Baby #3: 27 weeks - Let's talk about this baby....

Today I'm 27w2d pregnant. Last week we FINALLY made some decisions about the nursery for baby boy. I think I've said it before....but this is W-E-I-R-D for us. Ususally, going into the third trimester, furniture and bedding is bought and room is baby-ready, sitting like a shrine to the new family member for months. Obviously, this is not the case.

Initially when we found out we were having another, I had the BRILLIANT idea of putting the girls both in Mia's room and then putting baby3 in Bella's room (these two rooms share a bathroom and would leave us a guest room (already furnished with most comfortable bed ever created) for....you know....guests. Also for mommy's when daddy's snore too loud. And for daddy's when babies cry too many nights in a row, or they are sick and don't want to take mommy down with the ship. Regardless, it's a room THAT WE USE very regularly, despite our lack of frequent "guests". When I was 5 weeks pregnant, this plan was flawless. Nevermind that Bella wasn't sleeping through the night and Mia was sleeping in our bed. I knew for sure that they would both be sleeping in their rooms and would easily transition to sleeping together. I mean, how fun would nightly sister sleep-overs be?!? (*said the woman who never had a "sister sleepover"* - not projecting at all ;)) Well here we are, 22 weeks later. 6 months post *brilliant* idea.

Let me give you a little glimpse into my daughters' nightly routines.....

Bella:
Bella, now sleeping through the night, goes into her room with me around 6:45. We sit in her rocker and we read a series of books (generally the same ones). Once we are through the books, we rock for another minute and then I stand up, lay her down in her crib, cover her up, turn on her sleep sheep, say "Love you, Boo." and walk out. End of story. I don't generally hear from her again until 6:30 the next morning.

Mia:
We go into Mia's room at 8PM. Mia picks out a book from her collection (there are usually 3 she picks from despite having over 20 to choose from). She collects (loudly) her 18 animals from her couch, and arranges them in her bed. She then forms the 4 blankets she sleeps with into her "house".....not to be touched by the likes of me - God forbid. We eventually sit next to each other on the bed and by her lamp light, we read a book (really it's just a story from a big book). Once I'm done reading, she "reads" me the same story. Or she turns the same pages and tells me that it's "Fiddle-I-Fee" (which I can only assume they read her at school since she has it memorized and I've never heard of it). Once she's done, I put the book away and lay with her for a few minutes, during which time she proceeds to ask me 1 million questions about 1 million different topics - none of which bear any sort of resemblance to anything that was done that day. After the Q&A portion of the evening, I tell her I am going downstairs and she, without missing a beat, asks "can I play in my bed for a little bit?" to which I answer "Yes, but what can you not do?", and she replies "not get out of my bed". I go downstairs and she plays (LOUDLY) for close to an hour some nights. There are nights when she changes pj's up to 3 times before she goes to sleep and often times, the animals she carefully selected, are back on the couch in the morning, with only a select few left in her bed.

Yea, I don't see anything wrong with throwing Balky and Larry into a room together, do you? (please tell me you got my "Perfect Strangers" reference....anyone?)

So one night as my skin started to get itchy thinking about the fact that we had literally done NOTHING to prepare for this baby. At this point, we had been waiting for things to settle with the girls before we jammed them in a room together. Well things settled, we were both sleeping - a lot - and I just ba-roke down. I told Dan that I just couldn't do it. I liked sleep TOO much *tears in my eyes* to risk it by throwing those two in a room together. He agreed wholeheartedly. We REALLY like sleep in our house. And we haven't gotten much in the last 18 months. It was really a no brainer.

So, at least that decision was made. Onto the next. We decided that instead of buying baby boy new furniture, we would give him Bella's antique gray furniture and buy her something white - which will honestly look way better in her room than her current furniture. We found a beautiful set and got it all ordered. Next up....bedding. Now, I had bought some bedding when we thought baby boy would be in Bella's room. I made sure it tied in with her wall color so we wouldst have to paint. This was also when our son had a name circa 18 wks. Now both of those things were out the window. I needed new bedding for the new wall color in the new room. Here's the thing.....boy bedding is hard. Kind of like boy names. We are not sports people, so I didn't want basketballs and baseballs all over his room, and our other options seemed to be boats and cars or animals.....or some pattern theme (ie plaid or that zigzag pattern that's everywhere that I can't think of the name of). Ugh. I didn't love any of my options. What I FINALLY decided on was a simple white quilt with 3 jungle animals embroidered on it.

