27 Weeks Pregnant

Life is just too much fun and speeds by entirely too quickly for me to keep up with blogging, which makes me sad. I miss journaling my thoughts, but I thoroughly enjoy spending all of my free time (not working) with my girls!

We've had a wonderful holiday season and first half of school. I don't think I could find much to complain about even if I wanted to.
Christmas was magical! The girls were very blessed this year and I'm so thankful we were able to have such a great day with family and each other. It's the first week back to work and I'm pouting about that a little. Don't get me wrong, I love my job and have been blessed in that department as well, but it's hard coming back after two weeks home with the kiddos!! They were VERY eager to get back to school though! I've never seen kids so excited to get back into the groove. #thankful.

I mostly wanted to document this pregnancy as I have with Carrah and JClaire's. I'm a little over half way through so I'm a bit behind, but I think this is when most of the "exciting" stuff happens anyway. I said 27 weeks pregnant, but I won't technically be 27 weeks until Friday so.. 26 + 4 days today.

Thus far, I've had every symptom known to man. In the beginning of the first trimester I was very sick! Everything made me gag. No food sounded remotely appealing to me, but now things are leveling out and I've packed on the weight (hooray!) Like I said, it has been the holidays and everyone knows how much food is around this time of year.
But I made the goal/resolution/life change/etc.. whatever you want to call it on January 1 to get back to my clean eating habits, whether I'm pregnant or not. It's a great way to live and makes me feel like such a better version of myself! So far so good and I have more energy and all around in a better mood.

Our sweet baby girl is doing well and growing quickly, measuring right around 2lbs 2oz at our last ultrasound this past weekend. She is healthy and active! At this time, she is still head up so I'm praying she flips before labor time! All of my girls have been head down by this point so I'm a little concerned, but the Dr said she will not worry until around 37 weeks!

The ultrasound tech we saw said baby looks "small, but has good cheeks on her." She asked if my other girls were small at birth because Collins is measuring two days ahead of her due date, but she just looks "thin." meaning not a lot of fat, I assumed. I assured her the other girls were small, weighing 6.2, 7.4, and 5.15 respectively. I just think I'm too short (I dare not say "small" because I'm anything , but that) to carry large babies. I don't think they are capable of getting much bigger than 7lbs.

I also found out via the Glucose Tolerance test that I am hypoglycemic. Such a bummer! I am thankful it wasn't the oppsoite and me have Gestational Diabetes. I knew that I was feeling a bit off and lightheaded at times, dizzy, out of balance, but didn't think it could be due to that. The nurse told me to carry a snack with me at all times and eat every two hours. Great....

 

The most recent picture I have, taken last week sometime.

Surviving on Starbucks..and a Prayer

 

{It's Decaf}

Somewhere around the 9 week mark of this pregnancy, I thought I was going to make it. I had a burst of energy return and the nausea subsided, but then around 11 weeks it returned with a vengeance.

 

I've, for the past 5 days, been living on Banana Popsicles and frozen Powerade. Yum...

 

Today though, well last night even, I started to feel like myself again! I had a craving for Chicken N Dumplings!! I haven't eaten those in YEARS. Literally since I was about 12 years old. Plus, I have Celiacs which means no biscuits/dumplings for me. But my amazing husband, because he is amazing, managed to make (from scratch!) homemade GFree chicken and dumplings! It was the most delicious thing I've eaten in weeks! <3 him.

 

Back to this morning, COFFEE finally has become appealing again. After several weeks of gagging at the mere smell of anything coffee related, I woke up wanting some! NEEDING some!

I remembered I had a Starbucks gift card. {hooray!} So I stopped in on my way to work at got a Decaf Iced Americano with a pump of SF Caramel {and room} Room, ya know, to add Cocounut Milk once I got  here! FABULOUS!! *Happy Dance* It's so tasty..and dairy free!  

OH Baby!

Time has flown since school started. The girls are doing fantastic and loving every minute.

 

Cami has had the hardest time adjusting to fourth grade. I've had to send a few very "parental" emails to the teachers to get my point across about being involved with my daughter's studies. She began having overwhelming amounts of homework sent home as well as entirely too many tests per week. I mean one week, she had two sheets of homework per night, 25 spelling words to memorize, 25 vocabulary words, and 3 tests to take on Friday. I was livid! There was no communication and no organization. Thankfully, I got my point across to the teacher and she relayed my email to the principal who then emailed me himself! I was shocked and a little bit nervous to see that email sitting in my Inbox. But, it was all positive and very helpful information. Since then, there has been significantly less homework and half the weekly tests. They also changed the daily schedule from switching between four classes to two! I feel SO accomplished as a mom!! So thankful that I stood up and got involved. ;)

 

Carrah is beyond brilliant. She is a whiz kid and I'm so proud to be her mom. I literally never have trouble with her in school. She brings 100% home every single day and zooms through her books she has to read. I'm just amazed with her thirst for knowledge. Love love love it!

