Oh Skippy...!

While zip-lining yesterday, Skippy must have watched the boys toilet paper their playroom...so he had a little fun himself. 

 Whatever are we to do with this mischievous elf on the shelf? 

Hunter and JP thought this was HILARIOUS!

16 Weeks Already!

How far along? 16 weeks

Baby is the size of? An Avocado...yes, I know, I spelled it wrong on the board...Pregnancy brain?

Baby's heart rate? 

Maternity clothes? None yet! I can still wear my regular jeans! 

Stretch marks? No new ones

Sleep? I want to sleep all the time, but I've been sleeping a solid 9 hours at night

Movement? None yet - Hopefully soon!

Symptoms? Cramping around my sides and lower belly

Food cravings? None really...though I've been chowing down oranges left and right. I did that with Hunter too...

Anything make you queasy or sick? I still gag quite a bit brushing my teeth....
SCH News? No news I suppose is good news when it comes to my hemorrhage. No bleed or spotting for about a month! Yay! But I still have to have ultrasounds every two weeks until its gone...

Moment of the week? Tomorrow is Perry's last day at Wal-Mart! Hooray!

Looking forward to? My next ultrasound on December 14th

Skippy the Elf

About a week and a half ago, Skippy, our Elf on the Shelf, arrived on our doorstep for the first year. 

 *Thanks for ringing the doorbell Aunt Kim!*

Although the boys were a little hesitant to bring him inside, they eventually did. JP was more interested than Hunter was but it didn't take him took long to perk up! We read the book and named our elf Skippy. He'll be popping up all over the house in different spots each day. Every night, once the boys go to sleep, Skippy flies back to the North Pole to report what he saw during the day - also how Santa knows who is naughty or nice : )

 This is the only time the boys we allowed to touch Skippy. As the book says, he looses all of his magical powers if anyone touches him. But JP was so sweet and treated him like is own little baby. For the rest of the day, Skippy sat on top of the TV. 

The boys have really enjoyed waking up each morning to go find Skippy. Normally the Elf on the Shelf is supposed to be a bit naughty, but for the most part, ours has been pretty mellow. Maybe he's just testing the waters to see what he can get away with? He's been spotted sitting on the curtain rod, holding an ornament on the Christmas tree, reading a book in the China cabinet, sitting in the candy dish, hanging upside down from the cupboard, snooping in the stocking hanging on the wall, playing with Hunter's train, swinging on the light fixture... Yesterday, he found himself on the curtain rod again, but hanging upside down.

This morning he was found zip-lining from the curtain rod to the closet door. Looks like he was having some fun before the boys woke up, because has another zip-line trail to our bedroom door from the closet, and another one from our bedroom to the playroom... Silly Skippy! 

What has your elf been up to?

My Little Super Heroes

Recently my boys have become very interest in super heroes  Hunter is in love with Spiderman and JP has been enjoying his "fireman", know to us as Ironman. A few months ago, when I was completely addicted to Pinterest, I found these super cute tutorials on how to create super hero masks. You can find my Pinterest boards here. But here is the link to make the masks yourself! There is also how-to's on Princess crowns as well! 

I don't sew very often because it usually turns out horrible whenever my boys are around. It doesn't help that they *love* to cut and will cut anything they see! Ergh! Luckily the masks made it to the end! The templates I printed, however, did not...thank goodness they are re-printable! 

These are my little super heroes that have been running crazy around the house all day, the Hulk and Batman. Hunter initially wanted to be Spiderman, but I didn't have any red thread and really didn't want to take the boys to the store just for that. You can't really tell, but Hunter's left eye is still bruised, though its getting a lot better, it definitely had been a lot worse. I might make them each another for their stockings....

Hunter Is At It Again!

Yesterday Grandma and I were planning on taking my boys downtown for the Parade of Lights but we cancelled for two reasons. One) It was pouring rain when we initially planned to go. Two) By the time it was nice out, my boys were *so* crabby. I made the executive decision that the boys needed to stay home and take a nap.

