Brooks

Oh sweet little Brooksie. Despite your growing need for independence and your, "No, I'll do it myself" responses, you are pure goodness in my life. I love your happy personality. I love your daily snuggles. I love listening to your little stutter and raspy voice try to make sentences. I love your adoration for your dad and his truck. I love how you like to put your hands in your pockets. I love how you are obsessed with cars. I love how your hand finds mine when you are falling asleep. I love how you ask for a Popsicle everyday when I go to take a shower, and you ask to watch the exact same episode of Paw Patrol while I get ready for the day. I love how the fits you throw are usually short-lived and that I can reason with you pretty well. I love that you particularly love the second verse of "I am a Child of God," and ask Russ and I to sing "I am a Child of God and so my needs are great" song before bed. I love how you are starting to grasp the idea of us having another baby and when you walk pass baby's room you say "that's baby's brib (crib)." I sure love my side kick who is with me wherever I go. 

**One day he had lines indented on his ankles from his socks and when he took his socks off he said, "I have train tracks on my yegs (legs)." Haha! So cute!! **

His snuggles will never get old!

He uses a giant stuffed animal hedgehog as a second pillow to sleep on. Haha! His face is just pure perfection!

I bought him a new tow truck to help motivate him to go potty in the toilet. Some days he pretends that he doesn't care to have this new truck to play with and other days he brings over a stool and a pole to knock off the toy from the top of the fridge to open it. One day, while Russ was working in the basement, he almost got away with sneakily getting it down and half way opening it before Russ noticed it was a little too quiet upstairs and went to check on him. Haha! I know he wants to go potty in the toilet but he just doesn't know how yet. Some days I can hear the desperation in his voice as he sits on the potty and asks, "Mom, how do you do this?" Cute little buddy!

He loves his hooded clothes and putting his hands in his pockets!

One day, he was SUPER ornery, which is definitely not like him. He seriously cried for like 2 hours this morning. I had no idea what was wrong with him. After we dropped off Hallie at school I asked him if he wanted to snuggle. He said yes and then we snuggled and he fell asleep on my chest. I guess he was just super tired. I didn't get anything done in the morning because of this but man this was the highlight of my day. I sure love his snuggles! 

38 Weeks

Today I hit 38 weeks of being pregnant! Nothing much has changed. It is weird because I feel way less uncomfortable now then I did even a few weeks ago. I am experiencing pretty much no contractions. Lately I have had some sciatica pain, which feels like shooting charlie horses down there so that is no fun. And, of course, there is always the lightening bolt pains that come sometimes.  At night I seem to be more uncomfortable but laying down and taking it easy takes most the "pain" away. I use the word pain lightly because it's not all that intense or frequent. I've been telling baby for awhile now that I don't want him to come until next weekend, definitely not tomorrow, and so maybe he's just a really obedient baby and my body will start doing something come the end of next week. Haha! I went on a long and fast-paced walk with my kids today and plan to do that daily if the weather stays nice. Maybe that will help my body kick it into high gear. My next appointment is on Friday and I'm not so sure I will have progressed very much. It will be a bummer if that is the case but ultimately I want baby to come when he is ready so it'll be fine.

37 Week Appointment

I saw my OB today. Unfortunately it wasn't a very exciting visit. My urine, weight and blood pressure all look good. My strep test was negative, so that is good for the delivery. She checked me and I'm only at a 1.5, which is a big bummer. Russ guessed I would only be at a 1.5 but I was obviously hoping for a little more. Although I haven't been too uncomfortable so I'm not overly shocked. My cervix went from about 10% effaced to 50% this week. My spirits aren't crushed though. I really didn't want to have a baby this weekend anyways. It is Russ's mom's birthday on Sunday as well as my brother, Bret's birthday. Both of whom have passed away. It's a somber day on Sunday and I don't want my baby to share their birthdays. Maybe I'm a little superstitious. But, maybe baby knew I didn't want him to come this weekend and I will hopefully progress a lot this coming week. This coming Thursday sounds like a good day to have a baby. Haha! If only I could choose. But I will start pushing myself a little this week to see if my body will progress a little more. Crossing my fingers we have a baby this week but ultimately I pray every night that baby will come when he is ready and will be healthy and ready for life. 

I think we have decided on naming this babe Stockton. It just feels like a right fit for our family. It could change but I don't think it will. 

Basement Progress

We have been cruising our our basement trying to get it done in time before baby comes! We painted the entire basement, leveled the flooring the best we could and laid the vinyl flooring this month. I am loving the way it is all coming together!

