25 Weeks

25 weeks along!

In my opinion I'm not looking all that different from week to week yet.  Although I can attest that it is getting noticeably harder to bend over and pick up things from the floor.

I had my 24-week OB appointment Tuesday, September 24th.  It was uneventful, which is always a good thing at OB appointments.  Next month I will take the glucose test (I failed the 1-hour test when I was pregnant with Sydney, so I'm always a little wary of this test).  No other pregnancy news!

Sydney and Lorelei wore cute outfits to church yesterday, but I can't prove it because I didn't get a good full-length-ish picture of either of them.  Lorelei was a crab when she woke up yesterday, but then perked up a little right before we left for church:

Sydney was immediately in a good mood when she discovered she was wearing "down sleeves" to church:

 

I know it's hard to tell in the pictures, so I'll tell you that both girls are wearing dresses, sort of.  Lorelei's top is not technically considered a dress, but her legs are so short she can wear it as a dress for now.  She has ruffled pants in the same polka-dotted pattern as Sydney's dress that go with the solid orange top.  Sydney's is a dress, and she has brown leggings to go with hers.  Neither of them wore their pants yesterday though, because it was too hot by the time we left church to even wear the long-sleeved dresses.  Oh, well, it was fun while it lasted.

 

Happy Monday!

21 graces

I've not been good at keeping up with the "21 graces" posts, and this post is a combination of this past week, and a post that I started that should have been posted four weeks ago (time is flying!).  I could have just erased the old post and started over, but the things I had already listed were too good to let go.

1. Meeting a friend's newborn daughter
2. An event hosted by a member of our spouse's club that she called "Taste of Asia"...oh, my word, she should open her own restaurant!
3. The best childcare provider (not a babysitter, since she's a grown woman) on the planet, living just one street over
4. A morning at the coffee shop with a neighbor/friend (who tolerates my wild children well), despite the pouring rain
5. Not going crazy in the house on a Saturday, again despite the pouring rain
6. Popeye's chicken
7. Going back to church after two weeks away (due to travels)
8. Pruning our front bushes without keeling over due to the heat
9. The girls acting very concerned and taking care of me after I banged my elbow on a rocking chair (perhaps in the future in the midst of their chaos I will pretend to be injured in order to get them to focus on something besides their squabble of the moment)
10. Finding out we're expecting a healthy baby boy!

11. Buying myself a new, and very snazzy, BLUE diaper bag (to be used when Baby Boy arrives; for the next three months I am relishing the ability to carry a large purse, instead of a diaper bag)
12. Stocking up on Bath and Body Works' fall scents
13. An uneventful (read: good) 24-week OB appointment
14. Target's Cartwheel app
15. Candy corn
16. Attending a (free!) base-sponsored self-care workshop, which ended with chair massages by local masseuse-school students (not sure if "masseuse-school student" is the correct term though...)
17. Spontaneously sorting through top-of-the-closet boxes
18. A phone call with my brother on his birthday
19. My first meeting with a new MOPS group
20. Sydney playing at a new neighbor's house
21. Dairy Queen ice cream cones

21 and 24 Weeks

I'm still taking belly photos, sort of.  My dad was visiting at the 21-week mark, so he took my picture, but then we went out of town for two weeks.  So I was in Orlando at my 22-week point and in Baltimore at my 23-week point -- no pictures.  But my neighbor took my picture today, so woo hoo!

21 Weeks

21 Weeks

24 Weeks

That's sort of a "yikes" picture.  I think it needs to be the last time I wear that shirt for a while...

Just for fun, here are my 24-week pictures with Sydney and Lorelei:

24 Weeks with Sydney ("yikes" again...what was I wearing?)

24 Weeks with Lorelei

Anyway.

We arrived back home this past Tuesday.  It really is nice to be back.  I didn't realize how tired all that traveling would make me.  In fact, I went to the hospital in Houston on Monday, because I was having more contractions than I thought I should be having.  (I always experience Braxton-Hicks contractions during my pregnancies, but Sunday night/Monday morning I felt like they were more frequent than normal.)  Anyway, everything is perfectly fine.  I was just a little dehydrated, super tired, and thrown off from my drastic change in daily schedule.  Apparently all of those things (or even just one of those things) can make you have an "angry" uterus, thus the contractions in my case.

And since I feel like I've been a bad mommy blogger lately, here are some random pictures of my children...

