30 weeks with our 4th boy

I hit 30.5 weeks. This pregnancy has gone by so fast. A few more aches and pains of which I attribute to 4th pregnancy and the fact I didn't have time to get back in a little bit of shape before conceiving again. But it could always be worse. Doctor says I'm carrying low which had me thinking...what would it feel like to carry high? I mean...I'm 5 foot nothing...baby really has nowhere to go. I can tell you that my shirts don't cover the bottom of my belly though. Again, I attribute that to being my 4th pregnancy and I have absolutely no muscle tone. :)

Just to catch up on pictures....the one below is me at 26 weeks.

And then today at 30.5 weeks.

My oldest brother and his wife (Rob and Meg) welcomed Greysen Rhys to the world on the 28th of December! He's such a cutie. Reminds me of what Avery looked like when she was born. Next up, Molly is due early February of 2013!! Babies are EVERYWHERE!! I have so many friends (and acquaintances) who are pregnant and giving birth. I swear they're all due before me too. Ha! You'd think with 3 little ones already running around...I'd want to drag it out as much as possible but we are all excited.

Ryan has one and a half classes left of school and he'll be done with his bachelor's degree!!! I can't tell you how proud I am that he has stuck through this one and is finally going to be done. I assure you, he can't wait. He has 3 weeks left in this class once they get back from break and then he has a 2 week class. He'll be done with his bachelor's before I give birth!! Assuming he sticks with the plan.

He WILL stick with the plan.

Charley turns 4 years old in 3 weeks. He is growing so fast and he is a fantastic big brother...as long as he gets what he wants...bwahahaha. He's not that bad but we are constantly learning about sharing and it'll only be more pressed into his brain once Myles gets to the same playing age. Charley loves to help cook. Grandma and Grandpa Norbryhn got Izyk and Charley a kitchen for Christmas. They play with it ALL THE TIME. If I am sitting at the table, they make me coffee and a sandwich.

Izyk is a huge lovebug. Huge, huge, huge. He's doing fantastic with his pottying. My only complaint is, when he uses the portable potties, he tries to clean them out himself and ends

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Our first Christmas Tree of 2012

This story is slightly traumatizing...for me. The last thing you want to find at 6am is a billion baby spiders invading your living room. That's what I found on a Friday morning. I was getting my shoes on for work. I saw like a black cloud looking thing that extended from the tree to our living room drapes. This was also the first night that Ryan had forgotten to lower the heat before coming to bed. So it was springtime weather in our living room!! Which marked baby spider births! Yay for nature! Boo for nature in my living room. So I grabbed the Raid and coated everything in sight and then...I left for work. I contemplated waking hubby up to have him help me but decided to be nice. Plus, that's not how I would like to be woken up. Who would?

Hey! We have a billion baby spider carcasses in our living room aaaaannnnndddd I am leaving for work. Have a nice day.

So I broke the news to him when called at his usual morning time. Baby spiders were everywhere. There was this curtain of web with dead baby spiders hanging in it going from the tree to the drapes. It was creepy.

It took us three days to get enough nerve up to strip the tree, drapes, and vacuum everything. I felt so much better after the tree was out of our house. We then ran to Lowe's to see if there were any trees left. They had a couple little ones and we found one and got it for like 10 bucks. Score!

Izyk James

I had to get these two stories out before I forgot them and they both involve Izyk and potty incidence/non-incidence.

In the beginning it was a little difficult to get Izyk to stay seated on the toilet while he was having a BM. One Saturday evening, I was cooking dinner and I hear this shriek coming from the bathroom. Izyk emerges with this look of panic and he was saying "Get off! Get it off!! Get off!" He was almost in tears. I thought he had a bug on him or something. There was some brown mass on his leg. It took me a minute to realize that it was a piece of poop that had gotten on his leg. He probably stood up before he was done and it landed on his calf. I was laughing so hard.

