Elefun with my friends!

Dominic, Jackson, Patrick, & Grady.  Baby Leo isn't quite ready for the Elefun craziness!  :)

Almost 37 weeks!

Gradyn giving "Sister" a hug! 

We attempted at some kiss pictures, but Paul was not quite fast enough to catch it!

As soon as he saw me pull my shirt up for some pictures he had to show his belly too and wanted a picture of it!

I will be 37 weeks on Sunday! 

10 more days of school! 

17 more days until the c-section is scheduled! (April 5th)

We are definately in countdown mode! 

In some ways the pregnancy has gone fast, but in others it has been slow.  I think since after Christmas it has gone fast, but I have also felt really good since Christmas so that helps a lot! Before Christmas I was still having lots of morning sickness all day long. 

I think we are pretty much ready for this little girl's arrival!  Her bag is packed for the hospital, room is ready, and supplies ready to go!  Hopefully I am remembering everything a baby needs.  It has only been 2 years, but it seems so long ago when we were doing newborn stuff! 

My doctor's appointments have been good!  No problems!  I go every week now.  Last week he wanted to start watching my blood pressure because my bottom number is usually in the 80's, which isn't high but he still said he wants to watch it.  But, this week it was 82 and he said it was fine and didn't act concerned.  So, who knows!  :) 

The heartbeat has always been perfect (130 this week).  I'm measuring perfect every time (a tad small if anything).  And everything else looks good!  Much more uneventful than with Gradyn!  He had already been delivered by this point and had caused lots of problems before and after his birth.  I'm hoping that this is a sign this baby will be much more well behaved than he is!  :)

I think we have a name picked out.  Well, maybe.  Paul says he is for sure on it, but I go back and forth!  I just can't decide, it's a lot of pressure!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Oh Chuck E Cheese.....

We took Isaac, Grady, & Luke to Chuck E Cheese to play on Saturday afternoon.  (Paul, Andy, Cassie, Ron, Doris, and I)  It was NOT near as cool as I remember it from when I was a kid.  I'm not sure if that is because I was a kid and everything was cool, or if it is because it is just not near as good of set up as it used to be.  And, the boys were a little young for most of the games, it will be good for them in a few years.  If I work up the nerve to go back that is! Basically the only thing that was good about it was that the boys got to play and run off some energy since we would be sitting at a basketball game the rest of the day. 

The "show" part of it is part of 1 big open room that has the games and everything.  When I was little that part was separate and much more entertaining. The worst part was it was just so packed and I swear 200 degrees in there!  I think my big pregnant body was just not in any condition to handle those circumstances.  I should have planned better.  I am not able to stand up and walk around very well anymore, for long periods of time especially so it was too hard for me to be able to follow Gradyn around and do stuff.  Not to mention how hot it already was and I have been so hot this entire pregnancy.  So, I had to take a lot of sitting breaks by myself and finally just went outside to get some cool air and sit in the car.  However, I think Gradyn seemed to enjoy it as much as he could.  He doesn't like loud, busy places and always gets really grumpy so he was in a daze for a lot of it.  But, it was something a little more active for the boys to do.  Luke pretty much hated it after the first 15 minutes when Chuck E Cheese (the mouse) came up to talk to him.  He was scared to death the rest of the time and kept saying "I don't like that mouse" and crying.  Poor guy!  It seemed like Isaac had a good time from what I could tell! 

Here are a few pics:

Fun with Madison!

I think this bathtub picture is my favorite ever of Madison & Gradyn!  Last time they took a bath together Gradyn did not enjoy it at all.  This time he loved it and they were both excited to take a bath! 

They also got to play outside for a little bit!

Weee!  Madison was pretty trusting to let Gradyn push her! 

Snack time with Apple Jacks!  Yum!

  I think Gradyn had 3 bowls to Madison's 1.  His method is to shove his mouth as full as possible and keep it full until his plate is gone.  That is why he still throws up his food 3-4 times a week!  He is so impatient!  We are really working on chewing and not allowing him to get more until he is ready, which causes a lot of tantrums.  Maybe by the time he is 3 he will be able to eat normally... 

Lincoln Children's Museum

This weekend we got to take Gradyn to the Lincoln Children's Museum.  I had been there with him last summer so it was cool to see how his play has changed since then and the different things he can do now.  Last summer he pretty much went through and destroyed everything!  He would walk into a room and start throwing it off the shelves, etc.  This time he was able to actually play very well with everything.  He is really good at pretend play, plus he loves to get on all of the vehicles they had and act like he is driving.  He also LOVES the "ground squirrel" area where he can climb in and out of holes, go through tunnels, etc.  It was a really fun morning!

