26 Weeks

On Sunday I reached another big milestone -  the 100 day count down began until we get to hold baby Carter in our arms!  Today we are in the double digits with just 98 days left.  Little by little I am doing more to prepare for Carter's arrival.  Next on my check list is to go through all of Ethan's old clothes and wash and put away the stuff that should work for Carter. 

Today we had our 26 weeks appointment.  My blood pressure is still wonderful, I've gained 3 more pounds, Carter is growing right on schedule, and his little heartbeat is beating like crazy.  Such a beautiful sound.  I had the glucose screening this morning and should hear the results from that test soon.  Hopefully I won't have to undergo the 3 hours test.  I did not have gestational diabetes with Mariah or Ethan so I am hoping the same goes for this pregnancy.  I also had a base line EKG done this morning.  Over the weekend I had some wild heart palpitations that scared me a bit so I told my doctor about it.  She said that it's probably normal, but it's always good to have a base line EKG reading.  Hopefully I won't have any more of those crazy heart palpitations.  I probably just overdid it that day with caffeine, chocolate, and activities. 

After our appointment Cory treated me to an amazing egg and cheese breakfast bagel sandwich from Panera.  I had never tried that before, but I think I have a new favorite place for breakfast!  The coffee was wonderful also.  Thanks hun! :-)

Here I am at 26 weeks pregnant with baby Carter

Ethan's 1 year anniversary!

One year ago today Ethan starting going to Miss Melissa's house for daycare.  This has been a very wonderful year and Ethan has really embraced the transition from a school type daycare to an in home daycare.  Ethan has made some wonderful friends and learned a lot while at Melissa's house.  Thanks for everything you do with him Melissa! 

Saying Good Bye one year ago to Bright and Beautiful

Saying Hello to Miss Melissa's House one year ago

The Stroller!

I really have no other words to title this post besides "The Stroller".  This new stroller is the mother of all strollers.  It does everything!  Cory even jokes that it will feed and change the baby. 

 It is the new Phil and Ted's Vibe stroller. 

I found this really funny.  This was the large picture on the side of the box.

 Ethan starting to assemble the stroller.

Ethan testing it out as a single stroller.

Here it is as a single stroller and single bouncer using the double seat.

 Now it is a double stroller using the seat from the bouncer.

 Second seat on top of stroller using main area as a flat infant area.

 Looks like a single stroller doesn't it?!

Here is the view from the back.

 Now to a double stroller with second seat on bottom so infant seat can go on top.

Surprisingly Ethan was having tons of fun under there.  

 Double stroller with Ethan on top and room for baby Carter on bottom.  

The sun shades moves around nicely.  Ethan was having fun playing hide and seek behind it.

Peek-A-Boo 

Double stroller with Mousey and Tigger playing the parts of Ethan and Carter.

 Single stroller 

 Single stroller for infant 

...and Ethan thinking he's big enough to push the stroller; however, he can't see over the sun shade

This stroller is amazing.  It has a super easy hand break and the front wheel can swivel or stay stationary for jogging.  It folds up nicely even with the double seat attached.  I am so happy with my purchase and can't believe I waited until the third child before investing in an extremely nice stroller.  Well worth the expense! 

Willing to Trade

...I have three dogs that shed, roll in dirt, eat things that are not supposed to be eaten and leave pieces all over my yard, bark, destroy the one room that they are allowed in my house... oh yeah and one farts to the point that windows need to be opened even in freezing temps...

And yes, I am willing to trade them. 

What I'd like in a trade is one small dog that doesn't shed, doesn't bark, doesn't fart, doesn't eat things it's not supposed to.  I believe I am looking for something similar to whats in the picture below. 

25 Weeks

Time for another weekly pregnancy post.  These weeks just keep flying by and baby and I keep growing bigger and bigger!  Just 15 weeks left.  Baby Carter and I are still doing really well.  I am definitely showing more now.  I go see the doctor next on March 29th.  This will be my last appointment during the 2nd trimester! 

