Sunday Funday

It was unseasonably warm today so after church, we decided to make a very spontaneous decision and get lunch and head to Hessel Park.

 

 

We picked up Panera and ate at a picnic table and then played well into nap time.  As we started to drive home, we realized we had not gone to Custard Cup once this summer, so we pulled in and enjoyed some delicious lemon custard!

 

 

 

 

What a fun fun way to spend a Sunday together as a fam!

announcing. . .

Well faithful blog readers, the email just went out to the larger family and you’re the next to know.  This is why the blog has been a bit quiet lately.  I’ve been working on quite the craft project:

We’re having a blob!  Haha.  Well, that’s what the picture below looks like anyways.  But it’s a blog that has a cute little heartbeat and wicked sense of making their momma sick.  Baby Pool #3 is on the way!!

So here's a couple commonly asked questions that I've been asked when people have found out!

When did you find out?

It was our first round of trying this time.  We’ve never been so lucky to have it work the first time.  I think God just shook his head and agreed with my OCD this time.  You see, we have birthdays in Feb (William), March (me), April (Ellie), and June (Owen).  So a birthday in May would have all of our spring months covered.  I know, crazy right.  But it worked!  Haha

I had a few things that made me get my hopes up that I was pregnant and started testing around 7days past ovulation.  At 9DPO on Friday, September 6 I saw two lines on an internet cheapy and then took this:

For dinner that night, I picked up baby’s breath, baby back ribs, baby carrots, and sugar babies.  William was very excited!!Wednesday, September  11 - went and did first round of bloodwork.  I learned my progesterone and HCG was ok!

Monday, Sept 20 - I met with the nurse to fill out all the paperwork and drink the nasty orange drink for my second major round of bloodwork.

Friday, October 4 – had my first ultrasound and saw a beautiful heartbeat (156 bmp).  Also had my first midwife appointment with Carissa, the newest addition to the midwife team.

When are you due? 
There was a little debate as I have really LONG cycles and they had me due around May 8.  But I knew exactly when I ovulated (well, within a day or so) and the ultrasound confirmed my dating.  So May 21st it is.    That means that Ellie and her little brother or sister will be about 25 months apart.

So, how far along does that make you?
I'm in week 8!

How are you feeling?
Well, I've been trying really hard not to complain.  Because I am so so thankful that it took no time at all this round to get pregnant and that things are working so far.   So this will be my one time shot to say that I have been SO sick, maybe even worse than I had with Ellie.  (can you say girl again maybe?)  I’m on Zofran and an additional drug for the nights that makes me sleepy.  It’s helped marginally but I’m still puking, losing weight, and being a slug of a mom.  William has been a rock star and has stepped up with everything else that’s falling apart around here including food prep, cleaning, and keeping the kids alive.  Just praying me through until second trimester.  I’m looking forward to eating anything besides Saltine crackers!

Will you find out the sex (and tell us)?
Yes and yes.  We'll be finding out late December and will definitely share the news!  I love that all “pressure” is off for the this baby.  Boy or girl, we’d be thrilled.  I’d love for O to have a brother and E to have a sis.  I’d love to open Owen’s tubs of clothes again but all of Ellison’s hair bows could use another use.  So either way, it’ll be great!

Prayers Needed

We do need to ask for prayers for one more thing.  During the ultrasound, they found a small 1 cm subchorionic hemorrhage/hematoma.  It’s basically the pooling of blood between the chorion, a membrane surrounding the embryo, and the uterine wall.  She tried to make me not scared saying it doesn’t greatly increase our chances for miscarriage, but she would be surprised if I didn’t bleed.  So we have a plan for how much blood warrants a call/visit to the ER, etc.  Definitely makes me nervous,.  So just pray it heals up and doesn’t get any bigger!

Ok, I think that's it for now.  I’ve already started getting excited for the his/her birth story!  We are so thankful it took such a short time for it to work and we're in love with this little peanut already!

homeschooling: first 3 weeks in review

We are 3 weeks into our preschool homeschooling journey.  Basic summary: LOVE it! :)  It's been so fun getting him into a routine and there's only been one day that he hasn't wanted to jump right in.  And the nice thing was, on that day after some extra cuddles and some Daniel Tiger, he was ready for school.  I'm loving my curriculum and it's been a blast digging through my school files to find fun things to add in.  I also really love the workbox system we're using. It's definitely been a learning curve getting back into a routine of prepping school work every week, but I love how it's given our days a bit of structure, even if it's only 45 minutes. 

