Baby Boy

I have been really slow about updating the blog with the latest pregnancy news.  We found out at the end of July that we are having another boy!  Just last week I had another ultrasound and we got the above shot of his face.  I love to look at it.  I don't know--but I think he's going to be pretty cute.  :)

We're really excited to have another boy.   We'll even the gender score in our family and I'm excited for Nate to have a little brother to play with.  He's really excited about the baby.  I am constantly amazed at how aware of it he is.  He is always talking about when the baby comes and the things he'll do with the baby.  He'll point to an empty seat around our table and say, "That's where the baby can sit!"  He'll be a good big brother.

Elizabeth and Natalie are both really excited for the baby to come, too.  They like to think of names and talk about how they can help me when the baby is here.  I know they will be big helps.  They love to try and feel the baby kick, too.

Everything is progressing normally so far with this pregnancy.  No problems yet.  The doctors are always looking at the blood flow to the placenta and so far it looks great.  We're hoping this boy takes after his brother and goes full term. 

Starting up the shots again was hard this time.  I think because I wasn't feeling mentally prepared for it at all.  I started trying to visualize having a little baby in my arms as a result of all this and that helped a lot.  It's no big deal now.  The kids like to watch me do them.  Nate keeps on top of me pretty well and always talks about how the shots are one of my jobs.  Just today as he was riding his bike to the park he mentioned that "You have your shots to help the baby be OK."  He seems to get it really well. 

I got pretty sick during the first half of this pregnancy.  It was totally different though.  I have only thrown up one time this entire pregnancy.  That is really weird for me.  But, I just felt so nauseated all the time, especially at night.  I got to where I just wished I could throw up.  I always felt better after I'd throw up in my other pregnancies, at least for a little while.  Anyway, I know some women have it way worse--like being nauseated and throwing up all the time--but it was interesting for me to learn how terrible it can be even if you're not throwing up at all.  It's so weird how I've been sick differently every time.   All I can say is, I'm glad to have it behind me now. 

I'm feeling pretty big this time around.  I'm going to put aside my pride and post a picture Nate took of me a couple weeks ago, just because I know someday I will miss this, and because I don't have any better shots right now:

That is with 3 months to go! The doctor said I was measuring kind of big, too.  This may be our biggest baby yet!  We sure can't wait to meet him. 

Nate the Great turns 3

My little baby boy turned 3 last week.  It's hard to believe.  It's also hard to believe that he's only going to be my "little baby boy" for a couple more months.  It makes me kind of sad. I don't know if this guy realizes how good he's had it, at least compared to the girls.  We've had lots of time together, just the two of us.  And, let's face it, I tend to baby him a little bit.  He is the littlest right now.  I know the second the baby is born, he will suddenly seem so huge and that makes me a little sad.  I am excited for Nate to be a big brother.  I hope he'll adjust to the changes alright.

Here's a little bit about Nate right now....

He makes me laugh all the time.  He is always making these crazy facial expressions.  Here he is pretending to be a rock star:

 

He has this crazy boy-intensity that the girls never really had.  It tends to come out when he's playing sports or pretend fighting.  It makes me laugh.

 He loves nutella:

 He still insists on dressing himself:

 Sometime he takes a million pictures when I let him play on my phone.  I don't mind having to go through and delete a bunch if it means coming up with a few gems like these ones:

 He's learning and growing every day.  He loves to play at the park and is still a good climber. 

 He can draw really good faces now:

 He can also spell his name with magnets on the fridge.  He recognizes most letters, all colors and shapes and he can count pretty well too.

Although he is talking better and better these days, he still has some adorable little sayings:
-"Upswide-down"
-"Flee" instead of "three"
-"Moo-lawning"--how he says "mowing the lawn"

He hardly ever naps.  This makes his mommy frustrated some days.  But, he's doing better about staying in his room during quiet time anyway.  When he does finally crash somewhere, he looks pretty darn cute doing it:

 

 He makes his Mama happy every day.   I sure love this guy.

 

Nate seemed to enjoy his birthday.  He got to go out to "Old McDonald's" for lunch--his favorite restaurant:

 I labored over the blue Thomas cake that he had requested.  It didn't turn out too bad (thanks to this Pinterest tip), but the frosting tasted kind of weird. I'm not sure why.  You win some, you lose some. 

We had a fun night playing with his new toys. He loved the big dinosaur that Elizabeth gave him and the Dreamlites night-light that Natalie gave him.

Now that he's 3, we're on to a new adventure.  I'd been telling him that 3 year-olds don't wear diapers, just underwear.  Although he wasn't super thrilled about it at first, we made up a little potty chart and he's been doing great!  Today he was accident-free and has been going on his own.  Yesterday was a little bit rough.  I had to run to Target for some things.  I was so happy when he told me he needed to go in the store and even went on the public toilet, a very big step for him (after much persuasion and bribing with an icee).  Unfortunately, I committed the cardinal sin of potty-training: letting it slip from the forefront of my mind when I bumped into a friend there and got talking.  He ended up peeing in the cart.  One consolation--I was much more relaxed about this situation than I would have been a few years ago.  Maybe I'm learning something.  Or maybe my standards of cleanliness have just relaxed a whole lot.  I choose to believe it's the former.

As we're getting ready to check out, Nate of course reminds me about the icee that I promised him when we finished shopping.  So, he proudly exited the store, icee in hand, 1 for 2 on the day.  It could have been worse, I guess.

I just love watching him learn and the proud look on his face when he gets it.  We sure love our Nathaniel.

First Day of School

We had a little bit of drama when we discovered that the school we thought was the neighborhood school for the house we bought actually wasn't.  We were zoned for a different school that is a bit farther away.  Luckily, it all worked out for the best.  I really like the school the kids are going to.  It's a bit smaller than some others around here and it has a good community feeling.  I've been impressed with the teachers I've met and the principal.

For about a week before we were able to move into our new house, we had to commute to school from Stockton.  No small task when you have a half-day kindergartner and a full-day 2nd grader.  It wasn't too bad, though, thanks to help from family.  I was glad they were able to start on time.  Now we're more settled and trying to get into the school routine.  We're still having a hard time with homework and getting everything down, no thanks to sickness that has been going around the family, but I'm sure we'll get there. 

Now, back to the point of this post---the First Day of School!

They were a bit excited:

 Natalie, especially, was so ready.  Her first day was like an orientation and they had parents stay at the school the whole time.  I think she was a little disappointed about this since she just wanted to be on her own.  It was kind of funny how little she cared that I was there.  Now that we've had a couple weeks of school, she's decided that kindergarten isn't quite as fun as preschool was.  You don't get to play as much.  I think she'll warm up to it more as time goes on. 

I want to remember one more cute thing... Joe gave the girls priesthood blessings the night before school started.  One thing he made clear in Elizabeth's blessing was that she is a daughter of God and He loves her.  I noticed after the blessing that she ran off to get something and I later saw her with a post-it note in her hand.  I didn't think much about it until a few days later when I found this in her backpack:

I SO love that she wrote it down so she could remember and that she keeps it in her backpack.  She is a good example to me. 

Joe's 31st

We celebrated Joe's birthday in August.  He had three cute kids to help him get excited about the day, even if we didn't do too much.    

He requested a coconut cream pie which I attempted to make from scratch.   It wasn't so hot.  It turns out he was just thinking of dumping some pudding from a box into a crust and calling it good.  Now we know for next time. :)

 The kids kept demanding him to tell them what he wanted and he couldn't think of much.  Finally he decided on a fishing pole and that is what he got!