Finding Out the Gender of Our Baby

Samantha: 71 Months, Week 3

Aedan: 36 Months, Week 1

May 2nd was a day I was looking forward to for quite some time, as it was my scheduled ultrasound. I was 20 weeks the Saturday before, so we were now able to find out the gender of our baby. My appointment was at 11:30, and I had to drink 32 ounces of water an hour before my ultrasound. I couldn't stop thinking about my appointment all that morning. I was so excited to see the little one that I could feel moving and kicking around in my tummy. I couldn't wait to see whether we were going to have a boy or a girl. I really had no inclination either way, and especially since we already have one of each, I did not have a preference. Samantha wanted to come to the appointment as well, so Ben and Aedan came to pick up both of us at school for the appointment.  She had been talking about the appointment for awhile, and everyone at school knew that we were going to be finding out the gender of the baby that day. My ultrasound was actually at the radiology department in the hospital and not with Dr. Amo, but it went really well. Everything looked great, the baby measured right where it should be for a due date of September 17th, the baby was moving around a lot even during the ultrasound, and she weighed the baby at 0.8 pounds. Once she got all the measurements, we checked to see the gender and I could tell by looking even before she told us: very clear little boy parts. WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER LITTLE BOY! Of course, I would have been excited either way, but Ben and I just looked at each other and smiled. I still am amazed that God created a life within my womb, when I thought it may not ever happen again. It's also kind of ironic because awhile back Samantha had a dream that I had a little boy in my tummy and when he came out he had yellow spiky hair, so she always wondered if God gave her that dream or not. Maybe her dream will come true! We will have to see what this little guy looks like after he is born. I also think it's nice because now Aedan will have someone to play with some day as well. It would have been harder for Samantha and this baby to play together since they will be 6 1/2 years apart. He was right up with his face in the lining of my uterus, so we weren't able to get any full face shots, but we got lot of good profile pictures. I will look forward to seeing this little guy face to face come September. Until then, I will hold these pictures close and cherish every time I feel him move. I can't wait for him to join our family. :)

Aedan also had his three year check-up on Tuesday morning. His height was measured at 3 feet, 2 inches, and his weight was 34 pounds, 8 ounces. Everything checked out well. He is developing beyond where he should be at this age, knows plenty of words, and Dr. Newhouse was pleased with him. Ben was sure to ask about the small bumps Aedan had on his left foot. She said that it was a viral illness called Molluscum Contagiosum that should just go away in its own in time.

That night after the kids were in bed, we got some cute pictures of Izzy playing with her toy basket. She even sat in the tiny basket and chewed on toys for a little while. It was cute to see her try to fit her body in the basket.

Wednesday was a crazy day at school, and I think I just resigned myself to the fact that the kids are going to be crazy for the rest of the year. I got mulch thrown at me and then I was told to shut up. I just have to go into each day knowing it will test my patience, and my time of working full time is nearly coming to an end. However, I was looking forward to that evening because we had plans for a couple to come over to watch our kids for us, providing us respite care, so Ben and I could go out to eat to celebrate his birthday. We decided to head over to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario for dinner so we could try out the barbecue restaurant again. I was sure to make a reservation, and I asked to be sure they had brisket since I knew that is what Ben would like. It was nice to have an evening kid-free, to be able to enjoy a dinner out together, and to get back in time for bed time. We were glad to be able to celebrate Ben's birthday, even in this small way.

Ben had some meetings and other work he wanted to get done on Thursday, so we asked Miss Lisa if she could watch Aedan for the day for us. He was excited to see her and his old friends again, and Ben was grateful to have another day to himself. Here are a couple pictures he took of Izzy that afternoon when he went home to take her out at lunch time. She's a cute, fun little dog, and even though she can be a lot of work sometimes since she's a puppy, we are really enjoying having her a part of our family.

