Sunday, April 10, 2011

Pics of the kids...more to come next week.

Cort feels like such a big boy when he doesn't have to eat in his high chair.
Kind of blurry, but Creighton loved watching the tree in our front yard be cut down.
Baby Cort eating popcorn and watching a movie. Good thing his big brother loves any opportunity to get the handheld vacuum out and clean up!

My belly at 31 1/2 weeks. I said it was "big". Kiley took the pic, but I can't blame the angle for making it look big. It is...


This is one of my fav. pics from Creighton's birthday. Creighton was driving this monster truck and Cort clearly didn't trust him. His face was so funny every time they rode this.
I didn't have time to make Creighton a cake for his 3rd b-day, so we went with a store bought one. Kiley insisted on carrying it to him (I thought it would be a sure disaster) and then singing a solo version of "Happy B-day" to him.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The last leg of pregnancy and the first leg of the basement

I am almost 32 weeks! I feel it too. I am more fatigued and my shirts aren't fitting as well. :) This pregnancy has gone by quick and has been pretty easy, overall. All of my tests have come back normal and it seems we will have another healthy, perfect little babe in a few weeks. It's such a huge blessing to have 4 healthy kids (knock on wood). We are still on for a June 10 birthday, but there is always the possibility of going early. Baby stats: Baby size: almost 4 lbs and about 16 inches long. At my ultrasound on Friday, the baby was measuring exactly to my due date. The amniotic fluid was low, as it has been with the last two babies. I am not too worried, but will try to be more conscientious about drinking lots and lots of water. Mommy's size: Big......up about 28 lbs overall. We had a grandma here for a few days, I am blaming it on her. :) Blood Pressure: 128/66... a little high, but I had to run to make my apt...well, waddle/run to get there on time because an accident made traffic a bit slow. Heart Rate: 134...it was 143 last week. I am guessing another boy! So, since this is my last pregnancy (hopefully) I have tried to appreciate all the things that come along with pregnancy. To be honest, it's hard to appreciate weight gain, heart burn, sleepless nights, strange dreams, cravings, etc. I have more of a "been there, done that" feeling even with the fun stuff, like feeling the baby kick. I hardly even notice the kicks because I am so busy during the day, but when I put the kids down and can rest, I can see my belly moving side to side and up and down. I think that he/she may be outgrowing the space. I still don't know the gender. My mom sent up a heavily taped box for the baby because she wants the baby to come home in something new, specially for them. I have to admit, I have been tempted to open the box and find out the gender. I know I would regret it though. I am thinking that I may have to give the box to someone to hide so that I don't have the option to look if I have a moment of weakness. I am having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions and my Dr. noticed several occurred during my 10 min. ultrasound. I probably have 40-50 some days! She was a bit concerned about that and told me to take it easy, but how can a mom of 3 with a busy husband and a house in the middle of some big projects take it easy. I will do my best though. The picture of the baby on ultrasound was adorable, but I would think so, of course. Chad took off 9 days to get started on the basement. I have to admit we were at each other's throats for the first couple of days. He worked 250 hours of OT in the past 3 months and I became used to not having him here that often. We made it through the 9 days though and by the end, I was sad to see him go back to work. He took off another 9 days though in June. We ordered all the materials needed for the basement and nearly all of them have been delivered. Home Depot is fantastic. They gave Chad a contractors discount (maybe because he is the architect designing our basement....not positive though) and that was about 20% off, plus we pay 0% taxes since we had to pay for the permit. They even let us borrow a truck for free to get all the materials. We had planned to pay cash for the entire project, but the contracting dept. offered us 18 months no interest if we put it on our Home Depot card. So, we did and we'll just pay a few hundred on it monthly and then pay it off when our 18 months is up. Chad (and I, a little bit) took down the storage unit, moved it to the new storage room, rebuilt it (this is all Chad) re-organized our boxes (this involved me some), moved all the workout equipment to the new workout room, and made a big mess of the rest of the basement. Home Depot delivered everything, so we are trying to find a place to store all the wood, doors, carpet, tile, bathtub, vanity, etc....it's so much stuff! Chad did get one wall framed and the door installed today. He is planning to build another wall tonight. To appease our daughter, Kiley, he installed some nice screen doors on the front of the house today. It's hard to find screen doors for a double door entry, but I would like to be able to open the front doors to hear the kids playing outside and get a nice breeze. We would have to custom order any double screen door to fit ours and that was pretty costly. So, Chad made them himself. I will spend much of my week painting them, but will post pics as soon as they are done. I hope we can get our house back in order before the baby comes. The weather has been nice and the kids have been outside a lot. Creighton is living his dream helping daddy with the basement and other home repairs. I am going to get him a nice tool belt for Easter because he has started to slide different tools into his pant waistband and carry them around that way. Cort is finally old enough to venture outside as well. He is still too little to play on any of our play equipment and has to be watched pretty carefully, but he loves to ride in his car, play basketball, and use his brothers shovels and rakes. We don't see much of Kiley when the weather is nice. She gets home from school, cleans her room, does her homework, and disappears outside with her friends until 6pm, when she has to come home to eat dinner with the family. I will try to post some pics of the kids and the basement (when a bit more progress is made).