TTT: Season 2, Episode 29

I'll admit it: finding the time to thoughtfully write out three entries into my little online journal here has proved to be pretty difficult in the past few weeks. Yes, I do have random bits of free time, but it's just that--bits. Realistically I like to take close to an hour or so to really think about the week and write it all out. The chunks of time I have now are more like five minutes here, five minutes there. And usually they're filled with things like getting myself dressed, starting another load of laundry, reading through the mail for the day, etc. But I realize that all things are temporary and there will come a time where I'll be able to write at length again. Just have to remind myself to enjoy the season before it passes.

So instead of my usual lengthy paragraphs, I thought I'd just throw out a few tidbits--things I want to remember. Or maybe forget! Things that bring a smile to my face.

- Rudy is doing fantastic with the potty training. I really shouldn't even say 'training.' He's already trained. In fact, he's even waking up in the morning dry. He's pretty much the coolest kid ever for potty training himself. Took a major load off of my plate, that's for sure.

- Grant turned one month old on Sunday. Has it really been a month? It sure doesn't seem like it. But you can certainly tell by looking at him. He has already changed so much. In fact, I took him to get weighed at the lactation center at our hospital. He weighed nine pounds and four ounces! That's nearly two-and-a-half pounds since we left the hospital one month ago. Kiddo likes to eat! And he looks a lot like Kolbe.

- I finished round two of antibiotics on Sunday. So far the mastitis hasn't come back. Still isn't pain free, unfortunately, but we're working on it.

- A few days ago I was wrestling around on the floor with the big boys. I was all stretched out on the floor when Kolbe said, "Mama why is your belly flat?"
I replied, "Well, Kolbe, there's not a baby in there anymore. The only reason it was big was because Grant was in there. No more baby!"
And what I got in response was: "Well, there needs to be another baby in there. 'Cause I need to have a sister."
Sheesh. Give my poor body a break, kid!

- Hormonal imbalances post baby are not cool. I've just about had it with my share of tearing up while reading random kids books, breaking out in random sweats for no reason, and going from "happy mama" to if-you-don't-leave-my-presence-right-this-second-I'm-going-to-snap at the drop of a dime. For the most part, I'm my normal self, but watch out!

- Last Friday my mom and I decided to get brave and take all three boys down to Reliant Stadium (where the Texans play) to see the Barnum and Bailey's Circus. We weren't sure if it was going to be a great experience or a total flop. I'll sum it up by saying that the boys have asked to go to the circus every single day since last Friday. They loved it! And they were fabulous. After witnessing multiple children have total meltdowns, it left me with the feeling that hey, I've got some pretty good kids!

- Ready for some pictures of the past few weeks in the life of The Asmussens?

What's not to love about a sleeping baby?

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed...the boys love to climb up on the bed and watch me change and dress Grant after bath time.

Working on my cheeks and my double chin!

First taste ever of cotton candy at the circus! (Rudy would have nothing to do with it but Kolbe...Mr. Sweet Tooth...loved it!) You know it's not good for you when you wake up the next morning and the leftovers in the bag have shrunk down to a small hard ball of sugar.

Look, Mom! Three brothers holding hands!

Mr. One-Month-Old!

TTT: Season 2, Episode 28

1. Last week I was on the mend from a case of mastitis. In fact, I had just one day left of my ten day course of antibiotics and I was feeling just fine. That afternoon, though, I noticed a red, swollen area on my C-section incision. Hoping it was just an ingrown hair or something, I headed to my doctor on Friday morning for a check-up of the mastitis. She seemed to think that was better but wasn't too happy about the way the incision looked. In fact, she pressed on it with the blunt end of a sterile cotton swab and it sure enough...well, I won't go into the gory details. Let's just say, it provided her with plenty of substance to take a culture and send it off to their lab. She put me on another seven days of a different antibiotic, since obviously the one I was taking for the mastitis didn't manage to keep the incision from getting infected. I headed home and started taking those antibiotics on Friday night. By Sunday afternoon, guess what was back? The mastitis. Full on--fever, chills, aching, redness, misery. I immediately called my doctor and she was shocked that it would be able to come back with the new antibiotic I was on for the incision. After a little bit of investigating, we discovered that my pharmacy gave me the wrong prescription. Seriously! You hear horror stories about that happening to people, but I certainly didn't ever think it would happen to me. They had given me a very light dose of the antibiotic I had previously taken for the mastitis. Like a child's dosage. Thank God it wasn't some other medicine that could have caused me a lot of harm. So, we switched to a different pharmacy and she called in the strongest dose of Augmentin that you can take in pill form. Good thing, because her nurse called me back on Tuesday and told me that the culture they took from the incision was positive for a staph infection. Of course it was! I'm on day four of this new antibiotic and considering all of the not-so-fun side effects of taking antibiotics for more than two weeks, I'm ready to be done. And really, really, really praying that all of this will clear up. It's terribly frustrating but I keep trying to remind myself that these are common things that happen to women post pregnancy. And find a little solace in the fact that hey, maybe it's been really not cool here at the end, but hey, I've never had morning sickness, don't have a single stretch mark on my body, hardly even look or feel pregnant until the last few months, and lose any weight I gain in less than two weeks. I'll call it a major trade off! Though I'm not lying...it would be nice to add "never had mastitis" and "never got an infection" to that list too! Oh well, let's not get greedy.

