19 Months (7/18/2016)

GENERAL: I love this boy more and more every day.  He's so fun, silly, sweet, and smart.  He seriously makes me laugh out loud everyday.  His personality is getting bigger by the day too.  He's LOUD.  I don't know if it is his haircut or what, but I think he looks like such a big boy these days.  No more baby face but a real life toddler--soon to be big brother!

SLEEP: Overall, sleep has been pretty good.  Thankfully, he rarely has been waking up at night.  It has been a little harder to get him down to sleep, mostly because he doesn't want to miss out on the fun.  He yells, "MOMMA!" or "DADA!" really loudly until we go in there.  As soon as we peek in the door, he get a big grin on his face.  He has been taking great naps for at least 2 hours every day.  He goes to bed around 7-7:30PM and he wakes up around 6-6:30AM.  He yells for us again in the morning, but he is just the happiest guy in the morning.  If it's early enough, we will bring him back in to our bed to snuggle for a bit.  Ben comes to join in the fun too.  Such a great way to start the day!

EATING: Eating has been pretty stable.  Just like his big brother, Josh eats a lot of the same things all of the time.  String cheese, soft pretzels, fruit…those are pretty much the staples with some grilled cheese and fries from Culvers thrown in there every once and awhile.  We are really trying to get him to drink more milk.  He still loves his Cheerios and milk for breakfast!  I almost forgot to mention that he had pasta and MEATBALLS at my mom's house last week!  I was truly almost in tears I was so happy.  It's the (not so) little things!

COMMUNICATION/COGNITION: Joshy does not miss a thing.  At all.  Ever.  Just like someone else I know… He understands everything and slowly but surely is starting to use more words.  I love hearing his little voice.  He is starting to repeat us more often.  He's getting really good at some of the "harder" puzzles and loves coloring.  He could scribble for an hour at a time.  He knows he is supposed to color on paper, but he likes to color anywhere and everywhere.  He's still Ben's little shadow, for better or for worse.  He loves music and to dance.  I love how he says, "baby" and how he points to my belly when you ask where the baby is.  I cannot wait to see what he thinks about being a big brother!  I know he will be great!

FINE/GROSS MOTOR: Joshy is becoming more coordinated by the day.  He is a mini athlete, just like Ben.  He can throw and catch a ball.  He definitely can throw a spiral better than I can.  He's good at shooting baskets, hitting a ball with a bat, and swinging a golf club.  You definitely have to watch him though so he doesn't swing too hard or hit anything!  He is still jumping and climbing non-stop.  I caught him climbing up a stool in the kitchen and then opening a drawer, finding scissors, and "cutting" them in to the air.  This literally happened in about 45 seconds or less.  He loves pens, chapstick, and other small objects that he really should not have.

Joshy Pie, I love you so much!  Thanks for making me the happiest momma ever!  I love waking up in the morning and coming home from work and seeing your happy, smiling face!  I can't believe you're only my baby for 12 more days!  (Though technically my baby forever and ever…)  I hope being a middle child treats you well!  I know you will love being a big brother, just as much as you love having one.

37 Weeks (7/25/2016)

How far along: 37 weeks!  Today, I am 37 weeks and 1 day--exactly how far along I was when I got to meet Ben!  Crazy.  And only 13 days until we get to meet this one!
Maternity clothes: Yep!  Looking forward to packing them away though.  (Until next time…hahah!)
Best moment this week: I'm not sure if I wrote about this, but my ultrasound went well last week.  Baby is measuring small, which is just normal for me.  The docs were not worried at all.  The estimated weight was 5#8oz of sweet baby boy or girl!!
Movements:  Lots and lots of movements!
Miss anything:  I'm ready to move more easily again. :)
Sleep: Sleep has been rough this past week or so!  I've been up for 2-3 hours at a time overnight.  It seems like the minute I finally fall asleep I hear a little voice saying, "momma!" over and over on the monitor.  (Could be Ben, could be Josh)  I have been trying to not look at the time when I wake up in the night because that just stresses me out and keeps me up even longer.  Last night, Ben came down twice and ended up in our bed around 2:00AM.  I moved to his bed at 3:00AM and sleep like a dream until 6:00AM.  ;)  Overall, I'm just exhausted lately.  By the time I get home from work,  I can barely keep my eyes opened!  I had wanted to get caught up on my weekend blog posts but I just don't see that happening in the next 13 days.
Anything make you sick or queasy?  Strong scents are making me a little queasy lately.  I'm actually surprised that odors didn't bother me sooner this time around!
Exercise: I'm still doing DVDs when I'm not completely exhausted.
Looking forward to:  My cousin is getting married this weekend!  I'm also REALLY looking forward to meeting this baby!!!!  I'm so excited for the boys to meet their baby!  And of course Andy too!

