Baby Safety Month [+ Giveaway]

I can't think of anything more important than keeping my three little ladies safe. There are the obvious safety precautions, such as blocking off the stairs, covering up electrical outlets, and buckling into a car seat whenever you hit the road. However, did you know that car seats may be ineffective when used improperly? 

As a first time mom, I had no idea that there were car seat rules. I figured if Veronica was buckled in, she would be safe in the event of an accident. Unfortunately, that's not true, and more than 9,000 children age 12 and under died in crashes in the past decade. (Source) For Baby Safety Month, I teamed up with some other fantastic bloggers to bring you some baby safety tips.

Here are a few tips for keeping your little one safe in the car:

• Use a new(er) car seat: Did you know that car seats have expiration dates? Be sure to check the date on your seat before strapping your little one in. Also, be sure that the seat you're using, has never been in an accident, as this can reduce effectiveness. If you must use an older seat, be sure to check it's recall status. 
• Make sure the straps are tight enough: The straps should lie flat against your child. You shouldn't be able to pinch any of the straps between your fingers. If you can, the straps should be tightened. 
• Remove bulky clothing such as winter coats: In the event of an accident, safety straps may not be able to provide adequate protection over a coat. Instead, layer a blanket over your child after they've been buckled in.
• The chest clip belongs on the chest. This one might seem obvious, but it's incredible how many children have the clips down near their stomach.  The clips should be flat and aligned with the child's armpits.
• Make sure that straps are positioned correctly: Double check with the user's manual, but normally, the straps on a rear-facing seat should be at or slightly below the child's shoulders.

Most importantly, make sure that you're actually using a car seat and that it's the appropriate car seat for your child's size.

And now for the giveaway, brought to you by: True Agape, This Ole Mom, Ramblings of a Marine Wife, Krafts and Kiddos, and myself. The giveaway runs from today, September 15, through Monday, September 22. The winner will have until that Friday to respond before a new winner is chosen. 

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Be sure to link up your own baby safety posts below!

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One Week New

Today is my due date, but Juliana is already one week old! I've spent the past week in absolute bliss. For the most part, Juli spends her time asleep on my chest. I spend that time planting kisses on her sweet little head. 

On Monday, we had her first pediatrician appointment. My bitty bear was all the way down to 6 pounds and 1 ounce. She was a tiny bit jaundice on Monday, so we had to go back on Wednesday for a follow up. By then, she was back up to 6 pounds and 6 ounces. All of those extra feedings definitely did the trick.

Nursing has been going well, although I kinda screwed myself by pumping between feedings. Now I have too much milk, and no desire to pump. 

Nights have been difficult, but for the past two, I've just been snuggling with her in my bed, and we've both slept great.

I've been terrible when it comes to photos. I don't think I've used my real camera once since leaving the hospital. Occasionally, I'll snap a few phone pics, but the quality is pretty terrible. I hope to remedy that soon.

Other than that, life has been uneventful. My parents are in town for a while, which has given me a chance to relax a bit. I've sucked at blogging as well as keeping up with other blogs, but that should change once John is back to work and my big girls are both in school.

She's Here!

And she's absolutely perfect!

My little Juliana Elisa was born on Friday, July 18, 2014 at 4:57 pm, measuring 19 inches long and 6 pounds 8 ounces. She's a tiny little booger compared to her big sisters. She's been eating like a champ though.

The entire induction went smoothly. The epidural, not so much. I'll get into that when I post a birth story. The hospital staff was phenomenal.

We only had to stay at the hospital for 24 hours after the birth. It was nice to have our complete little family at home for most of the weekend. The girls love her, but are still adjusting and trying to learn the rules, like no touching her head and to be quiet while she naps.

We have a follow up appointment this morning with the pediatrician, and I'm looking forward to seeing how much my baby has already grown.

I haven't had a chance to capture too many pictures of her yet, but I know I need to get on it since she'll only be this little once.

Thank you for all of your kind messages and comments over the weekend!

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The Last Weekend

It may have been nice to have a quiet time at home this past weekend, but since we anticipate being locked in a hospital next weekend, we made sure to get out of the house and enjoy last weekend on the island as a family of four. We also realize that although we aren't shy about taking our new babies out into the world, juggling three little ones will be exponentially harder than one or two, so it may be a while before we're out and about.

