Back to School

Last Thursday Elias officially began preschool! So far he is doing great. We waited for the school bus and he got on with no incident. Annie and I decided to have a girls morning since Daddy was at work and brother was at school. We started by having our favorite breakfast(Burger King!) Then did some shopping for baby brother and made it home in time to do some cleaning before Elias got off the school bus. He was so happy he didn't stop telling me everything he did that morning like go for a walk play with friends and eat yogurt for a snack. After naps we went to the park to play and boy did they have fun! Here are some pictures from Elias' first day of school. In recent news Elias just got his much anticipated leg braces, stay tuned for a post on that!

 Annie and her crazy hair climbing everything in sight.

 Swinging away at the park

 look mom, I can see myself!

 Running around the house like a silly girl while mommy cleans and brother is at school

 Annie enjoying her BK

Elias getting ready for his first day of school...with the sun in his eyes, oops

Little BabyE

Well today was the big day,ultrasound day! Brandon and i had decided not to find out the baby's gender at the appointment but we decided we would have the technician write it down on a card for us so we could look later. The ultrasound began. As with all my other ultrasounds I turned my head to watch, the technician put the wand on my stomach and bam right away babyE was in perfect position to measure the femur..and to see the gender. I took one look at the screen and said "well its a boy" and I will give the technician credit for not saying anything. Brandon said" how do you know that??" I pointed to the screen and said really Brandon?? Then the baby moved again and you got a even more full on few of  the babies gender. Brandon wanted confirmation from the technician and I told her go ahead I know beyond a shadow of a doubt this is a boy how could it not be?! She confirmed and I made a resolution right there that if I don't want to know baby's gender I am leaving Brandon at home and not looking at the screen! Had it been a girl I wouldn't have been able to pick that out by just watching but look below at the picture..totally obvious. Anyways to be honest I am a little sad that I know I really didn't want to find out but I am happy we are having a boy who appears to be healthy! Baby doesn't have a name yet and when he does we haven't decided if we are sharing but for now he will be affectionately referred to as Little Baby E.

After I got home from the appointment I broke the news to the kids who had both been requesting a sister that they were indeed having a brother. They both seem ok with it and then I showed them the ultra sound to which I got some pretty funny responses:

Mom: Elias this is your baby brother
Elias: No Mommy that's a scary monster
Mom: Annie this is your baby brother
Annie: NO! Jordan
Mom: No honey its your baby brother
Annie: Oh,OK! Talk! (grabs the phone runs off trying to talk to the ultrasound picture)

Elias has also started pointing to my belly saying "mommy owie" He notices my belly getting bigger and thinks I have a owie so he pats or kisses it and says" does that make it all better?"

I have awesome kids!!
Enjoy the ultrasound photos, they are always so fun.

Stay at home dad

Well it is that time of year again when the herds of youngsters flood Grand Forks to begin college. This also means it is time for me to start my "job" of Cheer/Dance coach at UND. We had our 3 day camp this weekend for all three teams( Cheer, Hockey and Dance) and it went great! They were very long days lasting from about 7am to 9pm...for me at least the girls all did 8 hour days but when you have 3 teams you have to spread things out! Anyways this meant that Brandon had the babies from sunup to sundown..I was a little nervous but like always when this happens, he did great! They played a ton with their daddy which of course they loved, when out to eat with Grandma one day and uncle Jordan another and even got to visit mommy one day. I was pleasantly surprised every night when I came home to a clean house and sleeping babies. I was so exhausted from this weekend that Brandon even let me take a 2 hour nap today to catch up on sleep,what a swell guy! I don't think he will be signing up to take over duties as stay at home dad but he really did do a great job. This week has been busy in other ways then cheerleading. Brandon started school again tonight and we have the big ultrasound tomorrow!!!! I really don't think we are going to find out at least not tomorrow, we might have them write it down and look later but for now I feel like being surprised. Here are some random pictures from the last farmers market we went to . It is sad that the summer is almost over and we only made it to a few of them, oh well there is always next year right?

 We decided to get the kids cookies from Dakota bakery and I am sad I didn't get one for myself, they were SOO good!! The kids each ate a whole one and after running around downtown fell asleep before we got home so I guess my kids had cookies for lunch.

Pregnancy Highlights 20 Weeks!

20 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 20 Weeks

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com the baby has grown as big as a banana. (Length: about 6 1/2 inches from head to bottom, and 10 inches from head to heel.)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: + 9 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I have busted out most of my maternity clothes. On days where I am looking for something new to wear I will wear my "regular" clothes but maternity clothes are just so comfortable!

 

Gender: I was 100% convinced baby was a boy now I am leaning towards girl. The ultrasound is on Tuesday but I don't think we are going to find out.

Movement: YES! BabyE moves ALL the time now and has even had the hiccups a few times.

What I miss: Not to much, solid sleep, the feeling I get after a really long run but that's about it.

Sleep: I give up on sleep. Between the cat puring on my head and not being able to get comfortable sleep eludes me.

Symptoms: Just tired ..so tired

Cravings: Bagles bagles and more bagles.

Best Moment this week: Hitting that half way mark and feeling BabyE get the hiccups

What I am looking forward to: The big ultrasound. To find out or not find out...that is the question

Our new Room

I thought I would post a couple of pictures of Annie and Elias' room. Its pretty much identical as it was before. I did my best to make her side girly using the color scheme of his room. The sheet and pillow case came out pretty dang good.

 Annie's new letters. I would love to spell out Annie since that what we call her but before she was born I swore no one would call her Annie and now I can't find the matching NIE to go with the ANN.

 The sheet and pillow case I made to go with the brown comforter we already had in there. Poor girl, such a boyish room.

Elias' side of the room. As you can see I was working with a VERY boy color motif!

FINALLY!

Since the time Elias was a baby he had trouble sleeping, getting to sleep, staying asleep....basically anything associated with sleeping. This is pretty common among kids with Sensory Integration Dysfunction but for any of you moms who have had bad sleepers you know it is still frustrating. Since Elias started OT back in December we have been working toward getting him to sleep in his OWN bed by himself without us in there. It has been a very LONG process that started with not rocking him to sleep but rather laying in bed until he fell asleep(with a weighted blanket). This phase lasted about 6 months. Then when we got the bunk beds he slept in his bed and we would lay in Annie's bed until he fell asleep. This lasted about 6 weeks. Then we started to let Annie sleep in her big girl bed, wait until she was asleep then put Elias in there, this lasted 2 nights...tonight after bath I got them dressed together, and put them in bed together and shut the door and haven't heard a peep since. It was 7:58pm and I was off duty for the night...this is a true miracle and just what Brandon and I needed! He switches to the midnight shift in October and has to start getting ready at 9 when I will still be at practice so this is perfect timing. I am not sure what to do with myself, do I go to sleep and sleep for 12 hours, do I watch a romantic comedy, do I clean...so many options!! I am going to enjoy this for the next 4 1/2 months before baby #3 makes his/her arrival.

Lake Time!

On Friday night Brandon, Jordan, Kellie, and the kids and I packed up at 9pm( after Kellie got done with work) and headed to Kellie's parents lake home in Perham MN. We expected a uneventful trip filled with quiet conversation and sleeping kids...boy were we wrong. Just after Fargo Annie threw up ALL over herself, the car seat and her lovies. We were in between towns and had to wait a few minuets before we could pull over at a closed gas station to strip her down and wipe everything off the best we could. After a 30 min delay we were on the road again with a not so pleasant smelling car. We arrived at the lake around midnight and Brandon and Elias immediately went to bed. Kellie and I took apart the car seat threw in a load of laundry and gave Annie a bath at 12:30am! After bath time she was pretty happy and went to bed a smiley girl. We are still not sure what caused the throwing up episode but it was the only time she was sick the rest of the trip. The next day the kids woke up at the butt crack of dawn so we ate breakfast and went for a walk outside. After our walk we played on the neighbors playground then went for a boat ride under lots of blankets. Annie was pretty crabby on the boat, I don't blame her, she did only get 5 hours of sleep! Elias loved the water and would have jumped in if we let him. After the boat ride we watched Tangled inside then it was time for lunch and nap. Both kids took 2+ hour naps and woke up ready to play in the water! We took another boat ride to Kellie's neighbors house and played on their beach and in the water for over a hour! It was a ton of fun and poor Elias didn't want to go home. He cried saying "I love Kellie, I stay at Kellie's house" The ride home was uneventful and everyone went to bed nice and early. It was a great time and here are a few pictures from the adventure.

 Annie taking a bath at 12:30am!

 All clean, no more pukey smelling girl

 Hanging out with Uncle Jordan at 1am

 weeeeeeeee

 Elias surfing on the swing set

 Going for a little walk

Annie all ready for the boat ride

 Enjoying a ride on the boat

Kellie teaching Elias how to drive

Watching Tangled

Kellie, Uncle Jordan, Daddy and the babies playin in the water at Kellies Lake

Mommy and Annie in the water

The Eberhardts enjoying some lake fun

On the boat heading to a more sandy, less rocky beach for the kids to play in

So.Much.Fun

Elias wanted to ride the jet ski

Annie had so much fun splashing with Daddy

Kellie and her babies

Park Fun

Like most toddlers, Elias and Annie LOVE going to the park. Elias likes looking for new "friends" (kids his age he can play with while at the park) and Annie just loves climbing everything in site and keeps mom on her toes. This summer we have made it a goal to visit every park in the city. Bringewatt is the park right across the street from our house that we go to almost every day. We often visit Sertoma and Centruy since they are a quick bike ride away and Optimist park is close to Grandma's so that is another one we visit often. We recently biked to Viking and the kids had a blast there, they didn't want to leave. Here are a few pictures from some of the parks we have checked out this summer.

All done at the park, time to go home!