29 weeks, 4 days

Who is surprised that while I am typing this I am now 31 weeks exactly?! :) Not me! It takes a lot of work to get to the computer these days! We went in for our second growth u/s on December 17th, Connor's fourth birthday! We are pretty awesome parents, huh?! Ha! I of course was a nervous nelly, but everything looked wonderful again! He/she has earned a new nickname, "pork chop" - the little booger was measuring in at 3lbs, 7oz! Woohoo! I said it has taken some hard work and determination on my part to beef up the little bitty - it's tough eating 3 different birthday cakes, endless amounts of homemade macaroni and cheese, and thankfully I am craving salad, spinach and fruit! I was a little nervous at my last dr appointment they were going to think I was swelling because I had gained so much weight, but somehow I came out at only the normal 2lbs!

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Look at that sweet profile, I just love those sweet, sweet u/s profile pictures! It is so fun thinking about who is in there and whether or not they will look like Connor or not!

These u/s pictures are usually a little scary looking but the unbiased momma in me thinks it's pretty cute :) My mom is probably shuddering right now, but I can't help it, I love all the little pictures we have! Connor put his little signature on these u/s pictures I did my best to crop them out but you can still see some leftover pen. Everything looks great and we are so thankful and blessed! I go back for another growth u/s in a few weeks and then I go in for weekly fetal monitoring and dr appointments until the little pork chop arrives!

 

Happy 4th Birthday, Connor!

Somehow another year has flown by, and you my precious boy are another year older making you 4. Four? How is it even possible that four years ago we were welcoming you into the world, four years ago we still didn't know if you were a boy or a girl. Four years ago I had no idea how bright my world was about to become, I had no idea how much I would love you and how being your momma would make me a better person. I could go on and on, but for now here is how we celebrated you turning one year older :)

You have loved Curious George for quite some time, it's a ritual, we wake up and watch one every morning. You love it, though I will say that you are starting to move away from George and on to Jake and the Neverland Pirates - I am thinking it could be a theme for your 5th birthday :) I asked you a few months ago what you wanted your party theme to be and George it was! I have been searching for fun things to do because birthdays are like a national holiday around here, and I think that is the way it should be. When I was put on bedrest all of this planning came to a halt as we figured out what was going on and where I would be. I will always remember how you handled yourself during this time, my wise little boy. You have been SO excited about celebrating your birthday and I knew one way or another we were going to do something. Because a birthday shouldn't just be celebrated on one day, we broke it into three little celebrations. I thought it would be better for me and my blood pressure, I okayed everything with the doctor, and it's more fun to drag it out :) Friday morning we celebrated with your four little friends - Reese, Cam, William and Henry. We had them over to decorate monkey cupcakes, have some lunch and hang out! We gave out books as a favor, I thought it would be the last year that wasn't too dorky to do :)

Auntie G was hired out to make this amazing cake for you! Let me tell you, it tasted as amazing as it looks! I am not even going to tell you how long it lasted in this house - key words, not long :) Nonny made some homemade macrioni and cheese which also didn't last too long! Ha!! 

You guys did such a good job decorating the cupcakes, they turned out adorable - they were so fun to do and it was the only prep I did for the whole three days of celebrating. We just sat in the kitchen and made smiles on the vanilla wafers and you guys had fun going to town with them.

After decorating cupcakes it was outside to break the pinata! You guys were so cute waiting for the candy to come out - I was a little worried about it not being a pull string this year but you guys did awesome breaking it open! Poor Jess realized that by default she was going to be the one holding the pinata, the other mom is pregnant too, ha! She did a great job and you guys were fishing for candy in no time.

I love this picture of the two of you. You and William are such sweet friends and I know you love playing together at school and playdates. You were a rotten stinker when it was time for him to leave, but I think some of that was because of the massive amount of sugar you consumed :) You guys had just helped yourselves to more cake - you both just look so happy and sweet, just like little four year old boys should.

Before bedrest we looked on etsy and picked out your invitations and you picked what little printables you wanted for your party, I had already bought everything so I sat on the couch the other day, hit the print button and cut everything out. It gave me a nice little project to work on and I loved how it turned out. I just love having your birthday party decorations among all of the christmas stuff -this really is a magical time of year. You kept telling me you didn't like the fact that the George tins were wearing binoculars, you funny boy. I had Daddy pull those out of the basement from last years birthday party, taped on a new sign and voila it looks great! ha! Those three tins were the best $3 I have spent! We decided to keep it simple and have Nana, Grandpa, Nonny, Uncle Davey, Shannon and Aunt Jen over for dinner on Sunday to celebrate your "family birthday" as you called it. We did grandparents and godparents because we knew that would be enough excitement.



