Snow Days...

This weekend, we got some snow! It started falling Thursday, and by Monday morning it had all completely melted. That's Indiana weather for ya! :-) Sunday was "warm" enough, that we were able to take the boys out to play in the snow for a bit.

{All bundled up!}

{Levi in his Dragon hat...yes, it has a tooth sticking out :-P}

{Levi hung out with Daddy on the 4-wheeler}

{Lukey is a "big boy" and wanted to ride his own!}

{Then, he got cold and thought riding with Dad wasn't a bad idea, afterall!}

The boys built their very first snowman this year. Levi wasn't too keen about rolling the cold snow into balls. Luke really enjoyed it, though! I even sacrificed some Girl Scout's Thin Mints for the eyes, haha! :-)

{The boys' first snowman!}

{Levi much preferred the light up, glow in the dark snowman over the real deal!}

We hope you are all enjoying your Winter weather! For those of you dealing with Tornado threats and such (craziness!!), we hope you're staying safe! :-)

Our boys...

Here it is folks, the most amazing head of bed-head hair in the world:

And a super-precious sleeping angel:


I wanted to post a quick update on the boys since I haven't in a while. It seems most of my entries lately have had to do with this pregnancy (although, I have started our Christmas recap...just need to edit and add some photos, so look for that soon!).

The boys are doing great!

Luke is in his second half of his Little Saints class at All Saints. He is such a smart boy! He knows his ABC's, can count to 20+, knows all of his shapes and colors, etc. They learn a new letter each week, and the sound associated with it. He really enjoys show-and-tell Thursdays, and gets excited helping me pick out something to bring. Luke struggles a little bit with his fine motor skills...namely cutting with scissors. He has a special pair that he practices with at home. Luke is left-handed, so sometimes he gets frustrated easily with getting a comfortable grip on things. We just encourage him to *try*. The little man has very high standards for himself, and likes to do things perfectly! (Gee, sound familiar?) :-) I really love some of the artwork he brings home to share...especially the ones with handprints. I *love* my babies' handprints!! I always hang his latest and greatest artwork on my cubey wall at work...I think my co-workers enjoy it just as much as I do! :-)


Luke is one of the sweetest, most caring little guys I know. He is a very emotional, affectionate child...sensitive, with a tender heart! He loves to help out with his brother, too. Funny story: last night I went to dinner with a good friend. B stayed home with the boys. He *thought* the boys were playing in the playroom with their kitchen set, but it got really quiet. (Quiet = no good in our household!) B went to check on them, and apparently Levi needed to go potty. Luke was helping him. Well, Levi tends to say he has to go #2 after the fact. Guess what? He had gone #2 in his dipe. No problem! When B found them, Lukey was wiping Levi's poopy bottom. I told you...he's a big helper!! ;-)

So, as you probably already guessed it per the previous paragraph, we are working on potty training with Levi. Nothing too serious right now, just trying to encourage the association between *feeling* the need to go potty and the action of actually going potty. So far, he's *way* more interested in unwrapping the TP from the roll, and getting as much as physically possible into the toilet. We've only had a couple of near toilet run-overs. :-)

Levi has become quite the charming little man. He is so incredibly ornery, but has this sweet little smile...he really knows how to work his way out of trouble! Yes, he has the batting of the eyelashes down to a fine science. Levi is singing his ABC's, counting to 13, and he knows his basic shapes (circle, square, triangle). We're working on colors, but he seems to pick up on things very quickly with the help of big brother. :-) He is absolutely in love with Thomas the Tank Engine and Caillou (a cartoon about a little 4-year-old boy).

{Look at those precious little Levi piggy-toes!}

{Mom, it's too early for pictures!}

{These two LOVE to be nakey!}

Levi got a new kitchen set for Christmas. Both of the boys really enjoy playing with it, and they do a pretty good job of sharing, too! :-)

{Yes, Aunt Shelbey, that's your box in the background waiting on *Me* to ship!}

So, that's our update! Hope you're enjoying your day!

16 weeks...

Today marks 16 weeks with Baby #3! It's kind of crazy how quickly this pregnancy is going!!