2. On the parenting side of things, I have a major horn to toot for my middle child this week. We've known that Reagan was ready to potty train for a few months now. In fact, just before we left Lubbock, he was starting to get the hang of going #2 on the potty. When we moved down to The Woodlands, things took a major back seat to finding a new house, moving in, getting things set up, and of course, getting through the pregnancy. This week, however, I guess he decided that he was tired of waiting for mom and dad to help him train and just decided to do it on his own. For real. As in he's worn undies for the past three days and hasn't had a single accident. Over the weekend he started telling us when he needed to go to the bathroom, but Mark's dad was in town, we were out and about a whole bunch, and none of us were willing to let him go without a diaper just because he said he wanted undies. We've gone 100% undies during the day since Monday and like I said, he's done perfect! I guess when you figure it out in your mind, it just all makes sense. And actually, from my parents' stories, I potty trained in much of the same way. Just up and decided one day that I wasn't wearing undies anymore and that was that. It was also right at the end of my mom's pregnancy with my brother, Andy. Maybe there's something to that. Who knows? He sure has loved the whole "big brother" thing and maybe this is just an extension of feeling grown up. And growing up, he definitely is. Not a day goes by that I don't look over at him and think Where did my little baby Rudy go!?! I sure am proud of that little bruiser.

3. One of  the unique aspects of The Woodlands is that it's a community built within nature. Not a massive, bulldozed plot of land, cleared out to build a community. Really, everywhere you go, you're amongst the trees. For example, driving down one of the main drags, the only way you know that there's a gas station or McDonald's or oil change place is by the carved and painted wooden signs poking out from the trees, telling you to turn into the next entrance. And no visible  power lines. They're all buried underground. It really is a beautiful community, but when you keep that much of nature preserved, it's a guarantee that all the woodland-type creatures are going to be completely comfortable hanging around. Squirrels, deer, possums, rabbits...we see all of these things with regularity around here. But we certainly weren't expecting to see this fella' in our backyard!

I'm pretty sure I've never seen a live armadillo before. Sure, living in West Texas for so long, I saw plenty of dead ones on the side of the road, but never any just walking around, taking in the day. My parents had stopped by to check on me (this was Monday morning, right after the mastitis had kicked back in) and we were all sitting around the kitchen table. My dad spied this guy outside the kitchen window and we all snuck out onto the back deck to watch him snoop around. Very cool for the boys to see. And me too! It's a perfect ending to a "You know you live in Texas when..." statement!

TTT: Season 2, Episode 27 - a double shot!

1. Ah. Back to the old blog. Yes, it's true. The inevitable finally happened. I missed a full week of Three Thought Thursday last week! Hey, I had a feeling at the beginning of the year when I decided I wanted to continue on into 2011 that I might not be able to commit to every single week. And that was before I even knew that we'd be moving! So since there's been a lot going on, I thought I'd just double up this week and document all the recent happenings in our little world.

I was able to write two weeks ago because Mark's mom was here and I managed to crank out a blog post while she was taking the boys on a bike ride. But last week...well...not so much. A lot went on last week. Total craziness, in fact. You're probably thinking Total craziness happened to you!?! No way! Yes, I know that total craziness tends to follow me everywhere I go, but it also tends to follow people who have just had a baby and only happens during holiday weekends and on and on and on. I guess it was just a compilation of all of those things. So when Thursday rolled around, sadly I knew everything I wanted to write about and just didn't have the time or energy to even consider writing. Sleep took the priority every. single. time. Here's why...

