Macaroni Soup

We went to a kid concert tonight with Carole Peterson at the Warren County Farm Bureau. She sings fun kid songs and they get to do dance movements and sign language with the songs. They loved it. Ethan had a hard time with the "talking" between songs to explain the movements plus he was super distracted by the carved cow in the entryway and wanted to go back out there to look at it every 5 minutes! But once the songs were going he was all about that and the dancing! Caden was more reserved at the beginning which is typical of him but it didn't take too many songs for him to warm up to the songs and dancing. Addison danced clear across the room and sat with other people most of the time which was fine. Ethan thought he should be part of the act with Carole and Alvin and stood up in front with them a few times -- such a ham! They really loved the indoor freeze snowball fight with bath sponges! A really cool thing happened at the end when we were leaving; we had to walk by the carved cow again and Daddy said, "Say bye to the cow" and as plain as day Ethan screamed "Bye, Cow" twice. He's never said COW before usually he says Mooooooo when he sees one. That little guy is such a fooler when it comes to talking, I swear! We bought a CD at the end of the concert and listened to it on the way home -- they loved it. You can learn more about Carole, Alvin, and her company, Macaroni Soup, here. Here's some more fun shots of the concert:

Last pregnancy!

This is another one of those freakish facts that only I obsess on but today I am 21 weeks, 6 days pregnant. At this exact gestation in the triplet pregnancy was when I hospitalized for the duration of my pregnancy: 11 weeks exactly or 77 days (I delivered at 32 weeks, 6 days)! Now I wasn't really having MAJOR problems at that point just my cervix was shortening but I was doing pretty good other than having 3 babies sucking the life out of me but the doctors said "I made them nervous" since I lived more than hour from the hospital. It wasn't but 2 weeks later when preterm labor kicked in and I was more than happy that I was there to get medication right away to keep things calm. Of course, things seem to be going so much more smoother this time around and I am not foreseeing any major problems at this point of this journey. I wasn't really bothered by the whole hospitalization thing last time even for that long of time. I felt I kept a super good attitude (even if some people thought I was "depressed" but it was more like "annoyed") and I liked the hospital, the nurses and staff, and the food was really pretty good -- hell, I could hardly eat anyway with those 3 kids in there. But if that were to happen to me at this point or later in this pregnancy that would be a different story. I can't imagine being away from the kids for long periods of time although there are moments in the day when I fantasize about it (like today at preschool when all 3 of them at one time or another was a throwing major fit). It would be hard to miss out on the day-to-day things the kids do and I would miss them terribly. So I am happy to report that I am feeling good and don't think I will be hospitalized any time soon. Oh yeah, and those of you who are keeping track (and I know most of you are) my belly button is now half way out: the top part is an outie and the bottom part is an innie -- how does that happen??????

Where have I been???

I don't even know what I have been doing that I haven't updated for so long again. Maybe nothing has been happening so I have nothing to say?

Anyway things are just moving along in many areas. Addison pooped on the potty all by herself and then came and told me. About 10 minutes earlier she had asked for "Spidermans" which I thought she wanted fruit snacks when it turns out she wanted a pull-up (she uses boy ones a lot) but I refused so she ended up waiting a while and then going. It was great and the boys clapped for her and we called Daddy on the phone too. Now I just have to get her to do it again.

I've been gathering more of unused/unwanted scrapbook stuff of mine and Scrapaganza is having a "yard sale" where they are letting some customers bring in stuff to sell and earn a gift certificate to the store. I didn't think I would have much since I ebayed a few hundred dollars of stuff a few months ago but I came up with $100 worth of stuff and the kids and I are taking that there tonight so I hope I sell most of it. The new CHA stuff should be coming in to their store in the next few weeks and would be nice to have some cash to get some newer products.

