23 Weeks

We had an appointment last week and everything is still looking great with baby Madelynn. My blood pressure was fabulous, the ultrasound a few weeks ago showed nothing but a healthy baby and healthy pregnancy, and I am not getting many headaches right now! Praise the Lord! She is moving lots but Jay still hasn't been able to feel her. We are working on that. I am still sleeping great and feeling great! This is always such a nice part of pregnancy. I am going to try hard to enjoy every minute of it because I'm sure it's coming soon that I won't be feeling so great all the time.

(I'm actually 24 weeks today but I wrote this post a week ago and never got it posted. Better late than never :)

Oh how I love Christmas!

After we cut down our tree we stopped by the law office on Liberty that goes all out with their Christmas tree lighting. We went just in time for them to turn the lights on for the first time. Carter got to see Santa but we were not about to stand in line to actually see him. We will go back in a few days when there isn't a line to sit on Santa's lap. Carter LOVED the lights though!!!

Checking out all of the lights...

Then last night we set up our tree. I am so thankful for a husband that does all the hard, heavy, and dirty work for our family! He was out in the rain last night trimming the tree and getting it in the stand. Thank you Jay!!!

Carter was interested in what he was doing and even helped a little.

Everytime I would stand on the stool, Carter had to join me. Silly kid.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

We went out a couple days ago to cut down the perfect Christmas tree. We always go out to the Brawley's farm, Tree Kings, off Hwy. 22 and love getting our tree from them. Their son was in my very first second grade class seven years ago and I have been getting my tree from them ever since. We always manage to go when it's on the verge of getting dark. We had to be a little quick. Carter had a great time wandering around through the trees in his winter gear and looked so cute. I have realized though that cutting down our own tree is getting more difficult. The tree was WAY too heavy for this pregnant mama to help carry plus I had to make sure Carter followed us out of the field of trees. So poor Jay had to drag the tree by himself which meant one side of our tree was covered in dirt. I spent 20 minutes last night with a wet rag trying to wipe off all the dirt so our tree didn't look like it was dying already. Next year will be even more difficult with two kids to keep track of and a tree to carry. We will have to start getting creative.

I know, we look like terrible parents handing our toddler a saw. Don't worry...Jay was right there ready to grab it or him if there were any issues. Carter loved trying to cut down a tree like daddy did. In fact, he threw a fit when we took it away from him.

He also loved finding sticks and carrying them around.

Helping daddy...

Our attempt at a family picture. Maybe next year we need to invite someone to come with us to help carry kids and take a family picture.

I love getting our Christmas tree every year and it's so much more fun now that Carter is old enough to enjoy it. It's also more difficult but it's worth it!

Thanksgiving 2011

This year Jay had to work on Thanksgiving. We sort of forgot that Thanksgiving was on a Thursday and signed up for 24 hour shifts up in Lyons every Thursday in November...oops. We won't make that mistake again. So sadly we didn't get to spend the day with him but Carter and I did spend the day over at my Dad's house. Lori made a great Thanksgiving meal and we had a nice relaxing day.

Carter was super interested in the turkey but then he wouldn't even think about touching it when it was time to eat it. He ate a roll and some cranberry jello salad. It drives me nuts when he gets in a picky mood with food!

Carter and Grandpa

Watching Grandpa carve the turkey...

Still watching...

Still watching and showing me what he was watching...

Oliver and Carter were ready for dinner...

Thanks Dad and Lori for having Carter and I over for Thanksgiving!

Some Fun

We had a movie night a couple weeks back and watched...wow, I actually can't remember what we watched but it was a movie for Carter. We moved our matress into the living room and had lots of snuggle time and enjoyed a movie. It is fun to be able to do this with Carter now. He looks so serious in these pictures but he sat and watched the movie with us for a long time. He seemed to enjoy it. These are fun family times!

Carter loves to sit at the table and sometimes likes to be risky and climb onto the table. We are telling him that this isn't okay but first I had to take a couple pictures...what mom wouldn't?

He was being such a ham!

And then there's the computer desk...We moved it into the kitchen and now he thinks it is a fun place to play. I have to put the pens back in the pen jar probably five times a day. This was the first time he actually climbed up onto the desk though. The little stinker :)

Belbow...

