21 weeks

These weeks in the early 20's always seem so uneventful. We made it to 20 weeks, which was a big milestone, and then the next big milestone is 26 weeks when we hit the third trimester. Otherwise, it seems like not much happens around this time!

We did go to the midwife on Friday. We met Marilyn, who is one of our midwives. She is super nice, I've liked them all a lot so far. We also found out that our other midwife, Oni, is taking a sabbatical from attending births, so we got assigned Patricia instead. We'll be meeting her next month down at the other birth center in Tualatin. Both of them are about the same distance from our house. 

Little Baby has been moving around a ton still, the midwives both thought it was very wiggly! All of our kids have been very active inside, which I love. 

I got my iron tested at our WIC appointment on Friday, and it was still low. So Marilyn suggested an iron supplement. Hopefully that will help and my levels will be normal at my 28 week appointment. Otherwise, everything is going great! I think I've gained about 12 pounds, which is about where I was with both of our other kids. I gained 36 pounds total with each of them, and they were both 8 pounds 11 oz. I'm hoping this one isn't any bigger than they were! Haha

Changes this week: I started sleeping with a pillow between my knees, which helps a little bit with hip pain at night. I've also noticed that if I don't have protein right before bed, I get insomnia. Apparently a blood sugar crash can cause that. So it's protein instead of carbs for an evening snack!

Cravings this week: Carbs. Haha! But really, I'm not having too many cravings at this stage.

Anniversary vacation, sick, snow, and Reid turns 31 months

Andy and I celebrated 10 years of marriage! We took a trip to the coast for five days and had a lovely time. Andy said a few times that it was the best vacation we've ever had. We did a puzzle, watched movies, read a lot, ate yummy food (mostly made by ourselves), and just relaxed. The weather was horrible, but we enjoyed it anyway! Our little beach house was really cute, just right for the two of us. What a fun getaway. We're so grateful to my parents who spent the weekend with our kids!

We also all got sick with a nasty cold. I was feeling better by our trip, but still coughing and stuffy. Reid is the one who got it the worst, after two weeks of having it he got a fever on and off for four days, and his congestion all came back. I'm not sure if he got something new, or if his cold just got worse. :( Poor guy.

 We started our new 1000 piece puzzle pretty much right when we got there and got unloaded. The kids kept praying for a few days ahead of our trip, "Help Mommy and Daddy finish their piece puzzle."

 And we couldn't stop doing the puzzle (only a short break for dinner), and got it totally done in a few hours! It was a really fun one.

 Meanwhile, the kids and Grandma Debbie baked these cute cookies.

 The beach was pretty cold!

 But we walked on it a few times anyway.

 All dressed up for our anniversary dinner date!

<3

 We went down to Newport to a place called Sorella. The weather was so bad, the drive was kind of scary! But our pasta and this amazing pancetta pizza were worth it.

 Saturday morning workout time!

 Steak dinner on Saturday night made the house a little smoky, and they had very sensitive smoke detectors. Haha

 But I got to have fun cooking in an All-Clad pan (my dream cookware), and our steaks were amazing. We ate one, and saved the other for breakfast hash, which was equally delicious with potatoes, onions, bell peppers, and an egg!

We took some chairs down to the beach to sit and watch the sunset.

 It was amazing! And freezing cold.

 Baby belly! My belly button is really sticking out. :)

Here's Ruby all ready for school on Monday. She loves wearing her pretty dress.

We got a surprise snow fall on our drive home. It was pretty, but made for slow goings over the pass. Thankfully we made it through without a problem. 

 Grandma and Grandpa tired our kids out! Hahaha! Tired kids are happy kids.

We were so glad to be home with our babies.

 Ruby likes to make these little houses for her and Reid. Reid is in the "bed" inside there.

 And they ate their oranges and water sitting on Reid's mattress at his bed.

 We ran errands, getting oil changed and going through the car wash. So then we made our own car wash when we got home! The kids loved it.

And so did I. I love making things like this for them! 

Ruby was shaking it to get the car clean with the blue things. 

 Concentrating at coloring time.

 She wanted to read to him at nap time.

 Who needs to buy a gingerbread house kit when you can make one out of a cardboard box??!!

She likes floating in the tub lately. 

 We've had several boxes come in the mail, the kids love playing in them! They usually make a car out of it.