Samantha comes home with some pretty interesting work from school sometimes. They have been working on persuasive writing during Writer's Workshop, and here is a letter she brought home from school. I will translate it for you. It says, "Dear Uncle Timmy, Please give me a American doll for Christmas because I really like it! It's 500 dollars. And I would take very very very good care of it!" We thought the letter was so cute and so funny, that Ben took a picture of it to send to Uncle Timmy, not because we wanted him to feel pressured to buy Samantha an American Girl doll, but because we thought he would find the letter interesting. I also have to remember that Samantha is only in kindergarten and this is pretty good writing for a kindergartner. You can tell that she is thinking through what she wants to say and is trying to sound words out. She even uses exclamation points. Kindergarten has come a long way from where it used to be. They do a lot more work, and it's amazing that they can get this kind of writing from kids in their first year of school. Samantha really seems to enjoy writing and will often write letters and signs at home. I love seeing her skills expand and grow.

It was going to be a beautiful day on Friday, so Ben decided to take Aedan down to Mackinaw City to visit Fort Michilimackinac. We had never been there before, and Ben was excited to check it out. He was also able to buy a state park pass for our vehicle so now we can get into the many state parks in Michigan with our pass. This fort had just opened up for the season, so there weren't many people there, but Aedan still had a fun time exploring and spending time outside in the sunshine. Ben said Aedan had a lot of questions about what he was seeing. They got to visit a lighthouse, too. It's so nice that spring is finally here, and we can enjoy more time outdoors. We will definitely have to make a family trip here sometime.

As it was getting closer to lunchtime, Aedan was getting tired, so Ben decided to stop at McDonald's with Aedan before heading back home. Once back in the car and on the way home, Aedan fell asleep right away in the car. He had woken up early that morning and was definitely ready for a nap. Luckily, Ben put him back down when they got home and he went back to sleep, getting a good nap in and giving Ben some time to work on his online summer class. It's nice that Aedan still naps really well for us most days so that Ben at least has some time of a break in the afternoons to do work.

Samantha wasn't acting like she was feeling very well on Friday morning, so I tried to keep my eye on her throughout the school day. I asked her how she was doing at lunch, and she said she was feeling fine and was acting normal. I was glad that it was a Friday and we would have some time to rest and relax at home that weekend, with no really big plans to go and do anything. By the end of the day Samantha really wasn't feeling well. I could tell she was not herself when she walked into my classroom at the end of the day. In fact, Mr. McBride successfully sneaked up on her and surprised her so much that she got upset and started crying. Then, he felt really bad for making her so upset. When we got home after school, Samantha was talking about feeling cold, so I took her temperature and she had a slight fever. She spent much of the rest of the evening sitting in her bed under the covers looking at books or participating in quiet activities. She wasn't much interested in playing with the boys.

On Saturday we didn't have too many plans other than hanging out at home. Samantha wasn't feeling all that great on Friday afternoon. I had made plans to take Izzy to play with one of her sisters from another litter that morning so that way she had the chance to interact with another dog and get some energy out playing and running around. This dog was 8 months old and full grown, around 25 pounds. At first Izzy was pretty nervous when meeting the dog, but once we got into the field area, and she could be off her leash, it didn't take her too long to warm up. Izzy and Nala had a blast together chasing each other, play fighting, playing fetch, and just running and playing for almost an hour and a half. It was amazing to see how fast they both could run, and it was fun to be able to talk to the other owner about her experience with their dog. This breed of dog is so smart and can be easily trained. Plus, they are devoted family dogs. Here are some pictures and videos from watching the dogs play with each other.

Izzy had been awake and playing all morning both at our house and then out with the other dog, so when we got in the car to go back home, Izzy was practically asleep in my lap. When we got back home, she just crashed on her bed in the kitchen. We had certainly tired her out, and she took a good long nap for most of the afternoon. The best pictures I get of her are when she's sleeping, but they are definitely very cute.

With Aedan getting more time alone with Daddy and Izzy during the day, he is becoming a lot more comfortable around her. He was so afraid of dogs back when we had Roscoe because he thought they were all mean and grouchy like Roscoe was. He will play with her now a lot more than she used to, and he even has a special noise for her. He will say, "Izzy, hud-uh, hud-uh, hud-uh." I have no idea where he got this from, but she likes it and is always willing to play with any of the kids that show her attention.

