Maternity Pictures

I absolutely adore this family of mine. 

These two boys have been our whole world for the past 4 years and we feel beyond blessed to add another little peanut to our family.

We were lucky enough to take some maternity pictures with my sweet friend Jenn with The Minted Company and celebrate this new baby.

Jenn is a miracle worker because the boys were racing around being crazies and she made it look like they were adorable. 

 {I}

{B}

There is so much love we have for this baby before we have even met her. 

Baby #3 | Updates

Unfortunately blogging has not been a top priority for me these days, but I definitely want to document this pregnancy before this sweet baby arrives in just a few short weeks! So, we will consult Instagram for what was going down these weeks! haha. 

{22 Weeks}

Rolling over in bed has already become a challenge that requires a three point turn.

Leg cramps hit with a vengeance.

It seems like she is riding really low and I pretty much feel her hit my hips when she moves.

Her movements have become much bigger so others can feel her more consistently.

A little girl from the boys' preschool asked me why my tummy was so big, so I guess that means I'm looking pregnant! 

Just for the fun of it, I've got some comparison pictures from when I was pregnant with the boys. I feel a lot smaller with a single baby this go around, but at the same time, I'm realizing how blessed I was with the boys to not get absolutely huge.

{24 Weeks}

Baby girl is wiggly enough to see from the outside and Ian felt her this week! His eyes lit up and it was the cutest thing ever.

I leap out of bed nearly every night with leg cramps. Jesse always thinks something awful is happening, but nope, just those darn cramps!

I've been having Braxton Hicks somewhat frequently already. I don't remember having very many with the boys, but I'm definitely feeling them this go around.

Briggs comes up and rubs my belly at least once a day and says, "aww, your baby's so cute!" Melts my heart every time.

Everyone keeps asking if you have a name, and the answer is nope!

{26 Weeks}

I've been feeling like this poor baby nearly gets forgotten because I've just been living in my scrubs at the hospital and chasing these cute boys of mine. I promise I don't love you any less, I'm just a busy mama!

Still having lots of leg cramps and this baby gets the hiccups frequently.

{28 Weeks}

I started feeling really tired again this week and my belly is not happy for the last few hours of my shifts with lots of braxton hicks.

I've been feeling my belly really stretch to accommodate this growing babe.

One morning, Briggs woke up as I was heading out the door for work, and he immediately asked to feel baby sister. Moments like that make my mama heart happy. 

{29 Weeks}

This week we moved into our house.

I was given strict instructions by my sweet husband not lift anything and I tried really hard to follow that advice. I spent most of my time with last minute packing, delegating, and cleaning. And then I took a nap and went to work that night so I didn't even get to spend the first night in our new house with everyone else! 

{30 Weeks}

I've been feeling like I have a million things to do and not nearly enough time to do them all in! Obviously the house is in complete turmoil but we are really excited to have a nice fresh space to bring this baby home to! (once it gets put all together that is!)

My hips have been feeling pretty wobbly this week and my tailbone has been killing me this week. I blame all the moving and cleaning.

I had an appointment this week that showed everything was great: 

Baby's heart rate: 138 bpm

I'm measuring right on this week

I was told I could run a marathon with how good my blood pressure was, but since I get winded going up the stairs, I think that might not be a good idea!

{32 Weeks}

Baby girl is a night owl! She's super wiggly from about 8pm-10:30pm. Jesse and I love to lay in bed at night and just play with her. She must just stretch straight out because my whole belly jumps!

This week Jesse set up the crib and rocking chair and I committed to some fabric and a color scheme for the nursery. Grandma made some curtains and a crib skirt for baby girl and we bought some more adorable clothes. I cannot wait to put these cute clothes on our sweet baby!

{33 weeks}

We did maternity pictures this week! The boys were everywhere but where they should be, but thankfully our photographer was amazing and dealt with them so well. Bless her soul.