Did they take a nap? No. After about forty-five minutes of putting them back into their beds, I closed the door on their room and opted to have "mommy time" on the couch. Then Hunter started screaming about 5 minutes later. From what I've gathered, between today's stories and yesterday's stories, he was playing soccer in his room and fell onto his bed base. Or he was jumping on his bed and fell off onto the frame. He didn't really bleed, just hit it super hard.

By the time I got down to the basement, it was already blue, and I knew it was going to be nice and swollen today. And I was right. I told Perry what happened, but I had a bandage on it yesterday so he didn't understand the extent of the wound until Hunter woke up this morning.

 Hunter and JP and daddy brought me lunch today at work, so of course I had to stop by Hunter's side to check out his eye first hand! Nice and purple when it's closed!

 By the time I arrived home work, he was just jibber jabbering about how purple his eye was and that "it hurts" as he jabs it with his fingers. No wonder it hurts!

And then there is JP who is just glad it didn't happen to him!

Baby Announcement Birthday Board

About two months ago, we told our families we were expecting baby #3 to arrive near the end of May. Because this is will be our last child, we wanted to tell our families in a special way. The way I chose to tell my mom and dad was by means of the birthday board. I've seen quite a few of them on Pinterest and thought they were super cute!

Overall it was pretty simple to make, just time consuming! I bought the round discs at Michael's, along with the hooks to hang them to each other. The wood came from our scrap pile in the garage. Perry willingly agreed to cut it and sand it for me. I spent a couple days spray painting the board, and painting all the discs. I wish I wouldn't have chose white! Those ones needed about a hundred coats of paint it seemed!

For the words on the board, I downloaded a couple fonts I liked, then blew them up on my computer and printed them out. Then I painstakingly cut them all out, and fixed some that the boys ripped... then traced them onto the board to paint. 

I sent pictures of my progress to my sisters in hopes they would see the "Dustin #3" written on one of the discs, but they didn't. When I finally completed the board, Robin noticed it, but only because her birthday was hanging right above it! 

Baby Update

After about 2 weeks of uncertainty, I finally went in to the doctor this morning. All is well! I've lost some weight though, probably due to all the worrying I've been doing! But the baby is growing at its normal pace. 

We spoke briefly about the hemorrhage too of course. During my emergency room visit on the 16th, the doctor said the hemorrhage is larger, which to everyone, including my doctor, took it as the hemorrhage has gotten bigger. In our chat today, I asked her what the severity of my case was, so she compared the numbers. On my Oct 28th visit, it measured approximately 6cm x 4cm x 2cm, which is considerably large. During my last visit on the 16th, it measured 3cm x 2cm x 1cm, which is still considered a large hemorrhage, but what he failed to tell us was that it had actually gotten smaller! From what my doctor and I gathered, when he said "the hemorrhage is larger" he was comparing it to what they normally see, instead of comparing it to mine. Boo to emergency room doctors!

Here's the ultrasound from the 11th when I went in to checked due to spotting over the weekend. On the left you can see the baby and in the right corner you can see the hemorrhage, the big black mass. This was when it was near its largest size.

During my ultrasound today, they checked and measured the hemorrhage again. Most ultrasound techs won't tell me what they find, but this one did! She showed me where exactly the hemorrhage was and explained what she saw. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of it, but the majority of where it was is now a grey color instead of the black that it used to be, which shows that it is resolving itself and shrinking in size. Both the doctor and ultrasound tech think the hemorrhage should be fully or mostly resolved by my next appointment which is scheduled for the end of December. Hooray!!

Despite how helpful the ultrasound tech was at explaining what was on the screen, she still sent me home with a nice picture of my baby's butt and legs, and one of the hands and abdomen. They usually give you one with a face...

Miscellaneous Pictures Worth Sharing

These boys of mine just crack me up! Here's a little glimpse of the past few months that I was able to get on film! Happy giggling!

Yes we're naked, yes we love mud, but we forgot we hate the cold water mommy's about to spray us with!

 Hunter has a way with people...sometime you just have to give in an pretend he's still a baby.

 JP cracks me up. Pretty sure he blew at the dandelion for about 5 minutes before he finally got them all!

 And sometimes chocolate pudding tastes better when it's all over your face.

 Other times, its easier to fall asleep at the table than to actually eat.

 How does Hunter do that?! 

And this is why I don't sew very often...I always get helpers than only want to cut. 

