Preschool - Here we come!

This morning Kate and Matthew started Preschool!  What?!  I know!  I can't believe either that they are old enough now for Preschool!

Both Kate and Matthew have been pumped to start Preschool and talked about it a lot this summer.  It was their big motivator for being potty trained.  They worked very hard on it this past month!  (Which by the way, not a fan of potty training!!!)  They loved pointing out their new school as we would pass it on our way in and out of town asking if they could go now and play.  

Katherine

St. John's Lutheran Preschool

September 2, 2014 - Miss Melissa & Miss Blair

Matthew

St. John's Lutheran Preschool

September 2, 2014 - Miss Melissa & Miss Blair

Had to get some pictures outside of their preschool!

Standing by their own cubbies and were super excited to hang up their backpacks! 

Preschool today was a success!!  No tears for anyone at drop-off this morning!  Seeing the kids happy with their new teachers made this process a lot easier for me and helped this mama not shed any tears.   I'm so proud of them for being so brave and today I'm especially thankful for all of the ECFE classes in MN the twins were took as they helped ease the nerves for all of us!

When asking them afterwards what their favorite part of the day was, they responded:

Kate: "Singing the 'Wheels on the Bus' song!"  And then she continued to sing me the WHOLE song complete with actions!

Matthew: "Playing outside!"

They are going to have such a fun time this school year!

Caroline's 1 Month

Miss Caroline turned one month old already on August 7th, 2014.  It has been a crazy first month indeed!  Life with 3.5 year old twins, a newborn, Kevin's new job, and still trying to get moved into a new house can be a bit of a challenge to juggle at times. 

 

Caroline Joy

1 Month

July 7 - August 7

 

 

Weight: 9 lbs 6 oz - 65th %tile

Length: 21 inches - 46th %tile

Head: 13.75 inches - 9th %tile

 

At ONE MONTH you are wearing size 1 diapers and are in 0-3 month onsies and sleepers.  You are very long and skinny and little shorts or bloomers just fall down your skinny waist.  You're such a little peanut!

 

You still have a lot of hair - most of it is on the back of your head.  So far it seems to change colors in different lights to darker, golden blond, and can have a tint of red cast.

 

You still have the 'stork bite' (as they call it) on yourright eye lid and markings on your forehead from coming out of the birth canal face up.

 

At ONE MONTH you are not the best sleeper.  You like to 'cat nap' during the day.  You love, love to be held and will easily fall asleep in our arms but once you get put down you wake right back up. It's a bit frustrating, baby girl!  I don't know how you can be so sound asleep and the moment we set you down you wake up.  Some days it felt like you barely sleep in between each feeding.  We do a lot of walking around and rocking you to get you back to sleep or to stop fussing.

 

At ONE MONTH you are sleeping at night in our room in your rock n' play.  You like it best if you are swaddled with your arms in but are a pro at getting your hands out if it's not swaddled tight enough.  You like to sleep snuggled right against our chests laying on your side.

 

At ONE MONTH you have been mainly breastfeed with only a few bottles.  You are eating on average about 20 to 25 minutes at each feeding and are a great nurser. You are eating about every 2 to 3 hours. Sometimes you wanted to eat about every 1.5 hours. The first week we brought you home you sleept a few 5 hour night stretches. That soon ended and you started going every 2 hours on average with a few 3 hour stretches. Those were some very long, long, long nights for the first month! 

 

You have been spitting up a lot after each feeding.  Your peditrician gave us a reflux medicene, Zantex, to try and see if it would help with any reflux discomfort if that was causing your fussiness.  We tried it for about 2 weeks but didn't see much of a difference so you are no longer taking it.  You still seem to spit up but don't seem to be bothered by any pain with it.  To help you not spit up as much we keep you upright for 20 minutes after each time you eat.

 

At ONE MONTH you have seemed to find your thumb a few times and liked sucking on it.  I was thinking maybe you were going to be a thumb sucker.  The first two weeks you weren't intersted in taking a paci.  Luckily, we found one you liked and that has helped with keeping you from wanting to eat every hour and aslo has helped calm your fussiness.  You are quite the lil' rooter!

 

At ONE MONTH you started having a regular fussy time.  At around 6ish in the evening you started your crying time and wouldn't fully get settled until 10:00/11:00 that night.  Nothing seem to calm you down except for a lot of walking around or rocking in our arms.

