Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound done yesterday. Unfortunately he was not cooperating and we didn't get any good pictures of his face :(. We did get to see that he is 100% a boy though. Kev was with me and it was his first time to see Lincoln. Not that he actually could make out anything on the ultrasound!!! :) Poor Kev. Good try honey!! :)
The reason we had an ultrasound was that he was breech and a little on the large size. One of the two was right. He is NOT breech!!! YEAH!! Praise God!! He IS on the large size. The first thing the tech measured was his head. While I was looking at the screen I was thinking, " I really hope that is not his head!"
It was his head and it is measuring at 40 weeks already!! (For those who don't know, you should be measuring around the weeks you are in your pregnancy.) I was 35 weeks and 5 days when the ultrasound was done. That means his head is about 4 weeks bigger then other babies at this stage. :) The next thing the tech measured was his body and legs. They were measuring at 38 weeks! Remember that I still have 3 weeks left. Many growth spurts happend during this time :) So, we are going to assume he will be a good sized baby. Not that I should be surprised with the genes on both sides of our families! We are still planning on the induction day of the 15th of May no matter how big or small he is :) My doctor said he will probably be around the 9-10lb mark. But ultrasounds this late in the game can be off quite a bit, so maybe I'll have a 7 pounder??? Wishful thinking right? It was so great to see him one last time before he makes his appearance. I can't believe that 3 weeks tomorrow he will be here! It will be the longest and shortest 3 weeks of my life. Everything I still want to get done will make it short (and the time I want to spend as a family of 4) but the physical pain and discomfort will DEFINITELY make it long!! :) Here's to having a healthy baby!!! :) I praise God that everything looked great and that He has given me the ability to have all His precious children!!

I forgot!!!

I forgot to mention that this coming Weds. we get to have an ultrasound! Little Lincoln is measuring 2 weeks ahead and the doctor thinks he is breach. After today I would have to agree with her. He had the hiccups and it was up at my ribs! So for anyone who reads this blog.......PRAY PRAY PRAY that this little guy turns on his own!!! I would really not like to have him turned manually!!

Cleaning Crew

Today was a GREAT day for me!! My mom and sister-in-law, Erin, drove down to our house and cleaned it from top to bottom! It is such a blessing to have family around that is willing to help. It's not that my house is in horrible shape. It's just getting harder for me to bend down, get on my hands and knees and clean. They did things I have been procrastinating on since we have moved into our house. Like.....my fridge, cleaning baby bottles and pacifiers, going through the girls' 3 toy boxes and getting rid of 3 sacks of toys (to Goodwill :), and then just the nitty gritty daily chores, mopping, dusting, vacuuming, and scrubbing bathrooms. We had such a great time cleaning together and it went SOOO fast! Thanks again mom and Erin for helping me! Now I can bring Lincoln home to a spotless house!!!! :)
I have to sadly admit that I had a meltdown last week. :( I have been nesting like CRAZY lately. I have washed ALL his clothes, blankets, sheets, burp cloths, and everything else I could find. There had to have been at least 6 loads of laundry for him! The last load was full of my car seat cover, bouncer cover, play gym mat, bath tub hammock, and 2 swing covers. When I went downstairs to get them out of our dryer, something smelled like it was burning. I opened up the dryer and started pulling everything out. The swing covers had plastic on them and must have melted!!!!!! Everything was destroyed except for one swing cover. I LOST it. I balled for an hour after that. :) Darn hormones! I was so upset because I knew that we didn't have money set aside for any of the destroyed items. I called Kevin crying and of course he felt bad for me and told me to start looking around for some good deals. The LORD is so good to us! I was able to find my exact car seat cover, brand new, for cheap off of ebay. The lady closed the bidding 3 days early so I could have it!! :) Then on craigslist there was a brand new bouncer, still in box, for 17$. Kevin's wonderful cousin, Morgan, picked it up for us (it was in Mn.). Thanks Morgan!!! Then the Lord blessed us one more time with another craigslist find of a play gym that has barely been used and an owner who is holding it until Kev's brother can pick it up for us (it's in Des Moines). So all that crying and worrying for nothing. When will I learn that God will provide for us even with the small details!!!! So many times I forget to trust in the ONE who always takes care of us and is faithful to provide for us. It is so amazing to me that after all these times of failure HE is still faithful to us, loves us, and takes care of us! Our God is so amazing that it is hard for my small mind to comprehend! Thank you Lord for all our blessings and forgive me for forgetting that You are trustworthy and always faithful to provide for us!

