Happy Halloween

From Chef Minnie (who loves to cook cupcakes) and Daisy Duck/ Cinderella

I know this is a lazy uninformative post, but like I told you bare with me for the next couple of weeks.

Thanks Grandma for the awesome costumes...you really out did yourself this year! Ready to make costumes for three kiddos next year?

School Conferences

On Monday Karl and I got to meet with the preschool teachers for the first set of conferences. Here is a summary of what they told us.

Brady:

• reads 1-20 and letters names and sounds
• hears initial sounds of words
• loves to follow rules, corrects friends when they aren't following the rules
• starting to do the bead work in the math section
• favorite areas to work are practical life, library and art
• they currently are having to encourage her to do more brain stretching work, she only chooses work that she knows she can master at 100%
• She is very social and loves to eat snack

Reese:

• Even though she often cries at drop off, as soon as she is in the classroom she is happy and quiet
• loves work in practical life and art. Very typical of a almost 3 year old
• they have to give her space when being redirected, they have to let her think she is getting away with something because she is making the choice but in reality she does what they want
• Starting to work on letter sounds
• Not drawn to reading and math at all
• She is very much into observing and watching the other children

Blah!

This pregnancy is kicking me in the bottom! The day I was six weeks along I woke up to feeling like  I have the flu and the feeling hasn't gone away. This pregnancy is completely different than my other two and I would say thus far it is harder. With the other two I threw up but I would have days that I didn't feel ill. I haven't had a day break in 12 days. I feel like I have been run over by a truck!

Anyways, I have plenty to blog about but usually if I have a free second and I just lying around trying to breath (another thing that is hard this pregnancy)! So please bare with me while I try to breath and I might disappear from the blog world.

Other notes about this pregnancy:

-this is a salty pregnancy. I am turning down candy for the first time in my life. Even natural sweets like apples are sometimes too much for me. I wake up every morning wanting a sausage and cheese biscuit.

-sleeping (like with the other two) became difficult almost immediately

-sometimes I feel like my lungs are only two inches big

-I am getting boy feelings even though everyone tells me that they have girl feelings

-Even though I don't feel well almost 100% of the time, I have managed to make it to Zumba 2-3 times a week. I am however definitely doing the low impact version. And on the other nights we try to take a family walk.

Pumpkin Time

At the beginning of this month I bought little pumpkins from the grocery store, due to Reese's request. Do you remember this pumpkin we dressed up? The girls requested to paint the other ones we had bought. They painted them as a spider, bat and two jack o lanterns. Sorry I didn't get the finished product...

Then today, the preschool had a walking field trip. The class walked to the local church pumpkin patch. They bought one pumpkin for their classroom. After the 3/4 mile walk to the patch they all sat down for a banana and triscut snack.

 Then they got to roam the patch.

Orthner Outtakes

 Lastly, they grabbed a group picture. I only had my portrait lens with me so I wasn't able to zoom out for the picture. Thus I only got half the kids. Brady is sitting with her best buddy from last year to her right and her best buddy from this year to her left. Reese is standing at my feet, refused to get in the picture.

 Kids for obvious reasons were not allowed to pick out their own pumpkins. So the girls asked to go back to the patch after school to pick out our pumpkins. Reese picked out the first pumpkin she saw (rather large)!

 After careful consideration Brady was drawn to the one with bird poop on it!

 Brady then went to pick out one for Karl. Here was her first choice. We decided that one wasn't carvable.

 Therefore the girls picked out this one for Karl. Still the smallest one in the batch but has carving potential.

 This last picture just cracks me up. Brady is about as girly as they get!

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

Here is yet another edition of one of the question sheets from the preschool.

This question is what is peace?

I labeled the girls this time. I was cracking up. We obviously have not talked about peace in depth at our house, however, piece has been.

Baby Name Game...

So thanks to those of you who gave me name suggestions. Karl and I have mostly decided on a first name for a boy and first and middle for a girl. Everyone is telling me we are having a girl...

One thing I am worried about with the boy name is keeping in style with the girls name but I want it to be masculine at the same time. I know we choose unisex names for our girl. However, if someone saw a list of the names, I want them to be able to pick out the boy name easily.  However, I know I made this a tough task with my girl names.

