one more pic...

that is all ;)

a pirate and his parrot....

the parrot is a little big for his shoulder so he keeps him in the porthole, LOL.

as you can assume, we took the boys to the park today to get pictures of them in their halloween costumes. other than the fact that it was 78 degrees out, it was perfect! poor pooks was sweating by the end so i've re-done his costume to be attached to a long-sleeve onesie instead of a sweatshirt. other than that, it went great! i took about 100 pictures and probably 25 of those turned out good/cute. i'm going to try my hardest to get one tomorrow of both of them looking AT the camera but here are the rest from today:

pooks the parrot

bubba the pirate

together but not happily....

getting closer....

my favorite picture of bubba--possibly ever!

not very good quality, but at least you can see pooks' whole costume

a happy pirate

pooks trying to get on board (is this the cutest thing or what?!)

well, thats all for now. i took a benadryl for my stuffiness and its making me pretty sleepy. BED TIME! woohoo!

bubba is sick :(

well, he's doing much better today but yesterday was pretty bad!

monday night he slept really rough. his cough/runny nose turned into a hacking cough and wheezing. he JUST got over a case of ''bronchitis" before we moved so i was surprised that he was sick again so soon. i took him to our favorite doctor in the whole world, Dr S, and she diagnosed him with ''reactive airway disease." basically he has what i had when i was younger: infectious asthma. i didn't expect that at all!

they don't like to diagnose kids with asthma because usually they outgrow it, and it only flares up when they are already sick. for instance with a cold/upper respiratory infection. so most likely 2 weeks ago when he had a cold then bronchitis, it was probably a cold which flared up his asthma. it is hereditary so most likely he got it from me.

so treatment; well for now he is on an antibiotic, a steroid, and he has to breathing treatments every 4 hours for the next 7 days. he had his first treatment with the nebulizer at the doctor's office and well, it sucked. he hated it and he cried the entire time. so when Dr S told me that she wanted us to PURCHASE a nebulizer and do treatments at home, i was really dreading it. i couldn't even fathom how i would watch pooks and fight bubba to do this breathing treatment at the same time.

luckily bubba is a smart cookie. he realized that as much as he HATED the mask, it was helping him. so when i told him he needed to do it again at home, he said ''okay mommy''. I FREAKING LOVE THIS KID! so i hooked up the nebulizer and set it up by the laptop. then i went to www.kneebouncers.com, which is a website for toddlers full of games. he sat through the whole 10 minute treatment, holding the mask and playing his game. today anytime i tell him he needs a breathing treatment he just hops up to the computer and waits.

so while it definitely isn't fun, it is getting easier. and he is doing MUCH better. his wheezing is almost non-exsistent. by about the time he needs a treatment, his coughing will start up but otherwise he is doing much better.

in other news---

as i'm typing this, pooks just got his very first time-out. multiple times today he has taken his ride-on car, pushed it against the coffee table, then stood on the seat of the car so that he can reach the stain-glass lamp. he then proceeds to bump it will his head, shake it with his hands or in one instance, swing at it with a {plastic} golf club. after being told "no", being redirected to other toys, having his hand and bottom swatted, he was still doing it. so i put him in a 2 minute timeout. which i need to wrap this up so i can talk to him and let it down.

we shall see if it does any good!

8+ months belly

there is my big ol' belly. i don't really feel like its grown much over the last couple weeks, although i know that peanut has. kinda odd. anyways, since we're not at home, i couldn't take the usual pic with the fridge magnets. oh well, hopefully next week we'll be back to normal. just for comparison here is my 7 month pic:
okay, well now i see the difference, LOL. in my mind, i don't feel like i've gotten that big!

"Hey Four-Eyes"

err...make that eight ;)

silly boys!

just some fun pics from my cell phone. we got our old house packed up and all of our stuff has been unloaded in our new house. we'll be able to unpack and put everything away this saturday. meanwhile we're hanging out with nanaw and papa. B started his new job today, so i'll try to update later. at some point today or tomorrow i'm going to take the boys to the park and try to get some cute pics of them in their costumes.

doctor appointment today...

i just left dr.P's office and thought i should update before i get too busy.

firstoff, i didn't see Dr. P because he was off to deliver a baby, but it was okay because everything looked great at my ultrasound appt.