We visited the pool on post for the first time this Saturday. We didn't stay too long, but the girls had a nice time splashing around while we were there. Veronica spent a good chunk of her time showing everyone how she could hold her breath and put her face under water.

As we were driving to the pool, I noticed this little gem. It took me a second (and seeing the picture of Mike) to figure out what the heck a "Yard Thale" was. I chuckled quite a bit afterwards. I'm still pretty amused by it. Some creative jokesters that we have here on Schofield Barracks.

In the evening, we made a trip to Waikiki for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I love the Cheesecake Factory here, because it seems like one of the few restaurants where the prices are comparable to the prices on the mainland. In case you've never been to the Cheesecake Factory, let me break down the typical evening for you.

• MUST arrive before 5:00 pm or we'll be waiting for hours. 
• Get seated and flip through 256 menu pages. It all looks so good.
• Order drinks, avocado eggrolls, and the specialty from page 15.
• Waiter brings bread to the table. Must. Eat. All. The. Brown. Bread.
• Ask for more brown bread. 
• Entree arrives. The plate is huge. 
• Box up 3/4 of your entree for lunch tomorrow. 
• Split giant slice of cheesecake with your date.

When we left, there was a gigantic line out the door. Seriously. Get there early.

Sunday was our beach day. It was windier and the water felt colder than usual, so the grand majority of my time was spent either in our giant raft thing or laying on the sand. I managed to get some good sun, which I'm happy about, since I'll more than likely be spending my next trip to the beach under a tent nursing a tiny one.

This week will hopefully be spent making final preparations for the babe. John and I put together the bassinet yesterday. It took embarrassingly longer than it should have. I've got to put a dresser together today, so that all of the cute little baby clothes can get sorted and put away.

I also have a doctors appointment today and a long list of questions to ask. Thursday will be my final non-stress test, then Friday should hopefully be induction day. I can't believe she's almost here!

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38 Down, 1 To Go!

Well friends, we are down to exactly one week until Juliana is born. Hopefully. Fingers crossed that her induction goes as smoothly as Veronica's did.

I have to call the hospital early next Friday to find out what time they'd like for me to go in. If they have too many women in there and too much going on at the time, I might have to call back at a different time. It's possible that the induction could get pushed back a day or two, but more than likely, I should be good to go!

At doctor's appointment earlier this week, I saw a different doctor than the usual guy that I've seen my entire pregnancy. Up until this point, I had been labeled high-risk, due to my elevated blood pressure, but since it's remained at a normal level, my regular doctor hasn't really treated me as a high-risk patient. New doctor guy took the label pretty seriously and scheduled me for the twice a week non-stress tests (NST) and set up an induction date for 39 weeks.

I had the first of my NSTs yesterday. I got to sit in this giant recliner chair with a built in massager. They put the monitors on my belly to record the baby's heart beat and to see if I had any contractions going on. Heart beat was good, no activity in the contraction department. From there, I had yet another ultrasound to check my fluid levels. Everything was good there too. 

The next week is either going to drag on or fly by. The fact that I still have a gazillion things to prepare, probably means that it'll fly by, leaving me no time to do anything. I have one more check-up and two NSTs next week, which won't help with my time management at all. If those appointments go anything like yesterday's, I'm just going to want to come home and nap. I wouldn't totally mind just waking up from a nap with a new baby in my arms and all the laundry done either. I can wish, right?

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Terrible Two's Are Terrible

You know how some people get pregnant and have babies in hopes of saving their relationships.. Is it totally crazy for me to hope that having a new baby around will fix Adri's behavior? Miss Thang has been wild lately!

I admit that part of it is my fault. Since she's still my baby, I sometimes treat her like one. There's the occasional baby talk or rocking her like she's a tiny little human. I suppose to her, that means that she gets to continue acting the way in which she's acting.

Lately, she has this thing against boys. If a little boy shows up anywhere around us, such as at the park, she makes it a point to make it known that she doesn't like him. The same thing happened while we were grocery shopping and he passed by a cart with two boys in it. And, if that shopping trip wasn't already exciting enough, as we were passing by some lady, she pointed and blew raspberries. Let's just say, I wanted to die right then and there under an avalanche of juice.

