::Growing Baby #3:: Chapter 9

i've almost reached the end.  i'm 39 weeks and 3 days today, and i'm here to update y'all.

rob took this one of me on emma's first day of school...39 weeks and 1 day.


and then i took this one.  i feel giant :)  monday's appointment went good.  my blood pressure was high.  160/90 the first time and 140/88 the second.  we had sort of penciled in an induction for tonight, but after my appointment on monday, my doctor let me know that with my elevated blood pressure, i would have been induced regardless.  so, i guess that means that we made a good decision.  she even offered the induce me sooner, but i didn't bite :)  i'm still just 1/2 cm dilated and 50% effaced...i was hoping for more, but you get what you get.

so, here we are.  we go in tonight at 7 pm for "cervical ripening" and then of course pitocin.  my doctor won't tell me when the pitocin will start...she said that often times the cervical ripening causes contractions on its own, so we will just wait and see.  i won't get the pitocin until i need it :)


so, we are hoping for a baby sometime tomorrow, but i. have. no. clue. when.  prayers please for an easy and safe labor and delivery and most importantly, a healthy baby :)  last time, i forgot to pray for pain management, so add that to your list too.  my epidural never took with carson...yikes!  i'm feeling the exact same way that i felt here.  nervous. anxious. scared. excited. and all things in between.  i think my anxiety has increased with each baby, so i'm ready for this all to be over with.  we appreciate all of your prayers and support and i'm hoping that the next photo on here is one of a sweet new baby-boy or girl..we will be thrilled!

my iron on transfers arrived on monday...just in the knick of time....


so i made these...love it.  i wonder which onesie we will get to use?


and then my two nuggets just had to try them on.  they are so excited!  and are both 100% convinced it's a boy.  time will tell.  time will tell.  stay tuned :)  i hope to be back very soon.

::Growing Baby #3:: Chapter 8 ::Nursery Reveal::

i promised y'all photos of the nursery, and well, considering we are headed to the hospital tomorrow, i figured i better go ahead and post them.  here is the wreath that my mom made for the door...


i went with sort of a woodland animal theme, and my sweet emma spotted these little animals at Michaels and had to have them for the new baby...


i hung a cross that my aunt charlotte gave me as a housewarming gift last year...


and, here's a peek inside...


the walls are palladium blue by benjamin moore.  they actually appear a little more aqua in person, which is what i was going for....


inside the crib, i kept pretty simple.  the quilt was mine when i was a baby :)


i had the bird mobile from carson's baby room.  he gladly gave it up for the new baby, with the promise of an airplane hanging from his ceiling instead...one day :)  i made the buntings and plan to make an additional bunting with the baby's name on it.  if it's a girl, i want to use some lace, and if it's a boy, i think i'll go with burlap.


the crib was our original crib,  but completely beat up by four moves, so i painted it.  i think it was color matched at benjamin moore to real red from sherwin williams.


next to the bed is a dresser i found in someone's trash pile.  just go ahead and call me a dumpster diver... :)


the shelves above the dresser are photo ledges from ikea, and the books were all emma and carson's.  they agreed to share...


the owl bookend was from rob's grandmother and papa's house.  they've both passed away in the past year.  emma found the little yellow bird at tj maxx for three bucks.  yellow is her favorite color, so she picked him out too.  the bunny was made by emma & carson at build a bear for the new baby, and mortimer the frog was mine...love him.




this little bunny was mine...i added some gingham ribbon.


and the blocks.  one of our favorite toys in the house.  they have been loved by two and will be loved again.


the curtain rod was in emma's old room.  i painted it the same red as the crib.  the curtains are 6X9 foot drop cloths from home depot.  they were twelve bucks each.  i have black out panels behind the curtains...those are from walmart.com.  the rocking chair was a hand me down just before emma was born.  it's still here :)


to the right of the nursing station is the changing table.  the dresser is ikea.  our changing table bit the dust after carson, so we got rid of it.  we bought this instead...something that can be used again :)


carson did the abstract painting on the top left.  i drew off the family of birds, and miss emma did the rest.  each bird represents one of us, she even picked our favorite colors for each of them.  the photo with the bird fabric will eventually be replaced with a photo of the new baby, and the rest, i either had or repurposed.


i think that's about it...all we need now is a sweet baby!  i'm 39 weeks today and feeling very anxious!