peanut is most definitely a boy, i saw his little bits so there is no questioning it. everything looks great. all his body parts are measuring normal; femur, head, abdomen all measured good. he had a good strong heartbeat, a healthy 4 chamber heart, kidneys and bladder looked great.

overall he is measuring right on track, in the 51% percentile. he weighed a grand total of 4lbs and 4oz! he is head down with his feet up in my ribs, which i didn't need to see to know that! my blood pressure was awesome, 126/74, my urine came back fine and my weight gain was good.

my next appt is nov 3rd!

its gonna be awhile...

we are officially knee-deep in the middle of moving! B is packing up the house this weekend while me and the kiddos hang out at nanaw and papa's. it is IMPOSSIBLE to pack up a house with a 2.5yo and a 1.5yo so we jumped ship ;)

i do have an appt tomorrow with Dr.P to check on peanut. i'll have an ultrasound and my regular appt so i will try to update after that. i'm sure i've gained like 50lbs because all i crave is twix bars, lol. i don't notice a weight gain, but i'm sure its there.

anyways, just wanted to let everyone know that its going to be awhile until i get back to posting regularly. we pick up the moving truck thursday, we will bring it here and unload on friday. (we'll only be able to unload the truck in the garage and basement, not unpack). then on saturday we'll turn the truck in, and B and I will head back down to clean out the old house and walk through with the landlord. then on Monday, B will start his new job, we'll live at nanaw and papa's for the week and officially move in november 1st.

whew.

so thats whats up, i'll get back to posting 'normally' in november.

I am SO proud to announce....

Tic Tac Baby Cakes!!!

(if you click on the logo, it will take you to the website)

i mentioned about a month ago that i had been working on a business adventure...well, this is it!

Here is a little description from the site:

Diaper cakes aren't edible but they are practical. What new mom doesn't need diapers & bath products? The GREAT thing about Tic Tac Baby Cakes are that they include only usable items! They are hand-made, custom designed and made to order. Each one is made for YOUR specific wants/needs. All cakes are made in a smoke free, clean environment with only the highest quality ingredients.

The best part: no two cakes are alike! We can work with nursery themes, baby shower themes, nursery colors, surprise genders--even holidays!! Weather you need a centerpiece at the baby shower, a "Welcome Baby" gift for at the hospital or a special gift for a repeat mommy who already has everything they "need", a Tic Tac Baby Cake will be appreciated and memorable as well as useful...all for the price of a bouqet of flowers!

Take a peek at some of the cakes that have been made, and if you have any questions or are ready to order just email me!

-Shannon
mom2tictacs@gmail.com

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take a look at the site and let me know what you think! i am very excited but it's been my 'baby' for the last few months so i know that i am biased :)
while i am so happy to go public, it stinks that the timing is off with our move. i do have all my supplies, diapers, ribbons and several accessories. as soon as we are settled in, i'll be completely up and running! turn around can be as little as 3 days or as long as you need to come up with the perfect theme! if you have any questions, just let me know. oh and if you want business cards to hand out...let me know too ;)

peanut finally has...

bedding!

bet you thought i was going to say a name, huh? well nope...but he does have bedding! and its none of the sets that we looked at before.


this bedding i found and liked while i was preggo with pooks, but i didn't think that bubba would be able to comprehend that it was the babies and not his. the 'theme' is trains and since bubba is a thomas freak i didn't know how well he would understand. thus pooks had dinosaurs.

well while at babies r us last week, i discovered that they had this set on clearance. not only was it marked down a good 25%, but it was an additional 20% off all clearance items through the 16th. so with a generous gift from a friend who decided to buy the bedding (thank you!!!) we were able to get the 6 piece bedding set, the matching mobile and hamper. so while peanut may have to share a room, he'll have all brand new stuff for his 'side'.

now we need to figure out a name, and we'll be all set!

a much needed update

well after spending 3 days back home--over 6 hours in the car driving around looking for ''for rent'' signs, scouring the paper, searching the internet, seeing one hell-hole with urine stains--we found a place to rent!

we were really discouraged friday after seeing a duplex that was tiny, dirty and had urine stains on the carpet, that the landlord was ''just going to shampoo" we were about at the end of our rope. then i found an ad in friday nights paper. then nanaw saw a similar add on craigslist. well after calling both places, saturday we were able to go see the place.

it was virtually perfect.

