Falling Into Place

Things are falling into place.

After we found out we would soon be a family of 5 we immediately started thinking of all the things we would have to change or adjust before baby came along! There have been times since finding out we were pregnant again that I feel I'm having an out of body experience!!

Our first thought...need More SPACE!

Currently we live in a small, 2 bedroom rental. We started seriously considering the idea of buying a house or renting a bigger house. After a few months of dead ends and seeing lots of $$$, we came to the decision to stay where we are. I started thinking of all the extra work & responsibilities (not to mention increase in bills) that would come along with buying our own house, or even renting a bigger place (which would cost us WAY more than what we pay now). I'd rather spend my extra time with my boys rather than have extra stuff to do because we moved to a bigger place. Jason would rather be able to spend his time off from work with us as a family rather than mowing, shoveling snow, doing house repairs, etc. It actually feels good to have made the decision to stick it out here where we are. We really do like where we are living (despite the cramped space). We like our neighbors, we live in a good part of town, we like our landlord & we can afford it! Lots of pros, with only one con - missing one bedroom! Either way - it is not the 4 walls that make the home, it is the family inside that makes the home!

Really, the main reason we wanted a third bedroom isn't because we don't want the boys to share a room - it is because the boys sometimes CAN'T share a room! Currently, the boys' sleeping schedule isn't always the best. Little Ty gets up off and on ALL through the night. And when he's up - he talks or cries. If I were to put Ty in the boys' room with Aidan, then he would wake Aidan up every time he started making noise. So, Ty either sleeps out in the living room in his swing or in our room with us. When he starts to calm down, then I can put him in his room with Aidan. When we add a third baby to mix, where would I put him if he was awake? What if this new little one likes to jibber jabber at 2 am while the rest of the house wants to sleep? The living room is already taken. The boys' room is already taken. Sure, while he's tiny he will stay in our room. But once he starts getting big, I try to keep the babies out of our room so that they don't keep Jason up at night. He has to work long hard hours and he needs his sleep, too. It is a total juggling act! You should see me bounce around from room to room, checking on the babies through out the night! It would be nice to have all of us be in one room - but for the sake of all our sleep, it just can't happen! That extra bedroom WOULD have been nice. BUT, like I said in the title - things are starting to fall into place...

Slowly over the past two weeks, Ty has started to fuss/cry less at night. For the longest time, I wasn't able to lay him on his back at night because if he had a certain seizure that resulted in him throwing up, then he would choke. And I can't stay awake the ENTIRE night watching for that to happen. Now that he is getting bigger, he is able to lay on his back more. He is starting to sleep in his crib at night, and for longer periods! This is HUGE! Having both boys sleeping & co-existing in their room together is something I didn't see happening, yet it is starting to slowly work out! And just in time! This makes us feel even better about our choice to stay living at our current place. We will make this 'sleeping juggling act' work!

Traveling is a nightmare...Need a bigger vehicle!!

I am happy to say that we found ourselves a new van! AND we LOVE it! I never thought I'd say I love a van, or hear Jason say he loves our van - but it's true. We do! We were in the right place at the right time when we found it. It is the van we imagined ourselves in, if ever we had to imagine it haha.

Prior to getting our van we had a reliable, but SMALL, car. It was great when we only had one baby, but even with two babies we were SMOOSHED! Our trunk was full with our double stroller, diaper bags, luggage, etc. We dredded having to travel. If we took long trips, I usually ended up in the backseat having to feed one or both of the boys. Believe me, squeezing in between two carseats and having my ribs & hips squished for an entire trip is not my idea of fun. Not to mention I get car sick every time I sit in a backseat. We NEEDED a van even before this newest baby came along. I can't believe we waited this long to get one! But then again, it happened at the right time...because we got a GREAT deal!

We found ourselves a Dodge Caravan (with black interior which is great for messy babies ha!) that came with a great 7 year power train and bumper to bumper warranty! This is peace of mind for us!! We won't have to worry about any repairs for years to come. Our payments are the same as they were on our tiny car, we got a better interest rate, and our car insurance even went DOWN! It's such a relief to know we have the bigger vehicle we NEEDED and yet we aren't taking a hit financially. The only thing we will have to adjust to is the difference in gas price, but with all the above pros, I think we can handle that! Finding this van was such a blessing -- and we LOVE it!!

And other Great Things...

* We have picked out a name for our new baby boy! I thought for sure we'd have trouble this time around because boy names are hard. And both our families are big - with most of the boy names already taken! BUT we found a name we both like and it is set! We even picked out the letters of baby's name to put up on the wall in the boys' room - right next to Aidan and Ty's name! Baby's name will be a secret until he is born, just like Aidan and Ty's name were hush hush :)

* It is almost fall! My favorite season. We will be able to take the boys outside more often for walks. We are ready for cooler temperatures and the falling of leaves!

* We had an ultrasound a few days ago and baby is doing good! Today I am 18 weeks along. His fetal heartrate was 149 bpm. He was opening his mouth for us and curling up into a tight ball! This was the first appointment where I could actually feel him squirming around as the technician moved the wand over my belly. He has made the turn and is now head down. And most importantly baby is continuing to grow right along with my due date - and that includes his head! We are praying for good things during the next couple of scans - hoping and having faith that he will continue to grow as he has been. So please keep baby in your prayers as we approach the next few scans - which we will be doing about every 2 weeks. We know we are not out of the woods yet - however each scan that we see his head measuring with the due date is a blessing!!

* And last, but definitely not least -- a BIG event is fast approaching us - our little peanut Ty will soon turn ONE! A few days ago I was looking back at pictures of him and I can't believe how tiny he was. To me, he is still my baby boy. Hard to believe it has already been a year since he made his big debut. What a blessing he is! September 18th was surely a great day for our family!

We are so grateful for all these blessings that have fallen into place for us (even if the blessings just came in the form of a simple decision). And most importantly, we are thankful for being blessed with 3 amazing little boys!!



Aidan being silly - 2 years old!

Ty sleeping in his lounge chair :) - 11 months old

Baby boy #3 - 17 weeks 5 days - all curled up!!