Christmas

Christmas clothes







Tucker telling me cheese while playing with the tool set that Santa brought



Hanna and Tucker playing with tools



Hanna with her new doll house, bow and arrows, and Merida Barbie



We got Koda this bed for Christmas. He snores so loud every night now!



On Christmas Eve we watched Muppet Christmas Carol, the kids opened pajamas, and we read the Christmas story from the Bible. Then we put the kids to bed and Santa came. He had a lot of assembly to do. The next morning we woke the kids up and headed out to see what Santa brought. Tucker got lots of horses and trucks as well as his tool bench. Hanna got lots of Brave toys and a doll house that is much taller than her. Dave got me a whole set of Bath and Body works things in my favorite scent. I got him a new belt and a really nice western watch. After we had opened all our presents Dave disappeared and returned with another big box. He had another gift for me. I opened it to find a gorgeous pair of shotgun chaps.



He had his brother Steve make them and they are perfect!

We had our traditional holiday breakfast of Monkey Bread and Bacon.

We had lunch and spent the afternoon with my parents and siblings. Them we brought the kids home to have a nap that we desperately needed.

We spent dinner and the evening with Dave's family.

It was a great Christmas. Tucker has been looking for Santa ever since. Poor kid, he finally grasps the concept of Christmas and then he has to wait a whole year. That is more than half his life time.

Posted by Brianna

Baby #3

So I have decided to do the whole blog your pregnancy thing. I will try to keep up with just once a month.

For a little back ground, I told Dave sometime early this last summer that I felt there was another baby to come to our family. He wasn't convinced and I wanted to wait until the end of the summer to start trying anyway. We decided to talk about it then. Well at the beginning of October I found out that I got pregnant even on birth control. We lost that baby just two days later at 5 weeks.

Well not quite two months later we found out that I was pregnant again. This time was great because I actually felt pregnant.




We got our first ultrasound last week and everything looks great. Baby is measuring about four days small. That is not surprising at all because Hanna measured six days small and Tucker measured 2 days small. It was so funny because the ultrasound tech told us "there is one baby" but she said it like she was still looking for more. Dave was like "What does that mean! Is there more?!" There is really only one.

We told the kids that they were getting another sibling. I am not sure Tucker really understands. Hanna is really excited and keeps telling me that there is a baby sleeping in my tummy.

I may post pregnancy pics of myself down the road but there is nothing to see now.

So here's how things are going so far:

10 Weeks
Due: August 8th
Maternity clothes: no- still in my regular pants
Weight Gain: none yet
Sick: very nauseous but no vomiting
Mood: varies- mostly happy but fatigue is not helping. I am looking forward to the second trimester.
Gender: most think boy including my doctor but there are a couple who think girl. Dave and I have no idea at this point. With both our other kids I knew right from the start.
Hoping for: either- we have a boy and a girl so this time doesn't matter.
Movement: I am pretty positive I felt those first flutters today. I know it is early but I felt Tucker this early too. With Tucker I figured it was just in my head until a couple days later when we had the ultrasound and his movements matched the flutters I was feeling.
Preeclampsia: has not wielded it's ugly head yet but is not expected until much later.
I miss: having energy
Excited for: our next appointment- I love prenatal visits

I know that it is drama but I will be posting about preeclampsia during this pregnancy. Not to get attention but because I have been trying to find information and personal stories since I was pregnant with Hanna and there is just not much out there- especially for a third pregnancy. If you are not interested I don't blame you. Please skip this part. I had preeclampsia with both my other kids. I was induced at 34 weeks with Hanna and 36 weeks with Tucker because of severe preeclampsia. They both stopped growing about two weeks before their births, I measure small and had very little amniotic fluid. My doctor says that if you have it the first time you have at 25% chance of having it the next time. If you have it the next time you have a 50% chance of getting it a third time. It was good to hear that my chances are still only half. However he also said if I do get chances are it will be sooner and more severe. Those are the stats but how I really feel was said perfectly in a TV show I like called "Scrubs" and Dr. Cox says "statistics mean nothing to the individual." Precautions I am taking this time are taking two tums each day for the calcium, taking a baby aspirin every day (this is new to this pregnancy, I did not try this before), watching the weight gain-trying to keep it under 25 pounds, exercising as much as sickness and fatigue allow. I have been jogging on the treadmill and doing Pilates. I hope I can do more once I get into the second trimester. All of these things are to try and prevent this disease. They have shown in tests to reduce the risk. There is nothing out there that for sure prevents it as they do not know what causes it. I will also be having lots of tests to try and detect preeclampsia early. Things that put you at risk are obesity, excessive weight gain, diabetes, previous history or family history, multiples, previous high blood pressure, and being under 15 or over 40 years old. I don't have any of these other than now I have previous history and the high blood pressure never went away after I had Hanna. It is supposed to go away after delivery. If there is anyone who come across this blog with experiences or questions about preeclampsia please feel free to either leave a comment or email me.

- Posted by Brianna

My Little Performers

Hanna and Tucker put on a show for me the other night. They stood on the coffee table and Hanna sang while Tucker smiled and danced. It was so cute and so fun! They even let me get out the camera. Yes, their faces are extremely messy. I didn't want to ruin the fun by washing faces.









I cannot get the videos to upload but I will keep trying to figure it out and update this post when I can.

Hanna knows two songs really well: Jingle Bells and the ABC's. we often hear her making up songs or singing her sentences. Tucker is always willing to dance to the music.

Thanksgiving

I totally dropped the ball on taking pictures on Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful day. We ate dinner at Mom and Dad's house and then we took dinner to Mom and Dad at the hospital. We had and still have so much to be thankful for. When we found out how sick Dad's heart was it made me feel really stupid for worrying about all the things I had been. It was also great to have my entire family together at that time. Because of scheduling problems we were unable to celebrate Thanksgiving with Dave's family.



Tucker LOVED the fruit salad!




Hanna had so much fun playing with her cousins that I didn't get her to hold still long enough to get a picture until that night.

Cousins

My brother, Austin, and his wife, Sydnee, came to visit for a week during Thanksgiving. They live in Washington so we don't get to see them too often. This meant that Hanna and Tucker got to spend lots of time playing with their cousins Heath and Raleigh. I didn't get too many pictures but they were so cute playing together I had to post a few.



This was the first time these two were together and both walking.



Raleigh and Hanna had a blast playing ring-around-the-rosies.




Tucker and Hanna had a lot of fun trying on Grandpa's hats and belts.

We also weighed all four while we had them together.

Hanna age 3 1/2- 25 lbs
Raleigh age 2 1/2- 24 lbs
Tucker age 19 months- 20 lbs
Heath age 15 months- 27 lbs

These four are all of my parents grandkids. But not for long. My sister will be having a little boy in February. We are all so excited!

Halloween

I really like to make the kids Halloween costumes. The hard part is always coming up with the idea. We always call Tucker "Tucker Man." Well one day we were talking about how it makes him sound like a superhero. The idea was born. They would be Tucker Man and Hanna Girl. Originally I wanted to make them these cute jet packs that I found on Pinterest. Dave and I were talking and he told me he thought capes would be more super hero-like. He actually brought me a cute devils cape that he wore when he was Tucker's age. It was perfect. So I used the cape as a pattern and the kids were super heroes with capes. They were so cute. The masks that I made didn't work out so well. Luckily Dave was there to save the day. In the picture where Tucker is pointing to his mask he is telling me "cute, cute."