April Pictures: Part 2

P1 and P2 both started liking "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". We've been watching the old cartoon from the 80's. Whenever they start liking a new show, P1 really wants to get toys from the show. So we ended up making them earn the TMNT toys. P1 had to not pick his nose for 10 days, and P2 had to stay dry for 10 days. They couldn't get the toy until both of them filled in their sticker chart. We hoped that they would help each other remember. It worked immediately for P1, and he got his 10 stickers really fast. I was worried that he would go back to picking his nose, but he really hasn't, so I call that a success! P2 took a little longer to earn her stickers, but she finally did it and they were able to get their toys! It helped us finally get P2 to the underwear stage.

P2 helping dad with work:

Getting ready to go to a sleepover at Grandma's house:

PE was at a work conference for a week, so we ended up sleeping over at Grandma's house one night. They got to try out their new sleeping bags for the first time. The kids had fun, but I don't think anyone got much sleep. I know I didn't!

P2 learning to play video games with dad.

It was too tiring, so P2 had to lay down to finish playing:

 

So one night, P1 woke up screaming. I went to check on him and found he had fallen off his bed (the whole 3 inches). He said his head hurt, so I felt his head in the dark and kissed it better. He finally calmed down and went back to sleep. Well, in the morning I discovered that his pillow was covered in blood! Turns out he hit his head on the dresser and got a nasty gash on the back of his head. I felt so bad! A couple of days later, after I got out of the shower, P2 came running in and said "P1's dripping!" I ran into the living room, and his head is dripping blood again! He said he hit his head on the wall, and I guess it decided to split open again.

 My good helpers, vacuuming the rug:

P1 loves Transformers. PE bought a couple for himself, and P1 thought they were pretty neat. So now we have a whole collection of them. Bumblebee is his favorite, although he also likes Grimlock and Sideswipe.

P2 likes to crash in the afternoon: 

Found some fun little rocking chairs at Lowes:

P2 likes to cuddle with me on the couch. I seem to spend a lot of time there lately!

 

 

Project 3

 We officially found out we were expecting on January 8, 2017. But I was already 99% sure that I was pregnant. I don't like wasting money, so I don't actually buy pregnancy tests until I'm a couple weeks late. At 6 weeks, I began feeling the horrible morning sickness.

At my 8 week appointment, we found baby measuring over 9 weeks. It was fun to see the baby move around. I got a prescription for Diclegis for my morning sickness, and it works so well. It was nice to not feel sick all the time.

I actually made an announcement this time around. Keeping with the theme of this blog, we announced it with a Gantt chart.

At the end of February, I got really sick for 2 weeks. It's the worst cold I've ever had, and I couldn't get over it. I got an ear infection, and my ear drum actually burst which was rather painful. Being pregnant, I wasn't able to take any strong medicine. Also during this time, I had rectal bleeding and was worried that it was a flare up of my colitis. After meeting with my GI doctor, we decided it was just hemorrhoid bleeding. Unfortunately, nothing really helped stop the bleeding. The joys of pregnancy!

13 weeks pregnant:

13 Week Ultrasounds:

Baby is head down, and you can see the spine really well:

A 3D image of baby:

17 Week Ultrasound:

Once again, baby was head down for the ultrasound. He or she is definitely getting bigger!

I first felt movement around week 16 or 17. My morning sickness went away at week 20. My hemoglobin count was low at week 17 thanks to hemorrhoids, so I started an iron supplement. At week 20, it went down instead of up, so I get to double my iron supplement. My energy has been pretty low, so hopefully we can get those levels up again. Also, I have seen some improvement in my hemorrhoids after using essential oils. It was the last thing my midwife had to offer, and so far it is the only thing that has seemed to help.

20 Weeks Pregnant:

20 Week Ultrasound:

PE and the kids came with me for the big ultrasound. It was fun to see the baby, and it was good for the kids to be there. During the ultrasound, we saw the baby suck its thumb, yawn, and drink amniotic fluid. Everything looked great, and the baby looks healthy and well!

Cute profile:

Baby yawning: 

Cute little foot:

Another cute profile:

3D image of baby:

We are excited to meet our sweet baby in 20 more weeks!!!

Easter Festivities

We had a neighborhood Easter egg hunt on Friday afternoon. I love neighborhood Easter egg hunts! They are the best! Not too chaotic, and it's fun to chat with neighbors. Basically you bring 10 pre-filled eggs per kid to the neighbor in charge, and they hide them for the all the kids. If you can get a few homes to participate, you can even have different yards be for different age groups. And then you make sure your kids only pick up 10 eggs. Everyone goes home happy, and without too much or too little. P1 was excited to find a "ticket" in one of his eggs. When I finally looked to see what the ticket was, I saw it was a $1 bill.

We dyed Easter eggs with my family. Growing up, we would each dye 1 dozen eggs. And we would get quite creative some years. P2 liked to dye all her eggs pink, and P1 liked to dye all his green.

Grandpa bought some fun parachute men for us to throw off the balcony. 

We had another Easter egg hunt in the front yard. P2 was really good at it. We all thought P1 would have the most eggs, but I guess slow and steady wins the race! P2 liked to grab all the pink eggs, and P1 focused on the green eggs.

We didn't get more candy for our kids, knowing how much they would get else where. So for Easter, we got them each a Pearl of Great Price coloring book, A Family History coloring book, and a picture of Jesus. Throughout the week we talked about the Resurrection and watched bible videos. We had them tell us about the Resurrection before we pulled out the toys we had gotten for them.

We got some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle gear for the kids to play with. P1 had been making his own costumes for weeks, so we thought this would be a fun gift. Also, when our friends come over they really like to dress up.

This is P1's attempt at smiling:

P1 quickly ended up in tears, because he didn't like having the mask around his eyes. So now he just wears it on his forehead. Whatever. 

 On Sunday, we went to my in-laws for dinner and more festivities. The kids had fun doing another Easter egg hunt, this time with their cousins. The adults even had an Easter egg hunt. The eggs had cash in them, and Grandma and Grandpa hid them very well.

Once again, P2 made out like a bandit. I ended up taking some of her eggs and putting them in P1's basket. 

More TMNT playing before bed: