What we did last weekend

Friday Jerad had to leave bright and early for work. We'd had a loooong week already and I'd had to wake up both boys at 6 every day so we would be on time, whereas usually they are the ones waking us up. So I was looking forward to us all catching up on some much needed sleep but of course they have some sort of 6th sense about those kind of things and were both up at 5am. Normally I take the kids to our playgroup on Fridays, but they weren't meeting so I offered to take them to story time at the Library instead. Marshall begged to "stay home and JUST play" which was fine with me, because I could stay in my pajamas longer, so that's what we did.

First we did some playdough. Lately Marshall likes to "feed" it to his animals instead of building things. Its pretty funny to watch.

 

Notice the temporary tattoo on his face? Yeah, Jerad put that on and it will NOT come off. I keep thinking it'll wear off, but so far no luck. 

Miller was a little ham most of the morning as usual.

Around 10am I went to switch over the laundry and when I came back both boys were sitting on the couch zoning out. The TV wasn't on or anything, they were just sitting there like hungover little zombies.

We took a walk around the neighborhood, and when we came back they played together for over an hour. Usually when they play trains they end up fighting over a particular train, or getting angry because they both want to go different directions and crash into eachother, or Miller gets frustrated because he can't keep the long trains on the track... but this time they played TOGETHER. HAPPILY. For an hour.  And I got to catch up on my magazines. Heaven.

After lunch, Marshall made us all "ice cream" by blending frozen strawberries, almond milk, and a little honey. He loves using the blender.

 

After naps we played blocks for awhile.

By this point I was going beyond stir crazy, so we ran to Target, then went to the park for awhile before coming home and making dinner, and getting Miller to bed.

Jerad and I (meaning Jerad) have been working on the nursery after the kids go to bed and we let Marshall stay up a little later than normal to "help daddy work" and he was so excited!

Jerad and I fell in bed around 11:00 exhausted.

Saturday morning we woke up at 7am and, miracle of all miracles, both kids were still sleeping!!! Jerad has been working super long hours as well as most weekends lately so our to-do list has really been building up. He was going to be home this weekend and we had a list a mile long of things that "had" to get done. I started going over it in my phone and we were both like "blah, this sucks... lets forget that crap and go do something fun as a family!" We have season passes to Gilroy Garden's that we got when we took the kids for Christmas (which I still need to blog about... whoops) which is about a 2 hour drive away and had just re-opened for the season. So we decided to surprise the kids and try to jam out the door by 8am so we could get there when they opened.

By the time we made and cleaned up breakfast, threw in a load of laundry, packed lunches, loaded the car, and played with the dogs (who usually get a long walk on Saturdays), and ran to the bank to deposit checks and the PO to mail some stuff for Jerad's Corporation since both places would be closed on Sunday it was more like 9 before we left but still, not to bad!

Both kids had a BLAST! and I'll post more pictures in a seperate post because this one is getting long. But here's two:

 

Sunday morning we woke up with our two mile to-do list still there to greet us so we dove right in. Jerad installed a closet pole in Miller's weirdly shaped closet so that I could move all my clothes in there that I'd moved out of the closet in the master bedroom to make room for the nursery.

Then he weed wacked the back yard while the boys watched and Marshall yelled "don't get my bike! don't get the table!" etc, and I changed sheets in all 4 bedrooms, and vacuumed the upstairs and stairway. The neighbor behind us flooded our yard so the weeds had grown to epic proportions. We're hopefully re-landscaping soon so trying to get everything cleaned up so there won't be any delays once we have the time and money to do so.

Once Jerad was done and the rocks stopped flying, I helped him finalize the "back yard plan," decide what plants and landscaping materials we wanted to save and re-use, and pick things up while the boys played in the sand and Miller gave the dogs 800 kisses. For the most part the dogs just ignore the kids but this time Wyatt decided to kiss back and I happened to get a picture at the perfect time.

Adorable. And also disgusting.

Then it was time to clean up the front yard, street in front of the house, and clean out the car from the trip the day before.

Marshall and Miller supervised.

I brought out snacks for the boys to munch on while we bathed the dogs.

Jerad clipped them up to bathe them otherwise they take off and head straight for the dirt to roll in the second they're done. Silly dogs.

 

Marshall got in on the action too. I'm always reminding him not to water the cat when he waters the plants, so he thought it was very exciting that we let him "water the dogs."

By this point both kids were already covered in dirt and lunch and dog hair so I didn't try to stop Marshall from watering Miller as well.

At first Miller was annoyed, but he was laughing before too long.