Sick Babies... :(

I absolutely HATE when one of my kids are sick. The worst part about it is that they can't tell me what is wrong. It all started Friday night. We were sitting in the Subway parking lot and I looked back at Peyton. She was pale as a ghost and looking like she was going to throw up. Luckily that never happened but it was downhill from there. She didn't eat her supper Friday night, which is SO unlike her! That child would NEVER pass up food if it is offered to her unless there was something wrong. Friday night was a night full of crying, Tylenol, and more crying. My poor baby was sick. I thought it could be another ear infection so on Saturday morning (after she still wouldn't eat) Kev took her to urgent care in Cedar Rapids while Reag's and I went grocery shopping in Cedar Rapids.
The doctor checked her ears and said they looked fine but her belly was a little harder then normal. So the doctor gave us a prescription for an antibiotic, in case it was the beginning of an infection, and sent us on our way. All day Saturday Peyton didn't want to eat or drink anything :(
What was weird was that she kept on keeping all her saliva in her mouth and wouldn't swallow. That is when we figured out that it must be her throat that hurts. Of course, the doctor didn't check that. What doctor doesn't check the throat???? I was so furious when Kev told me that we spent 100$ to go to urgent care and the doctor didn't check the one thing that is a common thing to check!!!! Thank God that we were able to get some medication anyway.
I had to leave Kev with the girls last night so I could go nursery at church. Poor Kev had a VERY tough night with Peyton. She cried and cried and cried!! He finally got the girls to go to sleep and I was finally home. Then came last night :) (It's been a ROUGH weekend)
At 3:30am I hear Reagan talking. She is talking to her sippy cup, her dolls, her teddy bear, dog, everything that was in her bed with her. This went on for about a half an hour. Then comes the yelling "Mommy, Mommy"!! I went up there and she tells me that she needs more water. I gave her more and told her to go to sleep. She was up until 5:30am talking and yelling for me. It was a VERY long 2 nights and I am so EXHAUSTED today! I feel like this is a permanent part of my life and I will never sleep again. That's my pity party post for the day :) I hope all of you are having a better weekend then us and pray that Peyton will feel better and Reag's won't get sick.

Too Big to Move!

Hi all, just a quick blog to say hello and to let you know how we are doing. First, the girls and I have been very busy lately. I have started a Mom's group here in BP and have been having playdates and activities weekly. We have met many nice mama's and the girls are having a blast playing with all the kids!! We also took an adventure to the Des Moines Zoo for the day last week. We were able to meet up with my sister-in-law and cousin and their kids. The kids had so much fun seeing all the animals and just running around. The zoo was SOOOOO empty that we had the run of the place! :) Reagan has talked non stop about the lions and tigers she saw! Peyton was a little nervous about everything at first but then got into all the animals and fish. It was a LONG day for me, walking a lot and chasing after a 1 and 2 year old that never seem to get tired. :) I guess that is how it's going to be and I better get used to it!
We went to church on Sunday, which is always good. Reag's loves going and playing with the kids and learning about Jesus. Peyton didn't get to go because she REALLY needed a nap. My mom was gracious enough to stay with her and let us go to church! Thanks mom! She also made a great lunch after church. As she was cleaning the dishes Reagan walked up to her and said, " Nama......great job!" As she was saying it she gave my mom a thumbs up!! It was SOOOO funny!! I love this age!
Today we headed to Waterloo to have a playdate/unpacking date with one of my girlfriends. The kids had a great time playing and I love hanging out with those girls! I really miss my friends in Waterloo and I wish I could hangout more!
Well, that is the short version (because I'm SOOOO tired) of our weekend and week thus far. Hopefully the rest of the week will go that fast. I have a doctors appointment on Thursday so stay tuned to see how baby Lincoln is doing! Have a great week everyone!!!