Second story: we drove to a Christmas tree plantation to pick out a tree. It took us forever to get out of the house so I was concerned about everyone's attitudes but we persevered. We got there, Ryan went to sign in and I got all the kids out. We picked out the kind of tree that we wanted and the dude there pointed us in the direction of where those were planted. He said we could drive if we wanted. I decided we didn't need to because it was nice day and we could wear the boys out. Not two seconds after we arrived at the area, Izyk pipes up that he has to "poop" and Ryan immediately looked at me and said "What did he just say?" I said that he needed to poop. We were about a quarter mile from the "base" where they had a porta-potty. Ryan hands me the hacksaw and 8 foot measuring stick and starts the walk back with the 2 year old in tow. I had to convince my 3.5 year old that he did not, in fact, NEED the hacksaw and we had to wait until Dad and Izyk returned. I had contemplated cutting down a tree while they were gone because 1) I was impatient and 2) I was trying to keep Charley's attention. I can't run as fast being 6 months pregnant with a 20 pound, 9 month old on my back. I spot Ryan on his way back and he just had this look. I had to ask, "Did he go?" He responds with, "NOOOOOO, he farted...twice ..." I laughed. Apparently, he is still in the stage where differentiating between gas and an actual BM is difficult. On a positive note, we aren't having to change a toddler's messy diapers.

Progress

The excerpt below is from October 24th. Needless to say, I've been a little busy and have been *FULL FORCE* slacking on blogging but not because I don't need to or don't want to. It's been a whirlwind couple of months but I suppose that is to be expected with a house full of toddler boys and a very pregnant, tired Mama.

I'm not complaining. Just explaining. :)

"First, bragging time...Izyk...I can now consider daytime potty trained. I am just so proud of the little guy. I honestly thought it was going to take him a bit longer to catch on. He's had a few accidents but not as many as I had prepared myself for. He was resistant to the gung-ho version of potty training that we used on Charley. After that initial attempt, I had to prepare myself with the fact that this may take right up until baby #4 is due. Everyday I came home from work, I would strip him down to nothing. This worked fine with the urinating part of potty training but this kid is pretty consistent with his BMs."

Currently, my two year old is doing WONDERFULLY at daytime pottying. I underestimated this kid. Go figure. I still have it in my head that it is impossible to get a two year old boy to relieve himself in one place.

Charley is talking up a storm. He and Izyk play and wrestle and fight and do everything little boys do. I have come to the conclusion that if my house is standing at day's end, it's a good day. Both kids eat like they are black holes. It's amazing to see how much food they put away. I can't wait until they get older. *Ah-hem*

Myles Fletcher. He is standing and "cruising" all over the place. He eats and chews like a pro. He skipped pureed foods which has been amazing for me. At the very beginning of eating, he choked a few times but since then...I honestly did not think it would be this easy. He eats like he's never going to eat again. He has a total of 6 teeth and 2 more are popping in on the bottom. He LOVES to put things in his mouth. He adores his brothers and he still continues to sleep like a champ. He sleeps better than the older two. Izyk gets "growing pains" at night if he is active a lot during the day. It only lasted a spell but it was like a month long spell. We never had this with Charley but Ryan said he seems to remember going through the same thing, albeit when he was older but still remembers the pain. Awesome.

Izyk calls Charley, "Chewy" and he says "I love you" like "I weeee-uuuuu." I have kept messages on my work phone with Charley and Izyk saying they miss me and love me. When I have a bad day, I play those messages over and over and over. The rainbow comes out and I'm all better for the moment.

Charley and Izyk are constantly pretending to cook and bake. I love that they have an interest in cooking. I try to let them help me with meals and baking as often as I can.

Pregoness. I am currently 25 weeks along. This pregnancy has FLOWN BY. I'm sure the preoccupation of MY LIFE aids in that feeling. Again...I'm not complaining. I can not wait to meet this new little guy. I have a MILLION friends/acquaintances that are pregnant (well...not a MILLION but like 30 which is close enough) and they are all due before me. HA! So here I am getting all jealous that people are having their babies. Lame, I know but whatever. This new addition does not have a name. I'm not sure if we are ever going to agree on one. Boy names are getting sort of hard in this Nichols household. We still have three months to go before we really need to start worrying.

I had to put Charley's photo bomb in here...what a nerd! I was 21 weeks in that picture sooooooo, yeah....I am a little behind. :)

Happy Thanksgiving too, by the way. We spent the day at home and I spent the morning cooking. I love cooking and baking especially when I don't have 4 little hands wanting to get up all in my grill while I'm trying to accomplish our Thanksgiving meal. The only thing I did not cook was the turkey. We had a chill day and the weather was fantastic.

Potty training update

Izyk is doing so well for part time potty training. My only goal is daytime potty training before #4 gets here so we have plenty of time. When I get home, I strip him and he has not had an accident for a week during that time. He urinates on the toilet like champ. He has his BM in the morning and I miss it or he poops on the floor because I am busy nursing/feeding Myles.

Go figure.

