2 1/2 weeks and counting ...

It's hard to believe that we're down to only two weeks or so until we hold our precious baby!

At our appointment last week, we had an ultrasound. At 36 weeks, Nathan was measuring 6 lb. 12 oz. (much smaller than Ryan was at the same point and slightly smaller than Ian was). So, Nathan may well be our smallest baby yet! We're okay with that! :)  Nathan was head down and was measuring exactly (to the day) what he should be measuring.

None of the ultrasound pictures was super clear; he's sort of squished at this point. But the ultrasound tech WAS able to confirm that he IS still a boy! :)

We're mainly feeling ready. We have the pack 'n' play set up in our room and all of the clothes washed and put away. One of our final tasks is to put the new car seats in the backseat so we can fit three kids across our Honda Accord. We'd like it if he would wait another 1.5 weeks to be born so that my mom will be here. If he comes early though, we're grateful that Jon and Chelsea and a few friends are willing to help us out.

I am still feeling alright but am feeling much more tired and achy at this point. I'm having an increasing amount of uncomfortable Braxton Hicks contractions.  At our appointment a few days ago, I was 70% effaced and 3 cm dilated. So, we're making progress!

We're very excited to meet Nathan soon!

Livng close to family!

 We love having family living close to us! Jon & Chelsea have now been in the Houston area for almost five months. It's been really fun to help them get settled, to watch them interact with Ian and Ryan so often, and to celebrate their new addition on the way ...

Recently, we were excited to help take their gender reveal pictures.

 Were we ever excited to find out that God is sending them a BOY! :) We love boys. :)

 We rarely take pictures of our regular "hang out" times. But, we usually spend at least some time with them every week. Usually, Jon and Chelsea come over to our house for lunch after church on Sundays (after we sit together in church!). This past Sunday, Ian wanted to read Uncle Jon and Aunt Chelsea his "home readers" for kindergarten. He made them sign a paper three times, just like Matt or I have to after hearing Ian read the book three times.

 By the time Ian read to Aunt Chelsea, he was getting pretty silly. He was holding the book upside down and reading the words backwards so the story didn't make sense. Thankfully, Chelsea has a good sense of humor. :)

We love you guys!

Halloween

We celebrated Halloween in a few different ways this year! The day before Halloween, the librarian that leads Toddler Time asked all of the kiddos to come dressed in their costumes.

Sammy the pizza slice and Ryan the cowboy

After the typical listening to books and singing songs, the kids went on a "costume parade" throughout the library.

That afternoon, after Ian and Matt came home from school, we worked on our family pumpkin. After looking at a few designs on the computer, Ian chose an Elsa (from Frozen) pattern that he thought looked really cool.

The boys happily helped scrape out seeds with their long spoons.

Ian and Matt did some of the carving, and then I finished up.  It turned out okay and looked especially good from a distance. :)

On Halloween Day, Ian wore orange to school and participated in a "Pumpkin Party" in the afternoon. Matt came home to enjoy some English muffin pumpkin pizzas for dinner with us before he had to go back to school to supervise a football game.

 The boys were happy to help ... and especially happy to sample all of the ingredients! :)

Aunt Chelsea came over to go trick-or-treating with Ian, Ryan, and me. Here are our adorable cowboy and pirate!

The boys enjoyed the trick-or-treating experience. Even Ryan was good at saying "trick or treat" and "thank you." I should have gotten a picture of Aunt Chelsea pulling a wagon mainly for Ian. (Ryan usually wanted to help Aunt Chelsea pull Ian in the wagon, though he rode occasionally as well.) After 15 houses or so, the boys asked if they could please come home to hand out candy to the other kids.

Ian took his job VERY seriously and carefully parceled out two pieces of candy to each trick-or-treater.

Ryan was content to watch out the windows for trick-or-treaters, to help open the door, and to share random facts with people who came to the door. ("I'm eating a Ring Pop!!")

What a fun evening! Thanks, Aunt Chelsea, for coming over to help and to celebrate with us! :)