13/52

Cayden & Sawyer: We got a new sectional from Ikea. It came in a gazillion boxes. Together, the boys made a firetruck-pirate ship-boat. Hours of entertainment this weekend.

a little update: thirty-four weeks

I'm really, really bad with keeping updates on pregnancies. I'm even worse at having photos captured of this time. Some women are absolutely beautiful while pregnant. Me? I don't feel that so much, so I tend to shy away from the camera during these times. No worries, I DO have photos while pregnant with all of the boys, it's just, they don't get shared. But today I changed my mind and decided to share a couple of photos that Jeremy shot. I thought the lighting was really nice, and well, the baby bump is definitely displayed... so, there it is.

There have been some ups and downs with this pregnancy. Some moments of worry that were completely unnecessary (aren't they always?), so now feels like a good time to catch up from the last time I mentioned being pregnant.

Graham looks great; seems to be growing right now track. During our 20 week ultrasound, there was some concern about his kidney growth though. They were measuring large and our team of doctors wanted to keep their eye on it. Which did mean more ultrasounds for us where we got to look in on our sweet baby. We even took Cayden and Sawyer to the last ultrasound (they were unimpressed). Thankfully at the last ultrasound (about four weeks ago), his kidneys looked perfectly normal and we're no longer having to watch that. Whew!

My morning (all day) sickness finally waned sometime around 18-20 weeks. There were still some iffy moments of and on, but thankfully the worst was over. I've managed to get a cold almost every month with some major congestion that never wants to go away. (This is actually the first month I've stayed well, but congestion is always around now. Yay?)

After having passed the one hour glucose screening with both Cayden and Sawyer, I failed it with Graham. Um, what? So I had to go back for the three hour screening. It wasn't awful, just time-consuming. And thankfully I passed it easily. No gestational diabetes for me this time.

I think overall I'm feeling pretty good. Graham's a mover and a shaker – rarely still. Which is fun and alarming all at once. Heartburn has come back like a beast. At night, if I lay on my left side, it somewhat subsides, but if I try to lay on my right side, forget about it. Weird, right?

The boys love on Graham like crazy. Sawyer's recently started asking me almost every day if Graham goes with me everywhere... so I'm not entirely sure he completely understands the entire concept of what's going on. Cayden gets it for sure though. Thankfully we've only had one question of "how does the baby get out?" which was easily answered with "the doctor helps us." He was satisfied with that, so we are too.

Jeremy and my dad are painting the nursery as I type this. Maybe we'll be able to get some furniture set up this weekend. Six weeks out. So much to do. But also not. We're just taking it one day at a time and figure we'll get it all done when it needs to be done. Or not. Whichever.

11 & 12/52

Cayden: The red of his boots contrasting against this clover patch was just too much.
Sawyer: This is what happens when we tell him he has to watch brother's soccer game. He wants to play so badly.




Cayden: His allowance was burning a hole in his pocket. When he saw these new superhero toys on TV, he knew what he wanted.
Sawyer: Saturday evening ice cream treat from the ice cream truck. Complete with golf club and bike helmet. Duh.

a rare thing these days.

This one taking a nap is totally a rare thing these days. He wasn't feeling so hot over the weekend – just a little cold that popped up and disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Jeremy had taken the boys to a Jeep get-together and on the ride home, both of our little ones passed out. Sawyer did not make the transfer and was ready to play once he got home, but Cayden, once placed on the couch, stayed asleep for another 30-45 minutes. It's not a sight we see very often anymore, and he just looked so peaceful that I had to snap a quick shot. He's no longer a baby (we pre-register him for kinder next week!), but seeing him still so attached to his puppy and blanket gives us small glimpses of how little he still is. These little moments make all the wild – and sometimes out-of-control – ones all worth it.

40 bags in 40 days: week 1

Perhaps you've seen the prompts floating around the interwebs somewhere lately about cleaning out forty spaces in your home over the forty days of lent? And perhaps this is the first time you're hearing about it. Either way, I heard about it and was like, "Heck yeah I'm going to do that!" It was the prompt I needed to get some clutter out of the house and get things in order (hopefully) before Graham gets here.

So, while I didn't exactly get a whole week's worth done this first week, we did start cleaning out our house. I started easy with my bathroom cabinet. Y'all, I had sunscreen buried in there that had expired in 2011. Most everything in this cabinet went in the trash.

The nursery was our first pass through at cleaning out before we can get in there and paint. It was almost fun because a lot of things in there were the boys' things, so we made a game out of it with them. We also packed a rather large box full of things to donate. And this room is definitely on our list for a couple more passthroughs for sure.

The last place I hit up this month was our linen closet (and part of the second closet in our bathroom, which I should be able to share next week). I'm almost ashamed to admit that we were apparently hoarders of sheets and towels. No lie, I packed up probably six sets of sheets to donate and at least 20 towels. I did a little research before getting rid of things, and most people suggested two sets of sheets – one for on the bed, and a spare for when the others are in the wash. Um, duh. And same for towels. Have one set in use (per person) and another ready to go in the closet. This makes all the sense in the world, but it was above my head before I started. Anyway, three garbage bags to donate from this closet. And there are still a few things to add back in here, but that will happen as other places get their day in the spotlight.

While I'm excited to continue and see what else we can de-clutter, there's the real part of life and being seven months pregnant and exhausted at the end of the day. So... this project may take a little longer than the allotted forty days. But we're going for it!

10/52

a photo of our kiddos once a week for a year

Cayden: Loving the new easel that Nana picked up at Ikea. And also, wearing lots of color.
Sawyer: Playing on the bench at brother's soccer practice.

9/52

a photo of our kiddos once a week for a year

Cayden: It still kills me that this one ended up with bright blue eyes. Love how these little things happen.
Sawyer: Tippy-toeing to see out the window. Never mind that he could see out the window BELOW the bar too.