Lovin Life

Sorry it has been so long since my last post, we have been very busy around here. Ryan is back to work after a short lay off and starting to work overtime and weekends, which is WONDERFUL! Since he only will have worked a combined of 4.5 months since last December 12th, we will take any hours he can get. I am now in the middle of my 35th week and doing good. I went to the doctor yesterday and the baby's heartbeat is still constant at 150. Somehow I managed to lose 3 pounds within the past two weeks. This pregnancy has just been so different in many ways. The weight gain is the most different. To date I have only gained 15 pounds. I gained A LOT more with Matthew. With this one I don't have time to just sit down and relax or take a nap on the weekends. I continue to try to eat healthy and don't snack like I did when I was pregnant with Matthew. I have had zero cravings this time around too, which is odd to me. I get home from work and have other mommy duties to attend to. It isn't until bedtime at 8:00 until we actually can sit down and put my feet up. I started getting some small contractions a few weeks ago and they got a bit more frequent last week with a stressful week at work. My feet and legs started to swell last week, but now that I am on Christmas break they have gone back to normal and I am not having as many contractions. We'll see how things go once I go back to work.

Matthew continues to do well and is talking more and more each day. We continue to keep our fingers crossed that he will not get any ear infections this winter and avoid another round of tubes. Matthew loves to kiss and hug my belly and say hi to his "baby bruder". It will still be a learning experience once Andrew is born to see how Matthew adapts to the new addition. I have been practicing with Ann's boys and so far Matthew doesn't even notice when I hold and feel them. Occasionally he will come over and look at the boys and maybe kiss their head, but he hasn't shown any jealousy...yet!

Other than that, we wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I can't believe how fast the past ten years have gone and we are getting ready to embark on a new decade. Safe travels to those who are leaving town.

The Rutten Boys!

Ann delivered Adam and Sam almost two weeks ago and Adam finally came home this weekend! Sam is still in the NICU, but doing great and will hopefully be home by this weekend. He is just working on eating all of his bottles without needing the feeding tube. We went over there this weekend to see Adam and Matthew did very well with me holding a new baby. Hopefully this is a sign of what is to come in 9 weeks or less! You can see some pictures of the boys right after delivery at our usual photo site. Enjoy!

Finally some good news!

I took Matthew to the ENT yesterday for his check-up and hearing test and to all our surprise the fluid is FINALLY gone behind his eardrums and he had a normal hearing test. We were very happy and hoping this winter will go smoothly. If he starts up with the ear infections this winter, we will go with a second round of tubes. Keep your fingers crossed that his body will be able to absorb and filter out any fluid and we won't have to go back there for a long time!

Happy Halloween!

We took Matthew out for his first official time trick-or-treating. We went with the Brink family and Matthew and Brady were matching dinosaurs. Lindsay's mom, Donna, made the costumes for the boys and they couldn't have turned out better. Matthew has actually been wearing his costume for about three weeks around the house! The boys had a great time walking up to each house and as Matthew would say "tick-or-teat" and then of course "tank you" when they gave him some candy. They both made it almost around our big block, which we were proud of. We posted a bunch of photos to our site, please enjoy!

In other news, the doctors scheduled my C-section for January 28th, which is three days after my due date. The hospital has new guidelines for their scheduling, so if I make it to that day, we will deliver then. If not, we will deliver when I either start laboring or my water breaks, like with Matthew. They don't want the labor to get too far into it in case Andrew gets stuck like Matthew did. Other than that, I continue to feel great and have avoided the first and start of the second round of the flu at school. I continue to knock on wood because all my coworkers have gotten it! Matthew will now kiss, hug and nose kiss my belly for his baby brother. He is finally understanding what is happening. He loves babies too, but who knows how he will adjust when there is a new baby at his house for good.

Love Bug

Since our last post we have completely taken Matthew off all allergy medicines for his ears. His body just doesn't handle them well. After about a week on the Clarinex he started not sleeping much at all. He wouldn't fall asleep until after 11:00 and wake up around 4:00. Oddly he was in a great mood all the time, but five hours of sleep is not healthy for him or myself. Since taking him off the medicine and allowing for his body to adjust back, he is now back to 12-13 hour uninterrupted nights!

We went to the pumpkin patch last week and I posted some new photos at our site. We also spent some time with friends and celebrated Silas' fourth birthday at the fire station. The kids all had a blast climbing on and in the trucks, wearing some fire gear and spraying the fire hose!

As for the newest addition to be joining us in about three months, we have finally decided on a name. We went with Andrew David. Matthew is working on saying his name, but has "baby brother" (sounds more like bruder) down pat. Now when I show him my belly and ask who is in there, he will say "baby" or "brother". I go back to the doctor next week for my monthly check-up and glucose test. Hopefully we will also set a date for January at that appointment too.

Update on us

After our last ENT appointment our doctor put Matthew on Children's Zyrtek in hopes that it would get rid of some of the fluid in his ears that isn't draining. The side effects are either a very drowsy child or a wild and crazy one. We got both! The medicine would knock him out cold within twenty minutes and he would sleep hard for about five to six hours. Then he would wake up and be crazy! He would yell our names, jump on his bed, chase the dogs, feed the dogs, get out his books and toys all at 4:00 a.m. Not too fun for either of us. He would stay like this until nap at daycare where he would then pass out for three hours and have to be woken up. We decided this wasn't the medicine for us, so we were switched for children's Clarinex this time. It seems to be working a little better. He will still wake up, but not until 5:30 and will often go back to sleep until my alarm goes off at 6:30. He is still very wild at daycare until he passes out at nap. We go back next month to see if any of it is working for his ears.

I went to the doctor last week and everything is going great. The baby's heart rate is strong at 156 and he is very active, which I like. I continue to feel excellent and have adjusted to going back to work nicely. The heat at the beginning of the year caused some swelling in my legs and feet, but now that the weather is less humid and cooler everything is fine. The doctors are still going back and forth as to when I am actually due so we have not scheduled my C-section yet. Hopefully at my next appointment we will have a definite date. Three out of four evaluations say I am due January 25th (so a C-section date would be January 18th), and one of the evaluations gave us a February 2nd due date (meaning a January 25th c-section). Of course we could have a date scheduled and my water could break early anyway and then we would just go ahead from there with the procedure. Just can't predict it!

Ryan and I got the nursery all set up last weekend too. All the clothes are washed, hung up or folded and ready for the arrival. We only have to raise the crib mattress and get the bedding ready. Matthew is starting to understand what is happening now that I am showing more and he is out of the nursery. Seeing all the baby clothes and infant toys helps. We have narrowed the names down to Bradley, Scott and Jack and are working towards a decision. Hopefully sooner than later!

It's a...

We had our ultrasound today and we are having another boy! We couldn't be happier. We just wanted to make sure that everything was developing correctly and it is. His brain, spine, heart, kidneys, arms and legs look great and the heart rate was 154. He weighs about 12 ounces now. We couldn't get a good measurement on his length because he was pretty curled up in a ball. Ryan and I quickly saw the "boy" parts before the ultrasound tech told us what we were looking at (the same experience we had with Matthew). We tried to get a good 3D shot of his face, but every time she tried, he would cover his face with his hands.

Now we have the hard task of coming up with a name that we can both decide on. Matthew is saying "brother" now and also working on saying the names we are thinking of. If it was going to be a girl, he had Ali (for Allison) down pat. For some reason though I think he will still call his brother Ali!