You told Skipper before going to bed to make sure he found a spot downstairs so he could see everything that went on at the family birthday. It was really cute and you loved that Skipper flew in with some balloons. You also loved that you looked like Curious George holding balloons in the next picture - I love how easy it is to please a four year old :)

My friend Julie made this cake for you and it was amazing!! She is such an amazing baker and did all of this by hand - I can't thank her enough for all of her hard work making this adorable cake for you and you LOVED it!

It seriously looked like Christmas morning after you finished opening your presents - your grandparents and godparents are pretty darn good to you and you were spoiled rotten! I think you may have even thought it was Christmas :) You loved your Jake puzzles from Nonny, your police car from Nana and Grandpa, your puzzles from Aunt Jen and your super cool Handy Manny car from Uncle Davey and Shannon. It's a good thing Daddy is building you a playroom in the basement for all these new toys :) 

I have tried to get a pictue of the three of us on all of your birthdays, I love having them. It's so fun to watch as you get bigger and I love remembering what you were into at each birthday. I can't believe that next year on your birthday you will be a big brother and our family will have another little sweetie to love on.

You were a little shy having us all sing happy birthday to you, all three days that we did it :) You are such a shy little guy sometimes and you don't love having the spotlight on you at all. You were pretty excited to blow out your candles though. You called me over to stand next to you and hold your hand - I loved that, my sweet, snuggly, affectionate little boy. I love how you always want just one more kiss. I know you will one day grown out of this but I really hope it's not for a long time.

Well, here we are after a weekend full of celebrating we have arrived at your actual birthday! You are officially four and you couldn't wait to open up your presents from mommy and daddy. I had a dr appointment in the morning and you were so good for us, you were so patient but you were so ready to get home by the time we got there. Daddy took the day off and we left it up to you what you wanted to do on your special day. I thought if you wanted to go anywhere daddy could take you, but you just wanted to hang out. You are kind of a homebody just like us :)

We gave your your new pirate ship, a spyscope and some Jake figures. You were pretty darn excited, it was adorable! I think we have played with your pirate ship in some capacity every single minute since you got it :) Nonny brought over a big box and we have been playing in that too - it's been nice for me to sit in there instead of the couch for a little while! We celebrated just you, me and daddy with dinner and cake, and it was perfect. I mean, you are supposed to have three different cakes to celebrate your birthday, right?! :) Connor, I love you so much and daddy and I are so proud of you. You are such a sweet, loving, smart, impatient, curious, wild, loving, snuggly, snarky little sweet pea. You have grown up so much this year and we can't wait to watch you take on your role of big brother in the coming weeks. You are going to be amazing and wonderful and your little brother or sister is going to be so lucky to have such an awesome big brother to grow up with. Happy 4th birthday my sweet little man, I hope it was wonderful!

Santa Time!

A few weeks ago after my dr appointment, I asked if there was anyway I could go with Bj to take Connor to see Santa. My dr told me it was okay as long as I didn't sit on Santa's lap, haha! :) He said just be quick and head right home. We visited Santa at Plaza Frontenac, he is our favorite! We were the first in line and they were great, they did everything they could to get Connor to smile - I was sitting next to him and thankfully they cropped me out :) It maybe isn't the best smile, but it's a smile! He was so cute, he was telling Santa all about where Skipper his elf was that morning, it was adorable :) I put out all of my Connor Santa pictures this year and I just love looking at them! I still can't believe he is going to be 4 in just a few short days. 

First Ambulance Ride/ER Visit!

