4 Year Check-Up

Today was Emma's 4 year check-up. We are about 3 months behind but at least we got it done! I was really dreading today because I knew she had to get shots but she did wonderful. I took her Tinkerbell band aids and she was really excited to have those there. Of course she cried for a minute and told me how much they hurt, but then she was fine. Because she did such a great job I treated her to Chick-fil-a for lunch. 

Here are her 4 year stats:

Weight- 39 lbs-50th percentile

Height- 39 1/4"- 25th percentile

Blood Pressure- 92/64

She also passed her hearing and eye tests with flying colors. 

This was taken after I told her about the shots. She was really nervous. :-/

39 Weeks!!

I can't believe this is my last weekly update. We will be having a baby tomorrow!!!!!

How far along? 39 Weeks! Only 1 day to go!

Size of Baby: Grayson is weighing in around 7 lbs and is about 19-22 inches long.

Maternity Clothes: Yep!

Weight: -26lbs

Gender: IT'S A BOY! Grayson Blake 

Labor Signs: I've had a few little contractions but only when I've been on my feet a while and they quickly go away. Nothing significant yet. 

Movement: At this point he isn't moving a whole lot. He sticks out some here and there but no big movements anymore. 

Sleeping: I wish.....

What I Miss: My ankles, being able to get up off the floor easily, walking without waddling, etc.

What I am looking forward to: Wednesday! I went to my pre-op appointment this morning and saw a few babies being taken home and it made me so ready to meet this little fella.

Cravings/Aversions: Nothing lately...

Symptoms: heartburn, back pain, swollen ankles, carpal tunnel syndrome

Best Moment this Week: We had some really great moments this week. We had a great Thanksgiving. We had my moms side of the family over to our house Thursday night. Josh fried some turkeys and they were soooo good. I was so exhausted by the end of the day but it was so nice to have everyone over. We had a great time decorating our Christmas tree and my mom and dads tree. The girls are pros now. Last night we took the girls to Tanglewood-Festival of Lights and they were absolutely thrilled. They loved it so much and Emma has been begging to go back.

We will be taking the girls to my mom and dads house tomorrow night and then we have to be at the hospital at 6am on Wednesday morning. I can't wait to introduce you all to the newest member of the family.

I thought I would go ahead and show you all a few pictures of Grayson's nursery. It is still a work in progress. I have so many ideas that just haven't come together yet but it's a start.

We sold the girls white crib a while back and got this cherry one for Grayson. It is much more boyish and it is nice to have a new crib for him.

Here is a close up of the sheet. I got the sheet and crib skirt from Pottery Barn Kids. I didn't get the bumpers because they were really expensive and they would have to come out of the crib when he started rolling anyway. So I plan on getting a breatheable bumper when the time comes.
I love the little alligators though. They are my favorite part of the room.

The stroller and carseat are still in his room. We will be installing his carseat where Emma's is but we are waiting until we drop them off tomorrow night to install the seat. You can also see his really cute whale tub. 

Here is his dresser. Katie gave this to us when she moved out of her apartment. It matches everything else perfectly. It still has a ton of room for little boy clothes.

 And here is his swing and nap nanny. Waiting on a sweet little baby.

Our Christmas Tree

This past Friday night we put up our tree and let the girls decorate it. This year was so much easier and better than last year. They did such a great job taking turns and it really was so much fun. We also made some chocolate chip cookies that they got to enjoy afterwards. Christmas with children really is the best. I love seeing their faces light up every time we turn the lights on. 

38 Weeks!

How far along? 38 Weeks! Only 8 days to go!

Size of Baby: Grayson is weighing in around 7 lbs and is about 19-22 inches long.

Maternity Clothes: Yep!

Weight: -29lbs

Gender: IT'S A BOY! Grayson Blake 

Labor Signs: They can come anytime but I would rather him wait until our scheduled date next week!

Movement: He's just rolling around alot. Not too many kicks lately. He does stick his butt out alot. :0)

Sleeping: I'm actually beginning to think that I will be getting a little more sleep once he is here. I'm not sure how I could get any less at this point.

What I Miss: The only thing I'm starting to miss is standing up without my hips and back hurting.

What I am looking forward to: I am looking forward to so many things this week. First off, Thanksgiving on Thursday. It's our last holiday as a family of four. I am hosting dinner at my house again this year and I'm really excited to see everyone. On Friday we will be putting up our Christmas tree with the girls. I know they are really going to get into it this year. Saturday we are all going to my mom and dads house to decorate their tree. We have great memories of this growing up and I'm so glad that the girls are all old enough to get involved. Sunday we are going to Tanglewood-Festival of Lights. Monday is my pre-op appointment and Tuesday we are taking Emma for her 4 year check-up and also dropping the girls off to spend the night with Nana and Papa. We will be getting up around 5am Wednesday morning to head to the hospital. As you can see we have lots going on over the next week. But most of all I am looking forward to just spending this last week with my two girls. After Grayson comes things will not be the same so I'm cherishing every minute.

