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).

Single Parenting, catching Vomit, a postponed b-day, and fighting with a 3 year old about taking a plunger into church.....What a week it's been!

Actually, what a last couple months it's been. Chad has been so busy with work the past couple months, I feel like a single parent. He is gone before we get up in the morning and we are in bed before he gets home most nights. He has been working 7 days a week for at least the last couple months or so. To add to the stress that causes, the kids have been sick for going on 2 weeks now. First, Cort was very sick for a full week, then Kiley was sent home from school two days last week and stayed home for a third day to rest. Creighton has been sick for a week too. I have caught vomit in my hand, a diaper, with my body, in a towel, and the more conventional trash can and toilet (if we can get to it on time). I can officially say that I am exhausted and would be willing to pay an arm and a leg to fly a grandma out here for a few days.



Speaking of Grandma's, we do have some relief coming in the near future. Chad took off the entire last week of March, which is spring break for the kids. Chad's mom is coming in for a few days and then my mom is flying in for a weekend. That week, Chad and I have a "to do" list 2 pages long. We have to get the first phase of the basement done so that in April we are ready for the electrical work to be done. Chad drew up the plans for the basement and it's looking very, very nice with 1 bedroom, a den with a fireplace and sliding frosted glass doors (very nice looking), archways, tray ceilings with some fancy lights built in (they have a name, but I forgot), the living room, play area, bathroom, workout room, and storage area. I drew it up on a piece of notebook paper, not to scale, and only a furniture layout. He, of course, drew it up in AutoCad, with electrical plans, ceiling plans, floor plans, construction and material plans, etc. He is clearly better than me at at least one thing. The fine details like the tray ceilings and archways won't be in the first, second, or maybe even third phase. He wants to have the bathroom done, storage area done, and I want the workout room done, before summer arrives, but it all depends on how busy his work is.

Creighton turned 3 on Saturday. It was a pretty miserable day for him. He has been sick all week and his birthday offered him no relief. To add to that, he was missing his dad so bad and was so distraught when Chad had to leave in the morning to head up to work. Chad came home around 4pm and we attempted to take Creighton to Chucky Cheese for a bit of fun. I felt so bad for him that I had taken him to Target and offered to buy him anything he wanted, but he was too sick and didn't want anything...not even cake. He did play some at Chucky Cheese, but wasn't having a ton of fun, so we will try again next week.

We have been vomit free for a full 24 hours now and I had to take the kids to church with me this morning, despite my reluctance. I would have left them at home and let them sleep in, but Chad had a physical at 8am. I think I'll be taking the Spring Ahead Sunday off each year from now on. Kiley fell asleep on the church floor, Cort cried over every little thing, and Creighton threw the tantrum of all tantrums over not being allowed to take a plunger into church. Seriously. Fortunately, one of our friends was in the parking lot and was there to help me collect my trio of crazies and get them inside, kicking and screaming...well, one was kicking and screaming, the other was picking his nose and observing his brothers antics, and Kiley was half asleep carrying in a pillow and blanket.

The weather is looking gorgeous for the next week. I am hoping everyone can get over their sickness, get some extra rest, and we can enjoy the spring like weather. One more busy week for me and then things will slow down at home. Chad's going to be busy until the last week of March and then hopefully by mid-May he will get back to a 40ish hour work week for a month or two. I don't want to wish for more than that because the firm is still struggling with keeping work consistently throughout the year. Hopefully, as the economy recovers, so will the firm.

Baby Stats:
I haven't' been to the Dr. in a couple weeks, but will go again for my 28 wk check up and glucose screen on the 18th. I still don't know the gender and am not curious at all. I weighed myself and am up 22lbs, but that's healthy and I'll plan to put on the full 30lbs by the end. I was hoping to stay in the 20-25lb range, but 30 is okay too. The baby is moving a lot, but is still a lot too. I have already noticed that this baby quits moving around 8pm and doesn't move again until around 7am. I hope that means it's already developed a sleep routine!

Hopefully, I will have some great spring time pics and happier times to share next time I update!

A couple new pics of baby Cort

Cort has been sick with a terrible cold since Sunday. He was feeling a bit better and I took him outside to enjoy the nearly 70 degree weather. This swing was given to us by the previous owners. The daughter, 21 years old, had a lot of memories with her mom on the swing and her mom passed away about 6 months before we bought the house. She wanted us to keep the swing and form our own memories, and that we have.

He is starting to try and do more things on his own. He put on two mis-matched socks and tried for a good 15 min. to put on his shoes with little success. (prior photo)

Random Pictures...mostly for the grandparents.

I know these are old, but I know the grandparents have wanted to see how 30 month old Creighton squeezed himself into an 18 month old costume. You can see the pants end slightly below the knee. We couldn't win the battle though, he inisisted. Kiley was a pink pirate and Cort was a dinosaur. This neighborhood is great. Everyone paid in a bit and they set up some great haunted houses for the kids and several stops to pick up hot dogs and hot cocoa. I love how it's so family oriented here!!

Creighton helping daddy shovel all the snow. This is one of Creighton's favorite activities. In fact, he will do anything if it involves Chad in some way. Creighton is a worker though.

Bathtime for the boys. This used to often end with someone crying, but they enjoy the company now.

Baby # 4 is a..........

I went in for an ultrasound last week and was able to get a good litte peek at the baby. Everyone has been telling me that I won't be able to wait until the delivery to find out the gender, but I think I have finally convinced my husband that I can. I went to the ultrasound, turned my head when the tech got the gender, carried the sealed envelope home and gave it to Chad and I haven't asked about it since. Some days I think it's a girl and some days I think it's a boy. Both would be great and I wish I was having one of each. You can't have too many boys. They are so sweet and fun. Chad played sports his entire life and is really athletic. He would love to coach for the boys and would make an awesome coach. I think it would be a blast to have 3 boys. Kiley really wants a girl. She wants a "nice sister". She is very clear that she only wants a girl if she is going to be a nice girl. In my experience with girls (sisters) I think Kiley is unique in her niceness and would be much happier with another brother. She keeps telling us "well, you guys have rules and this is a nice house where everyone is nice, so if it's a girl, she will be nice too". I am not opposed to another girl. It would be fun to see what she looks like, dress her up, etc. When I think about what I'd rather raise though, a boy seems to be the easy alternative. We'll be so excited with whatever though. Chad does know the gender. We keep telling Kiley that the baby keeps it's legs crossed so the tech can't see what it is. I want for her to be surprised too. I'll post some belly pics and an ultrasound pic too.



Chad's been keeping very busy with a new VA Hospital in Illinoise. It's a good project for him to be in charge of because he is learning a ton about government and state standards and it's not just a design he can throw together without having to do a lot of research. I do miss seeing him though. I think the project deadline is the end of March, so I should have my husband back sometime in April. ;)

Colorado has had some crazy weather the past couple weeks too. Somedays it's in the 50's and even the 60's and a few days later it's in the single digits (which I haven't seen since I moved here!) It got to be 0 degrees one day and the news said it hadn't been that cold in 15 years!! In Nebraska, it's that cold a lot. I was fine with it, but schools shut down for two days because of the low temps. Hahaha....it's funny to me because I remember being in school in Nebraska and we had a digital board that said the temp. and it often was a negative number in the winter and we still all made it to school . I didn't mind the days off with Kiley though.

Our plans for the basement are taking way. We are going to start with an area to the left of our basement stairs and put in bathroom, storage room, and a nice workout room, equipped with surround sound, TV, mirrors and everything you need to get in a good sweat. Chad said to me the other day, and I quote him "I want to get buff". Ummm...okay. He was 215lbs when we met and has slimmed down to a svelt 190lbs. He is pretty muscular in all areas except the belly. I am positive there is a nice set of abs under the layer of fat protecting them. Once the baby is born and I have recovered, we have a plan in place to begin a pretty good workout routine and have even recruited some friends to join in.

The pregnancy is going really well. I did have a couple weeks where I wasn't feeling too well, was swollen, and had some headaches. My Dr. prescribed me Fiorecet for the headaches, but I am not sure how often I'll take it. I am not a person who takes a lot of medication, especially if it will make me drowsy. I am feeling a lot better now though and am in a good stage of pregnancy. I am getting lots of sleep, eating well...but a lot, and feeling pretty energetic most days. Here are some pregnancy stats:

Almost 25 weeks

Weight: ummm....I am in favor of scratching the entire weigh in process. I am not getting any smaller and the baby is healthy, so is it really necesary....they think so and I wasn't surprised to learn I gained 6lbs in a week. Ooops. I was really hungry for about 2 weeks, but that has tapered off. Anyways...up 18 lbs total.

Blood Pressure: This never really means much to me. I usually sit around 80/60, but can't really analyze what any change in the numbers mean. This week it was 118/60.

Baby is about 12 inches long and about 1 lb 3 oz. I can sure feel the kicks and all the movement.

The next 3 months will go by so fast. Chad is reading a book called "Your baby's firsts"...nothing like reading up on pregnancy, child rearing, and safety after baby #4! I guess you can't be prepared enough though.

Random pics to be posted in a few days!

Also, please excuse spelling or grammatical errors as I don't have time to run the check!!!

2011

Well, so far so good in 2011. We are now 20 weeks pregnant and everything is looking good. I have decided to not find out the gender. Chad is dying to know though. I told him we have to decide on a boy name and girl name and then never speak of the baby again, otherwise I am sure I will figure out what it is. I am not curious at all to know the gender and with the other 3, I was so eager to know as early as possible. I think I can make it to the end, but I won't be disappointed in myself if I can't. I don't know of a single person who believes I can do it either. :)

We are going to be finishing our basement this spring/summer...and I am sure into next year. The plan is to add two bedrooms, one large and one smaller that will be used for an office, but have a conforming window and a closet. We'll have a living room, bathroom, play area and large closet (about 6 feet long and 3 feet deep to house toys) a storage area, and a small kitchen. The kitchen won't have appliances until next year when we remodel our kitchen, but it will be tiled atleast. It will be nice to have it finished, but we get so much use out of it now, being partially finished, that I can't imagine not being able to use the space all summer. I am not sure how much value it will add to our house since it's a 5th and 6th bedroom and 4th bathroom-I read that a 3rd bedroom is the most profitable and value goes down after that because of necessity. I can't say that we don't need a 6 bedroom, 4 bath house though with 6 people and 2 dogs. I looked at comparables in our neighborhood at 4-5 beds, 4 baths, 3500 sq. ft homes like ours and the value ranged anywhere from $280K-$455K (the highest I saw in our neighborhood) Denver is so tricky with house values, there really is no telling what it will do for ours. On our street alone, values range from $200K-$350K, with an average of about $265K. We don't plan to refinance, but equity is always nice.

Chad's work has stayed busy for the past couple months and it's been great. I feel like a single parent some weeks and won't see him at all until the weekend, but we certainly can't complain. I am crossing my fingers that it stays busy throughout the year.

Baby info:
19 weeks and 4 days
weight: up 10 lbs.....but I feel way bigger and my stomach is much bigger at this stage then with the boys.
I didn't have an ultrasound this week so I am not sure on much info for the babe and I didn't hear my blood pressure.
Everything seems good though.
Placenta is still anterior, so I am not feeling many kicks unless they are to the side, but I don't mind. ;)

Church is having a baby boom! There are about 5 couples, including myself, who are expecting in a few months or just had a baby. I got to hold a sweet little girl, 3 months old, today and it made me want a girl...for the few moments. I think I am planning to stop working there around the end of May (last time, I worked there until the day I had Cort and I had to call in to our head pastor and explain to him that I thought I was in labor). I will probably take a month off and then go back only every other Sunday though. The alternating Sunday's it would be nice to go as a member and not staff. We'll see, we'll see......

Spring cleaning has began in our house. We had the carpets cleaned, although, I think I have already noticed a couple stains in our family room. Last night, we had the tile and grout cleaned and it's being sealed today, and next month we are having the air ducts cleaned and sanitized. This would all add up to about $1300, but we got a great deal on it from a friend of a friend.

For the first time in a couple years, we have had snow for several days in a row on the ground. It's been warm the past couple days, but we were still able to build a sledding slide from our neighbors front door, across their yard, across our driveway, and into our yard. The kids love it. We also spent about 2 hours outside in a 10 man snowball fight yesterday.

I am still looking for a pic of Creighton in his too small halloween costume. It's pretty funny...well, we think so and I am sure the grandparents will too.

Pictures from 2010

Kiley Nicole, 9 years.

Creighton Walker, 2 1/2 years.

Baby Cort (Cortlind Sawyer), 14 months.