oddly enough, its a 2 bedroom which we didn't think would work originally. but after seeing it, it felt too good to be true. its a 2 story duplex in a really nice neighborhood. we can have our doggies! it is a 2bd but the rooms are big, big enough for bubba and pooks to have a room together and for B and I to have the crib for peanut in our room. once peanut is sleeping through the night, there is enough space in the boys room for a crib as well. it has a very clean and dry unfinished basement with good natural light. we plan on using one side for storage and the other side putting down rugs and using as a playroom for the boys. i also feel much better having a basement since a tornado recently touched down there!

it also has a garage big enough for our Pacifica and B's motorcycle. (with a garage door opener!) the laundry room is huge and for a duplex, it has a ton of storage! i mean huge closets and linen closets galore. its not too far from the park, and its a really quiet neighborhood. the kitchen is the biggest downfall--its itty bitty. but i think the seperate dining room will help, as well as all the extra storage throughout the house. and it DOES have a dishwasher! woohoo!

can you tell that I haven't had a basement, or a garage (let alone with an opener) or a dishwasher in our current house?! LOL.

here is a picture.
(we're on the left side)

we can't officially move in until november 1st because the current tenent can't move into her new apt until nov 1st; but she said we can start putting our stuff in the basement and garage so that we can unload the moving truck before the 27th (B's first day of work).

we both feel so much better! a huge relief and pressure has been lifted. finding a decent (let alone "nice") rental in a college/military town that isn't crazy expensive and is in a family friendly neighborhood is a huge challenge. most places are 1/2 block from campus, you're lucky if it has off street parking and they usually never let you have pets. nevermind the fact that they are priced to split among at least 3 students, so they are outrageously expensive.

we feel VERY fortunate!!

my 3 sons...

okay so i wanted to compare all the boys' 3D ultrasound pictures but that wasn't working out so well. first off all, bubba was hugging the placenta in his, pooks had his arm up blocking 1/2 of his face in his pictures--so the angle was all off. but i did find these and its UNBELIEVABLE how much peanut looks like bubba. i don't care what nanaw says....see for yourself:

bubba:

pooks:

peanut:

he has the exact same mouth/chin as bubba!

WE ARE MOVING!!

yep, you read that title right!

we are moving back 'home'! while i am beyond thrilled that B was able to find a job back home, and be selected for the position, its overwhelming for this pregnant mama! he starts OCTOBER 27th...as in, oh 19 days?!

first of all, those of you that didn't know, we found out that B's current job is relocating to Wisconsin in the spring. now with (almost) 3 kiddos and all of our family in-state, we did not want to be way up in WI. i have always been close to my family, and since living here, B has become closer to his. we didn't want to be way up north all by our lonesome, we wanted the boys to grow up near all their aunts, uncles and grandparents like i was fortunate enough to do. so at the end of summer B started applying for other government jobs closer to home. he actually applied for jobs in KS, MO, KY, TN, and maybe OK. so that fact that he got the position that we so very much wanted, is awesome!

the hard part is going to be finding a place to rent, packing, cleaning, moving, unpacking and being somewhat settles in 19 days. oh and don't forget that we have a 2.5yo, an almost 1.5yo and i'm 31 weeks pregnant. LOL. this should be fun!

so if you know of ANYONE renting a 3bd house/duplex for a reasonable price, let me know! i'll be home thurs-sunday, hopefully finding us a place to live!

i look forward to seeing SO many of you soon, and often ;)

30 weeks and counting...

well here i am at 30 weeks! this pregnancy seems to be flying by. i cannot believe that if this one comes at the same time that his brothers did, i'll have a newborn in 7 weeks! both bubba and pooks arrived during my 37th week.

bubba was technically an induction for my high blood pressure, but when i checked into the hospital i had been having contractions and not feeling them. i think i was dilated to about 2 cm too. i made it til about 12:30pm before i had an epidural, and then had him at 4:32pm. if it hadn't been for how quickly the contractions came on due to the pitocin IV, i think i could have done it. but i went from feeling nothing to 'holy cow i'm gonna split in two' within about an hour. it didn't help that i was stuck in the bed because of the IV and then the epidural.

