Baby #3 Week 19

WOW! What a difference from last pregnancy at 19 weeks to this pregnancy at 19 weeks! Its so fun to compare these posts and remind myself of how things were the first go round.

Last time we were decorating a nursery and putting together cribs! This time around I'm thinking about purchasing a crib. I've picked out what I want and hope to purchase it on black friday. We're going with a grey and either navy or light blue themed room. I can't decide between the two blues but don't want to do both.

Here are my inspiration pictures.

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We had our anatomy scan ultrasound this week. Things were a bit crazy with two babies but Shep is looking good. He is measuring big but so were Holden and Emma Cate at the same point. I mentioned before that he has fluid in one of his kidneys. Evidently this is extremely common in boys and most of the times it resolves itself. At 32 weeks, we'll have another ultrasound to see if the fluid is gone. If it is not, we will be referred to a pediatric urologist (we've got a great one we love from Holden's surgery!) to discuss what to do. Sometimes they can fix the blockage and sometimes they'll have to remove the kidney. That happens VERY rarely and although we're praying that everything resolves itself, it is in the back of our minds as a possibility. 

Pregnancy Highlights:

Today's Date: Friday, November 22, 2013

How Far Along: 19 weeks

Size of baby: Baby is the size of a mango and measuring 6 inches long. Shep is weighing in at 10oz.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I was up two lbs at the doctor this week! I'm finally hungry again!

Maternity Clothes: Mainly bottoms and some tops from last time around. I wore a maternity sweater the other day and I finally looked pregnant! 

Gender: Boy- confirmed again by Monday's ultrasound

Movement: Shep seems pretty gentle and I get little reminders during the day that he is hanging out in there!

Sleep: Pretty good! Heading to bed around 10-11 and waking up to my alarm at 6:15. On the odd days I don't have to use an alarm I still wake up around 7ish (joys of being a mom!)

What I miss: Wine! I'm excited to try some non-alcoholic wine for tailgate tomorrow

Cravings: Nothing major. I still get full pretty fast. I am still into crunchy stuff. Soft things like my usual favorite of pasta taste good for a few bites and then lose their appeal! 

Symptoms: Still doing my regular Wednesday morning vomit. So strange! Everything else has been great!

Best Moment this week: Our whole little soon-to-be family of 5 all together in the ultrasound room. It was CRAZY but that's what I'm looking forward to our life becoming :)

your baby's the size of a mango!

At about 6.0 inches long and weighing in at about 8.5 ounces, she's getting there!

5 on Friday

Happy Friday! 

I'm linking up with April and Christina today.

ONE

Banana Republic just sent a 40% off coupon and this lovely is coming home with me tonight (even if I have to drive to Birkdale to get it!). I have been looking for a faux fur vest for a while and LOVE this one!

TWO

Jay and I are headed out on a date night tonight and a date day tomorrow! We're headed to dinner tonight and the kids are sleeping over at Gigi and Pop Pops and tomorrow we're off to Raleigh for the NC State game while the babies stay at home. Looking forward to some quality time with my husband.

We're trying to decide where to go tonight and we have a ton of gift card options... what would you pick?

131 Main, Toscana, or McCormick and Schmick's?

THREE

I can't believe that I am 19 weeks pregnant today. Almost halfway there! A singleton pregnancy is sooooo different than having twins. I am barely showing and still feeling really great. It is so hard to think about this point in my last pregnancy when I was hospitalized for a kidney stone! I feel blessed that this one is going so well!

FOUR

I mentioned before but I am soooo excited for Christmas. I made a short Christmas bucket list and am always looking for activities to add on. I am also in search of a service project that we can do as a family. I know the babies won't understand but I want to make this a regular thing in our family and hope that they grow up knowing how fortunate they are and always give back to others. Anyone have suggestions for a family friend holiday service project?

FIVE

Carolina Barre and Core

One of my friends, Amity, opened this barre studio over the summer. I am ashamed to say I've only been to one class. She opened RIGHT when I got pregnant with Shep and my doctor had me on a strict no exercise policy for 12 weeks. Once I got past 12 weeks, our cheer season kicked in full gear and I've been so busy. I got 10 classes as a birthday gift and can't wait to use them. If you are in Charlotte, this is an excellent studio that allows you to feel comfortable and encourages you. I'm looking forward to taking a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon class once a week for the remainder of my pregnancy. My sister is getting married 4 months after I deliver Shep and you better believe that I will be in there daily trying to get in shape for my bridesmaid dress! 

SIX

(why not)

I'm in charge of the Thanksgiving parties for two of my children's preschool classes. I found these adorable ideas for crafts and snacks! I love serving healthy snacks, even at class parties. I'll probably make a smaller scale fruit turkey.