We've been doing several things around the house to get ready for baby. Somehow, pregnancy sets me into "household project" overdrive, haha. :-) I'm working on a faux paneling project for the staircase wall. It's alllmost complete, so I'll post a picture when it's done. Also, I'm doing some major sorting/organizing/purging of the upstairs. The boys have moved into bunkbeds in Levi's old room, which means a lot of sorting through clothes and toys and consolidating! So far, Luke has taken the move very well...it was pretty transparent for him. Levi on the other hand...well, let's just say he's been making midnight visits to Mommy's side of the bed for the past two weeks! This really hasn't been due to the big move. He learned how to climb out of his crib, which actually prompted the switch to bunkbeds. This past week, I've been lazy and just letting him sleep with me. I'm going to start taking him back to his bed and really working with him, though. It might take a few nights of sleeping with him in *his* bed, but that's okay.

The past two weeks have been pretty standard. The morning sickness isn't as frequent, but I hate to type anything about it diminishing because just as soon as I do, I get sick! Last week, I had 3 days in a row that were pretty rough (all after I said those magic words!), but then I had a couple where I felt great. :-) Exhaustion is still hit or miss, too. I have been struggling a lot more with headaches than I remember with the boys. They're mostly sinus-related I'm sure, which makes sense because it *is* that time of year! BP at home has been running in the 120's/60's which is awesome...really enjoying that 2nd trimester dip. :-) Weight gain as of this morning is 5.5 lbs. My love for tangerines has been replaced by these:

And these:

{Protein, right?! ;-)}

My baby bump has "blossomed" this past week:

Def going maternity clothes shopping this weekend! :-D

And for fun, here's a comparison of all 3 of my pregnancies at 16 weeks:


Funny, my 16 week picture is the very first I took of Luke's pregnancy because it took that long to get a "bump" of any sort! It is SO true that you really do start showing more quickly with latter pregnancies. :-)

I do have an appointment this week, but it's just a urine and BP check. Unless there's something exciting to report, I'll check back in at 18 weeks! (pssst...with an anatomy scan update! YAY!)

Week 14...

We arrived at week 14 on Monday! What a way to start out the new year :-) So far, this week has provided a bit of a reprieve from the constant morning sickness, which is nice! Just when I thought it was getting better, it would get worse. So, I'm sure I just jinxed myself, haha! Anyway, we had a routine OB appointment Wednesday, and everything looked great. My BP was 130/72, urine looked good, baby's HB was in the high 150's, and growth is good as well. So far, I've gained 4.5 lbs. I'm still not doing great with eating meat...namely beef. I've tried to add protein into my diet in other ways...greek yogurt, string cheese, nuts. I'm still preferring sweet foods...lovin' the cuties (tangerines), bananas, and lucky charms. Sweet pickles (I eat sweet relish on *everything*) are also hitting the spot, which is unusual for me. I'm typically a dill pickle gal.

I just got a voicemail from the Cardiologist's Nurse regarding my Holter monitor results. Everything came back fine, so my heart is good :-) I also got a letter in the mail from the MFM with my First Trimester Screen results. The risk of this baby having Down Syndrome is 1/10,000 and the risk of this baby having Trisomy 13 or 18 is also 1/10,000. What a relief! The Doctor suggested we check for open neural tube defects at the anatomy scan, which will be on February 2nd.

Our next check is in 2 weeks…just for a BP check and urine dip. (no, appointments every 2 weeks is not typical, but I’m special ;-) ).

I ordered some Bella Bands to wear, since I'm still too small for maternity clothes but my regular pants' button is tight by the end of the day. I didn't use them with the boys, so I'm excited to give them a try this time. Hopefully I can stave off the purchase of new maternity clothes for another month!

I’ve been feeling lots of thumps this week. They are very random, but typically in the same spot. I had been feeling flutters around 11 weeks, but thought it may just be gas or something. ;-) This week, without a doubt, little babe is making its presence known!

Here we are (nevermind my speckled mirror!):

{Levi wanted to say "hi" to the baby :-)}

See you back in 2 weeks!