14 weeks and a trip to Madison

I'm a little late in posting my 14 week update but it was a busy weekend and i've been too lazy to upload my pictures until tonight. I entered my 14th week on Sunday. This past week i've started to feel a little more energetic, my appetite has normalized a bit, and i've been able to stay up past 8:00. Chad and I went out on a date on Friday to a Japanese resteraunt and had a blast! We then took a trip over to Babies R Us where we spent almost two hours just looking at everything. It's amazing how much gets added to the market in just a few years. It was fun looking at the baby furniture and i think we have it narrowed down to ourtop three sets. We also went to Home Depot on Sunday and picked out paint samples for the baby's room and the boys' room. We picked up one more sample tonight and I think have the colors picked out. Ky wants to help Chad paint the boys' room so I think Chad is going to start priming this weekend and have Ky help before the boys and I leave for Carm's house next Wed. The goal was to have the rooms painted while i'm at Carm which i'm so excited about. I think Chad has changed my mind and we are going to find out the sex of the baby. I told him that the only reason i'm opposed to finding out and sharing (because i already feel strongly its a boy) is because I don't want to listen to people ask me if i'm dissapointed it's a boy and not a girl. We truly just want a healthy baby and I would be beyond thrilled if it's another boy. To be honest i'm not sure I would believe them if they told me it was a girl..lol Because I feel so strongly that it's a boy. :) The few days i've wanted nachos...i bought queso, warm that up, put sour cream, and salsa on top and love it. It's not healthy by any means but hits the spot. Chad even made some for dinner and I think he is a fan too. :)

On Saturday we headed to Madison, where we LOVE to spend a lot of our time, and enjoyed the farmers market, childrens museum, lunch at Bluephies, and a Trader Joe's run. It was a blast from start to finish.The famer's market had a neat art exhibit all over the square and I could have spent hours looking at all of the artwork. The boys love the market and were entertained for almost an hour and then we knew we needed to switch gears and head over to the children's museum. We went about two years ago and walked out right away..not impressed at all. But last year they did a huge overhaul and it's amazing! We spent almost three hours there experiencing each floor and laughing a lot. It was so much fun watching the boys take it all in.

After the children's museum we went to Bluephies, which many of my friends rave about. We had never been before but it's been on my bucket list for a while. It did not disappoint. It was actually a profound lunch for our little family. Over lunch the boys started talking about the baby names we have picked out. If its a boy we are leaning towards Brody Mason. Mason we are set on but Brody we are going back and forth on. Kylan asked why we picked the name Mason and we had a great talk with them about their little brother being in heaven with Jesus and answered many of the questions they had. They boys were 3 and 4 when Mason died and while they came up to the hospital they didn't go to his funeral and don't remember the conversations we had with them then or shortly thereafter. While Chad and I talk about Mason often we 've waited for the right time to talk to them about Mason. And this Sat over lunch it was a bittersweet conversation. I just love my little men and their hearts.This week is going well so far...i'm heading to the city tomorrow and staying with my sister who will be there on business as well. We have been able to have dinner together the past few Wednesday and i've crashed at her hotel which has made my Chicago commute so much more desireable! I can't believe a week from tomorrow I am off for two weeks and three days. I'm beyond excited for the time away. Before I close I want to share some fun pics from out time at the museum.

They could have stayed at this spot for hours!

They bring so much joy to our lives

Ky loves muscle shirts this summer!

The boys had some serious engineer conversations here..

Discussed dreams of flying :)

And a trip wouldn't be complete with a Ky look.

Thirteen weeks, 4th of July, and Sunday:)

This weekend has been wonderful in so many ways. Saturday started with a pedi at my favorite spa! Jessie who has done my nails for the last 6 years is just a joy and I love talking with her while she does my toes. The funny thing is I don't like feet...AT ALL, but after having my first pedi 8 years ago I was hooked. I try and go every six weeks in the summer and just love the Caribbean scrub and pampering...what girl doesn't. :)

Unfortunately the heat was so hot that I stayed on the couch all day and didn't get out of the house like I hoped. BUT today was so much better weather wise! It dropped 15 degrees and was in the high 80s this am and low 90s this afternoon. I met my girlfriend Mich this morning at Starbucks. I had a smoothie (oh how I miss my coffee but can't handle the smell) and we sat outside and chatted for an hour. Mich is pregnant too and we are due three days apart. We are both being induced and are going to make sure it's not on the same day. We were pregnant at the same time when I was pregnant with Mason. Her son, C, will be three at the end of the month and has such a special place in my heart. It's crazy to think that Mason would be three this year. Anyhow we are both excited to be on maternity leave together and are talking about taking a family trip to SC with our families in March. It will be so great to enjoy motherhood together and spend time with our babies making memories. After we had coffee we went for a walk on the trail by her home and enjoyed the sun and nice breeze. It felt so good to get some exercise! After that we looked at decor for her downstairs and I helped provide placement guidance. :) Afterwards she made these amazing veggie paninis! And then I headed home around 12:00 to spend time with the men in my life.