his delivery was rough, to say the least. the epidural wore off while i was pushing, so i could feel my left leg but not my right leg and i couldn't feel any contractions so i didn't push very well. the cord was wrapped around his neck twice, i needed 16 stiches 'down there' from tearing, i had heavy bleeding and within hours of having him i passed out twice. he ended up being jaundice and had to stay under bilirubin lights for 3 days! i was so swollen that i couldn't even fit my feet into flip-flops---4 days after having him! my stiches got infected, i had become anemic and overall, i was exhausted. i felt like crap when i should have felt awesome! i loved him and was thrilled beyond belief to have a healthy son, but his arrival into the world kinda sucked.

i was determined to have a better birth/delivery experience the 2nd time around.

with pooks, i walked around 4 cm dilated for over a week and a half! at my 36wk appt i was dilated to 4cm and they said ''i bet you'll have the baby this weekend'' but then at my 37wk appt i heard ''i bet you'll have the baby this weekend''. after walking around feeling like he was going to fall out and i wouldn't even have to deliver him for over a week, i was beyond ready. i decided to mow the lawn in the heat of the day with a push-mower...it worked. i had him by 9:46pm that night, aka My Birthday!

the amazing thing about pooks birth, and i'm sure i shared this before but i was able to have him completely naturally--without any drugs. and i did this by choice, not because it happened too fast...i am so proud of myself for this! he was alert after being born, nursed wonderfully, gained weight like a piggy, had good coloring and great apgar scores. i had a small tear that didn't need stiches, i was able to nurse within 30mins of delivering him---i felt great. sure the contractions hurt like nobodies business but when they were over, so was the pain. after i had him, i felt like super woman! it didn't hurt to walk or laugh, i didn't pass out, i didn't swell, he didn't become jaundice--it was a complete 180 from bubba's birth and i wouldn't change a thing!

so one can only guess what i'm planning this time, right??

a natural drug-free birth again-duh. only this time i hope to do so more....quietly. LOL. apparently when i was in labor with pooks, i screamed and moaned and while in the transition stage made a growling noise--LOUDLY. the rumor is, that there was a first time mom who thought that she might be in labor, checking in while pooks was checking out---hearing me scared the bejesus out of her! apparently her eyes were huge and suddenly she realized that she probably wasn't in labor after all. and even though the screaming/moaning/growling helped, i'm hoping to handle the pain better this time.

i plan to work with my body and let the contractions come without the fear i had last time. i think i'll do quite well. i now know what to expect, i know i'm not going to explode and most importantly--i know that my body is capable of delivering a baby. i've done it before and thats all the proof that i need. i am reading a few natural childbirth books, as well as a breastfeeding book just for a refresher and for the techiniques and suggestions. B is totally on board and supportive, and i assume that nanaw is too seeing how they've been my labor coaches the last 2 times--i'm not changing anything now!

anyways, now that i've rambled and probably shared too much information (haha that's why it's MY blog) i'll end with a picture of my 30 week belly covered up. ironically, i think it looks bigger than in my weekly fridge pics!

happy hour!

today i really wanted to get some good pictures of the boys, especially pooks. he moves to flippin' fast that every picture i take of him is usually blurry. and that says quite a bit since i have a pretty high-speed camera.

well, i figured out a way to get him to stay in one spot--let him have a Sonic drink... now hear me out.

about once a week if the boys take their afternoon nap without getting out of bed, then we got to Sonic for happy hour. they are fully aware of what this means as well. when i lay them down i say ''you need to take your naps and stay in bed. if you lay down and go to sleep, without getting up then we will get a sonic drink and play outside''. i'll be honest, i'm not going to lie, the drink is more for me than them. the only real craving i've had this entire pregnancy is for dr.pepper with LOTS of ice. add to that, Sonic has "Happy Hour" everyday from 2-4 with half price drinks. if they are learning consequences/rewards then technically its a learning experience right? "if i do a + b then c will happen." completely educational ;)

so anyways today they napped from 12:45-3:00pm! if that doesn't deserve some sort of treat i don't know what does! so we get their diapers changed, hop in the car and head on over to Sonic.

bubba immediately tells me he wants a ''pepsi mama'' (clear as day he says this mind you), i get my Dr. P and then i got a small ice water for pooks. no i'm not biased, its not that one kid can have soda and the other can't--pooks is more than welcome to sip out of mine but i'm not going to let him carry around a cup full of pepsi. plus, he feels like hot stuff just having the cup! LOL.