Native American Vest to decorate

Fruit and Veggie Turkey

Apple Turkey Dippers

Mid-Week Randoms

This week started out CRAZY but is shaping up to be tons of fun! I've noticed that when I'm home more, things are so much calmer. I LOVE coaching cheer but am thankful we chose to do a short season this year and that we are ending the first week of December.

Jay and I met my mom and babies at the dr's office on Monday afternoon for an ultrasound to see baby Shep. Normally, my mom keeps the babies during these appointments but this time she had an appointment and we had to bring them with us. It was crazy. Right in the middle of their nap time, no pacis, limited snacks...  While that was the stressful part, we were happy to learn that Shep is growing and healthy! Measuring about a week ahead of schedule. He does have some fluid in his kidney so say a prayer that disappears before our next ultrasound.

Holden had some yuck in his eye on Monday morning but not enough to cause concern. By the time I saw him again at the doctor's office I was concerned about pink eye so we left straight from my appointment to the pediatrician's office (the only appointment we could get was way out in their Matthews location...yuck). Thankfully, my mom got done with her appointment at the same time we finished with mine so she grabbed Emma Cate and took her home so I could take Holden.

Poor baby was miserable. No wonder, he had a double ear infection and pink eye. More meds for my sweet boy. He did NOT want to be let down and I was glad I had the bjorn in the car with me to help carry him. This baby has been sick with everything while his sister has only had one sick appointment and it was for a "cold". I am SOOOOO thankful that even when sick, this kid sleeps through the night like champ!

I stayed home from work with Holden on Tuesday and we had a great time running errands and doing chores around the house. He felt fine but I didn't want to risk infecting the kids in his class.

we ran up to the mall north of town to return something and Holden was obsessed with the Christmas tree. we walked around and looked at all the ornaments. I am sooo excited for Christmas this year because the babies are noticing everything! I was inspired to listen to holiday music and found this station on xm. Holden happily babbled along.

we tried to meet my mom for lunch at cheesecake factory and emma cate was NOT having it. She threw the BIGGEST fit ever. I had to take her out of the restaurant and my mom and Holden followed behind with our food boxed up to go. It was totally my fault for taking her out to eat during nap time after she had already eaten at school. We put the babies down for a nap and they played and babbled for over an hour and never went to sleep.

Tuesday is our only "family night". Jay gets home at 5 and I have to leave at 7 for cheer practice but we still get a few good hours together. I cancelled practice this week and we got to spend a lot of time together :) This Tuesday was preschool spirit night. The kids did AMAZING (even after no nap) and we had the best time! They LOVED the cow from afar but were terrified when we walked over to see him. Holden was a bit curious and would get close and run away. Emma Cate clung to me like crazy.

someone on instagram commented about how much hair she has gotten, unfortunately, it is only in the back! Here's hoping her hairline grows in the front!

contrary to how miserable she looks in this picture, girlfriend loves her bath and we are still doing sink baths all the time. I know they are WAY too big but this works for us with having twins and only having one parent home at night to give baths. I feel like this is much safer than managing both in the tub by myself.

We had a wonderful Wednesday! I came home from work early and got a lot accomplished around the house. Our friends, the Londrys, came to play and Aunt Allie and Gigi stopped by for a visit. I was amazed at how jealous EC and H got when I or my mom held one of the Londry babies! I started researching "introducing a sibling" last night. ha! 

We had another nice dinner out and the kids even allowed us to shop around SouthPark for a little before heading home.

Waking Up!

My babies are sooooo funny when they wake up in the morning. I had to share a few photos of their craziness. fyi- we do own more than two pairs of pjs but i guess we only take pictures in these!

we have a boo obsession...

Scenes from the Weekend!

I celebrated my 29th birthday this weekend. One year closer to 30... My Dad joked that this is the last birthday I'll "celebrate" but I'll celebrate turning 29th over and over again from here on out. :)

I finished cheer practice on Friday and felt awful so I ran to the CVS minute clinic and learned that I had strep throat. Jay and I were supposed to attend his high school reunion on Friday night. I told him to go ahead and take the kids out of town Friday afternoon and I would meet him after practice. After my strep diagnosis I decided to stay home and rest.

