Sono pics

I have been meaning to post these for a week and haven't taken the time to do it yet. They are not the greatest but I thought they were cute! We are going to have a 4D Ultrasound in Wichita the last part of December so hopefully we can get some good shots then! We have had that done with all 3 of our kids and have always had pretty good luck. This time we are taking the whole family! I think the kids will enjoy seeing their new baby brother/sister and so will Mom and Dad! :)

The baby had it's legs crossed. She said we still could have found out the gender if we wanted to. It's legs were only crossed briefly during the scan. Nate turned his head anytime she moved near the area and at one point she even turned the screen away from both of us so we wouldn't accidentally see anything. The first picture is an overhead view of it's crossed legs. I think the picture is pretty neat. You can see it's little knees and everything.

The second picture is of the head, arms, and legs. It is a pretty clear shot of all three. It was pretty amazing really. We could see it opening it's mouth and closing it and moving it's arms up around it's face. I can feel lots of movement but haven't made it to the point yet where it is uncomfortable. Hopefully I still have a few good weeks left!

Catch Up

This is going to be a long post with a lot of random information but I have a lot of catching up to do! I really need to get in the habit of posting more often. I get behind and then I don't know where to start so I just end up putting it off even longer!

I know most people who read this already know about the Ash Grove layoff. It was quite a suprise initially but we have had a couple of months to prepare for it so that did help some! Nate is officially laid-off as of yesterday. It is not a nice feeling to be pregnant with your 4th child and have an unemployed husband! Luckily the layoff is supposed to be temporary (we'll see about that!) and our insurance is still good so it isn't all bad. I have to say it is going to be nice having Nate home through the holidays although I am sure our checking account will take a serious hit!

We had a sonogram today (21 weeks) and everything looked great with the baby. We were strong and still didn't find out what we were having (Sorry Tave!). It weighed about 15 ounces and was right on track for it's gestation. The heartbeat was 147 so pretty much in the middle of the boy/girl range. I will say the girl's heartbeats were always in the 160's-170's and Brax's was always right around 140 - sometimes a little lower. I honestly don't have a clue what it is! One day I will lean toward boy and the next day I will be thinking girl, so at this point, I honestly don't have a clue! We are thankful for a healthy baby either way and are counting our blessings every day!

Brax seems certain he is getting a brother! He will not accept the possibility that it could be a girl. If you ask him what it is, his first reaction is, "It's a boy." No uncertainty there at all! We even ask him sometimes, " What if it comes out and it's a girl?" and he won't even entertain the thought! He always replies, "It's not, " very matter of factly and moves on with it. He won't even consider it! I asked him that question the other day and he informed me that if it's a girl, Nanny said she would take it. I explained to him that it is coming home with us either way - even if it is a girl! He got to go to the doctor with us last week and heard the heartbeat for the first time. He looked at Nate in amazement and said, "Is that the baby?" It was very sweet! That night he was telling Dave and Julia that he heard the heartbeat and they asked him what it sounded like. " A boy," he says. Not exactly what they were going for! :)

Brecca has started basketball again this year. She is much improved from last year! I think she has shot about 6 baskets (hasn't made one yet but is still trying!) and plays defense like crazy! She even has a couple steals! I am so impressed with her improvement and while I do have to say that she is far from the best player on the team, she has improved 100% from last year! I asked her yesterday what her favorite part of basketball was and she looked at me like I was an idiot. Finally, she said, " Duh, winning."

This evening Brecca had a hard time in the bathtub. She did something Nate had specifically asked her not to do and had to get out of the tub and go up to bed early. Of course she threw a big fit and cried and screamed for about 30 minutes before she finally gave it up. Braylee was sitting on my lap and leaned over and said, "Mom, when Brecca gets 9, do you think she is going to have a better attitude?"

I have been subbing as much as possible to hopefully make up for the lost income and also maybe get a little money saved before the new baby comes! I have been worn out but I will try to post more frequently! I know.... You'll believe it when you see it, right???? :)

Pumpkin Patch

We continued the tradition of a camping trip/pumpkin patch weekend with Nanny and Poppy last weekend (minus two special people - Chelse and Tylee). It was a pretty chilly weekend but that didn't stop us. We headed over to the lake Friday afternoon. Nate and Poppy got the camper set up and then Nanny and I headed to town to get some groceries for the weekend. We made it back and cooked some hotdogs over the fire. I should say Nate and Poppy cooked some hotdogs over the fire - it was too cold out for the rest of us. Nate had to work on Saturday so the two of us came home that night and then I got up and went back over Saturday morning.

The kids were ready to get out of the camper for the day so everybody got around and we headed to the pumpkin patch. The have a big stock tank filled with corn (known by our family as the "corn pool," not sure of the technical name) but I have to say, it is the definite highlight. They also have some farm animals, a little kiddie area with the corn pool, a little caterpillar train, a hayrack ride, a corn maze, and of course, the pumpkin patch. The kids and I went on the hayrack ride, Braylee and Brax rode the little caterpillar train, played in the kiddie area for a long time, and picked out some pumpkins. It was a fun day but it was only about 50 degrees outside so we cut the visit a little shorter than we normally would have. Rather than just heading back to the camper, we decided to go to Pittsburg and get something to eat at one of my favorite places - Freddys! It was delicious!!!

We got back to the camper and did lots of puzzles, played Uno and Yahtzee multiple times, and colored more than anybody has ever colored in one weekend!!! It was a little crowded with 4 kids and 3 adults in a camper so the kids got a little restless at times. For the most part, they were wonderful! It would have been great had the weather been a little warmer for us but it was a great weekend regardless. I love that the kids have such a special relationship with not only their grandparents, but also their great grandparents!