Oh, he was also obsessed with the water area.  He loves water wherever he can find it!  We had to drag him away from there because he was soaked. 

The Little Fish

We have taken Gradyn to the Rec Center swimming a couple times this winter.  He loved the water so much last summer that I thought we would take him more, but with my feeling sick for 3/4 of the pregnancy and with Paul hating anything to do with water, we have only made it 2 times.  He was a little scared the first time, he must have forgotten what it was like from the summer AND it was Girl Scout day at the pool so it was very packed and very noisy which I think scared him too.  By the end of that visit he did warm up and liked it, but he still wanted to grip Paul and I really hard.  We actually left that day in a screaming tantrum because he wanted to go down the slide so bad, which he is not near old enough for!  You can see in the picture below how it is a huge tornado/tunnel slide....  He was obsessed with it and we literally left the pool/parking lot with him kicking and screaming.  Nice, huh?  :) 

BUT, the 2nd time we went he LOVED it from the start!  Even at home when we told him we were going to go swimming he was running around screaming "Daddy we're going swimming!"  "Come on Daddy!"  (Can you tell who is slow moving about going to the pool?????)

This time he jumped right in the water and was so excited the whole time. He couldn't decide if he wanted to be in the big pool or little pool and kept wanting to go back and forth.  He also did quite a few of the "moves" he learned in swimming lessons last summer and was like a pro again. We need to try to go back again in these next few weeks before the baby comes.  Because, trust me, it will probably be awhile after the baby comes before you see me in a swimming suit again....  :)  haha! 

Oh, and this time he didn't even hardly notice the slide, mostly because there weren't any other kids going down it for him to be jealous of.  We didn't have to leave in a tantrum!  He was actually super pumped up when we left because he got to shower at the rec center too, which is another of his favorites.  He thinks it is pretty awesome to have 4 or 5 different showers on at once spraying at you. 

Aunt Ashley was also there to play!

He was "skiing" on her legs and loved it! 

"I'm skiing!!"

He kept going back and forth between the big pool where Ashley was  and little pool where I was. 

And, see the huge slide in the background that he was so obsessed with?  I guarantee even if he was big enough to go down it he would get to the top and freak out, which is what he does at the park.  He is such a chicken!

Swimming!  He is getting really good at kicking and using his arms at the same time!

This is where I spent most of the time, waiting for him to come back to the baby pool area and splash around.

No, I don't think this is a glamorous shot, but it is the most recent pic of the baby belly so I thought I should post it.  Ignore everything else please.  :)

Dr. Seuss Birthday

It was Dr. Seuss's birthday yesterday so we celebrated at school with lots of fun activities!  The kindergarten classes dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2! 

3rd grade students came to read Dr. Seuss stories to the kindergartener's! 

We also did several different activities in our classroom, had green eggs and ham for breakfast, had an ice cream party with the whole elementary and also did Jr. Jazzercize for fun in the afternoon! 



Our "preschooler"

When Grady turned 2 our weekly email updates started saying "your preschooler".  I was so sad when I saw this because I didn't think a 2 year old is considered a preschooler already!  Aren't they still toddlers????  They grow up fast enough already! 

However, since he has turned 2 I can really see how he could be considered a "preschooler".  First of all, he is SO LUCKY to go to such a an awesome daycare!  They do some sort of project every day where he is learning so much!  They cut, glue, color, make crafts, use markers, paint, bake, etc. I was shocked when she told me she had him use glue to make a Dr. Seuss hat this week!  She said she drew a line on the paper and told him to follow it with the glue and he did  really well to glue on the stripes on his hat!  I have NOT been brave enought to try projects like that at home, let alone use glue!  They have also been working on using scissors to cut small lines and strengthen their hands.  I LOVE that they do all of those things! 

Like I have said before Grady is obsessed with songs and sings all the time.  He can probably sing 10 or more songs from start to finish and knows most of a lot of others.  He pretty much never shuts up.  It is so fun now to hear him walk/run around singing his songs, or when he doesn't even realize he is doing it when he is playing. 

AND FINALLY, his newest accomplishments that he loves to tell us all the time are:
  He can count to 11 and He can say the whole Alphabet by himself!!! 
Oh, and he also knows the letter G and can write it himself (not perfect looking of course)!!
And, he official knows the colors:  Blue, Yellow, Red, and Orange.  For everything else he always says Yellow.  I guess it is really fun to say! 

So, I guess using the phrase "preschooler" for him is more fitting than I thought.  Next step:  Working on recognizing more letters!