36 weeks pregnant today!

Bella has been sick the past few weeks with a cough but this week it has definitely gotten worse. I kept her home most of the week to try to fight it off but it looks like it's just running its looooong course. Now Vivi woke up with a runny nose and is congested so that's no fun. Especially when my in laws are coming tomorrow so they can spend the day and night with the girls while we have a mini babymoon in the city. I am going to feel so guilty leaving them. I was almost tempted to call her and tell her to not even bother but I figure you know what she has raised three kids of her own so Im pretty sure she can handle one night. My only qualm is that I hope she can hear them and wake up to them if they cry at night for whatever reason. 

I really want to enjoy one night out with Curt and sleep in a little late meaning past 6:30am with him! He is so sweet this morning he knew I needed to give the girls showers so he leaves towels for all of us on the door handle. 

Little things like this make me so happy. He is such a good Daddy to these girks. I have been really anxious about gettig this baby out this past week but I have also been a little nostalgic because it won't ever be the same once he comes it wont be the three girls anymore. I love our girl time together and things are definitely going to change very soon...of course for the better but it will just never be the same. 

I went to get a weight check on the baby for my 36 week sonogram this week. The baby was measuring at 36 weeks 1 day so only three days further along than I thought and he is weighing in at 6 lbs 8 ounces...who knows how accurate that really is though. 

We are so excited to meet him, I can't wait to see his sweet face!

I think today I will make Christmas cupcakes with the girls. They love to bake so I figure we should do something fun since we can't go anywhere. 

Have a great weekend!!

Baby size and baby due date

I was just looking on facebook and a friend from college had a baby that was 9lbs 14 ounces! Now that is a big baby! It got me a little nervous actually because my mother in law was telling me that Curt was 9lbs but Curt says no way he was 8lbs. I tried to look for his birth certificate in our file box but no certificate-shocker. I found out that I was 7lb 4, Bella was 7lb 3, and Vivi was 7lb 14. Vivi was induced so she was 40 weeks and Bella came ten days before my due date. 

I wish someone could just tell me when this baby is coming. I don't know why I am getting so anxious. Well, I do know why because I always get anxious weeks before my babies come. I am definitely not one of those women who just rest and relax wanting to keep the baby in. I want to see my baby, nurse my baby, stare at my baby for hours, smell my baby and sleep with my baby! Hahaha i am just so excited to meet this little bundle of joy. I can not believe I am going to be a mommy to a boy. It's so strange that i will have a son. I know I sound like a broken record but I am just getting so excited!! Eeeeeeee

We have a sonogram coming up in two weeks to see how big the baby is just so we have an idea of how big the baby will be. 

Time to start decorating this house! Bella said it's time to take down the Thanksgiving and Halloween decorations and I think she is right. 

I want to know when other's had their third baby. I know it is different for everyone but I love hearing! 

Today I was able to get a babysitter for Bella since she has been sick at home all week and I took Vivi to her gymboree class. She absolutely loves this place! 

Two sisters forming their friendship before my eyes

LifeThese girls are the light of my life. I am so lucky & happy to be their momma. Bella has had a little fever the past two days so she has stayed home and we have been having so much fun making projects, cooking, doing puzzles, and watching movies together. I love them so much they are quickly becoming best friends and it is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life. They make each other  laugh uncontrollably, they hold hands, they sit next to eachother during meals, they watch tv together, they even fight together and laugh while doing it. I hope this connection lasts until they are old and grey because there is nothing greater than a sister. It is something special that not everyone can have but if you are lucky enough to have one you need to cherish it. 

I actually feel bad for this baby boy growing in me because there is already a two year age gap and they are already best friends who I know will gang up against him. This will be my chore on a regular to try to include him on whatever it is that they are playing even if it's beauty salon. This of course will make me want to have one more so it's fair for him. 😁😄

Here are some sweet pictures of then the last two days playing together. I hope they read this blog when they are older during an argument and realize that whatever they are fighting about is not a big deal in the large scheme of things. Life will move on, friends will come and go but sisters will always be there for you in the end no matter what. I want to teach them that they need to support one another on any accomplishment and always be happy for each other. Never be jealous because she is your sister. I want them to be each other's cheerleader..

Not so clear but they were running holding hands in their pj's. 

Reading books & doing puzzles

Sitting next to each other on spaghetti sunday

Laughing hysterically at absolutely nothing.

Playing in the car together

Princess pjs 

Momma loves you two. More than you will ever know. 