Lorelei's ridiculously chubby toes (check out the flip-flop arrangement on that right foot):

Lorelei, door police:

A rare picture of the three of us:

Papa John reading to Lorelei...

...while Sydney acted like a cat/dog:

Some pre-bedtime brain cell reducing, I mean, TV watching:

Sydney specifically requested I take this picture:

Crazy hair going on here (Sydney has two clips in her hair also, a Christmas present and an Easter egg):

This was earlier today.  I asked Syd to take this pile of clothes to the laundry room, and she did.  But then she brought the clothes back and arranged them into a "crib."  She is pretending to sleep in the crib.  Weird.

I hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Still Here

For anyone who may read this blog and is waiting with bated breath for news of Baby #3, we are having a boy!  The ultrasound went really well.  More on that later.

(By the way, the theme of this post is "more on that later".  I just need to get something written so I don't go too long without posting.)

We've had a very busy last couple of weeks.  On a whim, I decided to drive to Orlando for a family party last weekend.  More specifically, Chet's sister lives in the Orlando area, and she was having a birthday party for two of her three kiddos (one is born in late August, the other born in early September).  All of Chet's family was going to be there, and I felt strongly that we needed to go to see all of them.  I know for a fact we are not travelling anywhere for Thanksgiving or Christmas (I will be too pregnant), and there's just not an event in the foreseeable future that will gather us all together.  Not to mention that the sequence of events of early 2014 is 1) have baby, 2) Chet return from deployment, 3) move to Washington D.C.

But moving to Washington D.C. in March (approximately) is a topic for a whole 'nother post (or, "more on that later").

Anyway, the drive from Gulfport, Mississippi to Orlando is 9 hours.  There was no way I could do that on my own, so I enlisted my neighbor (whose parents live in the Orlando area) to ride with us/serve as the girls' slave during the drive.  She was an absolute saint, and I feel like I should pay her about $6,000 for all the help she gave me.  We departed Gulfport at 6:30 a.m. Friday (September 6th), and arrived at Jenni's house 11 hours later.  The party was Sunday, and we departed Orlando at 7:30 a.m. Monday (September 9th) and arrived home 11 1/2 hours later.  The girls had a blast playing with their cousins:

Tuesday all I did was laundry and repack, because we were headed to Houston the next day (September 11th), as soon as Sydney finished preschool for the day.  We got on the road a little after 12:00 p.m., swung through the New Orleans airport to pick up my mom (it's only about 80 miles from Gulfport to New Orleans, so she was able to help us with the majority of the drive), and arrived in Houston at 9:00 p.m.  We rested Thursday, and then Syd and I hopped a 7:10 a.m. flight Friday morning (September 13th) to Baltimore for a wedding (Lorelei stayed in Houston with Didi).  The older sister of the girl's wedding that Lorelei and I attended in San Diego last July (2012) was getting married, and it was fun to go Northeast (although I realize Maryland is technically the South...yeah right) this time of year.  The weather has actually been quite hot in Baltimore, but Thursday storms brought a cool front, providing absolutely perfect fall weather for Stephanie's wedding weekend.  Sydney and I loved getting away, just the two of us, and wearing long-sleeves and long pants (or in Sydney-speak, "down sleeves" and "down pants").  We both had a lot of fun at the wedding, and it was beautiful.  Here is a picture of the enthusiastic wedding guest:

Unfortunately, we had to depart Baltimore early this morning, at 7:50 a.m.  We were back in Houston by 10:00 a.m., and now I need a nap.  We are headed back to good ol' Gulfport Tuesday, so that Sydney can go to school Wednesday morning.  After that...I'm not sure we're doing any more travelling at all until the baby comes.  But, by all means, come and see us!

Baby #3

By the time most of you read this, I will probably already know and will have revealed the gender of Baby #3...but I'm feeling very convicted to get this post written before my ultrasound appointment tomorrow morning!

Anyway, I'm sure most of you know already that we're unexpectedly, but very happily, expecting Baby #3.  I found out I was pregnant right after my May trip to Annapolis, while Chet was gone on his field exercise.  I was too busy in Annapolis to suspect anything, but the day after we got home I was suspicious.  I had to be very sneaky about buying a pregnancy test during a shopping trip to Walmart with my dad and the girls in tow -- especially since we were sharing a buggy and we were each buying our own things.

As I'm sure you've concluded, the test was positive, and I was a little shocked (I feel like that sounds ignorant to say, but I was).  Chet wasn't scheduled to be home for at least another week, and his ability to communicate was limited.  I didn't really want to tell him over the phone anyway, so the waiting game started.  I was bursting to tell someone, but thankfully I held my tongue.