Cravings/Aversions: Not really eating a whole lot lately. I get hungry a lot but a few bites fills me up. 

Symptoms: heartburn, back pain, swollen ankles, carpal tunnel syndrome

Best Moment this Week: The best moment this week was spending the afternoon shopping with Josh this past Saturday. My parents took the girls to Disney on Ice and Josh and I got some last minute things for Grayson. It was nice to just spend some time together. I also got Grayson's hospital bag packed!

I can't believe we will be meeting our son in 8 days!!!-----or less. :0)

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This Week

What can I say about this week? My intention for this post was to sort of complain about how awful my girls have acted the past few days and tell you all how tired I am from only getting two or three hours of sleep every night, but after I thought about it....who really wants to read about all that? Yes, it's true that the girls and I are not getting along well right now, but I have a suspicion that it has a lot to do with the fact their daddy has been gone for a lot longer than they are used to. I'm hoping when he comes home tomorrow things will kind of go back to normal. So here are just a few pictures from the past few days.

Monday was a particularly long day so I decided to get the girls out of the house for a little dinner date. We went to Chick-fil-a, which we don't do hardly ever. You would have thought I was the best mom ever. 

This morning the girls and I headed to the doctor for my 37 weeks checkup. It was sooooo cold here today that I got the girls dressed up in their sweaters and hats. Emma LOVED wearing this hat and demanded that I take her picture. She didn't take the hat off the whole time and I had to fight her to take it off once we got home. 

Every Wednesday Emma has dance class. We drop her off and then go back in an hour to get her. I love that little hour that I have just me and Ryleigh. Sometimes we will go to a store and look around and sometimes I will get her a treat. Today I got her a tiny milkshake and we watched Dora in the car while we waited for Emma to get done. I realized today that the next time I drop Emma off at dance class I will have Ryleigh and Grayson. :0)

My girls are absolutely OBSESSED with puzzles!!! When I tell you that they will put together the same puzzle over and over all day long....I am not over exaggerating. Emma had a huge love for puzzles early on and it has grown. She is really good at them and can put one together in no time at all. I have recently got her some with a lot more pieces and she will do it really quickly. Ryleigh started loving puzzles several months ago. Of course at first she just kind of let Emma help her do most of it. Not anymore though. She gets her own puzzle and will put it together all by herself. This past Sunday at my moms house the girls were sitting at the table putting some puzzles together and my mom commented on how impressed she was that Ryleigh could put together the puzzles by herself. I am honestly more impressed that she is 2 1/2 and will sit for hours and do the puzzle until it is done. I can tell that Ryleigh and Emma are more interested in things such as puzzles, coloring, play-doh, etc. than they are with playing outside or playing games. 

Josh comes home tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited. We have been able to FaceTime with him almost every day and the girls love that. I know they are ready for some real hugs and kisses though!

37 Weeks!

How far along? 37 Weeks! Only 2 weeks to go!

Size of Baby: Grayson is weighing in around 6.5 lbs and is about 19-22 inches long.

Maternity Clothes: Yep!

Weight: -29lbs

Gender: IT'S A BOY! Grayson Blake 

Labor Signs: Hopefully not for a couple more weeks. 

Movement: He's just rolling around alot. Not too many kicks lately. He does stick his butt out alot. :0)

Sleeping: Sleep?! Who has time to sleep when you have to roll over 22,000 times a night and get up to pee 15 times!

What I Miss: The only thing I'm starting to miss is standing up without my hips and back hurting.

What I am looking forward to: I am REALLY looking forward to Josh coming home on Thursday. I knew being 37 weeks pregnant and taking care of the girls would be exhausting but I didn't realize how much until this week. At least when Josh is here I have some help. I am also really looking forward to having the afternoon just him and I on Saturday! That doesn't happen very often so I want to take full advantage of it.

Cravings/Aversions: None really. I feel like I can never get full though.

Symptoms: heartburn, back pain, swollen ankles, carpal tunnel syndrome

Best Moment this Week: The best moment this week was getting all of little man's clothes washed and put away. I will probably start packing his hospital bag this coming week and I am trying really hard not to pack everything!

Starting last week, I am now going to the doctor every week. It is exhausting but now I know we are in the home stretch. Last Wednesday when I was at the doctor they did the Group B test which I haven't gotten the results back from yet and they also checked to see if I was dilated and I wasn't, which is really good. I spoke to my doctor about some problems I have been having and she said that I have carpal tunnel syndrome. It comes along in the last month or so of pregnancy for some people. It is caused by the swelling. It should go away once he is born and I'm praying that it does. That stuff is no joke!