 She has been soooo helpful lately. Trying to help Reid with his socks.

We decided to brave the Zoo Lights on a freezing cold night before the forecasted snow! 

We bundled everyone up really good, and brought hand warmers, which were much needed. 

It was nice to have both kids in the stroller so we could walk fast. They really loved the lights though! And we got to see the new little polar bear named Nora! She is really cute and was playing with a barrel.

 Andy's favorite thing was being right next to the train engine while it took off! It was really loud and surprised Reid, so I covered his ears. Then he was talking about it later. :)

We had made a Thanksgiving tree, and this was my favorite leaf that Ruby wrote. 

She also made this turkey at school. Notice the smiling face! 

Our big boy Reid is 31 months already! He is so fun to talk to. I love how he says his "L's" with lots of emphasis.

 More coloring time!

 We got snow on Thursday! We had our appointments for the day cancelled, so we had a picnic lunch on the living room floor (we had packed a lunch for the midwife appointment).

 So pretty!

 Except it was so windy that our back yard light strings fell down and some of the light bulbs broke. So Andy went out and used the shop vac on them. And then vacuumed our names in the snow too. :)

 We got the snow clothes out and went sledding down our front hill!

Cuties.

 It was really cold, so we didn't stay out long. The kids really love doing snow angels though.

Trying to warm up! He's so cute in his snow clothes. 

 Ruby tried to write names of some of the kids in her class. She tried writing Oliver, Braxxtin, and Christian. Haha! She also found out that our pencil sharpener sharpens crayons, so now we have crayon shavings everywhere. 

 We bought some cream and made our own butter! Apparently the mixer is loud.

 It turned out really good. Delicious, actually. :)

20 weeks

We're half way to baby!! Man, this pregnancy is going by fast. The baby is 10 inches long or so, from now on they start measuring from head to foot instead of head to rump. Little Baby has been moving around a lot. Andy got to feel his first kick from the outside the other night while we were on our anniversary trip! The kids are excited to feel it move soon too.

We were supposed to go to the birth center for an appointment today, but the weather is pretty iffy outside. It snowed a lot this morning, and it's supposed to start with freezing rain soon too. So they called and moved my appointment to tomorrow. It's supposed to warm up and just rain tomorrow, so we'll see if we get to keep it. We also have an appointment to get started with WIC tomorrow too, which will be really helpful.

Changes this week: My hips have been hurting while I sleep. :/ It started on the harder mattress we slept on for our trip, but it's still happening on our comfy mattress at home. I think I'll have to start sleeping with a pillow between my knees.

Cravings this week: Carbs... I got some more sourdough bread and it's yummy.

And just for fun, here's a side-by-side of me at 20 weeks with each of our babies. :)

Thanksgiving!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at my family's house! It was so nice to be with family and to be thankful for so much that God has provided for us and blessed us with.

Here are our pictures from the week.

 The kids woke up in the morning and went straight to the toy box.

 Playing the Bible game on Grandpa's iPad.

 She's such a cutie in this hat and dress. 

 She washed all of these apples for the place cards at dinner! She's such a good helper.

 We brought Out Foxed from the library to play with Quin and Lia. Ruby LOVES sharing games.

 Reid and Cindy's little foster baby. :) She's such a sweet heart! Both kids loved her.

 He found his pockets! I can't believe how big he's getting.

 Silly girls! These are the couch arm covers.

Yum!!! Delicious dinner. I think we had 21 people there.

 

The kids love jumping!!

And Reid got tired. Sweet boy.

 Working on Christmas stockings together. We must be sisters.

 Andy and the rest of the boys played with Lego's for a few hours on Thanksgiving.

 The kids! I had to take out the baby's face. She doesn't really look like that. Hahahahahahaha

 Sweet Lia read Ruby to sleep every night. They love being cousins!

 Reid loved my old bouncy horse. He likes to sit crazy like I did too!

 He's actually pretty good at playing the bugle!

 Good morning!

And we're off to the snow for an adventure. Reid was so cute in his snow clothes.

 

Family photo!

 The snow was pretty deep and he really didn't like walking in it. So he'd stand there and yell "Help me Mommy!"

 Ruby loved it and had a blast.

 Snow angel!

 Handsome man.

