Playground Fun

Tuesday was a nice warm day, so we went for a picnic snack at the church playground!

As you can see, it was a fun time! :)

Videos

Having Arabelle's mini iPad around motivates me to make some more videos. It's so easy to tap the screen a few times and have the videos on Youtube in a few seconds. Much easier than finding the USB cord, downloading to my laptop, then uploading to Youtube.

This one is just hilarious to me. I added some captions in case you can't hear what Bo is saying:

Big Boy Bed

Bo has been insisting he's not a baby anymore and that he's a "big boy", despite still sleeping in a crib and wearing diapers. ;)

Friday, Jared put together his big boy bed and he had his first night in the bed! He was really excited, thankfully.

Trying it out:

Arabelle had to give it a try too. :)

We ended up going with a toddler bed for Bo, which uses his crib mattress. I figured he and Arabelle have jumped and played a lot on the mattress, so we'll just get a new crib mattress for the new baby when the time comes. Plus, his toddler bed will fit in Arabelle's room when the baby needs the crib. 

He went right to bed when it was time and didn't get up before falling asleep. He did come running into our room around 4:15 and sounded so happy..."Mommy!". He sure was sad when I told him it was still dark and he had to go back to his bed. Jared walked him back to his bed and Bo slept until 8:30 this morning! I am assuming it took him awhile to go back to sleep at 4:15 because he never sleeps that late. I'm proud he didn't try to get up again though.

Now for potty training and he'll really be a "big boy"! 

24 week update

Pregnancy Highlights:

• How far along: 24 weeks 5 days 
• Size of baby: Just over a pound and the length of an ear of corn!
• Total weight gain: 14 lbs! I gained 4 lbs in the last 4 weeks, so right on track with the 1lb/week. I gained 20 lbs with Arabelle and Bo, but it looks like I'll get close to 30 with this one. 
• Gender: It's a surprise!
• Movement: Definitely a lot of movement when I get still. No painful movements yet, but it's coming, I'm sure!
• Sleep: I'm still waiting on that energy burst that "they" say comes in the 2nd trimester. I usually get 8-9 hours at night and could handle a couple more.
• Cravings: I've been wanting Haitian food lately. The real authentic stuff we had this past summer. I've got the chicken thawing out to marinate it over night tonight and I'm making Haitian Chicken for supper tomorrow. ;)
• Symptoms: No more nausea!!! My back has started hurting some, if I'm not resting much during the day. I'll probably start going to the chiropractor in the next month, hoping to avoid the horrible sciatica I had with Bo!
• Best moment of the week: I really like it when I'm cuddling Bo before bed and the baby starts wiggling a lot. 

We just listened to the heartbeat today at the Dr. appt. Next month, at 28 weeks, I'll have the standard 1 hour glucose test and start the every 4 week ultrasounds. 

I'm not really concerned about the baby's growth at this point because I can tell I'm growing a lot!

Silly Girl

Arabelle does some really funny stuff. The latest funny was just a few minutes ago. I laughed so hard when I saw her walk out of her room from 'resting' with this get-up going on.

She had worked hard to cram 3 babies, her stuffed puppy (named Pistol after her Leigh-Leigh's dog), and her unicorn (named Puddintaine...or how ever it's spelled) into her footie PJs.

I wish I had a video of her walking and acting like her belly was SO BIG. I guess she thinks I walk like that!?

We're Still Here!

Jared went on his annual duck hunting trip to Mississippi over the weekend, so we went to Mamaw and Papaw's to have fun and relax (well, I did anyway!).

Back to our usual routine today. Tuesdays are our day at home, so we've played, snacked, baked, and napped (well, Bo at least).

Snuggled up and playing on the iPad this morning.

Having a snack and playing on the church playground.

I would have liked to take a few pictures of Arabelle and Bo making lunch today. We made pigs in a blanket and they like to roll up the little hot dogs in the dough. Well, keeping up with 4 little hands doesn't leave time to snap a picture! 

Arabelle's iPad Pictures

Arabelle LOVES her mini iPad she got for Christmas from Sambo and Leigh Leigh! I like looking at the pictures she takes. They can be pretty funny!

One of her apps will distort the image and she LOVES to take pictures of herself, then laugh her little head off at how funny it looks. :)

Rough Play

Bo is finally toughening up a bit and likes to play rough with Arabelle. Yesterday, they were running around the back yard 'tackling' each other. I say "tackling", because it was mostly Arabelle knocking Bo down and him laughing and laughing.

