Friday, January 30, 2015

26 weeks!

Although I feel like I have been pregnant forever, I can't believe I am almost in the third trimester! I'm probably at my favorite stage. I absolutely love all the movement!!


How far along? 26 weeks
Weight gain? 25-26 lbs - yikes!
Cravings? like it all!
Movement? Finally! a lot and I love it!! 
Symptoms? pelvic pressure and pain - but not too bad
Best moment this week? all the movement! and last week I had a check up and was able to hear her heartbeat.
What I look forward to?  Deciding on a NAME :)


Monday, January 26, 2015

What we are up to! 4 year old edition

A little update on what Max and Claire have been up to from the past year.

I thought two was hard, but three was way harder.  While they are so independent, funny, smart and fun....they are also mouthy, say "no" a lot, like to talk back and have started to fight with each other.  They know what ticks me off and do it often.  Needless to say, I have read a few parenting books this year and now taking a six week class called, Parenting the Love and Logic Way.  Only two weeks in, but really enjoying it.

I did a little questionnaire with them:


Max
Favorite color:  red
Favorite toy:  cars
Favorite food: peanut butter and honey sandwich
Best Friend:  Trevor
Favorite thing to do with Mommy:  read books
Favorite thing to do with Daddy:  play games
Favorite cartoon:  Paw Patrol

Max is my buds.  He has been a bit challenging this year.  He can be so sweet, but when he is mad, he is miserable to be around.  His anger is no fun... and we are working on it.  He has hit me a few times and that is NOT ok.  When I send him to his room, he slams the door, often kicking it.  His favorite line:  "I'll be good now".  Really hoping to learn a lot in this parenting class.

This past year he played soccer and really liked it!  He loves to play basketball (he can dribble about 30 times in a row!!) and we look forward to putting him on a team this year.  He is happy being outside and running around.  Loves riding bikes.  He got a 2 wheel bike for Christmas (opposed to balance bike with no pedals) and is starting to get the hang of it.  He loved the pool during the summer and we are getting ready to start swim lessons to get ready for this summer.  He also loves TV.  I remember saying (I think when he was 2) "I wish they would watch tv some so I could get things done".... now he could watch TV all day and it's quite annoying. Be careful what you ask for! He loves playing with superheroes, ninja turtles and cars.  

Sleep.  Ah, sleep.  We have pretty much stopped naps.  I made that decision when they were napping 2+ hrs at nap then not going to sleep until 9:30.  Now that we have cut out naps, we usually start bedtime process around 7:15 and asleep by 7:45.  It's really nice having down time with Justin!  They are both still early risers - that means before 7, closer to 6:30 for Max.  Just this week we started sleeping in underwear at night.  He has had one accident so I would say he is doing well!

Buds loves school and is learning so much.  We are still working on recognizing letters and numbers. He loves reading books and I love reading to him!


Claire
Favorite color: rainbow color
Favorite toy: hello kitty phone and wallet
Favorite food: mac and cheese
Best friend: Lily James
Favorite thing to do with Mommy: get nails done
Favorite thing to do with Daddy: play games
Favorite cartoon: Sofia the First

Claire is my mini me!  She is a little fashionista; loves clothes and shoes!  She wants to get dressed first thing every morning and usually picks out something really cute.  As Justin would tell her, "so cute, I mean so cute!"  She loves walking in our room to check herself out in our floor length mirror. She also likes to do her own hair and she's pretty good at doing her own ponytail!  She gets attached to one or two pieces of clothing and will wear them multiple times a week.  Right now she loves her skinny jeans, black and white stripped tunic and a white tank top that she wears under most things!

She is pretty easy going and can be a big help.... when she wants to.  She is not good at quiet time bc she is attached to my hip and would rather follow me around the house than do something by herself. She can be mouthy and always tries to get out of doing anything i ask her to do, especially cleaning up.  Usually she is "too tired" or "it's too hard to do by herself".  She is not huge into TV.  She will sit for a few minutes, but would rather play music and dance or play pretend with her baby dolls.  She walks around with her pretend phone or my phone calling people and usually having a conversation similar to one I would have had earlier in the day.  She also comes up with random stories about "her daughter" that are absolutely hilarious!

She is going to be a great help with her baby sister.  She is very motherly around any kids younger than her!

She started dance at the end of the summer and will continue through to her recital.  I thought she would LOVE it as much as she dances around the house.  She likes it ok.  She usually complains and says she doesn't want to go, but has a great time once she is there.  I may sign her up for soccer with Max this spring as well as swim lessons.  She also likes to play outside and be with her friends.  She likes to play games and is very smart.  She recognizes most of her letters and numbers through 10. She likes memory and alphabet games and likes the challenge.  She can write her name and Max's name.  She LOVES to draw and color and is really good at staying in the lines.  I give her notepads and she walks around writing "notes" all the time.