We had our second EI/preschool transition meeting last week. And the decision was that we haven't made a decision yet. We have decided that Ethan will not be going into the Tiny Titans program in Monmouth at this time for two reasons: 1) We are not putting our preschooler who doesn't communicate very well on a bus -- if he's having a problem for whatever reason he can't tell us 2) I have no idea what in the world I would do with two more preschoolers and a newborn in the middle of winter while we waited for Ethan to go to preschool for 1/2 day everyday and with the price of gas we can't drive back home (that would be 80 minutes on the road times 5 days a week). We can't sit in the car for 2 or 3 hours, shopping would be hell, and that isn't going to coincide with getting the new baby on a schedule (which is as everyone knows I am a FREAK about babies and schedules). I plan on visiting the United Preschool (2 blocks away) in the fall but I am going to have to be majorly impressed to send Ethan there. Addison and Caden are probably not going to preschool which is just fine. I am so disappointed that everything offered was a 5 day a week program for 3 year olds. That is just way too much in my opinion even at half days and we didn't make all these sacrifices for me to be a stay-at-home-mom to send them to school everyday when I am at home. There's a possibility that we may be able to continue with the All Aboard program we are currently in but that's still up for discussion. Ethan will continue speech therapy at United School whether he goes or not and I still plan on doing home preschool for all three of them. The Learning Box seems really good and not too bad in price. My triplet connection moms who use it say it's good and worth the money. I'll have it figured out by our next meeting in October. But I feel good about the meeting overall and I felt that most of the therapists/teachers were supportive and understanding of our situation/decisions.

We had a 6 month review of Ethan and Caden at the same time of the preschool meeting. With both the speech therapist and developmental therapist Ethan ended up with an overall score of 24 months. So that is about 8 months behind which is more than it was 6 months ago . . . which seems disappointing but I think he is making huge strides in many areas and I am hoping by the next review he will "catch up" some. I made a list of words that he says and there was around 30. Before it was about 10 when we counted words and signs. Everyday he says new things. When the developmental therapist was here this week I think he said 3 new words just in that session and one was baseball. I think he can talk and knows so much more than what he lets on. He has been saying some short phrases lately too like "Bye, kitty" and "See you later". I think it will come. I hope it will come . . . I sometimes worry a lot about him and am hoping I am doing the "right" things for him to help him learn but he's so hard to figure out. And then my angel, Sue Kirchgessner (our physical therapist), comes to check us out every 6 months and she reminds me of where he started and how far he's come from birth and how he almost didn't make it and I am able to put everything back into perspective for the time being.

Half way there!

On Saturday I reached the halfway point of my pregnancy (20 weeks) or as Aaron says it's time to "flip" me! This pregnancy seems to be flying by and I must say being pregnant with one so far has been nothing compared to being pregnant with triplets. I really don't feel that I have anything to complain about other than I keep outgrowing my clothes . . . don't know what I will be wearing in 2 or 3 months maybe bedsheets!

We had fun on Saturday. We went swimming at Aunt Diana's country club with the kids' cousins. The kids loved the baby pool (and all the toys -- took them about 2 seconds to start wearing the goggles and flippers (or as Addison says glasses and flaps). All of them went down the tube slide with Aaron a few times -- NO FEAR! Uncle Ray even gave complimentary golf cart rides! Then Aaron had his 15 year high school reunion which was short and sweet. It was a busy day but a nice one that we all spent together!

Our New Maid . . .

. . . and she doesn't charge extra for the nudity!

My Point of View

Maybe this photo is a little inappropriate but I think it's kind of funny. I was looking down yesterday and thought this is what I see all the time -- don't really know what how the rest of the world of the world views my pregnant bod {notice you don't see my feet} but I thought it was funny that I even thought to take a photo like that which by the way is not as easy as you think.

Yesterday the kids were pretty funny. Caden told me that I looked like a princess when he saw one of our wedding photos which made me feel good. Addison is obsessed with tattoos since I put a fake one on her arm 3 weeks ago. It was the longest lasting tattoo ever and it finally started to come off. She is heartbroken about it and tells everyone "tattoo broken". Yesterday she asked where my tattoos like Daddy's are. I said Mommy doesn't have any tattoos. She said "It's okay, Mommy."

Summer R and R

We had our first swim day at school on Wednesday. Our heat wave is over and it was only in the 70's but that didn't stop the kids from wanting to play. The boys loved the "Crazy Daisy" sprinkler and Addison would have nothing to do with it as she hates spraying water. Then they got in the pool and stayed in for a while. They loved all the pool toys. We will be swimming every Wednesday as long as the weather holds.

Today we hung around the house: no appointments, no therapies, no school. Just a relaxing day around the house. We played inside for a while and I got quite a bit of things done that I needed to be done a long time ago. Then we went outside for about an hour and half. They had fun. Here are some fun photos of us relaxing in the yard today:

Trip #1 to Labor & Delivery!