I can't remember exactly how many days I had to wait, but it ended up being a little less than a week.  Five days, I think.  I had no idea how I was going to tell him, because, like I said, this was unexpected.  When I found out which day he was coming home I really started trying to formulate a creative plan, but, honestly, I had no idea how the news would actually get shared.  I decided to play it by ear.  The day before he got home the girls and I made signs for him:

I didn't photograph it, but after I took the picture I wrote under Lorelei's name "and ?"...as in "Love, Ashley, Sydney, Lorelei, and ?"  I thought if the girls were awake (not napping or in bed for the night) when he arrived home, I would use the sign to tell him.

Well, he arrived home during nap time, so I had to come up with a different idea (because showing him the signs without the girls seemed a little lame, and I couldn't wait for them to wake up).  I thought about just blurting out the news, but I had taken a picture of the positive pregnancy test before I threw it away.  The picture was on my phone, along with lots of pictures from Annapolis, so I gave him my phone and insisted he look at all of the pictures.  He had only been home for about 20 minutes, so this was definitely strange behavior on my part.  When he got to the picture, it only took a split second for him to realize what it meant -- he was thrilled!

Fast forward about 15 weeks, and here we are!  There's not much to report between then and now.  I can't remember being very sick, but I think there were a few days where I felt more nauseated than I would have liked (not even close to tossing my cookies though).  I don't remember feeling as tired as I did when I was pregnant with the girls.  The varicose veins in my legs returned almost immediately and in full force, so I'm sporting the compression stockings with pride in the hot, humid south Mississippi summer weather (yes, I wear them with shorts -- I decided not suffering from heat stroke was more important than fashion at this point in my life).

I started taking belly pictures at 14 weeks, apparently the start of the 2nd trimester (why did I always think 12 weeks was the start of the 2nd trimester?  Can I not do math?).  Poor Baby #3 is already learning its place as third in line:

14 Weeks

15 Weeks

16 Weeks

17 Weeks

Chet left for deployment before it was time to take the 18-week picture, so I attempted to do it myself.  Never again, I tell you.  I wasn't in the mood to try taking the picture of myself in the mirror, so this is what I came up with:

18-Week Attempt

Yikes, right?

So, my poor neighbors are in charge of my belly pictures from here on out.  Or family, if they are in town. 

19 Weeks

Yes, I'm wearing the same shirt as the 17-week picture.  And both pictures were taken right after church.  Pregnant women get away with a lot.

20 Weeks

Tomorrow is my big ultrasound, and I can't WAIT to get it done.  Not only am I always anxious to see if the baby is healthy, but I'm dying to know the gender.  I keep having dreams about finding out if its a boy or girl, and they are long and confusing, so hopefully the weird dreams will stop after I have some resolution.  And since all anyone wants to do is hear about other people's dreams, here is the most recent one (as written in an e-mail to my friend, because she too wants nothing more than to hear about my dreams):

We ended up having this huge gender reveal party, and Chet was there and not on deployment for some reason. The giant cake was in one of those thin white cardboard boxes, and the box was closed, covering the top of the cake, but we still had access to the side of the cake for some reason. Chet felt the need to test the icing (it wasn't time for the actual cake-cutting reveal yet), and he exposed some of the cake, but didn't notice. But I noticed, and I saw a hint of pink, so I thought for sure it was a girl and urged Chet to go ahead and cut a huge piece of cake in order to reveal the gender.

But then we cut into it (the lid was still closed) and the inside of the cake was pink, purple, blue, green, red, orange, yellow, etc... I was freaking out because the baker obviously didn't understand what she was supposed to do.

Chet finally had the bright idea of lifting the box top and exposing the top of the cake (I was inconsolable and unable to think), which is where the gender was revealed, but in a really long message. And it was confusing. It didn't just say, "It's a girl!" or "It's a boy!", but something long, and there was even both "boy!" and "girl!" written within the message, and finally after reading the entire message word for word it was understood that we were having a boy.

Ahh, dreams.

Speaking of gender reveal parties, we're not having one.  BUT, a friend of mine who recently had a baby at the same hospital where I'll deliver had such a party.  At her ultrasound appointment, she had the ultrasound tech write down the baby's gender and put it in an envelope, and then my friend gave the envelope to the bakery to make the gender-reveal cake.  My friend suggested that I also have the ultrasound tech write down the gender and put it in an envelope, and then wait to open the envelope until Chet and I are able to talk on the phone.  This means we will find out the gender together, rather than me finding out alone and then simply telling Chet.  It's the perfect solution, because I obviously want Chet to be the first to hear the news, but I was afraid of letting it slip until I was able to talk to him (or bursting).  Now I can be truly ignorant! 