If I could get the hubby home for a good weekend, I'm pretty sure we could nail it but I'm not stressing it. I have to keep reminding myself he is only two and with Charley, we had more time to focus on him. All in all, he's doing fabulously in my book. Even when he has a BM, he tells us by saying "poop" and running up to the bathroom and taking off his pants.

Myles is still on 95% breast milk and formula. He eats the puffs and chunks of fruits and veggies on occasion but nothing exciting. He chews like he's been eating for years. Hopefully, we can skip the puréed foods and go straight to pieces.

Thumbs up.

Less effort for this Mama.

Myles is army crawling everywhere and rocking on all fours often. He's finally gained weight and is in 6 month clothing. He's filling out.


Pregnancy is going smoothly and uneventful. My 20 week big ultrasound is this Thursday and I'm excited to see our little one again. I can't believe I am already half way through this pregnancy. I feel huge but I haven't gained significantly.

I don't have any fun pictures to post because I'm doing this on the iPad and I don't think I can post pictures on here...but I promise the next post will be full of boyness!!

Boys continued...

So far at every appointment, the doctor has trouble getting this baby's heartbeat on the Doppler. And by "trouble" I mean...we couldn't hear it at all...again...so I went off for an ultrasound.

Oooooohhhhhh DARN.

This last time, we...IIIIII (because Ryan was not with me) saw the gender.

And yes I resemble a baby hippo...

Our little peanut is a BOY!!

Izyk and stubbornness

This boy... My second born. Stubborn beyond anything. If he doesn't want to do something, he won't do it. First day of potty training...it didn't go as well as I had hoped but it's a starting point. We had three potty uses and only because I caught him trying NOT to go in his underwear. We played outside all day so cleanup was negligible. Lots of apple juice/water which equals lots of pee. We are trying the treat method which doesn't seem to be working as well as it did for Charley so we may switch to another method or complement with an additional one. We buzzed his big, ole, perfectly round head. He is talking a lot more and he has warmed up to Myles a lot more. Charley is...Charley. Full of energy and swears he's never tired but naps 2 hours during the day. Loves playing with scissors. He's cut a couple holes in our down comforter, a set of sheets, and the power cord to his monitor. We've purchased a kiddy pair so during activity time he can cut up all the paper he wants to and get it out of his system. Seems to be working. Myles is growing and filling out. He's crawling...army crawling everywhere. His hair is still super long. We have not started solids yet. Mainly because we don't have all the pieces to the high chair...haha...he's also not quite ready but he will get there. I'm still breastfeeding him and supplementing with formula. He loves playing with his brothers. He still loves cuddling and being carried. I am 16 weeks along. This pregnancy is going by rather quickly. I'm nauseous every now and then. I believe it's dependent on what I eat and how much water I have drank throughout the day which is never enough.

What is this weird sound?

The kids are all napping and I try to think back before we had Charley. What did our house sound like? Was it like this? I most certainly don't remember having toys and kiddo stuff covering every inch of our floor. Regardless, I'm using the nap time to half blog and the other half I will nap. I will have a new niece and a new nephew come January 2013. SO EXCITED. I'm at the 13 week mark and finally took a picture of the growing belly. Everyone keeps asking us if we are going to find out what the gender is and the answer is a big, fat yes. BUT there is a reason behind it and it is not just because I don't like surprises. The last two births I had to be knocked out. I do not want to be the last to know what my baby is. That just wouldn't be fair. I'm already a total wreck when I wake up in recovery...top that with not finding out until an hour or so later...not so much. VERY slowly coming out of the nausea phase. The pukey window is now like 4 or 5 hours instead of the entire night. This doesn't mean that my house is in any better shape and I'm okay with that...still.

