28 Week Prenatal Appointment

On Monday I had my 28 week prenatal appointment. For the most part all went well.
Colby's heart rate was 135 bpm, which the doctor said is perfectly normal.
My belly measured at 30 weeks... I've been measuring a little bit this whole pregnancy, so that wasn't a surprise.
My one-hour glucose screening and other blood work came back "excellent." The doctor said everything was well within normal for a non-pregnant woman, so that's excellent considering I am in fact pregnant.
I gained another pound... Up a total of six from where I started.

The only issue is that I am starting to have issues with my sciatic nerve. On days that I am up and on my feet a lot, at the end of the day I have a really hard time moving around and tasks such as getting out of bed to pee are close to impossible. It's extremely painful some days... and other days it's fine. Typically a chiropractor could provide some relief, but because of my history of a broken back, I shouldn't see a chiropractor. My OB has referred me to some other sort of specialist... I forget what she called the doctor... but I haven't heard from them about an appointment yet.

Colby is more active than Emily and Kyle were while I was pregnant with them (at times, he is more active than they are now!).... but considering he has way more room to move around than they did, it doesn't surprise me. Colby is long enough now that he can punch me in the bladder and kick me in the lungs are the same time. It makes some days lots of fun!

I'm excited that I am now in the third trimester of this pregnancy and soon we will get to meet the little dude inside me. We are starting to get stuff ready for him... hoping to get the rest of what we need for his bedroom for Christmas.

Emily and Kyle still aren't really sure what's going on. If you ask them where Colby is, they will point to my belly. They both give him night night kisses every night and give him hugs when asked. Emily lays her head on my belly often and talks to Colby and they both tell him "no hit" when they feel him move. I'm still not sure though that they really understand Colby is a baby... and not just Mommy's belly!

Emily Making Cirlces

Both Emily and Kyle have figured out how to spin in circles... or "make circles" as we call it. They were going crazy this morning making circles. Here is Emily after she had been spinning for about five minutes... she was already pretty dizzy by the time I started taking the video. Kyle stopped spinning when he saw I got my phone out... he was helping me record Emily.

20 Months Old

It's hard to believe that in four short months Emily and Kyle will be two years old! They are growing up WAY to fast!

In the past month, Emily and Kyle's vocabulary has greatly increases. They are learning new words and phrases every day. They know too many words to keep track of them all. They are becoming very effective at communicating what they want or need. They have also learned lots of animal sounds. They know a duck says "quack", a cow says "moo", a loin says "roar", a snake says "ssssssss", a sheep says "baa" and many more. 

Emily and Kyle have started to grab someone's hand when they want that person to move and guide them to where ever they want them to go. Kyle tries often to pull me up when I am sitting on the floor and he wants me to sit somewhere else. They also will try to move your legs in they want to sit in your lap but can't with the way you're sitting.

Not sure why the picture is sideways... it won't let me change it :(

Schedule wise, we have eliminated morning naps for the most part. Every once in a while, they will lay down and "rest" for an hour or so in the morning, but most days Emily and Kyle are up around 7:00 or 7:30 am and down go down for naps until 1:00 pm. They sleep anywhere from two hours to four hours, and then go to bed most days around 7:00 pm. We are still eating meals at 8:00 am, Noon, and 5:30 pm, which snacks in between.

Some meals Emily and Kyle are amazing eaters... other meals, they don't seem interested in eating at all. It doesn't really seem to matter what the food it, they just pick and choose what meals they want to eat. Normally two meals a day they are great eaters, and then one meal they just pick at their food. They are always wanting "more"... even if they still have more on their plate, especially Kyle!

Emily and Kyle are seeming to love our new apartment. We have been keeping all of their toys in their bedroom now that we don't have to go up and down stairs to get to their bedroom. They love to fill their shopping carts with toys and push them out to the living room and play with them. They still do a good job most of the time helping pick up toys, and I am loving the fact that most nights all of the toys and picked up and put away in Emily and Kyle's room! They love to run up and down the hall way and explore independently. Because of the set up, we don't have a way to keep the kids out of the kitchen with a gate, so we are working on teaching them to stay out of the kitchen... sometimes they do a good job... and other times... not so much! Emily and Kyle have done a great job of learning where things are and where things go in our new apartment. They know which door is ours in the hallway. They know which bedroom is theirs, which is Mommy and Daddy's, and which is Colby's. They know where our shoes and coats go. They know where their dirty clothes go. They know where their dirty diapers go. They know where they take a bath. And most importantly, they know where the food is!

Emily and Kyle are doing way better with the nursery at church. Since we started leaving them in the nursery, we've had issues with tears. The past few months, they normally cry when we leave them but are fine after a few minutes. This past Sunday and Wednesday, we didn't have any tears at all when Mommy and Daddy left them in the nursery at church! They seem to like our new church and love to run around the church whenever we let them.

We have been letting Emily and Kyle watch some TV. They LOVE Curious George, Cat in the Hat, and Sid the Science Kid. They also love to watch "ball" with Daddy on the weekends. We try to limit their screen time to no more than an hour a day.

As you can see from the pictures, Emily and Kyle love each other. It's fun to watch them care for each other and show each other love. They have started holding hands often and love to give each other cuddles and kisses.

Emily

• Wearing mostly 12 month clothes
• Wearing size 4 shoes
• Emily is starting to loose some of the curls in her hair. It's very curly after bath time still, but when she wakes up in the morning, most of the curls are gone.
• Emily still only has her four front teeth that are all the way in. She has two more on top in the front trying to break through, along with her 18 month molars.

Kyle

• Wearing mostly 18 month clothes
• Wearing size 5 shoes
• Kyle says "beep beep" when someone or something is in his way. He also says "beep beep" when he wants someone's attention.
• Kyle has twelve teeth; eight in front and his 18 month molars.

Adventures in Moving

Emily and Kyle weren't too sure about everything being packed up... but they did enjoy playing in the TV stand while it was empty!

The kiddos were very confused about what was going on. It was the worst the last night we spent in Mason when the apartment was pretty much empty. Poor Emily just wanted to be held. Kyle thought it was fun to run around and play in all the open space, but was confused about where everything went.

After we started unloading and unpacking boxes in Ionia, they seemed to make sense of the whole moving thing. They are loving all the extra room and the fact that we don't have any stairs (Mommy is loving the no stairs too!). We are on the second floor, so we do still have to go up and down stairs, but not nearly as often. The kids love that they can run back and forth from their room to the living room and play with all their toys!

Emily and Kyle's room

The hallway backroom

The living room

The dinning room

The laundry room

Mommy and Daddy's bedroom

The kitchen

Colby's bedroom... right now it's storage for random stuff as I figure out what to do with it. Hopefully by Christmas it will be set up for Colby!

The LONG hallway that Emily and Kyle LOVE to run up and down!

And some pictures of my kids being cute :)