Chad finished our deck today! I'm so proud of all of his hard work and can't wait to stain it when we get back from vacation. Then we just need to add the LED lines, light strands and furniture and it will be up and running again. :) As soon as he was done we all got our swimming suits on and headed over to his parents for some fun in their pool. We played pool volleyball, marco polo, and floated on the noodles..it was so relaxing. They invited us to stay for dinner, which I'm sure Chad welcomed because i was planning on salads and smoothies for dinner and his dad made steak and potatoes which is ones of Chad's favorites.Overall it's been a wonderful weekend.

Noah always wears his headphones during fireworks

Ky was such a ham that night!

I had a great 4th shirt for Ky but we bought him sleeveless shirt on the 4th and he had to wear this one. :) They were so excited for the fireworks!

Ky in his swim gear! I wish the shade/sun didn't interfere so much. I tried getting a pic of both boys but they weren't having it. Next Time!

And lastly just a few pics from the 4th and this afternoon to share!

It's a Hot One!

It has been a HOT week here in the midwest with temps exceeding 100 and this mama is ready for some cooler weather stat! It looks like my wish might come true as weather.com says it will drop to 65 tonight and be in the low 90s tomorrow..Praise the Lord! I LOVE being outside with the boys and doing fun things but in conjunction with being pregnant and trying to stay hydrated the heat is not my friend right now.

Which brings me to today. I had horrible insomnia last night and was up reading for probably three hours before I started closing my eyes again. I woke up at 8 and was excited to head to the spa for a much needed pedi. Chad is working on finishing our deck and got up to head out in the heat and work on it. And now i'm trying to figure out what fun things the boys and I can do today because even though it's only 11:00 i'm antsy to get out of the house and go have some fun.

We don't have any plans for tomorrow besides church in the morning so I am welcoming this relaxing on the whim weekend where we can do whatever we choose..it's just a matter of making a decision. I have a feeling a pomegranite smoothie will be enjoyed at some point today. :)

Twelve Weeks and a few Pictures!

I made it to my 12 week mark on Sunday! I had my three month appt yesterday and it went so well! Baby Bean is doing wonderful and we were able to get some great pictures. In one of them our precious baby's hand was up by it's face and just made me tear up. I love my OB. She has been there for us through all of my pregnancies including losing Mason. She knows just how anxious I am this time and decided not to find the hearbeat with the monitor because she didn't want me to worry if she couldn't find it. Instead we had another ultrasound and was able to see our baby move and see the heartbeat. It was amazing...we had a front view and saw the ribs and an eyelet and it's brain, hands and feet....I'm in love..so in love and humlbled to think that in 6 months I will have this precious baby here with us. I'm excited that in the next several weeks I should start to feel the baby move. I can't wait for that day! Chad went to my appt with me and i'm so thankful he did. Just having them there helped me calm down a bit..i was quite anxious yesterday morning. After my appt I felt pretty sick and had a hard time keeping anything down...so instead of working I opted for a morning in bed watching Say Yes to the Dress and a long nap. I still didn't feel up to par last night but after a great night of sleep am feeling much better today.

Normally on the 4th we have a lot going on but this year it's hot (102 degrees) and i'm not a fan of being outside in this weather. We might have one of my sisters over for lunch but I think it will be a low key day. And I welcome it! Now I just have to figure out what to make for lunch and dinner but I have a feeling leftover rice will be one of the two meals for me.

Baby #4

Side view

Getting ready for their first fire!

Finished their soccer season!

Last day of school...summer here we come. :)

Enjoying Madison's farmers market...one of our favorites!

I did a photo dump from my phone and thought I would share a few pics from our summer so far! Enjoy!

Eleven Weeks!