In a couple of weeks, little one will be joining V in school, and I'm hoping that she kicks some of the mean little things that she does to big sis around the house. I'm talking hair pulling, hitting with Barbies, and pushing. I don't want to have the little bully of the class.

Potty training is still a pain. I was hoping to get it knocked out before preschool started, but it doesn't look like that'll be happening.

We're still battling the co-sleeping battle, which will definitely have to change once Juliana is home and snuggled up next to me. Bedtime has also been a battle. Although she is finally starting to warm up to John, she absolutely refuses to let him put her to bed. So I get to sit next to her bed every night and rub her back for half an hour-ish. Let's hope she doesn't miss me too much in a few weeks. Adri is definitely a momma's girl.

My biggest concern is just getting Adri to listen. I will definitely be using Juliana to help motivate Adri. "Shhh. Juli is napping.." "Hurry, Juli needs to get in the car.." Hopefully, using the baby doesn't come back to bite me.

Don't forget to vote daily for my blog in the Top 50 Military Blog competition! Thank you! 

Big Day?

Oh my gosh! Today might possibly be the big day! I have an appointment this morning this morning to check my fluid levels, and depending on how that goes, I might have to be induced!

Since my ultrasound last week, I've been trying to drink as much water in possible in an attempt to get my levels up, but honestly, I wouldn't mind being induced at this point. I'll be 37 weeks on Friday and the ultrasound tech last week made it seem like if it was necessary, the baby should be absolutely fine.

I never got around to posting an outfit pic yesterday, because it was actually pretty boring. A maxi skirt and a neon tshirt in the softest most comfortable material known to man.

My trip to Target was phenomenal! I ended up spending just over $200 (which included a new dresser for V) and saving close to $100! It took some planning and work at the register, but I made it happen.

The bare minimum got packed for my hospital bag. Thanks to those who shared suggestions. I didn't go overly crazy packing things, but there are one or two things in my bag that no one mentioned. I'll be sharing the contents of my bag, sooner or later.

Also, as I was typing this up last night, I got an email that I was nominated as one of the top 50 military mom blogs. Woohoo! If you wouldn't mind, check it out and show my blog a little love. You get 5 votes a day, so you can also vote for a few of the other lovely ladies that were nominated.

Hopefully I have some exciting news later today! Since my phone broke, and I only have an iPad with wifi at a hospital with no wifi, if you don't hear from me, it might be a good sign!

Baby Registries

Normally, I hate Tuesdays. I have to wake up extra early to get V ready for school and Adri ready for gymnastics. From the time we leave the house to drop off Veronica, until lunch time, we're go, go, go with errands. Fortunately, gymnastics is closed for the week, so Adri and I are going on an adventure to the big red O while V is in school.

A few weeks back, I made a few baby registries for myself, with Target being one of them. I don't believe in having baby showers for second and third children (in most cases), so this list was strictly for me. I made the registry mostly as a shopping list for the few items that I would need to purchase before the baby is born. Unlike a typical shopping or wishlist though, I knew that by registering, most retailers would send me a coupon to purchase the items on my registry.

Last week, I received my coupon book from Target. Not only was there a 10% off coupon for my registry items, but additional coupons as well. Today I'll be heading into the store with my stack of coupons, plus some additional manufacturer coupons that I printed from online to stock up on newborn diapers for Juli and some Pull-Ups for Adri and a few other last minute necessities.

Cloth diapering with Adri has been frustrating lately. Since she's going to be in the care of people other than myself frequently for the next few weeks, I figured I'd make it easy on everyone and just stick to disposables. It'll be a while before Juli fits into the one-size cloth diapers, so being able to load up on diapers at a discount (plus the 5% REDcard discount) is going to be great.

Two other places that you can register at and receive coupons from are Babies R Us and Amazon. I'm sure there are tons of other places, but those are the ones that I'm most familiar with. I literally have one item on each of those registries, but hey, if I can get 10% off, why not do it?!

Oh! And my clothing order came in yesterday! Thankfully, everything either fits or seems like it'll fit once the belly is gone. Be on the lookout for an outfit post on Instagram today!

So Much Random

I have so many blog tasks/goals written down, but I have such a hard time actually sitting down and getting them done. There are posts that I've been wanting to write for ages but haven't gotten around to them. Instead, you have this awesome post of randomness.

I finally sat down and tackled one of those needs from my list. Holy crap! We have so much baby clothes! So much that I wasn't even able to finish sorting all of it. I might attempt to finish the last box or two today, but more than likely, the piles of clothes will stay on Adri's floor for another day or four. I'm going to try to convince the husband to go buy Veronica a new dresser this weekend so that we can put the baby's stuff into hers.

Is it totally crazy that a song that Veronica likes came on while she was in school and it made me wish that I could text her to see how her day was going..? Yes, I wanted to text my four year old at preschool. John will want to kill me, but I can totally see myself being one of those parents giving their fifth grader a phone.

I can't believe that I'm due in exactly five weeks! I have another ultrasound on Wednesday and an appointment with my doctor on Thursday. To say that I'm nervous would be an understatement. I'm hoping for the best, but honestly, there isn't much I can do at this point to change anything. I'm also slightly terrified of labor just creeping up and surprising me, like it did with Adri's birth.

Last week I went to a coffee to welcome the new Battalion Commander's wife. I can't remember if I blogged about it, but I know I mentioned it on Twitter. I was pretty nervous since it was my first Battalion event here, but luckily, I ended up making a new friend. And I got a birthday party invitation for this weekend. Anyway, I finally got around to making and sending a thank you card to the hostess.

I searched on Pinterest for some inspiration, but even the inspiration didn't inspire me enough. Or maybe it was that some of the examples were too complicated for my taste. For some reason, I couldn't get the settings on my Cricut to cooperate and cut some pretty patterned scrapbook paper without tearing it. So, I had to settle for cardstock. I still think it came out cute.

The fact that my settings were being a pain, pretty much solidified the fact that I plan on getting a new Cricut Explore later on this year. Right now the price isn't terrible, but I'm sure it will get better closer to the holidays. As it is, I've made enough through Etsy to cover the cost and justify getting a new machine. And who knows.. I can probably sell the old machine for a good chunk of change. Or keep it as a back up.

And that's pretty much it for now. I still have major cleaning to do around the house, but I'm ok with being a little lazy for now. I'm thinking I might bust out the sewing machine this afternoon and make some cloth wipes. We'll see. Soccer will be on all weekend, so I'm fairly confident my husband won't be around. At least not mentally. 

Need + Want

When John is off from work, there isn't much in the cleaning department that gets done around the house. Usually, the dishes pile up in the sink over the weekend until I get around to loading the dishwasher on Monday morning. I blame it on wanting to snuggle with my love while I actually have him around. Having him home for two weeks did not bode well for my to do list.

With Baby J making her arrival in just over a month, there are so many things that I need to get done. In fact, aside from moving the changing table around in Adri's room, I haven't done a single thing to prepare for our new baby. With Veronica, the clothes had all been washed and separated by this point. I can't completely blame having my husband around though. Part of it definitely has to do with third child syndrome.

+ Want: To focus more on scrapbooking for myself. If I have a chance today, I'm going to make a thank you card for the hostess of the spouses coffee last week and maybe work on that deployment scrapbook. I enjoy making the care packages for Etsy, but it's been a while since I've actually done a project for myself.

+ Need: Stop spending money. Having friends in town hurt the bank account a little bit. We've been irresponsible adults and have avoided looking at our balances. We need to just hurry up and pay the cards off and then survive off of ramen for the next few weeks. Kidding!

+ Want: Pick up some cheap summer fun activities for the kids. This totally goes against the last bullet, I know. Veronica asked to make some sprayable sidewalk chalk, so we need some spray bottles for that. I'm thinking that we should possibly also get a kiddie pool or slip and slide so that we can enjoy our back yard.

+ Need: Go through the boxes in Adri's room which still haven't unpacked to sort out clothes by size and season. Get it all washed and put away. In the dresser that still hasn't been purchased.

+ Want: More cloth diapers. My stash is pretty decent, but I want more. I'm missing a few of boyish colored diapers. I might buy them just so that I can have a complete rainbow. I wish BumGenius would come out with some new pretty colors or patterns for me to spend money on.

+ Need: Buy the few things that I need for the little one this time around, such as these muslin blankets. They're super thin, which will be useful in Hawaii. I have a friend who uses the blankets for nursing as well as keeping the sun off of her son. I plan on doing the same. I also need to get some newborn sized diapers and that baby book that is never going to be touched.

+ Want: To cut up the receiving blankets that we currently have and turn them into reusable cloth wipes. John thinks I'm absolutely nuts, but having cloth wipes will make diaper changes and diaper laundry so much easier. Yes, I have officially become one of those insane crunchy moms. 

+ Need: A nap. I know I've mentioned that Tuesdays are my busiest days. Gymnastics and grocery shopping are going to kill me today. I also still need to make a shopping list. Meal planning has not been my friend lately.

+ Want: To welcome my newest sponsor Lydia, the pretty lady behind The Few, The Proud, and This Marine Wife. She's a momma to three handsome little boys, as well as three angel babies. If her blog name didn't give it away, she's also a fellow military spouse.

+ Need: You to enter Amanda's giveaway for your chance to win this American Flag turban from Love Sewn Together.

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24 Week Bumpdate

This pregnancy just seems to be flying by (thankfully)! Today, I get to go in for my 24 week appointment. So far, the hospital has been really good about scheduling my appointments on the week mark.

Hubs and I have decided on a first name for Baby 3, who will now be known as Baby J, but we haven't been able to come up with a middle name that we like yet.

I've started to feel Baby J moving a whole lot more lately. She tends to be most active right around bedtime when I'm first laying down to go to sleep. Hubster has been able to feel her move as well, and if you watch carefully, you can even see her moving through my belly.

Speaking of sleep, it's been a tad rough lately. However, I blame that on Adri. She likes to crawl into our bed around 2 or 3 in the morning, forcing the grown ups to share one half of the mattress. I find myself occasionally waking up needing to pee in the middle of the night, but since I'm stubborn, unless I'm in severe pain, it waits until the morning.

As you can see, I'm actually starting to show. Gone are the days where I just look a little chubby. Strangers and acquaintances are starting to notice the bump. I've been living in my maternity clothes, which consists of a pair of shorts and lots workout clothes. I've been wearing dresses a lot lately, but I'm used to having thigh gap and I pretty much hate the feeling of my thighs touching. Sorry guys!

There haven't been any specific cravings, but I do love my sweets. I've noticed that the powdered doughnuts bringing on a bit of heartburn. I have a thing for noodles lately, but that's just because I got a taste of them and I want more.

I'm excited to hear my babe's little heart beat today. Both big sisters are coming along, which should be interesting. I've read about lots of negative experiences at Tripler, but so far everything has been wonderful. I've been able to see the same doctor every time and he's amazing with V and Adri. I'm sure one of them will get to help with the jelly or the heartbeat doppler.

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It's A....

I ended up not really doing anything special for our little gender reveal on Friday. I had the sonographer put the results in an envelope which Hubs and I opened together when he passed by the house between his brief and heading back to his office. Baby #3 ended up being exactly what we were expecting.

Even though I had a bit of hope that things might go in Hubster's favor because of some of the wive's tales in last week's post, it turns out that we'll be having another baby girl! It was the Chinese gender predictor that really got my hopes up that Hubs would get his boy. No such luck.

Twenty-ish weeks from now, we'll be a household of four ladies, one papa, and a neutered Caesar. My hubba bubba will be all on his own.

Twenty-ish years for now, we'll be paying for three weddings. For now, we'll be saving money by passing down the same clothes that all the other lovely ladies have worn.

Although it may have been nice to have a boy, I take comfort in knowing that I have plenty of practice when it comes to girls.

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20 Week Bumpdate

Yesterday was the halfway (hopefully) point for this pregnancy. Yay! I also had my ultrasound yesterday to reveal the gender of baby #3. You'll have to wait until Monday for that though.

So, how are things going with pregnancy and baby? Thankfully, baby is growing right as it should be, and my due date is still July 25. Everything at the ultrasound looked normal, which is great, because I was a bit concerned after the last one. The placenta was a little low, but should move up as everything grows.

I've been feeling pretty good. I've just started to feel the baby kicking. I have a little bit of a hard time falling sleep and staying asleep.  A lot of it has to do with the fact that I constantly have to pee. I've gotten better about going to the bathroom before bed, but honestly, even if I wake up in the middle of the night with an urge, there's a slim chance that I'm getting up. Yes, I am that lazy. And that's probably my biggest issue. I lack all motivation to do anything.

I've been doing my best to keep the girls busy. Since we live on a dead end street, the girls have been riding their bikes down there. There are still a few Pinterest projects that we haven't gotten around to. I'm relatively satisfied with how we've been able to space them out.

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Boy or A Girl?

Tomorrow afternoon is my anatomy ultrasound! Aside from measuring all of the little pieces of our munchkin, we'll also be finding out the gender. At my 12 week ultrasound, the tech gave us an idea of what she thought the baby was, but it'll be interesting to see if everything stayed the same. I thought it would be fun to share some gender-predicting wives tales and compare how those predictions worked out when it came to Veronica and Adriana. Both of which are girls, by the way..

Heart Rate: They say that if the baby's heart beat is below 140 beats per minute, it's a boy. Above that, it's a girl. This time, we've consistently been in the 150's and 160's. Veronica: girl, Adri: girl, Baby 3: girl

Mother's Beauty: If you're plagued with acne and other skin blemishes, it's supposedly because your baby girl is stealing your beauty. I've had great skin (and hair) each time. Veronica: boy, Adri: boy, Baby 3: boy

Cravings: Craving sweets is supposed to indicate that you're having a girl, while craving salty treats is indicative of a boy. I'm a sucker for sweets, all the time. This time around all I want is a Whopper. Veronica: girl, Adri: boy (sand counts as salty, right?) Baby 3: boy

Morning Sickness: Apparently, mommas of boys don't have to deal with morning sickness. Or those fun hormones in the teenage years.. I've gotten progressively better at dealing with morning sickness since Veronica, it's definitely still there though. At least in the first trimester. Veronica: girl, Adri: girl, Baby 3: girl

Chinese Gender Predictor: This is a fun one. The Chinese have a calendar that is supposed to predict the gender of your baby based on your age at conception and month that you conceived in. Supposedly, it's 90% accurate. I won't get my hopes up just in case it works like the Mayan calendar. Veronica: girl, Adri: girl, Baby 3: boy

via

High or Low: If the baby is carrying high, it's supposed to be a girl. If you carry low, it's a boy. I honestly can't remember what it was like with V or Adri. I'm not showing much yet, but everything seems to be pretty low. Baby 3: boy

So, predictions? Come back on Monday, to find out what we're having!

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I Can't Complain

I started typing up today's post, and then I got annoyed with myself and what I was typing. It was going to be a long complaint. Well, I hate reading about other people's complaints, and I really need want to stop bringing that negativity to my blog.

So, I'm going to mention this once, and then hopefully get over it and not mention it again.

Hubster won't be able to make it to my ultrasound on Friday. I scheduled it around his schedule, but of course in the Army, things come up. I was mostly disappointed, because he's always had the flexibility to make it to anything I've needed him to be at, but in actuality, it could be worse.

The positives:

• I was able to get a friend to watch the girls. Hubs was supposed to drop them off at daycare, which didn't open until the same time as my appointment, so he was just going to meet me there. 
• He isn't a continent away getting shot at. 

Now I just have to decide how I want to find out. Either I can find out at the ultrasound, on my own, and then surprise Hubster -or- I can do it so that we find out together, later on. And by later on, I mean that night when the husband gets home.

Knowing that this baby is our last (hopefully), makes it a little bit of a big deal. What do you guys think? 

Also, happy Founder's Day to my lovely Phi Mu sisters!

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Our Last One

A few days ago, several of my Facebook friends shared this link about having their last child. Based off of their comments, I knew that the post was about being sad about not having anymore babies. At that point, I decided it was probably a stupid article and I wasn't going to read it. I'm pregnant with our last child, and up until last night I was pretty excited about that. I don't enjoy being pregnant, and sometimes, I'm all but convinced that I wasn't cut out to be a stay at home mom.

