R is 4!

The little one who made me a mommy turns 4 today, 4:56pm to be exact.  And I seriously cannot believe it.

Brand new...10/31/06

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It just keeps getting better.  I love the little person he is becoming, and I love being his mommy!

Keys

Yesterday I worked a 12 hour shift, 2 hours more than my usual.  And while I normally would be just fine, I think a combination of pregnancy and a brewing headcold had me ready to just sit down and not move the rest of the night once I finaly made my way home. 

While walking to my car at 6:45pm I realized that my keys weren't in my purse.  Crap.  I walk to the car only to find them still in the ignition, doors locked of course.  Lovely, just lovely.  Pregnancy brain.  So I call P, who sounded exhausted from a hard days work of playing with our two high energy little boys and doing the bath-time/bedtime rituals as a single parent.  He came and saved the day...

and I wasn't very nice to him when he came to my rescue.  Such a rockstar. 

So I finally left work around 7:30pm, only to return again at 6:30am today.

Both boys were up by 5:50am.  K actually got up at 4:30am and was ready for the day.  Normally I'd be grumbling about such an early start, however since I didn't see his sweet little self all day yesterday, I welcomed it.  Snuggling my boy was the perfect start to the day.  Before I left for work I told R to be super good and that I was bummed I had to go to work and not spend the day with him.  He said "let me give you a hug and a kiss so you have a better day."  Love that kid!

and so I am here, wishing I was at home.  I picked up some sort of cold, just in time for R's 4th birthday.  Hopefully my family stays healthy for R's big birthday bash next Sunday!  Anyway, the day really isn't too terrible, my kiddos at work are all being fabulous - totally atypical.  Perhaps it is the snazzy maternity Halloween shirt I am wearing today, or the fact that I gave them all Oreos with their 8am med pass...yep I am using bribery for a much needed mellow day because I am a rockastar of a nurse!

K is a little walking machine now.  Seeing his little mouth do its funny lip curl thing while concentrating - right foot, left foot, don't fall, repeat - just cracks me up.  He gets this smirk on his face, one that probably would mean - mom, I'm really doing it.  I love watching my kids learn, grow, love, live.  Motherhood is seriously the greatest job!

Hope your Halloween is full of sugar and kids in cute costumes!  We'll be living up the day to the fullest.  R has plans to go run in some muddy trails (his choice, however the fact he chooses this makes him totally our kid!), decorate the whole house with lots and lots of balloons, bake some cupcakes and eat them with chocolate icecream, and end the perfect 4th birthday off with a night filled with trick or treating.  So excited!

Oh boy...

K didn't sleep a wink last night, so neither did I.  Nope, it wasn't related to the excitement  of our big ultrasound either.  Teething little K was the culprit. So he took a nap at 9am the time we were suppose to wake P up to get ready for our appointment.  Instead of waking him up, R and I crawled in bed and snuggled with him, you know cause quality family snuggle time (minus little K) is way more valuable than being on time for an appointment any day, even if it is the big ultrasound.

The boys stayed with J, our babysitter, so that P and I could really enjoy this together.

I was instantly annoyed with the ultrasound tech, perhaps related to my painfully full bladder or the fact he insisted I wear a gown sans pants to avoid getting the ultrasound gel all over.  Dude, like I care if I get ultrasound gel on my pants, I just want to wear my freaking pants!  Anyway, he is so obviously a guy, because a woman would never require this silliness.

Within minutes P and I both eagerly declared baby to be a boy.  Boy were we wrong, it was umbilical cord.  After the images requiring a full bladder were taken, I quickly bolted to the bathroom.  Whoever thought that making it necessary for a pregnant woman to have a full bladder during an ultrasound is a complete idiot.  This is baby #3 and the first time that I have ever needed to have a full bladder for an ultrasound, apparently my city needs to get up to date with technology or something.

and then came the cross section of the umbilical cord.  Normally there are 3 vessels - 2 arteries and one vein - it makes a Micky Mouse sort of shape.  See I know this because of all that time prepping for the NCLEX examination.  I guess that random fact of stored away nursing school knowledge became useful.  Anyway, I instantly said there are only 2, that isn't right.  The ultrasound tech proceeded to capture several more images, and really focused on the kidneys.  I had to reposition several times to get a good image.  After he was done getting all the measurements he needed he proceeded to look at the gender.  