I had another doctor's appointment this week where I measured small, so we did a quick ultrasound and baby girl was measuring right on and fluid levels were great, so that was perfect. 

She gets the hiccups at least daily and typically several times a day. I always feel her hiccuping in the same spot down in my lower left quadrant of my belly. 

I also bought my first pair of maternity scrubs this week. 

Because I was put on bedrest with the boys at 30 weeks, I was able to survive in my regular scrubs, but I figured this go around I might need a little extra length. I can still make my regular ones work, but the maternity top gives me just a little more coverage over that ever growing belly!

{34 Weeks}

I've been feeling pretty good and baby still seems to have plenty of room to spread out. 

She moves all over my whole belly, until her daddy touches my belly and then she's calm as can be. She must be a daddy's girl already.

I started a new job this week down at Riverton Hospital! I was sad to leave Primary Children's, but when we moved, my drive became closer to an hour and it was rough. Thankfully I was able to get a job in the Special Care Nursery where my drive time is  closer to 25 minutes and I get to learn new skills as a nurse. 

{35 Weeks}

I sometimes forget how funny my body is when I'm pregnant until I see my shadow or walk past a mirror sideways. 

I feel like I'm living in my sweats these days.  

I've been very encouraged though because I can still see my ankles and wear my wedding band, both of which I couldn't do towards the end with the boys. 

{36 Weeks}

I'm down to the last month. It's blowing my mind! 9 months really does fly by.

I'm still feeling pretty good but I am slow moving in the mornings. A nice warm shower is my best friend in the morning.

My belly button has completely flattened out and is nearly invisible these days because it's so stretched. 

Sitting in one spot causes some serious rib and back pain these days.

I braved a trip down to St. George this week by myself with the boys. Jesse is out of town and I worked all weekend and finding sitters to watch the boys for the entire day for three days in a row was causing me stress, so I packed us up and drove down! I got a quick two and a half day vacation and the boys ended up staying almost a week. It was such a blessing to have my parents take the boys this weekend because my body did not feel good after those three days of work and I can't even imagine how exhausted I would have been to have to manage the kids after my shifts too. 

Briggs took this picture and I couldn't help but giggle at how perfectly round my bump is. Wow. Good picture Briggsy-boy!

Baby girl, we love you so much and can't wait for you to arrive! I'm hoping for a VBAC this go around, so everything feels new and different. It's a little weird having a delivery time be so up in the air, but at the same time I'm really excited about that! Of course Jesse is trying to get all his buildings set up and traveling in before the baby comes, so let's just hope she decides to grace us with her presence after Jesse is back home. 

F O U R

It's happened again. 

I blinked, and this time they turned four!

I can't believe how much joy these two add to our lives. 

They are happy, funny, giggly, opinionated, chatty, playful, imaginative, loud, busy, caring boys.

I absolutely adore being their mom.

Here are some tidbits about our cute boys right now:

They are really into sandwiches with "salad" {not so much peanut butter sandwiches for whatever reason, but considering they used to not like either, I'll take it!}

They are obsessed with the aquarium ("aqarion") and ask to go there multiple times a week.

They have been asking me lately what different animals eat. All day long I hear, "Mama, what do sea turtles eat?" "Mama, what do sharks eat?" "Mama, what do owls eat?" etc.

They also like to point out where different animals live and mostly focus on zoo or aquarium animals.

They have started being such better listeners lately.

They are mastering the art of sharing. I frequently hear them talk about whose turn it is and watch them play with something for a little while and then hand it over to their brother for a turn. They aren't always great at sharing with other kids, but they are sure great with one another. 

Since we moved (which obviously deserves its own blog post) the boys have been moved down to the basement and have transitioned to being a floor away like champs. In fact I'm pretty sure we all sleep better a floor away from each other. 

They have drastically improved in their social skills. We have worked really hard at saying "Hi" to other kids and playing nicely with them instead of roaring at them. We still have some work to do, but they are doing so much better. 