Speaking of such great grandparents, my 78 year old grandpa (Sorry Poppy for disclosing your age!) would not let me sleep on the floor. He thought that since I was 16 weeks pregnant, sleeping on the floor would be uncomfortable for me and gave me the bed. Guess who slept on the floor instead???? You guessed it.... Poppy! Can you believe that!!! Not only did he sleep on the floor, he slept on the floor with Brax! :) I tried to protest but he was having no part of it. Thanks Poppy, it was greatly appreciated although completely not necessary! :)

Birthday Girl!

My little girl turned 7 years old at the end of September! 7 years old!!! I was ok with 6 but 7 just seems so old! I remember thinking last year how 6 wasn't old but that 7 seemed so grown up and dreading the day she turned 7. Well, the time has come!

She was so excited and had started a countdown in about July. She was having a sleepover for the first time. She only got to choose 4 friends so it was a small sleepover but she loved every minute of it. I have to admit that I kinda enjoyed it mysefl even. She was even a nice big sister and let Braylee stay too!

They had lots of fun and didn't stay up too late. We made shirts and then she opened her presents. She got a bracelet kit so that kept them entertained for quite awhile. We did cake and ice cream and then settled down to watch a movie. They were all asleep by 11:30 and didn't get up until about 8:00 the next morning. No one had to go home in the middle of the night so I considered it a big success! She had a blast though and can't wait until her next birthday sleepover!

We celebrated with family on the evening of her actual birthday. She got the Nintendo DS she had been wanting (along with some accessories) plus some other really neat stuff too. We had cake and ice cream. It is always fun to have all of your family together in one place so we enjoyed the company!

Once again, I can't believe my little girl is 7 years old! I just can't get over it. She is growing up, that's for sure. Happy Birthday sweet, sweet girl! We love you!

New friends

In case anybody may have noticed, Brecca had a birthday last week. I am going to do a post on it but it takes forever to upload pictures (I have hundreds to upload!) and I just haven't had the time! It should be coming in the (hopefully) near future! But until then....

Brax has two new friends, Jack and Jim. Jack and Jim are imaginary! It is so funny because both girls have great imaginations but have never had an imaginary friend. Yesterday, he was throwing a ball against the wall and fielding it (yes, we allow that!) and he kept saying, "Oh my gosh Jim!" Finally, I said, "Who's Jim?" and he informed me that Jim was hitting the ball and he was really good. They both play baseball for the Jayhawks. Jack and Jim spent the rest of the day, evening, night, and all day today with us. He plays with them and talks to them just like they are actually here with him. They even slept with him last night - one on each side! It will be interesting to see how long they are here for but so far it seems like they are staying awhile!

OB Appt - 13 weeks

I had my OB appointment last Thursday and got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! That is always an exciting moment. Especially when you have been throwing up for a good 7 weeks and yet you have no proof that you are really expecting! It makes the bad days worthwhile. :) Everything looked good and I have lost 17 lbs to date. Nothing really to be concerned about, considering I have 17 plus lbs to lose! Now if I weighed 110 or something I am sure he would be a little concerned but for me, it's all good! I did have a Urinary Tract Infection which is pretty typical of my pregnancies. He gave me an antibiotic for that and suggested I get some Miralax for constipation. I had tried Milk of Magnesia a couple of times with no success so it was time to try something different. Sorry if TMI but I want to document everything!

I have also been taking less and less of my Zofran. I think I have decided that it doesn't really affect the way that I feel. It does seem to help with the actual vomiting (lots of gagging and dry heaves instead of the vomiting) but I am not entirely sure that dry heaves are better than just vomiting in the first place. The only time I take it is if I am going to be subbing that day. A teacher throwing up in class???? I am sure I would never live that down!

I figured I would be over this by now but it is still hanging on! Nothing sounds good to eat and smells are hard to handle. Nate and the kids have been eating out a lot because I can't even stand for him to cook anything in the house! I am 13 weeks now though so I am expecting it to be completely gone within the next few weeks. I am hopeful it is already beginning to taper off a little bit! I guess we'll just have to wait and see....

I should be cleaning

I really should be cleaning my house! It is awful. And when I saw awful, it is an understatement. Last week I went to Wal-Mart and stocked up on cleaning supplies. I honestly hadn't been to Wal-Mart in about 6 weeks. Believe me, that is a long time! Especially when you have been sending your frugal husband who comes home with a 4 pack of Charmin to last a family of 5 for 2 whole weeks. I told him that I usually by the 12 pack and we barely make it. He was just trying to save money! I had to exlpain to him that now we would have to buy two more 4 packs which would total about $10 when we could have originallybought the 12 pack for $7! And we would have gotten 3 extra rolls. OK, enough about the TP! It's in the past!

By the time I made my trip to Wal-Mart for my supplies, I was too tired to use any of them. This 4th baby thing can really wear a girl out! So, today is my first free day since last Wednesday and I had big plans. Why am I sitting here blogging rather than cleaning? My problem is that I always just get so overwhelmed. I just don't know where to start. I threw in a load of laundry and then started the dishwasher. Oh, and I put Braylee on duty cleaning the back door with some Windex! And now, here I sit. My sisters strategy is to do one room at a time. Clean the kitchen and put everything that doesn't belong in the kitchen into the living room. When the kitchen is clean, move into the living room, cleaning as you go, and put everything that doesn't belong in the living room into the computer room. You get the idea! I just don't have the motivation! Brecca is having 5 first graders spend the night on Saturday night for her birthday sleepover so I better get busy. But then again, do 7 year olds really care if your house is messy????