Day 243

We went to a birthday party of one of Steven's oldest friends little boy tonight. He's five, just like Aiden. They live out of town but both of their parents live here, so we go to his birthday almost every year. It's too bad they don't live here so our boys could be friends, just like their daddies!

 

My girl eating her cake and loving it!

 

 



Day 242

Rian and I went grocery shopping after AJ was off to school, I hate grocery shopping! Each Friday of the month, I pay the same bills in the same coordinating Friday (does that make sense?) For example, the first Friday of every month I pay the electricity, the second Friday I pay the internet and car insurance, etc. Since Steven gets paid weekly, we (mostly I) grocery shop weekly. I really want to look at everything and make it work so that I can start doing it every other week. That's my goal for after things are settled with the baby. I'm excited for it to be Steven's job for a few weeks after I give birth. :) We picked up The Smurfs from Redbox on our way out to watch later.

We had a lazy day and ended up getting burritos for dinner, yum! We had an early dinner and skipped going outside for popsicles like we usually do and got baths early so we could start the movie.

Afterwards the kids spend the night coloring.

Rian doing her first color-by-number!

She found the crayons and I marked which color you use on each number and she did it.

Impressed. :)

 

 

I'm excited Aiden has a three-day weekend! Tonight after I put them to bed, he called me back into his room because hew wanted to tell me something. He said, "Can you turn the light on? I can't think with it off." Turned it on and he said, "Okay, now I can tell you what I wanted..."

 

Steven also got word today that he probably won't start his position until January. It was a little bit of a bummer to hear, I'm ready for him to only work one job. But at the same time, we were both relieved. Now we don't have to deal with two huge transitions at the exact same time. A few more months...

Day 241

All those contractions yesterday and today: absolutely NOTHING. I was a little bummed this morning, but as the day went on, I wasn't bothered by nothing happening.

 

We're down to a number of days with just the two of us at home. She definitely has her awful moments, but her behavior has been tons better. I hope this next week or so is easy and peaceful. Her world's about to be rocked so we'll spend our days cuddling and reading. She is sooo into reading, she'd listen to me read all day long if she could!

 

I always check on the kids before I go to bed. Last night when I went into Aiden's room, he was on top of the covers. His bed was made! When I put him to bed, he was under covers. This morning I asked him about it and he told me he made it before he went to sleep so he didn't have to make it in the morning before school. Haha! He's so funny.

Day 240 (39 weeks pregnant)

I always cross across the street from Aiden's school because the parking lot is crazy. This morning after we crossed over, he asked if we could let our hands go. :( It broke my heart. He doesn't want to hold my hand at school! So not ready for this. Where'd my baby go?

Yesterday at my appointment, she told me I needed to start walking. She said to go to Walmart, blah. We did that when I was pregnant with AJ because it's way too hot for outdoor walking. I walked my days away when I was pregnant with Rian and still went overdue with both. So I'm definitely not motivated to go to my least favorite store and walk laps, especially with Ri. Not fun!

But our short little walk to the school had my belly super tight. So last minute, I decided to go walking at the park, since it didn't feel too bad outside. I walked the track twice (not sure the distance) and was contracting a ton.

39 weeks

 

It was super humid and since I wasn't prepared, didn't have water and I was wearing flip flops. The last part my walk, it became overcast! Of course. Too bad it wasn't like that the whole time. I had contractions allllll day long. But they were irregular.

 

Every time I think of my due date, I add another week. Just to prepare myself, because I'm certain I'll go at least a week. I'm so ready to get this show on the road and meet my baby!

Day 239

Guess what?! Rian can spell her name out loud! I don't remember how old AJ was when he learned, but this morning I randomly asked her and she knew it. Took me by surprise for sure. :)

My mom texted me this morning that they were slow at work, so she could stay with Rian while I went to my appointment. Phew! I left earlier than I usually do since they told me I was double-booked, hoping I'd get there before the other patient and be seen first. I didn't wait as long as I expected and was so excited when the nurse told me I'd be getting checked today. I gained 2 pounds in a week. I stopped gaining weight the entire last month I was pregnant with Aiden and even lost weight at the end of Rian's, before I stopped. Baby's still beefing up!