Ellison is still a nightmare (love you sweetie) during school time, so I'm trying all sorts of things to keep her busy and keeping her from standing up in the middle of the table throwing crayons and eating paper. Not that she tried that or anything. :)

Here were a few things we did last week while learning about the letter D (yes, we're going out of order).  I found a cute set from the Dollar Tree that had stickers, a cardboard "scene" and a couple cardboard dinosaurs.  He had a blast playing dinosaurs and loved the volcano part.  We had to recreate the volcano we did awhile ago.

Sam working with magnetic pom pom and Owen doing a puzzle

sorting capital and lower case D's

dino color puzzles

using pattern blocks to make the letter Dd

For our final activity, we did a dinosaur fossil dig.  I grabbed all Owen's small dinosaurs, a bowl of sand, and some plaster of paris.  I mixed together the plaster of paris.  I pressed a dinosaur down into the sand.

Then I poured the plaster into the dino shape and let it sit overnight.  It worked pretty well!

I buried about 15 dinosaur fossils and “footprints” in the sandbox.  It was really chilly in the morning, but he could not wait to get outside.  We took shovels and paintbrushes to brush off the sand and started digging.  We matched up the fossils to the dinosaurs that made them.  He stayed focused for almost 2 hours, digging, matching, re-burying and talking about being a paleontologist.  It was so much fun to watch!

 

 

 

 

Here’s to at least 23 more weeks of an awesome school experience!

Savoy Orchard Days

This afternoon, we headed just down the street to Savoy Orchard Days.  It’s a small little festival that’s held at a park just blocks from our house.  Owen hadn’t been big enough in the past to even try it out, but I thought this year might be the year he’d enjoy some rides.  We talked it up and he couldn’t wait to ride!  Well that was until he actually got on.Not a second after I took this picture, he started to scream that he wanted off.  Luckily the kind lady at the front gave us our tickets back and Owen was spared from going around in a slow circle.Ellie, on the other hand, could not wait to get on a small ride.  The ride “engineer” would only let her if she was strapped in with another kid.  Ok, whatever.  She loved it and went on it twice!
After we gave away the rest of our ride tickets, we decided to visit a booth of a friend from church.  Joy does amazing face painting!  Her business is called the Joy of Facepainting.  I’m not just talking about a rainbow or smiley face, but works on art on people’s faces.  Check out her blog here.

We knew she’d have to be fast with Ellie, so she did some quick little ladybugs.  Ellie just kept touching and looking at her arm.Owen had just won a car playing a game.  Joy simply looked at the car and recreated it on his arm (he didn’t want it on his face).Owen loved it.  We went to BW3’s afterwards to visit a friend who was serving that night.  He kept his hand on the table to keep looking at it and refused to wash it off during bath. Even though the rides were a bust, it was a fun family afternoon!

Curtis Orchard

We had a great first trip to Curtis Orchard with our buddy Sam!  This is one of my favorite C/U places to visit in the fall.  We got there super early so we basically had the whole place to ourselves for most of the time.  They had a great time playing, feeding the goats, eating donuts, and even going down the tall inflatable slide.  It was the perfect outing and can't wait to go back.

they were singing "the wheels on the bus"

they had fun chasing the kittens 

not sure who loved this more!

 

she had NO fear feeding the goats

playing in the train

classic Curtis Orchard picture 

so yummy - fresh donuts and cider.  The 12 pack we brought home was gone FAST.

As the summer draws to a close, here are two warm day videos for you of each of my crazy, fun kiddos:

weird nappers

So my children decided this would be the day for weird napping positions.  Must have been a tiring morning:

 

 

 

yogurt mess

At 17 months, Ellie is the messiest, pickiest, and slowest eater ever.  She'll eat breakfast fabulously.  Eggs, oatmeal, fruit, bacon, smoothie, pancakes.  Loves it all. But then it goes downhill fast.  For lunch and dinner she'll eat yogurt, some types of cheese, carrots, peas, corn, and most fruit (frozen blueberries being the all time favorite)  But that's it, she won't do chicken in any way, she'll rarely do ground beef or turkey, and won't do beans.  She'll eat cottage cheese if I blend it smooth with applesauce.  Skinny girl needs some protein.  

But aside from the food update (more for a record for myself), here's some adorable pictures and a video of a meal with Ellison: