Thursday, July 25, 2013

county fair

last night, we went to the fair with the bergers.  noah and grant rode on several rides, and i was so proud of noah for climbing up and sliding down the giant inflatable slide.  he was so motivated to do it because grant was so excited about it.  i was afraid he'd get halfway up or to the top and freak out, but my big boy did it without hesitation.

then they went on the kiddie roller... you know, the one that looks like a dragon?  after i mentioned it the night before, noah told me yesterday afternoon he wanted to do it.  i told him it would go up and down and be fast, but so much fun.  right before they got on, he gave me an uncertain look when i said it would be about a two minute ride, and then would end.  he nervously asked me how long the ride would be, and i said it would be fun and quick...  i waved at the boys from the other side of the track and hollered at them to hold on, and as they took off on that first turn, the sheer look of terror was apparent on their faces.  oh my god.  i laughed to myself, but inside felt bad for putting my scaredy cat on that ride that i knew might have been too much.  everytime they passed me, i waved and cheered, but i could see grant in tears and noah calling "mommy!"  when the ride ended, i ran over to help them off and praised them for being so brave and going on a big boy ride.  noah was literally shaking when he got off and needed help walking off the ride platform.  i asked him if the ride was fun or scary, and he replied "fun and scary".  i gave him a big hug and told him i was so happy and so proud that he went on the coaster.

from there, we tamed it down with the firetruck-going-around-in-a-circle ride.  then it was onto the kiddie ferris wheel.  noah had been talking about going on the BIG ferris wheel with mom or dad, but we were down to our last two tickets, so ben gave noah the option to ride the big ferris wheel or to ride the little ferris wheel AND the carousel.  of course, he chose the latter (but later wanted to go on the big one...  and of course we had no cash to oblige...)  anyway, he and grant went on the kids ferris wheel, and at first seemed nervous as it went up and rounded the top, but then started laughing and having fun.

it was emily's first trip to the fair and she loved seeing all the animals, and just kind of took it all in.  when we got home, we were talking about everything we saw, and she said "cows".  now, she's a chatty little monkey, and cow is nothing new, but last night was the first time she said the plural form of any word.  (she also said "toes")  she is definitely talking primarily in two and three word phrases now, and asks questions and makes requests.  at 19 months old, it just blows me away, since at this age, noah had maybe two words.  emily is also really coming into her little personality and sense of humor.  she plays off of noah, and makes jokes with him.  (ie. he'll ask "do you like me?" she'll say "no" and laugh)  she copies the funny faces he does or sounds he makes.  sometimes she just gives me a funny face or silly look for no reason at all, and then we both crack up.

Monday, July 1, 2013

the latest

from june 1st:

today marks 11 weeks, 2 days pregnant with baby #3.  the shock is starting to wear off, and reality is setting in.  i saw my OB three weeks ago and literally felt like i might barf on the way there.  i was so nervous!  with IVF, there are hormones, blood test, and early ultrasounds.  what if i needed the drugs to sustain this one?  what a huge relief it was to see the flicker of that little heart beat on the screen when the doctor did my that  ultrasound.  he said he saw it move.  i didn't.  i was focused on that flicker.  that was the thing i needed to feel like, phew.  this is the real deal, and the baby is fine.  it measured two days behind, which could have changed my due date, but doctor is sticking with december 19th.  we talked about scheduled c-section vs vbac.  he did say i am still a candidate for vbac if i go into labor.  i am leaning toward scheduling for early the week i'm due, and if by some miracle, i actually go into labor this time, we'll give it a go.

we told family, friends, and coworker, and went facebook official, so now all the world knows our big secret!  and it was in the nick of time, because my pants haven't fit since i was 7 weeks.  once we went public, i switched to maternity pants and that makes me happy.  :)  i've been feeling okay in general, but started having morning nausea probably around 7 weeks and heard the heartbeat on the doppler around 10 weeks.


summer time

ugh.  why do i suck at blogging?  i don't journal, scrapbook, or keep up on the kids' baby books, and my memory is horrendous.  i sure hope my kids aren't too pissed someday when my answer to their "when was my first _____?" questions come up...

summer is in full swing.  i am just about 16 weeks pregnant, and all things considered, doing well.  when asked, i keep telling people i'm tired, but not cuz of the baby, but cuz of the big kids keeping me on my toes.  haven't felt baby move yet, and don't yet have our gender reveal u/s scheduled, but i'm thinking girl, just because i'm feeling more similar to my pregnancy with emily and because my skin is gross and pimply.  girl hormones, i swear.  i want to know what it is and to feel it move SOON, because despite my growing waist line, it still doesn't feel real to me.  seriously.  i'm pregnant without IVF.  hahahahaha.....

noah finished up his first year at jefferson early childhood center.  he is academically a rockstar, and really a star student.  listens, follows directions, particatipates.  and really, he is great at the academic stuff.  it's the social stuff that's a struggle.  he is very social with familiar people, but almost *too* social.  he doesn't get person space.  he gets loud and pushy and right up in your face.  he's the same with emily.  he loves that gal to death, but seriously doesn't know his own oafiness.  he knocks her down multiple times a day and not usually because he's being mean.  on school days, when i'd pick him up from my in-laws, i'd ask who he played with at school, and he usually said himself, which made my heart sad.  i am not sure that is 100% accurate, but i had to wonder if it was because he was to "aggressive" with the other kids.

that stuff aside, he is taking a dance/creative movement class and a tee-ball class this summer.  he is loving both, and i think because he's not familiar with the other kids, he's still pretty reserved, just listening and following along.  it's hard because it's a fine line.  i want him to be social and outgoing and interact with all kinds of people (because i was not capable of that as a kid), as well as be a good student, but i also want him to learn those social boundaries so that he's not outcast or socially awkward.  we have another year of preschool ahead of us, and for that i am glad.  i've heard people gripe about the cut off date for school, which in illinois is september 1st, or people go ahead and put their kids with eleventh hour birthdays into kindergarten just because they are 5 by september 1st, but i for one, with my particular kid at this moment in time, even with three years of "preschool" under his belt, am glad that his birthday is after the cut off.  i feel sad for kids that don't have the opportunity that he has had to have four years of structured programing to prepare them for kindergarten like he will by the time he goes.

emily is my sweet baby doll.  the terrible twos are definitely upon up, with meltdowns and whining when she doesn't get her way.  i try to remind her to use her words and say please, but it just pisses her off more.  she is like noah in a lot of ways, from her silly sense of humor to her goofy dance moves, but different in even more ways.  she is the daredevil.  climbing things, trying things without a second thought.  for example, first time in a pool last weekend at a hotel in champaign for ben's cousin dave's wedding - noah sat on the stairs of the pool and screamed bloody murder when i held him in the middle of the pool and asked him to try to float.  emily stood on the edge and literally fell into my arms about 20 times.  she put her face in the water and just laughed the few times she jumped to me and i dunked her under water.  she is also stronger with her gross motor skills than he was at her age.  running and trying to jump, attempting a tricycle, and wanting to do everything "brudder" does.  she is a major motor mouth.  it's so bizarre because at her age, we were having noah's speech evaluated, and i knew he was delayed, with only about two words at 18mo.  em on the other hand - i have no idea.  i'd guess 100ish words.  probably more.  lots of "what's that" and "where's it go"  anything plus "peeeees".  animals, animal sounds, body parts, people's names, labeling everything she sees and trying to tell us stories.  we communicate with her with words.  and she imitates things that she thinks are funny.  "bad guy" was a recent phrase that cracked us up.  and her eating.  oh my gawwwwd, her eating.  she loves fruits and sweets, but will eat any and everything we put in front of her.  it is so refreshing!  i will say though, noah has come a long way.  this summer, we have a had a ton of fruit in the house since sis blows through it at a crazy pace, and we've convinced noah to at least try all of it.  light years from gagging down a nibble of watermelon with miss jo, his speech therapist, two summers ago.

on the agenda for the summer:

fourth of july festivities with the family.  fireworks, parade, bbq.  and of course, our 10 year anniversary on the fifth.  i'm off, ben works.  lol.  but i think i'll convince him to take me out to dinner.  :)  aside from that, we are going to south haven, mi, just the two of us next weekend to celebrate our anniversary.  i was initially devastated when our long standing plans to take a 10 year anniversary trip to an island location (ideally, the dominican republic) was squashed by our finances, but alls well that ends well, cuz we had been looking to travel in december.  (and now i'm having a baby in december.)  but ben promised me an anniversary trip, and a weekend on the beach with no kids sounds pretty fabulous too.  :) 

we are skipping the dave matthews band concerts this summer for the first time since 1996 (aside from the ones we missed the night of our wedding, julie & scott's wedding, and the weekend i stood up in anne's wedding).  i was kind of the bad guy on that and just told ben i had no desire to go (this was even before i was pregnant).  to spend that kind of money for the two shows, gas, hotel, food.... just kind of over it.  instead we dropped $200 on justin timberlake/jay z tickets, which has been a long time dream of julie's and mine.  we are going to the show with the bergers and the zemans and considering getting a limo or party bus.

piatt lake is on the calendar once again, this year with family coming from out of town, which noah is stoked about, as am i.  it's so much more fun there with a big group for my own enjoyment, but also for the kids enjoyment and for the family to enjoy the kids enjoying the cabin and the lake.

life feels busier than it actually is these days.  i feel like it's just go go go, chill for a minute, sleep, go go go again.  i will try for my own benefit to blog better and hopefully find more exciting topics to puruse.

xoxo