My midwife is totally convinced that I'm going to have small baby, she said she doesn't believe s/he will be anywhere near 8 pounds. Right now, she believes its about 6.5lbs. She marked "7#" next to my weight gain on my little card because she wants to know if her prediction ends up being right. I don't not believe her, it's just hard to imagine birthing a tiny little thing since my other two were... not so tiny. We'll see!

As of today, I'm 2cm dilated, 60% effaced and at -2 station. Progress! She did a "little" sweeping of my membranes, said my body's ready, we just need baby to cooperate and get in sync. All this time I've thought it was my body that didn't want to let my babies go, but as it turns out, its them! Stubborn little babies.

 

 

We are sooo close to the finish line.

Day 238

Temperature wise, it was a pretty decent day. But the humidity lately has been insane! We've gotten a little rain out of it, it always seems to rain everywhere but here, we mostly just get the gross, sticky weather. Rian spent the day outside with Daddy, of course. My mom and I went for pedicures and ran a few errands. I got a pedicure 10 days before Rian's due date and had some contractions that night. I thought I'd give it a try this time, plus I'm tired of doing my own toes! It was so relaxing.

AJ and I were sitting at the table doing his homework and he said, "When Rian grows up and goes to Kindergarten, do I get to stay home with you?" I explained to him that when she's in kinder, he'll be in second grade, that he'll be in school for a long time. He replied, "Then you can have some peace!" Smart little boy. ;) Let's not get ahead of ourselves, I can't imagine having two kids in school!

Rian chose to have cottage cheese instead of a cupcake for her after dinner snack.

She's always been a strange (in a good way) eater!

Day 237

This morning we were all hanging out in the kitchen, the kids were playing Legos and we had music on. Brad Paisley's "I Thought I Loved You Then" came on and Steven was singing to me. :)

Rian wouldn't stop staring at him! So he started singing to her, she just looked at him with so much love in her eyes. It was the sweetest. Both mine and Steven's eyes were filled with tears by the time the song was over.

 

Now you're my whole life

Now you're my whole world

I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl

Day 236

When AJ was in North Carolina in July, I started crafting for his party. Even before that, I ordered paper straws, cupcake wrappers and sprinkles from Etsy. We never have big parties for our kids, just family get-togethers. I really lucked out this year by getting things done beforehand. By the time his birthday rolled around, I had no energy to do anything, I'm so glad it was already all done or there would've been no decorations! Half of our usual party crew couldn't make it this year, so we just invited our parents over for pizza. Nice and simple! I didn't order a birthday shirt this year, but I ordered a "5" iron-on patch last minute and it got here right on time!

 

(There really wasn't a theme. I just threw different things that he likes together: puzzles, ABC's and crayons. In red, yellow and blue.)

 

 

Cupcakes

(And the forks with ABC magnets in them)

 

They had ABC sprinkles on them!

That crayon 5 looked better when I laid it out on the counter, before gluing it.

 

Just missing food.

Singing "Happy Birthday"

Always his favorite part. :)

Presents!

 

It was short and sweet. Everybody came at 6:00 and were gone before 8, by 7:45! Perfect for this pregnant Momma! Definitely enjoyed it being smaller than usual this year, it'll probably be my last year getting away with it. Next year he'll probably want a bunch of loud, stinky boys over!

 

 



Day 235

Rian and I went out to get a few things for AJ's little dinner tomorrow night. We were done at Target, but I decided to walk by the swings last minute, I've been needing to get one and decided to look at the ones they had. They were on sale! $12 off and with my redcard, I got another $5 off.

So now...

Everything's checked off of my To Do list!

And we're officially ready for baby.

Day 234

While I was cooking dinner, it randomly got dark and really windy. The kids couldn't wait to get outside.

It felt so nice out!

 

No rain, but there was a lot of thunder and lightening so Aiden wanted to go in. We took a shower and when we got out, it was pouring. Always exciting! It rained for 15-20 minutes. An hour and a half later, we lost electricity. Ugh.

