Winter Days

It’s hard to find the time and the energy to come here and blog. I really want to keep it up because I love looking back. These days are sooooo tiring and so exhausting, but I wouldn’t trade any of it for anything.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a gorgeous weekend. Zach had homework and I actually had to bring some work home that weekend but we opened the windows and turned the kids loose in the back yard. Reed insisted on being safe and wearing his helmet while driving the jeep.      

Later that afternoon I took the kids on a walk and they wanted to ride their scooters. This was Reed's inaugural ride on his scooter outside the house. This picture was only seconds before he rode right off the side of the sidewalk and crashed right into the street.

 

Lately, Reed is really into the show Paw Patrol. Santa Claus brought him Marshall in his stocking and when he saw that on Christmas morning, his little excited heart was the most precious thing I’ve ever seen. Last weekend, I finally put to use a gift card he’d gotten for his birthday and got him Chase to go with Marshall. He’s in pup heaven!

We had so many sweet people loving on Ava this week when she was sad about having a brother. Everyone told her she would get lots of special time with mommy and be the special girl being the only girl in our family. I’m so glad we have one princess!

Thursday was the 100th day of school for the kids. Ava came home Wednesday night and said it was going to be the best day EVER because there would be NO learning! ha! She was so excited to go to school that morning! I love the excitement kids have when they truly believe it is the best day ever!

I started feeling weird on Wednesday and woke up Thursday feeling just awful. I stayed home from work which I NEVER do. I cannot even remember the last time I stayed home sick from work for me and not a kid. I spent the whole day in bed. I felt better Friday but by the evening I was pretty tired. Unfortunately for me, this was a weekend Zach had to work all weekend. We got home Friday night and the kids got to have pizza picnic and movie night while I just rested. 

Saturday was a loooooong day. ha! I took both kids grocery shopping (remind me not to do that again), and we spent the day at home. Unfortunately the grass was still wet from rain earlier in the week so we didn’t get to go outside. I was ready for Zach to come home. I had been cleaning and walked out to the living room and didn’t see Reed. I asked Ava where he was and then I heard some giggling. I opened the doors to our entertainment center where we keep blankets and there he was. 

Later that evening, Reed asked me if he could use all the stickers from a box of Valentine’s and I said yes. Because in the interest of full disclosure, I was seriously craving some Life Saver big ring gummies and they didn’t have them any other way than in a box of valentine’s…… soooo I got the gummies and he got the stickers. And he did use them all.

And while these two give me a run for my money every single day, I am so very thankful for them!

One more thing to remember – see Reed’s black shoes? I have no idea where we got these, but he LOVES them. He asks to wear them almost every day, but we keep them for Sundays for church. They are probably two sizes too big but he wears them anyway. He also wears them with his firefighter Halloween costume. I love that kid! :)

Our newest family member

Last Tuesday Zach and I met for a lunch date and immediately after went to our 20 week anatomy scan! We saw our sweet little baby rolling around in my tummy like a wild person. We were just about two minutes in when the tech was able to tell us what kind of baby we would be welcoming in June.

I wanted to do something fun to tell the kids. I really liked the idea of doing the balloon pop with confetti but wasn’t sure how to make that work since I wouldn’t know until that day what color I needed. I found this awesome etsy shop that shipped the big black balloon, plus pink AND blue confetti. I just had to put the right color in the black balloon. The kids were SO excited about getting balloons to play with.

Reed held the balloons and Ava did the popping!

 

And when she finally was able to get the balloon popped, they found out we are having another little baby BOY!  

I was a little surprised. Almost everyone thought I was having a girl, even though I couldn’t really tell one way or the other. We have a video of the popping but I hate to share it because Ava was so upset. She had her heart set on a baby sister. It was funny though b/c as soon as she saw the blue, she said “NOOOOO!” And Reed said no, also, I think just because he didn’t know why she was saying it. Then she said “Not a boy!” Reed just kept telling her to pop another one! Also a funny thing: Reed kept calling the confetti his boys. He got upset when we tried to vacuum it up so we waited until later when he wasn’t around.

