After teasing you for a month and a half, I spilled the beans last week that we’re expecting another boy in March.  While it took me a while to be excited about this, I can now say that this new brother is anticipated and completely welcome in our home.  This post isn’t like most of my other posts.  You won’t add a new project to your to-do list or a new recipe to your pinterest board.  It’s messy.  This will prove that my life is anything but perfect and I am definitely an imperfect human.
 

At my second OB appointment, my doctor was unable to find the baby’s heartbeat with the Doppler, which resulted in an ultrasound for visual confirmation of life.  Mr Napping had taken Big J out for the day and I was at the appointment with Little J and my little sister.  I was a little irritated that airplanes were more important to him than our baby (oh, the hormones made me do it…).

My OB scanned around my belly with the wand and located the baby.  “Are you going to find out the gender?” she asked.  I nodded and mentioned that we wanted to know if it was a girl, because then we had some major prepping to do as all the clothes and things we have are for boys.  “Well, I wouldn’t run out and buy anything pink just yet,” she responded, “I’m not sure, it might just be the cord, but I think there might be a little something there between those legs.”

And then my heart sunk down to the tips of my toes and I did my best to keep the dismay that was coursing through me from crossing my face.  “I wouldn’t go buy any pink just yet.”  Or ever, I thought bitterly.  Seriously…?  Again?  Another stinking boy?  Ugh.  That was the scene in my OB’s office that sunny morning.  I was 12 weeks and 6 days, according to the ultrasound we were right in the middle of doing, pregnant with my third baby.  Three boys.  With each baby, I’d had high hopes that I’d hear “It’s a girl!”  The first time, I didn’t even realize how much I wanted a girl until the ultrasound tech confirmed we were having a boy.  But each time, it was very clearly a boy.  Things seemed destined to go the same way again this time, but 13 weeks was kind of early.  ‘Maybe it was just the cord’ I tried to convince myself.  Or maybe, I don’t have what it takes to be a mom to a little girl, said that bitter little voice of self-deprecation.

Another ultrasound at 17 weeks (apparently, we will be playing hide-and-seek with this baby a lot as he seems to do that quite often) and our anatomy scan at 20 weeks confirmed it.  It’s a boy.  I am not disappointed we’re having a third boy.  I love my boys.  All of them.  They are fun and awesome and amazing.  They are funny and full of energy I only wish I had.  I love playing Legos, trucks and throwing balls.  I can raise boys.  Boys are awesome.  I am not disappointed we’re having a third boy.  But, I am disappointed I’m not having a girl.  It may seem like those are the same things, but they aren’t.

I came home from that appointment and was so discouraged.  Admittedly, I cried several times the rest of the day.  I needed time to say goodbye to a hope, a dream, I’d had for years.  Time to mourn the tea parties I’ll never have, the fingernails I’ll never paint, the pigtails and braids I’ll never get to do, the prom dress shopping I’ll miss out on, the mother of the bride I will never be.  Time to accept that there are some things I won’t get to pass on my knowledge of… sewing, crafting, make-up application and hair styling.  My boys think I’m trying to kill them if they have to sit still for 30 seconds and all those things are much too slow for them.  This may be our last baby and I needed the time to accept that and the fact that I may not get to have a little girl.  It’s hard to say goodbye to dreams.    

So, I mourned and grieved.  It drove my husband crazy.  Couldn’t I just be happy he was healthy?  Could I be thankful that we pretty much wouldn’t need to buy anything more for this child?  Like ever.  Good thing, since pennies are pinched and things are tight.  And babies are expensive.  I know he’d love a daughter too, and I’m sure a little bit of him was just as disappointed as I was.  After all, there are things he won’t get to experience without a daughter too.  And I was a little sad for my husband as well.  He’ll never get a daddy-daughter dance or to have some of the talks that I cherish having with my Dad.  But, he just didn’t seem to understand.  He’s my fix-it man and well, this just wasn’t something he could “fix”.