2. Mark's mom left early on the morning of Saturday, July 2nd. Mark was on call that weekend and ended up getting called in for a surgery around lunch time. After lunch, the boys and I all decided to take a nap. I laid down on the couch with Grant cuddled up on my chest and when I woke an hour or so later, I was a hot, sweaty mess. At first I assumed it was due to the warm, snuggly baby. But thirty or so minutes later when I was still burning up, I finally checked the thermostat: eight-seven degrees. Did it really take me that long to realize it was way hotter than it should have been!?! We high-tailed it over to my parents' house after getting in touch with our home warranty company. When they called back and said they couldn't find any of their contractors that could come out on the holiday weekend, they allowed us to find our own repair man. He came out Sunday morning, only to discover that some sort of motor in the furnace was completely blown out and would have to be replaced. But, of course, the only supply company that sold the replacement motor was closed for 4th of July and wouldn't open till Tuesday, the 5th. So we spent the entire 4th of July weekend back at my parents' house staying cool and even enjoying a visit and burgers from our good friends Jared and Katie Bares. Finally, on Tuesday around lunch the air conditioner was finally fixed. I went back to my parents' to pack up all of stuff that had made its way over there so we could head back home. See what I mean? The A/C going out only happens on holiday weekends to ladies who have just given birth eight days earlier. Thank God we had some place cool to go!

3. But our stay at my parents' house didn't end there. When I arrived to pack up our stuff, Rudy was taking a nap and Kolbe decided he wanted to go with my mom to the airport to pick up my dad from the airport. (He was returning from the family reunion in Colorado that we missed...my mom came back early) I sat down in the family room to nurse Grant and afterwards came down with a bad case of the chills. Assuming it was just from sitting under the A/C vent, I went upstairs to start packing up and figured I'd warm up as I got working. Instead it just got worse. I ended up getting in bed and under the comforter to try to warm up. After thirty minutes or so I was still shaking out of control and decided to get in a warm bath. This helped, but I could tell that something was definitely wrong. After everyone returned home and I was back in bed, we discovered that I was running a fever of 103.2 and had really sharp pain in my collar bone/ armpit area which led us to believe that I had come down with mastitis. Really, to me, the effects of the fever were worse than the chest pain. The out of control shaking for several hours and horrible aching all over was just miserable! Luckily, we were able to get ahold of my mom's neighbor who is an obstetrician and she was able to get me started on antibiotics right away. (still on them too...ten days worth! Yikes!) So the next two days were spent there at my parents' too so that they could help out while I tried to recover. My mom says it's one of the worst cases of mastitis she's ever seen. I'm pretty sure it just covered a really large area and wasn't in one specific spot which did make it look really horrible. After experiencing that, I can completely understand why so many women give up nursing early on. I had such a smooth nursing experience with Reagan; after the initial few weeks of pain and discomfort, it was smooth sailing. I assumed it would be just the same with Grant, but it has proven to be very different and difficult at times. We're definitely still hanging in there and doing a lot better now, but like I said, I can totally see why women might throw in the towel while going through some of these trials. We aren't completely out of the woods yet, and I continue to pray that it doesn't come back or escalate to what my poor sister-in-law had to go through with an abscess. But really, I know that this is what is best for Grant, great for me, and will establish a wonderful bond between the two of us as he grows from a tiny infant into a little boy.

4. So other than a completely unlivable house and a torturous bacterial infection, I'd say things are going pretty smoothly. Prior to Grant's birth, I had people tell me that three kids was the hardest thing they had ever done and others say that three was a piece of cake. Right now, I'd probably have to go with a middle of the road type feeling. It's certainly not easy, but also not as hard as I thought it would be either. It helps a ton that both Kolbe and Rudy are somewhat self-sufficient. They love to play together and don't always need mom to be involved. They can eat meals without me supervising. Kolb knows how to dress him self and use the restroom on his own. Rudy is working on both of these things. So really, it's nowhere near the challenge of taking care of a newborn and a fifteen month old like when Rudy was born. I'd say the hardest part is just trying to explain everything to the boys when I can't do what they want to do right when they want to do it. Or I can't give them the full attention they're hoping for every time they want it. I've just been trying to do and much with them as possible while Grant sleeps and give them the quality time they need every chance I can. Sure, dinner plans have gone by the wayside almost every single night, but hey, we're getting through the day, getting to bed relatively on time, and everyone seems to be happy. We survived our first trip to Target just the three boys a me a few days ago. It went much better than I pictured it would be! And as for Grant, he continues to be just a magical little guy. He usually has a long wakeful time in the morning and one in the afternoon as well. Otherwise, he likes to sleep quite a bit and just tags along for the ride when we're out and about. He had his two week check at the pediatrician's office last week right in the middle of the whole mastitis ordeal and hadn't gained as much weight as the the doctor had hoped, but when I took him back on this Tuesday, he was up to seven pounds and twelve ounces...over his birth weight...so he's finally starting to take off. We can't decide exactly who he looks like just yet, but he definitely looks like Kolbe and Rudy's brother. Considering they each have their own look and don't really favor each other much at all, maybe Grant will just be working his own look too! Regardless, he sure is a cutie and I can't get enough of him.