36 Weeks (7/18/2016)

How far along: Holy cow!  36 weeks already!!  I had Ben at 37 weeks and I cannot imagine having a baby next week! Or in 3 weeks for that matter.  I can't even put in to words how quickly these past 36 weeks have gone.
Maternity clothes: You bet!  Not too much longer…
Best moment this week: We had another fun weekend that I may or may not get around to blogging about.
Movements: This baby is always moving!  I feel like he is really low, though not necessarily that he "dropped" like my OB asked me last week.  He still hangs out on the right side.  I love feeling all the kicks!
Miss anything?  It's getting harder to move around but I still can't complain.  I am also looking forward to having a glass of wine in the near future!
Sleep: Sleep has not been great.  I wake up most nights and if it's around 3:00 or later, I cannot fall back to sleep.  Sometimes the boys wake me up, and sometimes I just wake up on my own.  (Mostly it's those cute boys though…)  I've been having some pretty vivid dreams lately too.  I'm just more tired overall lately.
Anything make you sick or queasy?  Nope
Exercise: I took a few days off over the weekend due to pure exhaustion, but I was back at it this morning!  (Because Ben woke me up to go to the bathroom this morning around 5…then was crying when I made Andy put him back to bed instead of me…and then I never fell back to sleep.)
Looking forward to: I'm excited and a tiny bit nervous for the ultrasound on Wednesday.  I'm sure he's fine, but it is still a little nerve-wracking.  I'm also REALLY looking forward to meeting this baby in 3 weeks from today!!!!  We got the bassinet out and have plenty of newborn diapers.  We're ready for you, baby boy or girl!

35 Weeks (7/11/2016)

I am late again, but it's been a busy week!  We took this pictures this morning and clearly the morning light is too much, but you get the idea.  Oh, and don't mind Ben in his undies.

How far along: 35 weeks!  I saw my OB today and I'm measuring 2 weeks behind (not a huge shocker), so I'm going to have an ultrasound to check growth next week.  He truly wasn't concerned as he knows by now that I grow small babies, but he said we could do an ultrasound to put my mind at ease that baby is getting good blood flow, nutrition, etc…  This is actually pretty late in my pregnancy for something to stress me out a bit, so that's a record for me!
Maternity clothes: The Nordstrom anniversary sale has me way too excited to be done with maternity clothes!  I may have done a little damage this morning. :)
Best moment this week: I feel like I've barely gotten to see my boys this week!  I was gone for dinners 2 nights (tonight included) this week and I'm so sad when I don't get to see them at night.  And thus, the best moment this week was any time that my little family has been together!
Movements: Yes!  He seems especially active in the evenings.  (Or maybe that's just the only time I'm sitting still long enough to notice them. )
Miss anything? It's getting a little more difficult to move around, but I can't complain.  I think this is the best I've felt over all out of all of my pregnancies.  I could definitely do some cooler weather though!
Sleep: We went a good week with both boys sleeping through the night!  They were both up for brief periods last night, but it was around 10:30 so I hadn't even fallen asleep yet.  MUCH better than the 3:00AM hour!  There was a night or two when I couldn't fall back to sleep after getting up to go to the bathroom, but not bad at all.
Anything make you sick or queasy?  Nope
Exercise: With the exception of Sunday, I've done a DVD every morning since the last time I posted!  Love it.
Looking forward to: Tomorrow is Friday so of course I'm looking forward to the weekend!  I'm also looking forward to seeing this sweet baby on ultrasound next week!

Weekend Recap: 4th Of July Festivities!

It's already the weekend again (woohoo!) but we are having a low-key Friday night after a relaxing night of kite-flying, so I have some time to blog while we watch the Olympic trials! We heart summer over here!  We kicked off our long weekend by going out with some friends on Friday night.  I truly can't remember the last time we did something like this and despite my exhaustion, it was super fun!

My mom had both of the boys overnight again!  (Gotta get 'em in while there are only 2 of them! ;) )  They are lucky little guys!  Although it took them (or maybe just Josh) to fall asleep, they both slept until 6:30ish which is great for them!  They enjoyed a nice breakfast outside before it was time for the farmers market and haircuts.  Here they are saving a spot for baby:

Both boys were definitely due for a haircut!  This place is probably one of the pricier options around, but they do the best job.  Don't get me started on Josh's last haircut!  Look at all that hair!

