It’s been over a month since I have given birth so I thought I would share our baby’s birth story part 1.
The Saturday before I went into labor I was feeling uncomfortable. I knew the baby was low, but I wasn’t having any contractions. However, it was the same kind of feeling I had when I went into labor with my last baby so I was a little nervous. There was a lot of pressure, but no contractions. However, that uncomfortable feeling stopped.
I did message our babysitter to keep her updated on our situation. Our number one babysitter on call is wonderful. I have called her for doctor appointments and she is wonderful with our kids. I had been stressed trying to find other options of babysitters in case she couldn’t make it. Moving to a new place and not knowing anyone is hard; especially when it comes to matters like this. So we were happy that she could help us. But we felt like we needed at least one more person. We were happy and relieved that my husband’s mom could come out and help us. However, we were praying that baby would wait until after she came. She came in on that Sunday night. I went into labor later Monday afternoon.
I had my 38 week doctor’s appointment and the doctor asked if I wanted to see if I was dilated. I knew that if she checked me I would go into labor; as that is what happened with my first baby. After the doctor left so that I could get ready for the exam I thought to myself, “Am I ready to have a baby this week?” I felt comfortable and confident that I was ready. I had been preparing stuff and getting ready for the baby for a few weeks now because in my heart I knew that baby was coming early.
As the birth of our third child comes closer and closer, I have been doing lots of nesting. Trying to get things organized, hospital bag ready, and notes prepared for babysitters.
My body is feeling the aches and uncomfortableness of being in the third trimester. As we are pretty sure that this will be our last baby, I am trying to soak in the last few moments of being pregnant.
However, I will be glad when this part is over. Being pregnant with two young kids is a challenge. I feel like a cranky mom all the time, but I try to remind myself that our kids know that something is happening soon. They are being told the baby is coming soon, but they don’t fully understand it as much as we would like to think they do. So that is part of the reason they are acting up or being more clinging and whiny.
I need to work on having more patience with them. I do this by sitting down with them, cuddling them, or playing with them. Sometimes I want to do other things, but I know they need lots of attention and love, especially right now.
I am getting all the nerves from thinking of giving birth soon. I have never given birth in the same hospital and this birth is no exception. So I don’t know what to expect. Our experience with the doctors and health care system here has unfortunately not been the greatest. So I am worried about what to expect at the hospital. But I am trying not to worry about it and just go with the flow of things.
I had a fetal assessment last week to see how big the baby was. As my other two babies have been a bit bigger for me. So far baby looks good and healthy and they will probably not have to induce me with this one. Maybe soon I will share the birth stories of my other two kids.
We are excited to meet our little bundle of joy soon and hope that delivery goes well.
I went on a date night with my husband! It has been two years since we have been on an official date with no kids AND outside the house. We have had a few date nights at home. Those have been nice, but to go out and feel a bit of freedom was amazing.
We talked about a lot of different things and it was nice to have a conversation with him and not have any distractions. We love our kids and missed them on our date, but it is nice to get a break now and then. Who knows? It will probably be another two years until we can get out again.
My favorite topic that we talked about was when I brought up that I forgot to put back on my wedding rings after making some bread. He said jokingly, “Well that might make some people talk. Here we are on a date, you are pregnant and you don’t have on wedding rings.” We had a good laugh about it. Needless to say, I kept my wedding hand-covered for most of the date. Luckily there were not that many people in the restaurant that afternoon.
I told him later that night that we are different when it comes to going on dates, but not in a bad way. As boyfriend and girlfriend, our dates consisted of turning on our computers and talking with each other by camera. We did that almost every day. Why do you ask? Living in two different countries (which I will talk about in another blog) makes it difficult to go out to restaurants, movies, and other fancy places for dates. Not saying those are bad to do, but for us as a married couple now, I think that our previous dating style has stuck with us. We are ok not going out all the time. We are ok staying home and just talking with each other or playing games because that is what we did when we were dating. It is nice to have a break every once in a while and do something different and fun, but it is also ok with us to just stay home sometimes. Maybe we are boring, but it works for us.
Our son is at the age where he wants to help with lots of things. He is almost three. He has a morning routine where he wants his milk first and then breakfast. Just recently he has been wanting to help pour the milk in the bottle. He will say “I help, I help!” I have been letting him hold his bottle and then put the lid on. It is the cutest thing and I love that he wants to help me.
The other day he saw me starting to make banana bread. Of course, he wanted to help. This felt way out of my comfort zone. I thought of him sneezing into the batter, or licking the batter. I thought of him tipping the bowl and making a mess. But I just saw how desperate he wanted to help mommy so I let him. He did so well! He listened and stopped when I told him to. He stood on the chair very well and didn’t make a mess. Although if he made a mess, I would have survived. I am glad I didn’t let my fears get in the way of my son’s learning and growing.
I look at other three-year-old’s and worry that he is not advanced as they are. But partly that is because all the three-year-old’s that we know have older siblings so they learn from them. Our son is learning from scratch. But just like our banana batter is made from scratch, it is cooked into something wonderful. I know that my son is developing just fine and is growing into something wonderful.
I am in my third trimester now! I can not believe it. We are very excited to meet our bundle of joy soon. We are not finding out the gender so it will be a surprise for everyone!