5. Mark and I have some of the best parents in the whole world. Really, I think I could do an entire post about this topic, but it's been on my heart a lot this week and has been such an integral part of the past few weeks, that I'd be crazy not to include it. To say that my parents did a lot for us before Grant was born would be a gross understatement. Heck, we lived at their house for two whole months while Mark started his job and we tried to find a new house! And the number of times they've watched the boys for me while I've gone to various doctor's appointments or just struggled through the last months of pregnancy are too numerous to count. And helping us get the house set up! And feeding us when I was too exhausted to cook! Really, they've done far, far more than they've needed to and helped us out time and time again, even when we haven't asked. Thankfully, they were both here the day that Grant was born, but left the next morning for our big family reunion up in Colorado. Mark's mom arrived on that same day, and man, was she ever a big help! Really, I can't imagine going through my stay at the hospital or that first week back at home without her. One of the things I worried about the most...like all moms, I suppose...was how Kolbe and Reagan would adjust to me bringing Grant home. Having Miss Lora there was the perfect balance to creating a positive, smooth transition. When I was nursing the baby or too sore from my surgery to do something the boys wanted me to do, she would jump right in and take care of it. Shoot, she was even willing to take the boys out around the neighborhood on bike rides in the sweltering heat! I hardly will consider that even when I'm not pregnant! Really, she was a champ. We can't wait for her to come back! And Mark's dad is next. He is flying in to stay with us this weekend. We can't wait to see him and show off his newest grandson. After all, he and Grant do share the same birthday! So throughout these past few weeks, when I look at my baby, look at my husband, look at my kiddos and look at our family, all I can think of is how thankful I am that I have been so greatly blessed.  Who knows...maybe some day when Kolbe, Rudy, or Grant is bringing a new baby home, I'll look back at this and hope that I can be all for them that our parents have been for us.

6. Time for pictures!

I love this picture! Definite "framer". This is Kolbe and Rudy taking in the 4th of July parade up at Market Street (an outdoor shopping mall).

Two buddies--Kolbe LOVES his new brother. He always asks for me to put him in the little swing when he's awake so they can "hang out" together.

In love with this pic too. They were so excited to get to sit with their baby brother!

Mark and I follow the Tour de France every single July. It's been perfect timing this year since I have to spend so much time sitting down and nursing. Gives me something to watch! Mark took Kolbe up to a bike shop that is near our house so he could see all the bikes that are in the race and try on some of the helmets. What do you think? He just might be the next Lance Armstrong!

Ah, the I-spy quilt. Also comes in handy during nursing sessions! We've played many-a-game of I-spy over the past weeks. I can call out items from the couch and they can search and find them.

Another parade pic. These two are totally in the fire truck/ambulance/police car phase. They're obsessed! So of course their favorite thing in the parade was the long line of fire trucks.

Ahhhhh. Sleep. Wish I could get some too!

TTT: Season 2, Episode 26

1. This week will be short on thoughts. 'Cause believe me, I'm not having very many right now, I'm so tired! After making it to thirty-seven weeks on Friday morning, I decided to throw in the towel when my blood pressure reads kept coming up 150/100 and beyond. That, combined with a major case of dizziness, contractions, and nausea told me that things definitely weren't getting better and, as I mentioned before, I would much rather have a safe, controlled situation than the chaotic one I experienced once before. My doctor agreed, and little...or should I say BIG!...Grant Michael Asmussen came into the world at 1:34pm on Friday, June 24th weighing seven pounds and ten ounces. Kolbe and Rudy were born seven and six days prior to this point and weighed five/six and five/eleven. So while I fully expected Grant to weigh a little more...oh, say maybe something like six/four, six/five...I was shocked when I heard seven/ten! Can you imagine if I had carried him all the way to forty weeks!?! It was a very smooth delivery and I had no real complications during or after other than a little bit of blood pressure issues. Grant did have to go to the NICU for about forty-eight hours though due to some extra fluid in his lungs. After he was born, he was grunting quite a bit and when he tried to nurse, he wasn't able to drink/suck and breath well at the same time. By about thirty-six hours after delivery he was fully latching on and nursing well and frequently and they allowed him to come up to my room with me. There's been no turning back ever since. He's doing great and is just the most wonderful baby yet. (Can you tell I'm in love!?!) Really, he nurses well, sleeps well (through the total madhouse of shenanigans his brothers produce), and has yet to have much of a reason to cry. We've managed to take him out a couple of times already and he's just slept in the sling and hung on for the ride the whole time. He's awesome! Awesome!

