Preston Daniel's Birth

Four days past his due date, Preston made his natural arrival ! (I otherwise would have waited an extra three more days to be induced, the day that I turned 41 weeks pregnant) On Saturday, September 24, my water broke that evening after returning from a night out (wasn't that nice, that he waited until I got home?) Immediately my sister came over to be with the boys and Josh and I went to the hospital.

Soon after we arrived my contractions started. I was soon admitted and transferred to a delivery room, with an epidural given soon after that. I gave up on trying to "nap", since the nurse thought I would be quick to go. Four hours later at 4:20am, our baby boy arrived after just a few pushes. I was quickly transferred to a recovery room (clearly I picked a not so busy time, thankfully).

Preston weighed 7.8 pounds and was 20 inches long, right in between his brothers (Nathan weighed the most at 7.11, Aaron was 7). Thankful for another quick and healthy delivery.

Later that morning the boys came to visit their new brother!

Their Nana takes the credit for these cute shirts!

Aaron in particular is enjoying being a big brother!

Later that afternoon the rest of my family came to visit (Josh's family was out of town). The following day, since shots and tests and so forth had been completed, we decided we were ready to come home. Thankful for the great care at the hospital but ready not to be interrupted all day and night. The boys were happily surprised to come home from school and see us there.

Welcome home baby P !

 More Preston updates in the next post!

Secret Recipe Testing

For well over a year  now, I have kept a secret...I applied for, and was chosen to be a recipe tester for an author's cookbook! Her name is Danielle Walker, better known for cookbooks such as Against All Grain (she follows a Paleo diet, which usually is gluten free, dairy free, etc)

Her latest cookbook was just released a week ago, titled "Celebrations" (drink and food recipes for different holidays and seasons). Last Fall, from about August- December, I received recipes from this book to try making, take pictures of and then submit a review and/or suggestion improvements to the author. It was fun and a little eye opening for me, as I cooked with ingredients I've never heard of before in some cases! I've also never really made Paleo based meals, so I was doing a lot of baking with items like coconut sugar, almond flour...things I don't typically use.

Anyway, it was fun! Here are some pictures from that experience -

One of my favorites! Now that I'm not pregnant any longer I'm excited to make this again -

 Ahi Tartare.

Carrot Cake (interesting as it used sweet potatoes I believe? I'm inclined to make that again as a healthier alternative to normal carrot cake!)

Biscotti ! I've already made this one again a few times, yum! In fact I have some now I just may eat for a snack :)

Chocolate Pecan pie? I believe.

Aaron helping with our Hot Dog Corn Muffins

Lemon Bars with berries . I'm actually wondering now if the author took the berries off the recipe for the book!

My not so pretty bundt lavender cake

For helping her out, I received a free, autographed copy of her cookbook!

Just to show that recipe testers were generally mentioned in her "thank you" part of her book, but not by individual names

Her autograph and note to me :)

I enjoyed "broadening" my cooking horizons, I'm looking forward to making many more of the recipes in her book!

Getting Ready for Baby P

We can now officially say that we will be a "Party of 5" THIS month! How crazy is that?! Wasn't it just yesterday that I broke the baby news? Amazing to think how that happened six months ago now.

History has proven that all my boys have been late, but I'm hoping this guy changes things up. I've never actually gotten to experience "natural" labor, as I was induced both times and already had an epidural by the time hard contractions and such started coming. I can remember thinking how happy I was that I was still sleeping good at night, didn't have any swelling...then the minute I'd say the 8th month of pregnancy came around, that all changed overnight! Suddenly all at once I started using the bathroom more frequently, got heartburn, more uncomfortable/having insomnia at night, and now at month 9 I'm having more back pain and my legs and feet especially look like bratwurst by the end of the day :p So yeah, this mama is ready for baby P to come!

We have only, in the recent week, finished Preston's room and pre-registered at the hospital. I have to pack my hospital bag yet. Otherwise, things are ready to go!

Super happy with our mint green and grey modern theme. Having the room ready has definitely made things feel "more real". It's weird to think we'll be starting from the beginning all over again! It's been awhile since I've had to think about diapers and pacifiers and extra outfits and diaper bags!

As I can recall with Aaron, especially knowing Preston is due any week now, it makes me a little nervous and anxious on how I'm going to be able to balance the needs of three boys ! Not only just feeding and such but attention too. But, I actually think going from 2-3 will be easier than it was from 1-2. My biggest saving grace is that Nate and Aaron will be away most of the day, most days of the week at school. It will be nice to have that time just with baby that I won't have to worry about feeding and entertaining the other two during that time. It also is extremely helpful that when the boys are home, they are pretty buddy buddy. They won't have to necessarily rely on Josh and I to entertain them all the time as they play pretty well together. I think I will find those things to be so helpful this time around! That wasn't the case the last time around.