So last night around 6:00 we headed to the hospital to the Labor & Deliver Floor. No, I'm not close to my due date at all. I am 19 weeks along. All day I had been feeling "pressure" and I just felt "different". I laid on the couch most of the day and I thought I felt better but then when I got up I still felt pressure. I decided to call my OB's office at 4. They said they thought I had a UTI (urinary tract infection) which I found hard to believe because I have had about a million of those in my life and I pretty much know when I have one and when I don't. They wanted me to drink lots of water and come in Tuesday morning for a urine specimen. Aaron came home at 5 and I started to feel worse and then I KNOW I had a contraction. That freaked me out so I called my sis, Keely, who just had a baby and we discussed it and she thought I should go. We had to drop the kids off with MIL first and then off to the hospital. Well, after peeing in a cup, answering one million questions, getting hooked up to the TOCO monitor to check contractions and baby's heartbeat and having my cervix checked, the conclusion was there was nothing wrong with me . . . maybe the baby was laying on my bladder differently. It was moving around like crazy yesterday and I do believe it may have been using my bladder as a punching bag. Aaron thinks because I drink so much Diet Mountain Dew that I have it all hopped up on caffeine. I did feel better because I had downed a lot of water by the time we got to the hospital and hearing the baby's heartbeat and how much it was moving around made me more at ease. I felt kind of foolish but I am super paranoid about pregnancy problems just because I know way too much from my triplet pregnancy. I had so many issues and problems with the triplet pregnancy and I know so many women who have lost babies that I can't help it. I know I have minimum of 5 more weeks of pregnancy before this baby even has the slightest chance of survival outside the womb. It's those kind of freaky details that make me worry about every little pain or new feeling. So I am feeling better today. I am resolving to only drink one soda a day now so that I can remember to get more juice and water in my system too. That makes me sad but it's only for 5 months so I can do it. Aaron was all too funny at the hospital joking with the nurse that I just wanted to go there so I could lay in bed and watch TV with no kids just like my old bedrest days -- yeah right!

On another note, I noticed that my belly button is starting to disappear. I kind of freaked out about it because I still have one more week until I am half way through this pregnancy. Aaron was completely grossed out by it which is pleasant. Then I received a pregnancy update from a website about week 19 and sure enough, it said this is when your belly button starts to pop out since that's about where the top of your uterus has grown (at your belly button). So unbelievably I am normal I guess. . . only in a few ways. Here's my progress at 19 weeks. (Please excuse this horrible photo of myself -- it was the end of a long day.)

Prayer Request for my Virtual Friend

Pray for my Triplet Connection "friend" Jessica. They have triplet boys (2 years old) and twin girls(1 year old) about a year apart. They just found out that her husband, Jon, has Hodgkins Lymphoma. So scary. She is optimistic about the outcome and stats they have seen and heard but it is still so scary. You can read more about Jessica's family at her blog.

A Landscaping Maniac!

My husband goes in spurts on house projects. Either he's working constantly on one project or another or he does nothing for a while. He's in complete work mode
right now. Might be he's feeling the pressure of the new baby's arrival and our need to move in a couple years. Anyway for the last 3 days he has been working on some landscaping in our front yard. It's probably the hottest here it's been all summer {about 100 degrees} but he's out there digging and laying brick. He's going to put in lights along our sidewalk. He's never done any project like this before but I must say he is being so meticulous and when I looked at it yesterday, I was really impressed. It's going to look so nice when he's done. Addison was impressed this morning too when she walked outside and she said "Wow, Daddy, it looks really nice" without being asked.

Since he is working on that project I decided to write up our house project list that we need to accomplish before we sell our home. When I was done I didn't think it was too bad. About 3/4 of a page typed. There are some major things like re-roof, paint the outside of the house, build a deck but mostly a lot of them are much shorter more weekend type jobs. Aaron thought it was awful, but that's his opinion on any home improvement project that we have to do. We really have done a lot to this house since we've moved in 6 years ago, but I think we never really finish any project all the way before moving on so that makes it more difficult to see our results. Maybe this will get him on a roll.

I'm so PROUD of myself & the kids!