What a week!

This week has been a busy one! Monday and Tuesday were BEAUTIFUL and the girls and I spent most of our days outside. We drew with chalk, played with bubbles, rode bikes, went for a walk, went to the park, and just explored our huge backyard!! It was so fun seeing them wear themselves out in God's nature! We have been couped up too long! Now I have Spring fever and the weather NEEDS to stay warm!! I have plans to purchase a few outdoors toys for the girls that I know they will love! I can't wait to buy them and watch their eyes burst out of their heads! :) Yesterday was not as nice out so we spent most the day inside :( The UPS man dropped off a surprise for me yesterday! It was a tall green package addressed to me. The interesting part is that I NEVER ordered anything........weird. I looked at Kevin and asked if he knew anything about. He, of course, told me he knew nothing....LIAR. When I opened up the package there was 24....YES 24 GORGEOUS roses of all colors!!! The card read, You are the best mother and wife to us.... Love Kevin. This is something he doesn't usually do, so it is very special when I get flowers or gifts. It meant so much to me. Sometimes I feel like I'm under appreciated. Don't get me wrong, they do appreciate me, but in the shuffle and craziness of life sometimes we both forget to appreciate each other. That was a GREAT surprise. Then, unfortunately, Kev came down with a HORRIBLE migraine and has been out of commission for the last couple days.
:( He is now feeling better and is hopefully on the mend. Today I had an OB appt. It went really well. He is VERY active and actually kept kicking the Doppler (machine that hears heartbeat) off my stomach when the nurse was trying to listen. Is he gonna be a little stinker?? :) I also go to schedule my last 6 appointments up until I get induced! It is so weird being this close again. It feels great to know that there is a end in sight now! I go every 2 weeks for one more month and then it's every week till the end!!! YEAH!! Well, that was my very busy week and this weekend is going to be just as fun with friends and family coming to visit!! Hope your weekend is a great one!

Thankful

It is amazing how much I miss my husband when he is gone. He is only gone for an overnight but when he is gone I really realize what he does. Right now, being 8 months pregnant, everything is getting harder. Diaper changes, cooking, laundry, and stairs take all my energy and my breath away. Kev is so great because he will just jump in, no questions asked, and help out. Don't get me wrong, he will give me a hard time sometimes, but he still does what I ask. The Lord has totally blessed me with a VERY loving husband who is SOOOOOO wonderful with his daughters. It amazes me to watch him with the girls. For a man who never had any sisters and manliness was a HUGE part of his life, he is very sensitive and loving to his daughters and to me. He will dress up, put make up on (if necessary), play with dolls, teddy bears, and "sing songs" to put Reagan to sleep. He is as "hands on" as any mom I know and is good at it. I am so proud of the husband and father he is and will be. God had a perfect match for me and that match is Kevin! I thank God for him daily (even though I sometimes don't tell him how awesome he is) and love him so much! I can't wait to bring Lincoln into this family so Kev can have "his son"!! Our family will be complete. We will have our girls and our boy! Praise the Lord!!!

What a weekend!!!

