Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo

We're on Fall break for the next 3 weeks! Well, 2 now) and we are taking advantage and going on "Mama & Jaxon" Dates again. So this week...we went to the zoo! Again. I swear it is one of Jaxon's favorite places. He never seems to tire of it. This time he seriously acted as if he had never been to a zoo before. It was a bit hilarious.
The beauty of being on break is that we can get out and do things again. The other beauty of break (and living in Tucson and working with your best friends) is that all of our friends are also on fall break so we can just pick up and go. Which is what happened on Tuesday. Jaxon woke up and wanted to go to the zoo and I thought I would go on a limb and ask our favorite triplets to join us. Luckily they were free and Ami is a go-with-the-flow mom so we all packed up and headed to the zoo.

I seriously think that Ami & I must be in sync... we dressed our kids in green shirts and khaki shorts! This is the 2nd or 3rd time we have gotten together and they look more like quads than triplets and a friend. 

Love back pictures

3 toddlers and a preschooler riding the bronze elephant

Best Friends all in green

Why don't kids look at the camera when you ask them?

Jaxon fed the giraffe! 

Posing with Denver the giraffe

Touching a python in the learning center

The kids were convinced there was a rabbit in the cage.

Everything was going well. The kids were listening, behaving well and then...

We stopped to feed the ducks! Wow! That was an experience. 4 kids. Water. Unpredictable ducks & birds. Oh and hungry mosquitoes who liked nice, clean Ami & Anabelle ankles.

Between the 2 of us we had over a dollar in quarters. This kept the kids quite busy for awhile. At this point we were waiting for Mary to meet us with Brinley. After the pigeon poop missed us by mere centimeters, it seemed like we were waiting an eternity.

Oh. This was the highlight. The water spitting frog.

I want to give mad props to Mary. Her first public playdate was a success! Brinley was the sweetest little girl and Mary handled the chaos like a mom veteran! I guess spending the last 2 1/2 years with triplets has given her a huge advantage. :)

I can only hope that Reese is as good a baby as her future BFF. 

Keep checking Ami's blog. I'm SURE she will post more pictures of our adventure at the zoo. 

Reese Isabella -25 weeks

Yesterday we had the pleasure of seeing our little Reese Isabella. My OB wanted me to have an ultrasound to measure the baby and my cervical length in order to keep a pre-term labor at bay. Everything looked good with our girl. She was a wiggly little thing and quite stubborn. The tech wanted her to move her hands away from her face so she could see her fingers, but to no avail. Reese wouldn't move them for anything!  The coolest thing was feeling her move and actually SEEING a foot or leg move. 

Jaxon & my mom joined us for the sneak peak. Jaxon was excited to see his baby sister, until we got in the room. Turns out he was more interested in the jelly the tech used on my stomach than on actually watching his sister. He did see her open and close her mouth and was impressed by this. 

Here she is looking away from us. Her legs are curled up on the left side of the picture and I think the whiter oval thing on the right MAY be an ear. Or she could be looking directly at us and the whiter oval thing could be her nose. Who knows? (I feel like Rachel from Friends)

A close up of her head. Looks like she's going to have a cute little nose. One of her hands is in a fist right under her chin. Yup, this is her being stubborn already... God help me!

This one is is just weird to me. It's her lips and nostrils. It does seem like she will have cute pouty lips like Jaxon. How I love that little mouth. Her arms are once again right by her face.

My absolute favorite! She is looking straight at us. Her face already looks perfect to me. 

Notice her lips? don't they look pouty? So flippin' cute!

Reese currently weighs 1 lb 9 oz and is measuring perfectly for her gestational age. My cervix is"nice and long" according to the tech. Not sure what this means exactly, but it sounded like good news. 

I saw my OB last week and that appointment went well also. I now have to see her twice a month until I am 36 weeks (I think... there's that listening thing I'm no good at). I have gained a mere 6 1/2 pounds. I was quite shocked, I was certain my weight gain this last month would have been in the double digits with as much as I've been eating, but nope, just 4 lbs in as many weeks. 6 1/2 lbs isn't too shabby for 6 months! I may be wearing my pre-pregancy clothes sooner than I thought (knock on wood). 

I have the lovely glucose test next week... really looking forward to that tasty beverage! 

 25 weeks and a proud (& silly) big brother

Apple Annie's Orchard

Jaxon went on his first-ever school field trip this week! He was so very excited! Like I said the other day, I was unable to go with him, but Brian stepped up to the challenge! 