So, here's to keeping some fingers and toes crossed that our newest littles comes earlier rather than later! I can't wait to cuddle with a cute new baby.

School Dayz

We are beginning our third full week of school already! It is going so fast. I'm happy to report it has been a pleasantly smooth, first two weeks! (though, Aaron has only just gotten his first homework packet so we'll see if that continues) Generally it is really nice that the boys get a homework packet on Friday and we have a week to complete it (though Nate does have nightly, due by the next day math homework).

Let's begin with the first day!

Definitely not the easiest to see, but the bags spell out "Back to School". I had this ready for their first day morning and ran out early to collect donuts, their breakfast choice.

Daddy stayed long enough to drop the boys off with me, then it was time for a business trip

First to drop off

I kept my fingers crossed that Aaron would adjust to needing to use the potty at school all day and that he could figure out how to get his lunch equipment open/closed, remember all of his supplies at the end of the day...all that stuff he normally wasn't having to do! He did perfect. He must have been ready :(

Coming out the gate the first day

Success!

We were able to walk the boys to their classroom the first day, but starting the following day they just had to find their own class lines outside. I'm lucky in that Aaron finds comfort in being with big brother, so Nathan has been walking Aaron to his line first everyday before he then goes to his. I'm very grateful that I have not had a single day of any tears, or any begging kids to attend school.

It has been weird to not have any kiddos at home during the day (for now!) Balancing doing housework mixed with "me" time fun. Trying to milk all the time I have to do so before it disappears rather soon!

Also trying to take advantage of volunteering at the boys' school while I can, since I'm not sure how much I'll be there later. Last week I took Aaron lunch one day.

His new BFF, Ethan

With classmate friend Eowyn, after school one day

This is Nate's first year having TWO teachers (one comes MT, the other WTH, and they alternate Fridays). So far so good.I wasn't really worried about him adjusting. His good friend, Ben, is also in his class and happens to also sit right across from him. Nate isn't the biggest fan of writing so I'm holding my breath as to when his first book report arrives.... :p

Just super pleased how the first few weeks have gone and the teachers we have this year.

California Vacation + Last Week of Summer Break!

Though not for too long, we had a great little getaway to California for a few days! The boys excitedly went to bed the night before and excitedly woke up the morning of :)

At 6AM Aaron woke up announcing he was ready to go - apparently all he needed was his blanket and coloring material!

Uneventful drive there. On our way to Anaheim, we decided to stop at Huntington Beach so we could enjoy some ocean waves a bit.

So excited - he got knocked down a few times!

The weather was so refreshing for third trimester me!

After six hours on the road it was good for us to stop and stretch out our bodies a bit - plus, this was the coolest point in the trip. Anaheim, while cooler than hot AZ, proved to be warm for CA standards. We had lunch as soon as we arrived and it was just so wonderful to sit next to an open window on the beach! Nothing like that ocean air/breeze...

Our first full day in Anaheim we spent at Disneyland (but of course!) I just have to say already - I was so happy and proud of our boys - with two full days at theme parks, they never once complained about lines, about the amount of walking or how warm it was (and it was!) I was so impressed that I kept my third trimester complaints to myself too! :p Just thank goodness for endless drinks, Nathan's squirt bottle/fan we let him buy, comfy shoes and my back brace. By the end of the day though I had to untie my shoes to allow for my feet to breathe a bit.

A handful of people were concerned and surprised I think that we would be going to theme parks with me as heavily pregnant as I am, but it worked out well actually - even though Aaron was tall enough for some bigger rides, he's still a bit nervous and timid. So, while daddy took Nate on all the "big rides", I hung with Aaron and did whatever he wanted to do (some small rides, but otherwise he wanted to just browse/shop and play with a toy we let him get). We connected to do a few rides and meals together.

The first time to Disney that Aaron will remember

His toy he got to pick out - some Star Wars figurines

One-on-one time with littles

Lunch at the restaurant inside the Pirates of Caribbean ride - tradition!

Mommy's fancy mint julep, light up drink (we got to keep the cube)

Happy with a basket of bread

A successful day for Nathan going on all the major rides, and Aaron happily getting to do whatever he wanted to. We left early that night so the boys could rest up for another busy Disney day, this time at California Adventure.

Radiator Springs

Aaron loves the movie Cars, so he just loved Cars Land then!

I'd like some Mickey bread mama!

Drinking out of a motor oil cup

You'll notice how there's more pictures of Aaron - Nathan has become a bit anti-camera these days!

Again, we had another good, full day. Nate did all the big rides with Josh while I had Aaron for the most part again. But they each had fun, so that's all that mattered!

The next day was unfortunately time to go home. We decided to just go straight home as to miss traffic everywhere, and the boys seemed pretty pleased with our trip that we didn't feel like we needed to do anything else. It was good, we got home by late afternoon so they had time to play before it was time for bed.

We had such fun that the boys are already looking forward to our next visit!