I love it. It's simple and clean. It will tie in our dark mocha colored room with his gray furniture and it's boy - without being over the top.

I spent more than I wanted to on it, but so goes life. In the grand scheme of things I realize it doesn't matter what color the sheets on his bed are, but for me, right now.....it just does.

So it's official. Our baby has bedding.....again. He may or may not have a name too.....we're working on that part ;) Like I have posted before, I'm not sure if we'll share the name before his big arrival or not, but I feel fairly certain that we've at least settled on something. And I love it also :)

That's really as far as we've gotten. We are currently waiting on Bella's furniture to be delivered so that we can make the big transition and get started pulling the room together. I will definitely post pics as it progresses.

As far as how I'm feeling.....I can really sum it up in two words: tired and hungry. At any point in the day, I am generally feeling one of the two. Mostly the latter. I have reached a point in my pregnancy where running two miles and lunch and then doing strength training at night is no longer ok. I knew that despite my inner super hero, I would not be able to keep up at that pace indefinitely. I am having a lot of lower back pain. I am sure some of it is due to working out, but mostly it's the HUGE pumpkin I have hanging out on the inside of my stomach lining. Seriously, I feel enormous - in my stomach at least. I managed to slide on a pair of pre pregnancy jeans this morning and despite my better judgement, am keeping them up with the help of a (less than useful) belly band. It was one of those mornings where I just needed a win. This was it. I'm good for the day now ;) To date I've put on about 16 lbs. I have my 28 week appointment on Monday where they will be doing the glucose testing. I don't see any reason it would come back positive for gestational diabetes, but just in case, I'm gonna lay off the ice cream this week (even easier in light of the Blue Bell heart break).

And in case you didn't read that right....I said 28 WEEK APPOINTMENT. Ya'll.....I'm about to be in the home stretch. I'm about to have 3 kids. I'm not sure if you've done the math, but that is exactly one more kid than arms or hands on my body. 3. Tres. Three kids.

Sorry....sometimes I still don't believe it. I mean, wasn't I JUST in college sitting around cracking cheap beers at noon and making poor life decisions that involved only thinking of myself? Now I am solely responsible for two, soon to be THREE, tiny humans. It's weird. And awesome. And there's really not a thing I would change about my life at the moment......except maybe the back pain and intermittent hemorrhoids...but that's neither here nor there ;)

I haven't taken a pic this week, but I'll make the next post a picture catch up post.....I dont know if it's me being all hormonally sentimental or my kids just laying on the adorable SUPER thick, but I have lots of cute new photos to share.....I think it's only fair they have their own post.

Baby #3: 25 weeks - Jones Family Vacay 2015

Today I am 25w1d pregnant. I am currently sitting at home on my couch catching up on "The Good Wife" episodes I have missed. It's a rare day where all of the housework is done, there is not a stitch of unclean laundry in the house, groceries are bought and put away, dinner is thawing on the counter, and I have already worked out. It's like the unicorn of all days.

This past weekend was our first trip as a family of 4. We ventured to San Antonio to visit Sea World and of course, stay on the River Walk. We spent 2 days prepping - packing clothes and snacks, getting videos together for Mia, and toys for Bella. We loaded up and were on the road at 5AM. Our plan was to wake the kids and leave while it was still dark outside, hoping they would sleep for a few hours before we had to dig into our bag 'o tricks (because we both knew we did not have 5 hrs worth of entertainment packed in our vehicle....). Mission: Accomplished. the kids slept until a little after 7. We stopped in Waco and had breakfast at Cracker Barrel. It was the perfect time actually because there was no one in the restaurant, so our little Bella (aka. "Sister-Screams-A-Lot") didn't ruin anyone's meal. Also, we discovered that those little peg games were enough to keep them both entertained long enough for Dan and I to scarf down our breakfast - well between handing our children whatever was on our plates, to keep them appeased, despite the same ingredients being on EVERY plate on the table. We made it back out to the car with minimal drama and strapped the kids in for the long haul.