They always tell me they don't want to go to preschool, but once they are there, they usually do fine.

They love putting ties, fabric, yarn, blankets, or anything else they can find in the back of their pants and pretending they are cats, Mater, peacocks, or anything else they can come up with. Their cool grandma made them some peacock tails for their birthday and they have been big fans of them!

Ian

He does really well going to Primary

He has been potty trained since about last Sept, and was good nearly from day one.

He got a betta fish for his birthday and he calls it a "pirate fish." We don't know why but it's adorable.

He loves to sing and sings frequently throughout the day.

At bedtime lately he has really enjoyed snuggling in Briggs' bed with the three of us and reading the "Z is for Moose" book. He even tells me sometimes, "I snuggle Briggs" and fortunately Briggs has been OK with it because it hasn't always been that way in the past. I even went to check on them the other night and they had both fallen asleep together in Briggs' bed which is unusual because Ian typically crawls back into his bed before he falls asleep.

I frequently hear, "deal, mama?"

Asks for ice cream anytime we go through a drive-thru (which unfortunately has been increasing in frequency as of late.)

Several times a week he asks to go for a hike. He loves being outdoors.

Loves getting kissed by me. One day he commented on how many kisses I was giving him and that he liked it which of course made my mama heart grow and I smothered him in more kisses.

Briggs

He always wants me to stay in Primary with him. He does better if Jesse drops him off.

He's had very little desire to be potty trained, but we forced him into it for the past several weeks and now we are basically there! He even tells me that he needs to go potty now instead of me just taking him frequently.

He is very aware of baby sister and loves to touch my belly and baby talks and sings to her. Every day he asks to feel baby sister and tells me how cute she is. He also tells everyone he meets that there's a baby in my tummy.

He likes to have his "stuff," which includes his two pillows and blanket, especially at bedtime.

He also loves to sing and will announce what song he is going to sing before starting.

He wants me to hold him all the time. This doesn't make Jesse so happy these days. He's convinced I'm going to speed up delivery of Little Miss by 10 minutes every time I pick up one of the boys. He may be right...

He got two little tetras for his birthday and he calls them his "buddies."

Asks for my permission to be different animals throughout the day.

He's been very intrigued by his dimples lately and likes to look in the mirror and move his lips around so he can check out his dimples. It's one of my favorite things right now. 

Happy Birthday | F O U R

Our cute boys turned FOUR yesterday!

We started the morning with some happy face pancakes.

While the boys were at preschool, I picked up their cute daddy from the airport and we had a lunch date just the two of us. It was so delightful after a week apart.

They took treats to preschool to celebrate and came out with their lucky special Birthday crowns.

{B}

{I}

We then went to a bounce house place and let the boys run wild for a couple of hours. 

They were in heaven.

{B}               {I}

After the bounce houses, the boys requested pizza so we went to Pizza Pie Cafe.

They liked it enough that they tried to eat two pieces at a time.

We had one more surprise in store for them after dinner, and off to the pet store we went.

The boys thought it was the greatest thing ever and wandered around checking out all the animals.

When we told them they were going to get fish to take home with us, Briggs got super excited, and Ian burst into tears when he saw the cute little tetras we got.

Briggs proceeded to pack his little fish around the pet store and gave them the tour of all the animals.

He also told them to say cheese for the camera! haha.

After Ian kept asking for a big black fish and we looked through a whole bunch of black fish, we tried to redirect him to a beta. We asked him what color of beta he wanted and he requested a green one, so we found the greenest one we could find and he seemed happy with that so we ran with it.

The boys stayed awake until 5 minutes before we made it home and then crashed hard. So when we got home, Jesse and I put the fish in their aquariums and basked in what a delightful day we had. 

We are constantly in awe of these funny little boys we have and can't imagine our life without them. It's hard to believe that four years has gone by so quickly, but I wouldn't have it any other way.