I spoke with my sister around 9:15 to see if she and my mom wanted to stop by my house on their way home from the mall (its like a mile away) to help me make my bed. I know, I know that sounds sooo goofy but I HATE making our king sized bed (changing the sheets and all that) by myself. We decided that they wouldn't come because they still had a few things to do and I was ready to go to bed. At 9:30, my doorbell rang and someone started banging on my door. I quickly called my sister back to see if it was her and she was like um no, you told us not to come. I peeked my head through the door leading into our foyer and saw this crazy looking woman staring back at me through the glass panes on the side of the door. I yelled "No Thank You" at her but she kept banging. I was still on the phone with my sister and she and my mom rushed over. They pulled in the driveway and saw her walking over to my neighbors' house. I called Jay and he told me to call the police or he would. I felt so stupid but they were really nice on the phone and sent an officer out. I also called my neighbor and he said that she was just looking for someone. Still creeped me out. After having our home broken into when I was younger, I get sooo scared of these things. The police located her down the street (my mom, sis, and I were watching from the front window) and stopped to talk to her for awhile and then left. I'm not even sure what ever happened. I called them back to ask and an officer was supposed to call me and never did. My mom and sister eventually left and I set the alarm to away, barricaded myself in my bedroom with Jay's gun and headed off to sleep. I don't know how people live by themselves. I get SOOOO freaked out. I hate being by myself at night!

Saturday was the State competition for my high school squad. It was amazing waking up on my own and not hearing a crying baby or alarm clock! I watched tv in bed and took a loooong shower. Such a treat!  I didnt have to be in Raleigh until 6pm so I took my time driving up there. First stop was target to get a new car charger for my phone. I was so excited they had pink! Then I stopped at the new H&M at Northlake. I wasn't too impressed but picked up two sweaters on their buy one get one free promo. The line to check out was 20 minutes long but I had nothing else to do!

Midway to Raleigh I realized I bought the wrong charger so when my phone hit 20% I stopped by a Target in Elon and made the swap. Thankfully they had it in pink too. I went to Olive Garden for lunch and sat by myself at the bar and watched football. Such a peaceful lunch! My last stop was the Tanger Outlets in Mebane. I wracked up at Vineyard Vines and got my Christmas shopping done for Jay!

love some facetime when I can't be there!

Our team did awful at the competition and we came in 8th out of 12. I don't know what is going on but we need to figure it out asap. The competition didn't end until 10pm and it was a LONG, tiring drive home.

I woke up Sunday to breakfast in bed from my sweet husband. The babies joined us soon after and we had fun eating french toast in bed (on my freshly washed sheets!:o). We headed out to church and enjoyed brunch at toast. Jay and Holden did a little yardwork after church and we enjoyed the weather!

i know i look terrible but this is the only pic of me from my birthday!

I spent the afternoon doing a little shopping and am happy to report that all my Christmas shopping for the kids is complete! Woo Hoo! I'm going to do a little post with what they are getting, as well as what they are asking Santa for later.

We got a sitter and went out for my birthday Sunday night. We had plans to go to Soul on Sunday evening but with an hour wait we headed down the street and enjoyed a delicious meal at the Peculiar  Rabbit.

Baby #3 Week 18

This week has been a doozy on the busy scale. I know everyone always says to not complain about being busy but man, commitments are consuming my life right now! Cheer is in full swing and I am managing 4 practices a week (with a ton of help from family).

We had a fun Thursday dinner at church with the babies' preschool. They had a blast running around with all the other kids. Preschool nights are crazy with all those little ones running around!

Pregnancy Highlights:

Today's Date: Friday, November 15th

How Far Along: 18 weeks

Size of baby: Baby is the size of a sweet potato and are measuring 5.6 inches and weigh 6.7oz 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I gained a pound this week putting the total at 4lbs gained

Maternity Clothes: still yes in the pants and no in the shirts

Gender: Boy! Shep (still don't know his full name!)

Movement: Yes, not constant but I definitely feel it from the inside. Not so much on the outside yet.

Sleep: Ok. I felt really sick this week and have tried to go to bed early. I was out at 8:15 last night but also had a 101 fever and chills. I normally wake up once or twice a night.

What I miss: My appeitite

Cravings: crunchy stuff, potato chips

Symptoms: Not a whole lot this week. I can definitely tell my belly is growing and getting a bit harder.

Best Moment this week: Learning the gender, revealing it to our parents, and starting to plan the nursery!

Baby's now the size of a sweet potato!
Baby's become amazingly mobile (compared to you, at least), passing the hours yawning, hiccupping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking, and swallowing. And baby is finally big enough that you'll soon be able to feel her movements.

Indiana

Over Halloween we took an unexpected trip to Indiana to visit my Grandfather. He was just diagnosed with lung cancer and my mom and I hopped in the car and headed up to be with her family. Most of the weekend consisted of hospital visits but we did find some time to be a little touristy and take a walk down memory lane.

We drove through Dayton, Ohio where I was born. We passed St. Elizabeth's Medical Center where I was born. I have early childhood memories of driving by this hospital and my parents always announcing that's where you girls were born!