Speaking of sex and names... With every pregnancy I try to do something unique. This pregnancy I have decided to do a gender revealing party. I will have a ultrasound tech seal in an envelope what sex that baby is. Then my sister is going to throw a party for me and bake a cake when I am not around. The inside of the cake will either be pink or blue. So when I cut the cake open at the party I will be finding out there what I am having in front of all my friends. Then I will reveal in return the name of the baby.

I think it will be a lot of fun!

Baby Names

Some of you may know that I am obsessed with baby names. I love thinking about perfect names for last names or that blend well with siblings. I will think about what fits for other families the day I find out they are expecting.

Karl and I discussed baby names when we were dating. We had three names picked out. Our first girl name and the first two boy names. We used our girl name Brady Olivia and then as you know we had another girl, Reese Marie.

But now that the time is closing in to choose another set of names I am so excited but I don't know that our boy names fit in with the siblings.

I want to know what boy and girl names you think fit well with Brady and Reese.

After I get several comments I will tell you the origin of my daughters' names and what we are looking for in the third name. Also we are having a name revealing party this time as something new and fun to make this pregnancy unique and special.

So tell me some boy and girl names....

Announcing to the Girls

Now for a fun and up beat post!

I tested positive very early on Saturday morning. Reese had come into my bedroom for assistance using the bathroom. I tried to go back to sleep but kept thinking about my missed period. I wanted to test but then again I didn't want to see another negative. So after 5 minutes of going back and forth I decided to just go test.

I went in to tell Karl that he "was going to have sparkling grape juice for breakfast." We had bought a bottle of sparkling grape juice for the last new year and forgot to drink it. It was in our fridge, so I told Karl (thinking it was going to happen last winter) we will just drink the juice to cheers when we conceive Dale. So, FINALLY we got to celebrate with that bottle. We decided not to tell the girls just yet, but allowed them to drink the juice with us.

When looking at these pictures, remember I don't normally give my girls juice, hence Reese's face.

 

Well, remember this was Saturday morning and Karl wanted to wait until we got a positive test from the doctors to share with the girls and our family. I was thinking two days is such a long time to hold in that secret. Then I remembered that Monday was a government holiday and that I wouldn't be able to go to the Navy Hospital until Tuesday. Thus I convinced him to let me tell the girls on Sunday morning.

Karl brought them their baby dolls at the breakfast table. Then we started talking about how much they like their 'pretend' baby. We asked them if they wanted a 'real' baby. Then after a couple questions they realized I had a baby in my belly. I was sitting directly across from Brady, so this first picture she is looking at my belly.

 Reese decided that she would have a pretend baby in her belly.

 But then there was the question that my belly wasn't big enough to have a baby. So Karl grabbed an M&M for each girl and explained to them that that baby is currently smaller then the M&M.

 Brady then asked if she could get down to hug and kiss the baby! She was more excited about this then words can describe. Within in the first five minutes she hugged, kissed, poked and tickled the baby.

 Reese is um, somewhat in denial. She will either tell me she doesn't want a baby in my belly or that it is just pretend.

Brady wants me to have a boy since there aren't any boys in the family. She kisses the baby every night during our bedtime routine. She has asked if the baby was going to drink mommy's milk or formula. I think she really wants to bottle feed the baby. Also she told me that she wants to baby to sleep in her room. That when the baby cries she will just pick it up and carry it to me. She has also since asked if the baby is bigger than an M&M yet. Oh,I love how excited she is, I guess it will be a pretty good 5th birthday present for her.

Battle with Infertility

I want to start by saying, my struggle this time of 11 months is no where as long as some couples I know. So when I talk about this I am not trying to say I had it bad off. Some couples are counting years of struggles not months. We are very lucky to even have the possibility at all to conceive our own and I am very thankful for that blessing.

But at the same time I want to document the emotions involved in this struggle.