 

My dad dropped off some lettuce, bok choy, and snow peas from his garden and between Marshall and Miller they ate a ton of "leabes." 

Then it was time for showers and naps. Jerad and I decided that since it was only noon and we were flying through our to-do list, we deserved a 30 minute nap while the kids were sleeping too... that turned into an hour and a half. Whoops. Once everyone was up, we took a family trip to buy new dog collars and leashes, shrink wrap for Jerad to wrap a pallet of solar panels that need to be shipped back, and grocery shop at Trader Joes. As we were checking out Marshall told the Australian checker "g'day mate!" Everyone was cracking up.

When we got back we tried, but weren't very successful, at getting the house cleaned up and everything organized for the upcoming week.

In the end we had a GREAT weekend, and even though I didn't get the laundry all put away, outgrown kids clothes sorted and packed up, and bathrooms cleaned. Our bedroom kind of looks like an episode of hoaders (but at least the sheets are clean!) but I'll live.

Sunday night I conked out around 10pm, but Jerad stayed up and got the final coat of drywall mud in the nursery so this week we should be able to get it painted and start moving furniture in!

Happy Hollows

Normally Friday is our playdate and catch up on errands and chores day. Last week we switched it up a bit and went to Happy Hollows! A friend was looking for something to do with her kids while her hubby was out of town and asked if we wanted to go and I figured 'why not... how bad could a 5-6 hour round trip with 4 kids under three years old be?'

Just kidding, it was a ton of fun and the kids were all great.

 

 

Marshall loved all the rides, except for one roller coaster that was "fun and a little scary," and Miller had fun too. I think we're actually going to go back in a few weeks for Marshall's birthday!

This was Miller right before I loaded him back in the car. I'd call the trip a success:)

Cleaning With Kids

You've probably all seen this meme:

Sometimes I can organize, and clean, and really get things done while simultaneously keeping the kids engaged and entertained. And sometimes not. Last night was the later.

Jerad was working late and I had the kids all fed and bathed and was mentally counting down the 30 minutes I had to go until it was time to put them to bed. Usually I like to spend that time playing with them, or helping them wind down by reading but since they were playing entertaining themselves I decided to tackle the mountain of laundry I'd been avoiding all weekend.

I brought it all out of the guest room and put it on the (vacuumed) area behind the couch and began sorting into piles. Jerad's, mine, the boys, towels, etc. Within 4 minutes Marshall came over and wanted to "help" me make piles; by taking things that I'd already sorted and making new piles sorted by color. Then Miller piped up with "here you go" and started carting things that I'd already folded back to the washing machine and putting them inside.

They both thought they were being SO helpful and were laughing and having a great time. Its moments like that that I have to take a deep breath and decide to be patient. In all honesty, even though they're being adorable, inside I do get so frustrated because COME ON! They were perfectly happy playing trains 2 minutes before which has got to be more fun than messing up what I'm doing, and if they just left me alone for 15 minutes I could have been finished. They're young and just not really old enough to "help" even though they want to. But, I don't want to squash their helpful little spirits and I'm hoping that once they ARE old enough to pitch in they'll still want to.

So, I just give up getting anything done and try to enjoy how adorable Miller looks toddling around with a pile of towels that he can't see over and commend Marshall on his decision to put the Thomas pj's in the "blue pile" because even though they are mostly red, Thomas is blue. We ended by playing a game of peek-a-boo with the towels and after they were asleep I decided I wished I was too so I left it all downstairs where it'll be waiting for me when I get home from work in an hour:)

Pregnancy #3: weeks 20-24

 20 weeks:

21 weeks:

  

23 weeks:

 

24 weeks:

Growing bigger as you can see! I had my second midwife appointment right around 20 weeks. The baby sounded great and everything was normal except I was measuring waaaay ahead. I'm very sure about the due date, and both ultrasounds have confirmed it so I think the baby was just sitting funny. For this pregnancy, I'm on the "have as few appointments as the midwife will let me get away with" plan. I love love love our midwife, but since she's also both the boys doctor and my primary physician (she's an ND as well as a licensed midwife) and I've been pregnant back to back to back I feel like I know her well and don't need all the reassurance and "get to know you" stuff that comes with the earlier appointments. Except for the normal discomforts, all of my pregnancies have been straight forward with no complications so I really don't feel the need to load up the kids, make the 1-1.5 hour round trip drive, visit with her for an hour (how long the appointments last), just to get told my blood pressure is normal, I'm not spilling any proteins in my urine (both of which I can check at home), and that the baby looks good. Especially now that I can feel and see her moving around like crazy.