::Growing Baby #3:: Chapter 7

good morning y'all!  i hope this finds each of your doing well.  it seems that my mornings keep getting earlier and earlier.  i just can't sleep, which i anticipated, so why not blog?  :)

i had my 38 week appointment on monday, which made me 38 weeks and 1 day along.  so, let me see if i can recap it for you....

*let's start with a pic of my giant baby belly...


*they thought i had preeclampsia due to a few high blood pressure readings the week before, but after turning in my labs at the end of last week, i tested negative.  you have no idea how relieved i was :)

*mild preeclampsia=bed rest and severe preeclampsia=deliver the baby, neither of which i was ready for or wanting to do, so both rob and i were thrilled with the good news!

*i had a 38 week ultrasound to check on the baby's size.  at 20 weeks, this sweet baby measured over the 95th percentile, which was a little scary.  okay if i'm really truthful, it. totally. freaked. me out.  but, after today's measurements, we are in the 85th percentile, which basically took me out of the "ginormous sauros" category.  for any of you who don't have c-sections, you realize that this is very. good. news.  ouch!

*here's an ultrasound photo from monday.  it's a profile view our sweet baby, showing super full lips :)....


*at this point, the ultrasounds always measure on the high side, not the low, so we are no longer expecting a giant baby....thank goodness!  i do think he or she will be a bit bigger than the other two, but i also think that this is just a really long baby.  thank you, genetics :)  time will tell.

*the ultrasound also revealed that the baby is head down, just like it's supposed to be :)

*my belly looks super squared off in this one...weird! i think it's the baby's back :)


*they got one blood pressure read of 130/90, which is a little high, but after lying down and taking a few deep breaths, they got a normal read too.  hello type a personality.

*at my appointment, i was 1/2 cm dilated and 50% effaced...i'm hopeful that this will change, but i'm not holding my breath :)

*emma and carson are super excited about "baby bom bom!" carson gave the baby that name and i. have. no. idea. why.  we've been counting down the days!!!


my sweet mom stayed an extra day... until our appointment monday morning to see if i would be on bed rest.  she was in town earlier in the week to help my sister with her classroom and then to celebrate emma's birthday party.  even though i ended up not needing her to stay, i was very grateful that she stayed until my doctor's appointment.  how on earth people go on bed rest with two kids at home is beyond me.

rob and i both appreciate all of you that have called or texted either one of us through all of this.  we have so many neighbors, friends, and family that couldn't have been sweeter :)

We are Team Green, so please vote!

Most of you know by now that for baby number three, we are Team Green :)  Meaning, we don't know the gender and are anxiously awaiting the big news!  We would love for you to participate!  If you're family, a friend, or an acquaintance, please vote!!!  Just click the box below and enter your best guess :)  I would love to see all of your guesses :)



The poll will be locked soon, so be sure to get your vote in while you still can!

::Growing Baby #3:: Chapter 6

i made it to 37 weeks, which is considered full-term, so i guess this little monkey could come any day now!  although, i've never gone into labor before, so i'm not banking on it.  i'm hanging in there.

this pregnancy has been the. hardest. for. sure.  oh my goodness.  this week i've been dealing with sciatic nerve pain, nose bleeds almost every morning, heartburn, indigestion, third trimester nausea (that was a new one for me.  and after already having it for 20 weeks, i was not at all impressed when it came knocking on my door...again) and a whole host of other issues.  all of my issues are within the normal range, but still...geez!  i'm super uncomfortable and for whatever reason, when this baby kicks, it hurts, and i mean really hurts.  i had a bladder infection a few weeks ago, but for the last couple of weeks, i've just been trying to keep up with my two kiddos in this heat.  some days are more challenging than others.

i start my weekly obgyn appointments this week, so i'll have weekly updates from my doctor.  the nursery is done.  i hope to  post pics soon.  we installed the car seat this weekend, and no, i don't have a belly pic to share.  i promise i'll get a 38 and 39...i'm giant :)

xxoxo, jenn

summer lately...

i spent one afternoon with my kids and canvases....


their job was to paint something for the baby's nursery :)  i ended up bribing carson with chocolate to convince him to finish his masterpiece.  boys are so different than girls :)


emma wanted to paint a family of birds, so i drew something off and she went to town...


she did this when she was three for carson's nursery.  the painting is still in his room, and they like that they are able to help with the new baby's room...so sweet!


we've done plenty of swimming.  we call this little dude our bubble guppy...


and plenty of snuggling...


rob braved the heat and took the kids fishing...


and carson caught his first fish!


we swam some more...


