And the nesting begins...

A couple weekends ago we went shopping at Ross and Marshall's and while I was waiting for Jordan to find some new shorts I went looking through the baby section. I started looking through the newborn clothes and found some really cute stuff.. mostly girl stuff. It was then that I realized: A.) I'm starting to "nest" and B.) I REALLY wish I knew the gender of this baby so I CAN "nest".

I've been perfectly content with our decision to wait and find out the gender once the baby is born... up until recently. Now, with less than 6 weeks to go, I'm feeling slightly unprepared! We don't have a name picked out, Gabriella is still sleeping in the crib, we don't have the baby's room organized (mostly because the baby's big sister is still in that room...), etc. Jordan is absolutely convinced this baby is a girl... he won't really even talk about boy names or boy things because he's so sure of himself. (For the record: Jordan has predicted the gender of our first two children and been correct both times)

I did go through Gabriella's newborn clothes this past weekend and realized there were like 10 onesies that she never even wore! I picked out a few things just in case the baby is a girl and so far I only have one boy outfit in case it's a boy. And with those outfits I started packing my hospital bag! I realize I still have over 5 weeks before my due date, but I might as well get that out of the way now. Since this is my third time around I know what I want to take and so I might as well get in the bag. :)

I had my 34 week appointment last Friday. I have officially hit the 30 pound mark. If I keep gaining only one pound a week I'll have gained 35/6ish pounds. So I'm pretty pleased with myself so far. I was nervous I'd put on a lot of weight since I'm not walking as much as I did with Gabri, I guess chasing around two toddlers all day is helping. My next appointment is at 36 weeks and then I'll be visiting my dr. every week until the baby is born. I was surprised to find out that they'll start checking to see if I've dilated or if my cervix is thinning at 36 weeks, since my last doctor didn't check until 38 weeks. I'm really interested to see if I have started dilating yet. The baby has really dropped this last week. I am feeling the pressure of the baby's head in my pelvic area a lot more. I'm hoping that could be a sign of going into labor early... but I doubt it!

Last night Jordan and I started discussing what our "PLAN" is for if I go into labor naturally. My biggest concern is that he's going to be at work and I'm going to go into labor and have both the kids with me... by myself. I have some pretty awesome neighbors that would gladly help me out with anything I need... but what if they're off on a camping trip in the mountains?! Since they did plan this trip for the week of my due date...eh hem!! (just kidding, Tirz!) We live 20 miles away from the hospital and unless we take the toll road it takes 30 minutes to get there... I do NOT want to have to make that drive while in labor! I'm already cranky in the car when I'm having braxton hicks, and those aren't even painful most of the time!

Having a new baby is so scary because of all the unknowns. I wonder how Gabriella will deal with not being the baby anymore. I wonder how Jayden will handle having another baby in the house. Will I be able to breastfeed this baby with as much success as I had with Gabriella? How long it will take before I start getting sleep again? Will having 3 children all under the age of 3 be too much for me to handle? I've been learning to trust God in the area of motherhood. Everyday I wake up and I say, "God is my help and my strength", otherwise I might lose it at any given moment. I will just have to trust Him that this baby will come at the perfect time and no matter what the situation is, He's with me.

BOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been looking up tutorials on youtube and google on how to make a cute fabric bow for a while, but I have never been satisfied with the tutorials... so I never attempted to make any of them.

Yesterday while the kids were napping I was checking my google reader and saw THIS amazing tutorial on how to make bows from scraps of fabric.

Since I'm a huge fan of See Kate Sew I knew this would be a good tutorial!

I spent the majority of nap time experimenting with the different sizes of bows. I did 6 x 12, 4 x 8, 3 x 6 and 2 x 4. The smallest looks really cute in Gabriella's hair when she's wearing pig tails! I'll have to take a picture of her tomorrow and post it later.

Here are the 3 biggest bows I made.

The 6 x 12 bow is large and would be cute on a bag or something. The 3 x 6 is a nice size for wearing in my hair. On the 4 x 8 I tried to sew along the edge to give it a neat look, but I'm still learning how to use the sewing machine, so it's a little scary up close! :) This project did once again reestablish the fact that my husband is still better at using the sewing machine than I am. haha!