So my next appointment is at 27 weeks, then as we approach the due date the appointments will get more frequent, but hopefully not too frequent:)

As of right now I feel pretty good. I don't need a nap to make it through the day, fall asleep pretty easily, and can usually make it through the night without having to pee. That said, I do go to bed usually around 8:30 or 9pm. Jerad has been CRAZY at work and usually has to stay up late doing drawings, bids, or permit packages and the kids are all out by 7:30 so I just do some cleaning, watch an episode of X-Files, then pass out. I have to get up at 5:30 most days so it's not like I'm getting an insane amount of sleep, usually around 8.5-9 hours which is nice. Sometimes on Friday's after our play dates I do sneak in a 30 minute nap while the kids are sleeping if I don't have any chores to catch up on.

I've gained the least amount of weight of any of my pregnancies so far. At 20 weeks I was around 5-7 pounds, and as of this morning I was around 10. I know I'll never be one of those people that only gain 20-30 pounds so I'm guessing I'm just going to pack it all on in the third trimester.

I have round ligament pain that's more severe than I've had before, but it's usually only when I'm going to bed and doesn't last for long so its totally manageable. So far I haven't been having muscle spasms in my legs at night which I had with both the boys, so I'm hoping that doesn't come till later. Or just doesn't come at all would be nice!

The last few weeks I've been getting lots of costochondritis pain and it's almost constant now, just varying in intensity. Costochondritis is an inflammation of the rib tissue near the sternum. Its most common in athletes, or people in the military who are doing lots of physical activity and heavy workouts. It mimics heart-attack like pain or a gallstone attack. I had it with Marshall BAD. If I rolled over at night I'd wake up literally screaming. It took forever for someone to diagnose it correctly. Basically I get it because I'm little, have a short torso, and get freakin huge while pregnant so my ribs really expand. Carrying this baby high isn't helping either. Even though it's miserable, there isn't anything to do about it or a way to cure it. An anti-inflammatory like Ibuprofen can help a little, but otherwise it usually goes away once the baby is born and there isn't so much internal pressure stretching everything out. I had it with Miller as well, but not as bad. Sitting, and wearing a bra make it a million times worse so my long work days really kill me. Well, "kill me" is probably an overstatement, but it is really really uncomfortable especially since the baby can now kick the same area from the inside. Putting pressure or rubbing from the outside helps so usually I'm doing that which just makes me look like a freak but oh well. Thankfully it's only on the right side and when I lay down and stretch out at night the pain lessens!

Going to the chiropractor helps a little bit, but it's soo hard to go and get adjusted and RELAX there with the kids. For some reason they don't enjoy just sitting there in the chairs with their hands folded nicely in their laps. I swear, they have the attention span of toddlers! Ha. Anyways, I'll start going soon but ultimately I'll have to just live with it until the baby is born.

I'm having lots of braxton hicks contractions, mostly if I get a little dehydrated or when I'm pushing the kids in the stroller or doing anything physical. I had the same thing with Miller, they were almost constant by the end. At this point they aren't painful at all and I like to think they just keep my uterus nice and toned. Miller just FLEW out so maybe the months and months of BH helped with that?

I know it sounds like I'm whining and really uncomfortable, but I'm not. For the most part, I think this has been the easiest pregnancy yet! I'm getting lots of rest, Jerad is around to help with the kids, and besides being a little uncomfortable I feel great physically and at this point can still chase and pick up the kids. At the same time. I mean, my body is growing an 8lb human... there's bound to be a few aches and pains right?

I'm sure as it gets hotter (we have three digit summers here) and I get bigger I'll be less enthusiastic with life so I'm trying to work on my to-do list now. A few weekends ago I hit up a consignment store that was having 50% off all their used kids clothes and got a bunch of girly things sized newborn-12 months so for the most part we have everything we "need" for the baby now. Hopefully we have time to get started on the nursery soon. I love having a decorated baby space to put their little things in. That's when it starts really feeling real for me:)

Easter Weekend

We spread our Easter Celebrations over three days this year and I took lots of camera phone pictures. You've been warned:)

Friday morning after the boys were up Jerad and I gave them their Easter Baskets. We knew they'd be getting goodies from all the grandparents so we wanted to space things out a bit. Marshall got a set of wooden dinosaurs and Miller got a set of wooden animals that I picked up for 75% off here. They are super nice quality, and instead of being around $10 per animal, I paid $2.50. I also put in a beanie baby for each boy that a coworker gave me, and some empty plastic Easter Eggs. They were stoked.