The cutest shout of  "YES" complete with jumping up, arms raised in the air was P's reaction to the gender news.  I, not surprisingly, began to cry.  All this because we found out our little sweet pea is a GIRL! 

and here is a 20 week picture.  Notice the big hair... done this way to minimize my hip size : ) 

(I wish I was kidding!).

And the most important picture of all.  Here is our sweet little baby girl who has a profile equally as perfect as her older brothers...

Anyway we left the ultrasound cautiously excited.  We headed to campus for P to do some work while also having a lunch date with his two girls : ).  We skimmed a baby name book - for girl names of course - in between the times that his students were coming in to pick up their labs.  Both of us were nervous about our sweet girls umbilical cord, and smaller size.  I forced myself to steer clear of google to avoid reading into all that can go wrong with a 2 vessel cord.  I met with my doctor for my appointment later in the day, she said she would get the ultrasound results tomorrow.  Fabulous, just fabuolus.  This meant for a night of worries and no sleep.  I asked her what could possibly be a result, she said kidney related issues and a small for gestation baby.  Since our little sweet girl is already small, we are just going to monitor her size.  This means more ultrasounds = more sneak peaks of her beauty!  She assured me that she didn't want to go into all the what ifs, and would talk with me more on the phone after she got the results from the radiologist.

Then today P got the phone call while I was at work.  She is perfect, just measuring a little over a week smaller than she should.  She has two perfect little kidneys, 4 chambers to her heart beating at 147bpm, 10 fingers and toes, perfect little soccer kicking legs, and a beautiful profile.  And now my rate of stress related wrinkles has decreased drastically, thank goodness.  A night a peaceful sleep is in order.  P and I are just so thankful to have our baby girl healthy.  And so here is to another shout of "YES" complete with jumping up, arms raised in the air.  Can't wait to add some femininity into this household of boys!  So excited!  Now she just needs to grow...

 

Enchanted Forrest

The last Saturday in September, my wonderful parents took us to Enchanted Forrest.  We started off the day realizing that P and I forgot a sweatshirt for R - miscommunication.  Lovely.  After bickering like the mature adults we are laughinging it off we came to this...

and I wish that I had taken a better picture of this moment.  R was wearing K's spare sweatshirt.  So what if it was size 18 months and R wears 3T, he rocked the look until we realized the gift shop had sweatshirts.  So R got to stay nice and warm and look really cool in it too...He looks like such a big boy in this hooded sweatshirt.

After the sweatshirt snafu, we looked forward to a beautiful fun filled day.  And that it was.  I am not sure who had more fun...I'll let the pictures tell the story.

 R got Papa in on the action.  Such a good sport my dad was going along on R's adventure.  Every once in a while I'd hear a little R voice say "come on Papa" as if my dad couldn't keep up at R pace

It was so fun to explore from R's point of view.   

 Papa even got in some time with his littlest (for now) grandkid.  I appreciated every moment of it too, gave my pregnant body some time to catch my breath after pushing a stroller up the hills around Enchanted Forrest.  I am pretty sure my already man-calves grew an inch in diameter after this day...

 and this cheesy smile of his just makes me smile

one of R's favorite thing at Enchanted Forrest...

 On the move...

Our little monkey.

R riding the train ride.  He was so excited as trains are one of his favorite things.  He eagerly chose to sit in the front.

Daddy and son on the Frog hopper, mid-ride high five.

and the only picture I have of my mom from the whole day.  She sure knows how to hide from the camera.

 P holding on like a little sissy girl for dear life.  R even told me "daddy was screaming during the ride"

Skeleton on my belly...

Possibly the cutest maternity Halloween t-shirt ever. 

The patch

We went to the pumpkin patch today.  I was thinking we wouldn't go, R is still struggling with a nasty cough that only exacerbates when he is running around.  However, given that I work on Saturdays, and P is gone next Sunday for an out of state interview, that left today as the only day to go before Halloween.  And our Halloween birthday boy just has to go to the pumpkin patch at least once.

We had to ride on a tractor to get to the patch.  R love it!

 

  

Brothers.  Looks like they are telling each other a secret.

And R found his perfect little pumpkin.

 R really straining to pick up this pumpkin

 Weighing the pumpkins

me and my littlest.

And my favorite pictures from today...

\after we got home, tired little R and daddy

They both had the sweetest expressions.