My mom was in town and after dinner, she took Ava to get a treat to cheer her up and of course Reed went, too. It took a day or so but Ava is finally coming around to having a brother.

We are excited to add another little boy to our family. I’m excited to see his face and see who he looks like and how he’ll fit in! Just about four months to go!

Coping

So, a couple of posts ago, I mentioned that Reed’s teacher passed away in a car accident. The last couple of weeks have been filled with us dealing with the aftermath as it has affected Reed, and since this is a storybook of our lives, I just wanted to record some of the things we’ve gone through.

Until he returned to school, the news really didn’t affect him too much. He would say something about his teacher and then remember she wouldn’t be there. We told him the name of the teacher who would be in there for a few days and he seemed comfortable with that.

The first morning back to school was hard. Really hard. As we got closer to school, I started crying and couldn’t stop. Every morning when we would pull in, Reed would always ask me if she was already there. I dreaded him asking that question. Thankfully, he didn’t. I tried to get a grip but walking across the parking lot into school I had to take deep gulps to keep from starting again. We got into school and the air was just sad. I got Reed into his classroom and got him settled. Along with the substitute (who was actually a familiar face at school), they also had the librarian in there to help. Fortunately Reed did pretty well. I left a blubbering mess. Thankfully looking at these smiles through out the day helped.

That afternoon when he was picked up, he wouldn’t talk to me. He didn’t want to tell me anything. The substitute said he had a good day and asked her if she wanted him to direct a song they were going to sing. :) Sweet boy. I got home that night and was able to get him to talk to me a little bit but not much.

The next day was okay at drop off. There wasn’t a lot to report from school, but Reed still didn’t talk a whole lot that night. I was starting to worry a little about him. That night he woke up crying several times. Around 4:00 I finally went into his room and could tell he was dreaming with the crying. I woke him up and asked him if he wanted to come to my bed. On our walk there I asked him if he was dreaming. He said yes and I asked him what had happened. Side note: He has an imaginary fire station and the people there are his fire stationers. He talks about his fire station daily. End side note. He told me that in his dream, his fire stationers had a car crash and had died. I told him they were okay and not dead but he was pretty adamant they were. I scooped him into bed and snuggled him close. When we woke up, I asked him why he was having bad dreams and he said it was because Mrs. Perez wasn’t coming back. :( Fortunately he only had about one other night with nightmares.

We also had some various teachers through the end of the week. The school has been great about trying to have consistency for them but it is hard to do that with someone who isn’t a regular teachers. Subs have schedules to which they’ve already committed and the whole week was just confusing. At the end of that week, Reed was incredibly emotional. He was having crying spells over little bitty things but he was genuinely upset. My heart was just broken for him.

His class has been working on making a book with their handprints to give to his teacher’s family. They were going to ask them about a memory or something they liked about his teacher and I was trying to prep Reed just to be prepared for the questions they would ask. I asked him what he liked about Mrs. Perez. His response was just heartbreaking: “I would like her not tie die and to feel all better and come back to her whole family.”

Last Monday was the funeral for both her and her husband. It was one of the saddest things I’ve been to. The service program had a wedding photo of them (taken one month before) and Reed saw it when I got home that night. He asked if they were dancing in heaven and if they were having cake. Sweet boy. He’s trying hard to make the connection between heaven and earth. It’s been so sad watching him work through all of this. I know grief is a natural part of life but it’s not something you want to watch your three year old work through it.

He had a consistent teacher last week and I do think that has helped. He seems to really like her and we got this sweet note home from her on Friday:

I’m so proud of him and that he’s adjusting. He’s such a sweet boy and I know he’s been so confused but I’m glad he’s talking to us and expressing himself. I’m hopeful that he can continue working through all this and that he loves whoever his new teacher will be as much as he loved Mrs. Perez. RIP, Mrs. Perez. We miss you so much!