 

At ONE MONTH you went to your first ever wedding!  Aunt Jenny (your Daddy's sister) got married to Uncle Drew in Waterloo, Iowa on July 19th.  You were not even two weeks old! You were such a trooper with all of us bridesmaids and bride Aunt Jenny the day before and of the wedding going to: rehearsal, getting hair and make-up done, wedding pictures, wedding reception, gift opening, etc.  You stayed pretty close to mama as much as we could.  In fact, you took your first bottle of breastmilk at the wedding reception.

 

Your big sister Kate and big brother Matthew are great helpers!  Matthew loves to help give you your paci when you're crying and likes to have you lay on his blanket.  It's so cute how they pronounce name, baby Car-o-yine. The kids and us also love to sing to you the song, "Sweet Caroline".  You actually seem to really like it and will calm down and listen. ;)

 

 

 

At ONE MONTH you like to be held, white noise on the sound machine, looking out the window at the bright light, watching the ceiling fan, nursing, being sung to, swinging, holding onto our finger to help calm you down, and having your chest padded like your being burped.

 

At ONE MONTH you dislike it when the car stops when riding in the car.  You like riding in the car as long as is it in motion.  You aslo don't like it when you are eating and we have to stop you to burp. 

 

At ONE MONTH you love to have your hands up by your face especially while you sleep and eat.  And sometimes when you are upset or unsettled you move your arms all around making you one crazy, wiggly girl.

 

This first month has been fun and at the same time such a learning game trying to figure out the little "tricks" and "in's and outs of you", Caroline.  We couldn't be more in love with you and the joy you have already brought to our family!

36 and 38 Weeks Baby Willms #3

Life has been crazy.  C-R-A-Z-Y!  We moved back to Iowa just two weeks ago.  I was 36 weeks pregnant during the move.  Kevin and I prayed the baby would stay put and I wouldn't start labor during our drive from Minnesota to Iowa.  Baby Willms stayed put, Phew!.  We prayed that labor would hold off during the first couple days of the move so we could get a bit settled first.  Baby Willms cooperated again and didn't arrive, Yay!.  Our last milestone was waiting until I had my first appointment with my new doctor group here in Iowa.  I had no idea where to go or who even to call if I had started labor so having that information beforehand would be nice to know.  And here we are, 2 weeks in our new house and 38 weeks pregnant!  Baby Willms is one awesome baby for listening to us already.  And we are thankful God has helped make things go smoothly (and answered lots of prayers) for us during this crazy, hectic time!

36 weeks - June 12, 2014

Before I left the Twin Cities, I had my 36 week appointment with my doctor.  It was an exciting appointment - marking a big milestone point for baby - but also sad to be my last appointment with Dr. Callanan whom has helped me throughout this pregnancy.  I felt comfortable with her, her advice, and liked the nurses.  Thinking about starting over with a new group of doctor's this late in the pregnancy was a bit scary.  I felt reassured that I was switching at 36 weeks and if I did go into labor the baby would be fine at this point.  

At this appointment she checked my cervix and I had just started to dilate to 1 cm.  She felt confident that I wouldn't go into labor and could make it a bit longer.  I just needed to take it easy unpacking during the move.

At 36 weeks I was measuring right on track at 35/36 weeks and the baby was in the head down position.

That weekend we moved on Friday and I went to my new doctor, Dr. Girardi, in Iowa right away on Monday.  I was just a few days over 36 weeks.  I was a little bit nervous at this appointment.  A lot had been going on with just moving and thinking about labor was a lot on my mind.  Would I make it to the hospital in time with our 35 minute drive?  When will I know when I need to head into the hospital?  What do the really strong contractions feel like?  Will my water break first like it did with the twins?  So many new and different emotions than what I experienced with the twins' labor.  I didn't have to worry about when to go to the hospital since I was already there.  My water broke on it's own and I didn't have strong contractions before receiving my epidural.  Thinking about labor still makes me nervous!  

*say some prayers all goes well*

Dr. Girardi was great at making me feel at ease.  She had looked at my chart (a lengthy one) from this pregnancy and the twins' and knew my history well when talking with her.  I had great recommendations from friends on this Ob Group, so I knew I was in great hands.  She checked my cervix and at 36 weeks 2 days I was dilated to 3 cm.  I was dilated a bit more from right before we moved, but I wasn't surprised since I had been busy all weekend moving/unpacking.

The next week I went back to Dr. Girardi for my 37 week appointment.  I was checked again and hadn't made much of a change - dilated between 3 and 4 cm.  The head had really dropped lower from the previous week.