2. Like I said, I have several other stories I want to tell surrounding Grant's birth and how everything went down, but I'm limited on time and energy right now. Hopefully I'll be able to write a separate post dedicated to all of that soon! Instead, I thought I'd give you a little list of random thoughts concerning all things new mama. You know, the things you forget or don't remember quite as vividly until you relive them again.

• There's absolutely nothing better than the smell of your baby. It's like a drug, I tell you!...actually, I think it kind of is, right? Like when you touch and smell them, it releases some hormone in your body and ....
• Nursing and the way your body produces milk for your baby is one of the craziest, coolest things ever.
• My baby has quite possibly the strongest suck ever. Way stronger than his brothers. Strong enough to draw blood. Not kidding. And not cool.
• Dang, I took for granted those eight months without Mother Nature coming to visit. Ugh! You can go back away now! No, really. I'm nursing, so hurry up and do you thing and go back away until I stop nursing. Which hopefully won't be for a long time. Thanks.
• With your first baby you worry about everything-- Has he had a poopy diaper yet today? Will he start crying if I get in the shower? Oh no, has he been asleep for too long?-- I've been loving to find that by the third one, it feels great to make it to the end of the day and think, hey, this isn't so bad! It's just like normal life, but with a baby in it! (no, I'm not foolish enough to think every day will feel that way. And yes, we've have lots of helping hands to make the transition so smooth!) It's just nice not to have all those silly first-time mom worries.
• The whole sibling jealousy thing really isn't as bad as a lot of people hype it up to be. Give the other kids the small bits of attention they crave and they're happy. At least mine are. Besides, they love anything involving being the "big" sibling. Apparently it's a major rite of passage in life.
• It's such a huge blessing to get to be able to do what you truly love to do. Sure, there are times when it is crazy, chaotic, overwhelming, painful, and stressful, but to get to do day in and day out exactly what you feel like God is calling you to do is just a remarkable gift. I pray for the grace to always feel this way about mothering and the means to continue to make it happen for my children, my family, and me.

3. You'd think with the events of this week, I'd have tons of pictures to add for my Instagram collection, but let's face it...when you have a baby, other people are taking the pictures. Not you. And not iPhone pictures on top of that! But I did manage to snag a few:

Here we are in the recovery room! Man, it's just the best feeling to hold your baby for the first time!

Um, yeah. So, typically, if you fall victim to edema during pregnancy, it's supposed to start going away after the baby is born. These were my feet yesterday. Not going away. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's worse! What the heck!?! Am I doomed to have cankles for all times!?! Doctor Reed, we must discuss.

Hello, world! Don't I clean up well? (Just finished with his first bath at home)

Three brothers! Kolbe and Rudy are both in love...just in different ways. Rudy wants to hold him and kiss him and love on him non-stop. Kolbe refuses to hold him. He says he's too little and he doesn't want to hurt him. So he sits by and watches and pats his belly and rubs his hair. And is the perfect little mommy's assistant. He'll come around with his fears. I'm sure of it!

Totally not baby related, but I couldn't resist! We went to a little taco shop by our house that has a surf shop theme and Rudy had a blast pretending to ride the surf board. Total surfer dude in the making!