Ben is used to getting his haircut and he was done in about 10 minutes.  This was probably Josh's 3rd cut and he was so brave!  He wouldn't crack a smile the whole time, but he was not crying either!

He wanted to hold Andy's hand for a bit.  Sweetie pie.

Look at the after!  So handsome!  And grown-up….whaaaaah!

They both took naps before it was off to Auntie Anna's new place for dinner!  She had a cookout and it was so nice!  Of course the boys loved it because there is a park across the street and they had plenty of playmates…and desserts. 

It was pretty hot out and the boys were tuckered out by the end of the day.  The snugglist boys ever. 

On Sunday, we headed out fairly early to see some of my college friends.  I do not get to see them much so it was so wonderful to see them!  It's even more fun that there are other kiddos for the boys to play with.  Look at these 2 trouble makers.  :)

A water table and a doggy.  What more could a little boy want?

Ben was a little timid about the boat at first because he did not want to fall in, but after he realized that wasn't going to happen, he did not stop smiling.

Josh and Beckett found the boat so relaxing that they fell asleep.  I couldn't believe Joshy fell asleep!  He is not one to miss anything.  :)

We were missing a few but these ladies (and babies!) make my heart happy!

And this was just too cute to pass up, Joshy putting the nuk in the baby's mouth.  Please let that happen with the new baby next month!  This is the 2nd baby he has been so sweet and gentle with recently, but it might be a different story when the baby is actually living with us!

We were pretty tired after a day at the lake, but Ben made it very clear that he needed to go help Nana with 4th of July desserts.  We dropped the boys off with my mom so they could get to work. Check out some of their handiwork!

They even got to eat dinner there. :)

Love that little face so much!

It's making me tired just reliving last weekend, but there was still another day of fun: the main event-- July 4th itself!  Andy woke up in the 5:00AM hour so he could go save us some seats for the parade.  The parade we decided to go to has strict rules about when you can start putting up chairs: no earlier than 6:00AM on the day of the parade.  Well, Andy got there a few minutes after 6:00 and there were no spots available for BLOCKS!  Luckily, he was still able to nab us some awesome seats!  He hung out there until the parade started at 9:00AM.

The boys loved the parade.  Well, they at least loved getting the candy.  Joshy loves those dum-dum suckers.  Thankfully he only wants to take a few licks before he drops it or just gets sick of it.  (Don't want him to choke!)  It's 4 days later and I think Ben has only had like 2 pieces of candy.  He truly forgets about it after the parade, which is fine by me.

The parade wore everyone out and we ALL took a nap after lunch.  I rarely fall asleep during the day, but being super preggo + hot makes me so tired!  We were over an hour late for our pool party because Ben napped for 3 hours!  Josh ended up waking him up without me knowing.  All of a sudden I hear "BOO!" on the baby monitor and I look at it to see that Josh had climbed upstairs, climbed on to Ben's bed, and was trying to scare him by sitting there and saying BOO above his head.  It was hilarious.  Even Ben, who usually is a little on the crabbier side when he wakes up, thought it was funny.

I was pretty tired by pool party time, so my pictures are limited.  Actually, I was exhausted at that point.  And that point would have been 4:30 after I took a nap.  Yikes!  It was so much fun though!  I wish I would have gotten pictures of everyone who was there!  I did manage to take pictures of the food.  What does that say about me?!  Yikes!

I didn't even go in the water, so thankfully there were other people to keep the boys happy!

We attempted a picture of the kiddos in the pool, but ultimately Anna had to combine 5 separate photos. :)  I love Joshy's pose in this picture.  Such a good boy!

These 2 flag boys were in heaven with orange soda.

We had big plans of going to my mom's again to watch the fireworks from her backyard, but we were all tired by this point.  I was afraid that Ben was going to be upset because he had been talking about the fireworks for awhile, but luckily I don't think he totally knew what he was missing.  ;)  We had our own "show" with glow sticks and sparklers and he was more than happy with that.  Maybe next year we will make it for the real thing!

Overall, it was an amazing 4th of July.  It is one of my favorite holidays and I'm truly so happy to live in this beautiful country, despite the horrible things that have happened here recently.  But I'll leave this on a happy note.  God Bless America!  Happy weekend!