and i washed plenty of baby clothes...boy and girl.


we did a doctor's appointment and ultrasound for me.  this just cracks me up.  they even have the "empty man chair" between them :)


and the kids both finished their artwork...


i was so proud of them!


later on, my parents had the kiddos for a few days, so we squeezed in a date.  it was an early date to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary.  it. didn't. go. as. planned.  rob surprised me with reservations somewhere, but when we got to the top of the spinning tower in downtown dallas, all i could think was that i was going to puke or i needed to leave...fast.  i'm thinking that my normal motion sickness mixed with 32 weeks prego was a recipe for disaster, so we left, and i felt so terrible that i had ruined our night.

oh well, things don't always go as planned, right?  maybe we'll try a redo before our actual day...

::Growing Baby #3:: Chapter 5

we just got home from florida, so i wanted to take a quick look back at the past week.  i was 27 weeks pregnant while we were on our vacation, so my sweet hubby took this one of the three of us...


and then, insisted on taking this one, which of course, was super awkward :)


i made the 12 hour drive with no problems at all...my feet were on the dash the entire way, so no swelling there...ha!  our week was marvelous.  my sickness is gone...finally, and i wasn't completely huge...yet :)  all in all, the timing couldn't have been more perfect.  cheers to the third trimester!

::Growing Baby #3:: Chapter 4

23.5 weeks and still growing :)  i'm feeling much better now...thank goodness!  nothing to report so far, i guess no news is good news, right?  here's chapter 1, 2, and 3.

::Growing Baby #3:: Chapter 3

well, i'm 19 weeks and 6 days.  tomorrow is the big 20 week mile marker.  i think i'm beginning to feel better, so i'm hoping that the next 20 will be better than the last :)  cheers for being at the top of the hill! in case you missed chapter 1 or chapter 2, here ya go :)

::Growing Baby #3:: Chapter 2

In case you missed our big tell all, you can read about it here...in Chapter 1.  I made it to 15 weeks and am still completely miserable.  Most of my issues were gone by now when I was pregnant with Miss E, but with Mr. C, it lasted til the big 2-0, so for now, I'm thinking it's a boy...


It's spring break, and my sweet sis and her hubby invited both of my kiddos for a sleepover, so we got a night out.  Here's our photo, courtesy of Miss E...on our way to a much needed-talk without being interrupted-dinner.  We thoroughly love and appreciate our nights out.  They are few and far between :)

::Growing Baby #3:: It all adds up!

Let's rewind a bit.  It all started back in December...With this being my third time around, I knew without a pregnancy test that I was indeed pregnant.  Pregnancy + me = no. fun. at. all.  I went ahead with one of those pesky at home tests, and I was right, it was positive.  Fast forward to January 14th, and Rob and I walked away with this photo...

I was 7 weeks and 1 day along.  We were excited, but I left  knowing that I still had plenty of time left to be completely miserable.  So, let this be Chapter 1 of Growing Baby #3.


We kept it a secret for a while....primarily from Miss Emma.  I felt like she was so much older and aware this time, and if anything were to happen, I didn't want to break her little heart.  So, we faked it, which is always so much harder than it seems.  On February 20th, we headed back to the doctor for another check-up.  Everything was perfect this go round.  I was 12 weeks and 3 days along, I had gained 3 pounds, and we had a real live baby :)  I was so excited!  We had made it though the first trimester, and we were ready to tell the kiddos.


Still feeling terrible and not wanting to over achieve in. any. way. possible.  I scribbled this on our chalkboard, and waited patiently for Miss Emma to get off the bus and for Mr. Carson to wake up from his nap...


Here she is reading the sign...


And here are the books and ultrasound photos I left for them to open...


She was so excited!  And so was bro.  He just turned three, so sometimes we fly the white flag when it comes to photos with him :)


I was so glad that they finally knew.  Maybe now they would understand why I've been laying on the couch like the most lifeless thing in existence.  Hopefully I'll feel better soon, right?  hopefully.  hopefully.


Also, can we just forget that my little disappearing act here never happened?  I've had good reason I'll tell you.  very good reason.  Next up is our trip to Disney, which was perfect, and I refuse to leave that huge detail out of our family blog.  The kids are still talking about it, and it was one of the best decisions we ever made.

Now, if I can just get my act together enough to complete that task...ha!  My headache that lasted from 8 am....until I went to bed last night...is. not. helping. at. all.  It's one day at a time over here, and for now, that's the best I can do.