Excitement and a bit of craziness!

I know I should be sleeping right now. The boys are down for a nap and will probably stay down for about an hour and a half but even though I'm super tired my mind is going way too fast to sleep. This past tuesday Frank and I bought a vacation package to Florida! We leave next week and will be gone for 7 days. It was such a good deal we just couldn't pass it up and even though I'm 8 months preggo I think it's a great time for us to go. I can't even imagine flying with 3 kids so I'm going to enjoy this last trip as a family of 4. It's kinda crazy because I feel we were just there. I think it was only 9 months ago that we went last time. If you do the trip right you can go really cheaply and we've become pretty good at it. Gavin is so excited to wear shorts again. It's been a fight every morning to get him into pants. He yells at the snow to go away and begs for summer. Owen was 10 months old when we were there last time so it will all be new to him again. Hopefully he'll be ok with it. I'm stressing about our direct flight back home. It will be 4 hours and 15 mins and we arrive back home at 11:45 pm. It could either be a complete disaster or the kids could sleep through most of it. We are really going to try to take things as they come and try to relax on this trip.

9 more weeks....

Nine weeks left of this pregnancy. I thought when I was in the single digits it would feel much closer. I was wrong. Nine weeks feels like an eternity to me!! People are telling me that it will go by fast with Christmas and New Years and I hope they are right. I am really excited for Christmas but I don't have much energy to do anything festive yet. I hope that getting the house looking nice for Christmas and buying some gifts and going to Christmas parties will distract me from the long wait I still have for this baby. I feel bad saying it but I'm not getting that excited butterfly in the stomach feeling for this baby yet. I know I will love him to pieces but it feels so overwhelming to me right now. I know before Gavin came I was worried about becoming a mom. I was worried about pretty much all of the unknowns of motherhood. When I was pregnant with Owen I worried that Gavin wouldn't adjust and that he'd have to share me. I guess it's natural to worry during pregnancy. So now I'm worried about how I'll ever leave the house with 3. What if this one has colic or doesn't sleep well? What if the boys both act out when I have a newborn at home and recovering from a c-section? How will I give them each the attention that they need from me?? How on earth will I get the house done in time?? I guess only time will tell. I'm also guessing I will have a lot less time to write about how I'm doing once the baby is born. For now, I'll keep writing so I can look back and remember the feelings of worry that I had anticipating this new baby and hopefully I will see that there was nothing to worry about at all.

Next week wednesday...

I just looked back on my calendar from last year and read that Gavin was in the hospital having his EEG one year ago next Wednesday. When he was in the hospital hooked up to the EEG machine, he had a seizure and the doctor was able to get a good picture of his seizure. We put him on a new medication and since then he hasn't had a seizure yet! That is one year now of being seizure free! I'm so excited about this.  This past week we met with his neurologist who mentioned that she would like him to get an MRI done. I know we should do this procedure but it scares me too. Most likely if we get the MRI done now we will be able to tell if he will probably have seizures for the rest of his life. I'm torn. I want to know what the answer is but part of me has hope right now that things are under control and he might out grow them. If they tell me they've found something abnormal in the brain then everything changes. I will be worried about his future, I will be worried about the effects of his meds all his life, I will be worried that he might start having seizures, and the list goes on. Right now we are meeting with some specialists to see how his development and behavior are doing and if there are some warning signs then we will get the MRI done very soon. I will post some more about the specialists when we've had proper evaluations done. So far, he's doing great though and if he wasn't on meds for seizures, I probably wouldn't even think about getting his speech or behavior looked at.

On another note... I am an aunt to a new baby girl born to my brother Dan and sister-in-law Nicole! Her name is Jordyn and she's adorable! I can't wait to see her and see my brother and sister-in-law as new parents. First time babies are just so much fun. All babies are wonderful but it's always so exciting when someone has their first.  Welcome to the family Jordyn!!

Finally...

Before this past summer, Frank had been working hard on getting some work done on our house. We started the wainscoting, we started the painting, almost finished Owen's bedroom and started taking wallpaper down in Gavin's room. Then I got pregnant and it all came to a stop. I couldn't even believe how tired I was and how sick I was and suddenly the boys were just too much to handle while he would be working away on the house. So we decided to stop for the summer and resume work again in the winter. Don't think we haven't done anything all summer because that is far from the truth. This summer with a little extra help from Frank's mom to help with the kids, and a bunch of friends for the hard stuff, we had our lawn scraped off and re-leveled. We (and when I say "we" I mean Frank) laid new sod, and tore down our old deck and started building a new one, and laid a new stone walkway along the side of our house and a small patio in the back. Our lawn looks wonderful after constant watering and some tlc and the deck is looking great. We are not done the deck yet. We needed to order some more wood to finish off the stairs and the railings and eventually build a privacy screen around the hot tub. We have the materials now, we just need more time to complete it. I'm thinking the spring.

