The countdown is on!

Well we are officially 35 days from delivery.  Unofficially we are hoping for only a few more weeks, so like 20 days!  We had our final sonogram last week and baby is healthy and growing very well.  I would like to get to 37 weeks, which is only 2 weeks away.  Contractions have been coming pretty frequently lately, so there is hope!  I am pretty sure they are Braxton Hicks but still hoping they are making some progress.  I go to the doctor again on friday this week, and we will see what she says. 

Little N is getting so excited about being a big brother!  We took both of the boys to a sibling class at the hospital that we are delivering at.  They were able to tour the area of the hospital that we will be in having the baby and then they were able to see the nursery area where the baby would be.  Also in this class they learned how to change diapers, swaddle the baby, and hold the baby.  It was so sweet to watch my little 3 year old take it so seriously!  For a little boy to want to play with his doll, was so fun to watch.  Big E on the other hand was not so excited about this class.  He didn't want to do any of the things, as far as diapering, swaddling, and holding his baby.  I think its just his age though, being 6 he really isn't that interested.  Even now though little N, is so fascinated by the baby doll and learning all the things that he is going to get to help with. 

Right now I am feeling quite overwhelmed though.  We received Little N's preschool papers in the mail and found out that there is a meeting in a few weeks (really hoping we can make it!).  Then there is school starting for Big E in the middle of August, so I feel a little crazy knowing that I need to get his school supplies sooner rather than later, plus school clothes!  Unfortunately I can not find his school supply list at the store, so I am in a holding pattern until that comes out!  Registration for school is next week, hoping that I can at least get the list before then. 

This week weather wise is going to be terribly HOT!  Heat indexes in the 100's!  So its going to be a challenge to find things inside to do with the boys, since its going to be way too hot to play outside.  Tomorrow we are going to see a movie, our local theater has $1 movies in the summer.  That's about all I can think of for this week!  Not a good start, huh?  I guess I need to be more creative!!

Nursery Finished...

I finally think the nursery for this new baby is finished!  We need to get a few more items (like pictures or something for the bare walls) but other than that  I feel pretty good about how it turned out! 

Last week at my doctor's appointment the doctor said she thinks I might go a few weeks early!  Her exact words "It wouldn't hurt my feelings if you went early."  My statement to her "It wouldn't hurt ours either!"  I am measuring about 2 weeks ahead of where I should be, which is what I did with my first baby, and he came 2 weeks early!  I am only praying this one follows suit!  I go for a sono next week and we will see how this little boy is progressing.   If I do go early then I am only about 5 weeks from delivery, I am really ready to meet our new little boy! 

Big E is getting excited too.  But he was a little worried when I told him I might be in the hospital for his first day of school.  I made sure to also tell him that if that happened he didn't need to worry because grandma and grandpa would be here and daddy should be here as well.  That seemed to comfort him some.  Little N on the other hand might not take this too easily.  He has really been glued to my side lately.  I can't seem to leave the house with out him screaming and throwing a tantrum.  I think he thinks that every time I leave a baby will show up when I come back.  I don't know, really what he is thinking or what is going on in his little head.  The poor kid doesn't know what is about to happen to his little world!  All we can do is keep talking to him about this new baby and the fact that he will still be loved the same! 

Summer again....

I really had high hopes for this summer, but I have not been feeling that great already!  The heat is a little unbearable right now and my little boys just want to be outside all the time!  I am trying to keep them busy and active in the mornings so I can get a little rest in the afternoons, but that has been in vain!  Little N thinks that most days he doesn't need a nap, or he will fall asleep in the car for a few minutes and think that is a nap!  Today was not a napping day!!  So mommy is really tired right now!

A few weeks ago my husband bought a cheap emac computer on ebay.  Our intentions for the computer was to be for our boys to use.  E (the 6 year old) loves it!  My husband has it set up so there are only certain web sites that he can get to and he can manage doing it all by himself most of the time.  I like that we can have better control over where he is going on the internet and what games he is playing.  For some reason we could never get the hang of it on our main computer.  Mostly because we had to log out of the family account and then log him into his.  Which really took a lot of "effort" (not really, but it seemed like it!).  So in the afternoons E gets to have some computer time and that keeps him busy enough that I can get a little rest in while Little N is napping (if he chooses to nap!).   