Hi all! I am here to report that I'm EXHAUSTED and motherhood is tiring!! Anyways it all started with last Thursday. I had a ob appointment (I'm going every 2 weeks now!!!) and Kevin couldn't watch the girls. One of my dearest friends, Angela, said she would watch the girls for me. Unfortunately, the girls were out of sorts and cried and cried for her! (SORRY Honey!!) When I got back from the appointment they were a mess :( Needless to say they are mommies girls and we will have to have Kev watch them next time :) That was the start to a not so good weekend! On a happier note.....I have my induction scheduled for May 15th! One week before my due date!!!!! That means that we have about 10 weeks before Lincoln is here in person!!!
So, on to Friday. I wake up with a throbbing mouth. It's my impacted wisdom teeth again. Every pregnancy my hormones try to push this tooth out. The problem is that there is NO ROOM!! The worst part is that the dentist would rather not take them out during pregnancy because there is a risk of infection. But when you have been pregnant for 3 years there is no time to get it fixed :( SO, Friday I suffer through it taking Tylenol every 4 hours. Friday night I got 4 hours of sleep because I was in so much pain. On Saturday I went to a dentist I found in Cedar Rapids for an appointment. It turns out that the impacted tooth had an infection...YEAH!! He prescribed me amoxicilin and Tylenol with codine. Neither really helped but I continue to take them. Sunday I was feeling better but the pain was still there. Then comes Sunday night.
Peyton starts crying around 11pm (which is NOT like her). She then proceeds to cry every 2 hours throughout the night. At 4am she was SCREAMING. Every time we would try to lay her down she would freak out. My first thought is that she has an ear infection. Kevin thought it was gas :) I ended up having to sleep upright for the rest of the night with heavy Peyton laying on me and Lincoln. Lincoln got back at me by sitting on a nerve that shot pains through my back but because Peyton was FINALLY sleeping I didn't want to move. SOOOOOO I was in pain and not sleeping until she moved at 7am. I did end up taking her to the doctor, even though Kev didn't think it was necessary, and she did have a BAD ear infection and a yeast infection. Poor BABY! A mother's intuition is most likely right :) That was my weekend......and I haven't felt this tired in a really long time! I hope yours were better!

Morning Off

This morning I had the day off!!! My friend Jessi, who is also pregnant, had a shower in Iowa City. So I left our house around 8:30am and didn't get home until 2pm!! Of course I had to stop at the Coralville Mall on the way home :) It was a great morning and a great break from my mommy job!
There is not much that is going on that is new here. I wish I had a lot of great stuff to write about but I just don't and that's the reason why I don't post very often. The girls are doing great and growing and growing. They have such opposite personalities. Right now Kev and I are going through some trying times with Peyton. She had become a very disobedient and vocal little girl. Reagan was so sensitive at Peyton's age that all I had to do was look at her angrily and she would breakdown. Peyton is NOT like that! She will test and push and push and test and still do what I'm telling her not too! She must be like her daddy.........
Reagan, on the other hand, is into telling me "I don't think so" or "I don't want to"or my favorite "in a minute". Where does she hear these things?? Sometimes it's hard not to laugh at some of the things she says. Just the other day I told her I had to go to the bathroom and her response was "oh boy". :) These ages are so challenging in knowing how to discipline, but yet so rewarding when they tell you "thank you" when you didn't tell them too or they come running and just hug you.
It will be so interesting to see what kind of personality Lincoln has and what he will add to our very entertaining mix. I am so excited for the day we will be bringing him home. I am already SOOO uncomfortable and I have 2 1/2 months left. Once again this pregnancy is so different then the other two. I was never this uncomfortable with the girls. Something on my body is always hurting, aching, or just too big! May cannot come soon enough!
I have to be honest........I don't enjoy being pregnant. I LOVE the outcome but the whole process is not very enjoyable to me. It will be so nice to not be pregnant again :) I am so grateful though that the Lord has blessed us with these children. It is not easy and I have totally lost my body (I don't even remember what it used to look like) but it is all temporary and God has a reason for it! Thank you Lord!!!

I LOVE the rain!