• Each and every month, no matter how long you have been trying, something inside you has hope that this month will be THE month. This has obvious good implications but also has difficult implications. First, it makes each and every negative test hard to take. Also, you put off living your life normally. For example, you don't worry about the weight you have gained because you think soon I will be pregnant and then I can worry about it later. Or you don't buy the cute new clothes you see because hopefully soon you will be wearing maternity. Or for example like me, I put off the laser hair removal I was gifted since you can't continue it while pregnant. All those things you put off build up and then creates even more spite towards the infertility issue. 
• The "two week wait" seems like a full month every time. You just trying to find signs that this time might be THE time. You search of the internet everyday about potential due dates or new signs that might give you a hint. Rechecking your temperature chart to make sure you read it correctly. Then trying to think of things to keep you busy so the time will pass more quickly.
• Another big thing to deal with during this time is the announcement of other ladies' pregnancies. The first time I struggled with infertility, I couldn't even say congratulations to my friends who announced during my struggle. I would go home and cry, especially when they tell me they weren't even trying (or and oops baby). You can't reason correctly during this time. 
• Yes, even if I have two healthy kids that are AMAZING, it is still hard to deal with. Again, this is something I think a lot of people don't understand (maybe even my husband). If I have decided I want a third but struggle it doesn't mean I love my kids less or don't appreciate them, it means I want more just like them. I have committed my body to conceiving a third and when it doesn't happen right away it is painful. 
• Intimacy in a marriage struggles for most during this time. The element of love is almost lost and it becomes a chore. It strains the relationship when 'it' is a chore for a year. 

I can keep going but I don't want to you think I was absolutely miserable during those long 11 months. I still loved my life more than you can imagine and I was/am thankful EVERYDAY for where I am in my life. I will say this past week there is definitely a bounce in my step that was missing for almost a year. 

Journey to Dale

What do I mean by "Journey to Dale" you ask. Well let me tell you...

Background information: For my first pregnancy, we called the (at the time) unknown baby, "Baby Orthner." Not surprising right... well that got shorten to B.O. We always got a chuckle out of that. Ironically, B. O. ended being our little girl with the initials BOO. With pregnancy number two, Karl's code name was Dash Two. This is a aviation term for when you are flying in form, the second aircraft is called Dash Two. That was shortened to Dash.

Another piece of background information: Karl loves NASCAR. His first driver he ever followed was Dale Earnhardt Sr. His car number was three. In college, as a joke, Karl would use the word Dale instead of three. Thus if he counted he would say "one, two, dale, four..."

I am sure you see where this is going. When discussing the possibility third child, especially in front of the girls we used the code name Dale. So like Karl will pat my belly and ask how Dale is doing.

So for the journey part....

Last year in July I had a serious case of the baby itch. I had three friends have a baby within a week and I was ready for that again. At that time Brady was 3 and Reese was 18 months. Karl was not ready at that time for Dale, so we tabled the discussion. Then in November Karl felt ready for the third. Thus November of last year we began our Journey for Dale. As you can probably guess we were struck with infertility woes yet again. In another post I will document what it is like to struggle with fertility. I believe it is something that is hard to understand if you haven't dealt with it.

I was on my third round of Clomid (fertility meds) when the doctor and I decided it was best I discontinue using it. I was having BAD side effects including blood clots. We didn't know what the solution was from there but the doctor had set up an appt. with a specialist. In September the earliest appt. was mid December. Broken hearted, I had to tell myself to be patient. My last cycle on Clomid I tested negative at 28 days. I decided it was time to get my weight under control (I am 15 pounds over my norm). I meet a couple times with a nutrition and fitness coach, got my plan set up for the next three months. Meanwhile, I was expecting my period. When it didn't come, I tested again at 35 days... POSITIVE!!!

I cried when I saw those two lines! After 11 months of trying, seeing the result was just as exciting as the first two times. We are VERY excited about Dale. Brady is already gearing up.

I plan on posting about the struggles of infertility and how we shared the news with the girls and friends very soon!

Wordless Wednesday: Elation!!!

 Please excuse what looks like the beginnings of a baby bump...that was my need to lose weight...but that will have to wait now!

Run Brady Run

We have found Brady's physical niche. We figured out about a year ago that Brady had a very good running stride. Well, Karl is working on making that running a part of her regular routine. Karl has started running with Brady on Sunday mornings. Reese always wants to join (which she is welcome to) but doesn't get far before she asks to go back home.

I love how Karl stretches with the girls before the morning running. I really enjoy watching this daddy/daughter bonding time. Here are some of the pictures I have captured for you to enjoy.

Mrs. Pumpkin Head

Last year, I bought a neat potato head kit to use on a pumpkin. I pulled it out again this year and boy oh boy has it been a hit!

Without realizing it, I bought the perfect sized pumpkin. Both of the girls carry it around the house like it is their baby. They take turns being the mommy, drop the pumpkin off at pretend school, put down for a nap, etc. I had no clue how much fun this would be for them. I love their imagination.