TTT: Season 2, Episode 25

1. Guess what, everybody! I'm still pregnant! Who me? Yes, me! After my last two deliveries and the crazy stressful pregnancy I've had this time around, I would have been more likely to bet that I would have had him sooner than Kolbe and Rudy instead of later. But as they always say, every pregnancy is different and right now, the little guy is still in there! On the other hand, pregnancies in the same mama can also be somewhat the same, and I definitely haven't missed out on that aspect this week. In fact, right now I'm waiting on the doctor's office to call me back with results of yet another twenty-four hour urine test. Sure enough, I woke up on Tuesday with higher blood pressure and it remained high when I went in to my weekly appointment. Blood work showed that my liver and other organs are doing fine, which is reassuring...kind of, but my blood pressure has stayed all over the place. One minute it's what would be considered high and then ten minutes later is just fine. So right now the only way I can describe the state of things is frustrating. Believe me, I don't want anything to go wrong. I'd love more than anything to just have normal pregnancies without complications. But unless you've been through a delivery like Kolbe's, it would probably be hard for you to understand why I'm so paranoid. When Kolbe was born, I had slightly high blood pressure, checked into the hospital for twenty-four hours of monitoring spent a good eight hours sitting there in the hospital with absolutely no problems at all...not even high blood pressure...and was unconscious and having an emergency C-section just hours later. With Rudy, it was a no-brainer. I went in to my thirty-six week appointment and my BP was 190/120. That's way out of control. Not marginal. There was no question of should we? shouldn't we? for the doctors. He had to come out. With this little fella, my "high" BPs are just marginally high (140s/100s-150s/100s)...and there's no other bad symptoms other than a nagging headache. Still, there's that fear of knowing that with Kolbe I went from completely fine to nightmare status within hours that lingers in the back of my mind. I don't want to be paranoid. But I kind of am. I just would much rather have the smooth delivery that I had with Rudy than the chaos of Kolbe's birth. Can you blame me? So we'll see what happens. They did an in-utero APGAR-type test of Mr. Grant yesterday and he aced it! He's ready to go! And as of tomorrow, he'll be considered full term at thirty-seven weeks. So I'm certainly satisfied. Proud of him, proud of myself, just ready to have peace about everything and not worry about if something is going to go wrong.

2. I have to admit, all things pregnancy related have pretty much consumed this week. We've lacked some major structure, and I think the boys are realizing it. They definitely know that something is up. Mark and I have done our best to try to prepare them for everything, but since things aren't exactly going as we expected, I think they're just confused. Kolbe definitely has the excited perspective of things. He's constantly asking when Baby Grant is going to be here. Will he be here tomorrow? And when he knows I'm going to the doctor the next day, he literally can't sleep with the all the anticipation. He's totally ready to be a big brother again. Rudy, on the other hand, is having a really hard time with everything. Poor fella. His biggest concern right now is Mama. When I talk about going to the hospital he immediately starts clinging to me. Not to mention the fact that he wakes up in the middle of the night still half asleep saying, "Mama, Mama, Mama." It's heart-wrenching! I know he's going to be ok and everything will go just fine, but he's definitely always been a Mama's-boy and I hate to see it being so difficult for him. Just have to do my best to make both of them feel as special as possible. Lots of cool big brother responsibilities for Kolbe and lots of love and affection for Ru.

3. I had so much fun doing the instagram pictures of our weekly happenings last week, that I thought I'd do it again this week. Here's a few shots of some of the things that went on:

Does anyone else's dishwasher look like a plastic rainbow exploded in it?

Rudy loves to play hide and seek. And he's SO good at it! Kolbe giggles and gives himself away instantly, but Rudy can have you searching for a while without making a peep! Of course, dangling little piggies tend to give him away...

The Woodlands has a mounted patrol squad that serves a lot of the shopping area and other social events. I'm not sure if they actually chase people down or what, but the boys sure are impressed when they see one of the horsies and patrol men in a parking lot. We finally actually saw one we could go up and visit with and Rudy was just thrilled. JJ was a massive horse but he wasn't scared of going up to pet him with Pinkie at all. Kolbe, on the other hand, wouldn't come within ten feet of him.

This week I washed up a bunch of my new-mama nursing gear items to get ready for Grant. The boys were helping me fold clothes and while I was working on folding bigger items, Kolbe discovered some of my nursing pads. Minutes later, he was offering me a "taco" that he had prepared for me with some of his bouncy balls. Sheesh. Let the humiliation begin!

Just a month or two ago we bought this bike for Kolbe. I wrote about how all the other three-year-olds on the block were all riding big boy bikes and poor Kolbe still had a tricycle. Mark and I joked that by the end of the summer, Rudy would probably be able to pedal it too. So much for end of the summer. He seriously just turned two in February and is already riding like a pro on a big boy bike. But...but...but...he's supposed to still be a baby!