 She loved eating the snow.

 He started getting cold and was pretty fussy by the time we got into the car.

 Aaaaannnndddd.... then it was a pure sheet of ice on our drive down and our Pilot slid off into the snow bank. We have all wheel drive, but the other three tires were all spinning on the ice. It was a little crazy.

 Thankfully we had Dad's truck, and Uncle Dan drove up just then too. We chained both trucks to our car and then we were all spinning on the ice.

 We finally put chains on Dad's back tires, then we all got out of the Pilot and me, Quin and JB sat in the back of the truck to add weight. Andy drove our car and we finally were able to pull it out. I think it took about 45 minutes total.

 Needless to say, we were all cold and ready to get by the fire! The Clarks were there with a lovely, warm fire going when we arrived.

 His little toes were so cold. I put two pairs of socks on him, but all we had were Ruby's rain boots, which don't keep in much warmth. And he got snow in them too. So I put my socks on him and that helped, and we also had hand warmers.

 Ruby and Lia built this cute little snow man.

 And Quin and JB built this other big one. Ruby loved hanging out with the big boys.

It was so fun to see Greg and Lauren, who were about to have their baby (unknown at the time).

So sleepy on the way home. 

 Doing a workout! I love these girls.

 More trampoline time.

 And we finally headed home on Saturday. We love packing a lunch and getting out to run around at a rest area.

They are so cute. 

 I love how much they both love books. No car DVD's for us! We played lots of games, told stories, read books, and they had a few toys. They do so great in the car.

 We stopped somewhere to use the bathroom, and the kids ran around for a little bit.

 On Sunday Reid woke up pretty snotty so we couldn't go to church. So we went to get a Christmas tree instead.

 Ruby was excited that this one was her height.

 We walked all the way through the whole tree stand to the end, and settled on the very last tree in the lot. Hahaha It's perfect though!!

 We attempted to get a picture of the kids in front of the tree, but Reid wouldn't cooperate. Haha

This is the best I got. :)

 Helping Daddy cut it down!

 And carry it out.

 After dinner we set it up and decorated! Ruby put most of the ornaments on. She got out her stool so she could reach higher...

 ... and we ended up with a clump of ornaments in one spot. Haha

 We rearranged and have a lovely tree now. It's seriously my most favorite tree we've ever had.

 Andy put up lights in the kids' room with Darth Vader up on their book shelf. Reid loves to turn them on and off with the switch. Darth Vader says, "Luke, your are not a Jedi yet." And Reid thinks he says, "Luke, what should I get."

 And then we did Christmas Book Day a few days early (usually December 1st).

 They got the Little Blue Truck Christmas book and love it!

 It has surprise lights on the tree at the end.

 I finally got everyone's stockings done! Well, sort of. Mine and Ruby's are huge and I'm going to re-do them for next year. I'm working on the baby's stocking now.

On Monday, Reid and I made dark chocolate almond bark. He loves to help me! 

 Reid made this cute Lego car, and Ruby ran and made him a road out of paper (she cut a hole in the middle and colored it gray). She is so thoughtful and sweet!

I also burned my finger and she ran and got me a bandaid. <3

 Morning snuggles! I woke up sick on Tuesday, so we had a pajama day and didn't go anywhere.

 And feet fight!

 We also watched part of The Empire Strikes Back after dinner. This is Ruby's face when she found out that Darth Vader is Luke's father... priceless!

 On Wednesday, Ruby was about to head to school when she ran and got her Bible. She told me that she wants to read Psalm 23 every morning. :)

 Reid and I had fun playing on Wednesday!

 The weather was decent, so we cleaned up the back yard.

 He loves the Christmas lights that the neighbors put on our outside tree and bush.

 Reid woke up super early on Thursday. Andy and I were leaving on our anniversary vacation that morning though, so I really enjoyed the snuggles.

And then he brought me these and said, "Mommy, can I have some milk?" I'm just glad he didn't try to pour it himself!

And here are a few funny quotes from the kids this week:

Ru: We should name our baby Fod.

Me: How do you spell that?

Ru: F-o... wait, what does two o's together make?

Me: That's Food.

Ruby sings "God tell it on the mountain."

Reid said, "I hear the baby's heartbeep! I hear Reidsy's sister!" (He thinks it's a girl)