The plan was to head straight to the zoo when we arrived. We weren't going to be able to check in to our hotel until later that afternoon, so we needed something to kill some time and let the kids stretch their legs. Not to mention, with Mia asking every 30 seconds of our 5 hour car trip where we were going and if we were AT Sea World yet, we had to have something in our back pockets to divert from the fact that while we were, in fact, in San Antonio - the home of Sea World - it would still be one more day before we could see the fish....I should mention that for the week leading up to this trip, Dan and I had been on the forecast watch. The forecast never changed - Rain - both days. I had packed rain jackets for the kids, and our strollers have very good canopies, so we knew they would be ok, and we packed umbrellas for ourselves - just in case.

When we arrived to the zoo, it was around 10:00. It had just finished a torrential downpour and we were relieved to know our first plan wasn't completely ruined. We, of course, got amazing parking, as people don't tend to venture to the zoo when it's raining. We got the kids out - and realized it was super chilly. I changed them into pants and threw their rain slickers on, and it was that moment I realized that I hadn't brought anything warm for myself to wear. I was in cropped jeans and a tank top. I was already freezing and we had just gotten out of the car. Dan and I looked at each other, and made the decision just to power through. Surely I could find something in the gift shop that would suffice.

We got into the zoo in record time seeing as how there was NO line and we already had purchased tickets (non-refundable, so we were GOING to the zoo! Rain or Shine!). We made a quick pit stop at the gift shop for the preggo and toddler to use the head and after looking around, I determined that rather than pay $30 for a hoodie with "San Antonio Zoo" plastered on the front along with the pictures of animated lions and tigers, I would just suck it up. Luckily, I have a weird thing with scarves. I wear them regularly as accessories because I'm terrible at buying jewelry. I had brought a large scarf that I fashioned as sort of a shawl to keep my arms warmer at least - and we headed out. The first couple exhibits - bears, lions, tigers - were a complete bust because the animals were in the shelter of their cages (not visible to us) to keep out of the recent rain. But then we came across a butterfly exhibit. Dan waited outside with our strollers and I took the kids in. It was AMAZING! never seen so many butterflies in my life. Some were the size of Mia's head! She was in awe. I'm shocked I was able to get her out at all! I could tell Bella was enjoying them flying around her too...she kept pointing and smiling. It was great. And of course I got ZERO pictures. Mom fail.

When we left the butterflies, we worked our way around the rest of the zoo. There was nothing overly impressive aside from the huge rhino and a crazy scary anaconda snake that about scared the cr@p out of me! But the weather held off so it was cool, cloud covered and we basically had the zoo to ourselves. After a couple hours, we stopped for lunch. Again, we were lucky the zoo was empty. Eating with the two of these kids in public is proving more and more challenging. We can never seem to order anything they like, and Mia likes to talk and not eat while Bella prefers screaming at nothing and throwing things from the table. Good. Times. All the while, Dan and I shovel mediocre, WAY OVER PRICED food down our throats pretending that "it's all just part of the experience". And I guess it is.

After lunch we hit the Carousel - huge hit - then made our way through the rest of the zoo. Let me remind you....my kids nap. Like, they are BIG nappers. Naps are necessary. We knew this busy weekend we would be pushing some boundaries, but we figured the risk was worth the reward. By about 1:30, the kids were over it. Mia was on meltdown - 900+ and Bella was over being in the stroller - and being held - and walking - yea....figure that one out. We made it back to the car and the kids were out before we backed out of our parking spot. We got to the hotel for them to tell us that our room wouldnt be ready for at least an hour. No problem. We wanted to walk the River Walk some anyway. Problem here is that I was 24w5d pregnant and had been on my feet for a good while either pushing a stroller, carrying a toddler or lifting Mia to see whatever exhibit we were at. I was hurting.

We walked around the area for a bit, found a cute cafe to get some ice cream - Bella had fallen asleep at this point, so we were trying to stretch out what we were pretty sure would be her only "nap" that day to spare the rest of our evening. We got a call about an hour or so later that the room was ready, so we headed back. Once we got settled, it was about 4. We had sort of determined at that point that we wouldn't be dining out for dinner. 2 food outings with the 2 of them in one day was quite enough.. we ordered pizza and had it delivered to the room. Bella was passed out by 6:15. Dan followed shortly after. Mia and I followed suit around 7:30.