As you can see, they were both really hyper. Really thankful for this warm weather....shorts and barefooted in January!

Gone Fishin'

It feels like Spring here, so we gathered the kids' fishing rods and some worms and took them fishing yesterday! Bo was happy as could be with his little rubber fish on his line, but Arabelle used worms. I think she had more fun playing with the worms than fishing. She didn't catch anything, but didn't seem to mind!

I asked her to smile for me before getting in the car and this is what I got....a glimpse into the future.

There's the smile!

They were both worn out from fishing, having lunch at the hunting club, and playing that they BOTH napped yesterday. So, after supper and bath last night, we had a movie and popcorn night. They watched The Lorax and ate this big bowl of popcorn together in Jared's chair. 

Arabelle's Art Class

Now that Arabelle is 4, she's old enough to do some of the art classes in town! She had her first art classes this week. It was all about PAINTING, which is quite possibly her favorite thing to do.

She was also excited because she was supposed to take a snack every day, so she got to use her new lunchbox she got for Christmas from Papa and Grandma LaVell. :)

Monday afternoon, I told her to go pick out some old clothes to wear since she'd be painting. She ran to her room, then ran back and asked "What are old clothes?". I told her to pick something that she didn't mind getting paint on, so she came back with a camo shirt and grey sweat pants. 

Monday, they did raised salt painting. She made her design on the paper with glue, then put salt on top, shook off the excess salt, and dabbed watercolors on top. The salt pulled the color from the brush. It was a neat idea!

Tuesday was photocopy painting. She cut out several pictures (Eiffel tower, front of a car, shark, etc.), glued it to her paper, and was supposed to paint a scene around it. She seems to like abstract art. :)

Wednesday was circle art. This was the day we went to Macon for the Dr. appt, so Sambo picked her up from school and took her to art class. My friend Katie sent me this picture that day. Arabelle's friend, Michelle took the class too. They had a lot of fun creating art together!

I didn't get a picture on Thursday. I had Bo with us and it was Shaving Cream art, so you can imagine the job I had! Bo 'helped' a little, then we went outside to play with pine cones while Arabelle did her art. 

It was a really fun week of art! They'll have a class one week out of the month now through May, so I'm sure we'll be doing more art in the upcoming months!

22 Weeks and Single Umbilical Artery Update

I'm a few days behind on this update because I was waiting until after my Dr. appt today. :)

Pregnancy Highlights:

• How far along: 22 weeks 3 days
• Size of baby: about 11 inches and nearly a pound!
• Total weight gain: 10 lbs.
• Gender: Still a surprise! I'm definitely feeling girl for some reason.....
• Movement: Lots of action going on in there! I don't feel a whole lot while I'm up and about, but if I sit down, the baby does a lot of wiggling around. 
• Sleep: Still dragging myself out of bed in the mornings. I keep waiting for that burst of energy....
• Cravings: Nothing really.....
• Symptoms: Still nauseated off and on, but manageable. 
• Best moment of the week: Arabelle felt the baby move a few days ago and she thought it was "super neat!". :)

At 20 weeks, Dr. G found a single umbilical artery on the ultrasound and referred me to a Maternal Fetal Specialist in Macon, Dr. Woodham. I saw her today and had a level 2 ultrasound to check the rest of the baby a bit closer and to get her opinion.

Here's the full body shot (you can click it to make it larger):

And I didn't realize until we got home, but the picture also shows a cross section of the umbilical cord and you can see the 2 vessels (1 artery and 1 vein)...pretty neat!

Everything else looked fine with the baby. I sure wish she would have told me it was normal for her to spend 15 minutes checking the heart because I was starting to worry (an u/s tech did the u/s, then I saw the Dr. for results)! Dr. Woodham just recommends having growth scans every 4 weeks to make sure the baby is still growing well and I can have those done at Dr. G's office in Douglas. As long as the baby continues to grow well and doesn't drop below the 10th percentile, there's no reason to induce labor early. 

Today I was 22 weeks and 3 days and all the measurements read between 22 weeks and 2 days and 22 weeks and 5 days, so right on track! 

As you can see, the baby is growing just fine and so am I! :)

S'mores!