I promise this is my last update for the day! I love how I don't update for a month and then do 10 posts in a day :) Monday, December 10th my mother-in-law came over and picked Connor up for the day. They were going to get some stuff for his birthday party and play at her house. She noticed that her car was driving funny so she pulled over and made it to the Mercedes dealership. She said Connor was being so good for her while she talked to them - they were eating popcorn and drinking hot chocolate. She said Connor was sitting in a chair and dropped something on the floor. He kind of hopped off the chair to grab it, not seeing that it was under the glass table. He bonked his head on the corner of the table and put a HUGE gash in his forehead. I had no idea what happened and I called in the midst of it, she said "Ellen, don't panic but Connor hit his head and has to go to the hospital." I mean, my heart was on the floor and I was telling myself to take deep breaths, mainly because I didn't know what had happened. I managed to ask if she has called Bj, she had and then she told me what happened. Thankfully my brother was here because I am not supposed to drive. I called who thankfully knew better than to argue with me when I asked what hospital there were going to  :)

Debbie had called the ambulance because she knew he was going to need stitches. They came, cleaned him up and put him in the ambulance to go to the ER. Bj said they asked him if he wanted the sirens on and he said yes :) He wants an ambulance for christmas so I was hoping that instead of being too scared, he would be excited that he was riding in an ambulance! After talking to Bj and my mom I calmed down and knew that my bp would be better if I was with Connor, especially getting stitches in his head. The hospital is where my dr's are so I knew I would be in good hands if need be.

 

So scary! This was him arriving at the ER, Bj said he was so good in the ambulance and by the time I got to him, he was sitting so big in his room with the numbing gel on his forehead, playing on Bj's phone. I had tears in my eyes just thinking about how brave he was. He is so shy and doesn't like to be the center of attention and God bless him, he did so great.

I love this expression on his face, this is his typical "oh my gosh, all these people are fawning on me, I am going to stick close to mom and dad look".

After applying two doses of numbing gel to his forehead they came in and were ready to stitch him up. The child life person came down to hold the ipad above C's head so he could watch what he wanted, I mean he watched Curious George like it was no big deal, ha! He was SOOOO good while they laid his head down, cleaned his forehead off and gave him the shot. He flinched a little, but held on to my hand like such a brave little shoulder. I got a little nervous when the dr started stitching, I couldn't watch and I may have been squeezing poor Connor's hand :) When it was over, he had two internal stitches and six stitches across the front of his forehead for a total of 8!

He was all stitched up and ready to go! He got a popsicle, cranberry juice, skittles and a penguin from Nana. I laughed that he could have asked for anything and I would have given it to him. I couldn't believe we had made it almost four years before our first ER visit and stitches! He was one week shy of turning four :)

When we got home he wanted to snuggle in bed, um no problem at all! :) He wanted me to take a picture so he could see his stitches, sweet thing. You can still see the blood on his shirt and it was all in his hair. Thankfully I was able to wash his hair in the sink! Nonny and Uncle Davey brought pizza over for dinner and we were good to go after an adventurous day! I just couldn't believe how brave he was, I told him over and over how proud of him I was! We get to take the bandages off tomorrow and the stitches will disolve on there own in a few more days! The neighbors brought him over an ambulance ornament and we wrote "Connor's First Ambulance Ride" and the date on it. He keeps talking about the next one and I said we didn't need anymore ambulance rides, ha!

Randoms!

This is pretty much another common site in my life, the back of Connor's head as he is on my lap or in front of me watching tv or doing something :) We have gotten pretty creative on bedrest coming up with different ways to keep ourselves occupied :)

This just totally made me laugh. I put out my nativity scene for the first time this year and Connor loved playing with the people. I quickly realized that I needed to get him his own little set and he has had a lot of fun playing with it! He calls it his nativity from Ms. Jess because she found it at Kohl's for him :) He loves playing with the little people, usually baby Jesus is a pirate and it cracks me up to see Mary, Joseph and the three wise-men riding along in a fire engine :) Ha! Little boys and there trucks, I love it!

This is Connor's advent calendar, want to know how long it lasted? Not even a full 2-days before he quietly snuck upstairs and ate all the chocolate out of it :) Next year I may have to spring for a non-chocolate advent calendar :) ha!

Skipper the elf has been causing all kind of trouble around our house and Connor loves it :) This morning Skipper was telling Connor how proud of him he was because he has been working really hard on being a good listener. He knew how hard Connor was trying and dropped off some donuts, but not before helping himself to one or two! 

The kiddos made gingerbread houses at the neighbors last weekend and it was adorable! I watched from the couch but they had the best time and the houses turned out so cute! We decided that this is definately going to be an annual traditon, they loved it!