Today we went for haircuts again. I usually take my MIL with us to help out but I decided this time I would try it on our own to see how it would go. It was so great! We had to be there at 8:15 am and we live about 20 minutes away so it was rushed but we were on time. Addison usually cries during haircuts and I have to hold her on her lap. She usually just barely makes it through a bang trim even though I like to have the back cut too. So I have been "talking" about her sitting like a big girl and getting the back cut too. They all did wonderfully and Addison sat all by herself with no crying and let them cut bangs and the back! It only took 30 minutes total. I found out yesterday that my OB forgot to have me take a certain blood test (MSAFP) so I called there and we all went there and got that done. Then I wanted to go to a couple stores so we went shopping. We used the double stroller and Addison walked while the boys rode. They were so good in both stores. We looked at the toys and they love to pick them and hold them for a little bit but when I say "Okay let's put them back and move on" they do. Caden even would pick toys up for Ethan and hand them to him. We shopped for about 75 minutes. I let them get some crayons (Caden saw Cars Crayons and he wanted them so bad). Addison was funny toward the end of shopping she was growing tired of me saying "Come on, Addison. Stay with Mommy." She started saying "Wait, I'm Lookin'" which was cute. No major melt-downs or anything which seems so great since we were gone 4-1/2 hours and they are only 2-1/2 years old. I am very proud of them -- they really are good kids! Now I will just have to figure out how I am going to cart around a baby with me too in the next 5 months -- that seems a little more challenging . . .

Sister Scrappin' Report

Last weekend was when I went to my Keely's house with Monica to spend the weekend scrapbooking. It was a lot of fun! I made 6 layouts myself and I think Monica and Keely made about the same. Monica loved using the sewing machine on layouts and cards and is thinking of getting one now. I love sewing on scrapbook pages too and do it quite often. Our only problem was staying up too long. On Friday I think I went to bed at 2 am or so and we got up about 7 am. On Saturday, Monica called it quits around 2 am again and Keely and I stayed until 4 am when she fed the baby again. We got up at 8 am. I have been dragging all week because of this and Aaron says I am no longer allowed to go away since I can't go to bed at a reasonable time when with my sisters. I tend to get a little (okay a lot) grouchy when I am sleep deprived and even though it's Thursday I am still super tired. Anyway I was glad I went and we had a lot of fun. There were no problems here with the kids other than my husband making plans to work on his sister's house while I was gone. I thought he was going to take care of the kids the entire weekend but oh well . . . Here's all the layouts I worked on:

Freedom

Wave your flags for a happy 4th!

BIG news for Us!

Caden pooped on the potty yesterday!!!!!! He did it all by himself. Came out of the playroom and said "I pooped". He mixes the pee and poop terms up so I thought he peed in his underwear. Then I saw a little bit of poop on his arm. I ran in the playroom thinking "WHERE did you poop?" and there it was in the potty! Yeah! I showed the other 2 kids and Addison said "Ooooooh, stinky!" Then we all did a "Caden pooped on the potty" dance!

On another note, Addison went all morning until nap time with NO accidents in her underwear. She pottied all by herself every time she needed to go. I love self-sufficient kids!

We spilled the Beans!

My kids have a container of dried beans (what else do you do with all those packages WIC gives you -- they certainly won't eat them even though I've tried). The last few days this has become an all time favorite pastime. It makes a huge mess. Even if I put the picnic blanket down they still get everywhere. Addison was playing in them naked from the waist down (remember we're in Potty Training Season) which I didn't know and she says "beans stuck in butt" and she was right; there were some in there.

Funny things happen around here all the time. Today Caden was running around naked from the waist down (again Potty Training Season) with a bucket on his head. Addison cried at lunch because she said it was snowing and cold when I told her it wasn't snowing today she cried really hard. Not sure why. She also called her doctor on the phone. Here's her conversation: "Halo, Doctor. Belly owie. Okay. Thank you. You're Welcome. Bye." I should really be more observant and write down all the crazy stuff they do and say because they really are precious times. I have to go sweep up beans now!

This Baby's a Mover & a Shaker!

Yesterday I had my regular sonogram at my OB's office. It was nice to see the baby again. I have been feeling it move some but not a lot. The sonogram tech had some trouble getting good measurements because this baby NEVER EVER stopped moving the whole time. Arms, legs everywhere. I saw it do somersaults and move it's little head -- it's crazy! It reminds me of Addison when I was pregnant -- she HATED sonograms and having the heartbeat/contraction monitor on EVERY SINGLE TIME. She always moved and punched and kicked my bladder more times than I can count. Now Addison can sit still but her mouth doesn't seem to stop moving -- it's a girl thing! The baby also reminds me of Ethan of how he is always going, going, going all day long -- he's either jumping, running, walking, etc! So the baby could be a boy or a girl and we aren't finding out. Everything looked good baby wise: growing well, measuring on target, etc. They found a fibroid in my uterus which my last sonogram at the peri showed one and then it "disappeared" so they just thought it was just a contraction. But evidently it is a fibroid but doctor said nothing to be too concerned about as long as it doesn't get huge. I have another peri sonogram in August so I will have them check it and measure it just to be sure.