And Pinkie found a slightly bigger bike at a thrift store the other day for $10 and brought it home for Kolbe to try out. His feet can barely make the full round of the cycle, but he loves it nonetheless. These two are bike riding maniacs!

And there's my little daredevil again! Nothing says summer like climbing trees!

No bikes for me. Just my annoying, stress inducing blood pressure cuff to keep me company....

TTT: Season 2, Episode 24...and InstaFriday Too!

1. So tomorrow is the big day--thirty-six weeks pregnant! Actually, I guess I should say that Sunday will be the big day. You know, the day I officially make it farther than I've ever made it before in a pregnancy. Thirty-six weeks and two days. You're all cheering for me, right? Of course, there's still those thoughts in the back of my mind that I'm somehow going to spontaneously combust some time between now and then. But hopefully not. Hopefully I'll make it! Cautiously optimistic. I went to the doctor on Tuesday and she basically told me to just keep on keepin' on--taking my blood pressure several times a day...especially if I feel weird, have any headache, start seeing spots, etc. She doesn't believe in doing scheduled C-sections any earlier than the 40th week, so unless things go awry, I could be in it for the long haul. We'll see. Heck, three more days and I'll be satisfied!

Kolbe was sitting on my lap after nap time a few days ago and out of the blue said, "Mama, he moved."

"What?" I asked.

"He moved. Baby Grant moved. I felt it under my arm. There's a real person in there, you know."

Yes, there is, little fella. A real person. I proceeded to ask him if he was ready for Mama to not be pregnant any more, which he replied yes to. When I asked him why, I got:

"So your belly won't be so big and you can go outside for a bike ride again and you won't have to say, 'Guys, Mama needs to sit down for a few minutes.' "

Uh, hate to tell you, Kolbs, but with nursing a newborn, I'm probably gonna need to be sitting down for a few minutes a lot more often instead of less. Just another transitional phase for our little guys. It'll be so much fun though. These two can't wait to meet their new little brother. And neither can I!

2. Last week I reported on our completely unpleasant summer colds. Of course Kolbe picked it up too, and for the most part it's cleared up. But it's definitely been the lingering, annoying kind where in the morning and evenings it magically comes back to haunt us. Better go replenish my Kleenex inventory. I haven't checked with Brian and Cristi yet, but after their fun visit this weekend, I'm hoping they didn't get it too. We really enjoyed hosting our first weekend house guests at our new house and we're so glad that we didn't cancel at the last minute like we debated. Sadly, other than going to the free outdoor symphony, I don't think we did much more than eat out. Which, hey, I'm not complaining, but I would have loved to do a few more "touristy" type things with them. Hanging out and eating isn't exactly entertaining. Except to a pregnant person. This weekend we're looking forward to my sister-in-law Abby and our godson John swinging by for a little visit on Saturday while they're in town visiting her family and then two weekends from now, Mark's mom will be here for a full week to help out...either with an end-of-the-road pregnant lady or a brand new baby. Who'd have thought we'd have someone here for at least a visit five weekends in a row!?! Anyone else want to travel to Houston any time soon???

3. I thought I'd try something new this week, taking cues from two different blogs. I'm a habitual blog stalker. There's a handful of blogs out there that I read all the time, and then a ton more that I stumble upon and check-in on from time to time. Of course I always read up on the blogs that several of my friends and family members keep. My sister-in-law Abby started a new weekly post a while back where she shows off her favorite picture of the week. So much fun getting to keep up with them weekly now that we're so far away! Another blog I love is called Life Rearranged. It is written by a lovely lady named Jeannett and she has recently started a weekly post called InstaFriday. It involves posting pictures of your week in review using only photos taken on cell phone cameras and primarily using the free app Instagram. Really, it makes pitiful phone pictures look cool with just a few taps! So I thought it might be fun to do more than just tell you about my passing week as a mom and give you a little visible peek as well! Here we go!

I was strugglin' somethin' fierce on Thursday afternoon so instead of Mom doing the entertaining, the old beat up kiddie pool got the nod. Stick it beside the deck, add a slide, and wha-la! Instant fun!

This poor little guy couldn't be readier to potty train. He's totally catching on and wanting to "get it"...but only for Mama. That being said, I'm having a heck of a time just going for it with him. Especially when I know a big hospital stay is around the corner. Idn't he precious, though!?!

Ah. The ol' pack-n-play. Kolbe and I got it out and all set up on Mama's side of the bed a few days ago. Ready for a new little brother!

The boys made beautiful pictures and we opened a few gifts for an early Father's Day this week. I wanted it to be special for Mark, even if I wasn't available for celebrating on Sunday.