The original plan was for Brian & Jaxon to follow the bus to the orchard. As we got closer to the field trip, Brian wanted to just meet the class at Apple Annie's. Being the teacher that I am, I was not liking this idea. Do you have any idea how stressful that is as a teacher to have a parent and child MEET you there? Ugh. I also know how exciting it is for the kids the morning of the field trip. There is just this cool excitement that goes on. I didn't want Jaxon to miss out on the atmosphere. Then the day before I asked Jaxon if he'd like to ride the bus. Of course he said yes! Oh this made me nervous too, putting my BABY on a BIG bus without one of his parents? Then Brian said he would just leave from our house to the orchard. He didn't even want to follow the bus! Oh dear. I made him promise to text me the minute he saw Jaxon. Yeah, he thought and told me I was neurotic, but this is my little boy we're talking about!

 Well, I had no choice but to put my big girl chonies on and give Jaxon some freedom. We went over and over it... You are going on a BIG bus WITHOUT Mama or Daddy. You must sit on your bottom and listen to your teachers. "Yes Mommy, I will brave." He kept telling me. 

I dropped him off in his classroom, gave him a few extra hugs & kisses and tried not to show Jax how anxious I was. I'm not going to lie, I got back to my classroom and shed a tear or two. Blame it on the pregnancy hormones right? 

Maggie, my parapro, was so sweet. She kept telling me she'd take over the class if I wanted to walk him to the bus. That would be worse I thought for Jaxon. Once he saw me I thought he'd cry when I didn't get on the bus with him. I mean, I can't be on playground while he's out there without stopping by to give him a hug and standing near him for awhile. 

So I was a wreck until Brian called and left me this message... "We made it to the orchard. I am holding Jaxon's hand and we are headed to pick apples?" Whew. I breathed a sigh of relief. 

Thank God I charged the camera battery and gave Brian explicit directions to take LOTS of pictures! Well, he didn't do too bad.

Jaxon's favorite thing was to choose an apple, chomp on it for awhile then throw it on the ground. His favorite apple by far were the Sour Apples. He said to me, "The sour apples were so good. I tried a Golden Delicious and it was yuck so I threw it on the ground. The sour ones were good!"
Despite my worrying the field trip was a success and everyone survived! 

Oh The Guilt!

I totally feel like a slacker mom. I have not taken as many pictures. I haven't done any field trips with Jaxon... not even to Target! UGH! It's this new work schedule. I still work part-time but every day. I usually leave school around noon, which is plenty of time to do fun things with Jaxon, but he falls asleep within 15 minutes in the car. So I'm tied to this nap schedule. Then we live SOOO FAR that doing something after nap is unheard of. So I feel this little guilt and then the other day Jaxon says, "Where are we going today? Are we going to do something fun?" Sorry, not today. "We NEVER do anything fun anymore! I don't want to go home!" So yeah. Thanks for reiterating my guilt.

To top it off, I miss Jaxon's first ever soccer practice because I had teacher parent conferences and I am missing his first ever school field trip because I have to teach. I could take the day off, but with a looming maternity leave i have no sick days to spare. Thankfully Brian will be able to go with him. I think it will be a great time for the 2 of them, but I still feel bad I will not be there.

To ease that guilt, I decided to take Jax to McDonald's (aka Old McDonald's) yesterday after school. This IS a treat for us! I think the one and only time I took him to McDonald's was 2 years ago... no joke. He did go once or twice with his babysitter in Rio Rancho, but that's it. I know. The kid is deprived. When I told him we were going to have smoothies & fries at McDonald's the first thing he says is, "Can we play?" Of course there wasn't a play structure at this McDonald's. So in his problem solving way he says, "Let's just drive to Rio Rancho. That Old MacDonald's has a playground. I'll be good for the long drive."

On another note... Jaxon started soccer! Yup, he is officially on a soccer team and I am officially a soccer mom. He looks so flippin' cute in his shin guards, knee high socks and cleats, but have I taken any pictures? Just one.

I wanted to take pictures of his first practice, but it was the day I had to work until 6:30 pm for Parent teacher conferences. Sigh. Brian said he was awesome. I went with him yesterday, but couldn't take pictures because parent participation is expected.

But can I brag? The kid is amazingly smart! The kids all lined up and Coach Kelly says, "What's the first rule of soccer?" Now, Jaxon is the youngest by 2 years. The rest of his teammates are 5. That being said... In a very small voice Jaxon says, "Don't use your hands." The other kids yell out... "Have fun! Run around! I don't know." I had Jaxon raise his hand, Coach Kelly called on him and he was able to tell her the first rule of soccer. Of course he was right. (see amazingly smart). Then she asked for the 2nd rule. Again, in a small voice, "Kick the ball with your feet." Yup. Again. Right. And the other kids... no clue.

That went on the rest of the practice. He always remembered what Coach Kelly had said last week. Not just that, but he followed directions, listened stayed with the group. I just couldn't be prouder. Even though he did take a rest about 30 minutes into the practice. Who could blame him really? It was hot and he's THREE!

Last night we were talking about Reese and I asked Jaxon what he thinks Reese looks like. this is what he said,

Brown hair, blue eyes and dark skin.

Time will tell.