. 

Girl vs boy differences while pregnant

This weekend flew by. In fact the past few weeks feel like they are flying by so quickly. I still have a lot to prepare before baby comes but I have been feeling run down a lot of days and not very motivated. Braxton Hicks contractions started up last thursday and I feel like the days where I have them I am exhausted and running on empty. My insomnia has kicked in as well (which is something I never had in my previous pregnancies) and IT IS NO FUN! I sometimes can't fall asleep till midnight or later then finally fall asleep and then wake up at 6:00 or sometimes earlier. I am having a contraction right now as I type. It's so strange I never remember having these contractions this early on. Maybe I had them and I didn't know but I doubt it. They seem to be a little more painful as the days pass. I am just hoping the baby stays in there long enough to be completely healthy. I also hope these contractions don't get too painful. 

Here are some of the differences I've had befween the two genders:

Girl: ham and cheese hot pocket cravings ( i would never eat them

Not pregnant)

Boy: goat cheese and strawberry salads

Any salads in fact

Girl: lots of sweets, chocolate 

Boy: Braeburn apples from New Zealand

(Only kind)

Girl: slept great not too much movement

Boy: sleep less lots of movement to thr point of rocking baby back to bed after peeing at 1am

Girl: pickles, smoothies and chocolate milkshakes from McDonalds

Boy: no milkshakes

Boy: incredibly physically ill from 8 weeks to 18 weeks

Girl: nauseous from 8 weeks to 16 weeks

Boy: hot fudge sundaes with mint chocolate chip ice cream and strawberry sauce

Girl: brownies

Boy: ehh take it or leave it for brownies. 

Boy: olives the first and part of second trimester.

Boy: braxton hicks contractions at 32 weeks

Dr. visit

This morning I dropped Bella off at school and went to my bi-weekly check up. They still have not started checking my cervix yet...don't know when that will happen most likely the next visit but anyway, everything went well and I was even able to see the baby. He was so cute and squirmy in my belly. He was breathing so I was able to see his lungs expand and contract. I was even able to see his scrotum! It is definitely a boy, that is for sure! 

My doctor measured my stomach with the tape measure and it read 34cm which is a little strange seeing as how I am still 31 weeks. Typically the week you are determines how many centimeters you are in length. When I was pregnant with the girls my weeks were always the same as the length so this is a little strange for me. I wonder what that means or if it means anything? Will he be a bigger baby? Is he just "a boy"? Will I give birth early? 

Who knows.

I am looking forward to my ultrasound on Dec 10th to see a better measurement of the baby at 36 weeks. I do have a feeling this baby will come early but how early I do not know. 

I feel pretty good right now though. I mean my back hurts and I feel huge but that's all normal. 

I can't wait to meet him, hold him and kiss him all over :)

Mommy and Baby Boy C at 31 weeks

Love you!

Is it me or do teenagers have it easier these days?

Are teenagers so bombarded with ADD, anxieties, depression, and other ailments that they are using these problems as an excuse or are we making an excuse for them as parents?

As a teenager I personally was depressed for about a year when I was 13 and then again when I was 17 and my sister left for college along with other stresses. I was not on any medication for it but I knew I was definitely depressed. My parents probably knew it too but they never really talked to me about it. They went to work every day they treated me the same and they put me to work. They never gave me special treatment and I actually think that made me stronger and helped me work through my problems. I know not everyone is the same and people have different levels of depression, etc., but sometimes I think as a society today we medicate our children too much and make excuses for them so they have an easy life and less complicated life. Everywhere I look parents want to keep their children in a bubble so nothing harms them. I get it. I probably do the same to a certain level but then I realize what are they really getting out of me sheltering them to this extent?

Kids and teenagers need to be outside, off their phones and engaging with other people. People say computers are going to take over the world and soon there wont be jobs because everything will be done from home...well, I think great everyone works from home what will that mean for our society? Will we be hermits, not socializing, not going to happy hours, not really making friends, not dating? It's scary to think about it to be honest. I wish I could see more teenagers having a good conversation face to face instead of tweeting about a car going down the street or a new selfie they just posted. 

We need to get our heads away from our phones and start socializing with people. Kids need to have manners, smile, engage. I feel like I see more and more kids who can't say hello and parents talking for them, what will this mean for our future. 

I went to a shower a few weeks ago and there were two teenage girls at my table and they could not get off their phones. Once we started talking about this topic they finally got off their phones and tried to prove to us that they actually could carry on a conversation with strangers. I had to give them props for that. 