As for Little N, finally at 3 1/2 years old he is going potty in the potty!  Well pee at least!  He is still really struggling with pooing in the potty.  We had to resort to bribery with the pee, he earned himself a Bubble Foam Blaster.  So with the pooing we are offering him a trip to Chuck E Cheese.  (As a side note, I just had to take a break from writing to take Little N to the potty and he just tried to tell me that he wanted his shirt tucked into his underwear!  Haa haaa!!)  Anyway back to the Chuck E Cheese bribe, all he has to do is go poo in the potty 5 times.  We started this chart 2 weeks ago, he has yet to get one sticker!!  OHHH the frustration!!  He knows what is supposed to happen, his poo is to go into the potty, but he just refuses to do it!  We are totally out of ideas for that!  We are hoping that when Nana and Papa come home in a few weeks maybe they can talk him into it! 

Now for the newest little guy coming into our lives, Baby Z, he seems to stay pretty active!  :)  I also wonder how my bigger boys will react when Baby Z is introduced.  E I think will adjust ok but I still think we will have a few issues with him and the level of his voice!  He tends to get really excited and a little loud sometimes.  Then there is Little N, not sure this will be the favorite thing to happen to him this year.  He is being really clingy to me lately and wanting me to hold him and do lots for him.  So this will be a definite challenge!  He will also be starting pre-school shortly after Baby Z is born, and E will be going back to school as well.  I feel like I am really babying him right now because I know how his world will change in a  few short weeks and I want him to feel like he is still very important to me! My husband on the other hand is not liking the whining of Little N lately and having a hard time dealing with it.  Anyway this will be an interesting fall for sure in our house.

I was so impressed with E and his level of learning that took place in Kindergarten this year!  I am so proud of him!  He went into the school year still writing his name backwards and upside down sometimes and he came out of the school year totally reading entire books on his own!  He is able to sound out words that he doesn't know and most of the time can figure it out all by himself!  Man how Kindergarten has changed!  I remember just needing to learn my address and phone number, colors, numbers and that sort of thing!  I am so excited that he is really loving to read, (he takes after me I guess!)  My husband is not a reader and says that E is reading better than he did in 2nd grade.   

This has been a total random thoughts post but I needed something to keep me awake until hubby gets home in an hour!  :)

Baby Nursery...

The nursery is almost complete!  I finished painting last week and over the weekend we got it cleaned and all of the furniture put back in.  I feel like I am really ready for this baby to come!  Too bad I have about 15 more weeks, I am already having trouble sleeping and my body is just so sore.  I am also anxious for summer to start, ready to get a little bit more sleep and not have to "be" anywhere! 

This summer my plan is to just hang around the house, and let the kids play outside.  We bought some blow up pools last year and those were wonderful!  I am really looking forward to getting those out and using them again, they kids loved it and it kept them busy for hours!  I also plan on visiting local parks and getting a membership to our local zoo, which is a wonderful way to spend a morning with restless boys! 

This week I also went searching for a pre-school for our 3 year old.  With the new baby coming we were a little hesitant to send him to pre-school.  We didn't want him to feel like he was getting shoved out the door after the baby was born.  BUT after lots of considering I think that this will be the best thing for him.  He will get out of the house and get to play with other kids his age.  The pre-school is just down the street from us and its only 2 mornings a week.  So I think this will work perfectly for him, and me!!  I have talked to a lot of other moms who said those couple of mornings a week were a perfect time for a breather and a great time for bonding with the new baby.

Prepareing the Nursery!