 It's never too early for chores!

 Yup, JP is going to play in the snow in his apron and sunglasses...and footie pj's that you can't see! That's how we roll!

My favorite for last! "Mom can we do the dishes?" Yeah, don't move...

An Airplane Cake for Hunter

My first born is *already* 4 years old! Where has all the time gone?!

Hunter was so excited for his cake - after I convinced him to not have another fire truck cake again.

He was 100% convinced that this little pilot was himself, and started screaming and almost crying when I had to cut the little guys arm to make it match the other one. "NO Mom! It hurts!"

Because of my emergency room visit on the 16th, his party on the 17th had to be moved and this little pilot sat in the fridge for a few days.

 Once I was done with my bed rest, and had the motivation to finish, I worked for a few more hours late Wednesday night to finish up his cake.  

The little stinker didn't believe it was it birthday because he didn't have a cake. So after our Thanksgiving feast, Hunter was able to dive into his cake. He ate the pilot's nose first, followed by the airplane wings.

Happy 4th Birthday Hunter!

We Need Your Prayers!

Let me start out by saying its been a rough few days for me. Originally we were going to have Hunter's birthday on Thanksgiving because of Perry's work schedule. Once that was changed we opted to have his birthday party this last Saturday after the Cat/Griz football game, like we've done every other year. Due to lack of energy, I didn't start on it until Friday afternoon. I created most of his airplane before I had to stop.

Flashback to a few weeks ago, I was rushed to the emergency room because I thought I could be having a miscarriage. Lucky for us, I wasn't. Instead I was diagnosed with a subchorionic hemorrhage. (For all you non-doctors out there, its a blood clot that has formed between my placenta and uterus wall.) At that point the hemorrhage wasn't very big so the doctors weren't too concerned about it because most of these pregnancies go on to produce a healthy baby. This last Monday the 12th, I went back to the doctor where they concluded it had gotten bigger.

Flash forward now to Friday night again, due to more bleed from the hemorrhage, I put the boys to bed and then laid in bed myself until Perry arrived home from work. At that point I didn't need to go to the emergency room. but with a substantial amount of bleeding later after just laying in bed, we packed up and headed back to the emergency room at 11:30pm. I was already exhausted!

Again, they performed another ultrasound and studied the hemorrhage for a little while. I was hoping the hemorrhage was fixing itself, but instead it was doing the opposite. It has kept growing over the last few weeks, but now its starting to push on the baby. Although its hard to hear, hard to say, and even harder to accept, the doctor said we need to prepare ourselves because we could lose this baby.

So now I'm reaching out to everyone to pray for me and my little baby. I'm two days into my second round of bed rest and will have a check up Monday or Tuesday with my OB doctor. These next few weeks are critical for us as the baby continues to rapidly grow. Unfortunately its going to sort of be a waiting game as there is no formal treatment for subchorionic hemorrhages. But I'm hoping you'll keep us in your thought and prayers! 

12 Week Survey

11/11-11/17

How far along? 12 weeks

Baby is the size of? A lime, about 2 inches long!

Baby's heart rate? 154 bpm

Maternity clothes? Mostly rocking my sweats.

Stretch marks? No new ones

Sleep? I've been getting about 7 though I roll around at night trying to get comfortable

Movement? None yet

Symptoms? Morning sickness is almost out the door! Feeling a bit depressed though

Food cravings? Nothing really this week

Anything make you queasy or sick? The smell of Chinese food!

Labor signs? None

Moment of the week? Had yet another trip to the doctor on Monday for another ultrasound as I had some spotting over the weekend. Hemorrhage had gotten bigger. Went to the emergency room last night due to a lot of bleeding. Hemorrhage is still getting bigger but its now pushing on the baby so the doctors are getting concerned. Bed rest for me :(

Miss anything? Doing my normal activities!

Looking forward to? Seeing family on Thanksgiving and finishing Hunters cake!

11 Week Survey

11/4-11/10

How far along? 11 weeks

Baby is the size of? A fig, about 1 1/2 inches long

Baby's heart rate? n/a

Maternity clothes? None yet! But my pants are getting a little tight

Stretch marks? No new ones

Sleep? Lucky for 8 hours. I've been tossing and turning a lot

Movement? None yet

Symptoms? Morning sickness still, some cramping due to the hemorrahage.

Food cravings? I'd really like a gyro...!

Anything make you queasy or sick? Again, just waking up. And those noodles bowls Perry insists on eating in front of me!

Labor signs? None

Moment of the week? My sister Kile stopped by to see me on her way through to Billings : )

Miss anything? Feeling normal! Go away morning sickness!

Looking forward to? Seeing more family next weekend.

10 Week Survey

This is a little dated, but none the less here's how Week 10 went.
10/28-11/3

How far along? 10 weeks

Baby is the size of? A Kumquat, approx 1 inch long

Baby's heart rate? 171 bpm

Maternity clothes? None yet!

Stretch marks? No new ones

Sleep? About 8 hours at night, plus a nap : )

Movement? None yet

Symptoms? Morning sickness, evening sickness, all day sickness?

Food cravings? I want salty food! Pickles, salted ham, salted raw potatoes...

Anything make you queasy or sick? Brushing my teeth...eeek! And just getting out of bed.

Labor signs? None

Moment of the week? On Sunday the 28th, Perry took me to the ER. Turns out I have a subchorionic hemorrhage so the ER doc put me on bed rest for 3 days. The check up on Friday the 2nd showed baby and mommy are okay and just need some rest.

Miss anything? Being able to do things my self! Perry has been great waiting on me hand and foot though!

Looking forward to? Going back to work

How We Spread the News

Obviously having a baby is an exciting thing and the moment you find out, many people want to tell everyone! I told Perry flat out that if we find out we're pregnant soon, we're not telling any one right away. For some reason I just didn't want to. Maybe its because I just don't like people constantly asking how I'm doing every where I go. Needless to say, I found out I was pregnant 2 days after my missed period in early September. We were trying to have a baby so I knew I needed to take a test. I spilled the beans to three people the day I found out I was having a baby. So much for not telling anyone! And it's been killing me not being able to blog about it until now! 

It was super hard to keep a secret from our families, but we wanted to tell them in a special way, as opposed to just flat out saying "We're having a baby!" 

I dropped a few hints to my little sister Robin through text messages. Her birthday is mid-May so I first told her (in September, 8 months away) that I had the perfect birthday present for her. She knew we were trying so I figured she'd count out the 8 months and get it right away. She didn't. I later asked her if she wanted her present to be pink or blue. Again, I thought it was pretty obvious. She responded with "PINK! Haha you thought I'd pick blue!" Didn't get that hint either. A few days later I let her know that Perry picked out the color already and I wouldn't know what he picked until her birthday. The suspense was killing her. A couple weeks later she asked how the baby making was going, and I told her we gave up trying to make a baby. She was devastated...

For our anniversary this year, Perry's parents bought us a night stay at a resort with 18 holes of golf in the morning. After spending the day on the course, we went to Grandma's house to pick up the boys to go home. I took little JP to the potty and told him when he was done to go tell Grandma he is going to be a big brother. So he did just that. He marched up to Grandma and grumbled "I'm going to be a big brother." She looked down and responded "OH! You went potty! Good job!" I just giggled and told Perry we'd try again later. As I was buckling JP into his carseat I told him that when Grandma came over to say good-bye, to tell her you're going to be a big brother. And he did as soon as she opened his door. Clear as day this time. "Grandma! I'm going to be a big brother!" She looked at him and responded this time with, "Maybe some day but not today." And proceeded to say her good-byes as Perry and I stood on the other side of the car and giggled.

Meanwhile, my mom's birthday was in early October, so I decided to make her a birthday board to tell her to expect another grandbaby. The birthday board (which I will post later) was a hand painted board, by me, that said 'Family Birthdays' across it with the months listed across the bottom. I painted everyone's names and birth dates on their own disc and hung them below the month of their birthday. Hanging down from May was Perry, then Robin, then Dustin #3 (on the back it said 'coming in 2013'). I sent pictures of the board with that baby disc in view to my sisters as I was working on it. I sent out the completed picture to them, and only Robin caught it, because she was looking at her birthday. 

When my mom and dad passed through town, they stopped by to pick up her birthday present. She thought there was too many discs on it, so she immediately started looking for something that said 'Baby' on it. My dad noticed shortly after my mom got excited. I told her to not tell anyone because my two older sisters didn't know yet. They were already suspicious of my sickness but her 'just talk to Sadie' gave it away. JP stilled called them to tell them he was going to be a big brother though.

"These are for the baby!"

Since a few weeks had now passed since our last attempt to tell Grandma, we thought we should try again since all of my family knew. JP called her up on the phone and when she answered, he shouted out again, "Grandma I'm going to be a big brother." And again Grandma said "Maybe some day." So JP pipes up again and says, "But Grandma! There's a baby in mommy's belly." The phone was silent, and then "Perry....is that true?" "Yeah mom. We've been trying to tell you!" 

We next called Grandpa and JP told him the news, and he understood it right away. As did Uncle Cameron and Aunt Erin. I wasn't around when Perry called his sister, but because he hardly ever calls, she assumed I was pregnant because "He only calls when Sadie's pregnant." 

For the rest of our family and friends, we sent out our holiday cards (early I know!) with our "We're growing by two feet" picture on it. I figured if this was going to be my last baby, I wanted to enjoy it more than I was able to with my boys and spread the word in a fun way!

We're Growing by Two Feet!

Yep, that's right, we're expecting to welcome baby #3 into the world near the end of May 2013. Officially I'm due on May 26 but the baby is measuring to be closer to May 30th. But seriously, what's a couple extra days? Who knows though, little JP came 2 weeks early and I was overdue with Hunter and had to be induced. I'm hoping it's early.

I've been bugging my husband for quite a while, probably a year and a half, about having another baby. A little baby girl. Although I don't think that it has anything to do with what I'll be having, it has been said, I believe 5 generations now, on the paternal side of the family, the first two born are boys, and if there is a third, it is a girl. It gives me some hope, but I really just think its luck that it happened that way! We figured if we were going to have another baby, we should get to it because Hunter will be 4 1/2 by the time this one is born, and we don't want them too spaced out!

I'm currently 12 weeks along, and it has been anything but easy. My morning sickness started right around week 6 and has held strong since. Morning sickness? Who am I kidding? My morning-noon-night sickness is more like it! I'm lucky to be an Executive Housekeeper right now because I'm never but a few feet from a toilet at work. Thank goodness! It's saved me quite a few times! Along with being/feeling sick all time, I have had almost no energy. I'm in constant need of a nap. I toss and turn all night trying to get comfortable. Yay, the sleepless nights have began already....

Just like with the boys, we are keeping this one a surprise as well. The suspense is going to kill me! In this day and age, its not very common for people to keep the baby's sex a surprise until birth. I was watching videos earlier this morning with my boys, and we watched one where JP was just born and was getting cleaned up. You can hear me in the background ask, "What'd I have?" The nurses all laughed, but I recall having to ask with Hunter too! 

Sesame Street Live in Missoula

We some how lucked out and had Sesame Street come to Missoula. We had to go! As soon as I told the boys about the show, they were jacked! We, however, waited until today to get tickets...

 ..and scored AWESOME seats! Row 5 on the floor. We had 4 seats starting from the right outside isle, which initially I thought might kind of stink, but it turned out great!

 The boys each had their own bag of popcorn (mostly to keep them occupied before hand) which turned out to be way more than we needed.

 Hunter sat like this for quite a while...

 Although we were in row 5, we still managed to get all adults in front of us. I think row 4 had maybe 2 kids in it?! Kind of lame...But the boys didn't mind sitting on our laps so they could see better. They probably would have had to anyways.

 We had a big advantage sitting on the isle...we got to see Cookie Monster up close! And Oscar's mom (?) came past and gave JP a nice head rub and stole some popcorn! JP was jacked! He turned to me and said "Maybe Elmo will come by!" I responded with "Keep your fingers crossed!" And he did. He kept his fingers crossed for about 10 minutes.

At the end of the show, the boys were getting a little antsy so we let them out of the isle to dance. And for those who haven't seen him dance, Hunter has some serious dance moves! He rocked it! They absolutely LOVED the show!

JP was so excited to go and see Mr. Noodle, and I didn't have the heart to tell him that he probably wouldn't be there. By the end of the show, he didn't seem to mind. Everything was Elmo this and Elmo that. With Hunter too! And all the characters were there too...Elmo, Big Bird, Abby, Gonzo, Oscar, Cookie Monster, Rosita, Zoey, the purple guy, the red guy, a blue girl, Bert and Ernie....A ton of them! It was so fun to watch how excited the boys got and to watch them actually get into the show and interact! Such a fun family outing!

Halloween 2012

I took the easy route this year, though I hadn't planned on it. We bought costumes from Wal-Mart, a week ago. And since then they've gotten a lot of use! Although there wasn't too many options for boys, I was able get them similar but different costumes. This year they are Transformers.

Despite the picture, Hunter really was excited about Halloween. I woke them up fairly early in the morning, when it was still dark out, to get them ready to go to daycare. When I was waking them, I explained that today was Halloween and when it gets dark out, they would *finally* be able to go trick or treating. They took that as, "it's still dark out, let's go now!" Err..can't go trick or treating at 7:30a. Not so sure many people would be ready for that.... But I did let them wear their costumes to daycare, which they loved.

This is the boys with showing their famous "how strong are you" pose. Little JP is Bumblebee the Transformer and Hunter is Heatwave. When JP is asked what he is for Halloween, he says he's a butterfly. Close but not really : )

We had a total of 6 trick-or-treaters this year, which was expected. We left a little earlier than we normally do, so we probably missed a few that would have normally stopped. We stopped at a few houses on our lane before we went to Nanny & Papa's new house. After seeing Papa hand out candy, I took Perry home so he could go back to work. After taking a couple days off work to be home with me, he had a lot of catching up to do.

Aunt Kim was anxious to see the boys, so we headed up to her house next. Hunter and JP said her house was their favorite. Of course...she loaded them up! In fact they loved her house so much that we had to stop there twice! 

Fun at the Corn Maze

 Yesterday was the perfect day for us to enjoy our local corn maze! The weather couldn't have been better - a nice 63 degrees with the sun shining! We've been talking about going for a while now, but when the boys came down with colds last week, we opted to stay home. Nearly every trip to and from daycare, depending on the route we take, we drive right past the corn field. All the boys needed to see was the tractor sitting out front to get excited about going.

The boys were so eager when they saw all the hay bales. There was two "little kid" mazes there. JP did awesome! 

Hunter, however, wasn't too impressed. He stood in this spot for quite a while as he was his brother navigate though. Eventually he started back up, but then climbed over a few bales to get out.

 We let the boys play on the play around on the play equipment before we went over the behavior rules for the maze. I haven't been to any other maze before, but this maze has clues to help you through the maze. Perry was our clue reader and the boys acted like they knew all the answers to questions about the Egyptians. (We played level difficult!)

 The maze went back and forth between the hay bales and the corn. For the most part we let the boys take turns leading us around. One would go until we were lost and then the other would take over.

 At this point, we had been in the corn portion of the maze for quite a while. We came upon one of our clue spots and the boys found this piece of corn hanging down. It seemed like Hunter had just had an epiphany. "Mom! This is corn! We're in the middle of a corn field!" Ha! Took you a while bud! 

 My job, other than cameraman, was the "cattle herder." You know, make sure they keep going where they're supposed to.

Towards the end, the boys were anxious to get back out so they could go play again. JP cracked me up a few times. When he and I would hit a dead end he would exclaim, "Uh oh! I guess we'll try again tomorrow!"  And then would just stand there until I told him to turn around. : )

 Once we made it out of the maze (way faster than in years before!), we headed over to the little petting zoo.

 Although JP really wanted to go see the little pony, he refused to pet it.

 He did however love on this little lamb, until his attention was diverted to this lamb on the right taking a giant dump, practically in his face. He thought this was the COOLEST!

 Hunter also showed us he has a soft side too. He really enjoyed the petting zoo.

 We finished up taking pictures in the pumpkins. Here is Perry and little JP. 

When it became my turn, JP decided he wanted to be in the big one, so I crouched down for the little one as he stretched out onto his tippy toes just so he could see out!