All painted!

We found out that our cement floor was very uneven. It took quite a bit of time for us to even it out. Unfortunately, one of these times, thinking the floors were even, Russ had laid about 4 hours worth of work of vinyl flooring only to realize there was a pretty big bump in the middle of the floor we needed to fix up. That was an unfortunate set back. 

Our flooring we picked out! I love it!!

Kids

I love my kids more than anything in this world! I feel closest to Heaven when I am with my kids, particularly when I am putting them to bed, probably because they are sweet little angels in my life. For the most part they get a long and play really well together. I couldn't love them anymore!

Hallie reading a book to Brooks in a blanket fort they both made!

Hallie

February phone download of little Hallie! She is so stinking cute. She is full of sass and drama but it is balanced well with her sweetness and thoughtfulness. She is so excited for us to have a baby. She has felt the baby move more then anyone else in our family besides me. She will be a great help to me when this baby decides to come. She loves art and loves to draw pictures to give to her friends/family. She wants to be entertained every minute of the day. She listens to a kids podcast, "Wow in the world," every night as she falls asleep. Russ and I talk about how smart she is all the time. She truly is leaps and bounds above most kids her age. She understands and "gets" things so easily. When she applies herself to something she will succeed at it. Life would be pretty dull without her in it and I just love her to pieces!

She couldn't be any cuter if she tried. She is killing it in school and wearing a mask all day doesn't seem to bother her one bit!

She made our family out of snowmen. I thought it was the cutest thing. And I was quite impressed that she built snowmen about the size of herself all by herself too. 

Playing tug-o-war in school

Having a play date with our neighbor, Willow. I'm not surprised one bit that one of our neighbors twins was sitting on Hallie's lap. She loves being motherly. 

FHE with Joe

Russ asked his dad if he would have us over sometime to talk about his mission to Tahiti. Joe was happy to do so and we spent the night learning about his mission, seeing pictures and treasures from Tahiti and eating mangoes, papayas and ice cream for dessert. It was fun to hear and learn about his mission!

Joe let Hallie pick one of the necklaces to keep. It wasn't surprising to me that she picked the heart shaped one!

Hallie is always giving cards and pictures to her extended family members. So, Grandma Becky and Grandpa Joe decided to draw and write both Brooks and Hallie cards. It was very thoughtful of them!

Brooks loved his cars card. He colors on it almost every day!

37 Weeks

Well nothing much new here. Feel about the same as I did last week. I'm a little uncomfortable but nothing crazy, which is both good and bad I gues. Heartburn is uncomfortable at night, I wake up to pee about 2 times a night and feel like I need to pee all day long, it's hard to bend over or see anything below my belly but I'm doing well.

I got my second covid vaccine yesterday. It feels nice to have it done and over with. I hope baby gets some antibodies from me to help protect him. The second vaccine definitely hit me harder then the first. All day today I have felt achy and just haven't felt well. No fever but felt hot. Tired but I'm always tired these days so that was nothing new. Mild headaches as well. These symptoms only lasted all of today and then by Sunday I was totally fine. 

36 Week Appointment

I have been so anxious for this appointment. And when I say anxious, I mean excited. I am excited to see baby again in the ultrasound. I'm hoping my labs and blood pressure are all normal. And I'm hoping for some dilation happening too!

First was my ultrasound. I didn't get the tech I have been getting but she was still good nonetheless. Oh man it was so fun to see sweet little baby inside me. He's so cute and I just want to hold him! My fluid levels are amazing, at 20. It seems like baby is floating on a giant water bed right now. His head is measuring at almost 40 weeks, which is common with my babies thanks to Daddy! They've got me 10 days ahead of my due date although that doesn't really mean much. 

Cord above his right eye

Yummy lips!

Next I went up to see my OB. I tried walking really slow up the stairs and to the office in hopes that it will help control my blood pressure. Haha! But it must have worked because my blood pressure was perfect, urine looked good and all my labs were normal. Woot! I haven't gained weight since my last visit but baby is growing well so that is all that matters. I got my strep swab today, so hopefully that was normal too. 

Then I got checked. I don't think it is painful to get checked to be honest. A lot of women say it is but I don't think so. I was at a 1. And she said my cervix was super long, like a finger length long. So, basically I'm not progressing as much as I was thinking and baby isn't coming any time soon. Which is okay, I want him to come when he's ready. And I don't really want him to come until about 38 weeks anyways. But, at least I'm not a zero! I'm looking forward to weekly visits and hoping for more progress and thinning of the cervix next time.