October 2018

We kicked off the month with Ella's birthday on the 3rd.

Read all about Ella at 2 years old HERE.

I went to the dentist for a cleaning and left with two teeth pulled out.

One wisdom tooth and a molar on the bottom that was easier (and cheaper) to take out than fix and crown. It sucked.

So painful and still SO hormonal from having Avery only a month before.

I still have one more wisdom tooth that needs pulled on the top on the other side, but I'm going to keep ignoring that as long as I can.

Traditional Halloween sugar cookies with the best helpers

We had some great October weather, so we took the kids to the corn maze for a second time

We got a little crafty.

One afternoon by ourselves and a different afternoon with some neighbor friends.

We took the kids to Boo at the Zoo.

This was the first year we were there late enough to actually see the lights in the dark, so that made it extra fun

I took the kids to a small trunk or treat that was close to our house one afternoon while Taylor was at work. They had so much fun running around in their costumes.

On Halloween morning we went out to breakfast with friends for some 'scary face pancakes'

It was such a good Halloween with our Peter Pan crew.

Captain Hook

Mr. Smee

Peter Pan

Tinker Bell

and little Wendy

While a lot of October had good weather, that was not the case on Halloween day.

It was so dang cold.

We walked to our church's trunk or treat and then trick or treated our way home and called it a night in plenty of time to get the kids to bed.

September 2018

Ella fell off the hammock onto the cement pad in the backyard and gave herself a good mark on the forehead.

We brought the farm's little 50 dirt bike up for a few weeks and Hudson had SO much fun riding it. He asked to go out on it every spare moment Taylor was home.

I started out the month veryyyy pregnant and head Avery a week into the month.

Outings to the library are literally never dull

Avery Mae was born!

It was the easiest and quickest induction/labor experience yet.

Read all about her birth story HERE.

I attempted to take a "1 week old" picture of Avery, and the big kids insisted on jumping in on the fun too.

My mom came to visit for a week!

We LOVED having Gigi here to help with the chaos and accompany us on adventures.

The second big event of September 2018 was my sister getting married!

We took two seperate cars down to Utah, so my parents could use one instead of renting a car and so we could bring some straw bales down for the wedding to use as decor at the reception.

Somehow I got stuck with ALL of the kids, but at least I had my mom to help.

Having a wedding in the family two weeks after giving birth wasn't exactly ideal for me, but it was a beautiful day.

Raelyn was the best help with the baby. I was so sad that we couldn't take her back to Idaho with us.

The one good thing about a wedding with a two week old is that you're not short on people to hold the baby.

We shared a rental house with my whole family which was the absolute best kind of chaos.

9 adults 7 children 5(or 6) and under at the time + various other family members in and out all the time.

We got together one of the afternoons we were down there with a bunch of family on my dad's side, so here is a picture of my grandma with a large portion of her great grandchildren at the time.

That many people in a photo let alone that many young kids in a photo made for a grand time.

It was a good weekend filled with family and fun, but it was definitely good to head home Sunday morning back to our quiet house to continue the adjustment to life with 3 kids.

We took the kids to the corn maze on one of the last warmish days of the year.

We were walking through the maze and the next thing we know Hudson stops, whips it out, and does his business like it was no big deal. Luckily, I don't think anyone but us saw him.

Pregnancy Number 4: The First Trimester and then some

Pictured at 17 weeks

How far along? 18 weeks as of this past Saturday

Total weight gain: -3 morning sickness + getting braces put on has resulted in a loss of weight rather than gaining. I mean I was down more than that, so my weight has already started to go back up.

Maternity clothes: Not yet. I can still fit into at least one pair of my jeans, but honestly it's the only pair I've put on recently so I have no idea about others. Perks of a winter pregnancy is that I live in leggings instead.

Sleep: I, thankfully, can still sleep on my stomach, but those days are coming to an end quicker than I would like. I'm always so tired from teaching online early that I've had no issues falling asleep and staying asleep.

Movement: I started feelings movement around 15 weeks- not consistently or anything but frequently enough to be like that's not just digestion haha.

Food cravings: fruit. 

Anything making you sick or queasy: Not really.

Gender: We want the baby to be a boy to even out the numbers, but obviously we're prepared for either gender at this point. I want to say I think it's going to be a boy because this pregnancy has been so different, but I know it doesn't necessarily mean anything.

Symptoms: HIP PAIN. always always always my right hip. I hate the relaxin hormone for all of the dang hip pain it gives me. a little bit of sciatic pain here and there. acne. lingering fatigue.

Belly button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Looking forward to: The anatomy ultrasound in two weeks!

A couple of notes I made along the way so far..
Week 8: Craving fruit
Week 10: Allllll the water. Plain water.
Week 12: Another small acne break out
Week 16: I'll take some more fruit please.
Week 17: Why is all the good fruit out of season.
Week 18: Hey there acne again...

THE FIRST TRIMESTER
This pregnancy has been pretty different compared to at least Ella and Avery's but really all three of them. Morning sickness started right on schedule with so much nausea. I don't think I threw up at all this time, but there were definitely days that I wanted to. Some days I would have a few hours of relief in the afternoon and then right around dinner time the nausea would come back, last the rest of the night, and it was always there when I woke up. With my other pregnancies I never had any relief from the nausea. Previously my morning sickness lasted until 15ish weeks and this time it was pretty much gone by 12 weeks, so that was a very welcome change!
One thing that I noticed is that I didn't want sweets at all. So many Christmas treats sat on our counter for too long. We even had a box of crumbl go stale before it got even close to being finished, so that's saying something. I feel like this was different than my other pregnancies as well.
The fatigue was roughhh and teaching online so early in the morning did nothing to help. I can't even tell you how many nights the kids went to be at 7, I promptly fell asleep on the couch at 7:30, woke up a while later, and then went back to sleep for the night in my bed. And most days I took a nap during one of Avery's naps. While I don't feel like I have the energy I had before, I'm grateful that I can at least stay awake for a few hours after the kids go to bed.
I continued to work out 6 days a week during my first trimester with a mix of strength training and cardio. Although, the intensity definitely wasn't at the same level because it's hard to work out hard when you feel like crap and your body lacks the food/nutrients it needs. Now that the morning sickness is over, the hip pain is making my workouts a lot harder which is annoying, but I'm determined to figure out how to adapt because I feel like I've already lost some muscle tone..

DECIDING IF/WHEN
After Avery turned 1 we had to decide again when to have our next if we wanted to stick with a similar age gap as the other three. For a hot minute there it was a question of IF we even wanted to have another child, but obviously here we are. If we got pregnant in September the baby would be due in June making it the perfect time- before a trip we want to take next July and the start of harvest in July. (Taylor works on and fixes tractors for a living, so the start of grain harvest in July to the end of potato harvest in October is an extremely busy time at work for him + all of the different times hay gets bailed in between. Really, from the time the snow melts to the end of potato harvest is busy for him but June is a smidge less busy) If it didn't happen then we were going to wait until we would have an October due date because that would be pretty much after the craziness was over.

FINDING OUT
I never thought much about my cycles except for putting in an app when my period started, so I knew when-ish to expect my period next month. That meant I didn't really have a clue when I ovulated, so we were basing it off of the app and knowing that if we were meant to have a child in June it would happen and if not that was great too.

I started testing almost a week before my period was expected to start and wasn't surprised when I got a negative result more than one morning. I knew it was early to test, but the anticipation made it too hard to wait, and I was using cheap tests anyway.

I was teaching online at 4:30 in the morning at the time of testing, so I would take a test and then hurry downstairs to teach without it really having time to process before my first class started. Like I said, they were negative a few times, but one morning I was starting my first class glanced at the test and thought 'oh my goodness! I think I see a second line!' I couldn't really look at it until the 30 minute class was over, and it killed me the whole time. After the class I was pretty sure I saw a second line, but it was so dang faint, Taylor was obviously sleeping, and I still had 3 more classes to teach so I couldn't run upstairs to show him/get his opinion. I took a picture of the test to make sure I wasn't crazy and that I could actually see it in a picture not just with my own eyes.

I don't think you can even see the second line in these pictures on those first 3 tests. 

They really were that faint.

They were all the same test just out of the plastic case in the first 3.

After I was done teaching I showed Taylor and took another test and got another 'is it even there' faint line. After 3 or so of those we were pretty confident it was really happening. We watched the line get darker over the next few days and truly couldn't believe it was happening.

And a word of caution, after getting the super faint positive I took a test out of the garbage that was taken a day or two before and we previously thought was negative and lo and behold there was the faintest second line ever. I think that when the test was wet it was too light against the wetness, but once it was fully and completely dry you could actually see it. So, don't trust every negative you get. I know plenty about evaporation lines, but the one we pulled out of the garbage definitely wasn't an evaporation line.

We actually found out we were pregnant the day after his twin brother told us his wife was expecting, so that was exciting! My first ultrasound dated us almost exactly 5 weeks behind my sister in law, so it will be fun to see exactly how close in age these babies are once they're born!

SHARING THE NEWS

We found out at 3 weeks (although we thought we were 4 weeks based on LMP) and didn't tell anyone for a while. I figured if I didn't tell anyone, then I couldn't complain about being sick. We told my sister at 9 weeks while we were in Utah for her baby shower and the rest of our families at 10 weeks. There were some mixed reactions to say the least.. Especially when we added that this would be our last baby.

Truthfully, I was surprised that more people didn't guess it based on 90% of my Marco Polos being sent from me laying on the couch in those weeks of morning sickness.

We shared these pictures on social media just before Christmas.

We did find out after announcing it on social media that Hudson had already told at least his primary teacher and Ella had told her preschool teacher.

Is it twins?
Nope. Single fetus. We have gotten this question multiple times with every single pregnancy because of Taylor being a twin. While fraternal twins can be genetic, Taylor being a twin has no affect on my chances of having twins. Let me say that a little louder for the people in the back, TAYLOR BEING A TWIN PHYSICALLY CANNOT AFFECT MY CHANCES OF HAVING TWINS. His sperm/DNA has nothing to do with how many eggs my body releases at a time or if an egg happens to split. Twins do not run in my family. I have had no greater chance of having twins than any other average person.

If twins ran in Taylor's mom's family (as far as I know they don't and Taylor and Sheldon are the only twins?), then it is Ella and Avery who would have a greater chance of having twins.

Will we have more children?
No, probably not. Hudson will be exactly 5.5 when this baby is born. 3 kids in less than 4 years has been a lot. I imagine 4 kids in 5.5 years will be A LOT. It's been a lot on my body in a short time, and I'm really respecting my physical limits as well as mental limits. We always said we wanted 4-5 kids (5 kids in my family and 4 in Taylor's), and stopping at 4 just feels right. PLUS, everybody needs a ride buddy at Disneyland, so we couldn't stop at 3. We are probably 98% sure this will be our last baby, but I recognize the Lord can have a different plan for us than we do.