St. Nick dropped off our new favorite Christmas good, The Gingerbread Pirates. After reading it, C decided that he wanted to make some gingerbread cookies. We couldn't say no so Bj got everything ready and we had a nice little Sunday decorating cookies and laying around. It was just one of those days we never left our pjs (I am not kidding anyone C hardly ever changes out of pj's!) lounging around. It was lovely! Bj has been hard at work finishing off a room in the basement for Connor's playroom and working on the nursery, I have been busy supervising from the bed or couch so it was nice to just do nothing as a family :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I totally can't believe I am posting the above picture but I am trying not to care, it's a picture of my boy and I and I love it. I am just so thankful for him, and I sure was thankful to be able to spend Thanksgiving at home with my boys. We snuck out of the house in the morning to watch the runners and ring some bells, it was so fun as usual! There were a ton of runner this year, probably close to 2,000!

My mother-in-law made extra side dishes for us and Bj cooked a turkey so we were able to have our own little Thanksgiving dinner, it was so wonderful. Connor and I stole the little turkey placecard idea from Aunt Steph and made those in bed for a little "color" on the table. We pulled out the china and enjoyed a nice and quiet evening at home, just the three of us. My mom and brother were able to stop by and it was a lovely little day. I am faily certain I ate three helpings of food and went back for more after I napped off my initial three helpings. I mean, I would be depriving the baby if I didn't eat all of that, right?! :) Ha! 

This boy dog is about as spoiled as they come and seriously has NO idea that he is a dog. He has been loving bedrest and this is a pretty common picture these days, he and Sedona are never too far from my site or growing lap :) 

I was SHOCKED when we woke up the day after Thanksgiving and Bj told me I could drive in the car with them to get the christmas tree, as long as I stayed in the car :) He has kept my butt pretty glued to the couch so this was huge for him! So we loaded everyone up and went off in search of a tree!

Bj did a great job taking pictures for me and if I do say so myself, they picked out the perfect tree this year! It was FREEZING that day, poor Connor is in two coats, wrapped in a blanket but refusing to wear a hat :) We came home and got to work making the tree beautiful! Connor loved decorating the tree, he had already decorated the one in his room so he was an old pro at it. 

This is my vantage point these days and I love having this beautiful tree to look at. I just love this time of year, it's magical. I love my little life and it has been kind of nice at this time of year to relax a little and think about what is really important. It was a wonderful little Thanksgiving weekend!

25 Weeks!

 

 

Per usual, I am way behind! :) As I am typing this I am 29 weeks and this little pork chop is bigger than this ultrasound picture! I went in for my glucose screening and my blood pressure was high, so I was sent home on bedrest, only to fail my 1 hour and have to come back for the 3 hour. The plan was to re-test my bp then and see what to do from there. My bp was even higher three days later which led to some fear and tears and a referral to the high risk specialist. I was sent home on bedrest and bp monitoring at home. Good news, I passed my 3 hour glucose! :) I went in for an in depth u/s where the little peanut looked PERFECT!!! Just music to momma's ears, he/she weighed in at 2lbs, 4oz. All I could think of was that was 1/2 way to Connor's birth weight. I was sent home after the u/s and met with the high risk dr a few days later. He said bedrest it is for me for the duration of the pregnancy and our first goal is to make it to 36 weeks. So we are just hanging out at home and monitoring my bp 3 times a day and going in for weekly dr appointments. I am alternating between the high risk dr and my regular ob. I am SO beyond thankful to be at home and I am doing my best to just be good and relax so the little pork chop can beef up for at least the next 7 weeks!

 

I am in good spirits and I think mainly it's because I am home where I can be with Connor and Bj and I am comfortable - I am also home for the holidays and Connor's birthday which is huge for me. The first few days/week were really hard on me, I didn't think it would be so hard. I will say that bedrest has never sounded like fun to me and anyone who has ever been on it would agree. It's hard, emotional and so scary when there is a sweet little baby's health on the line. I really struggled with being a mom to an energetic almost 4 year old and a mom to a little bun in the oven who needs lots more cooking time. I hate not being there for Connor, who at the time had an ear infection and wasn't feeling well and I hated not being able to do what I am used to doing. But, once I got a schedule worked out and with the help of an amazing family and friends we are all doing much better! Connor is able to get out and burn off energy, we have people bringing meals and I am just getting bigger by the minute :) I am continually humbled by the kindness of so many people and tell Bj all the time that I don't deserve it. For now we are so thankful for the help from our family and friends and we are just getting as much rest and calmness as we can, we are settling in to our new little routine and doing well! I am sure I will try and keep updating! :) The dogs are keeping me company and are lazy as ever and my sweet boy has been SO wonderful adjusting to everything. He has had his moments but overall we are soaking in all the time we have just us before our sweet little Baby J arrives!