Veronica - 3.5 & Adriana - 2

Last night, after reading Samantha's post about her babies growing up, I decided that I needed to read the original article. I was only a quarter of the way in when I started ugly crying. And now I'm ugly crying again. Up until last night I was so excited to get rid of the thousands of pieces of baby clothes that we'd no longer need after baby number three. All of the toys that take up space and need to be unpacked each time we move. All of the stupid little plastic plates and bowls that don't match my place settings. All of the things that I've been taking for granted. But now I grasp the fact that I'll never get those precious little memories and moments with my babies back.

Veronica - 1.5 & Adriana - newborn

I've come to realize that I'll probably be heartbroken when the day comes to ditch all of our newborn outfits. Then again when it comes time to get rid of the three month stuff, the six month stuff, the nine month stuff, etc. As it is, I already miss when Veronica was Adri's size. I miss co-sleeping. I miss feeding little people. I'm going to miss hearing the word "mommy" 52,934 times a day.

Veronica - 2

Adriana - 11 months

Adriana - 1 month

As I scroll through old pictures on the computer, I see how much Veronica has changed and grown up. At three, it doesn't even feel like she's my baby anymore. She'll never again be my seven pound six ounce newborn. And now I understand why my mom is so crazy with us sometimes.

Veronica - newborn

Adriana - newborn

Still ugly crying.

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16 Week Bumpdate

Yesterday marked 16 weeks of pregnancy! We're getting closer and closer to being half-way, and being able to find out what the gender of baby munchkin will be.

At this point, our little one is about the size of an avocado, at 4.5 inches head to rump, and weighing in at around 3.5 ounces. I've taken some belly pics, but really, the pictures are still just of my chubby belly. During my last appointment, the doctor pointed out that my uterus was still very far down in my pelvis. Currently, it's a little bit higher, but still, my pictures are mostly of a food baby. The little should be doubling in size over the next few weeks, which I'm quite excited about.

Lately, I've been feeling really good. I didn't have too much morning sickness to begin with, but it feels like it's mostly subsided. I still crave a nice afternoon nap, but I no longer feel like I could sleep all day. Basically, I hardly feel pregnant anymore.

This week I'll have an OB appointment, where I'll most likely get to see the little one. Yay! The ultrasounds are always nice confirmation, especially since I haven't felt anything yet. I'm sure I'll have another update then.

I've decided to only do these little "bumpdates" every four weeks, since really, there aren't any super major changes that I'm going to want to blog about weekly. Third-child syndrome has already set in. Four weeks also works perfectly since many major milestones happen around these time. The next update will be at 20 weeks, which is when we'll be finding out the gender. 

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We're Having A(nother) Baby!

Yes friends, I have joined the ranks of Kelsey, and soon enough will also be a mommy of three. Kinda of scary, right?

We've known for a little while now, but I finally had an appointment on Tuesday, where I got confirmation via ultrasound. Today I go back for another ultrasound to confirm the due date, but according to nonscientific calculations, I should be exactly 12 weeks today and due July 25, 2014.
Currently, I'm feeling pretty good. I get extremely tired in the early afternoons, but other than that, I can't complain. I was feeling pretty nauseous for a couple of weeks while we were still in the hotel, which was not pleasant at all, but that's all passed. Thankfully!

Unlike my two previous pregnancies, I was automatically tossed into the high-risk category for this one, because of my blood pressure issues. After meeting with my doctor on Tuesday, I found out that I'm not really high-risk, I don't really have blood pressure issues, and he wasn't even sure why I was started on blood pressure meds to begin with. Oh well!

The doctor assured me that high-risk pretty much only meant I'd receive some extra special attention, and that he wasn't overly worried about my condition. Since I'm considered high-risk, I'll probably have appointments every two or three weeks versus every four to six weeks, and for the last few months I'll have to go in twice a week. The only thing that worries my about that is that the hospital is a tad far, and the parking (as with everywhere else in Hawaii) is kind of ridiculous. So far, I haven't had any issues though.

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