Anyway, I am feeling much better. I am still very tired and getting kinda sore in this final trimester but I can handle it now that I'm done puking and taking small naps throughout the day. So today Frank finally started working again on our wainscoting! That is one thing I can't wait to get finished. He's finished the wood-work part and now just needs to fill in the holes and paint it which is a pretty quick job. After that is done I think we will paint the front closet doors white and decorate that front entrance area a bit with pictures or a mirror or something. It just feels so good to be making some progress again!!

As far as baby stuff is concerned, I am not even thinking about that yet. I have all the clothes I need, all the baby gear and a pack and play for the little guy to sleep in. I'm not moving Owen out of the nursery for a while yet either. For now, I just want to make my house a little more "finished" and then possibly start on Gavin and Owen's room, or do the stairs carpet, or the railings, or the family room, or... oh boy. One thing at a time!!!

Pictures will follow soon.

What to do...

So I've been trying this thing with Gavin's meds lately. I wait till later in the morning to give them to him and it seems to be doing the trick. He's much happier at home with me, he plays well with Owen, and I'm able to go out to play groups and mom's morning out. The problem is though, that in the morning he's playing hard and having fun, then I give him his meds, and his combined sleepiness from playing and from his meds make it impossible to keep him awake. As much as I love nap time when both boys are sleeping, if I give Gavin a nap he will have a hard time falling asleep at night. Lately he's been awake till about 9:30 at night and he keeps Owen up by talking and complaining in his bed. I am not use to this and it's incredibly frustrating!!! When bed time hits, it's mommy time. Time for Frank and I to talk or watch a show, I could shower, or make a snack for myself. I love bed time... I NEED bed time. I really don't know what to do about this problem. I'm sure people would tell me that I should just give him a short nap but believe me I tried this too and it really doesn't seem to make a difference to him. I had a great morning with him today, Gave him his meds and lunch and by the time lunch was over he was horrible!! Crying about everything, falling over,  hurting himself, wanting things he knows he can't have, etc... I put him down and within 10 mins he's fast asleep. Today I'm going to wake him after 45 mins and we'll see how it goes but if anyone has a suggestion feel free to share.

Time for a new one.

My kids are asleep and I have a bit of down time to update the blog. Life has been busy and it really is hard to keep up with the writing. Frank is away on a work trip (again) and even though I miss him and can't wait for him to get back, I also find that I can keep on top of things pretty good when he's away. I think I automatically try harder to keep up with the cleaning and make sure the kids are on schedule because I know it will make things easier for me. By evening I am wiped and won't feel like cleaning up so I keep on top of it so I can relax once the kids go to bed. I really should be this way all the time. 

The pregnancy is going well. I am just about to enter into the 3rd trimester! We've had about 3 fetal assessments and everything looks great with the baby. We are having another boy and I couldn't be more thrilled. The other day a woman came up to me and asked if I'm having a girl this time. I told her no it's another boy and she said "oh how disappointing". I was a bit shocked by that. Why on earth would I be disappointed by having another boy?? I kindly told her that I was really excited about my boy and joked that I don't know what I'm missing because I already have 2 boys and I love it. Some people are so weird!! Having a boy seems so easy to me now and I feel like I don't even need to get anything ready for this baby. We have everything! 

Gavin is doing well. Next month he will be seizure free for a year! I am definitely starting to relax a lot more with him but there are still some concerns I have with his meds. He gets really sleepy after I give them to him so I've been trying to change the times I give them so that he gets the most out of his day. Yesterday I gave his meds later in the morning and I was able to go to a church mom's group and he had a great time. When we got home after lunch I gave his meds and he had a nice long nap and was happy all afternoon. Today I gave his meds at his usual time and went off to the mall. It didn't take long for Gavin to start whining that he was tired and he wanted to go home to bed. We didn't get any shopping done and once we got home he went straight to bed and fell asleep. I think for now on I will give him his meds around 11 so we can enjoy our mornings. 

Owen is hilarious right now. He's at such a cute age. He's trying to talk and is doing really well with that. Gavin loves to get him to say words which really makes me laugh. Sometimes he'll get him to say hard words like "sprinkle donut". I love hearing him try. He's less whiny then when he just turned one and just goes about his day exploring and learning. He is sleeping through the night which is the hugest blessing to me. I have so much more energy when I get a full nights sleep. He usually goes to bed around 7ish and wakes up about 7am when his brother gets up. 

I have a bunch of pictures I'd like to post but that will have to wait till Frank gets back from his trip. I have all the good pictures on his computer. 

Hopefully I can find some more time to keep up with writing a bit more. I am going to enjoy the few minutes of quiet time I have left.

3rd baby making an appearance beginning of January!