I find it so thrilling when I realize that I have taught my son something. I know that I do teach him quite a few things each and every day but when he remembers something that I have been trying to drill into his little brain for weeks...it's thrilling. I am always telling him not to touch mama's chord on the hair straightener. I try and remember to always put it all the way up on the counter but I have forgotten once or twice and of course one of those times, he pulled it down and proceded to pick it up touching the hot part. Yes, I felt awful! So in case those infrequent times happen when I forget to put it away properly, I want him to just understand that it is hot and can hurt him. Today he walked past the hair straightner, looked at the chord, looked up at me and said "hot!" Yay! Progress!

So Carter's newest word is "belbow." It means elbow. It is my favorite thing in the world that he says right now! I really don't ever want him to learn how to say it correctly because it's so stinkin' cute! Although I'm sure the cute factor wears off when they are ten and still saying belbow. What's funny is that he is always mixing up his "belbow" and his knee. He has known knee for quite a while and knows how to say it but lately he pats his knee and says "belbow." We are working on it :)

He is just talking up a storm right now and I didn't want to wait for his 21 month blog to jot down his newest words. His newest words are hat, hot, bee, pee (yes, he says pee pee), me, eye or eyes, beep beep, bus, baby, please and elbow (belbow). We have been working on please FOREVER and he finally says it and says it ALL THE TIME. He says is at all the right times when he wants something. He misses the l in the word but it is so cute. He can basically have whatever he wants when he says it because it melts my heart every time! I'm exaggerating a little but it is hard not to give in when he says "peez" in his cute little voice.

Does anyone else have constant sick kids right now? Carter spent the first 18 months of his life super healthy and has now been sick three times in the last two months. They have all been the runny nose, fever, grumpy, kind of sickness but it is getting so frustrating! Last Friday evening he started coughing this horrific seal like bark and had a fever of 102.3. The fever was pretty mild after that first night but for four days now he has had the awful cough. We have avoided the doctor's office so far because he is managing pretty well with it but it is starting to wear on him and us! He woke up this morning at 3am because of coughing and just laid in bed for 45 minutes coughing and whining. I finally got him up and put him in bed with me which meant I didn't sleep much at all because of his coughing. Poor kid. It is 10:30am right now and he is down for a nap because he didn't sleep much last night. We have missed church three times due to sickness in the last six weeks. I just want my healthy little man back. A friend of mine said the same thing happened to her daughter the first winter after she stopped nursing. I am wondering if that is what is happening. This is our first winter without nursing and I wonder if not having all that good stuff from mama is making it easier for him to catch things. I just hope it ends soon!

I hit 21 weeks pregnant on Monday and still feel great. I have really started looking pregnant in the last couple of weeks. I am also feeling Madelynn move and kick all the time. I think Jay will be able to feel her move this week too, it's just a matter of catching it at the right time. Carter loves looking at my belly, patting it, and saying "baby" over and over. He has been really sweet with my baby bump.

Christmas is coming and we are only a few days away from decorating for it! This is my favorite time of year by far! Carter LOVES the Christmas trees in all the stores and all the lights and decorations. This is going to be a fun Christmas with him! I can't wait to get our tree and decorate it with him. Then this mama gets to teach him something else...not to touch the ornaments. That should be fun :) At least he is old enough to understand and obey, unlike last year. Last year we had to put a barrier in front of the tree so that he didn't destroy it. This year he will learn not to touch! And then next year we will have to have a barrier again for Madelynn. So basically every other year for a while I can have a normal living room at Christmas time.

This has just been a random post of random thoughts. Hopefully I'll have a new baby bump picture coming soon.

Are you ready?!?!?!?!?!?!

WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!!!!!

Yes, we are completely shocked and overwhelmed! We really thought we were having a boy and that I actually might never have a girl. I know that is a little dramatic. Jay just has an overwhelming anount of boys on his side of the family for generations and so we just thought it might be harder to create a girl. But by golly, it has happened.

We are so excited to take on a new adventure with a sweet little miss and just incase any of you don't know...

Her name will be Madelynn Grace Hinderks.

19 Weeks and the Big Day!

So I always said I wasn't going to be the typical mom and take less pictures of my second, third, fourth kid, etc than I did the first one. Well, I am already failing because this is only my second belly picture and I am 19 weeks already. I think I already had six pictures when I was pregnant with Carter at this point. I am going to get better! I am saying it out loud so that maybe I will actually do it.