After Izzy's full morning of playing outside and being active, she was much more calm and subdued for the rest of the day. Here she is passed out on the rug in the kitchen later that evening. I think we have discovered the key to tiring her out so she's not so wild with Ben and I in the evening. :)

Overnight Saturday into Sunday I really started feeling crummy. I won't go into too many details, but something was not sitting well with my stomach, and I must have caught some kind of bug because no one else in the family was seeming to have any trouble. Ben was kind on Sunday afternoon and let me go over to campus to use his office for awhile so I could get some work done. I have gotten behind on this blog, and I am desperately trying to catch up when I have free time so that way I can get back on track to doing one a week and being able to remember what I want to write about instead of trying to remember what happened several weeks ago. However, I just didn't have concentrated blocks of time in which to work without distractions, so it was nice to be able to sit in a nice, quiet office with no kids around for a few hours to try and get caught up.

Neither of us felt like making dinner on Sunday night, and I didn't even feel like eating anything with how my stomach was feeling, so we decided to go out to eat at McDonald's so that the kids could eat and then go play and get some energy out for awhile, also giving Ben and I time to sit together and talk.

I was mostly feeling better on Monday morning, but I still had little appetite and my stomach was hurting a lot, almost like cramping, making it hard for me to work that day. I actually called my doctor about how I was feeling, and the nurse called me back to tell me that what I was feeling was likely from being dehydrated from being sick so much the previous couple of days. She encouraged me to drink as much water as I could so that way I could restore fluids to my body, but that that was where my cramping feelings were coming from. It was nice to have reassurance as to why I was feeling the way I was, and I hoped that I would start to feel back to normal soon. It seemed like I had just gotten over my bad cold/cough/sinus infection that I got over Easter weekend, and then this hit me. I was definitely ready to start feeling back to normal again.

On Monday Ben and Aedan had a good day at home getting things done around the house and just spending some quality one-on-one time together. They built this awesome marble tower together, and Ben even ordered all of our tickets for Disney World. (Our vacation is coming up soon!)

Izzy has definitely been enjoying having Ben and Aedan home more during the day. She doesn't have to be locked up as much, we allow her to have more free reign of the house, and she gets a lot more outside play time, meaning she gets tired out more. Izzy kept wanting to go outside and said she must just like hanging out outside and being able to explore. (We had to keep our eye on her a little more because we gave her a little bit too much freedom over the weekend and she had a couple accidents in the house when weren't paying attention to where she was and didn't let her out as much as we should have.) Ben sent me these cute pictures and video of Izzy and Aedan playing in his bed together that morning. He said she jumped right up, and they were having fun playing together.

The other exciting event that has happened in our house lately is Aedan using the potty more, especially when he has to poop, which we are super excited about. He was pretty resistant to going on the potty for awhile, which is why we haven't really started potty training with him yet. However, he has done a better job of letting us know when he has to go so we can take him to the bathroom. I think he has gotten to a similar point as where we were with Samantha when she learned how to poop in the potty. Aedan is tired of getting bad diaper rashes and having it hurt when we wipe him and having to put cream on all the time. I think he's beginning to understand that going poop in the potty is much easier and much better than pooping in a diaper. He even has peed in the potty some lately, too. Maybe he is starting to potty train all on his own! Our goal was to get him more comfortable with sitting on the potty at regular times of day while Ben is at home with him over the next few weeks, and then once we return from our long vacation in Florida, we will do the definite potty training where we take his diapers away and only wear big boy underwear from now on. I think he's getting more and more excited about going in the potty, and he especially likes when he goes on the potty and the potty fairy comes and leaves him a sucker treat as a reward. :)

So, to end, I will leave you with these pictures of Ben and Izzy. He was not really wanting to get a puppy when I decided to veto him and move forward with getting this adorable little girl, but I think she is winning him over, what do you think? She gives us the sweetest little kisses on our face.

(Blog about May 2-8, 2017)