 

Steven and the kids went to bed, I stayed up reading a book on my iPad and eating popsicles, that really came in handy! Reading without a flashlight/candle. I felt okay til I tried going to sleep around 9:30. First I checked everybody and they were all sooo sweaty. I felt so bad for the kids. Steven ended up waking up because he was so hot, or maybe because I kept complaining, and I told him I wanted to go to my parents' house. He was fine staying in the hot house, ew! Everything ended up turning on about half an hour later, but I wasn't willing to risk it all night! It felt so good to get in the car with the freezing a/c.

 

That was our excitement for the day. :)

Day 233 (AJ turns five, 38 weeks pregnant)

Aiden came into my room around 4:15 this morning. I had my alarm set, like I do every year, so I could give him a birthday kiss at his birth time. 5:12am. But I never went back to sleep, just laid there thinking about how crazy it is that he's five!

The night before we got balloons and I put up a banner, our little table has become the designated Birthday eating spot. The kids feel so special having it all to themselves.

All ready!

I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and put candles in them.

:)

Legos! So happy to have his own set.

And a popcorn piggy bank. The two things he's been begging for!

My five-year-old

(On Monday he walked into a wall at the grocery store, nice goose egg he has there.)

He was SO happy to be spending his day at school.

 

I thought I'd be pretty bummed out dropping him off on his birthday, knowing I wasn't spending the whole day with my baby. But it wasn't bad at all. Birthdays aren't sad anymore. I love that my kids are growing and changing and becoming these amazing little people. I'll always miss them being babies, but I haven't gotten teary-eyed over this one at all. I was able to sing happy birthday this morning and I enjoyed it! Usually singing it to them makes me cry. (Birthdays for my last baby will probably all be sad though!)

 

When Steven got home from work, he told him, "Hey! You look different! What's so different about you? You look like you're five now." So cute. :) Our big guy!

 

For his bedtime book, we read a birthday book and for his bedtime song, Happy Birthday, of course!

 

And I'm 38 weeks today!

 

Done.

Over it.

Ready.

 

The kids have known the baby will come "after Aiden's birthday." That's what I've been telling them the whole time. The other day he pointed to the day after his birthday and said, "Mommy, is this the day the baby's coming?" So cute. I can't wait to see my three little loves together!

Day 232

Tomorrow I'll have a five-year-old!

 

Baking cupcakes for his class as he does homework.

Crazy.

 

I actually didn't end up taking them though. I asked if I could and they said yes. But later was told a lot of schools only allow store-bought these days, I didn't think to ask that. Boo.

 

So after talking to the birthday boy, we stopped by the store on the way to school and picked up cookies and fruit snacks for his friends.

Day 231

Baby check today! I had my hopes set on getting checked. I know it doesn't matter whether I'm dilated or not, I just want to know! After waiting for about 30 minutes, I got called to the desk and they told me my midwife had just left to go check somebody. They said I could wait, but they didn't know how long it'd be, or I could reschedule. I told them today's my husband's only day off and I really didn't want to bring my crazy three-year-old on another day. I asked if they could call me when she got back, instead they had me go back about an hour and a half later.

Twenty minutes of waiting, I got called up again, now she was delivering! I told them to just reschedule for next week, then she told me she could try to get me into see somebody else. Fine. Whatever! I got called back quick after that, then more waiting for the doctor, who I saw for 2 minutes! Oh well.

The only time she had open for me next week is on Tuesday at 1pm and she double booked me and somebody else, so she said I'm going to be waiting awhile. Great! Which means I need to get somebody to pick up AJ from school, just in case I'm not done on time, and take Rian with me. That'll be an interesting appointment.

I felt like my entire day was spent waiting at the doctor's office.

We went to dinner with my parents that night, we got home in time for baths and to get the kids in bed by 8pm.

Aiden's always ready for bed since starting school!

Day 230

Steven went to Phoenix this morning to pick up a Jeep part. So I had to stay home from church to be with my cry baby girl. Hopefully she gets out of this phase really soon. Steven and I were both surprised that she didn't cry about me not going to the party last night. Progress!

