Baby Update

After a VERY LONG night (kids kept waking all night long and I ended up for over 2 hours straight in the middle of the night), I had an ultrasound today and my mom came along to help with little ones. They did very well.

The first image we saw -

The baby says "Hi!"

It is truly amazing what you can see so early.  Each one of the children has developed their own distinct personality before they were born, and this one is no different. I cannot wait to learn more about this precious one! And yes those personality traits I saw, and felt, before they were born are still there today!

Katherine was the easiest so far and she was a fairly go with the flow baby. Joseph was active, and was almost always sucking his thumb. Isabelle was my most stubborn, and after a while we realized she was not sucking her thumb but her fingers. She would push her foot into an area that was uncomfortable for me so I would gently push it back. She would move it, for a second, and then push it back even more forcefully - she still does things like that now...

The baby's heart has been beating for weeks, and it is moving on its own already.

You can already start seeing facial features even though they will change before the baby is born. We have already seen the baby's heart beating several times now, but I still LOVE seeing that precious little one moving and that heart beating, especially after our previous loss. Being able to see the baby gives me such great comfort until the point that I can feel those tiny movements.

 Yes, the baby is facing a different direction. Last week the baby kept flipping back and forth. Sounds like I have another VERY active one!

The measurements are still right in line with the estimated due date.

On the way home Katherine asked what CRL on the ultrasound meant. So once I got to look at it when we were home I explained how they measure the baby. Then she got out a ruler and measured out the length they measured the baby (4.95 cm) and since she is not used to metric we looked at what that was in inches (about 2"). She mentioned how tiny that was. Later I realized that she really did not understand that the measurement did not include the baby's legs! I explained that to her and she felt better about it, and I understood by she was concerned. She did not think the baby was growing enough.


Katherine and Joseph are very excited about a new baby, but if it is a girl - don't talk to Joseph about it for a while when we find out! He says, "I will ONLY be happy if it is a BOY! I want a brother!" We will find out (hopefully, if baby cooperates) November 9th!

I "get" to do the yucky early gestational diabetes screening on October 12th. I had gestational diabetes with Joseph, but not with Isabelle. We are thinking that it had more to do with the celiac disease than anything and since I am following a strict GF diet I am not having the issues anymore - at least we are hoping!

We are hoping to have a good update on the house later this week or early next week! Hopefully we can get the house going soon or the baby will definitely be here before we move...

House and Family Updates

Okay I know it has been a while.... Life has been SO busy with getting ready to start building the new house, homeschooling, and working, ...

Last update we had just put a contract on land. That contract to get the land is contingent upon us continuing with the builder on the progress toward the house. We have officially signed the building contract with the builder and within 2 weeks we "should" have ALL the remaining paperwork completed and will hopefully be starting to build by the beginning of October! I will start posting pictures of that soon! :)

But we do have final plans, lot layout, and elevations done and ready to go! Everything has been priced out and we are also starting to fix-up the house we are currently in. LOTS going on...

I know these are not the easiest to see, but we do not have a scanner large enough for the plans to fit on so Robert took pictures with his phone of them.

 This is the house plans (that the builder modified a lot to make sure our needs were - and wants - were met).

This is the lot layout.

This is the elevation of the front of the house.

The other BIG thing going on, for those who did not see the announcement on Facebook, we are expecting another baby. Yes at the same time as all of this and no this was not planned by any means, but very much a blessing!

I am having a detailed ultrasound this week and will hopefully be able to post some of those pictures. I am now 11 weeks pregnant. At this point we are not sure if the baby or house will come first, but it looks like Robert's joke when we were first talking about it may be VERY likely - he keeps saying I am going to go into labor WHILE we are moving. I talked timeline with the builder last week and it is looking incredibly likely right now.

And we Have LAND!

Well, okay not fully, but we are under contract for land!

We are in the addition we wanted to get in, but so thankful we were able to start when we did - for many reasons, but the lots are selling like MAD all the sudden and we got the LAST interior south facing lot!

So we are in Olde Rockwell Estates (off SW 89th and Rockwell) and we are looking at plans to finalize that decision then we move on to the finalizing of plans and pricing out.

I will be so grateful to have Robert's commute be only 5 minutes instead of 45!

Joseph's two big concerns - Will we be further from the dinosaur museum? A LOT closer, so he is now VERY excited that it will be easier for us to go! Is there still going to be a pond where I can fish? Yes they seem to have an even better one than we do now. So he is now super excited as well.

Katherine's concerns - Will we be close to the zoo? About the same so no biggie on that one. Will I be able to ride my bike? It will actually be a lot easier because the roads are actually good! They are also not community roads like we have now (where the HOA is responsible for maintenance) but the city is!

Looks like we will be on City water and septic. There is also a play ground in the neighborhood so it will be easier to take the kids somewhere to play! Right now it is a 30 minute drive.

More to come as we go through the process!

Storm Damage

We SO needed the rain, but seriously could have done without the wind. Straight line winds make it look like a tornado hit. We are not seeing any damage to actual structures yet... But there is a TON of work to be done!

Robert went out to go to work to find kids play sets (not toys, but the toddler climber/slide, kids play house, etc.) in the ROAD. They were not anyways near the road when we went to bed last night.

We completely lost the pear tree. Kids are very sad! This was one of their favorites.

Katherine and Joseph standing next to the downed pear tree.

 We have had this same tree hit my straight line winds before (took half the tree before) and it survived and grew back in. I sadly do not think that is possible this time. :(

(Left) This is a limb that fell on the fence where the propane tank is. Tank appears to be fine and no odors, but not so sure that there is not damage to the fence around it.

(Right) This WAS one of the largest trees on our property. Several of the largest limbs toward the top where broken off. Hopefully the tree itself will survive. This is near the shed, which looks okay currently, but getting the limbs down may be tricky.

 This is our "lightning" cottonwood lost several limbs, but is THANKFULLY still standing! This is the tree that has been hit by lightning at least 3 times (that we know of and since we moved here). It was just starting to look a lot better!

Cottonwood tree limbs on the ground.

So you can see how big these limbs are Katherine is standing next to one of them. The limbs that the cottonwood lost (like this one here) are the smaller of the limbs we lost.

 Other miscellaneous pictures from around the property. I only took pictures of the significantly damaged ones even! Tons of smaller limbs scattered around everywhere.

Joseph's comment was the best! He was devastated about the pear tree, but when I said we would need help cleaning the limbs up (which is one of his favorite chores to do!) he said "This is the BEST day EVER!" I think someone is going to get a good nap on the way to the city today...

A Little Too Much Excitement!

We have had a very interesting past week!

First the kids and I did some baking together.

Joseph making No Bake Cookies...

Joseph mixing, before it went on stove. 

Joseph figuring out the cookie scoop.

Joseph admiring his scooping work!

 

One happy boy looking forward to eating the cookies!

And Katherine made BREAD - Honey Almond Sourdough (yes both projects were Gluten Free!)

Dough in pan before going in oven.

Baked bread cooling.

THEN... My brakes started making funny noises so we figured with the 100+ temperatures it would be best to fix Robert's car air conditioning... He and my dad put in several cans to recharge it! They also FIXED the tire that everytime Robert would air it back up SOMETHING on the car would break. The air conditioning seemed to be working better, but on the way home it was working less and less. About half way home the battery light came on in the car. So we just plan on taking BOTH cars into the repair shop first thing Monday morning. Get all kids up early Monday and we head out... Robert's car completely DIES right at the underpass for the highway - it ends up being towed in. 

Long story short, two days and about $1400 later... We now have two functional cars.

Other things going on... but going to save some for later. ;) Needless to say this has set us back a bit on trying to build the house...

Ah-Ha Moments

Boy we have had a week of them!

First was a BIG one for me - WHY, WHY, have I been trying to put Joseph down for a nap right after lunch (because that is what we have done since he went to just one nap a day shortly after Isabelle was born!) when Isabelle is just getting up for morning nap?!? By the time he is getting up, Isabelle is going back down and I feel I am getting NOTHING done all afternoon! He is not that tired at that point and fights me on it anyway... So new plan - Do afternoon chores right after lunch then put both down (if Joseph needs it that day) at the SAME time. DUH!

We were having Prayer and Scripture time at the beginning of school the other day and the kids provided me with such a wonderful realization... We were talking about how Jesus is "The Lamb of God." Joseph starts singing "Mary had a Little Lamb." At first I was getting rather annoyed. He is not paying any attention to me and I am trying to teach him... Then it came to me, wonderful as the Holy Spirit is, Mary did have a little LAMB. Mary had THE LAMB! He IS PAYING attention!!! Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was WHITE as snow... I so went with it! We talked about it and how it did apply. I got down the statue that I have of Mary hold baby Jesus and a lamb, and how Jesus was pure and clean (white as snow!), and how Jesus is always with us (Every where Mary went the Lamb was sure to go), and on and on... I know Katherine got more out of it, but what an amazing thing to happen... All because my dear sweet Joseph was "annoying" me! It made me really think about other things too...

Lastly... Thanks to the wonderful input from my sister and several friends we are starting to work seriously with "Parenting the Strong-Willed Child." I love these kids and the younger two are STRONG WILLED. But I do not want to break that will! I want them to learn to think for themselves, stand up for themselves and others, and be leaders NOT just follow what they are told! Talked to Robert about it last night as well and how I learned a lot of the skills while in school for Early Childhood Education/Child Development and I could do the EXACT things with other peoples children with NO PROBLEMS - but I had a horrible time doing the SAME thing with my own kids! I love my own children more and yet I cannot give them the same thing, and the thing that they need most from me. I cried... So we are going to make a conscious effort to do it TOGETHER!

With all of this today has gone much smoother, with a lot less fighting, arguing, and a TON less stress! Hopefully it will continue. :)

Homeschooling Realization... (One Year Ends and Another Begins)

I was trying to "finish" Katherine's second grade (just 2 subjects left, and those are ones we has switched mid-year because the ones we had started using just were not working for her - getting things right but NO retention of material!). WHY was I stressing both of us out? This is the reason I homeschool, right? So that we can ENJOY the time together and I can help her LEARN...

After yesterday's math lesson I was thinking THIS IS STUPID... It was on MEASURE CUPS and SPOONS! REALLY??!!! Like I have not been teaching her about measurements since she was 3! I know not all kids have that experience, but the girl can read and knows how to read a recipe and knows the difference between a cup, a half-cup, a tsp, and a TBSP already! So this morning I quickly glanced through the remained of the material for math for the year... Guess what - the ONLY thing that we have not already learned about was BEGINNING multiplication...

So we did a quick this is what it means and this is how you do it - like 15 minutes after breakfast. She has the idea. Like Robert and I were talking about later in the morning. She will be reviewing a lot of other things for 3rd grade math before they even get back to multiplication, and then will probably be re-teaching that anyway. I did not learn to multiply in 2nd grade even. SO we are calling it a year!

We are going to take the rest of this week and all of next week off - and THEN...

Katherine is starting 3rd Grade and Joseph is starting Preschool! Oh boy - two at once...

Joseph is starting to give up naps as well. He has not had one today and is still doing good especially with it being so close to 4 pm now! There are going to be some days where he needs one, but looks like most days we do not. Isabelle is also trying to give up naps, but the girl seriously needs 2 a day still. She gets so fussy and clingy when she just has one and then usually ends up asleep at 6 pm and back up by 9 pm and then incredibly difficult to get back down. We will probably be cutting back to 1 nap a day in the next few months, but for now she still needs both.