I was so happy this morning to see this! I have this app on my phone and I try to only look at it once a week. It also gives me updates on how this little guy is growing.

Of course the countdown is only 2 weeks because our c-section will be done at 39 weeks instead of 40!

Randomness

This post will probably be all over the place but it's the easiest way to get up to date on what has been going on lately. Honestly, we have stayed home a lot over the past couple of weeks or so. It's mostly my fault because let's just face it, getting out isn't as easy as it used to be. Plus, there isn't much of anywhere we need to go. So we stay home and play a lot. We do a lot of puzzles and coloring around here. My girls are addicted to puzzles and Emma LOVES to color all day long. They are really into Play-doh now too. Here are just a few pictures from the past week or two. 

Swinging at Nana and Papa's last Sunday. 

This past weekend I spent taking the tags off all Grayson's clothes, blankets, burp cloths, etc. I got them all washed and put away. The cuteness of all these tiny clothes kills me. I still can't believe there will be a baby in the house in a little over 2 weeks!

The girls played hide and seek at mom and dads today. I can't even describe how much I love spending Sunday afternoons at my parents house. The girls love getting to play there with their cousins too. It's just so nice to have a day set aside that we all get together and spend family time. 

My sweet Ry-bear.  This little girl makes me laugh all day long with everything that she is saying. She has the cutest way of yelling "mommmmmy" all over the house. Then it's usually followed with "where are yoooooou?!" She is just so sweet and I love the age that she is now. 

And of course I had to include my little Emma. Emma is at the age where we aren't getting along very well. I don't know if it's the stage that she is in or that my patients are wearing a little thin these days but I'm hoping it won't stay around too long. She can be the sweetest child one minute and then the next she is giving the biggest attitude. I love her though. :)

This past Friday I picked up my nanny (my mom's mom) and took her to Salem Creek. Salem Creek is a beautiful store in Winston Salem and it is full of all kinds of decorative things and right now, some really awesome holiday stuff. They also have huge rooms full of Vera Bradley's. My nanny was looking for a new purse so I figured this was the perfect place. This is just one of the many walls of Vera's that they have. It doesn't even do it justice. 

Josh has been out of town since Friday and won't be back until Thursday night so right now I am spending my nights getting ahead on my school work. School doesn't technically end until after Grayson's born but I already have all of my assignments so I am really trying to get them all done and then I won't have to worry about them when he gets here.

At my mom's house today we were discussing everything that was coming up in the next few weeks and it is completely overwhelming. This coming weekend my parents are taking Emma and Ryleigh to Disney on Ice and Josh and I are going out to get the last few things we need for Grayson. Then comes Thanksgiving, putting up our tree, helping decorate my mom and dads tree, Tanglewood-Festival of Lights, and then Grayson will be here. A few days after Grayson is born Emma will be participating in the Christmas Parade with her dance class. Josh and I won't be able to go but my mom and dad are going to take the girls and I know they will have a great time. Just thinking about all of that makes me a little crazy but I am just focusing on enjoying these last couple of weeks with my little girls. 

36 Weeks!

How far along? 36 Weeks! Only 3 weeks to go!

Size of Baby: Grayson is weighing in around 6 lbs and is about 19-22 inches long.

Maternity Clothes: Yep!

Weight: -29lbs

Gender: IT'S A BOY! Grayson Blake 

Labor Signs: Hopefully not for a few more weeks. 

Movement: He's just rolling around alot. Not too many kicks lately. He does stick his butt out alot. :0)

Sleeping: Don't even wanna talk about it.

What I Miss: Nothing!

What I am looking forward to: I am just looking forward to spending the last few weeks with my family. We still have a few things to do to get ready for Grayson too.

Cravings/Aversions: We had a bonfire at my mom and dads last night and I we had smores. Now guess what I've wanted all day today?!?

Symptoms: heartburn, back pain, swollen ankles

Best Moment this Week: Best moment this week was taking the girls trick or treating. They really had a great time. I can't wait to take them all next year. 

Halloween 2012

Emma and Ryleigh had a great Halloween this year. It's no secret that I do not like Halloween one bit but I love to dress them up and go trick or treating. I just don't like everything else that goes along with Halloween. Emma was very excited this year to pick her costume. She wanted to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I got lucky and found a cute Belle dress on sale at Target and also a crown to go with it. Ryleigh wore Emma's costume from last year. Emma also wore it the year before that so I've gotten 3 uses out of it! It's finally going retired now though. We only took the girls to my mom and dads church to do trunk or treat. They did wonderful. They said trick or treat to everyone and also said thank you each time. Since Halloween they have worn their costumes around the house most of the day. They are also loving all the extra candy. They only get 2 pieces a day(one after lunch and one after dinner) so it should last a little while. After we left the church we took them to see Josh's parents for a bit where they got even more candy. I can't wait to have three little ones to dress up next year!