My mom asked if AJ could spend the day at their house and he still wanted to go to church, so they picked him up. Rian and I got ready and ran a few errands.

I gave her a few of my old purses that I was going to get rid of. She has to pack one every single time we leave the house.

 

 

The kids were in her room playing later that night and arguing, of course. I heard AJ tell Rian, "You're wrinkling my heart." haha aw!

Day 229

There was a heat advisory today, until I think 10pm. Grossss! We were invited to a birthday party for a little girl of one of Steven's coworkers. He told Steven to bring the kids' swim suits because there would be a big inflatable slide... an outside party. Ugh! I decided to skip it. Didn't sound fun to this pregnant girl, at all.

 

I ate junk food, watched a movie and pampered myself.

It'll be the last time for awhile!

 

I was so glad to not be out in the heat, Steven said it was miserable. But he had fun because the kids did.

 

 

Day 228

Rachel starts her second year of college on Monday and the baby's coming soon, so my mom invited Rian and I to a girl's lunch. She chose Chinese, yum! I made sure to pick something spicy in hopes it'd put me into labor! I knew it wouldn't.

Leftovers as soon as we got home!

Day 227

 

I was doing laundry and noticed my belly button shadow on the wall, it made me laugh!

Day 226 (37 weeks pregnant)

Seriously. How in the world is my pregnancy about to end?! Full-term today.

Nothing new to report. I haven't even really been having any BH contractions. Like none at all. How boring! Just the usual pain and pressure.

 

My three baby bellies

 

This baby gets hiccups waaaay more than AJ and Rian ever did. At least twice a day. S/he also hurts me way more than they did. There's constantly a little round thing, I'm guessing a heel, bulging out of my right side. It hurts!

 

I'm certain I'll go an extra week. But for now, I'm just focusing on my due date, 21 days away. When the 4th comes, then I'll think about those extra days. Three weeks is such a small amount of time! Thinking about having four weeks left feels so much longer, even though it's not really.

 

I'm so ready, but I'm so not. So many mixed emotions.

 

One more week until my first baby turns FIVE!

Day 225

My boy is loving school, which I expected. Last night he asked if he had school tomorrow and when I said yes, he said "Yay!" Love his easy going personality. I see other little kids crying and it's so sad. :( I'm already nervous about putting Rian in preschool next year, she's going to be the difficult one.

When I picked him up, he said "Can I do my homework today?!" so excited! We get the packets on Monday and on the first page it says which section to do on each day. Steven asked him what his favorite part of school is and he said eating. :)

He loves telling me which color shirt he wants to wear and picking his socks for the next day. Just like preschool, he loves looking cool for school.

I didn't take a picture today, so I was curious to see what we were up to, on this day, on my first 365 blog. I didn't start it in January like I did this one. I started it the day after AJ turned two, so August 22, 2010.

August 13, 2011

 

We were in San Diego! We went there in between Steven and AJ's birthdays to celebrate and took the kids to the zoo. This picture was the very first thing we did after we checked in our hotel, stopped at the beach. It was chilly, so we didn't put our bathing suits on, the kids ended up wet anyway! Guess I should've known that kids can't resist water, no matter how cold it is! Even though we both remember what a crybaby Rian was that whole trip, it was still so fun! And I really can't believe that it was two years ago. Crazy.

Day 224 (AJ's first day of Kindergarten!)

Today was the big day! Seven hours without my baby. :( He was extremely excited!

Our first day of school must-have picture!

On his first day of preschool, I also wrote what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said Policeman. I asked today too, but I wrote it on the back instead. He said construction worker. I also take the same picture on the last day of school, minus the future job written down. Fun to do the comparisons!

We also all had to get a picture with the school boy:

Brother and sister

My beautiful boy.

My guys.

Our baby.

We got there pretty early, construction is still going on, but it wasn't bad at all this morning. Thank God! So we got there pretty early. We watched him play until the bell rang. Aiden was on the swings when it rang and he started looking around at all the kids running to their classrooms. Steven had me cracking up, saying AJ probably had no idea what was going on! Everybody was running for their lives so he did the same. :) 

The spot he chose at open house.