I will be making lots more of these bows! I'm so excited that I FINALLY know how to do it!!!

Facing Death

Back in November I wrote this blog about my Grandma Jean. For the past 7 months she's been living with my Uncle and his family so he could take care of her. This past Sunday I got a call from my dad saying that my Grandma was in a coma and they didn't expect her to come out of it. I went over and stayed with her for about an hour Sunday afternoon. It was really hard to see her so gray and pale. Since my grandma was a "do not resuscitate" patient there was nothing we could do for her. The last few days have been extremely hard knowing that death was right around the corner.

I woke up this morning with a text from my uncle saying that she had passed away.

During the last 7 months I took my kids every other week to visit Grandma. I'm so thankful that we've had these last several months to spend with her. The last time I saw my grandma conscious was my wedding anniversary. My cousin was babysitting the kids while Jordan and I went to a wedding. When we picked up the kids I went in to visit with Grandma before we rushed off to the reception and I remember her telling me that the kids came in to see her and she seemed so happy to be able to see her great grandkids.

I've never lost a grandparent before, so it makes it extremely hard being the one I'm closest to. Please pray for my family over the next few days if you think about it. It's been a rough journey for us and it doesn't seem to matter how "prepared" we were for the inevitable, it still hit like a ton of bricks.

5-A-Day Books Week 2.

I did really well the first week of the 5-A-Day book challenge. The second week hasn't gone as well... mostly because I can't get Gabriella away from "The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear" book. She insists on reading it at least once a day. Since strawberries are in season we eat them almost everyday and she's always quoting parts of the book while she eats them. Every time we sit down to read our new set of books she goes and grabs the strawberry book and brings it to me. It's hard to say no to that. :)

So the books I choose for week 2 are

The first day we read The Foot Book Jayden started quoting it while we were driving in the car. I was amazed at how quickly he picked it up. His other favorite this week is Jump Frog Jump. He actually told me tonight that it's his favorite book. Another book he quotes really well is Miss Mary Mack. I used to do the hand clapping game singing miss mary mack when I was in elementary school, so when Jordan brought this book home I was really excited to teach it to the kids. Jayden has the first 3 or 4 pages memorized and Gabriella loves it as well. She calls it "Mack" and can pick it out off the book shelf and bring it to me.

We didn't sit down everyday and read all five books, but we read at least one of them a day. I love this challenge because I really see how it effects my kids and how much they enjoy it as well. I think I'm going to try and find more of the classic Dr. Seuss books at the thrift store this weekend since The Foot Book was such a big hit!

The other thing I love about this challenge is reading to my kids the books that I grew up reading or having read to me. I hope as they get older they'll have a deep love and appreciation for reading.

Pregnancy Woes

During my first pregnancy I complained all the time to my doctor about my pregnancy woes. I was retaining a LOT of water and super uncomfortable. I was experiencing heartburn for the first time. I gained too much weight. I had a big baby in my rib cage. You get the idea. After every complaint my doctor would say, "Well, you're pregnant." I used to get really annoyed because she never had children, so she had no idea what is was like to be pregnant. (I honestly had a very easy pregnancy with no complications.)

(about 36 weeks with Jayden)

You'd think I'd really love being pregnant with how I got pregnant again only 5 months after delivering Jayden. It was amazing to me how different I was with my second pregnancy. I didn't have the same swelling. I didn't gain as much weight. But I was still dealing with the normal pregnancy side effects. I realized that complaining wasn't going to get me anywhere. You just have to deal with these little changes for a few months and then you pop out a baby.

(My sister 6 months with my niece and me 34ish weeks with Gabriella)

Now that I'm (almost) 32 weeks pregnant with No. 3 I only complain to my husband. He's very sweet and does well with having a pregnant wife. I've done pretty well on my weight so far and if I continue to gain only 1 pound a week, then I'll only have gained 35 pounds by the end. I don't have swelling in my hands and feet. I'm still short waisted with little room for baby to go. I do get heartburn which causes nausea. But I've figured out how to deal with these things and it's only temporary.

I feel like a pro at being pregnant and having kids. My doctor's appointments are fairly boring because I always know what to expect, of course the only non-boring part is hearing the beautiful heartbeat of the baby.

