Last Busy Saturday Before Baby!

Saturday marked the final day of busyness before the baby comes. We started off our day by heading to the farmers market followed by a evening spent at the fair. Throw in some bike rides, meals and naps and we had ourselves a very fun filled tiring day!

We picked up Auntie Melissa and headed downtown around 10. The kids went straight for the playground per usual. Brandon walked around with Benjamin for a little bit, (since as of late he doesn't want to do anything that isn't 100% opposite of what everyone else is doing) and I sat back and watched the big ones play. It is still pretty early in the farmers market season so there isn't really any produce or meat available yet which makes the shopping part of the market pretty quick. I did find some fresh lettuce and the kids of course got cookies, then we headed to the stage to enjoy some music. Each week they have different bands, and this week it was a couple with a guitar and a mic...Benjamin fell in LOVE and so did Annie! Annie kept running up by the stage and dancing and Benjamin just sat back and listened. It was a very peaceful 20 min!

 CHEESE

 Hanging out by the music

 I told you, he literally kicked back and relaxed

Annie, our little free spirit!

 After the cookies were gone, we headed to the big hills to run off all of that sugar energy! The kids love rolling down the hill and running along the top...oh to be young and easily entertained again! We walked down by the river and in the middle of a wonderful history lesson, compliments of Brandon, Annie declared she HAD to go pee. I had to strap Benj in the stroller screaming while Brandon ran with Annie to the bathroom. Benjamin then proceeded to scream the entire way to the car, home, and inside for about 20 more min until he passed out on the couch in one of the most impressive fits I have ever seen. 

 It was a beautiful blue sky day!

Right before s*** hit the fan

 passed out after a most impressive temper tantrum 

So sweet all passed out on mommy, you wouldn't know 10 min before he was a screaming raging toddler

Benj finally calmed down enough to let me scoop him up and snuggle him while Brandon made lunch. We woke up Benjamin fed him lunch and put his crabby butt back to bed! When he woke up he was a much happier kid! In the meantime Brandon took Elias on a bike ride while me and the two younger babes napped. Once Annie "woke up"( she heard Brandon and Elias leave and never fell asleep, made for a fun fair later) Brandon took her on a bike ride while he ran/walked next to her. 

After everyone was up, Brandon took the kids to my parents to let the dogs out while I cleaned, made dinner and got the house back in order after our whilrwind morning. Uncle Jordan came over around 6 and we headed to the fair! I think that is enough story telling for now, so I will save the actual fair post for tomorrow!

We Made It!

So I eluded to feeling completely insane and over-busy the month of June in this post. Now that June is winding down I can officially say...it was insane, I did feel overwhelmed but oh boy did the month fly by! Here is a summary of our happenings:

Elias-a month of summer kindergarten for 4 hours a day, soccer 2x a week, gymnastics 1x a week, slumber party

Annie- A week of princess camps for 3 hours a day, ballet class 1x a week and gymnastics 1x a week, play dates

Brandon- Worked his 40 hours a week plus softball 1x a week

Amber- Dr. Appointments 1x a week. Died all month getting kids in and out of cars in this "heat" !

Family- A few gym trips, although those have tapered greatly the last week,Three farmers markets, Art Fest, Father's Day festivities, sprinklers, parks, trips to Grammy's and special afternoons with Grandma Mim( several times a week). We are planning on going to summer thing tonight, the fair tomorrow and one last farmer's market on Saturday before Brandon goes back to weekends on. The 4th is coming up, oh and of course a baby.

Baby Prep- EVERYTHING is done! Including diapers, car seat, room, clothes( the best we can) hospital bag...everything! 

 Sleepovers with Friends are the best

 Kite Flying

 Mom's night out

 Farmers Market

 New bedtimes

 Art Fest

 Happy Fathers Day!

 So much fun to be had in the sprinkler

Farmers Market, take 2

Phew, I am exhausted just re-reading it! I am very lucky that Grammy,PaPa, Grandma Mim, Kellie and Uncle Jordan were all on hand to help me get these kids (and myself) to all the places we needed to go. I am looking forward to a relaxing July with just gymnastics for each kid once a week, a week of princess camps for Annie and a week of gymnastics camp for Annie and Elias, for Brandon to have a couple weeks off and to meet this new little baby! Hmmm, maybe it won't be such a calm month after all, oh well, I wouldn't want it any other way!

Pregnancy Highlights 38 weeks

38 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 38 Weeks

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com : BabyE is the size of a crenshaw melon, almost 6 pounds and 18 1/2 inches from head to heel

Maternity Clothes: For anything real clothes, YES. I do wear non maternity maxi dresses and lots of running shorts and tee shirts since it is effin hot!

Gender: Lately when I think about the baby, I think its totally a girl...then totally a boy and I start to prepare the list of things that need to be returned and bought for a boy, then halfway through, I think NO this is totally a girl so I stop the list then a hour later I think...wait its a boy...2 weeks until we know for sure I guess

Movement:  Space must be getting tight since the baby doesn't move around too much anymore. It never fails that around 10:30 pm the baby wakes up for the day and starts moving and groovin as much as he/she can. I bet I can predict the baby's schedule already...NIGHT OWL just like Mr. Benj..maybe its a sign this is a boy..see I am at it again.

What I miss: Just the ease of moving around. Oh, and not sweating to death when I walk anywhere. 

Sleep: Not so much, after a couple of months of good solid sleep( thanks to Mr. Benj) the pregnancy insomnia has set it. I wake up feeling not too tired so I don't really care

Symptoms: Just your usual back pain and a couple of bouts of massive massive feet swelling that then turned into a migraine that night and lasted as a bad headache for the next 24 hours, other then that life is great!

Cravings: Nothing specific, wait LOTS LOTS of water

Best Moment this week: Getting through our busy month with only 3 kids! I am very excited to meet this little one but with only a few warm months in ND I was feeling a little guilty about short sticking them, so far, they have not lacked for any summer fun!

What I am looking forward to: Going into labor on my own...hopefully. I have a Dr. Appt tomorrow which will hopefully point to things going well and just waiting for this baby to arrive on his/her own!

Benjamin Update

Well, I made the update happen when it was still June, that should count for something!

Stats: I am happy to report that we are no longer visiting the Dr. every two weeks so he hasn't been weighted in a month or so. He is still around 24 ish lbs which is just barley into 18 month clothes. I am pleased to say because of his shortness, we are probably going to get two seasons out of a lot of his 18 month clothes that we ended up buying during worlds longest winter

Obsessions: buckles, clasps, hooks, locks etc. Immediately upon getting out of his eating chair, he will turn around and do the seat belt. He does this to every hooking device we have in the house. If he notices a child lock left open, he will seek it out and latch it. When he goes in his car seat, he has to do the chest clip or it will be meltdown city! At this point its all good because his interest is in doing...not undoing, then we will have a problem.

 Likes: Yo Gabba Gabba , Fischer price ABC computer game, listening to music on daddy's phone, cleaning, playing in the sprinkler, cleaning, laundry and BOOKS are all on his top list of things to do during the day.

Health:We are over the worst of it! No more Dr. appointments for ear infections! Now, if we could just get past all this pesky teething we would have a happy content boy again.

Sleep: This has FINALLY gotten back to where it was 6 months ago, in fact better! We are now able to lay him in his crib say night night, give him pete his lion, his 100 blankets and tell him goodnight. He takes a 2ish hour nap and sleeps from 8pm-7 ish am. No more sitting in his room, patting, rocking etc...and just in time too! I really really really hope this baby isn't a loud crier at night, I don't know what I will do if Benjamin wakes up to the crying every few hours..

Vocab: This kid can say it all! He loves to talk,loves saying new names and sounds! He will repeat almost anything you ask him to but not necessarily when you want him to. The other day we were sitting at the table and he said" MayIbeexcuse  peese??" It was probably the cutest thing I have ever seen! He repeated it for Brandon but most of the time when he is done eating, I will try to get him to say it and in response I get a firm" NO" "All Done" Oh, well at least he is still letting me know he is finished. I don't remember either one of the other kids being this verbal or understanding this much at 17 months, but with a new baby coming, I am NOT complaining!

Long Days Off

As much as it sucks having a husband that works really long days.... and holidays.... and weekends, it sure is nice when he is on weekends off and has 4 days off in a row! I finished almost all the baby stuff on his last set of days off so this set of day off we didn't have much to do! We got several fun things accomplished such as the older two making it to the Farmers Market, Monsters University, a play date with Isaiah A back yard BBQ at my (empty) parents house with Auntie Melissa, Kellie and Andrew, a adventure walk through the rain and so much park trips, walks, soccer, baseball sprinkler playing that you can imagine! The kids love when daddy has days off..especially now that I am not doing too much. Not to mention our house got cleaned to boot! 

Brandon went back to work today, and while it is only going to be for 4 days, it is going to feel like alot longer! Wish me luck getting to Friday evening, I am going to need it!

I failed to take pictures of any of our funness except a couple at Farmerst Market...I really am off my game these days!

 Someone with a little attitude problem at farmers market

 Not this one! Last week he got the naughty kid award, this week he was the superstar well behaved one

 There were banjo players or something on stage and Benj just LOVED them

Running up and down big hill thing...is this the dyke?

 Nice way to wear off some of that sugar energy they just consumed!

All the while...I am this big!!!!!

It never gets old

I guess when you are 5,3,1 it really is the simple things in life that keep you happy. The kids request almost daily to be able to go out and play in the sprinkler, which as long as it isn't raining, Brandon and I are happy to allow. It is a good thing that they have taken so much joy in staying in our front yard as opposed to our usual outdoor activities of long walks and parks because as the d-day gets closer I am getting less and less able to keep up!The simple things like bending over to pick Benjamin up or running after the kids while we play soccer are not only difficult but darn near impossible. I enjoy being pregnant, but my back is over it at this point. Only a couple/few more weeks to go! Until Baby E make his/her arrival I will be content sitting in my lawn chair sipping water, watching my babies run through the sprinkler and enjoy Popsicles

 Ah, the face of summer fun

 Benjamin LOVED chewing on the blow up fins, he sadly punctured a hole in it..oh well, after three years I guess its time to get a new one anyways

 " NO MORE PICTURES" Then she strikes a big smile...

 Thought splashing in the water was too funny

 I can't believe how much Annie has grown!

 He liked to go and dry off in the shade every once in a while, usually giving the adults a "leave me alone" look

 My three boys......

 nothing like a little Popsicle break

 Two more adults stopped over, awesome, now I dont' have to get up at all!!!

As you can see, the kids hate playing with their daddy.....