By the way, we think Chet will be able to call pretty much right away, so hopefully I'll be able to open the envelope within a few minutes.  It will surely be burning a hole in my diaper bag.

I guess that's all there is to report at this point.  What's your guess: boy or girl?

Monday, Monday...I Mean, Tuesday

So, how am I doing at my challenge to blog every day?  I'll let myself off the hook for Sunday, but yesterday I didn't have a good excuse.  Wait a second...I was busy yesterday!  Here's the rundown of our Monday, and I'll let you decide whether or not to forgive me for letting the blog slide:

• 8:25 a.m.: Drop Sydney off at preschool
• 9:00 a.m.: Report to Toyota dealership for 10,000-mile service appointment
• 9:00 a.m. - 10:10 a.m.: Entertain Lorelei at Toyota dealership
• 10:15 a.m.: Swing through McDonald's drive thru for a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, because I am starving after keeping Lorelei entertained at said Toyota dealership
• 10:35 a.m.: Arrive home, plug in the crockpot, and resume trimming the bush I was trimming Saturday, before a wasp stung me on the palm of my hand (um, ouch)
• 11:00 a.m.: Serve lunch to Lorelei
• 11:15 a.m. - 11:40 a.m.: Call USAA to see about lowering our car insurance payment while Chet is on deployment
• 11:50 a.m. - Pick Sydney up at preschool
• 12:15 p.m.: 2:30 p.m.: Nap time/Ashley puts her feet up for at least 30 minutes (Sydney only sleeps an hour a day, so don't get all huffy thinking I have 2 hours and 15 minutes to myself in the middle of the day ;-))
• 3:00 p.m.: Rush to the grocery store as quickly as possible in the blazing August heat (yesterday afternoon felt more hot than usual during our grocery store run; it made me cranky)
• 3:45 p.m.: Arrive home and begin cooking dinner for the friends I am having over to eat with us
• 5:00 p.m.: Start serving dinner to Sydney and Lorelei/first friend arrives
• 7:15 p.m.: Friends depart and I finish cleaning up the kitchen/toy mess (Sydney and Lorelei have vital roles in cleaning up toy messes)
• 7:30 p.m.: Chet calls via FaceTime and gets to witness the girls acting like heathens and Lorelei falling off the couch (she was perfectly fine)
• 8:00 p.m.: Usher the girls upstairs to change them into their pajamas and put them to bed (no way was I expending any more energy on bathing them -- a little grime is good for the soul)
• 8:30 p.m.: Close the girls' bedroom door and walk downstairs to 3rd friend popping popcorn in my kitchen in preparation for our "Downton Abbey" date (we are starting the series from the beginning, and it gives her husband a guilt-free evening to play video games to his heart's desire)
• 10:00 p.m.: BED

Honestly, it's more tiring to type it than it was to actually go through it.

So, here I am on Tuesday, blogging about what I did Monday.  What to write about for today?  I'll just say that Sydney and I dropped Lorelei off at the CDC this morning, and proceeded to Target.  We had a lovely, relaxing Target outing (we rarely go to Target since it's so far away), where Sydney was an angel and allowed me to look at every since clearance clothing rack.  Sydney thrives on alone time with Mommy and/or Daddy.  After Target we ate lunch at a sushi restaurant, where she impressed the waitress (and me for that matter) by writing her name and Lorelei's name on the back of the sushi order form.  It was a great morning for both of us, and I don't think I would have felt any more rejuvenated had I been by myself.

Since every blog post needs a picture, here is a picture of Sydney that I'm actually posting for the second time.  The first time I around I posted from my phone, thus not giving you the full effect of laying-on-the-garage-floor-while-petting-the-cat glory:

Proud

In case you didn't know, Chet is safely on deployment, and has been for two weeks now.  He told me it was okay to post this picture on our blog:

He is the Officer in Charge of all of the NMCB 11 personnel in Djibouti, and we are very excited about the experience he will gain in this position!  If you click here, you can read the article detailing the change of command ceremony held last week.  This link will take you to the homepage of NMCB 11's blog, in case you are interested in all that his battalion is doing over the next several months.