People are already rude let's not make it any worse parents. Let your kids speak, tell them to stay off their phones bc it's rude and let your kids work in a social environment so they can communicate with others. 

Ok, im done ranting for today. Have a great Wednesday! 

Give Thanks this month and every month!

Last week I started a Give Thanks tree for the kids. Every time they do something kind I let them put a leaf on the tree. It's still a little bare but slowly we are getting more and more leaves. 

The girls painted the leaves with fall colors. I will post a picture of what it looks like at the end of November. 

I really need to pick up some books on Thanksgiving. Our prayers every night before we go to bed mainly consist of giving thanks and not asking for anything from God. That has seemed to help me each and every year and I want my children to give prayers of thanks to God each day. If I ask for help or want something I typically ask for guidance from God. I want to always give thanks for everything we have because I feel like we are so blessed in so many ways. 

I love this month and everything it stands for, family, giving thanks and food- some of my favorite things! Not to mention the fact that this is the start to Christmas my favorite holiday of the year. Curt and I decided we will decorate the week of Thanksgiving just so we can get in that extra time week of Christmas!! Now my only question is how will we make a tree survive for a whole month or maybe a little longer? Every year we talk about how much more realistic it would be for us to buy a fake tree so the kids can be rough with it, no needles and having it last much longer (obviously) but we just can't seem to do it. It's so fun to pick out a tree and having that fresh pine smell in your house!

I can't wait to celebrate this Christmas we have so much to look forward to. 

Congratulations Mr. Cannon

I am so proud of my husband he made partner last week and I couldn't be happier for him. He is such a hard worker  he wakes up most mornings at 4:45 so he is at work at 5:30 and he comes home for dinner around 6:00 every day. He is the best and we are all so so proud of you! He has been working for Goldberg, Finnegan and Mester for four years now and we weren't really expecting this so we are thrilled!

Cheers to the best husband and Daddy in the whole world! 

Vivi 2 year check up

Vivi had her two year check up today and she is still in the 98% in height. Both of the girls have never failed to go below 95% in height since the day they were born. I wonder what that means about how tall they will be when they are adults. Some doctors say double it and that will be their height as adults at two. If that is the case she would be 6'2" which sounds crazy to me. I rarely see women who are that tall and I am only 5'5" and Curt is 5'10" his dad and my dad are over 6 ft but still...

We will see.

She cried more than half the time we were there. Bella stopped crying when she went to the dr at around 2 1/2 but I have a feeling Vivi will be crying for another year or two. Bella doesn't even cry anymore when she gets shots, she is so strong. It's so funny how different their  personalities are. 

We are both exhausted now and it's only 11:15am. It's a rainy and dreary day here in Md and I didn't fall asleep until after midnight because Curt had his last Mason meeting. He is officially a mason now! I love that he is following the footsteps of my dad and grandfather. He really likes to do things for my dad and that is just one more thing I love about him. I just wish these meetings didn't run so late, I can never fall asleep without him. 

I plan on taking a nap today and hopefully relaxing all day. Tomorrow I am going to be baking for the majority of the day. I promised 8 baked goods by Friday for Bella's school which means 8 hours added for the year. We have a requirement of completing 20 hours for the shool year or we have to pay $500. I plan on trying to get my hours completed before this baby comes!

I am so excited to see him, I'm starting to get anxious! The crib is arriving next week and his bedding is coming on Friday. We got the chair and ottoman for his room so now all we need is a changing table/dresser a little end table and I need to call next day blinds to get black out blinds! We are counting down only 79 days left! 

Here I come third trimester!! 

28 weeks! 

Sweet baby not crying waiting for her shots to come :(

Mommy meltdown

Last Friday was not the best day for me. I had two sick kids who would not stop coughing and Bella had been up all night on and off to the point of Curt just sleeping in her room. That day Bella was coughing so much she couldn't fall asleep for her nap time and I was beat. Days like that are so exhausting and feel like they never end. Luckily Curt came home early that day so I grabbed my bag and told Curt I needed a personal night. I called my best friend and cried to her for about ten minutes like a baby. I know life isn't that bad but sometimes you just need a break and you need to breath. 

I had not left the house in over a week and felt like the walls were caving in on me. 

I went to get a manicure/pedicure which was completely relaxing and then I went to Capital Grille sat down at the bar and had a salad in peace and quiet. I ended up making a girlfriend at the bar and we talked about ebola and other adult like things instead of the nightly conversation about Sofia the first and saying "please eat your food" a million times. 