Bella was up and at 'em bright and early at 5:30 the next morning. Mia woke up around 6:30. We all got ready and headed down for breakfast not long after that. Once we got back up to the room, Dan and I made a judgement call. We had both joked about just leaving after Sea World - the kids were going to be in no position to do anything that night - and neither were we. And ultimately we decided it was the way to go. So we packed up and loaded the car before we headed to Sea World.

The weather, again, was super questionable. In fact, it was raining on the way there. Again, the weather was way cooler than I had planned (for my own wardrobe at least - I had thankfully packed appropriately for the kids!) so this time I was sure I would need some sort of sweat shirt. We got to Sea World a little before 10, and headed in. Our first stop - gift shop. And what did I get? A $30 sweatshirt with "Sea World San Antonio" plastered on the front with big animated whales accompanying it. For whatever reason it seemed more appropriate to overpay for clothing there than at the zoo.

Lucky for us, it didn't rain the whole time we were there. Mia got her face painted, we saw the Pet Stars show, Shamu and other whales show, the baluga whales and dolphins, got dip 'n dots, and then we headed to our "Lunch with Shamu". This was an extra thing that Dan and I thought would be cool for the kids. They set up a buffet right outside of the training tanks for the whales! We were literally so close we could touch them. It was awesome! Unfortunately, again, the kids were over being awake and pleasant, so we had to cut lunch a little short to head out. We ended up leaving Sea World around 2:30 after our fun filled day and the kids were out as soon as their little booties hit their car seats.

The drive home was relatively uneventful. The kids slept for the first 3 hours, then we stopped for food and they did pretty good the rest of the way home. Once home, Dan and I had the car unloaded and bags unpacked, kids bathed and in bed in less than an hour. I believe there is a chance that my husband's OCD has transferred to my person. We all crashed out early - who am I kidding - it was late for the kids and Dan's and my "usual" bedtime ;) Everyone slept until after 7AM on Sunday, which is a rare occurence.

It was a short, but very eventful and SUPER FUN weekend. I am so glad we got to share the experience with our kids. I know that Mia will remember it forever. I love that she goes to bed talking about the Baluga whales and keeps saying "I.Am.A.ROBOT. Sea World. Is. My. Life" *in her robot voice*. She had such a great time. And Bella, well Bella may have been a little young for the experience, but I know there were parts that she really enjoyed ;)

Sunday we spent catching up on cleaning and yard work and the kids got to visit their grandparents and Mia told them all about the whales and dolphins and butterflies.

This will be our first and last trip as a family of 4. There were lots of chaotic parts. Lots of parts that could have been different, but not a single part I would undo. I realize now, more than ever, how fleeting these moments are. I tried to soak it all in, and I know for sure it was a weekend I'll never forget :)

Dan left town last night and won't be back until Friday evening. I am on my own. For some reason, that doesn't seem as daunting as it once did. I guess that feeling of peace just comes with time. I remember blogging before Bella got here, how at some point, I would find my "calm". Ladies and gentlemen.....I think it's arrived. I love hanging out with my kids. They challenge me, and frustrate me, and make me laugh, and make me feel alive.

As far as how I'm feeling?? I feel thankful. I'm thankful for the amazing husband I was blessed with. I think sometimes it takes doing something super chaotic and stressful with your spouse to make you realize what a good team you make. He also challenges me, frustrates me, makes me laugh....and makes me feel alive. I'm thankful for his willingness to be silly with our kids, but also to be firm. I'm thankful that our kids miss him when he's gone because he brings something to the table that I just can't. And finally, I'm thankful for my kids - the 2 outside and the 1 I have yet to meet.

Looking at the "Cheetah Cats" - Mia's words

Mia has this new thing....anytime we say "Smile, Mia!", she sticks her tongue out....

Bella's having a good time, despite her face in this pic ;)

Leaving the zoo.....worn out Boo.

Mia's being a monkey....and a flamingo. So well rounded :)

THIS was the forecast.....

Pulling up to Sea World.....can you just FEEL the excitement? ;)

see what I mean??

You can see a little glimpse of the awesome sweatshirt I am now the proud owner of....