I officially have Spring "fever"! This nice weather we are having is getting me in the mood for sweatshirts not winter coats. Today it is raining out.......I LOVE IT!!! Peyton is down for a nap and Reagan and I are cuddling on the couch watching "Elmo's Street" (her words) and she is giving hugs to the baby (my belly). She is such a little lover and a little mommy. :) She will definitely be a great helper when LINCOLN DAVID shows up. Yep.....that is the name we have picked and I absolutely love it. That is part of the other reason I have Spring fever.... I can't wait to meet this little boy who kicks me constantly and makes me so uncomfortable :)
Kev and I finally got down to business and we rearranged our house to make room for Lincoln. We moved his office from the front room in the house to the basement. Then we moved our bedroom to the front room and finally made our old room Lincoln's room. Yesterday we set up the crib for him, brought the dresser in from the garage, and moved the rocking chair from Peyton's room to his room. Peyton never used the rocking chair.....she hated being rocked as a baby. She wanted to be left alone in her crib with her own space. :) I love that about her. All I have to do is just put her in her crib and she is good to go, no crying or anything.
I forgot to mention the reasoning behind all this rearranging. Well, Reagan is definitely not ready for a roommate. Every time we are at my parents she sleeps in the bedroom with one of us. At around 2:30am or so she wakes up and realizes that someone is in there with her. She then starts to talk to you, poke you in the face, or lay on you......pretty much whatever she can do to wake you up. Oh, and she still sporadically cries throughout the night. So having Peyton in there would be a DISASTER!!! The other reason is that Peyton is a light sleeper so Reagan's crying has been known to wake her up in their own, separate rooms. Can you imagine them sharing a room? Not only would I not get any sleep with the new baby, but I would be getting up double the amount dealing with them. So drastic measures had to be taken :)
The other exciting news is that my cousin Chelsey called and told me she wanted to throw me a baby shower. I was so excited because #1 You usually don't get a shower for the 3rd baby and #2 I want so many things for this little guy that I couldn't possibly afford it :) It was a total answer to prayer and I am truly grateful for her!
Well, that is my news for now. I'm off to bake some chocolate chip cookies on this rainy day. Doesn't that sound perfect??? :)

Man, am I tired!!

I don't know what is going on with me but I'm always soooo tired. I'm not even in my 3rd trimester yet! This is "supposed" to be the time where I have tons of energy and should be loving life..............not happening that way right now :) I feel like a lazy mom because I'm so tired that I can barely get on the floor with my kids. (I want to lay my head down and nap right there!) Anyways, I hope this is going to last for a couple of days and then I'll get all the energy I've been hearing about :)
I am officially 24 weeks along now. This little guy is moving all the time and giving me some really strong kicks. Reagan was sitting on my shoulders with her legs on my belly the other day and this little guy was kicking so hard that her foot was going up and down! It was so much fun to watch. I'm really enjoying my last few months with my girls alone. It will be chaos again for awhile when the new baby comes.
I feel like this blog is not making sense and just running together. I'm just too tired to make sense I guess. :) Hopefully next time I'll do a better job. Stay tuned for the announcement of this little guys name :)

It's been a long time.....

Wow...I haven't posted forever!!! Well things have settled down now that it's January. We have had A LOT of snow so far and FREEZING temps. Not a good combination to go and do things. The girls and I have spent most of the winter indoors so far. We are definitely going stir crazy and can't wait for Spring!!
Today has been a great day so far. This morning two of my closest friends drove from Waterloo to Belle Plaine to come play with us! It was such a blessing having them here and taking the time to drive here! Thanks girls!! The kids played great together and then we had pizza, which was delicious for all!!!
I did get a phone call from Kevin a little while ago telling me he was in a car accident with an older lady. He hurt his back and then given a ticket because he was in a no parking zone, which apparently you couldn't see because of all the snow!!! The little old lady wasn't given any tickets at all! Sometimes things just aren't fair! Anyways, that is the only bad news we have had in a while so I can't complain too much!
I am now 23 weeks pregnant and I feel HUGE!! I look like a 8 month pregnant woman. Not cool. Everything is going good so far with this pregnancy. He moves like crazy and already is kicking me hard! I'm a little stressed because we don't have the funds right now to buy the little guy anything, so I am entrusting God to provide (I know He will do it!! ). I cannot believe it's 4 months away!! The time flies when you already have 2 little ones!! :)
I hope you all are having a great January so far and hopefully I'll post more often!!!