37 week update

On Wednesday I started my 37th week of pregnancy. I went to the doctor for my routine check-up, thinking it would be a quick in and out appointment. First, the nurse took my blood pressure and we found out that it was a little elevated. I then told the doctor about a little episode that I had the day before. I didn't think much of it, but she sure did seem concerned.

On Tuesday I was working at Mom's Day Out and, when doing some sight word flash cards with the kids, my vision got a little blurry. It lasted for about 30 minutes and then went away, leaving me with a headache. Once we were outside for recess I was having a hard time talking. I had to really think about what I was saying, and just felt like I wasn't making sense. I had a hard time coming up with certain words. That finally went away, but I still had the headache. I had the headache the rest of the day, but Wednesday felt just fine.

Well, my doctor wanted to be safe and send me over to labor and delivery for some testing. She was worried I may have preeclampsia or maybe even had a mini stroke. I went straight over to the hospital and let the testing begin. I had tons of blood drawn, an MRI, an ultrasound (where we saw that Aubrey still has an enlarged kidney) and an EEG. Everything came back normal and the neurologist felt that what I experienced was most likely an optical migraine. I was having contractions every 3-5 minutes on Wednesday. They had slowed to every 10 minutes by Thursday morning. They weren't hard contractions that I couldn't talk through, so we weren't too worried about them. So, after 24 hours I was released to come home.

I am supposed to take things easy, which I am finding I don't do very well.

As of now, I will be induced on Monday, April 4th. I go back to the doctor Tuesday morning, so hopefully things are still looking good.

Reid's Three....well, he turned 3 last month!

I realized the other day that I had never done Reid's three year post. It's honestly quite hard to believe that he is already three. I pulled up his two year picture just now and it seems like it was just yesterday. It almost made me cry, but that just may be because I am pregnant! We had a great time celebrating Reid this year. He had a Handy Manny birthday party with a few of his friends. On his birthday, we had school; so he got to celebrate with his friends again. After school, his Mimi brought him an "eye patch" cookie that he loved. He decided it was way better than the cupcakes I had made. Reid is such a fun little guy. He loves tools, trains, and his newest love is pirates (hence the eye patch cookie!). We watched The Veggie Tales The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything and that started the excitement about pirates. Reid still likes to sleep with his yellow hammer, but he also has a foam "pirate" sword close by, too. Reid has a wild imagination that is constantly going. He is also always saying something that makes me laugh. He has even started making these silly faces which has made getting a good picture quite difficult! I love how sweet and caring Reid is. He is so excited about being a big brother and has already shown how much he loves Aubrey. Reid loves to come and rub my stomach and talk to her. What's crazy is that she always moves when he talks to her. I can't wait to see how they will be once Aubrey is actually here. Reid loves to come down to my bed in the morning and cuddle. I have to admit that I LOVE that! He will also grab a blanket in the middle of the day and want to cuddle. If I tell him I can't he always says, "but I love you." Really, how can I possibly say no to that! I am so blessed by Reid and thankful that I get to be the one he calls Mom.

playing at the park

During Spring Break the weather was perfect so I took the boys on a bike ride to the park.

This is one of those microphone things that you talk into and the person across the playground can hear you.

My Reid is getting so big...

Peek-a-boo!

This end of the microphone thing was just a bit too tall for Reid, but that didn't stop him from trying!

Cade finally decided to let me take his picture.

So, Cade is way behind on learning to ride his bike, but I am proud to say that he is finally getting the hang of it. We have tried to get him to ride his bike in the past, but he would rather just play sports. He has been willing to try, but usually just gets frustrated and moves on to something else. Reid on the other hand, is doing awesome riding his bike. I actually think he does it a little better than Cade!

Exhausted

Last weekend Matt took the boys to the movies while I started painting Aubrey's room. Once they got back home he fed them lunch and then played for a bit. Matt came upstairs to check on the progress and when he went back downstairs this is what he found....



This is the second time in the last few weeks that those boys have fallen asleep together in bed. Usually they just play when they are together, but I guess they really were exhausted! I love how Reid has his super hero cape on and sword in his hand.

Rodeo fun

Matt took a few hours off work a few weeks ago so we could take the boys to the Houston Livestock Show. I didn't want to go on a weekend and fight the crowds, so we went on a Wednesday. The weather was PERFECT.


The boys first ride. The operator took one look at me and said, "umm, no" I quickly learned I was just going to be there for pictures, but that is ok. I had fun watching my boys have fun!

Cade remembered the slide and was so excited to ride it again. If it wasn't so stinking expensive I would have let him ride it over and over!

The boys had fun going through and learning about the farm. What was even better was the little snack they got at the end!

When we saw this pirate ship ride Reid yelled out, "Oh, ships!" He is totally into pirates right now (because he watched The Veggie Tales The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything). The entire time the boys were on this ride they were holding their pretend swords and making mean pirate faces.

Reid wanted to play a shooting game. You are guaranteed a win when you are the only 2 people playing! :) However, I am not quite sure I really wanted the boys to win. I don't really need that random stuffed animal!!

We went inside to the kid area and saw these eggs that were hatching. Cade was insistent that he stay to see one hatch. 45 minutes later he finally saw a baby chick pop out. He really stood there the whole time watching. I would ask him if we could leave and he never wanted to. Reid, on the other hand, had no interest after about a minute. Thank goodness Matt was there to take him on to see other animals and play with him while we waited.

This one little chick kept going over to the hatching egg and tapping on it. It was like he was helping his little friend come out!

One of the best things at the rodeo....a funnel cake from Sills concessions. It was amazing as always. I kinda wish I had another right now! :)

We also got some fried oreos. Reid just laughed this goofy laugh when he bit into them. I do admit, they were good! :)

We stayed all afternoon and left with 2 exhausted little boys. Reid claimed he wasn't tired and that he didn't want to leave. Poor kid was asleep before we left the parking lot!

Blessings

A friend posted this song on her blog today and I just had to share it, too. What a powerful song.

Blessings by Laura Story

We pray for blessings We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
As long as we have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not our home

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

What did you just ask?

(Cade on trailrider day last week)

Today at Mom's Day Out we had both 4 year old classes combined. I am a teacher in one of the classes and Cade is in the other class. We were having a great time celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday by making green eggs and ham. One of the other teachers was reading a book to the class while I made the eggs. Cade gets up out of his chair and comes over to me and says, "Mom, what happened to this ear?"

Excuse me.....what did he just say? Did he just ask that....right now.....in the middle of making green eggs? I've waited for that question for years and he really just asked me in the middle of class. I told Cade we would talk about it later and he bounced back to his chair seemingly fine. I was a little more in shock.

I wanted to take Cade right away and go talk to him, but I wanted to wait until all distractions were gone. So, tonight when I was tucking him in bed I crawled up next to him and told him about his ear. In a nutshell I told him that God made him that way and that he was so special to me. I reminded him that he can do everything that anyone else can and that he is just extra special. I told him that some people may ask questions or say mean things. We went over how to react to that and he seemed just fine. He even told me what he would say. I was so amazed with Cade's reaction. He was totally ok. He didn't seem bothered or upset....not one bit. His next question was, "Can we talk about sports now?"

Wow. That is a conversation I have thought about so many times. I have thought of all the different ways that Cade would handle it and this really was the best. Thank you God for giving Cade such a wonderful attitude about his ear. I pray that he always feels that way.