It's a BOY!

We had our early determination ultrasound yesterday and we found out our little one is a BOY!!! How exciting to have two little guys in our family - two little brothers. I swear Ava was destined to have little brothers because she has always been so high-energy and she loves to play rough and tumble and just can totally keep up with two little brothers. As soon as the girl put the ultrasound wand on my belly I saw "it" right away - like immediately. She wasn't even looking at her screen and hadn't freezed the image and I blurted out, "It's a boy." haha It was very obvious, which is always good to have a clear shot - my kids have always been very cooperative in this area and not modest or shy at all. :) So now to decide on a name. It's nice that I have pretty much everything we need for him because I swear it feels like Gavin just barely outgrew all the newborn clothes. 

Pregnant!

I wrote this in a draft, never intending to post it...but I'm afraid of losing it, so I figure why not chronicle my journey to baby #3.

So far, this pregnancy has been similar in some ways, but different in some ways than my others. I am "showing" WAAAAY sooner - I'm serious, my belly is definitely not what it was 3 months ago. I am also "sick" all. day. long. I am on the verge of throwing up constantly, but if I sit calmly, chew some gum and just breathe deeply, I can usually keep it from actually happening. There have been a few throwing up in the car incidents because the car makes me feel sick if I am driving in the morning. Nothing ever sounds good to eat...ever. And I constantly have a bad taste in my mouth...like something bitter on the back of my tongue. I have also been soooooooo irritable this time around - like everything bugs me waaaay more than normal. I can feel this starting to go away, but man it was bad.

So here are the previous things I wrote about this pregnancy:

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Well, I guess baby number three is on the way! I have really enjoyed re-reading my blog entries from when I was pregnant with Gavin, so I decided to write down my feelings this time around as well. I am 5 weeks along...still very early, so early that I really can't talk about it yet. So this private blog is a perfect journal of sorts for me.

How far along? 5 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: None so far

Maternity clothes? No

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: Fine

Best moment this week: No

Have you told family and friends: My dad, Kaitlyn, Nam, Jordan and Monica

Movement: No

Food cravings:  No

Anything making you queasy or sick:  No

Have you started to show yet:  No

Gender prediction:  ?

Labor Signs:  No

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Depends on the time of day (nothing abnormal haha)

Weekly Wisdom: 

Milestones: 
Baby Name Ideas:  
  Boys - Crew, Rowan, Owen
  Girls - Olivia, Everlee, Harper

Pregnancy goals this time:

1. Gain no more than 25 lbs
2. Exercise daily
3. Eat very little sugar and flour
4. Get adequate sleep (ba haha)

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6 weeks - feeling queasy, nothing sounds good to eat except bland food (rice, chicken noodle soup, etc)
6 weeks, 4 days - threw up first time

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8 weeks:
(Sunday) threw up 5 times, nothing sounded good to eat. Hoping this isn't the new "normal"

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How far along? 9 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: plus 2 pounds (depending on the time of day) yikes!

Maternity clothes? No

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: Fine

Best moment this week: Telling more family members

Have you told family and friends: My dad, Kaitlyn, Nam, Lisa and Jeff, Maddie, Kelsey and Brad, Granny & Papa

Movement: No

Food cravings: Peaches...honestly nothing else. I eat a lot of saltine crackers and other bland foods like tortillas with cheese
Food aversions: Meat - any and ALL meat, sugary things (leaves a horrible taste in my mouth)

Anything making you queasy or sick: Everything - really I feel nauseous all day, but I have to keep eating because if I get hungry, I feel super sick. If I get hot, I honestly feel like I'm about to have a panic attack haha. These hot summer days have been stressful. 

Have you started to show yet: I honestly feel like I have. What the heck? My belly is definitely poking out more than it did before at this point! Oh dear. I don't look "pregnant" though - just in that awkward fat stage. 

Gender prediction: ?

Labor Signs:  No

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Definitely moody - I am so, so, so tired and feeling so queasy all day...yes I am moody - and you would be too! haha. 

Weekly Wisdom: I had a dream I was having twins and it freaked me out so bad. SO, when I feel overwhelmed I can say at least I'm not having twins. :/

Milestones: 
Baby Name Ideas:  
  Boys - Crew, Rowan, Owen, Milo
  Girls - Olivia, Everlee, Harper, Reagan, Mila

10 week ultrasound. Bryson and Gavin came with me and we got a little peek of our little gummy bear. Ava was at preschool. The NP said the baby is measuring at 9 weeks 1 day, but she kept my due date at April 15th. 180 bpm heartbeat. Everything looks great. :)

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10 weeks, 3 days - I heard the baby's heartbeat on our at home fetal doppler! What a beautiful sound!

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11 weeks:

And now I am 13 weeks tomorrow. I have a dr appointment next Monday, just a routine checkup. We will find out the gender in about 2 weeks. I am still feeling sick and exhausted...one activity for the day and I am wiped out haha. I am hoping I am on the upswing and I start feeling back to my normal self again. 

And that's the update so far. :) So excited. :)

Ava Sophia {t-h-r-e-e}

Here's three years in 47 seconds...

Three. 

Three?

I have loved these three years with this sweet, spunky, inquisitive, curious, active, social, emotional, deep, loving, lovely, beautiful little girl.
I am amazed by her constantly - the things she picks up on, her imagination, her compassion, her wit.

Here are some things I want to remember about Ava at this age:

• Ava is in the inevitable "dress up" phase of life. Princesses and dolls and plastic high heels rule her little sparkly life.
• Ava loves to sing and dance. Whenever she hears a new song, she listens very intently the first time and then somehow knows all the words the second time (okay maybe not by the 2nd time haha, but she picks up on songs very quickly). Ava loves to dance like a ballerina.
• Ava knows all her letter sounds and is starting to write her letters. She can spell her name (pretty challenging, ya know A-V-A haha) and is learning how to write her name as well. She can write the letter A and it working on V. 
• Ava loves to color, paint, play with play dough, and do any kind of art project she can. She loves cutting with scissors and using glue and overall, just making huge messes but having so much fun. She also loves to help me bake.
• Ava knows the first Article of Faith and parts of the other ones.
• Ava can count to 20.
• Ava goes to preschool 2 times a week and loves it. She also started swim lessons and has loved learning how to put her face in the water and kick and swim to her teacher.
• Ava s just so smart and sweet and happy and very insightful for her age. She comforts people when they are sad and loves to give hugs and kisses. She says the funniest things and shocks me daily by saying the funniest, smartest, most clever things. 

I could go on and on and on and on. I ADORE this little girl. I treasure these moments when she is little and just love watching her grow up. She is definitely in the "3's" phase of her life - always wanting to do things herself and be independent and sometimes overly emotional, but overall she is just an absolute joy in my life. She is my sweet, snuggly, helper girl - I know she will be a wonderful big sister to her little siblings. 

I love you my sweet Ava girl. Forever and ever, and ever. 

Love, 

Momma

I'll put up more pictures of her party later.