Halfway!!!

Saturday marked 20 weeks of pregnancy! I cannot believe that we are halfway there!! June will be here soooo fast if the last 20 weeks are any indication of how fast it will go. We are definitely growing!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 20 weeks

Gender:  As of today, we don’t know. We will by the end of the week! :) I have NO idea what this little baby is. No clue at all. Ava wants a girl, obviously, and this past week, one morning Reed flung open my bedroom door right when my alarm went off and said “I think that baby is Baby Margaret.” (which isn’t necessarily our girl name, just the name he wants!)

Weight gain: At this point, I’m up 2lbs, which is insane to me but I’ll take it! I am trying to eat sensible and am exercising but it’s just crazy to me that the number isn’t higher – NOT that I’m complaining!

Movement: I can feel the baby move every day. It seems to be the most prominent and noticeable at night when I’m not sleeping. I love feeling the little wiggles happening in there.

Sleep: Awful. I wake up several times a night, and there are still nights where I’m up for several hours at a time. I guess the plus side is that there are nights where I fall back asleep quickly.

What I miss: margaritas…. not that I drank them that often but you always want something more when you can’t have it!

Cravings:  Life Saver Big Ring Gummies… I haven’t craved too many single things. I crave certain meals and then once I have them, I’m good! I did crave Starburst for about the first 10 weeks!

Symptons: Staying tired. I’m well into my 2nd trimester and have given up hope of my energy returning. I’m worn out at the end of the day. In the last couple of weeks I’ve started having sciatic nerve problems. It is painful. Physically I feel like this pregnancy has been much easier on me than Reed’s was. Also, I have indigestion. Some times it feels like food just sits in the middle of my chest. I hate that.

Other things to note: Reed likes to come up and rub my tummy and talk to the baby. He also pretends to tickle it. He and Ava both like to tell me that my tummy is getting big! Ava also says she is going to do so much to help, but that if the baby is a boy, she isn’t helping at all. I’m so excited to watch those two with their little sibling!

We are anxious to learn who this baby is and work on finding a name for him/her. The kids are really excited to know, too! As we get closer, I get more and more excited. I cannot wait to see its little face and snuggle it and hold it tightly. I pray the last half of the pregnancy is as uneventful as the first half has been!

The end of 2014

Well, our break from Christmas break has gone absolutely nothing like expected. I guess that’s life, huh?

The last week of school, Reed was awarded the WWJD award at his school. He looked so cute that night but was so shy and embarrassed and wouldn’t take his award. :) When Ava saw him dressed, she said “REED!" You look so handsome!!!!”

The last day of school, the kids’ school had a Christmas luncheon and I ate lunch with both of them.

Afterwards,  I took them to work with me for just a few minutes until Zach was done taking a big test. Ava was with me talking to some co-workers and Reed had already gone back to my office. I found him tapping away on my calculator. He loves going and “working” on that!  

The weekend before Christmas, we went to visit Zach’s family and have Christmas with them. We had a good day visiting and celebrating Christmas.

I was off work the entire week of Christmas. The first day off, we hired a baby-sitter and had a day date. We ran some errands and finished up our Christmas shopping and enjoyed lunch out by ourselves.

The next day I had a doctor appointment to check on the baby and we all went. The kids got to hear the heartbeat and they thought that was really neat. Then we just had a fun family day.

Later that day I started feeling bad. My chest was hurting and I just didn’t feel well. I woke up on Christmas Eve and went to the walk in clinic first thing. I didn’t want to mess with a hurting chest. I don’t feel like the doctor took me very seriously. He sent me on my way with a zpack so I wouldn’t get worse. He said he normally wouldn’t have even prescribed anything. Well, I’m glad he did because by the next day i was SICK.

