OB checkup

More for my note taking than anything ;)

17 week check up
BP: good
baby's heart rate: 156
weight gained: 6.5 lbs. ACK!

Made an appointment to have another ultrasound...June 16th! Three weeks till we *hopefully* find out what we're having!

Being 8 is just soo tough!

Ben took this picture today while I was out and I thought it was quite comical! The little girl is my niece and yep, that's Austin floating in the background!

Picture of the new sleeping arrangement-minus the new beds!

Took this picture tonight of Andrew and Austin sleeping together. Hopefully soon I'll actually get one of them in the bed together! You can tell Andrew must have been 'reading' and Austin was looking out the window before they fell asleep. Such stinkers!

Embracing becoming a mother to 3...AHHHH!!!

Soooo many changes have had to happen for our family to adapt to becoming a family of 5! Thankfully, the changes have gone MUCH better than expected and my sanity is still intact. Well, at least I think it is for the most part!

On Monday, Ben and I decided to step out on a limb and ask Andrew if he wanted to sleep in Austin's room. He was soo excited! Here's a breakdown of how it's going:

Monday
took 2 hours for boys to fall asleep
Austin kept opening the door (he's gated in)
heard mild "arguing"
boys both slept on the floor next to each other (no idea why, there is a bed in the room!)

Tuesday
took 1 1/2 hours to fall asleep
Andrew asked to sleep IN the twin bed with Austin (very worried for Andrew's sake...Austin hates having people get close to him)
Andrew wakes up early (6am) but Austin continues to sleep til 7am (whoo hoo!)
Ben and I decide this is working so we go buy bunk beds


Wednesday
bunk beds arrive and Andrew is thrilled!
Andrew refuses to fall asleep on the top bunk (even though he loves it)
He INSISTS on sleep on the bottom bunk with Austin
takes them 45 minutes to fall asleep and Austin miraculously doesn't push Andrew off the bed!
boys are still sleeping when I go to wake Austin for school. I take Austin out of the room without waking Andrew!

Thursday
Andrew is settled on sleeping with Austin and Austin doesn't care!
boys are asleep within 20 minutes (hoping to get a picture soon)
get Austin up for school and Andrew is just getting up


Holy cow, who would've thought this would ever happen?!? Austin is VERY territorial and has completely thrown it out the window. He usually won't even sit next to Andrew on the floor or couch.


PLUS...this afternoon Ben and I sign the papers on our new addition. We will be the owners of a blue Nissan Quest (or as I like to call it, the big blue bus). I'm sad to see my SUV go (a Mazda Tribute). I am now driving a mommy mobile. Never thought that would happen!

Austin's 8th birthday

As you can see from the birthday ticker, Austin's 8th birthday was Saturday. We didn't have a party for him this year (it stresses him out) but we had a small family party at my parent's house for him. Austin is obsessed with Veggie Tales so my sis appropriately made him a really cool Larry the cucumber cake.



Austin got great presents, including this really cool shirt from my parents.




Yes, that's Christmas wrapping paper! It's all I had in the house! At least it's not Christmas colors! LOL



My sis and her husband bought Austin a gift that was recommended by some RTS parents and it was a hit! They bought the Little Einstein's piano and he LOVES it. Great toy! It's not extremely loud like some of his other toys and it lights up!

All in all, Austin had a great birthday and loved having everyone sing him 'Happy Birthday' all day!

Wanted: Advice and Ideas!

What do you do when you're expecting your third child and your house can only accommodate 2 comfortably? Ask the experts!

Our house isn't very spacious. No open rooms, no vaulted ceilings, no walk in closets. It's more like a two story built in 1880 with original doors that have knobs that don't work, tiny tiny closets, and more walls than needed. I'd take a picture but currently my sleep comes before housecleaning. =)

So where will we put our newest addition? We honestly have no 'perfect' solution. We have two obvious options. Both will cause major headaches.

Option 1:
Andrew moves into Austin's room and the baby sleeps in Andrew's room.

Problem:
Austin takes FOREVER to fall asleep. He goes to bed very easily but will play with musical toys, open his curtains, slam dresser drawers, etc. anywhere from 30 minutes to almost 2 hours. Andrew falls asleep immediately in his own room (with a box fan to drown out Austin's noise) so Austin would obviously keep Andrew awake. Austin also randomly gets up at the crack of dawn and slams his bedroom door. Not all the time but you get my point. No sleep for poor Andrew who is a great sleeper in his own room.

Option 2:
Austin keeps his own room which he needs and Andrew shares a room with the new sibling regardless if we're having a boy or girl.

Problem:

We'll keep the baby in our room for approx. 8 weeks but I'm a firm believer in letting babies sleep in their own bed. I value my rest too much! =) A crying baby and having me come into the room every 3 hours to nurse would also disrupt Andrew's sleep. I remember the nights of letting Andrew cry for 10 minutes and then hoping he would fall asleep on his own. Would this work with both kids in the same room?

HELP!!!

What would YOU do? Or What have you found that works for YOUR family?

Every option we think of is not an easy one by any means. Someday we will buy a bigger house but not any time relatively soon!

Austin's school pictures

Austin received his new school pictures recently and they weren't the best so we decided to redo them at Sears this year. He wasn't very cooperative...just wanted to look around. It was so hard to get him to smile! Here are my two favorite pictures.