Sleep is same as Max.  It's harder for her to stay awake and not nap. I have to keep her engaged so she doesn't fall asleep around 5:00.  She has been known to put herself down for a nap!  She has been pull up free at night for a week now! So proud!


Love these two so much and really enjoy watching their personalities grow.  My everything!

We don't have their 4 year well check until March, but unofficially:

Claire: 39 lbs, wears mostly size 4T, some 5T, size 10.5 shoe

Max: 49 lbs, wears mostly 5T, size 13 shoe

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Max and Claire are FOUR!

.... And just like that, my babies are FOUR!  It is crazy how fast four years have gone by.  The days seem so long, but the years have flown by.

Today has been a great day for our four year olds! We had their birthday party yesterday.  We kept it super low key this year.  I rented out our pool clubhouse, had a bunch of balls, balloons, indoor snowballs and a Kidz Bop cd!  The kids ran around for over an hour, had cupcakes and opened presents.  Max and Claire are truly blessed to have so many wonderful friends!

FOUR
My handsome BUDS
My beautiful, bear bear
Max and one of his bffs, Jack!

Girl talk over cupcakes!
Presents!
Jack is the sweetest! and he wants to marry Claire!
This morning they got chocolate zucchini muffins (they thought they were cupcakes :)  ) then headed off to school where they got to celebrate their birthday once again!


When they got home from school we played with toys, watched The Little Rascals and played games!  For dinner they chose to go to Chick-fil-a :)

Hopefully, in the next week, tomorrow I can do a four year old post - lots of updates!!

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Six months!

Friday started the beginning of my 24th week.  I feel like six months sounds a lot further along so that's what I'm going with! Besides this awful, lingering cold, I have been feeling great.

24 w 2d
How far along? 24 w 2d
Weight Gain? binge weekend... 22 lbs!
Cravings? nope! like it all!
Sleep? besides coughing all night, it's good!  actually wore Justin's UP band last night and it said I slept a lot better than I thought I do!
Symptoms? Hips are starting to hurt a little and still have a lot of pressure down there
What I look forward to? Appointment this week!

We still haven't picked out a name and it's driving me crazy! 


Sunday, January 11, 2015

23 weeks

I haven't been very good at posting weekly updates of #3.  Speaking of which... #3 still doesn't have a name.  It will be nice when we can call her by name!

21 weeks
How far along? 23 weeks
Weight Gain? 20 lbs .... yikes!
Cravings? Nope, love it all!
Movement? Finally, although I wish I could feel her more!
Symptoms? I have had increased pressure down there and is most uncomfortable when I get up in the morning - which I think is weird!
Sleep? Pretty good.  It takes a long time to go back to sleep if I have to get up to pee or if I'm called into Max and Claire's room.
Best Moment over the past weeks? feeling movement
What I look forward to? Next appointment (1.5 weeks away)

23 weeks
I don't think these pictures do my size justice.  I will say my butt is getting huge.  I'm not a fan. I feel stumpy.  I have been trying to get to the gym at least four days a week. Mostly walking.  It's my down time and I can get lots of reading done.  I did try my favorite kick class last Monday.  I modified by squatting instead of doing the jumps.  It felt good to do something besides walking!

23 weeks with Max and Claire

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Christmas 2014

I had every intention in posting yesterday, the last day of 2014.... but I fell asleep.  We kept NYE very casual, meaning kids were asleep at 8:30, Justin at 9:30 and I fell asleep on couch until 1am!

On to Christmas!  This was one of the most fun years to date.  Watching them light up when they came in to see what Santa had brought was priceless.

Ready for the kids to walk in

Santa came!


We added the kitchen very last minute.  Thought it would be a HUGE hit... but no, Claire's very favorite present was this tunic!
 Presents from Nanny and Poppy

After some clean up, we packed up and headed to Atlanta to see Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt Darcy. The positive about traveling on Christmas day? No traffic!  As soon as we got there, Max and Claire were ready for more presents!



The highlight: New Bikes! They got balance bikes last year and have outgrown them.  This year they got big bikes.  They came with training wheels but we took those off.  Really want to skip that step.  Pro with balance bikes - they learn balance, CON  - they don't understand pedals.

We went out the next morning to practice.... complete with new ninja turtle helmet and Claire has a seat for her baby!



Max started to get the hang of pedals, but we have a few more practice days before I feel comfortable letting go.  Claire gave it about 5-10 minutes and was ready for a break!  We may have to put training wheels back on just so they can get used to pedals.