This is Marshall "roaring" with one of his dinosaurs:

 

Miller didn't quite know what was going on, but he hammed it up as well:

After that we went to our weekly playgroup. While the kids all played, we made tye dye shirts. I did a little newborn one for baby #3. It was my first time tye-dying so we'll see how it comes out.

Friends pushing Marshall in the hammock (they were all born within 2 weeks of eachother!):

After work, Jerad brought home a reach lift to cut down two trees in our back yard that are splitting and headed towards our and a neighbor's house. Marshall was OBSESSED and they played in it for about an hour before dinner, and another hour afterwards. He asked to sleep in it and promised he'd go "right to sleep and not cry." Sadly (for him) we didn't go for it:)

Late Friday night my sister and her husband came to our house to stay for the weekend and celebrate her birthday and Easter. They bought baby #3 one of the cutest and frilliest little newborn dresses I've ever seen:



Saturday morning I had a sisters day with Addy, Melinda, and Nicol, and Jerad dropped the boys off with my sister's inlaws (who are basically a third set of grandparents for the boys) and had a guys day with Lawrence and Steve.

While the guys golfed, we went out to breakfast, then coffee, then got pedicures.

Denise sent me a bunch of pictures of her and Dave having fun with the boys. They dyed eggs (brave!), played with baby chicks, and took a walk.

 

 

Meanwhile, my youngest sister sent me about 500 pictures of... cats. And her pretending to be a cat.

After pedicures, I met Jerad at his parents house where we had bbq pizzas and the kids hunted for Easter Eggs. This is Marshall's "game face:"

Saturday night after the kids were in bed, we went out for karaoke! This was kind of a big deal because I'm NEVER awake past 9pm these days, and we rarely get a babysitter and go out.

My littlest sister Addy and her boyfriend came to babysit and I promised her it'd be a piece of cake, the kids would just sleep the whole time, and it'd be the easiest $40 she ever made. Bwahahaha! I bet you can guess what happened. Right as we were leaving (about 9pm) Miller woke up and started crying. I tried to calm him down but he was just thrashing around, didn't want a bottle, didn't want to sleep, yet didn't want to get up either. I thought maybe it was just the noise of so many people being in the house, so we left and Addy texted as we were pulling out of the neighborhood saying he was already back asleep.

Then as soon as we got to karaoke, the text messages started again. For the next hour. He was awake. Wouldn't calm down. She thought he might have a fever. She thought he threw up (not sure how there could be any question about that one). She thought his pajamas were too hot. Maybe he was teething? Completely inconsolable. I finally offered to just come home (seriously, what are the odds, the ONE time recently I try to slip out at night?!?) but he finally went back to sleep.

Everyone except me ordered drinks, and despite the horrible singing, I think everyone had a good time:

Out of our group, Jerad and Steve were the only ones brave enough to sing. They even had a sweet little duet together:

By the time we closed the bar down at 1 and got home and to bed, it was 2am. 2 AM PEOPLE! I was awake for 20 hours, without even taking a nap. It's like I was a regular 20 something girl and not an 80 year old woman or pregnant with two kids two and under and working full time:)

Sunday morning Marshall woke up at 6:15, but layed in bed and played with Jerad's phone for a record 2 HOURS until we got up with Miller at 8. Miller woke up in a great mood, and didn't seem sick at all so I don't know what was wrong with him aside from the fact that he has a radar that goes off if I'm trying to get "me time."

Jerad and Larry got to work cutting down the trees:

Its hard to tell how high the trees are from the pictures, but the dog pen you see in the bottom left corner is 6 feet tall and setting on a 3 foot retaining wall to give you a little perspective.

The boys, especially Marshall, were facinated:

Pretty soon it was time to leave and go celebrate with my family. The boys had the cutest little outfits from Jerad's aunt Kanda and I couldn't wait to get a picture of them. This is what I ended up with on my first try:

Luckily, before the day was over I got a better one:

I'm seriously obsessed with their coordinating cuteness. They even happened to have shoes that matched each others shirts! I've really come to love boy's clothes over the past few years. Not that I'm not excited to get to shop in the little girl's section soon!

I also got a million pictures of Marshall pulling Miller around in his tractor:

For the most part, Miller is a really good sport about it... until he isn't:

 

  Miller took a turn too:

After that I forgot to take pictures of the Easter baskets and egg hunting and everything else that happened but I did get this one:

 

Despite them running on two days of no naps, we had a great day and they even had the energy to go visit Jerad's extended family for about an hour on our way home (which I also didn't get any pictures of).

I can't believe how fast they're growing up! Marshall "get's it" now, and Miller is old enough to hold his own basket and sort of hunt for eggs. As a reminder, here they are last Easter at 23months and 4 months: