Another baby update

Well, tomorrow marks week 38! I can't believe it's going to be here this quickly. Any time I guess. Bennett was 4 days early and Jordan was 6 days early but they were both induced to some extent so I don't really know when I'll go completely on my own. I'm hoping for sooner than later but my mom doesn't fly out until Jan. 30th so I need to wait until then =). With Rhett's grad school schedule and the kids preschool/Dr. appts, I can't go into labor without the extra help.

At my last Dr.'s appt (last Friday) the Doctor told me I was measuring small. She's told me this a few times but I've tried not worrying about it too much. I guess in the last 2 weeks my stomach has only grown by half a cm, and it's suppose to be 1 each week. I think I'm only measuring around 34 or 35 cms and I should be about 37 or 38 by now. Anyways, she told me she wanted me to have another ultrasound done to make sure I had enough fluid and that the baby was growing well. They were able to schedule that for today so we only had to wait 3 days to find out what was going on with this little girl. I may be measuring small but this baby is NOT! She's already measuring in at 8lbs. And I've got 2 weeks left! Yikes. She was so cute on the screen. They could see some hair on her head, she was munching on her fingers, and kept sticking her tongue out at us. She looks like she has chubby cheeks but who wouldn't look like that when they're squished up so much =). My fluid level was in the normal range. So, we're going to continue playing the waiting game. I have quite a few contractions throughout the day and they're starting to get painful but nothing that's regular at all. I don't have my hospital bag packed yet so that's on my checklist. Also, I need to finish washing a few things to be completely ready for when she comes. I also need to pick out an outfit for her to come home in. Oh the list could go on and on! Times ticking. I really just need to get my house in order.
Me and Bennett got his room pretty clean (this is a daily thing to keep up on now...) and Rhett and I cleaned out our really well too. I'm not too concerned about Jordan's since I know it's not her making the mess, and the baby won't be in there with her until she's older. I just need to keep up on the laundry and dishes and picking up around our family/living room. I hear that once you have 3 kids it's almost not even worth trying to keep up on the laundry. Yikes. I guess it just needs to be done by the time she's here. That'll be the best I can do =)

So, you out there that have reached the 3 kids or higher. Give me all the advice you can about what to do to stay organized when number 3 comes home. Or even if you don't have 3 and have some great pointers that you'd like to pass on. I REALLY need to get myself ready for what I'm in for =). THANKS!!!


And some pictures:

Rhett and Bennett are VERY proud of the snowman they made a couple weeks ago. There was barely enough snow at the time to do what they did here. And it wasn't the greatest snow for snowman making. They could get the smarties to stick to make his smile=). I'm glad they were able to actually make some sort of snowman though because right after this we had an Arctic Blast come through that gave us some lovely wind chills down to -30ish. It was great. Preschool kept getting canceled and everyone was told to stay inside as much as they could. I'm glad that that's over and we have some 20 and 30 degree weather now. Time to break out the shorts! Just kidding.

Only happens once in your life...

And Jordan's was yesterday! Her first day of school! Preschool that is =). She was suppose to start when she turned 3 (beginning of October) but since we had recently moved and she had to have LOTS of evaluations to see if she really qualified based on disabilities (give me a break!), it took a while to get going. Her school is going to be great. Her teacher is AWESOME and all the therapist she's going to work with are just incredible. So I'd have to say that it's been worth the wait. She's at the same preschool as Bennett. They incorporate the special needs kids with the "typical" kids. Most of the kids just have speech issues though. No one is a "handicap" (especially physically) as Jordan so they've done a lot of preparing for her to be in their school. Her first day was suppose to be Monday but Jordan was sick. Then on Tuesday they can canceled school because of horrible weather and major ice all over the roadways. Then on Wednesday her teacher had meetings all day and we didn't feel comfortable having her first day with a substitute she'd never met before. So, Thursday it was! Take a look at these pics and video's and see for yourself how it went =).On the way to school

At school

At school

After school waiting for Jordan's class to get out. Bennett's classroom is on the right, Jordan's is on the left.

This is Jordan's classroom name. She's a green lizard! (the morning class are blue lizards...)

Home from school! She loved playing with her backpack when we got home.

Jordan's teacher said that she actually did really well! She cried for a couple minutes at the beginning of class but then she was given a stress ball to play with and that helped her calm down quite a bit. She had a difficult time transitioning from activity to activity but once the new activity started she did fine. She had both physical therapy and occupational therapy and they said she did well with both. She didn't want to help clean up much but they made her do a little. When arts and crafts time came, Jordan didn't want anything to do with the paint. Thankfully the teachers and aids were persistent with her and she did a few strokes with the brush. She was the same way when they were coloring. She didn't want to do it, but they persisted and she gave in =). Her teacher, aides, and therapists were all warned (by Rhett and I) that she WILL test them. She will do as little as possible and will make them do what she wants them to do. She didn't get away with it, not even on her first day of school. I'm SSSOOOO glad! So all in all she had a great day. When she came out of her room she started babbling to me like crazy. She was signing ball, dolls, and crackers. Her teacher then told me about the stress ball, how they had crackers for snacks, and then when I got home and read the PT/OT report they told me how they played with dolls and a doll house to work on strengthening her sitting skills. So Jordan knew exactly what she had done that day and told me right when she came out of her room. I'm so proud of her! She really is a smart little stinker. We just need to keep channeling it in the right direction and she'll do great =)


Off the school subject, we went into Jordan's room this morning and this is what we found. She had been playing with her doll house set while watching Backyardigans. She's quite creative but sometimes it makes me think she has some autistic tendencies... It was quite funny though...

Robot fun

Since Rhett's been done with school since before Thanksgiving, he and Bennett have had a lot of fun playing together. Here's what they were up to one day... (mainly Rhett though!)

Fun with Pumpkins!

Here's some pumpkin carving pics. Bennett actually really enjoyed this entire process!

Bennett got this pumpkin when he went with his preschool class to a local farm right before Halloween. It was the perfect size for him to clean out all by himself! And he did a great job painting it at our housing communities Halloween party.

Catch up

I'm going to try to catch up on my blogging before the Christmas holiday fun begins! Hopefully I'll continue to keep it updated during December but no promises =) Here's some random pictures that I haven't posted yet...

Jordan LOVES lining things up. I hope it's just a phase and not OCD ={. And she gets furious if you move anything she's put in place (excuse the hair!!)

At her birthday party. This cupcake looks alright...

More

Please!

Okay...

Mmmmm. Thanks!


Another silly picture of Jordan enjoying as sucker and sharing her green tongue with us all...

Jordan's borrowing this AMAZING chair. We're hoping the Spina Bifida group here in town will be willing to buy her one of her own in the near future. In the meantime, this one is a home made version of what we're hoping to get for her and the Spina Bifida Clinic at Dayton Children's Hospital is letting her use it for a while. She wasn't too excited about it at first but has since really warmed up. When she was trying it out during her clinic back in October Bennett and I got so giddy anytime we saw her moving the wheels and actually MOVING on her own!! I hope she gets the hang of it. Right now we're working on conquering the fact that in order to get somewhere, you have to push the wheel, let go of the wheel, and then do it again. She doesn't want to let go of the wheel so she just goes back and forth, back and forth. This is pretty neat for us though. We might actually have a somewhat mobile Jordan once she figures this out! Watch out Bennett! Jordan's going to be able to chase you now!

Halloween!

I'm a couple weeks behind but that's alright isn't it?!
Here's some fun pics of Halloween. We had a busy time of things. We had trunk or treat at the church, Bennett had a party at school, we had a party for our housing complex, and then trick or treating with our family! We had lots of fun. Notice there aren't any carved pumpkins? We painted pumpkins at our complex party. It's much easier to clean up paint than pumpkin guts everywhere! We finally carved Bennett's little pumpkin last night. He cleaned out pretty much all the goop by himself too! I'll have to take pictures of it another time...

At our complex party. You can tell Jordan is THRILLED to be taking pictures!

She always cheers up when Bennett gets silly!

After trick or treating. Mmm. Suckers are the best!

Jordan and Daddy hanging out in the hallway at trunk or treat, waiting for Bennett to finish one of the games they had for the kids.

It's tiring being a lion!

Baby update

Things are going pretty well so far this pregnancy. I'm surprised that I'm coping with the stairs fairly well! If I have to go up and down them too many times in a row then I have a hard time but so far so good. I'm so close to starting with my 3rd trimester! It's really flying. I'm 27 weeks along and just had another ultrasound done today. The baby looks really good. She's beefing up really well! Online they tell me that she's almost 2 pounds but by her measurements today she's a little over 2. Maybe this'll be a baby more Bennett's size (8lbs6oz) instead of Jordan's (7lbs1oz). As long as she's healthy =). Her spine looks great- no signs of any problems at all. She's been very active and really likes to hang out on my right side. Well, I guess maybe it's my uterus that's shifted over there but I'm totally lopsided! Maybe it's because my body knew I had to carry Jordan around on my left side so it makes the baby stay on my right =). Since the only other ultrasound I've had done so far (before today) was at 14 weeks, we weren't 100% sure that we were having a girl. So we told Bennett that there was a chance the baby was a boy. When he heard today that its' FOR SURE a girl, he totally broke down! Poor guy. He really wants to share his bedroom with his new sibling and knows that if it's a girl that the baby will be in with Jordan. We tried our hardest to help console him but he was just sobbing. Hopefully next time we'll have a boy for him =).

We still haven't decided on a name. And I DON'T want to wait until she's born but maybe that's going to happen. With Bennett and Jordan we knew in advance and it all fit perfectly but this one has been more difficult. We really use to like Shelby but as time goes on, the less and less it seems to fit- especially after today's ultrasound. It just doesn't seem right. We really like Reese (thanks for the suggestion Janell!) but it hasn't grown on me as much as it has with Rhett. So we've been looking all over the web for ideas but nothing screams YES to me yet. Frustrating! I want to call her something. Well, we actually do call her something but it's Bennett's name for her and we are NOT going to name her this =). He calls her "Zip". Lovely =). He came up with it all on his own. So it's "baby Zip" this and "baby Zip" that. It's cute. He gets pretty bummed when we remind him that we are not naming the baby Zip. It must be rough being a 4 year old who can't decide what to name his new sister! Any more suggestions would be awesome! Bring em on! Oh, one of my friends, Christie (Jordan's old OT) suggested we name her Ryan. I really like that name and probably would have used it. Christie just lost her brother (about 3 months ago) in Afghanistan. So that would have been really neat to use but it happens to be the name of my brother and sister-in-law's youngest daughter. They named her after Monica's best friend when she was younger who has passed away. SUPER cute name but I can't bring myself to having 2 girls named Ryan in the same family, and they'd only be about a year apart!