Getting her face painted!

she's so proud

there were these bubble machines lining the sidewalks of Sea World - totally worth the price of admission - at least in the kids' minds :)

super failed attempt at a family selfie....waiting for the Pet Star show to start!

Mia wanted to sit with daddy, but Bella insisted on her own chair. Go figure.

Watching the whales

Mia opted out of this fam-ie (see what I did there??)

This is what my kids look like when they are on the verge of being "over it".....

This was at "Dining with Shamu" - so cool to be so close!

waving bye to us on our way out.

Leaving Sea World - do you see a theme with her leaving places?? 

This is a birthday gift for her cousin - we're not sure she really "gets" that though ;)

Baby #3: 24 weeks - my "good mom" day

I'm here. 24 weeks preggo. Just a month from my third trimester. Things in my house have been going well lately......all that really means is that both of my kids are sleeping. The rest is just details ;) It took 16 1/2 months, but Bella is now sleeping soundly through the night. She goes down about 7 (sometimes earlier, NEVER later - unless she's at Grammy's house.....and I don't care what time she goes to sleep over there) and I am now having to wake her up in the mornings around 6:45. On the weekends, she sometimes sleeps past 7, although it's rare. Who cares though! 12 hrs of uninterrupted sleep?!?! I'll take it! Lord knows I've earned it. Mia is now sparing us her middle of the night "I'm scared of my room" antics as well. It really does make a world of difference. I'm really glad both of my kids decided to award me with sleep just a few months before I get to play in zombie land all over again. I can't decide if they are doing me some big favor or just messing with me...

Let's get to it though. I realize this should be an update on our boy, but I have to share with you about my "good mom" day. It's sort of like a "good hair" day. It only happens every once in a while and you couldn't possibly recreate it even if you wanted to.

Ironically, my GM day fell on Good Friday. Totally appropriate. I didn't realize it until last Monday, but my girls' school was closed on Friday - Good Friday. While I was thrilled that the school was closed for religious reasons, I had not prepared to take a day off (especially since I have 2 days off coming up this week and next for our family vacay). But, what can ya do? I depend on daycare to watch my littles, so when they are closed, I have no choice but to stay home. And don't get me wrong.....I'm not complaining about getting to spend an extra day with my two favorite girls without having the reason be due to illness! So I took the day off and began planning in my mind our "perfect" day. Here's the thing....I'm a working mom. I'm not the only one and I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone this, but since I don't get to see my kids all day every day, I try to make the most of the "extra" days I do get to spend with them. As a SAHM, there is no doubt I would try to make days special in one way or another, but you'll see when I describe our Friday that there is no way I'd be able to keep up this momentum for any length of time....

First of all, I didn't tell the girls any of our plans (not that Bella would have cared one way or another), but with our track record of getting sick on holidays, I didn't want to risk any let downs should one of them run a fever or get a cold Thursday night (which would be right on par with any other day I've taken time off). So Friday morning when I woke up (without my alarm - because who needs that biz on your day off??), I poured myself a cup of Joe and sat in my bed for a minute.....because I didn't have to be anywhere. ANYWHERE. Once the kids woke up, we made smoothies....a Jones Family favorite.

Then they helped me strip the beds and straighten up around the house. I use the word "help" loosely. They mostly played in the closet with toys that I had set aside for Baby Boy once he's "toy ready".

We had already talked about meeting Daddy for lunch, but since it was only 8, I figured we had some time to kill. I made a last minute decision to take my kids to see the (super creepy and overpriced) Easter Bunny! I knew it was risky going the Friday before Easter, but I figured, we had no where to be so why not give it a whirl. I got the kids and myself dressed, did their hair (this is a special occasion deal and "doing their hair" really just means putting a headband on Mia and fastening a little bow to a teensy ponytail on the tiptop of Bella's head). We loaded up and headed out. All smiles :)

On our way to the mall, I stopped at Starbucks for a skinny vanilla latte and some pumpkin bread which thankfully neither of my kids were into. This was like the 3rd "win" of the day for me, and it was only shortly after 9. We pulled into the mall parking lot and I assumed we'd have to wait at least 30 minutes before they started shooting pics (they didn't "open" until 10). To my surprise, they were already in action and there were only 3 people ahead of us! Win #4. The kids played around in the Easter area while we waited and then when it was our turn....neither kid lost their sh*t like I 100% expected them to do. Win. Number. 5. I paid my 1 million dollars for the mediocre quality (but honestly super cute) picture and we headed out to meet Daddy.

