Snap Shots through July

Ria and I have kept up our Tuesday (and sometimes Friday) routine of going to the library. Javan has joined us this summer. At first he acted like he wanted nothing to do with it so he would sit with me and just listen to the story. With each passing week he started to participate more and he actually looks forward to going now.

 J loves taking pics of them asleep. Notice their matching Yoshi (from Mario brothers) hanging on the headboard

Just another rainy July day (headed to church on Sunday morning)

During VBS week Javan lost his 3rd bottom tooth

Saturday morning after VBS J and I slept in til about 10am. Honestly the only reason we woke up is cos Ria came into our room and woke us up with 'My tummy is telling me its really hungry. You need to wake up now!' Needless to say we didnt do much that day. Later on I did have to run an errand. I opened my car door and look what I found:

Apparently Ria filled up her craft bag with a ton of confetti and earlier in the day they went to get their stuff out the car and it fell out her bag. She had to clean it up!

Sunday cuteness

Pregnancy craving: Feta dip. Its so delish!

Javan lost his first top tooth (that brings the total of teeth lost to 4)

Dressed and ready for church (and the little miss is whining about not having a ponytail)

The sun finally came out in July so we were able to get some swim time.

Saturday morning run/walk with my hubby ... loved the time alone to just chat and catch up

Ria is always hugging and kissing me. Now she makes sure our baby gets some too. She squeezes my belly (ouch) for the hugs and then kisses all over. Its so sweet:)

Baby shower time ... Aunty Flora had a joint baby shower for Debbie and Eleanor on the 27th. Debbie is due at the end of September and Eleanor at the end of October.

Debbie is 31wks, I am 17wks and Eleanor is 27wks.

Daddy/daughter time ... they baked us a yummy cake for dessert one night

Just clowning around before bedtime

What's a summer without popsicles? 

And we end July the way it started .... with lots of rain!!! 

~V

Baby 3 Update: 16 weeks

I was excited to start my second trimester mainly cos it meant my days of being miserable would be fewer. But at 16wks I was still battling nausea (I am 17w 5d now and have been nausea free for a few days woo hoo!!!). My appetite has returned but I just can't eat a whole lot.

My 16wk appt was very routine: pee in a cup, weight (up 2lbs / 0.9kg), blood pressure was good. I am apparently having a lot of round ligament pain which is NOT fun. But other than that I feel great. I am still working out at pretty much the same intensity. I just rest more often in between and try to keep my heart rate in the 150's (not easy to do when I want run full steam ahead but I am trying) and I have lowered the amount of weight I am lifting.

The most exciting part of week 16 was the kids getting to hear our babies heart beat for the first time.  Javan's eyes lit up and Ria broke out in the biggest grin. I can still picture their faces! They asked to hear it again so the nurse let them listen a little longer. Such a sweet sound.

and here's the 16wk bump.

I really feel and look more fat than pregnant. I am still wearing my regular clothes and just cleaned out my closet of stuff I know I wont be able to wear the rest of this year. I just have a few maternity pieces but this bump is developing a lot quicker so I definitely need to get some stuff clothe is growing belly!
~V

Baby 3 Update: The First Trimester

Baby #3 is on the way!!! Wow! We've always talked hypothetically about a 3rd but we had decided on not having anymore and we were happy with that decision. Fast forward to a couple of nights before Ria's birthday. Jermaine was getting all sappy and reminiscing about her baby days.

He says 'So what do you think about having another little one? Should we go for it or forget about it?'
My response 'Forget about it!'

Four days later I sent him a text to pick up a pregnancy test on his way home from work. I took 2 that night and both were inconclusive. No big deal. The next day I was starting to get a little anxious.
So I got another test and took it later that morning. I about panicked when I saw these two lines show up:

I sent J a text (bad idea) and all it said was 'It's positive. I am going to the gym.' Two hours later I saw a bunch of missed calls from him and we finally got to talk after lunch. He was practically jumping of the walls while I cried my eyes out. I was just so nervous. This was not in our plan but he kept reassuring me that it would all work out. I had NO symptoms for 3wks, so it was really hard to believe I was actually pregnant. With Ria I took the test on a Friday night and Saturday morning I was throwing up. With Javan the nausea started sooner and the throwing up came a few weeks after that.