So two days ago I hit 19 weeks and tomorrow (Thursday, November 3rd) is the day of our long awaited ultrasound to find out if we are having a Madelynn Grace or a Bryson James. Yes, those are our two names and I am pretty sure they are set in stone. But with me you never know :)

I had another check up appointment like I do every month last week and had a little bit of an elevated blood pressure. It was only 130 over 88 but I guess that freaked my doctor out a bit. He said at this point in pregnancy most women's blood pressure actually drops lower than the normal. For those of you who didn't follow my pregnancy with Carter (probably most of you because that's not exactly the most exciting thing to follow when it isn't your own pregnancy) I went on bedrest for six weeks at the end of my pregnancy with high blood pressure. So of course we are all expecting it again but also hoping it won't be till the very end, if at all. Well, 19 weeks is way stinkin' too early if you ask me! My doctor wanted to get me on the prescription blood pressure medicine again right away but I pushed back a little with him. I asked him if I could have one week to change a few things in my life (like walking, drinking more water, eating more veggies, etc...) and to just see if it was a fluke thing or if it really is the start of my high blood pressure. Well I went on one walk (ha!), drank TONS of water, worked a little on what I ate and then went back yesterday to check it again. It was 117 over 75!!! Woohoo!!! I was so excited to be able to go longer without having to take a prescription! I am going to try hard to keep working on my health and pray that I can keep the meds out of my life for quite a while. I just hate taking medication when I'm pregnant, but I will when the time comes! Plus with the CONSTANT headaches I get during my pregnancies, I am already taking enough of the prescription headache medicine. I don't want to take something else too!

Every appointment they ask me if I feel the baby moving. I have a few times but it seems like I was feeling Carter moving way more by now so I was getting a little nervous. I told my doctor so he listened to the heartbeat and said everything was perfect. We also got to hear the baby kick quite a few times. It is really neat to hear their movements! He said it is perfectly normal not to feel the baby all that much at this point in pregnancy and not to worry. This baby is funny because the doctor always has a little bit of a hard time finding the heartbeat. He always hears mine for a bit before he can locate the babies but then he always finds it and even hears kicking. Carter never had a hard time being found! Maybe this one is a girl or just a sneaky little boy :)

You may be bored with all of this information but I just want it written down somewhere so I will always remember this pregnancy :) I love how I feel right now! I have energy again and feel so great. I am still sleeping great and can still hold my Carter man. I know that will continue to get more difficult though. I am so thankful for this pregnancy!

Tomorrow is our big day and I can hardly contain my excitement to find out what we are having. It has always sounded fun to wait and have it be a surprise but I just can't do it! I can't wait to call this baby by their name and start preparing the room. I even can't wait to go buy the outfit for coming home from the hospital. I just love everything about this stage in pregnancy.

Stay tuned for hopefully an announcement tomorrow...

Happy Halloween!

A couple nights ago we carved our pumpkin. I had dreams of the three of us sitting around our cute little pumpkin, all of us pulling out the insides, Carter smiling and screaching in pure joy at being able to get all messy with pumpkin guts, and Carter even helping Jay cut a cute smiley face in our pumpkin. I really don't live in the real world when it comes to a toddler. Carter wasn't the least bit interested in our pumpkin carving experience and in fact was incredibly grumpy and whiny! I eventually turned on Mickey Mouse so Jay and I could carve the pumpkin in peace. Not exactly what I pictured. Oh well. That is life with children. Jay did a fantastic job making a great face in our pumpkin and we enjoyed seeing it let for a few nights outside on our front porch.

The most we could get Carter to do was smack the pumpkin with a spoon. Once he started leaving dents in the outside of the pumpkin, we took the spoon away and that was the last participation we got from Carter.

It may look like he was participating here but I was really holding him hostage just for one picture. He didn't want to help at all!

For Halloween we got him a zebra costume. He LOVED it! He had already worn it around the house many times and if he ever saw it hanging in his closet, he screech and holler until we got it down and put it on him.

The rest of these pictures are from last night, Halloween night. We took him across the street to our neighbor Michelle and Carter got many kisses from her dog Cooper. Then we went to my mom's and then my dad's. THen it was back home and off to bed for the little man.

Sadly, he did not want his picture taken with our pumpkin. This was the best we could get.

Trick or treating at Grandma's house.

Our neighbor had given him these two cars that he wouldn't put down for anything. At my mom's he figured out how to work them and was having a blast playing with them. I loved his facial expressions.

Trick or treating at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He loved carrying his candy around.

Happy Halloween everyone from our cute zebra!