Speaking of Reese. Jaxon and I saw my friend Mary's baby, Brinley, today. As we were leaving he says to me, "I can't wait to touch and see OUR baby."

Me too, Bud, me too.

Do you not just LOVE the happiness on his face? I cannot wait to see his smile when he meets his baby sister!

He read Brinley her first book :)

And lastly, our 24 week belly picture. Hard to believe this is the last week of my 2nd trimester! Where did the time go? I better get my butt in gear getting bedrooms ready!

Don't mind the pigtails... we were headed to soccer.

22 Weeks

Well, we are more than half way there! It's crazy to think that we now have LESS time than I have actually been pregnant. Does that make sense? The first 20 weeks just FLEW by! It gives me a bit of anxiety to think of how fast this next 18 weeks will go... if we even have 18 weeks. Who knows if Reese is going to take after her big brother or cook a little bit longer?

We are sooo not ready for her arrival! Well, we are ready in the sense that we have a bassinet, crib and car seat so worst case we'll take those out of the garage the days she's born (well, I won't, but we'll find someone.) We still have to move Jaxon into his new room and I want to rearrange Reese's room (Jaxon soon-to-be-old room). I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with the idea of organizing TWO rooms. But, thankfully in 2 1/2 weeks I have a 3 three week break from school and guess what I will be doing?

Since we are more than half way, I thought I would do a little update on the pregnancy so far.

Actually, not much to report really. If it weren't for my growing mid-section and achy back I would forget I was pregnant. It truly has been another easy pregnancy. Thank goodness!

The last time I wrote about the pregnancy I had yet to gain weight, well people, those days are long gone! This baby likes to eat! Reese is always hungry! (That was a lot of exclamation marks) I am positive that I have gained at least 5 pounds since my last check up 2 weeks ago. Hey, when else in my life am I going to be ok with gaining 5 pounds in 2 weeks?

About 2 weeks ago someone asked me if the baby was moving a lot and honestly, no she wasn't. Compared to Jaxon, who I started to feel at 16 weeks, Reese barely moved. This person-who-shall-remain nameless, called her lazy. Reese was not going to put up with that! Literally the next day or so she made her presence known! I think she is going to be a party girl. She sleeps all day and starts to rouse around 8:00 pm until around 5:00 am. Super. As long as it is simply an in utero thing, I'm cool.

She is already a Daddy's girl. The first day I felt she was kicking strong enough for an "outsider" to feel her, I told Brian to bond with his girl. Jaxon would stop the minute Brian touched my stomach. Not Reese. She followed his hand. Each time he'd place his hand on her she would give him a little shout out. So sweet. She doesn't feel the same about her big brother or grandma though.

The progestrone shots are going well. Actually they don't hurt as much as I had thought. The first 3 weeks were rough, I'm not going to lie. The days following the shots were not fun. It was had to sit or lie down and sometimes it even hurt to put pressure on that leg. On the 4th week I started taking Juice Plus vitamins. Seriously, I think they are magical! Ever since I have been taking them, the after effects of the shot are totally bearable! Now, the shot itself hurts like h$#!. If you've never had a progestrone shot, you can literally feel the medicine seep into your muscle. It also doesn't help that Jaxon watches and says, "Does it hurt? Does that hurt, Mom? Does it hurt now? Do you want a lollipop?"

If you are interested in Juice Plus, check out Nicole's blog... she is my Juice Plus dealer :)

I only have 15 shots left! I can do it!

My latest belly pictures....

Notice the growth is one short week?

LOVE Jaxon kissing his baby sister.

For those of you that may have comments about how "large" I am, my belly measures the right amount for as far a long as I am. I measured 21 cm at 21 weeks, which is where I was with Jaxon.

That's all folks. :)

Labor Day

It's been a nice Labor Day weekend around here! We went out to lunch, did a little shopping, had a couple different friends visit, got some ice cream and were lazy for an entire day! How great to have an extra day off. It definitely makes me miss my old work schedule... work 2-3 days a week have a 3 day weekend each week.

Brian & Ami were kind enough to stop on by Sunday evening for an impromptu playdate. Good times!

Ami had the BRILLIANT idea of cutting watermelon into shapes. Let me tell you, heart & star shape watermelon tastes SOOO much better than regular watermelon.

The kids admired the desert from our newly lowered back wall

Future husband and wife had a moment to themselves

SUPER ADORABLE!!

Oh how I hope they do get married... can you imagine how great the wedding slide show will be??

We roasted marshmallows.

Yes, I know this picture is crappy, but I didn't want it to look like we were roasting marshmallows in broad daylight.

We did a little painting

The kids played in Jaxon's bed. Seriously hilarious! I hope that Ami posts the history of kids in one crib.

We did make them get out, but I wondered if we had left them in there if they'd fallen asleep? Yeah. We didn't think so either.

And don't fear... we have chosen a BIG BOY bed for Jaxon and will order it by the end of this week!