 Here's my first trimester summed up:

Due Date: 1 January 2014

Morning Sickness: Nausea starting around 8wks and headaches followed right behind. The nausea usually started in the afternoon and got progressively worse through the day. The headaches stayed with me all day long. It was miserable. I was also ridiculously tired. Most days I just made it to the gym. Got my work out in and came home and crashed. I was so glad J was home in the afternoons cos I got a chance to rest.

Cravings / Aversions: No real cravings that I can think off. I think I ate more oranges and cheese sandwiches. I really had no appetite to eat and I stopped eating some stuff I love (like hummus) so I wouldn't hate it. And if you know me, you know how I love to eat ice. I couldn't stand to eat ice and I could barely drink my water each day (I normally drink a ton).

Sharing the news:  J wanted to tell the kids immediately but I wanted to wait til at least my 12wk appointment before we told them, so we shared the news with family and just a few friends before making it public. No one believed us! It was pretty funny actually:)

Doctor visits: I had my first appointment at the end of May (8wks). We got to see the little babe and see the heart beating in the 160's! It made everything so much more real then. My weight and blood pressure were all good. And I had to get blood work done. Not my fave part at all. The results from my blood work showed that my hemoglobin and hematocrit counts were low. So basically I am anemic. No surprise here.

My 2nd appointment was in June. We had another ultrasound. It's amazing how much the baby grew in just four weeks. I met with my doctor and we talked for a good while. And after the appointment we got to share this wonderful news with Javan and Ria.

They are so excited and can't stop talking about the baby. Javan has asked for the longest time if we could have more babies in our house. He wants to know how the baby is going to come out and every week he asks what size the baby is.

Ria is also pretty curios. The funniest thing she has asked is what will the baby look like when it comes out. I told her just like her and Javan. She then wanted to know if it will be brown like us or peach like Norah. Hilarious. Every day I hear this statement 'I wish it were Christmas already so our baby can be with us.' One day she made the comment that she thinks the baby is ready to come out and play with her. Javan said 'Not yet. Mummy has to get really fat first. When she starts looking a lot like Santa then you know it will almost time for the baby to come!'

They both want to pick up my shirt all the time to talk to and kiss the baby. They were pretty eager to tell everyone (which I knew would happen). The funniest exchange was when Javan told his friend Nathan that I have a baby in my belly. They high fived each other!

Here are a few belly pics we have taken

I was glad to see my first trimester come to an end but sadly the nausea and headaches carried into my 2nd trimester ... more on that coming up!
~V

Here We Grow ... again!

This news has been out for about a month now but I have to make it blog official!

We are so excited about this little surprise that will be joining our family in January. New Years day is my parents anniversary and we will also celebrate our 10 year anniversary in January! Its gonna be a big month:)

I have to brag on that pic above. Javan wrote all the letters BACKWARDS with sparklers. And I am really proud of my photography:) It took us about 4 nights to get it done and he got the 3 on the very last sparkler we had. We were all outside jumping and cheering when it turned out just right!

Here's some of the outtakes from all that fun we had with the sparklers. These were taken in June and J took the first few. Ria tried her best to write with them but she could only get circles done!

 And just in case the sparkler pics didnt work out out, I took a few of these. I still can't believe we will have THREE kids!

 We did this little collage for J for Fathers Day. He loved it!

More pregnancy updates to come!
~V

Chattanooga Choo Choo Train Exhibit

Last Saturday we spent the day at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. There was a free Lionel train exhibit and we knew Javan would love it. I didn't realize Ria and Jermaine would be just as into it as Javan was!

Once we got inside the hotel, we pretty much lost them. They were mesmerized and had the best time making train tracks, watching the trains go and even controlling the trains. Getting pics of them was a mission!

 We got to ride the trolley train

 Ria got to ring the bell!

It was super hot that day so we finished our fun day with ice cream, well gelato actually at Milk & Honey. The exhibit was really nice and I am so glad we had the chance to go. Ended up being a wonderful family day out.
~V