38 weeks - June 28, 2014

Only two weeks left until baby's due date!  I can't believe I'm still 'waddling' around pregnant entering the month of July tomorrow!  My prediction all along was I wouldn't make it into July.  Definitely surprising me!

I started an online pool for people to guess baby's gender, due date, and stats.  If you'd like to make your prediction here's the website: http://www.untilithappens.com/babywillms3

The winner gets a really awesome prize!! ;)

Baby Willms is still in the head down position and moves a lot.  Some nights it feels like he/she is doing somersaults and kickboxing in my uterus!  I can feel and see his/her foot poking out during some of the kicks.

I've had a hard time getting a full night's sleep.  I toss and turn trying to find a comfortable position.  Poor Kevin having to put up with me and my big body pillow taking up most of the space!  I have been waking up a lot around 4/5ish and can't seem to really fall back asleep.

I've had some contractions off and on and now with some pretty strong ones that creep in there.  But nothing in a pattern enough to think about going into the hospital.  I go tomorrow for my 38 week check-up and am curious to see if I've had any cervical change.

I asked the twins what their prediction was for baby Willms - a boy or girl.  I made them each a sign, which they decorated, to hold for a picture.

Matthew says boy and either tells us we should name him baby Matthew or baby Bubble Guppies.

Princess Katers said girl and thinks we should name her Baby Sofia or Baby Kate.

Kate and Matthew are going to be great a Big Sister and Big Brother.  It will be fun to see them in the new role when the baby arrives.  Hopefully it will be a smooth transition for them.

And now we play the waiting game....

Morning Dance Party Video of K and M

Kate and Matthew are big fans of the song, 'Happy'!  We will frequently hear Kate break out in song singing this song at the top of her lungs.  This morning the twins had a dance party to the song - which was requested by them.  Kevin and I were cracking up the whole time watching these two goofballs!

 

Love their dance moves - all thought up on their own with no prompting from us.  My favorite moves are when Kate shakes it, Matthew's fast twist, the hops on one leg, and Matthew's "water fountain" arm motion (or whatever you want to call it...it makes me laugh!).

 

I hope you enjoy, and it makes you Happy! :)

 

 

Baby Willms #3 - 34 Weeks

34 weeks.  Wow!  I officially made it further this pregnancy than I did with the twins.  I delivered the twins just one day shy of 34 at 33 weeks 6 days.  It felt pretty darn good to hit this milestone still pregnant!!

 



May  31, 2014 - 34 Weeks

 

A baby at 34 weeks now weighs about 5 pounds - about the size of a cantaloupe - and is almost 18ish inches long. 

At my 34 week doctor's appointment baby's heartbeat was in the 150's.  The doctor felt the head is down at this point with baby's butt on my left and feet on my right.  Definitely made sense when she told me baby's position because I have been experiencing a lot of kicking and body parts pushing out on my right side.



 

We are still trying to figure out a name for this little baby #3. We do have a few that we've narrowed it down to for our boy and girl list. We ask the twins a lot what they think we should name him/her.  Kate says Baby Sofia like her baby doll and from her favorite TV show, Sofia the First.  After Kate's response we asked Matthew.  He said it should be Baby Bubble Guppies - from his favorite TV show, too!  So looks like our girl and boy name is picked out - Baby Sofia and Baby Bubble Guppies! 

 

Kate and Matthew have been able to feel the baby move around in my tummy.  Matthew was all concerned because baby was kicking me. 

 

Matthew told me he wants to have a baby sister.  We will see if he wishes he would have picked differently down the road if this little one is a girl. :)

I haven't really enjoyed these hot, humid days we have had.  Pregnancy and heat isn't my favorite....especially while trying to sleep at night.  



 

As many of you know, we are preparing to move to Iowa next week.  (I'll post a seperate post about that later.)  I already have my first appointment set up for 37 weeks with my new group of doctors for after we make the move.  Feels really crazy to be switching doctors right at the end of my pregnancy, but I feel very comfortable with the group of Obgyn's that I've picked.  Kevin and I just hope baby W. decides to stay put until we get to Iowa - much easier to move him/her still being pregnant that's for sure! 

Guess I should think about actually packing a 'hospital bag' to be prepared for this little one's arrival any day.  I have started to get stuff washed and a few necessity baby items ready.  Starting to feel pretty real!

 

Tomorrow, June 7th, marks another weekly change over date and baby Willms will be 35 weeks!