His teacher had all of us parents come into the room and she read the kids a book, "The Kissing Hand." Then we all kissed each others hands. So if either of us gets lonely, we can put our hand to our cheek. I was doing so well, then she had our kids give us a piece of paper with a tissue attached.

 I made the mistake of starting to read it before we left and I started crying. Really hard. I told Steven I needed to go and he said, "Just put your sunglasses on." By then it was time to say bye. All of the other parents from around the school were already gone, the only ones walking out were the us with the red paper, with the poem on it. It was so sweet of her to do something like that for us. I like her so much already!

Steven and Rian ran a couple of errands after we got home, I felt lonely. :( Happy that Mondays are early out though! AJ took awhile to want to tell us about his day, he kept saying it was secret. He was the same way when he started preschool, he'd start talking about his day around dinner time. 

Day 223

We have two books about Kindergarten that we've been reading all week, per Aiden's request. "Look out Kindergarten, Here I come!" and "The Night Before Kindergarten."

He is SO excited! I feel "ehhhh" about the whole thing. Part of me is excited, but more of me is just plain scared. These school years go by sooo fast. So many changes, so soon. But I pray that he continues to excel and shine and is the best student and friend.

We laid his clothes out, he chose to wear a blue shirt for his first day and picked his socks. He loves his socks! His blue uniform shirts are huge, so he'll wear them tucked in and I got him a red belt, since those are the school colors.

I can't believe I'm officially the Mom of a school-aged kid.

PS- Five years ago today was Aiden's due date. I'm sending my four-year-old to Kindergarten. For some reason, that makes it seem even more sad. He seems so little!

Day 222

Last night around 8pm, I started getting some sort of leak. It lasted until around 4am. I was up around 3 and was on Google, thinking my water broke and had a small leak. Around 5:30, I decided to try to get some sleep and call the midwife line when I woke up. But I woke up dry around 7:20. From what I read, it was probably my bladder leaking from being squished. Pregnancy keeps getting more and more awesome. ;)

Either way, it freaked me out enough that I decided I better get my bag packed. It feels way too early, seeing as I have a little over 3-4 weeks left, but I want to be as prepared as possible. This pregnancy has been complete opposite of my other two, so who really knows!

I tried making a turban headband for the baby, if its a girl, but it wasn't working too well for me. So I ordered one and will try to DIY more if I need to. It wasn't supposed to come until Monday but it came today!

With that, my hospital bag is fully packed and ready to go!

Day 221

This morning I took both of the kids grocery shopping with me. It's been awhile, I either go by myself or just with Rian. It was not fun.

 

Later that day, we had Aiden's open house. When we parked, I felt like I was about to cry. Augh! Crazy hormones. Who am I kidding? I'm a cry baby even when I'm not pregnant. I wished that Steven was with me, but I was okay. I was more concerned about him being able to come to the first day of school. (He is going! For awhile we were unsure because of his new position, but he's not starting for another week or so.)

 

His teacher seems really nice! She's very young, she just got married. I asked if there was another Aiden, of course there is! So I told her that she can call him AJ. He knows he's AJ, he responds to it, but I know it'll be confusing for him to hear "Aiden" all day and not be the one being talked to. So we're going to have to only call him AJ at home, so he gets as used to it as possible.

 

He wouldn't let me take any pictures of him in the classroom. Embarrassing mom already!

 

But he was okay with me taking one outside.

 

Afterwards, we went to Target for school supply shopping. Oh man. This most definitely will be our last kid. They get more and more expensive the older they get! I can't imagine having three kids wanting to play sports, get the latest gear and having to feed them. I'm a little scared! But they're more than worth it. Three is the perfect number for us.

 

It was a pretty tiring day, being out in the heat so much. Is it November yet?! I'm so ready.

Day 220

I love watching my kids sleep, doesn't every mom?

 

So calm, peaceful and angelic.

