleeding would stop and when I woke up the next morning, it had stopped. I felt soooo thankful. 

It wasn't until yesterday that I had the courage to take another pregnancy test. Even though the bleeding stopped when I woke up, I still worried that I had miscarried. To make things worse, I had started bleeding again last night and thought that this might really be the end of it.  But to my excitement, the pregnancy test was still positive! I am so excited for our ultrasound and really want to know why I am having this bleeding. I want to make sure everything is okay with our little one. This is such a nervous wait!