Friendly's is another favorite Ohio treat! There used to be one a Lake Norman and we would stop every weekend on our way home from the lake. Unfortunately it went out of business. We may or may not have stopped at 9:30am for Sundays on our drive home through Ohio.

On our way home we drove through Kettering, the town we lived in when I was little. I loved how pretty our little street looked with all the leaves. The picture does not do it justice!

Here is my swingset that my Dad build over 25 years ago! Can't believe it is still standing!

Here is my parent's first home. The top floor window used to be an attic and my dad converted it to my bedroom when my sister was born. I remember this house feeling sooo big when we lived there! Three bedrooms, One full bath (no master!), one half bath, and a big (well big to me) basement. I always remember it feeling so cozy! I would have loved to knock on the door and take a little tour.

Our Weekend

We had such a fun weekend! Our highlight was definitely announcing baby Shep to the family. Such fun memories!

On Friday, I had the morning off and we met Jay around 10:30 for our gender ultrasound. It was so fun getting to see baby again on the screen and the kids were really well behaved watching their little brother. Emma Cate sat in her stroller the whole time and I totally forgot to take a picture!

I took the babies out to breakfast/lunch by myself after the ultrasound. Everything ran smoothly until Holden had a dirty diaper and I had to take two kids to the yucky potty to change him. Yáll, it was the worst diaper I have ever changed. I was gagging and terrified that I would throw up in the process. It was awful. Thankfully we got him clean up and went back out to finish our meals. After that I had very little appetite but the babies ate like champs.

Emma Cate found these lovelies in my bag and although I am embarrassed to put this on my blog, she was obsessed with sticking them everywhere and kept pulling them back out after I would put them away...

 so of course I had to take a picture.

 Our Friday was hectic, just like the rest of the week, but we ended the night with a casual pizza party with friends. Katie and Joe made the drive down from the lake to hang out with us. They are so sweet to our kids and it was so nice to catch up and hang out! Its so hard to keep up with friends with all of our activities, school, and work. We LOVE having friends that are fine with coming over and hanging out over dominos pizza. No pinterest dinner parties involved! Such a fun night.

We had an EARLY competition on Saturday morning. Thank goodness it was uptown Charlotte and not somewhere I had to travel too. My girls placed 2nd and should have won but had a wonky fall that lost us lots of points. Here they are visualizing the routine in pre-warm ups.

After the gender reveal, we watched State play an embarassing game against Duke. It was awful. This year has been terrible for football. Such a disappointment BUT I still sported my team hoodie. No fair weather fans in this house.

This kid LOVES trucks. He is all boy. 100%. I love having a little boy. He always brings a smile to my face and man to have his energy! 

We finally made it to church after a few month hiatus. We want to make church a regular thing but we've been out of town so much that when we are in town we just want to sleep in and have family time. Church brings our family together and helps to center us to prepare for the week ahead. It's been so long since we've been to church in closed toe shoes that the twins church shoes don't fit anymore! They wore their tennis shoes to church and I'm sure no one noticed but still... time to get on that!

Breakfast/brunch at Bruegger's fit the bill for quick, casual, and cheap after church. The kids were good and had the whole place laughing. Our brueggers is always packed and we definitely provided the entertainment! The kids love munching on bagels and it keeps them occupied.

(everyone thinks he's a little girl when I make him wear bubbles and I can see their point but don't care because I think he looks adorable!!!)

After church we met Gigi to do a little shopping at the mall while Jay got some quiet study time. We headed to Whole Foods for lunch and to get a birthday cake for my sister.The babies had fun running through the store and tried to help Gigi with the cart. 

sissy trying to keep up

happy as a clam!

After naps we met the fam at Mellow Mushroom to celebrate my youngest sister, Bo's, birthday! I'm not a huge mellow mushroom (or pizza for that matter) fan but it is the perfect place to take kids. They can be loud, run a bit, and then enjoy their pizza without disrupting other diners. The place is kid central.

Taters and Pop Pops

Holden and Taters, who he now calls by name, Tay Tay. It is the most adorable thing! He will walk around saying her name and will go find her when I ask him where Tay Tay is. The other day she was still napping and I asked where she was and he took off down the hall to their room, banged on the door until I opened it, ran straight to her crib, climbed up the side (all while saying Tay Tay repeatedly) and tried to give her a kiss. Needless to say, she woke up a bit confused but smiley to see her brother :)

Holden's new favorite phrase: whudis (What's this) while pointing to everything.

My favorite guys

The birthday girl and her niece and nephew

Emma Cate was not having it... time for bed at this point