Day 219 (36 weeks pregnant)

This morning I had a ton of little contractions. They felt way different than the usual Braxton hicks I get, but later tonight I read that they're still BH since I'm not in real labor yet, they're just getting stronger and stronger. I also lost some pieces of my plug. The contracting continued all throughout the day, when I decided to time them, just to see if there was any sort of rhythm, they stopped! And then I only had a few here and there.

Aiden was due August 11, the morning of 8/3, I had one contraction around 5am. Steven and I got up and went walking, but of course nothing else happened. Rian was due December 15, it was past her EDD when I started having contractions when we'd go on walks. I wasn't expecting anything to actually happen this morning, labor-wise, but it was super exciting for me to know that my body's really doing something! I'm trying to not get overly excited that maybe, just maybe, my body will go into labor on it's own. Who am I kidding, I'll probably still be pregnant in five weeks!

 

 

The really strange thing was, in the late afternoon, I realized that I wasn't in pain. Right now I can stand, walk and move my legs without cringing. I'm excited to go to bed! Rolling from side to side is so painful, I think I'm actually going to sleep really well tonight.

Day 218

My kids have never been late sleepers, we wake up early around here! But to ensure Aiden's little body will be ready for school on Monday, this week we started putting him to bed at 8pm and waking him up at 7am. Usually we wake up around 7:30, sometimes 8ish.

He got right up, but went and laid down in the hallway outside of Rian's door.

:)

 

Even though he's used to waking up early, I think it's always harder when you're woken up by somebody/something, as opposed to waking up on your own.

 

He got a fresh haircut yesterday, pretty much all ready for school, minus supplies. I called last week to find out if there's going to be an open house and it's this Friday. I'm a little annoyed that I had to call to find out, instead of them sending a notification themselves. We also had trouble locating the uniform shop where the shirts get embroidered because the paper they gave me when I registered was from the 2011-2012 school year and the store has since moved. AND. The school is already in a horrible location, on the corner of two busy streets, so traffic is awful during drop off/dismal. So two weeks before school starts what does the city do? Rips the road up! Making traffic even worse. Awesome.

 

I don't like going into this school year with an uneasy feeling. But I keep reminding myself that I had these same feelings last year when he started preschool, and we both ended up loving it. I hope it happens again this year. Fingers crossed he gets an amazing teachers!

Day 217

Baby check today!

My weight gain's at 25lbs. Hopefully it stays around there! With Aiden and Rian, I gained more in the first half, I'm gaining more in the second half this time. Ready for it to stop.

I was so extra uncomfortable as I waited for her to come in. It felt like forever. We listened to the heartbeat and she felt around/measured Baby. Measuring small, only 33 weeks! She said she's probably under guessing, but she thinks it's going to be in the 7-pound range. I was pretty excited to hear that! Not that I didn't love my chunky babies. We'll see! I definitely won't be surprised if I birth another 9-pounder though.

My next appointment is in another two weeks. I was expecting it to only be a week away. Can't believe I'll be two days shy of 38 weeks next time I'm there!

Afterwards I had to go preregister at the hospital. Annoying. My midwife told me they moved it from Labor and Delivery, which has it's own entrance and parking lot, to the main part of the hospital. The main entrance's parking lot is all ripped up because they're building a parking garage. I was dreading going there. I had to park below a hill and take a hike to get there. And as I was sitting there, I saw that you can do it online ha! Of course. But besides the heat and humidity, I actually didn't mind the walk. It gave me lots of Braxton hicks and made me wish it were cooler so we could go on walks every night. When I was pregnant with Aiden this time of year, we went on walks really late at night or at Walmart!

Later after the kids were bathed, it was sooo nice out. And it was only around 6:45. We could've gone on a walk! But tonight we started our bedtime routine early to get Aiden's body prepared for school. Bummer! Wish I'd gone outside sooner.

First time wearing a maternity shirt!

Day 216

Steven and Rian were napping, Aiden and I were cuddling and watching tv. Our last week together before he's in school for the next 13+ years. I started thinking about how we're a week away from the day of his due date. Those first five years at home go by so fast. Too fast.

 

Wasn't this just yesterday?

 

Honestly, this doesn't seem real.

 

How am I about to send my baby to Kindergarten?