Preparing the nursery is quite a big job!  Since we are having another boy, and have moved since having the other two, this will the first nursery room we have done.  The room began with flowery wall paper and pink curtains.  Step one:  remove wall paper!  Step two: Paint!  Step three:  Replace all the baby furniture, put up curtains (that still need to be bought!), make cover for rocking chair, buy carpet rug for floor.  Step three will be the most fun!  Step one, was two long days of spraying and peeling and scraping, and spraying and peeling and scraping, repeating many many times, until after about 9 hours it was done!  Thankfully grandma and grandpa were able to take the older boys (since it was spring break) to stay with them for a day and a half.  That gave me a day and a half of uninterrupted working time.   Being 6 months pregnant and all of that labor intensive work really took a toll on my body!  I was super sore for a couple of days after, but really relieved to have it done.

The big helper!

The little helper!

In the process

Part of the big mess!

Almost done!

Hopefully step two, painting, will get done in a few weeks.  We are planning on asking grandma and grandpa to take the boys again so we can spend a Saturday painting, and hopefully getting it done!  The theme in the nursery will be monkeys, with light green and brown for the colors.  I found this super cute quilt on www.etsy.com/shop/grammiesquiltz that gave me the inspiration. 

My inspiration for the nursery.

We have narrowed down the first name for this third boy, but the middle name is still in "negotiations".  There is so much to think about when naming a child.  Can it be made fun of, well probably.  Do the initials spell something weird?  How will it sound as an adult?  So many things to think of!!  And then there is the meaning of the name.  Is it a powerful meaning or something weird and stupid!? 

I am so thankful to be this far along in pregnancy and to be feeling so well!  Its nice to be at home and not working while pregnant.  The last two pregnancies I was working full time, in a day care!  That is not easy work!  So for me to be home with a 3 year old and have the 6 year old off at school is a total blessing!  Its wonderful to get to rest when I need to rest and do things (like cleaning, laundry, etc.) during the day when I feel pretty good instead of at night when I am super tired and sore! 

The Name Game!!

So we have begun the name picking process.  Its pretty funny that with this being our third boy, the list has gotten pretty short.  I remember with the first, we had a pretty long list but knew fairly early the name (and no arguing or anything!).

With boy number two, it took quite a bit longer, I think I was about 6 or 7 months along before we narrowed it down to just a few.  Then not until about month 8 were we sure!  In that process my husband and I talked first and then decided that we would both make out own list and go from there.  With our completed lists we realized that neither of us had the same names or even close!  So we started the process over again!  This time we did have a few of the same names (with the one that we ended up choosing on both of our lists!).  BUT we still could not agree.  Then after a few weeks of "deliberating" we FINALLY came to our conclusion! 

So now with boy number three, we each did our own list again.  But this time we each only had about 3 names on each list.  A little bit easier to decide, especially since two of the names were the same!  So now that I am almost 5 1/2 months along we are down to 2 names!  Hopefully in the next few weeks we will have a final decision! 

Now on a funny note, when asking the older two boys what they want to name the baby we got some interesting responses!  The 6 year old said we should name it "Woody".  The 3 year old said we should name it "Buzz".  I think maybe a little too much Toy Story is being watched in our house!!  

Also last week the 3 year old and I were sitting on the couch cuddling, and having some candy!  When he asked what I had in my mouth, I told him a life saver.   He then began talking about the baby and where it was.  I told him the baby was in mommies tummy, and that he could talk to the baby if he wanted to.  Then in his little 3 year old way, he asked me if I ate the baby!!  Without laughing too hard I had to try to explain the concept to him.  That didn't go very well, he really was confused when I got done.  So now we just try to do our best when talking about the baby in mommies tummy. 

More Blue!!!!

We found out last week that we will be adding another little boy to our family! This is such exciting news!! Both of our boys are super excited to have another brother to play with. The "biggest" brother, who is by nature a planner, already had everything planned out. Where the baby will sleep and and where he will sleep. Its so funny to listen to a six year old make these kinds of plans! Then there is the other "big" brother, who I am not quite sure understands what is going on. Being that is 3, this is likely to come as a huge shock to his little system.

I am so excited that we were able to find out what we are having so soon. This makes the planning process so much easier. Since we got rid of most of the baby stuff, it will be nice to be able to replenish it with the right type of things. I can't wait for garage sale time to get here! Its getting closer everyday!