Andie 3 Years 5 Months

Andie Noelle your so close to being three and a half years old already, one more month! How are you growing up so quickly and with such a strong personality and funny sense of humor. At three years five months...

1. Andie celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is always so much fun with food and family. Andies favorite part for sure was being able to play with her cousin Preslee, pie and cake was an added bonus :)

2. Andie celebrated Halloween. Halloween is Andies 2nd favorite holiday, nothing beats Christmas in her mind (and mine). Andie dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood and said it was Red off of Super Why! Andie loved going Trick or Treating and people commenting on her costume, I love that girl!

3. Andie has a favorite song. Every time we get into the van Andie wants to listen to the same song on repeat. The song for the win is Uma Thurman by Fall Out Boy. Watching Andie head bang to this song is probably the cutest sight ever while driving down the road!

4. Andie loves school time! I decided while Jake was napping instead of laying around feeling crummy from pregnancy I would spend some one on one time with Andie doing some fun activities. Andie LOVES this time and would do it all day long if it were possible. I love this one on one time with my girl!

5. Andie loves to help Mom & Dad with their chores. Mom is in charge of laundry and Andie loves to be able to put the clothes in the washing machine, then dryer and then fold them. Andies favorite part about laundry is when we get to scrub the clothes of any stains. Andie also loves to help Daddy scrub the dishes and put them in the dishwasher and then to unload and put away. It's amazing how helpful our little girl can be!

6. Andie loves to play with Dad. Dad is away a lot with work as he provides for our family and studying for school. Each night before bed Andie plays "pixie dust" (singing you can fly in Peter Pan while he lays on his back and Andie is in his outstretched arms flying in the air) with Dad. It's so cute the bond and love Andie and Daddy have!

7. Andie loves to shred. We have a shredder and Andie has become crazy obsessed with it. Mom has to be extra careful with papers I leave out because this girl will shred them all. I love having my own little personal shredder though, don't get me wrong, I love all the help Andie is to me.

8. Andie has such a vocabulary. Yes she still doesn't talk around people very often as she is such a shy person but let me tell you, this girl will talk up a storm. My favorite thing to hear from Andie is when she is playing with her brother and says "Your turn, now my turn". I love that she is able to (for the most part) share and take turns with Jake as they play together. I love watching the bond that Andie has with her brother :)

Little girl your accomplishing so much and becoming so independent. You have such a kind and loving personality that is such a great example to me. Andie you are my perfect girl and I want you to never change, I love you for always!

36 Weeks Pregnant

My 36 week doctors appointment was October 30th and what an eventful week this has been as we come up towards 37 weeks. At my doctors appointment everything was going good besides the fact I am always in so much pain and I am not dilated at all (bummer). I am still measuring two weeks ahead and undecided on a VBAC or scheduled section. With this difficult choice we decided to schedule an ultrasound.

Monday November 2nd was our ultrasound and it was going good until they decided to actually start measuring the size of Brooklyn and the fluid around her. At 36.3 weeks our little princess is measuring 7 pounds 9 ounces (which can be off by a pound either way). This was a little concerning that she is already in the 85% for her size and this Mom has small bones.

Then they measured the fluid around Brooklyn which they want below 23cm and they measured 31cm, WHAT! So obviously that made me a little concerned and the ultrasound doctor was concerned as well stating he did not want me to deliver after 38 weeks, wanted NST's every couple of days and a 24 hr urine. I was stated to have Polyhydramnios but they don't have a reason on why I have that. The best guess is that I have undiagnosed Gestational Diabetes which can happen in 5-10% of women.

With this new diagnosis other concerns are arising such as my blood pressure has started to spike more. This whole pregnancy I have had higher blood pressure but it has been staying borderline, usually 145/75ish. They started monitoring my blood pressure for 10 minutes after my ultrasound as it had spiked after hearing all that news, 179/96. I have always had constant headaches, blurred vision and other symptoms that could be associated with Gestational Diabetes and Preeclampsia. They sent me straight away to my doctor who was just one floor up. The doctor stated he didn't know if my blood pressure spike was from all the news or if something further was happening so we scheduled an appointment to come in on Wednesday to monitor things more.

Wednesday, November 4th, came along and I went in first thing for my blood pressure check. It was lower but still a little bit of a concern, 157/92. I was on orders to try and lower my blood pressure and first thing first was to stop working and be on bed rest, how with two toddlers? I did just that though and am not working anymore as of today, weird feeling. The whole bed rest thing is difficult for an OCD mother who has a lot of prep work to do still before little Brooklyn arrives.

My next appointment is on Friday, 37 weeks. I am on orders to bring a bag to the appointment in case I am sent down to labor and delivery. We know within the next week I will most likely deliver with all my problems that have raised up and with them not wanting me to go past 38 weeks. It will be interesting to see how everything works out but a little bit of cooking time for Brooklyn is needed as well. Things are starting to get real!

Halloween 2015

Every year it seems I plan out the costumes for the kiddos a year in advance. I was so excited for Andie to be Little Red Riding Hood and Jake to be the Big Bad Wolf. It worked out even better since I didn't have to convince them who these characters were thanks to Super Why!

We started our Halloween festivities by going to my sisters work. Each year we go to her work and it makes it fun for the kiddos to practice their Trick or Treating before actual Halloween night. Andie and Jake both had such a blast running around and getting some little treats while dressed in their costumes.

Next up was Trunk or Treat for our church ward party. Andie and Jake had so much fun going trunk to trunk and after we finished we then went around for a second time but this time handing out treats to each of the trunks. Andie loved that we were able to give back, she may have had to much excitement and face planted into the road, poor girl!

Last but not least was Halloween night (I am so glad each of these events landed on different nights). Andie and Jake were so excited to go Trick or Treating one last time. It was kind of disappointing to Andie as she would go house to house and have to skip quite a bit, not many people are handing out treats it seems. Many times Andie would state "Come on doors, open up" it was so funny! The only bonus of these houses not opening up is after an hour she was ready to go home, plus her basket was full.

We then went over to the hospital to visit one of Zach's patients who was just entered in. Andie and Jake made some peoples nights as they ran into patients rooms (embarrassing for Mom) to show off their costumes. I am glad the patients appreciated our rude entrances as this pregnant Mommy was attempting to chase after her two toddlers, funny sight I am sure!

Halloween is always so fun and especially when you have little joys to enjoy the holiday with. Now I am trying to figure out what to do for costumes for next year, I am completely drawing a blank! Happy Halloween :)