17 Weeks Pregnant

We are 17 weeks pregnant today [5/21/2014]

I feel like this is going so fast. It's all so bittersweet for me. I know this is my last pregnancy... which kind of hurts my heart that it is going by so fast, but I am so excited to meet the little man, so it makes it exciting too! *sigh* I'm just trying to take it all in. People are already saying, 'I bet you're ready to have that baby already.. it's starting to get warm out' and truth be told-- I'm enjoying it. Sure, I was nervous about being pregnant in the Summer, but realizing this is it made me want to breathe it all in. This is the last baby that will kick me from the inside.. the last baby that I'll feel hiccup through my belly... the last baby I'll give birth to. I'm enjoying this ride. You don't realize how precious this gift is until you start realizing.. I'm not going to be pregnant again after this one. I LOVE being pregnant. Sure, there are tough moments, but the beautiful ones outweigh it greatly. We just know that our family is complete. We always said we wanted three.. God blessed us with two beautiful daughters and now a handsome son. We know we are blessed.. and we are ready to watch our children grow up.. but it's still a tough thing for me to face at this point.

Alright, well, on my 17 week pregnant note:

I am feeling baby boy more and more. It's nothing too strong, but I can feel his subtle movements pretty consistently now-- the best feeling ever! :)

We have an ultrasound next Thursday-- I almost can't contain my excitement for it! I can't wait to see that profile picture!

*sigh* I have been an emotional wreck this week.. Just everything is making me cry.  I know it's hormones, lol, but goodness!  I think it's just a mixture of a lot of things. 

I love this baby so much and I feel so privileged to be able to carry him.

I look at my girls and I just hope I can be the best Mom I can be. I know I fail.. I struggle sometimes. I hate raising my voice and I do it from time to time.. but I'm trying so hard to be the woman God called me to be... the Mother God called me to be. 

Weekly question time?

How far along? 17 weeks.

Total Weight Gain? Zero so far-- that I know of! We have a doctor's appointment next Thursday and I'll know more then :)

Maternity Clothes? A few shorts, but nothing other than that. Gotta love the belly band!
Stretch Marks? I have some from both pregnancies already!
Sleep: I've had a tough time this week-- lots of dreaming!

Best Moment of This Week: Feeling baby boy A LOT more :)

Miss Anything?  I really needed to sleep on my belly this week and I just couldn't. Lol

Movement: Here and there! :)
Food Cravings: Jr Bacon Cheeseburger and a Whopper. So healthy! HA!
Anything Make You Queasy or Sick? Just early mornings! If I don't eat, I'm a mess :) and if I sneeze for some reason? I always feel like I'm going to vomit after.
Gender: BOY!!
Labor Signs: I'd sure hope not! :)

Symptoms: Nausea in the AM, peeing constantly, feeling movement, tired a lot! 

Belly Button In or Out? She's an innie!
Wedding rings on or off? On and sometimes off at night! My hands seem to swell then for some reason?
Happy or Moody this Week?  I've had a moody week this week!. Poor Ethan!
Looking Forward To: our ultrasound next week :)

Cheers to 17 weeks.. on to 18 weeks!

21 days until we are half way there!

Alphabet Weeks-- Day 2 --- Letter B

Our task today (5/20/2014) was:

  B is for BIBLE. We are going to read the story of BABY Jesus being BORN HERE. This story doesn't go too in depth, but with Tayler and Quinn's 3 minute attention span, I think what they have written is perfect!

“She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:7 (New International Reader’s Version)

Have the children do the following hand motions along with repeating the words after you, to help them learn the Bible Verse:

She gave birth to her first born, a son: act like you are rocking a baby
She wrapped him in clothes: wrap a pretend baby in a blanket
And placed him in a manger: pretend to gently lay the baby down
Because there was no room: shake head side to side as though saying, “no”
For them in the inn: make the shape of a house with your arms
Luke 2: hold up 2 fingers
7: hold up 7 fingers

Do this a few times with the children. Make it fun for them to do the motions and say the words. Involving them in active learning is essential for memorization at this age.