 

JClaire is obsessed with PreK. The kid thinks she is a senior in high school and she prances around talking about her friends every day. I'm thankful that she is adjusting so well to only be four years old. I was so worried that she would cry and throw fits about being away from her beloved baby sitter, but she has proven me wrong. We are still working on her learning to write her name, but at least she is recognizing more letters now which is a plus.

 

 

 

 

Now to the big news!!

 

We're having a BABY!! I'm beyond ecstatic to be saying this right now. This has been a few months in the making and honestly I was to the point I did not think I was able to have any more kids. Jake even took a fertility test for men to see if he was the issue. We decided it was a God thing and we needed to focus more on Him and devote our life more to Him and in His time, it would happen. And it seems we were right! As soon as we "gave up" trying and accepted our family as it is, Wha - La! I ended up pregnant! We are both over the moon and could not feel more blessed! I'm so thankful for the life that I'm blessed to be living currently and can't wait to see where our future takes us.

 

Right now, I'll be 11 weeks tomorrow. We've had our first appointment and the baby is perfect! Heartbeat is 165 beats per minute and measuring right on track. It was love at first sight all over again seeing my wiggly baby bean!

 

First Day of School - Monday 8.17

This is the most exciting , overwhelming, anticipated day of the year (other than Christmas) I have such great kids who love school and eagerly wake up to get back into the groove.

 

We've talked about the impending first day so much in the past few weeks so I feel like they were truly prepared. Even Jaci Claire was beyond ready to get there and be in big girl school for the first time.

 

Honestly, I had stayed up so late Sunday night getting everything ready and prepared that we did not have to wake up super early like I had originally planned. All of their clothes were laid out for the entire week, lunches packed, backpacks hung on the hangers ready to go, etc.. Literally, all they had to do was wake up, get their clothes on and wait for me to fix their hair. It went so smoothly, in fact, that we were the FIRST ones in the drop off line. Mom score!

 

Since it was the first day, I parked and walked the girls to their classrooms. JClaire ran immediately to her seat and was ready for the day. Her teachers gave her a hug and she could not have been more thrilled to meet and greet all of the other students walking in. She waved "Bye!" to me like it was no big deal at all.

 

 

I then walked Carrah to her class and she went straight to her seat as well, got out her box of crayons and started coloring the picture the teacher had waiting for her. She gave me a hug and said she was fine and excited for her day.

 

 

 

At the same time, Cami was fidgeting and ready to get to her class. Fourth grade is big kid status... I honestly thought she was "too cool" for mom to walk her to her class. While waiting to walk Carrah into her class, Cami said

"Do I go?" and looked extremely nervous, so
I said "Yes that's fine, go ahead to your class."

 She took off , half sprinting, down the hall.

I said  "Hey! Give me a hug!"
So she came back and without taking her eyes from the end of the hallway, gave me a quick hug and was off.. .

 

Well I later found out after school that she was really upset and her feelings had been hurt that I didn't walk her to her class. It broke my heart!! I felt so guilty and promised her I'd make it up to her.

 

{My friend took this pic for me}

 

:( That is the worst feeling as a parent, knowing that you inadvertently made your child feel sad and less important than her siblings. Made me nauseous! But later that night, she forgave me and told me it was OK and she had a fantastic day regardless of the anxious morning.

 

It is now Friday and we nearly made it completing an entire week; however, Carrah and Cami both got a Stomach Bug and had to miss a day of school. They both woke up vomitting. Pretty sad that school JUST started and they already caught something. Boo! Everyone is feeling better now, though, and we're prepared for this school year!

Let's go 2015-2016!

Last Week of Summer Activities

 

I think I mentioned last week how busy we have been! We've had open houses, orientations, practices, etc..

 

This past week was the busiest yet! Two cheer practices, PreK and 1st Grade Open House on Tuesday night, then 4th grade (MIDDLE SCHOOL) Open House on Thursday night, which, by the way, was two hours long.{oy vey!} We rotated classes like the kids will be doing. It was very informational and I think it's a great idea. It'll keep them from getting bored and in a learning rut. I just pray the homework isn't too overwhelming!

 

 

VBS

 The girls also went to Vacation Bible School at some friends of ours' church. They had a wonderful time! It's one of the few times that all three of the girls enjoyed doing the same thing!

Open house for the girls!

Carrah got the teacher she wanted and she has several of her BFFs in her class. She loves learning and is the most eager to get back in the groove of studying and reading. Both her teacher and principal are amazing and formulated a special learning plan just for Carrah to better help with her vision and learning in class. She gets a front row seat next to the board and has a few other tools to benefit her specifically.

My sweet tator tot sitting at her PreK table! She was so excited to see her classroom and meet her teachers.

 

This open house was a booger! Cami loved it and was thrilled to see all of her friends in one place again, but switching four classes was chaos for a bunch of fourth graders. All of the teachers had different rules, lessons, assignments, etc.. I pray that it flows smoothly and we do not have drama!

 

They decided to hang out in the back pack cubbies. So cute!