Preschool Graduation

We officially have a preschool graduate! I know, not really a big deal, but still a big milestone when watching your babies grow up. For me, it's one of those moments of thinking "how has time passed so quickly?!?" She loved both years at the school, and it's been so fun watching her grow and change and learn. I enjoyed the few times I volunteered in her classroom, seeing her interact with her teachers and friends.

Yesterday we headed to the school one last time (for her at least- Jonah will be starting 3's next year!), and after grabbing seats in the chapel, I walked her down to her classroom. Nana and Grandpa joined the fun and brought Holden. And of course, as soon as they asked the parents to sing "Jesus Loves Me" as the kids walked in, the tears started. (I partially blame pregnancy, and partially the very little sleep I've been getting for all the emotions!)

The three classes of four year olds filed in, and then sang a bunch of songs for all the parents. Noelle had a part in the Alphabet Rock song (aka she held up the letter A as they were singing.) It was adorable and hilarious, and Noelle really seemed to be into the being onstage in front of an audience. Whenever the piano music started for a song, she would start dancing around, and then when the parents clapped after each song, she would do a little curtsy (even while sitting.)

After all the songs were sung, the teacher for each class called the children individually to hand them their diplomas. Noelle's class was the last class to go, and with her W last name, was the last child to walk down the aisle with her diploma. My friend was sitting in an aisle seat and got a good shot of her.

We all headed down to her classroom, where she ate ice cream with her friends, and then we headed out to Twin Kiss for ice cream with my parents (lucky girl!) I love watching her grow, but I truly can't believe I'll have a child in elementary school next year!

35 Weeks and Nesting

Only five-ish weeks to go until our little one arrives! I keep seeing a meme going around Instagram about how every month has about 30 days, except the last month of pregnancy, which has 1,465 days. I'm so torn between feeling ready to meet our newest babe and holding him or her in my arms, but also wanting to cherish being pregnant. All three pregnancies I've loved being pregnant (not every moment, of course), and this is the last time I'll get to experience the kicks and rolls, seeing our baby on a sonogram, growing a nice round belly, and learning to trust God in the day to day of growing a tiny human.

We had our second growth ultrasound at the perinatologist last Friday, and baby had jumped up to the 18th percentile! This is such an answer to prayer, and I think even the doctor was surprised by the growth. She suggested I get another growth sono before baby comes, which she said I could do there, or at my OB's office. I'm hoping to talk about it with my OB at my appointment next week to see what they say. And I'm hoping to not have to go back to the perinatologist because those sonos we have to pay for (like $400 a pop!) And weekly appointments will start next week!

I'm definitely getting into nesting mode, although we've done pretty much nothing in the baby's room. The crib is still in pieces, we don't have any of the baby items we've lent out to people (bassinet, stroller attachment for carseat, our swing), and I haven't washed a single thing. But I did start texting those who have borrowed stuff, I bought the baby detergent yesterday and had Luke pull out our boxes of newborn boy and girl clothing (which I gushed over all the tiny pieces I started pulling out!), we got a new infant carseat, and we bought a "new" loft bed to put in Noelle and Jonah's room.

We found a Kura loft bed on craigslist and just need to get a twin sized mattress for Jonah to put on the bottom  portion of the bed. The littles both love it, and so far Noelle hasn't had any issues with climbing up and down, even in the middle of the night. It saves us some space in their already tiny room, and someday the baby and older sister or brother can share it.

Last night when we were putting the kids to bed, Noelle looked at me and said "I just can't stop thinking about the baby and if it's a girl. And I'll miss you mommy! I can't sleep!" The missing me thing is something she says pretty much every night, which is adorable, but also completely a delay tactic. And I'm really hoping she's not disappointed if she gets another brother!

Mother's Day 2017 and Last Week

Mother's Day 2017 was a good one! Despite that fact that I'm cranky about not being able to run (and my guess is that I won't be able to until I'm recovered from birth!) from the leg pain, I started my Mother's Day morning by crawling into bed with each of my littles. Jonah was already awake when I walked in, so I cuddled up next to him for a few minutes. And then of course, he got loud, and Noelle woke up, so I crawled into bed with her for a bit.

I love these little people who made me a mommy SO MUCH! My patience has been lacking lately, but all the emotions are hitting as I think about Jonah being three and potty-trained, Noelle graduating pre-k and starting kindergarten, and adding this baby to our family in just over a month. So much preciousness in three tiny humans!

After church on Mother's Day, we prepped some food for having our parents and my sister over later on that evening. Then, I headed out for the pre-natal massage Luke got me for Christmas. And it was amazing. They had a pillow for the massage table with a hole for the belly, and just laying "on" my stomach felt amazing. It's been years since I've had any kind of massage, but being pregnant and having one was just about perfect. Then I came home to our families and Luke grilling delicious food- definitely a good day!

Last week was busy with our last MOPS meeting, watching James and Holden, taking a meal to a friend, meeting friends for lunch and play time at the mall, two doctors appointments, and of course school. But MOPS is over now, this is the last week of school, and then most of our obligations will be gone. I am definitely looking forward to some slower mornings, spending time with the biggest littles before baby comes, and soaking in our last summer before Noelle is gone for school 5 days a week!

The weather was really warm last week (upper 80s, low 90s), so we took our first trip to the Snowball Stand, where they both got the strawberry flavored ice. And spilled about 50 percent of it on the ground, themselves, and on me.

And of course we had to grab an after church picture!

Beach Scenes

We're back from the Outer Banks and settling in to every day life again. It's always a little bit sad to have a vacation come to an end, but it's also good to be home in our own beds again!

1. These two littles LOVED the beach! Jonah brought his new Paw Patrol wagon and shovel, and the beach house also had buckets and shovels for the kids to play with. Many buckets of sand were filled up and dumped out into piles. And Noelle used her bucket to collect seashells- SO MANY shells! We came home with a plastic bag full that is too heavy for her to pick up. Our first day at the beach, Jonah was wearing regular clothes since it was a bit chilly with the wind, and he ended up COVERED in sand and had to be stripped down to his underwear for the drive back to the house.

2. On Sunday after church, we headed to Jockey's Ridge State Park to play in the sand dunes. Noelle and Jonah loved walking in the sand, scrambling up the dunes, rolling down the hills, racing Daddy and each other, and sitting in the holes that Uncle Max dug for them. I was blown away by how much walking they both did (especially Noelle who can barely handle walking to the end of our driveway!) Every time we drove by the dunes after that, they would always say "Look Mommy, the dunes!"

3. On our last full day there, we of course headed to the ocean for some more beach time. Jonah was dressed in his suit since we knew he would end up covered in sand, and didn't seem to mind getting hit by the 60ish degree water. The littles loved running back and forth to the water, getting their feet (and more) covered by little waves, helping daddy dig a giant hole, and attempting to put water in the hole with the beach buckets. Again, Noelle surprised me with how much she was actually enjoying running around and being outside. Maybe we need to move to the beach to get this girl active. :)

4. We also visited Jennette's Pier to check out the tank of fish. We didn't actually pay to walk out onto the pier, but the kids enjoyed watching the fish and playing with the interactive screens.

Overall, it was such a good trip, and SO different from our last trip to the beach when we went to Rehoboth with my family in 2015. Jonah was 14 months old at the time and miserable the entire week, and Noelle turned 3 while we were there and could only handle being out in the heat for so long. Maybe the secret for her is going before it gets too hot! Overall, they both did pretty well on the drive down and back, and thanks to Aunt Lyd who was able to help them with their toys and tablets!

the three year old covered in sand, and too busy to join the family picture

First Week of May!

The first week of May was a busy one with prepping for a special MOPS lunch, our Eldersburg MOPS meeting, MOPS leadership team meeting, CPC MOPS meeting, the usual Pre-K, watching Holden and James, a few doctor's appointments, all with vacation prep thrown in for good measure. I've had a couple of nights with little sleep thanks to a congested nose and some lovely insomnia.

But it's the weekend now, and we're in the Outer Banks for a few days with Luke's family. Hopefully we can get some rest and relaxation!

After Holden woke up from his nap, he got some snuggle time with Noelle and Jonah. All three thought it was so fun laying together on Noelle's bed, and Holden almost always seems to wake up happy from his naps (at least once he's rescued from the pack'n'play.)

On Tuesday, I was able to sleep in for a little, workout, and then take the littles straight to Dunkin for a breakfast treat. All while they were dressed in their PJs. They have both started to eat just the frosting covered portion of their donuts, so I gladly eat the rest. :)

As one of the MOPPETS leaders for CPC MOPS this past year, my co-leader and I were in charge of the thank you lunch for our MOPPETS workers (aka the people who love on all the kids during our meetings.) My mom and I got most of the food at BJs earlier in the week, and there were about 50 people (including kids) at the lunch, which we had directly after our Thursday morning MOPS meeting this week. I think it went well, and I hope our MOPPETS workers felt loved and appreciated. We definitely could not have MOPS without them!

After the lunch, I took the kids to my mom's so I could go for an OB appointment and ultrasound. The ultrasound was first, and baby was measuring about two weeks behind. The nurse practitioner I saw for my appointment afterwards wanted me to go see a perinatal doctor that afternoon, but the places she was trying to get me into didn't have any availability. Instead she got me an 8 a.m. appointment for Friday morning, and she had me do a non-stress test (NST) before I left. Baby and I were hooked up for about 20 minutes, and everything was good.

Friday morning, I drove through pouring rain to get to my appointment, where the sonographer looked at baby for about 40 minutes, taking measurements of baby, measuring fluids, and looking at blood flow. Fluids and blood flow looked good, but baby was measuring small (just like the day before) so the doctor there is having me come in for a biophysical profile next week, and then another growth sono the week after. We went through this with Noelle, so I'm trying not to worry, but it was later on in the pregnancy with her. Baby is measuring in the 6th percentile, and if he/she gets down to the 5th percentile, there's a chance we could be looking at delivering baby at 37 weeks to see if we can get baby growing better on the outside.

I'm praying baby has a nice little growth spurt and we won't have to worry about this anymore. But in the meantime, I'm paying a lot of attention to all the rolls, pokes, and movement this babe is making! And enjoying a break from our usual while we hang out at the beach!

The three year old was too busy for pictures!

Some Randomness from April

First, I can officially say my due date is NEXT MONTH! I was talking to my sister this morning, and told her I could say I was having a baby next month, but since I'm not due till the 27th, I figure there's a good chance this baby could come in July. (Noelle was 10 days early and Jonah was 2 days late, so only God really knows what's going to happen!)

Second, I got my weekly email from Thrive Moms this morning with a little devotional about how Jesus came to give life and to give it abundantly (John 10:10.) As a mom with little people, it's so easy to think that the season I'm in is about survival. I certainly felt that way for the first year of Jonah's life- get through the sleepless nights, get through the breastfeeding, get through not being able to go out for girls nights because my child would not take a bottle! But Jesus still wants me to live abundantly in Him- and to become more like Him every day. Something I need to remember always!

We finished off the month of April with a trip to the circus, thanks to Nana and Grandpa! The circus is shutting down after this tour, so it was our chance to see it. In my memory, going to the circus involved going to a tent with three rings, and watching multiple acts going on throughout. We went to the climate controlled Royal Farms Arena with easily accessible bathrooms- definitely a win for this pregnant lady! Noelle says she loved the acrobats and horses, and Jonah seemed to like the acts with animals and things on wheels (aka little motorcycles, basket on unicycles, etc.)

so not cooperating for a picture

A week and a half ago, Noelle had her last pre-k field trip! At the beginning of the year, Luke and I had talked about him going on this trip with her, but once it came around, I decided there was no way I was going to miss out on her very last one! While Grandma and Grandpa treated Jonah to a day of fun, Noelle and I headed to her school to ride the bus to the zoo and see all the animals. Her favorite was the baby giraffe, and she always loves to pose as a flamingo!

checking out the mommy giraffe

Holden has been here every Wednesday, plus a few other days here and there. We always love having this little munchkin around! At the end of last week, he started army crawling around to get to the things (or people) he wanted. His determination is adorable and hilarious! And Noelle and Jonah are usually happy to see him (thank goodness Jonah seems to be getting better about sharing mommy!)

We also went to the Peep Show, a local event where people build various things out of Peeps. I had Holden and James the day we decided to go (we wanted to do it before the schools were out for their break) so my mom came along with me. The kids seemed to enjoy it, and were able to vote by sticking little tickets into the containers next to their favorite ones. Though their absolute favorite may have been the popcorn and lollipop they got at the end!

And of course, I love doing it all with this guy!