It was hard at the beginning with feeling nausea all the time. Some days I would turn on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and let the kids watch a few episodes while I would lay on the floor. I have been out of the morning sickness stage for a while now, but some days are STILL hard emotionally. Taking care of two little ones while wanting to take care of me is tough. My husband has been a great support through all of this.
Pregnancy hormones have been tough this round, but hopefully, those emotions will lessen a bit. Despite the hardships of being pregnant, I love feeling the baby move inside me. I can not wait to meet this little one. All of our babies have been blessings and miracles.
In other news, I get to do the lovely glucose test soon. I am crossing my fingers that I will not have gestational diabetes with this pregnancy. I had it with my second one. It was hard to prick my finger at least four times a day, but whatever the results are everything will be ok. All these tests doctors do are to make sure that you and the baby are healthy and get the best care and treatment, so I am grateful for that.
How did I know my husband was the one? Easy! I knew he was the one when he almost got arrested.
It was my second day visiting him. I loved spending time with him and seeing the beautiful surroundings where he lived. That night he was dropping me off at my hotel. We noticed some police cars on the other side of the road doing a check stop. I found out later that he was considering going the other way as he hadn’t yet switched over his car insurance from his hometown to the current city he lived. Buthe wanted to be honest.
I went up to my hotel room. I was considering taking a shower but had a feeling that I shouldn’t. I went and laid on my bed. Ten minutes after the phone rings with a police officer on the other end. He told me that he had my boyfriend outside and that I neededto drive him home. I didn’t hesitate and grabbed my wallet immediately. All I could think of was how worried I was for him. I was thinking of how scared he must be. I wanted to do everything I could to help him. That’s when I knew I wanted to marry him.
It was a scary moment for both of us but an eye-opener in our relationship. We knew we would always be there for each other. I didn’t make fun of his situation or criticize him for not switching over his insurance. I wanted to help him and was glad I could be there for him. We have been through tough times, but no matter what we are always there for each other.
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Kids are fantastic until they get bored. If you are like us, then it is something that seems to happen way too frequently. Didn’t have time to get to the store? We’ve got you covered! Download one of our cute hippo theme sheets to print off at home instead.
With schools, social gatherings and even spring break itself
impacted by the Convid-19 pandemic a lot of parents may suddenly have found
themselves un-expectantly home with some bored children. The turning weather
does provide some relief (but remember social distancing), yet filling every
hour day after day may prove challenging.
Perhaps this short list of activities can help a little. Each is simple, fun and only requires things you should have already in the house, and perhaps some imagination. You will find demonstration videos for some of the ideas, and other at home games on our YouTube channel.
Let’s go!
1. Leaning Tower of Coinage – Coin Stacking Game
You’ll need:
Lots of coins
Oven mitts
Timer
Find a flat surface. Place the
stack of coins in the middle of the surface where everyone can reach it
equally. Each participate will use one
hand and wear an oven mitt. Start the timer and the participates will stack
coins to create a tower. They can only use the oven mitted hand. The person
with the tallest tower after the time is up wins.
2. Enough Horsing Around – Tossing Game
You’ll need:
A bowl
Sorting small to toss. Marshmallows and jelly
beans work best but you can also use coins.
This simple game is played the
same as the basketball game horse. Players take turns tossing the small object
into the bowl via various ‘trick shot’ techniques such as behind the back, eyes
closed, etc. When one player makes a shot, the next (other) player must
duplicate it. If they miss the get an H. The game proceeds until one player has
missed enough shots to spell the word horse.
3.Let’s Hanger Out Together – Pickup Sticks Game but with Hangers
Video demonstration.
4.Sock Games
Video demonstration
5.Marshmallow City – Marshmallow Building Game
You’ll need:
Little Marshmallows
Toothpicks
Timer
Start the timer. Player turn to build the tallest structure possible using only marshmallows and tooth picks. When the time is over the tallest structure wins.
6. Cut Out the Charades – Simplified Charades
You’ll need:
Paper
Hat
Imagination
Write a number of topics on pieces of paper.
Place them in a hat. One player secretly picks out a topic to act out. The
other players try to guess what it is. You can split into teams should you have
enough players. Here are some topic ideas, or you can make up your own:
Fishing
Dog walking
Reading a book
Making pizza
Trampoline
Yoga
Dinosaurs
Grocery Shopping
Feeding a baby
Sleeping beauty
Lion King
Making a snowman
7.Puppet Show
You’ll need:
Puppets which can be made from socks, dolls,
action figures or actual puppets if you have them.
A stage: A blanket draped over two chairs works
great.
Create and perform a story using the puppets. Here are a couple of themes
you could use:
A favorite family vacation
A cow that wants to be a dancer
Cinderella meets the three little pigs, except they mistake her as the big bad wolf
The first kid to land on mars
8. Story-time Theater
You’ll need:
Favorite story, such as if you give a mouse a
cookie, cat in the hat,
Imagination
Read the story and then practice acting it out. Dress up and hold a performance once you have the acting perfected!
9. Parade
You’ll need:
Instruments. Pots, pans, spoons etc.
Costumes, whatever to have around the house
Dress up and parade around the
house or backyard showing off your costumes and musical abilities. Please note:
we are not responsible for any headaches which may result from this idea.
10. Coloring
Self-explanatory, however we will be posting some free downloadable coloring sheets soon.