Mia always wants to ride the elevator up and down before we leave....of course I obliged ;)

Lunch is sometimes tricky with two nappers. Bella is usually rapidly approaching "don't bring this baby in public" time around 11.....so it was risky for sure. But I knew she'd fall asleep on the way to his work (which she did) so I thought maybe the 15 minute cat nap would take the edge off (which it did). We got to Dan's work and I took the girls up to meet some of his co-workers, then we headed to lunch as a family. I don't have to tell any mom how touch and go eating out is. Much less around nap time. But hey, I was on a winning streak, and I'm not a gambler who walks away from the table with money still in my pockets ;) To our surprise, the kids did AWESOME at lunch. We got pizza (trick #1 is don't get fancy - feed them something you KNOW they'll eat - even if that means ice cream and butter - in that order). They ate, and we squeaked out of the restaurant just before Bella fell completely apart. At this point, I've lost count of the wins. Surely we are in the double digits now....

We made it home, both kids fast asleep - of course. So now I have to make a choice.....do I sit in the car for an appropriate "nap" amount of time? Or do I risk both kids waking while I attempt to transplant them into their beds? I took a chance. Got both kids to their beds and after just a short period of screaming from Bella, they were out.

I finished some laundry and worked out and once the kids woke up, I was ready for part 2 of our Day 'O Fun :) We went to a magical place called "Play Street Museum". It's in Frisco and it's like a little town that is the perfect size for kids. It is in an enclosed space so you feel comfortable not having to be on top of your kids, and there is PLENTY to keep them busy - just see the pics below! They had a blast!!

she was obsessed with this baby doll and trying to feed it :)

What made this place even better?? It's RIGHT NEXT TO a frozen yogurt shop! I mean, I seriously knocked it out of the park. Today just won at everything. I even got home and cleaned the upstairs of my house and the kitchen.....it was an unusually awesome Friday.

The rest of the weekend was spent running errands and doing yard work. These both used to be things Dan and I would take turns doing without the kids, now we make sure they're involved. We are really trying to make the most of the time we have together and with both of us working full time, that means we have to squeeze everything in to 2 days.....we would hate to waste those days away from the kids....even if (and most of the time it is) it is easier to go solo. 

Sunday was Easter and we went to church as a family (something that we don't do regularly - unfortunately). We had brunch and an Easter egg hunt at my mom's afterwards and the kids had a great time. We all napped when we got home and then did our usual prep for Monday. 

this was the only "family" pic I managed to get on Easter....sad. But so goes life....

As far as how I am feeling, well I still can't complain. I'm almost 25 weeks pregnant and I just now started feeling my body telling me I need to slow down some. I have been running and working out as I would before. Well technically, I haven't worked out this much since before I got married. So I supposed the extra weight/girth is finally starting to take it's toll. My back is hurting pretty bad if I do too much - and I definitely know what "too much" is when I'm doing it. I am struggling a little bit with the new limitations my body has put on me, but trying to remember that it's for  the better that I go a little easy....afterall, I'm not the only one occupying my skin at the moment ;) Baby boy seems to be doing just fine. He is moving and kicking constantly and I am definitely feeling all of his activity! My 24 week appt was Monday and I am measuring right on. So I guess we are still in this for another 3 1/2 mo. At this point....I'm good with that. LOTS to do before he gets here and we literally haven't even started ANYTHING. I may have started getting a little antsy about that this week.....but I've decided we're going to get our family trip behind us before I start working on his nursery. 

23w6d

This weekend we are off to San Antonio! We have a big weekend planned with trips to the zoo and Sea World on the agenda! And of course.....it's supposed to rain.....ALL. Weekend. It's a good thing none of us will melt ;) I picked up some rain slickers and we are headin' out bright and early tomorrow! Wish us luck and i'm sure I'll have plenty to share next week when we get back!

Until then.....

as Bella always says.....

"KEEP IT CLASSY FOLKS!"