Boys are exhausting and it still overwhelms me sometimes to think about having three boys.  Maybe girls are tiring too, I don’t know.  I will always be sad that I don’t get the “girl experiences”, I would kill for my kids to sit and color for 45 minutes or want to play princess rather than pirates.  But I’m grateful for the “boy experiences”.  It’s a heck of a lot easier to take a little boy to a public bathroom or help him go along side the road or in the middle of nowhere.  Boys are pretty easy to appease – usually I can offer them food, to go play outside or a long-forgotten toy and whatever meltdown was happening just disappears.  Trains, trucks, cars and airplanes are all amazing phenomenon.  Boys can find wonder in almost anything.  Maybe a lot of those are true of girls as well, but I know they are true for boys.  At least my boys.  I got this.  I can do this.  I can have a house full of boys and still be a girl.  I can teach my boys how a man behaves, how to step up when they need to, how to help others whenever possible, how to treat women and children, how to be men.  I can do this!  I hope… and maybe someday I’ll still get to have a little girl; but for now, I am a momma to boys.  And I love it.  Mostly.    

With the success of the 12 Lays of Christmas printable, I made up a set for Valentine’s Day too.  Just in case you missed the chance to use those.  So, this is your warning.  If things behind the bedroom door are not of interest to you, then feel free to skip this post.  I promise, I will keep it tasteful.

In the mix of all the crazy that’s going on around our house, sometimes we have to make time for Momma and Daddy.  Otherwise, it doesn’t happen.  Maybe it’s the same in your house?  Life gets busy and we get tired, but taking the time to re-connect always makes for a happier home.  Here’s a set of Valentine coupons to help you out with that.

If you don’t mind the watermark, feel free to click the image, “Save As” to your computer and print them off.  If you’d like a watermark-free version, you can find these in my Etsy Shop.  This time, there are 14 coupons (one for each day before Valentine’s Day in February – I’m just helping you get a head start…) as well as some blanks for you to fill in your own romantic adventures and a label if you want to present them in a jar or use them as prompts (like a boredom jar…?).

You will have to save each image individually.  You may make as many copies as you would like, but please don’t share the file.  I retain all rights as the original designer.  No alteration or variation of this file may be sold or distributed in any other way.  Please direct any friends or family interested in the file to this page so they can download their own copies.  Thanks!

I promise not to go crazy on pregnancy posts for the next three months, but as I was sitting with my fingers poised on the keyboard last night at 10pm trying to decide what to write for today I was in need of something easy.  Ok, easy isn’t the right word.  You know this if you’ve ever constructed a blog post at 10pm.  There is no such thing as an easy blog post… unless it’s also not very good.  Seems to be the case, anyway.

Sorry, got distracted… where was I?  Oh, yeah.  I was in need of something I could write from my position on the couch.  I spent most of yesterday standing or bending over to clean up yet another mess and my back was protesting with a nice dull, achy pain.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have any project photos just waiting to be edited.  When I got a notification from one of my apps reminding me to take those awesome prenatals, this post was born.

TOP EIGHT PREGNANCY APPS FOR MOMMA

 

2.  Contraction Timer.  I haven’t needed this yet, thankfully (I’m only 29 weeks), but it’s the one I used with my last pregnancy and what I intend on using again.  I love the simplicity of this app.  You push a button when the contraction starts and push it again when it’s over.

A list of contractions shows up on the screen and bars appear on the time line at the top of the screen.  You can edit, delete or add comments to each contraction.  There is a “donate” version that allows you to share or beam your info to another device.

3.  KickMe – Kick Counter.  My other two babies were active enough that I didn’t really feel like I needed to do kick counts.  This baby is quite active, but nothing like Little J.  That boy gave me motion sickness, he moved around so much.  At my last OB appointment though, the doctor I saw requested kick counts.  In the off-chance I saw her again, I figured I’d better do something since she mentioned it about two dozen times.

