25 Weeks - Baby #3

25 Weeks already?!?!? Crazy how fast this pregnancy is going by. Next week marks the official 6 month mark and we go back to the Dr then for a check up. Things are going great!

We didn't take photos of me with Lauren's pregnancy at 25 weeks so here is the comparison of me with Colton and baby #3. This photo makes me think I should cut my hair like I had it with Colton :-) And yes...my belly button has popped. It didn't with the other two, but it's out there this time. I'm not ashamed...I think it's cute!

Stats
How Far Along: 22 weeks
Size of baby: Eggplant (9.2 inches long and about 2 lbs)
Movement: I feel the baby a few times a day now mainly in the morning and evening when I'm laying in bed.
Sleep: The last two nights my hips have really been hurting...not sure what the difference is, but oh well...it's all just a part of the process.
Symptoms: None really.
Best Moment this week: Last night Kraig told the kids that the baby can hear them now, so they both wanted to talk to the baby (using my belly button as the 'microphone'). Lauren said "mom, I'm going to talk to the baby everyday so it knows my voice when it's out of your belly". Love that girl!
What I am looking forward to: Our Dr appt next week to hear the heart beat!

No More Paci! - 29 Months Old

This past Thursday I decided it was time for Colton to give up the paci. He was finally feeling better from the HFM, Kraig was out of town and I knew it would only take 2 nights max to get give it up and he only used it at bedtime...so it was time (we got rid of Lauren's at 27 months old). Colton did much better than Lauren did. Click here for Lauren's story. We have been down to 1 paci for a few weeks now and i just kept thinking 'when that paci disappears we will just go for it' however the darn thing would never disappear. So Thursday night he went to bed without a paci and it took 20 minutes to go to sleep because he was crying saying "I want my Papi Mommy" but he gave up. Woke up at 1:30 asking for it but went back to sleep. Friday night it only took 5 minutes to go to sleep and he slept all night. Sunday night he walked through the kitchen and asked for it (on his way to bed) and I just told him that he was a big boy and didn't use it anymore. He didn't even question it and was just like "ok mom" and walked to his room and went to sleep without asking for it. So with 3 months to go before baby #3 arrives, we are a paci free home!

24 Weeks - Baby #3

24 weeks with Lauren, Colton and Baby #3

Stats

How Far Along: 24 weeks

Size of baby: Eggplant (9 inches long and about 1.7 lbs)
Movement: I feel the baby a few times a day now and the kicks are getting stronger and up on my sides/ribs! Also feeling little hiccups at times.

Best Moment this week: Feeling the baby's kicks getting stronger...lets me know he/she is healthy and active!

Hand Foot Mouth Disease :-(

Tuesday afternoon we got a call from school that Colton was not feeling well and was running a temp of 101. We went to pick him up and scheduled a Dr appt because he was saying his tummy hurt as well as his ear. That night the Dr looked at his ears and said they were 'red' inside but since he has had previous ear infections thought it was probably just that so she gave us antibiotics to fight it off. Wednesday morning he woke up with a rash around his mouth. NWA including our daycare has had Hand Foot Mouth Disease going around so that's the first thing I thought of. Our friends Greg and Jen's little girl Addy had it last week and Keisha's boys have it this week (and they don't go to our daycare and live in Rogers) and both have said that there is nothing they can do because it's a viral thing...so we just had to wait it out. Thursday he woke up and it was much worse. Now it was not longer on his face, but on his hands too with a small rash on his feet. By Friday the blisters on his mouth were worse but some were actually starting to scab over and dry out (which I heard was a good thing) but instead of just a bad rash on his hands he actually had blisters so I scheduled a Dr appointment hoping they would do something...ANYTHING to make my baby feel better! Our appt was Friday morning and the Dr said Colton had a severe case of HFM disease and so that his blisters would not get infected and cause a secondary infection he gave us an antibiotic cream called Bactroban for his skin. He also gave us Tylenol with Codeine in it to help him feel better and sleep better (I just gave it to him at night because I didn't want him to be sleepy during the day. I did give him IB Profen during the day to take away some of the pain/itch.). I have to say Colton has been a trooper through out all of this. He has times of irritability (I'm sure because he just doesn't feel himself and is hurting/itching) but most of the time he acts like himself. I can say this momma can't wait for my baby to be back to normal! The Dr said by Monday his rash should be much better but would not be gone. It turns out that the ear pain and fever are actually the first signs of HFM so the good news is he no longer has to take the antibiotics since he actually does not have an ear infection! I pray that Lauren, Kraig and I don't get it also as I have washed my hands more in the past few days than I ever have trying to stay away from it (so much so that my skin is cracking!). Lauren is treating him like he has the plaque and won't go near him...poor guy he just doesn't understand. :-( Luckily it's very rare for adults to get it since it's mainly something that shows up in kids 10 and under but Kraig and I still need to take precautions (mainly me because of baby #3).
Day 1 photo

Slight rash around the mouth...nothing on hands or feet.

Day 2 photos

Face has raised sores/scabs. Hands are starting to get red blisters.

Day 3 photos

Hands and face are all red with sores/blisters.

Day 4 photos

No more blisters on the face, just scabs. Hands have red marks and blisters.

Day 5 photos

Some scabs on the face but they are about 80% gone. His hands still have red marks.

Day 6 photos

All the scabs on his face are 100% gone! His hands still have red marks and scabs as they have been about a day behind his face so far but the spots on the hands are drying up so that's a good sign!

Yesterday was a big change in his face and attitude. I could tell he missed his sissy's hugs because all day he just kept wanting to hug her. She kept yelling "mom he is touching me!" Poor guy...he just wants to be loved. I have been snuggling him and kissing his forehead, etc but making sure I washed my hands after I touched him or his cups, etc. Luckily no one in our family has caught it and I pray we don't. Now it's time to disinfect the whole house! :-)

ABC's

Colton LOVES to sing now. He sings ABC's, Jesus Loves Me, Happy Birthday, etc.

Love that boy!

23 Weeks - Baby #3

23 weeks with Colton and baby #3 (my belly button is starting to pop out!)

Stats

How Far Along: 23 weeks

Size of baby: Ear of Corn (8.5 inches long and about 1.5 lbs)

Tulsa Zoo!

Last weekend Kraig and I went to Hot Springs for my birthday weekend. The kids stayed with Russ & Sue and Kristen & Brian. They took the kids to the Tulsa Zoo on Saturday and the kids LOVED it! Thanks Nana, Papaw, Kissy and Brian! Check out the video's at the bottom...pretty cute!

Saturday night the kids stayed at Kristen's house and you can tell both kids love their Ava Bug!

Kristen took these video's on her phone on the way to the zoo and then on the way home from the zoo. Our baby boy is growing up!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Kristen sent this to me Sunday...My babies singing Happy Birthday to me! I love it!!!!

22 Week Ultrasound - It's A ???

It's A...healthy baby!

Kraig and I didn't find out this time. Yes you read that right...Kraig didn't even find out! I think he knows how much I don't want to know and caved (thanks babe)! He just said it would be too hard if he knew and I didn't because others would be asking. So to make it easier he didn't find out.

Baby was moving around the whole time and making a swallowing motion with it's mouth/tongue. Baby was being a little shy with his/her face as the only front face shot we got is one of the nose and lips. Apparently this baby has heard that I want the birth to be the big surprise as he/she has not shown us a good front face photo the whole pregnancy (10 weeks, 18 weeks and now 22 weeks). Good baby! We did get a GREAT profile pic though and it's one I will cherish as I think it's the cutest little baby in the whole world (I can say that now that my other two are not babies anymore)!

There was a slight change in my due date for two reasons...

#1 the baby's measurements show 22 weeks and 3 days (bigger than normal which is unusual for us as we make little babies that have always measured right on time or smaller than they should be)

#2 my LMP due date is and has always been July 10th but when we went in at 6 weeks the date was 7.10. At my 10 week appt the nurse wrote down 7.12 so that's what we have gone with until today. When Dr Reiter took a second look (because he noticed there were 2 dates) he double checked it and said my actual date is July 10th. That made me happy! :-)

Profile

Spine

Top of Head (ultrasound tech said "it must be a girl...look at that brain!")

And yes she said that before she looked at the baby's bottom!

Legs

Foot

Arms

Baby's nose and lips with left arm

This one is a little hard to see but the nose and mouth are just below that big black "air" spot

Stats
How Far Along: 22 weeks
Size of baby: Papaya (8 inches long and about 1.2 lbs)

Baby's Heart Rate: 159-160

Weight Gain: 3 pounds this month so a total of 12 pounds so far (baby is supposed to double in size this month though so who knows what the weight will be at our next appt!)
Maternity Clothes: Yes! I bought my first pair of maternity leggings at Target this week and wondered why I didn't buy them sooner!
Gender: It's a Surprise!
Movement: I feel the baby a few times a day now! Still pretty low but starting to feel some movements on my side now as well.
Sleep: Sleeping is ok. I still have the hip pain but I've noticed the days I workout the pain is less...so another reason to workout on a regular basis! I still get up to one or two times a night to pee.
Symptoms: I was having a sciatic nerve issue but at our appt Dr Reiter adjusted my back and the pain is gone! He said "your back popped like a gun going off" so I guess it was out of whack a bit. :-)
What I miss: Wine and Sushi
Cravings: nothing specific really
Best Moment this week: Seeing my baby!!!
What I am looking forward to: The excitement of waiting until our delivery to find out if we are having a boy or girl!

Sorry this week was pretty busy so we didn't get any belly pics of me.

Dr. Seuss Parade

The kids school learned all about Dr. Seuss last week and even had a parade! Kraig and I were not able to attend but our good friend Stacy Fields went and took these adorable pics for us! Thanks Stacy!

Celebrating Dr. Seuss

Yesterday was Dr. Seuss day at school so we of course had to dress up. :-)

This was the best photo I could get of Colton this morning.

Prayer Request Update #2

I wanted to post and update on the previous Prayer Request post. If you missed them click here and here to catch up.

I would once again like to start off by saying God will never give us more than we can handle! Sometimes it's not what we want...but He gives it to us because other's are not as strong!

My uncle Larry (my mom's brother) - His recovery is going great and he was cleared to drive again Tuesday. He will go back to work in 2 weeks!

My mom - She is still waiting for her Dr appointment with Dr. Greene (heart Dr) for next steps. That is sometime in April.

My aunt Brenda (my mom’s sister) - She had her mastectomy Tuesday of this week. The Dr said everything went great and my aunt went home Wednesday. With that I thought she was in the clear, however she got the test results back late yesterday on her lymph nodes and they are not good. I am praying for a miracle right now because if you have ever heard of anyone having cancer in the lymph nodes most of the time the long term results are not good. However God preforms miracles everyday and my Aunt has a VERY strong faith in God so all things are possible! We will deal with whatever His plan is as I know His plan is the right one (I'm just selfishly hoping His plan and mind match this time)!

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

Dance Dance Dance

These are videos of Lauren's dance class last night. She is really enjoying it (even if she doesn't want to leave school because other kids are getting to play outside) once she gets there. :-)