I had a lot of fun with this activity, but the girls had more fun eating and throwing the doll LOL I really thought we were going to get somewhere with this... a fun way to learn a Bible verse, haha, but I think the pictures truly speak for themselves LOL

Gah, I love my kids, haha! Never a dull moment around here :) Cheers to the letter 'B' and ... biting? lol

Alphabet Weeks-- Day 1 --- Letter B

So the task today (May 19, 2014) was supposed to be:

MONDAY- BALLOON GAME! Blow up a balloon, talk about how the word 'balloon' starts with the letter 'B,' and then have fun trying to keep the balloon off of the ground. Every time you hit the balloon, count higher and higher! See how high you can count together :) 

And I was a horrible Mother and I completely forgot to put BALLOONS on my grocery list! So, I looked at the task today and immediately felt bad :( BUT... never fail.. we comprised!

We discussed the fact that BALL starts with 'B.' Tayler loved that part! :) Then we tossed/rolled a ball. Ethan got some softballs out for the girls to play with (and Tayler randomly found a golfball, so there you go! Lol) The girls had a blast. Tayler was a little distracted due to the fact that we were outside beside of our swing set, haha! :) But they loved rolling the ball.. Tayler even tried to throw it to Ethan a few times :) They're too cute! 

We even threw 'Bubble Puppy' in there for B-week too! ;) He's Quinnie's favorite :) 

Cheers to B-week!

Alphabet Weeks-- Letter A-- Day 5

On Day 5 of our first week-- letter A-- our task was:

Day 5 (May 16th) our task was: 'All About AUTUMN.' I know, I know... it's almost Summer, but why not take a second to learn about Autumn/Fall! We are going to watch an Autumn/Halloween cartoon, and color AUTUMN trees :) Gorgeous trees with red, orange, and yellow leaves! I'm a huge lover of all things Autumn, so I think this will be a great, fun day for everyone.

We had a fun time watching 'Yo Gabba Gabba' and their Halloween episode as well as 'Jake and the Never Land Pirates' Halloween episode. Mommy talked a lot about how Autumn starts with 'A' and how Mommy LOVES this time of year.. and how baby brother will be joining us in AUTUMN!! :) Lots of fun and exciting things coming our way!

And that's a wrap for our first week-- all about the letter 'A!' I really hope my girls are having fun with this :) I am so excited for next week-- I think they are going to LOVE it :)

Alphabet Weeks-- Letter A-- Day 4

Our task today (5/15/2014) was:

It's 'Alphabet Sidewalk Chalk Day.' We are going to go outside on our patio and write the letter A with sidewalk chalk! Perfect way to get outside.. and for the girls to learn how to write it. We might throw in some naming the colors while we are at it since we have different colored chalk :) 

Well, unfortunately... it rained pretty much all day (who am I kidding-- it has rained all week lol!) So, we had to stay inside to do our alphabet letters! And I forgot the colored chalk! So, we only had white chalk, but we still had a lot of fun! Quinn wasn't interested AT ALL, but Tayler and I spent a lot of time together :) She wanted to write ALL of the ALPHABET and her numbers! Then she tried to trace some of them.

Alphabet Weeks-- Day 3-- Letter 'A'

Today's task (5/15/2014) was to: make ANIMAL noises! Tayler and Quinn have 14 animals that they play with in their zoo that their Pappy and Gigi purchased for them. Today, we are going to practice saying their sounds! This should be a fun activity-- I think Tayler is going to find it hilarious! We will be learning the noises of: a tiger, a lion, a polar bear, an elephant, a camel, a gorilla, a flamingo, a chimpanzee, a whale, an alligator, a seal, a doggie, a duck, and a penguin. You can play some animal noises HERE.

We had so much fun! Quinn had more fun chewing on them LOL and Tayler had more fun naming them off to me, hahahaha, but oh my word, they thought me making noises was just HYSTERICAL!

Tayler looks really enthused (and she needs a hair cut-- that's soon, I'm terrible! lol) But we had a blast with our Animal noises today! We're having SO much fun with the letter 'A!'