Yesterday was a traumatic day. My car "broke" down on my way to work. Thankfully, I was just at the gas station down the street BUT we all know how anti-social/selective social I am...couple that with prego hormones and a husband that doesn't answer his phone at 6:45am...ah-hem. It was ridiculous. I didn't really gather myself until AAA showed up. IN FACT, I didn't even think to call AAA until Hubs finally answered his phone after the 5th call. "Why don't you call AAA?" "Oh...that's actually a good idea." Proceeded by half a million people asking me if I need help. *gulp* After getting the car home...my "backup" had a flat (nail in the tire) and it had been sitting so long that it was dead. So, I gave up on going in to work as my loving husband worked his buns off to get both cars in functional condition. He also did a few other errands that we really needed done, including dropping Maya off at the vet to get her annual. I had to go get her at 5pm (after Ryan left for work AND he took the small car). I had to pick her up in the Suburban, which wouldn't have been so bad if: A) The back wasn't full of bikes, toys, tools, and a 500lb play yard that I had to clean out, and B) she was able to jump the 4.5 feet up into the back trunk area. Me, standing 5 foot tall, and my 13 week pregnant body lifted a 60lb dog while the vast majority of other folks were wandering around with their mini chihuahuas on leashes and staring at me. "It's cool, people. Got it all under control." Don't ask me about getting out of the mini parking lot either. People sitting in their little BMW's waving me on to somehow squeeze by them. I ended up taking out a couple of curbs but I didn't care...I just wanted to get home. I will be glad when this day is over so I can spend time (a whole couple of days...bitter much?) with my ENTIRE family...Hubs included since he's been working for the past three days and I've seen him a total of 5 minutes and yes, I'm mad at him for working and I tell him everyday so he doesn't forget. There's my drama for the labor day weekend.

Hard to swallow

Myles had his 6 month checkup and he grew one inch and lost two pounds which means...yes, my milk supply took a nose dive. The weekend prior to his appointment I had tried to count wet diapers but it was really hard to tell with the disposables. I used cloth the next day and he had maybe 2 or 3 barely wet diapers. I fah-reaked. I have a freezer stash that I built up in the beginning. That will last a good month and that's supplementing everyday,every feeding. So sad. I had the hardest time accepting this. Myles is less lethargic and he dropped the 9:30pm feeding cold turkey and that's been really helpful. He is a lot more active. He still sleeps a lot...it's amazing. Ryan started working more. I was hoping he could wait until I was done being sick but oh well. So we are at that hit or miss place. I see him a couple hours on weekends before he heads off to work. Ryan has 4 more classes left of school. I feel like school will never end for him...lol! So I am 11 weeks along and I haven't even taken a prego picture. I was on top of it with previous ones. This time around...I got bigger faster and I blame that on the fact I didn't lose the little bit of baby fat from Myles. Maybe I will take one this week. My sister-in-law, Molly, is due February 30th! Being pregnant with her and Meg would be infinitely more fun if we were all at least in the same state. Some really good friends of ours left on Saturday and moving to Seattle. We are going to miss them terribly. Every Friday, Charley talks about how Bill is coming over for pizza. Haha! I'm sure we will see them again soon and hope the transition to Seattle is smooth for them.

Lovely hot summer

So it has been SUUUUUPER hot and for days on end. I find myself looking for clouds, shade...SOMETHING. Aaaaahhh, the south. Myles is doing fabulously. He's growing at the same rate as Charley. I still can't believe how well he sleeps. He is a doll and content. He loves when his brothers talk to him. Charley finished swim lessons. It took 2 days to convince him to get into the water. He did enjoy swimming a lot. So I have been AWOL lately but for very good reason. Sick as a dog and trying to adjust to the surprise/news. TA-DA!

Not sure how it happened...no, I KNOW how it happened, we just didn't really think it would since the last few were naturally spaced 18 months apart. We are excited and thrilled. I have a few more feelings than just those; to include confused, nervous, slightly panicked. They will be 13 months apart. *gulp* Buuuuuuut, it's all good. Due date is 10th of March. My doctor likes to section somewhere between 1 and 2 weeks early. We will try for closer to the 1 week mark just because...you know, the more days between Myles's birthday and this one, the better. Lol! Potty training has been on the back burner. Izyk is willing to sit on the potty, he just hasn't made the connection between going and being on the potty. I'm not pushing it due to the lack of energy. Myles is still exclusively breeastfed. He is not quite ready for solids. I have been panicking the last month because I have read that your milk supply will get zapped due to hormones. So I'm always worried that he's not getting enough. Couple that with the fact that he is WAY smaller and skinnier than the other two. He is 6 months old and 3 month clothing is baggy on him. But he is a happy, thumb sucking little boy. Rolling all over the place. He loves being cuddled and rocked. I'll tell you what, between the Breastfeeding, growing a human, and working full time, and waking up at 4:30am to do it...really takes a lot out of a person. I do the bare minimum which is why my house is more of a wreck than usual.

It's worthy to mention my middle child is now 2 years old. This little guy is a tank. He loves kisses and hugs and hates to be bothered when he's playing. He's growing up so fast. He loves to help when I cook or bake. Happy second birthday Izyk James! We love you!