as soon as we got home i let them play outside. the following is a ton of pics. pooks loved his cup. he drank the entire thing (minus a small amount that he spilt all over the driveway, then stomped in). he would not put it down. he'd walk around, play with the pumpkins, push a truck but his cup was with him at all times. he was so thrilled and i love all the pictures i managed to capture.

enjoy;)

"hmm...this tastes a lot like water."

his hair reminds me of an oompa loompa's!

watching his brother play...i swear he sat still for over 5 minutes!
"well i kinda wanna play....but then i want my cup too....."
"hey look ma, a pumpkin!"
(did i mention that he never set the cup down?)

very excited about a grasshopper, which honestly he probably would have tried to eat if it weren't for the dang cup!

and naturally, i couldn't leave out bubba. here are a couple...he was pretty interested in playing with grass and leaves--hauling and dumping them in his dump truck so i didn't get too many pics.

excited about an airplane

pedaling his tricycle! this is new--within the last week or so. he totally acts like he can't do it, but when you aren't looking, he pedals around.

and finally, the grand finale of pics:

me: "can you guys sit a little closer to your brother?"
them:

p.s.--i have to add that all these pics were taken in manual mode! woohoo! i'm finally learning my camera....lol!

it's peanut butter jelly time!

i thought i'd better update on how bubba was doing since we switched him to a wheat/gluten free diet. in one word: AWESOME!

he is bubba but better. he is A LOT less whiny, he's finally finishing meals, his speech is really taken off and he seems genuinely happy! its really not that hard either. we're not taking it to a huge extreme right now either...we've eliminated all "major" wheat products, but if something has 'wheat' or 'modified food starch' listed towards the bottom of the ingredient list we go ahead and let him eat it. he hasn't had any problems and we haven't had a situation where he really wanted something that he couldn't have...really within the past 4-6months he has started to eliminate a lot of breads/grains on his own just by refusing to eat them.

yesterday we had fast food with B for lunch, which honestly its almost impossible to eat fast food that is wheat/gluten free. even McD french fries have wheat because the vegetable oil that they fry them with has been contaminated/exposed to wheat. he can't have chicken nuggets, etc. well yesterday we got him hamburger and fries (not from McD, from smaller local chain) and i simply threw the bun away. i told him ''you don't want the bun right?" and he simply said ''uh huh momma". he could have cared less. and he turned around and eat the entire patty and almost all of his fries!

speech wise--wow. he is saying so much. this morning he said ''i eat mama'', so i said ''what do you want to eat for breakfast bubba'' and he turned to me and said ''ooty pebbles mama''--aka, FRUITY PEBBLES! i was amazed. he also told me he wanted juice (''oouice"). he now says 'tow truck', 'puddle', 'pond', 'moon', 'play', 'park' and the latest sentence to enter our household: "mama i poo'd...i poo'd mama" while pointing to his butt! for some reason words that start with P have really taken off.

well the one thing that i feel bad about, the one food that i know he probably misses are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. the boys love PB&J. so yesterday i bought some lovely 'tapioca bread' that is gluten-free. its a small loaf for almost $5 and it seemed kinda hard but i thought we might as well as least try it. i'll admit, i didn't have very high hopes. first of all, its pretty hard/dry. you are suppose to microwave it or toast it first. so i popped it in the microwave for 30 seconds. well now it was hot and mushy/spongy. yum! so i went ahead and made pooks sandwich on reg bread while the GF bread cooled off. by the time it cooled down it was about the consistency of 'regular' bread. i whipped up his PB&J, cut it into squares and served it with strawberries and Cheetos (which amazingly enough are GF!).

he dug right in! first he opened up the sandwich and licked out the jelly (like usual!) but then he ate it! he didn't make a face or even question it. i was so relived! i felt bad denying both kids from PB&J--i mean that's like an American staple food for kids. he did quite well, he ate all of his strawberries and Cheetos and 1/2 of the sandwich, bread and all. i didn't push him to finish it. i read online that the tapioca bread is a very heavy/dense bread and can fill you up pretty quickly. next time i'll just make him 1/2 a sandwich. but overall, it was successful. here are a few pics for the heck of it!

taking the first bite!

"why are you taking pictures of me eating??"

pooks inhaled his strawberries then moved on to the Cheetos

apparently when you are 16mos old, breaking Cheetos is hilarious!

and yes, i am fully aware that both boys could use a haircut/trim. i'll do it. eventually :)