With every pregnancy, every labor and delivery and every baby being different, I can't help but spend my free time thinking about what this baby will look like and act like. I wonder if I'll be able to breastfeed for a full year. I wonder how the kids will adjust to their new sibling and having to share mommy and daddy even more. I wonder how long it will take for the baby to sleep through the night. I only have 4 weeks until I'm full term and I keep telling the baby it is more than welcome to come early. :)

Four Lovely Years

Yesterday was mine and Mr. W's 4 year anniversary! It's amazing how quickly 4 years has gone and how much we've accomplished in that time.

For those of you who don't know the story, this is how we came to be Mr. and Mrs.

The first time I laid eyes on Jordan we were in the 7th grade. He was the new cute kid in school. Jordan had just moved from Guatemala City, Guatemala to Broomfield, Colorado. I remember walking through the cafeteria and I saw him sitting by himself wearing a blue plaid shirt with brown spiked hair and piercing blue eyes.

We didn't actually become friends until our freshmen year of high school when my best friend, Devin, had a crush on Jordan and started inviting him and some of his friends to hang out with us so she could get to know him. After a few weeks I heard from Jordan's best friend, Brendan, that he liked me. It was a total drama mess... but of course we were 14 and it all worked because Devin and Brendan became a couple.

We were boyfriend and girlfriend for 5 months. The first day we started dating Jordan and I were working on a class project together and he said, "Kortnie Wertzbaugher... it has a nice ring to it." During those 5 months Jordan on multiple occasions shared his faith in God with me and asked me to come to his youth group where he played the drums in the band. I finally agreed after 3 months of him asking. The second time I went, I decided I need Jesus and surrendered my life to Him.

It wasn't long after that night that Jordan broke up with me for his ex girlfriend... yep that's right. He loved me and left me. I was completely broken hearted. For the first time in my life I felt like I knew what it was like to love someone and have them love me back (in a boyfriend/girlfriend kind of way).

A year later Jordan and I were back together... but it only lasted a couple of months.

I decided that I was going to take a break from dating my junior year to focus on my relationship with God. It was one of the best decisions I ever made! At the end of the school year I went on a mission trip to Ukraine and then to a Summer camp in Florida. During the Florida Summer camp I saw Jordan drawing closer to God in a way I had never seen before. He started being nice to me again and that old flame started burning a little brighter.

On a camping trip just a couple weeks after we got back from FL, Jordan confessed his love to me in front of his two cousins (who are my very close friends) and one of his best friends, Jonathan.

So we started dating again for a third time. Only this time it was different. We were putting God right smack in the middle of us and staying focused on him.

(High School Graduation)

We graduated high school together and then moved to Dallas, Texas where we both attended Christ For The Nations Institute. At the beginning of our second year of CFNI on a quick trip back to CO, Jordan asked me to marry him... we were nineteen!

(Just Engaged!)

When we graduated from the 2 year program at CFNI we drove back to Colorado and got married in Lyons at a cute little church on a river.

5-26-07

It's been a crazy ten years since we first started dating, but I'm so thankful that we've been able to share them together. I honestly believe there isn't another person on earth who can love me like Jordan does.

Books and Babes

I started doing the 5-a-day book challenge with my kids probably a week and a half ago. It's been such a great experience. My kids have absolutely loved sitting down together and reading these same 5 books. Kids love repetition anyways, so when you sit down and read the same books over and over and over it's amazing how long they'll sit in your lap and let you read to them.

I'm amazed at how Gabriella's vocabulary has grown already. She learned how to say the word "Strawberry" and how to identify strawberries in real life. Not only that, but strawberry is a 3 syllable word and I think it's pretty impressive she can say it. :) Both the kids love to "read" the stories with me.. or at least the parts they know.

I've found for me it's easier to sit down and read with them when we have the same set of books to read. I've kept them off the bookshelf (mostly so I don't have to go back and find them every time) and on Gabriella's big girl bed (which doesn't get used for sleeping... just reading). So the books are always ready to be picked up and read.

I'm getting ready to pick out a new set of books today. I'm looking forward to this next week to see how they react to a different set of books and what words and phrases they'll pick up.