Afterwards I went to Bloomingdales and bought myself a new pair of beautiful fall/winter boots and I can't wait to wear them. 

I felt a zillion times better after that so I headed home at 8:30 😬 and got in bed. 

Thank God that day is over. 

Going to the zoo with Vivian

This morning Bella had her first field trip to the pumpkin patch! Bella was excited to go but I don't think she really knew what to expect. 

After breakfast Vivi and I got dressed and had a little field trip of our own since it was so warm out today. I love when we have these beautiful hot days in October when the leaves are changing color! 

We started out at the elephant house and worked our way over to see the panda bears where we saw the baby panda Bao Bao but he was hard to see since he was sleeping way up high in a tree. At first Vivi kept saying "no" because she was scared but then really started to enjoy all of the animals. We will definitely be back soon since this weather is so nice and they really are at the perfect age to get some energy out and enjoy the day seeing animals. 

Here are some pictures from today...

Bao Bao in the tree

Beautiful leaves changing color

Cheetah

Zebra

Vivi making funny faces with the gorilla in the back!

Orangatan hanging out right above us. Kinda creepy

Yawning on her way home. Great morning spent with my Vivi

Dear Curt,

Thank you so much for my sweet notes you leave me every morning or every other morning they make me happy and determined to start my day out on the right note with the girls. You make me want to be a better wife and a better momma. 

Thank you for ironing for me. You know I hate ironing and you do it every few weeks even after a long day at work.

Thank you for bringing home dinner on the nights where I have been too tired to cook because I've been having insomnia. 

Thank you for rubbing my back every night before bed.

Thank you for being the best daddy in the whole world and making it home for dinner every night so you can spend time with us eventhough I know you could have stayed at work much longer.

Thank you for killing crickets and spiders. 

Thank you for putting up outdoor Halloween decorations where I can't reach. 

Thank you for keeping me happy and giving me all the babies I want :)

I love you.

Your wife

My first weekend of October

The weather is getting cold! I love my Saturday mornings, I really look forward to them. We wake up, normal time of course (7am) get the kids up and head downstairs for breakfast then we sit around or clean up a little before we head out the door to ballet. I love my ballet Sat mornings with Bella. It is just the two of us. We get ready, go get coffee, then walk to ballet together hand in hand. I love this because I know it is something we will be doing for years. I could be completely wrong but I do think Bella is going to love ballet or dance for years to come or maybe it's just my dream :)

Afterwards we say goodbye to all the sweet mommies and other dancers and head home to Curt and his potty training session that should be taking place. I wonder how much Curt hates his Saturday mornings? 

This past Saturday the girls were recovering from a cough so we kept them in for most of the weekend. Curt and I bought tickets to a food and wine festival in Silver Spring with my sister Travis but it was really lacking both food and wine. They still of course had fun together then we went to Rock Bottom for some actual food and one more drink before we headed home. The girls were with their babysitter and Brooke my niece came to play with them for a few hours. 

We ordered a delicious pizza from Mama Lucia and watched TV for the rest of the cold windy night!

I love how there are so many scary movies on TV now that it's October! 

On Sunday we just stayed home and relaxed the whole day. I love lazy weekends!

I took Bella to CVS with me and she found a scary friend. Am I traumatizing my child? :/

Making homemade applesauce

Last weekend we all got in the car and headed to a local farm to go apple picking. We had a great time and we got about 20 apples so today I decided to make applesauce. 

First I washed the apples

Then I took the skin off of them. I peeled about 15 of them and cut them up into wedges cutting around the core of the apple. Then I put them into a big pot on the stove.

Then I turned the stove on medium heat and added one cup of apple juice. I wish I had cider but it might not have made a difference.

Then I added:

one teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Freshly grated nutmeg

A pinch of allspice

And 1/2 cup of brown sugar to give it that beautiful brown color.

I mixed it a little and then put the top on. 

I let it sit for a good 20 min while the kiddos and I started decorating the house for Halloween then checked on it and it looked like mush. Perfect. Turn the stove off.

I let it cool for another half hour or so then got my mini food processor and started making small batches of applesauce. I added about a 1/4 cup of apple juice to get the right consistency and it was done!! Best applesauce I've ever had hands down!

And....

This will last us for maybe a week if we are lucky!!

Have fun making your own now! 

My sick baby loving her applesauce