I bought a couple things this week to prepare for baby Carter's arrival.  My large purchase was a Phil and Ted's Vibe stroller.  This thing is amazing and will definitely deserve it's own post as soon as I receive it and can take lots of pictures of it.  Cory jokes that it will even feed and change the baby.  I sold my jogging stroller and chicco stroller within days after purchasing my P & T stroller.  The P & T Vibe will work as a single stroller, double stroller, and an infant carseat can attach to it.  The double seat can come off and be used as a bounce chair or a booster chair.  The stroller is very light and can fold up to the size of a medium suitcase.  Truly amazing!  The other items that I bought this week were new bottles.  I used and loved the AVENT bottles with Ethan, but the kind that I had were not BPA free.  This wasn't as advertised when I bought them for Ethan.  I have since thrown them all away.  I was going to buy the new BPA free AVENT bottles, but a friend recommended that I try the Tommee Tippee bottles.  They are really cute and supposedly don't leak at all.  I had occasional issues with the AVENT bottles leaking in the past. 

Hope we love the Tommee Tippees! 

Here is a picture from 25 weeks.

Doesn't Ethan look excited in the background.

I don't think he was fully awake yet.  

As Always, Busy Days

St. Patrick's Day isn't strongly celebrated in our house, but it's still fun to do a little something out of the ordinary. 

Here are treats that I bought the family for dessert. 

It was more like a cake than a cookie!

On Friday night Cory and I went out for appetizers and drinks ~ well, water for me ~ with some friends for a 30th birthday celebration.  We had a really nice time and forgot how wonderful it is to get out without the kids.  Yes, we love them dearly, but adult time is much needed also! 

On Saturday morning Ethan had his second class for swim lessons.  He did SO much better than last time.  I think it helped that we all knew what to expect.  I think he really enjoyed class! 

Saturday evening we had a nice little birthday celebration for James and Linda.  Cory made fajitas for everyone and they turned out fabulously!  I think we'll actually be eating the leftovers for dinner tonight.

Grandma Linda with Charlotte and Ethan

 James, Charlotte, and Linda

Sunday was a relaxing yet accomplishing day.  We went to church in the morning and then came home and started painting the doggy, mud room, laundry room area.  The new color looks great, but the naughty pups already managed to scratch up the walls...

Here is one of the walls before.  I have cleaned it so many times that we were down to the drywall. 

Here is one of the walls after! 

Cory was still painting when I took this picture.  

 Another after paint picture.  We only have one coat of paint on the walls so far. 

Hopefully we'll get to the next coat this weekend. 

Thanks for voting on a name for our next baby boy!

Here are the results: 

Oliver  33%

Carter  50%

Owen  16%

Carter Oliver Bartlett

We picked a name for our baby boy! Thanks for all the votes above.  It was fun to read everyone's opinions.


We decided on Carter as a first name because we love it. It goes well with Mariah and Ethan's names and just seems to fit our family. We picked Oliver for a middle name because it's a strong name and a favorite of ours. It's also my grandpa's name. We love for middle names to have meanings. Mariah's is Rayann ~ Ray is short for her grandpa's name Reynaldo and Ann is my mom's middle name. Ethan's is James which is also Cory's middle name.

24 Weeks

Baby Carter and I have reached 24 weeks!  Can you believe it?!  6 months already!  Just 112 more days to go until we will get to hold baby Carter in our arms and smooch on him like crazy. 

We are still doing really well.  I have gained just a little weight over the past two weeks since my last appointment.  I think I am at a total gain of about 14 or 15 pounds now.  I have been feeling well and baby Carter has been continually moving around like crazy. 

We spent a fun weekend in the Dells with some friends this past weekend and I'll have to say that having a pregnant belly sure makes it hard to chase Ethan around at the water park and through the play area.  I wasn't able to climb and bend and fit through areas that I had fit through in previous years.  I may not be huge yet... but I sure can't bend!  Thank goodness for Cory and Mariah.  They helped chase Ethan around and keep him occupied at all times.  He sure is an active little guy! :-)  We are definitely going to have our hands full when Carter joins our family.  I can't even begin to imagine how much running around we'll be doing with two active little men in our house.  Click HERE for a slideshow of our trip in the Dells. 

Here I am at 24 weeks pregnant with baby Carter:

For comparison, here I was at 24 weeks with Ethan:

Preschool!

Our little Ethan started preschool this morning.  I was really excited about this last week, but this morning was an entirely different feeling.  I was heartbroken watching our little man go in to his new preschool.  He was so unsure and very sad that we were leaving him there.  I know it's the first day and it's normal for kids to be sad, but he really didn't want to be there... I am hoping that he's warmed up a bit over the past hour and a half and that he's liking it more now. 