A daily ritual: kicking up the cankles. Elevation does nothing to help. Neither does drinking tons of water. Though I still do both, in hopes...'cause these things aren't cute.

And what would a week be without squeezing in a little sewing? I've cut off sewing for my shop, but I had to whip up a cute new crib sheet for Grant's future room. I know, I know. He won't be sleeping there for a while, but I'd hate to introduce him to his new home with an un-made bed! Ha!

A new little somethin' I'm trying out with Kolbe. He seems to do well with incentives and consequences instead of me just flipping out when he acts up (like my impulsive, hormonal self feels like doing at this point). I added pictures with the words since he can't exactly read, though he knows exactly what the charts say by now. He earns magnets for each good and bad behavior and when he gets three good magnets, he gets to pick a treat, whether it be a tootsie roll or an extra book with Mama. And for each bad magnet he gets a timeout. If he earns three in one day, he loses a privilege. Ironically, the ones that matter most to him are things like "If you get one more magnet on your bad chart, Mama won't be able to sit on your bed when I sing bedtime songs tonight." He flips out. Seriously.

Have a great week! Pray for me, friends!

TTT: Season 2, Episode 23

1. We've been in our new house for right at three weeks and we officially had our first visitors (other than my parents) this past week. Some former Red Raiders were getting married down in another part of Houston, which brought several of our former college friends down from Dallas to attend the wedding. Two families, the Bares and the Sisks, volunteered to come out and visit us after the wedding festivities were over. One of the things Mark and I feared when we decided to move down here was that no one would ever come see us, considering The Woodlands is a good eight to nine hour drive from Lubbock. So we were so excited to have friends come see us so soon! And even though Mark was on-call and had to go in for an emergency surgery, it sure did mean a lot to us. Hopefully next time they can actually stay with us instead of just coming by to hang out for a while. And actually, we're looking forward to Brian and Cristi (Mark's brother and sister-in-law) driving down from Dallas this weekend to stay for a little visit. Our first official house guests! Hopefully they aren't expecting much, because the thirty-five week pregnant version of myself isn't exactly running on full steam. Though the homemaker version of myself is cringing at the idea of having guests that I can't really entertain. I suppose they'll understand. And next time we'll make it more memorable!

2. With first visitors checked off our list, we had another little chunk of before-the-baby-gets-here business to attend to this week: getting a bigger vehicle. While the car seats we use for the boys boast the ability to fit three across in the backseat of a standard sedan, I don't think I boast the ability to get three boys ages three and under in and out of the backseat of a Camry on a regular basis. So as of Monday we officially became minivan owners. Eight or so years ago I would have died at the idea. I grew up riding in a minivan, learned how to drive in a minivan, and always loathed my parents' ownership of a minivan. But let's face it--for a large family with a large extended family, it's the most practical option. (since we can't rationally afford a sweet, massive SUV) And despite my former hatred, I now love it. And to my surprise, Mark has always been pumped to get a van. It's like that final "yeah, I've got a wife and pack full of kids" badge. To start with, we knew it would be between an Odyssey and a Sienna, and I think we both pretty much had our hearts set on an Odyssey. But wouldn't you know, we actually liked the Sienna better. Hey, I've been driving a Camry for the past seven years. It shouldn't come as a surprise that I feel more comfortable in a Toyota. It's like a bigger version of the awesome car I drove since I graduated from college.  So there's now a big, black swagger wagon living in our garage. With "magic doors" as Kolbe and Rudy would say.

3. As I type this, I have to admit that I'm a little bit miserable. No, not because of the fact that I "have no ankles whatsoever," as Mark told me the other night. And not because of the fact that I'm seven days away from the point that both of my other deliveries occurred. Nope. Instead, I was lucky enough to come down with a good ol' summer cold. You know, the pressure-in-the-forehead-stabbing-pain-in-the-ears-watery-eyes-runny-nose-drainage-overload-sore-throat-inducing summer cold. Just ain't right, I tell ya. And Mark has it too! We have our dear son, Rudy to thank for it. And he owes his gratitude to my dad. And since I love those two so much, I'll just say that whoever gave it to my dad deserves a serious whoopin'. As if feeling swollen and uncomfortable from the neck down wasn't enough, just add in from the neck up to make it the total package. Hopefully it clears up...and no one else gets it!...before the little man makes his inevitable appearance! Keep your distance this weekend, Brian and Cristi!