I still didn’t feel awful on Christmas Even and managed to enjoy our normal Christmas Eve celebration.

Zach had some kids play music at church on Christmas Eve and Ava was an angel. Reed was just ornery. :)

After church we went to my Grandma’s for dinner and gifts and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

I woke up Christmas morning feeling crummy. I got up and watched the kids open their gifts. They had a good morning. I had woken up in the middle of the night and gotten a drink and found Ava wide awake at 2:00 am because she was excited. Then Reed woke up. They were up for a while. I remember those days. :)

Santa brought them both bikes and hid them behind paper in our foyer! I love this b/c they can’t see their goodies without us! :)

After they opened their gifts, I went back and laid down for a little while. Then I got a shower and got ready because my parents were coming to town for the day and came to have Christmas at our house before going to my grandma’s. After they came, i took another nap before we went to my grandma’s again. While there, I started feeling awful. I couldn’t breathe out of my nose, my sinuses ached, my eyes hurts, and my ears hurt and I was just miserable. We left and went home and I got in bed and pretty much stayed there for the next two days. I think I had a bad bout of bronchitis and a sinus infection so thank the Lord that I had the antibiotic. The bad thing is that being pregnant there was so little I could do for any relief and I was just absolutely miserable for days.

On Saturday, Ava started running a low fever and felt puny and Zach started feeling like he had a sinus infection coming on. Reed was the only one well and he was SOOOOOO good that day. Without anyone feeling up to playing with him he managed to occupy himself really well and was so well behaved.

I really questioned on Saturday how I would go back to work on Monday when I’d spent the whole day in bed. Around bedtime, it was like my body just all of a sudden felt better. I woke up Sunday feeling better, which ended up being a good thing because Zach and Ava were down for the count. They went to the walk in clinic. Zach had a bad sinus infection and Ava had flu A. Just what we wanted.

Ava was really sad because the doctor told her she needed to stay away from me. I had to go all over town to get meds for her and Zach. I called my doctor on Monday to see if he wanted me to do anything. He wanted me to get tested for the flu since I’d been sick and sent me to the hospital outpatient center where they treated me like I had the plague. It took almost an hour just to get a darn swab! I was NOT amused!

Fortunately, my test was negative. He did have me taking Tamiflu so that i could help ward off the flu. Fortunately by about Wednesday Ava felt so much better!

Here was our family saying goodbye to 2014! 

My little ones on the first day of 2015. Hard to imagine that at the end of the 2015 and beginning of 2016 we will have another little one in that picture!

Me and my little buddy!

On Friday, everyone was finally better and after being cooped up for almost a week, Zach took the kids to Chick-fil-a for breakfast and playing on their last weekday break.

We spent the weekend doing some big time cleaning. Our house is so CLEAN and feels so good! We also had some down time which was nice. It has included playing lots of games with Ava.

Yesterday was incredibly COLD and to avoid more cabin fever, we got a little creative with the day. We let them have a picnic lunch in Ava’s room.

After that, Reed said he didn’t like laying in his room but in Ava’s room, so we let them lay down in her room. After a while it was VERY quiet and i found them like this. I told zach if I’d known that was all it would take for them to take a nap, I’d have done it a long time ago!

We also got some really sad news over the break. Last week, Reed’s teacher was in a car accident and sadly passed away. This has been just devastating. She was married one month ago and her new husband also died as did his grandmother. We’ve explained to Reed that he will have a new teacher when he goes back to school this morning but it’s an awful lot for his three year old mind to comprehend. Last night he talked about something that had happened on his last day of school before the break and said “And Mrs. Perez was there!!! But now she won’t be.” We’ve had a lot of moments like these and they have been very, very sad. Lots of prayers have been said for our school because I know this week will be tough.

It was just another reminder going into 2015 that life is so very precious. We aren’t promised tomorrow and never know when a day will be our last. It’s definitely a reminder to me to make every day count!