Jared had the great idea to make a little spot for a fire pit and have s'mores tonight. Arabelle and Bo enjoyed the whole process....digging the pit, piling the sticks, and especially eating the s'mores!

Waiting patiently:

Prepping the supplies. Yes, it was cold enough for jackets, but Jared is still in shorts and a t-shirt. ;)

When the kids were in the bath Arabelle said "I loved that toasted marshmallow, chocolate, and graham cracker sandwich!". An accurate description for sure. I reminded her that she can just call them s'mores and she said, "Oh yeah, s'mores.". :)

Gone Fishin'

You know if it rains here and it's warm enough, Arabelle and Bo are ready to go puddle jumping! This time, Bo got the idea to go fishing with his new fishing rod. 

This morning we went out to fish and play in the puddle. Bo was so excited each time he reeled in the little red rubber fish. 

He sure didn't want to go inside for lunch and rest, but I promised we'd go back out this afternoon for more fishing. 

He was pleased when we went back out. He learned to cast pretty good this afternoon!

Review of 2012

I can't believe another year has passed and it's 2013!

2012 was another amazing year for our family with lots of fun trips, memories, and big surprises!

January: I am always surprised at how young the kids look at the beginning of the year! We seemed to have stayed home and played a lot in January. Lots of painting, bike riding, and fun! Arabelle went to her first movie, bowling, and dentist visit in January!

*You can click the photo collages to make them larger.

February: This started a time of birthday celebrations! We went to Lawrenceville for Caleb's 1st birthday and Macon for Anderson's 4th birthday. Bo turned 18 months old that month too! 

March: We had a lot of fun in March....the weather was warming up, we enjoyed Rhianna & Gigi's birthday, had the girls over for a sleepover, enjoyed gymnastics, and much more! Jared also left his job at the public defender's office and opened his own law practice. 

April: Another fun and bust month! We went to the beach & zoo for Spring Break, celebrated Easter, went to the strawberry patch on a field trip, jumped in rain puddles, and got a fun new swing set!

May: We went to the Bloodworth family reunion, celebrated Mother's Day, went on our family trip to the beach, started enjoying the blueberry season, Arabelle started her t-ball season, celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary, started summer break from school, and it warmed up enough to start enjoying the pool!

June: I sure do love the summer months! In June, Arabelle continued t-ball and attended soccer camp one week. We took the annual blueberry picture, spent family time in Mamaw and Papaw's pool, celebrated Father's Day, Bo got his first hair cut at the barber shop, we enjoyed VBS at our church, and prepped for our mission trip to Haiti. 

July: We started out the month of July in Haiti. What an amazing experience....life changing! Arabelle and Bo spent 10 days at Mamaw and Papaw's while we were on the trip. We also played outside a lot, swam, celebrated July birthday's in Pineview, 'cut the ribbon' at Jared's law practice, and closed out the month with a long weekend in Boston.

August: This month was a little slower than July, but still packed with fun! We went to Wild Adventures, started back to 'school', Bo turned 2 years old, visited the ER for Arabelle's busted head, and we had a blast hosting Arabelle and Bo's birthday party! 

September: Well, I got the biggest and best surprise of my life in Sept. when I discovered I was pregnant! Talk about surprise!!! Jared went elk hunting in Colorado about the time the sickness started, so I don't have  a whole lot of fond memories of Sept. Blah! We did enjoy the pool some more, celebrate Arabelle's 4th birthday in Pineview and at Monkey Joe's with Anderson and Isaiah, played with Caleb in Pineview one weekend, and attended my 10 year HS reunion.

 October: This month was one big blur to me. I was in survival mode, I think. We went to Atlanta for Arabelle's yearly urology check up, went to the Ga. National Fair with Mamaw, had a fun field trip to the pumpkin patch, enjoyed the Roberts reunion, celebrated Mamaw's birthday & met Lowndes for the first time, and had fun with all the Fall Festivals and Halloween!

November: I didn't take many pictures this month and that's surprising! We played a lot at home, Arabelle went to her first UGA football game with Jared, finished soccer camp, celebrated Thanksgiving with our families, and got our Christmas tree. 

December: An action packed and fun month! We enjoyed lots of time with our families, met baby Jacob, had Christmas parties at school, saw Santa, and celebrated Christmas. It was "super fun" as Arabelle says!

We're excited to see what the Lord has in store for us in 2013!!!!

*I'm way too tired to proof read this, so excuse any typos. ;)