Ethan's First Preschool Lunch

This preschool program is at our church and it's a combination of daycare from 6:30 - 9:30am, then preschool with about 15 kids ages 3, 4, and 5 from 9:30am - 11:00am, then daycare from 11:00am - 3:30pm when I pick him up.  There is another preschool program in the afternoon, but Ethan is a napper so he'll probably sleep through it.  If he chooses to stay awake during nap time then he'll join the other kids for afternoon preschool. 

A Little Unsure

We are sending him one day per week for the rest of the school year.  The other four days per week he'll continue to go to Miss Melissa's house.  Then if all goes well we will send him two days a week for the following school year and the other three days he'll go to Miss Melissa's house. 

Okay Mom and Dad... I'll Give The Day My Best



A Quick Project

I have been moving things around a bit lately and trying to come up with inexpensive ways to freshen up our home.  I am currently working on painting the mudroom ~ which may take forever ~ and by doing so I took down this sign that I had hanging back there.  This is a solid wood sign that I got on clearance a while back for $9.50 and I really like it but had a hard time finding a home for it. 

I was in need of some new coat hooks for our front entry because I recently moved the hooks that were in the front entry to the bathroom for the kids towels.  So, I decided to turn the sign in to a coat hook.  I found hooks at Menards for $8.50 and with Cory's help, got them installed on the wood sign. 

Last night Cory hung up the sign in the front entry. 
Here is the end result of my $18 project! 

23 Weeks

I am 23 weeks pregnant today and trying my best to get over this nasty stomach bug.  The bug hit me on Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church.  All of a sudden my stomach started burning.  I managed to go to church and run some errands with the family afterwards, but by 2pm I was napping with Ethan until 4pm.  Then by 6pm I was in bed for the night.  I stayed home from work on Monday.  Started to feel a little better by Monday night.  Now it's Tuesday and I am back at work, but my tummy is still rumbling.  I am ready to have my strength back and only feel the movement from baby Carter... not the rumbling germ bug! 

Besides fighting a stomach bug, baby Carter and I are doing really well.  We had a check up last Thursday.  My blood pressure is great, my total weight gain is 13 pounds, baby Carter is looking fabulous and moving around like crazy, and I am measuring right on schedule. 

Here is a picture of baby Carter and I at 23 weeks. 

Here is a picture of baby Ethan and I at 23 weeks (for comparison). 

(yes, same room - very different wall color)

Family Fun Filled Weekend

We had a lot of fun as a family this past weekend! 

On Friday night we went to Steinhafels and bought my new chair for feeding and rocking baby Carter.  I LOVE IT!  We picked it up on Sunday afternoon. I can spin and look out the patio door in our room. It is so nice and it has white stitching just like our couches downstairs so when we are done with it in our room we can put it in the basement. 

Fabulous!

Saturday we went shopping in the morning (the whole family) and then came home, Ethan and I took naps, and then we went up to the Brewers stadium to TGI Friday's for dinner. Food was excellent! Then we drove over to the Bradley Center and managed to park and get in our seats one minute before the game started. We were really high up, but the stadium was pretty full. I'd say the Bulls fans and Bucks fans were about 50/50. It was pretty exciting. Bulls won by a couple points. It was a close game all night.  This was Mariah and Ethan's first attendance at a professional basketball game. 

One of our Saturday morning purchases.  Baby Carter's first swim suit! 

(sorry, tried a bunch of times and for some reason this pic will only load sideways...)

Driving up to Brewer's Stadium for dinner. 

Trying to get Ethan to cooperate for a picture with mommy was quite difficult.

Mariah and Cory at TGI Friday's.

In the parking lot next to the Bradley Center we could see the restaurant where Cory and I got engaged.  It was fun to show the kids this restaurant through Cory's sun roof on his truck.

Mariah at the Bucks v. Bulls game.

Cory and Ethan watching the game.

Mariah and I taking a picture of ourselves.

The dancers getting things going.

On Sunday we ushered at church and had treats duty. Ethan is really loving Sunday School. Mariah only has a couple months left of Sunday School and confirmation. She gets confirmed on May 22nd. Then graduates 8th grade in June. Looks like I have more parties to plan..... Thankfully these will be outside parties!

Sunday afternoon we went to my sister's for my niece, Alannah's, 12th birthday party.  We had a nice time and ate lots of yummy food.  Happy 12th Birthday Alannah!