Nolan's Celebration

On Sunday Melissa came down to take me to dinner along with some other friends to have a celebration for Nolan. It was very nice to get out and have some girl time and enjoy each others company. I also love that my friends want to celebrate Nolan with us and are just as excited as we are for him to make his appearance. Thanks Melissa!!!!

37 weeks

Sorry about the lack of posting. Last Friday my ear was still hurting pretty bad with the tylenol and sudafed not helping at all so I went to Urgent Care. I was diagnosed with a double ear infection and pink eye in both eyes - fun. Luckily this meant antibiotics. Unfortunately the antibiotics that they can give me don't usually work on me. So while I am feeling much better, I still can't really hear out of my ears and have that plugged up feeling. Needless to say we haven't been doing much around here this week. On Wednesday I also had my last official day of work and the boys are already asking when they get to go again. I hope the next month before school starts goes quickly!

Yesterday I had my 37 week appointment. Everything looked great and I gained another pound. With the boys I had stopped gaining at this point so yet another new thing this pregnancy is bringing me. My blood pressure and his heart rate were once again perfect as well. I am now dilated a "good 2", almost 3 cm and a definite change from last week. While my doctor thinks that most likely I will make it next week to my 38 week appointment, if I happen to think I am in labor I need to go to the hospital as my body is ready for him to come. This weekend will be getting all the last things done - grocery shopping, installing the car seat, and packing the hospital bag as we start the fun waiting game!

Picture Post

Just a few pictures of me and my boys, while we are still a family of 4.

36 week Appointment

I had my 36 week appointment yesterday. I was glad to have it as I caught a cold and wanted to see exactly what I could take to help me feel better. Once again everything was perfect with little Nolan. I gained two more pounds so I am up to 29 pounds total. Still well below both the other boys. I saw my doctor this time and we talked about the plan to deliver Nolan. I will be getting an ultrasound in 2 weeks to determine his size (although right now he is still measuring right on). If he is showing signs that he is really big - 9 plus pounds - they will probably induce right away. If not they will induce me at 39 weeks, which would be August 12th. He checked me as well and I am still only a centimeter and 50% effaced so no change from 2 weeks ago. Knowing my history however, that will mostly likely change in the next couple of weeks. We are very excited for him to get here!!

Resolution - hopefully???

We have been dealing with Tyler and his intense emotions for what seems like years (and I know its been years because I blogged about them 2 years ago). He goes from being just fine and happy to very angry very quickly. He has improved a lot and has learned to use words, take breathes, etc, but it still creeps out from time to time. We notice this happens the most when big transitions are happening - such as when he started preschool last year. Luckily he showed these behaviors at home and not at school. We also notice that they happen when he doesn't get enough sleep, which naturally comes with transitions. Well we went to the doctor on Monday as he seemed to be getting to have the start of a cold and I wanted him better before Nolan arrived. We saw a new doctor in the practice and as soon as he looked at Tyler's face and in his nose he asked me if Tyler was an intense child. I said yes and he then asked me about his sleeping habits and if he was restless, if he snored, etc. He thinks Tyler has allergies and he probably doesn't sleep all that well at night. He suggested we put him on a nose allergy spray during at night to see if that helps him sleep better and then in turn helps his behavior. The doctor has two children of his own that are more intense and for one of his children they saw an improvement right away in being able to control his emotions. So Tyler has been on it for a few days now and so far he seems to be able to control himself a better. However the past few nights he has come up to our room in the middle of the night needing us to tuck him back in. So who knows if its really working. We are hoping that this may do the trick. I guess time will tell with all the other new transitions coming up and how he handles them.

Adding Up

While Carter is rhyming away, Tyler is adding away. The thing that gets us though is we really don't know where it came from as its something we haven't been wok ring on with him. However all of a sudden he will put three fingers on one hand up, three fingers on the other hand up, count them and then tell us "3 and 3 is 6!" He does this with all numbers, all on his own, and it really comes from nowhere. I see him practicing it to himself from time to time as well. It is so fun to watch him learn things and all on his own!