There are both lite (free) and full (paid) versions of this app.  I have only used the free version and did’t feel like I was missing out on anything really.  The biggest disappointment was that the weekly info only goes up to 13 weeks before it is paid content.  However, there are lots of other apps that you can get the info from for free.  Like I mentioned above, the “organise” section was impressive and by far my favorite part of the app.  Shopping lists, names lists, to-do lists, a packing list (in the paid version) and a place to track doctor’s and other appointments.

This is not really anything new… it’s in the Kid’s Science Experiment and Art Project booklet I put together for Big J’s birthday a year and a half ago after all.  But, we just got around to actually experimenting and playing with this yesterday.  If you haven’t tried out moon sand with your kids yet, you absolutely should.  It’s a lot of fun.  A bit messy, but it cleaned up pretty easy.  And, the best part, Big J played with it for like an hour.  Seriously.  Little J spent about 15 minutes playing with it, but he’s not quite two and for him to stay in one place for 15 minutes is a bit of a huge deal.  Definitely a keeper.  And it seems to store well, so score one for re-usability!

Directions:
– Mix sand and cornstarch in a bowl until well combined.
– Add the water while you slowly stir the mixture to combine.  The water and cornstarch will create a non-newtonian fluid and you’ll have to stir slowly or it will solidify and not mix well.
– When it’s all mixed up, dump out on a cookie sheet and let the kids go to town.  We used some cookie cutters, plastic utensils and plastic cups.  The cups were the biggest hit.  My boys loved making “moon castles” and then chopping them up with plastic knives.  Because it’s not really fun, unless you can destroy it…
– Store in an air tight container when you’re finished.  If it starts to dry out, add a little bit of water.  We actually had to do that a couple times while Big J was playing because he had it out for so long.  You can see in the photo below that it’s starting to dry out a little.  We added a teaspoon or so of water and it moistened right back up and play time went on for another 25 minutes!

So, if you need a break, whip up some moon sand and sit back!  This would be awesome to play with outside too.  Super easy clean up.  I would’ve done that except it was cloudy and cold yesterday, but this will be making a reappearance this Spring as the weather gets warmer.

Back in November, I announced that we are expecting another little set of feet to join in all the pitter-patter that happens around here.  Then I posted a little poll in my sidebar, asking which team you thought this newest adventure would be on – Pink or Blue?  Then the holidays happened and I just let the poll continue to collect votes.  Well, now that the “holiday haze” is beginning to clear, I thought I’d go back and answer that question, on which I pretty much just left you hanging.

Out of 131 votes, 48% of you said it’s another boy and 52% of you thought this would be a little princess.  Well, thank you to the 52% of you that were on my side… unfortunately, we’re the losers in this game.

It took a while for that second line to actually be true, but the good guys in the world have to come from somewhere and I’ve decided to do my best to make sure there are three that come from my home.  Besides, we know how to do boys here.  Sure, they are all different with their own personalities, but there are a lot of things that are the same (how many little girls asked Santa for masking tape and Matchbox cars?  Or want to watch Thomas the Tank Engine all day long?  Both my boys…).  Testosterone is testosterone, after all.

Back before Little J was born, I wrote a post on Gender Reveal Ideas.  It’s still one of my most popular posts, so I won’t go into all that again.  No sense in beating a dead horse, or re-writing a blog post…  if you’re looking for some fun ideas, go check out that post.

When I found out we’re having a boy, I was worried about how everyone else would react… I didn’t want comments like “Oh, another boy.  That’s too bad.”  Or “you gonna try again for a girl?”  Like this pregnancy was a failure because my baby has an X and a Y chromosome instead of two X’s.  I’m healthy, the baby is healthy and we make really cute boys.  Not a failure in my book.  And I really wanted a girl, but this was supposed to be exciting news, not something to be sympathetic about!  So, I spent lots of time trying to come up with good ways to announce our third son… because how many different ways can you say the same thing?  I finally decided on the above photo.  I loved the idea of the Three Musketeers.  What mother wouldn’t love the idea of her boys standing “all for one and one for all!”?  There were a few other cute ideas too though… Check them out: