Our Growing Family

A few weeks ago when we were in Florence I had my sister, Allison, take some family pictures for us. I wasn't really happy with any of the maternity pictures I got when I was pregnant with Grant, but I love these! (Allison didn't take the ones of Grant's pregnancy by the way. She is not to blame!) Didn't she do a great job?!

Which ones do you like? I want to get some printed for Aubrie's room, but I can't decide which ones!

Sweet Girl's Room

A few weeks ago I thought that Aubrie's nursery would never get done. I was lacking in concrete ideas and motivation. I wanted it to be done and had a few vague ideas, but just couldn't get it together. Wonder Mom to the rescue! Let me just say...my mom is amazing. When she gets something in her mind, there is no stopping her. She came down for a couple of days, and it was done! I love how it turned out :) I was worried that it would still feel like a boys room after having Grant in there for over two years, but it definitely feels girly now.

This is one of my favorite things in her room. It is a cross stitch that my mom made to put in the nursery when we were little. I can remember seeing it in our nursery and memorizing it's sweet rhyme. My mom asked if I wanted it when she was redoing the room it had always been in. I did want it (for the memories), but I didn't know what I would do with it. It just happens to go perfectly in her room! I am excited to incorporate this special family piece into Aubrie's room.

To Infinity And Beyond!

Finally...here is Grant's big boy room. My mom came down in November and helped with the majority of the decorating and the big move. We tossed around a couple of ideas for the theme, and finally decided that Toy Story was the winner. Grant loves all things Toy Story, so it went over really big with him! At one point while we were decorating he said, "I'm excited what we're doing in here!"

There were a few factors in switching rooms that I was worried about. Would he stay in his big boy bed? Would he want his old room back? Would he resent that Aubrie was getting is old room? So with those in mind we really tried to play up his new room. It definitely worked. He has been nothing but excited about his room ever since we finished. He wants to show everyone his room as soon as they come in the door. He has been sleeping in the big queen bed since November, and still doesn't get out of it on his own. He will call to us when he wakes up and won't get out until we come into his room! There was one night when he said he wanted to go sleep in his crib, but we told him that this was his room now, and he hasn't said another word about it. He hasn't even seemed to mind that his old room is soon to be Aubrie's. I love it that he will just go into his room and play now. He never used to do that. He really takes pride in his new room, and that makes us so happy! :)

So...without further ado...here is the room. (Grant was so excited that I was taking pictures of his room and he kept wanting to be in the pictures!)

At The Coast

I feel like I haven't blogged about many trips to Florence for a while. It's probably because we haven't been there as much as usual. We've been sticking around home more. But this trip was really special because we got to meet this sweet one...

Hosanna Nelle is the newest addition to the Stone family. Uncle Jordan, Aunt Iggy, Henry, and Hosanna came to Florence, so of course we had to make the trip to see them! (Plus all the other family we've been missing over there.) Things between Henry and Grant are always a little dicey, but they did pretty well and we even got some pictures of them together.

We had a wonderful three days doing all of the things we love to do in Florence...

Being "nakie boys" (ok...we like to do that anywhere)

Jumping on the "trampareen"

Playing with friends

Loving on GG

Playing "oh bones"

Going to the beach

Having fun with two of the coolest Aunties in the world!

 

Reading (I just loved this series of pictures!)

Playing airplane

 Building trains

And of course we went to the coffee shop, but for some crazy reason didn't get any pictures of it! That's something we don't ever miss though.

We loved getting to spend some quality time with family in Florence. We feel so blessed to have family that we like to spend time with! We love you!!!

Almost There...

How far along: 38 weeks
Total weight gain: 25 pounds
Best moment this month: Finding out that Aubrie is still growing inside me. I haven't blogged about this yet...so here is the story. At our 20 week ultrasound we found out that Aubrie had a single artery umbilical cord (babies are supposed to have two). There were several complications that could go along with this condition including heart problems and genetic disorders. The doctors ruled out both of those, thank the Lord! They said she looked great and had a wonderful looking heart. The only other issues then could possibly come later on in pregnancy. They watched very closely for her to continue growing. Since she only has one artery bringing blood to her, she had the potential to stop growing, at which point they would need to watch even more closely and deliver her right away if need be. Everything was going along fine until our 32 week appointment. My tummy was measuring two weeks behind what it should have been. We had an extra ultrasound scheduled for 34 weeks, so the doctor said it would be okay to wait until then to see if she needed to be delivered early. That was such a long two weeks! It was difficult to switch my mindset from having a March baby to potentially having a January or early February baby. We prayed that if she did need to come early she would be developed enough that there wouldn't be major complications after birth. We prayed for two weeks for her development and growth! When we went in for the ultrasound they said that she was doing great! She was almost 5 pounds already, which is just about what a baby at her stage should be! Praise the Lord! She looked healthy and my doctor said it looked like she could possibly go full term. We were so excited! We have had a scare here and there with subsequent doctor visits, including a couple of non-stress tests at the hospital, but Aubrie seems to be happy and growing in there. We have another ultrasound on Monday to check her growth again, but I feel like we are definitely past the scary part that an extra early delivery would have brought about. We continue to pray for her growth and development. We know that the Lord formed her and has His hand on her at all times!
Food cravings: None...am I weird?
Gender: Still a girl...and we did have the ultrasound tech check the last time we were in. (Grant was a girl for a little while until we found out otherwise!)
What I miss: Holding Grant on my lap. We try, but it is getting harder and harder. I also miss being able to carry him around (which I never thought I would say!). He is wanting me to carry him more and more as he starts to feel the shifting with Aubrie coming. I hate it when I have to tell him no. It's sad that we are moving out of the stage where he is just easy for me to hold and carry. At least I know I will still be able to do it again once she is born...for a little bit longer :) I also miss sleeping next to my husband. At this point I sleep surrounded by four pillows. That way I am comfortable (or relatively comfortable) each way I turn. But it does put up quite a wall between us.
What I am looking forward to: I am really looking forward to seeing Grant with her. He is so sweet to her already! The other day he got out a whistle and told me he was going to blow it to tell Aubrie it is time to come out now. And more and more he comes up to my tummy and gets the sweetest expression on his face and says "Hi Aubrie" in this high voice. He is going to be such a great big brother, and I can't wait to see him see her for the first time.
Milestones: Not fitting into anything but pregnancy clothes. I have finally had to stop wearing all of my "big" clothes and go for strictly maternity clothes. I'm much smaller than I was with Grant at this stage, so all of my maternity clothes from him are huge on me. Thankfully, my wonderful friend, Carly, who just had her baby in January, loaned all of her clothes to me!

Unplugged and Needing a Haircut!

I don't know if any of you have noticed...but Grant needs a haircut! Not for lack of his parents trying though. He absolutely refuses to get his hair cut. I feel like such a failure saying that my child won't let me get his hair cut, because really...who's the mom here?! But if you could see what chaos ensues when it is time to cut hair, you might understand.
Grant's first haircuts (as a younger than 1 year old) went just fine. They got progressively worse. It's to the point that you would think that someone was trying to torture him whenever we try to cut his hair. Screaming, crying, snot running, drooling, squirming, pushing the scissors away...you get the idea (but not really if you haven't actually been there!). It is horrible! The most success that we've had since all of the problems started was when we took him to Daddy's barber. That was in June. He hasn't had a real haircut since. We decided to let it grow out a little...which ended up being A LOT! Then it got to the point where I was needing to trim it so that he could see, and that didn't go over well. We figured that the best thing to do would be to just shave it short again and let it grow for another 7 months or so.
So, a few weeks ago we took him back to Daddy's barber. We were thinking that it would go as smoothly as it had the first time. He watched Daddy get his hair cut, but when it was his turn...no way! We were pinning his arms down and holding his face. I can't tell you how much I hate this! Still, the barber could not cut his hair. I finally decided that it has to be his choice. He is obviously scared to death of getting his hair cut, and since we have probably already scarred him for life I don't want to force it anymore. It has to be his decision.
We thought we would help him out on making his decision. We told him that he cannot watch any movies/shows until he chooses to get his hair cut. Watching shows is one of his favorite things to do. We don't let him watch them all the time, but he definitely wants to! I really thought that with this motivation he would change his mind about a haircut right away. It has now been almost a month without TV...or a haircut. Oh...besides the one side that the barber did get cut amidst all the madness (see the right side?).

We have a couple of ideas for action if this continues for too much longer. But...who cares...our kid has long hair! It could be worse right? :)