In other news he has been doing great as a big brother. Throughout the day you can hear Tyler telling Carter that they should use teamwork when it comes to cleaning up there room or whatever else. Instead of just taking toys or getting upset when Carter takes one of his, he is using his words. The other day at church they learned about the story of the Good Samaritan. Along with it they made little first aid kits, complete with stickers. Tyler soaked this up and retold the story to both Justin and I. The next day Carter was upset about something and Tyler went and got him a sticker from his first aid kit to help him feel better. Priceless.

Rhyme Time

Carter is a rhyming man. He is constantly rhyming away. He will hear someone say something or see a picture of something and then tell us all the words (mostly made up ones) that rhyme with it. All day long we hear "son - one, mon, done, cun, fun, lun - they all rhyme!". Tyler still has a harder time with rhyming (he seems to try to match beginning of the words instead of the ending sounds) so hearing Carter rhyme all day is helping him as well. Of course Carter still only knows a handful of letter sounds while Tyler knew most of them at this age. Another way they are so different.

Ft. Collins

After we left the zoo we headed up to Ft. Collins to see the Kasks. They are back from Taiwan, but leaving for Korea so we went to celebrate Simeon's birthday and get a chance to see them before they leave again. The party was at a park, which the boys loved. They got to chase some geese, run around in the grass, play some corn hole with the bog boys, and play on the playground. Of course they also got their fill of cookies and cake as well. After the party the Kasks, the Roses, and us went to C.B & Potts for dinner. We stopped and got the boys some coloring books and they behaved so well at the restaurant. Which was great since we were there for over two hours. Really the whole day the boys behaved so well considering how long of a day it was. It was very nice to to get to catch up with old friends and get complimented on how well behaved our boys our. We couldn't be prouder of them!

Denver Zoo

On Sunday we thought we thought we would do one last family fun activity while we are still a family of four. So we headed off to the denver zoo. It was very hot, but we still had a good time. We got to watch the sea lion show, see polar bears, giraffes, elephants, flamingos, etc. The boys seemed to really enjoy it, but you could tell the heat was getting to them. I have never seen them walk so slow through a zoo before! They also had fun climbing on all the statues, getting some ice cream as a special treat and seeing animals we don't have at our zoo. Most of them were sleeping or staying in the shade however. They also talked about the differences between the two zoo. Like our zoo the grizzly bears have water with fish in it and the denver zoo doesn't, or how we can feed the giraffes at our zoo but not this one. And how our zoo has three baby giraffes and the denver zoo only has one. They fell asleep pretty quickly once we were back on the road again. It was a very fun morning!

Toy Story 3 and Savannah Claire

On Saturday we took the boys to see Toy Story 3. We didn't take them to the 3-d version as we figured that may be to much for them and they probably wouldn't keep their glasses on anyway. They were very excited as they had seen commercials for the movie and remembered getting popcorn and candy when they saw their last movie at the theater last summer with Oma and Opa. At one point in the movie Tyler noticed a part from the commercial and shouted out "that's why!". I guess he was wondering why something happened in the movie. They did pretty well. Towards the end Tyler started asking to go home and saying he was tired. Carter sat in my lap for the last 30 minutes or so as well. After the movie Tyler told me he didn't like the trash truck scene, which I will admit was pretty intense. He even said he wouldn't want to watch it at home. Carter said he would want to though. They are now acting out parts of the movie. Their favorite part to act is the the loud screaming monkey - fun times.

After the movie we headed up to Broomfield to see Lindsay, Randy and their new baby girl Savannah Claire. Savannah was born Friday night on their one year wedding anniversary! She is beautiful and was such a great baby while we were there visiting. Carter wanted to hold her, but Tyler pretty much ignored until it was time to go and then he didn't want to leave. It was nice that they got to see how small their new baby brother is going to be though. Congrats Lindsay and Randy she is so precious!!!!!!!!

Last Tee-Ball Game

After Carter's last swimming lesson we had Tyler's last tee-ball game. I must say I am somewhat relieved this crazy schedule is over for now. Tyler did a great job during the games. He would get bored from time to time in the field when the ball never came to him and would play around. However whenever he got to be pitcher he always did a great job getting the ball and throwing it right to first base. He also always did a great job hitting (his favorite part). After the game they had a little celebration where he got a bobble head trophy. He loves it!!! It was so fun watching him doing his first sport! Here are a couple videos from tonight's game.

Last Swimming Lesson

Carter had his last swimming lesson today. He seemed to be doing really well, but he still didn't pass. The only thing he didn't pass however was submerging his face for 3 seconds. We have seen him do this on his own when playing however so I think we will just sign him up for the next level next time anyway. He scored excellent on water safety and jumping into the pool as well this time. He always has fun splashing around in the pool and did a great job! Two weeks straight of lessons was also a lot for him though so next time we will do it in the fall when its only a couple times a week.

34 week appointment

I had my 34 week appointment today. The iron pills are making me sick so now I am to take them every other day. She thinks I also may have been dehydrated so as long as I keep my fluids up if I need to drop the iron pills its not the end of the world. I was once again measuring right on and gained 2 pounds so I am at 27 pounds total. My blood pressure and Nolan's heart rate were perfect. She checked me again as well and now I am 1 centimeter dilated and 50% effaced. She said there was nothing to worry about however as I could stay this way for weeks. If I do start having constant contractions I need to go in right away however. So I am relieved I am still not on official bed rest just "take a lot of naps". I go back in 2 weeks and then its every week!

Nolan's Room

Nolan's room is ready for him to come home too! Last night Justin put the last things away in the closet and I filled up his dresser with all his clothes. Leah is making him a quilt that will hang over his crib that I can not wait to see. Hope Nolan enjoys his room!

4th of July

We used the 4th of July long weekend to get the rest of the painting done in the kitchen/living room/hallways. On Saturday Justin did all the prep work and the ceiling. Heather also came over which was a great help. On Sunday we did the walls. The boys helped for a little bit as well. However at the end of the day when we were looking at the paint we noticed some of it looked darker. We then noticed the paint can lids had different formulas for the paint tint on them. Lowe's gave us two cans of free paint for their mistake, but next weekend will now be another weekend of painting.

On Sunday night we went and picked up the glider rocker and the last of the baby items we needed. We then met Heather and went down to Manitou Springs for fireworks. It sprinkled a little bit, but for the most part the rain stayed away. The show wasn't as big as we are used too - only lasted 5 minutes or so, but it was still nice. Carter seemed to really enjoy it. Tyler says he did but asked to go home during the whole show.

Monday we relaxed so Justin would have at least one day off. We cleaned up some of the painting stuff, but still left all the tape on and worked some on Nolan's room. Carter also had swim lessons and he was the only one there for his class. Half way thru we wanted to leave but then his teacher brought him to the other pool where he got to jump in and he seemed to enjoy that more. While we had hoped to have more accomplished this weekend it was still a nice family weekend at home.

Pregnancy Update

Yesterday I started feeling a lot of pressure. I have also been getting very light-headed, nauseous, and just and overall feeling of blah for the past few weeks. The nurse that I talked to on the phone wanted me to come in just in case. Justin came home early and took the boys so I could go. The nurse practitioner thinks that I am anemic (worse than before) and also probably a little dehydrated, so I am now on iron pills. She checked me as well just in case. Right now I am a fingertip dilated and 50% effaced. Of course this could be nothing and just be normal for me or could be the start of something. I go back next week to see if anything has changed and make sure the iron pills are working. Since I got so far with Carter before feeling any contractions (6 cm) they are somewhat concerned about that as well. However so far everything looks fine and Nolan is perfectly healthy and that is all that matters.