Today marks my 11 week mark and i'm so grateful! Insomnia has been frequent and sleep seems to be slim but naps have been many trying to make up for the lost hours during the night. Food aversions are still high on my list. I bought a rice maker to as my sister swears by hers. I normally make my rice in a skillet but haven't had much energy to to my normal rice and thought this would be something new to try. My next appt is a week from Tuesday and i'm excited to see the baby again and see how baby bean is doing. I took Ky with me to run errands yesterday and while out Target he was pointing to things he thought would be perfect for the baby. I just love that the boys are old enough to participate in this pregnancy. They continue to talk about the baby throughout the week and even while cleaning up their playroom today they talked about how we needed new baby toys. I can't wait to see them hold the baby and be big brothers. Kylan is excited because he's been the baby for 6 years and will now have the opportunity to be a big brother...it's so precious and a little sad to see my baby become the middle child, but I know he will do fine.

My commute has started to wear on me especially since I am just so tired right now. Driving three hours 2-3 times a week is getting old but i'm thankful that I have the flexibility to work from my home office a couple of days a week...that offset does help so much. I'm definately feeling like a oompa lumpa right now. I can still wear regular tops but most dress pants, and casual capris are maternity right now altough my yoga pants are still manageable. I do need to go and get a few more staples and while was going to atempt to do that this weekend I think i'm going to wait until next weekend.

Yesterday Chad started working on our deck. It started as a project to stain our deck but then turned into tearing down the railing we had, building a new one, sanding, power washing the old deck etc. He spent most of the day cutting wood and getting the posts started yesterday and I helped where I could which wasn't much. I took two naps yesterday and managed to through some mac and cheese together for dinner. Thankfully I woke up at 6 with energy and took advantage of it starting on laundry and cleaning the family room. I gave the boys 30 minutes to play when they woke up then it was time to attack their playroom and move their toys that had migrated upstairs back to their homes. I still think I should take a couple of garbage cans down stairs and through many of their toys away or donate them because they have so many, but that will wait for another weekend. The house is almost clean...I need to finish vaccumming, clean the bathrooms and put dishes and laundry away but it looks a lot better than it did 24 hours ago so i'll take it. Now if i could get a second wind to crank some more out that would be awesome. I think we are going to take a trip to the library this afternoon and I need to pick up a few things from the grocery store. Nothing too exciting but i'm ok with that. :)

Family Dinner

There is something about family dinners that I just love! The craziness of getting the meal ready, table set, and of course having everyone gather around the table to make memories. That is exactly what we did last night. During the week we always eat dinner at the table...it's something that Chad and I feel is very important. Occasionally we will eat in the media room with TV trays and watch a movie but normally we all meet at the table.  This Friday was no exception however I invited my sister Nena over and my sister Ash offered to make family dinner. I was so excited! Chad made sure we had enough firewood for a good fire once is got dark, nena brought chocolate for the smores, and Ash made this amazing spread of lasagna, salad, and garlic bread...It was amazing! As Ash was preparing the meal the rest of sat at the table playing uno. The boys had a blast and the giggles we many.  Once it got close we all helped getting the table set and serving the plates. All week I have looked forward to having two of my sisters over, making some memories, and having many laughs. And boy did we! After dinner we rested for a bit because I think all of our stomachs were ready to explode, and then we piled outside to the fire pit. I gave Chad the fire pit for Father's Day last week and it's been a huge hit. Chairs around and the smores station ready we all took turns making our smores and enjoying them. Then came story time....the flashlight was passed and we all took turns telling funny stories and continued to laugh as the evening continued. The boys went in with Ash and Nen around 10:00 and Chad and enjoyed some time outside just talking.  It was the perfect end to a really long week and I'm already thinking about our next family dinner and who to invite. I have a feeling it's going to be a really great weekend!

Thankful

I am normally a morning person. I typically start my day between 4:30-5:00 am cleaning around the house, throwing in a couple of loads of laundry, getting ready for the day, making lunch, and enjoying my quiet time before the rest of the crew get up.  As of late this hasn't been the case. I'm falling asleep really early..and I mean like ten minutes after I put the boys down at 8:30 and some days falling asleep before they do. As I rolled out of bed today a little grumpy and made it to the office a smile came across my face as I remembered just how thankful I am for Chad.  There have been more nights then not in the last few weeks that i've fallen asleep in a pile of books, magazines, laptop, notebooks, only to wake up and have them neatly organized with my glasses on top. He's very aware of my food aversions right now and continues to volunteer to make dinner. As I walked into our home today after work he was washing the dishes and asked if i wanted rice for dinner.  :) I'm just so humbled and thankful that I married a man who notices the little things. I'm thankful that he partners with me to raise our kids and help out around the house with a joyful heart and doesn't hold it against me when I can't seem to get a whole lot done.