Hello blogging world! It's been a few weeks. We haven't been up to much, just the daily grind. Kyle is really glad it's finally spring break! We've been busy trying to set up a bunch of different house projects, we're getting new windows and an air conditioner. Hallelujah! Last summer was not fun, and I refuse to have a newborn without air conditioning. The windows in this house have never been replaced (from the 70's), so it's time for them to get an upgrade too. They're single pane, they would let out all of our cool air! So we've been getting bids for all these things, not to mention I recently had to sign up for service with a pest company because we've started to notice carpenter ants. They weren't there last year, so as soon as I saw them I wanted to nip it in the bud. The pest people won't spray the perimeter of our house until mid-April because that's when it gets a little warmer and the ants are really going back and forth to their colony (thus killing the most that we can), but I'm really glad we signed up for pest service because not a week later we started to see a ton of sugar ants too! Ants just gross me out, but unfortunately for some reason they TERRIFIED Payton. She didn't even want to walk on the hardwood floor, and one day when we got home she flat out refused to come in the house. It was sad to see how scared she was, no matter how much we told her they wouldn't hurt her. She saw one crawl on her foot one day and freaked out (I thought she was being murdered), and I think that was the straw that broke the camel's back for her. Anyway, the pest people were awesome, they came out the next day after I called them and set a bunch of traps and 24 hours later we're ant free! Thank goodness!

Last week I presented at career day at West Albany, which went great! It was actually really fun, I really enjoyed it. I got to meet a lot of neat people from all kinds of careers, and then I got to do my presentation in Kyle's classroom with him. It was so crazy how many kids came to my presentation! We turned kids away every session (there were 4), it was packed past capacity each time. Very flattering! I got a lot of positive feedback, seems a lot of kids really enjoyed it and took to heart my advice about pursuing their career. Hopefully I'll get asked back to present next year too!

My kiddos are doing great! Both of them :) Payton is really funny these days, she's always saying something to make us laugh. One morning when she saw her dad drinking coffee she said "I want some coffee too". I told her that she wouldn't like it, and that coffee is an adult beverage. She thought about that for a second and then said "like a beer?" I had to try so hard not to laugh out loud! She's a smart girl. I said yes Payton, just like a beer! Last weekend she spent the night at Grandma Sue's house while Kyle and I went to Casino Night, which is a fundraiser for the baseball program. It was really fun, there's a silent and a live auction, casino games, great food and drinks (which this year unfortunately I did not get to partake in, but maybe next year). Anyway Payton was so excited about going to church in the morning that apparently she had trouble going to sleep. I got a text from Sue saying that she could hear Payton calling her name and she wasn't sure what to do. Payton was calling "Grandma Sue, I'm ready for church!" At 9:00 at night of course. Sue eventually went in there and told Payton that the church was asleep, and we have to sleep too and we'll see it in the morning. She was fine with that and went right to sleep! She loves church, and has even been praying for us before meals. This is her prayer she learned at school: Thank you God for food, Amen. Concise and to the point, we love it! She has started to call us "friends" when she's bossing us around, which is also something she picked up at school. We'll be playing in the living room and she'll say "OK friends, it's time to clean up and then it's circle time!" Then she makes us get in a circle and wants to sing a song, or play her new favorite game, duck duck goose. She's definitely a little leader!

I can't get over how long her legs look in this picture! She's already more than half as tall as her mama...

Bed head!

Payton is officially a shower girl! She really started to resist baths for some reason, and when I suggested a shower, she was all for it! She LOVES them!

 

Hello!

 This is the look I got when I finally took her out of the shower, not too happy... 

If only my skin were so beautiful... 

That's enough pictures mommy!

As for baby boy, he's quite the mover! I feel him all the time, and Kyle finally got to feel him for the first time this week too. The other night you could actually see my belly moving when he kicked me, which is really fun to watch! He's been breech, which also means I've been feeling a lot of kicking on my bladder, which I'm not used to. Payton was head down from like 16 weeks on, so I only ever felt her kicks way up high. He's super active at night, usually when I'm trying to go to sleep of course. That's also very different from his sister, I never really felt Payton at night. Hopefully he likes to sleep at night when he comes out! Payton was such a great sleeper, we were really lucky with her. Hoping that we can get lucky twice!

Kyle and I have been doing a lot of talking recently about our family, our future. I have always been super set on having at least three kids, but now after a lot of discussion we've decided to see how two goes first for a while and then make the decision to have (or not to have) more children. Who knows what the future holds for us, but we will consider ourselves very blessed to have had two healthy, happy kids. Then it really hit me that this might be my last pregnancy, and it's already more than halfway over. Time is flying, and yet July can't come soon enough! We're definitely not ready though; haven't started getting his room ready, have no idea on the name, all the baby stuff is still in the attic... we'll get to it soon I'm sure! :)

I'm already almost 24 weeks, only a few more weeks in the second trimester. I have an appointment Monday morning with the maternity care coordinator at Good Samaritan in Corvallis, which is where we're delivering. She meets with patients and gives them a tour of the maternity center, talks about classes you can take, answers any questions that you have. I don't think we'll take any classes this time, except they do a big sibling class that I think would be fun for Payton. I think it's one Saturday for a couple hours, just showing new big brothers and sisters basic tips for taking care of a new baby sibling. Then on Tuesday morning I have my next doctor appointment. I'm dreading getting weighed this time... I have been SO hungry the last couple weeks! Just not looking forward to the scale reflecting my constant eating, but oh well. I read somewhere that they did a study that showed women who were pregnant with boys were typically hungrier during pregnancy, which definitely seems to be true this time around!

Anyway, time for this mama to go to bed... hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Hello there! I seem to be on a blogging streak... this is my FOURTH blog so far this month! I think that's already twice as much as I blogged last month. There's just so much more to blog nowadays... plus now that basketball season is finally over and I have my hubby back most evenings, I'm not uber exhausted by the time Payton goes to bed. This weekend was the state basketball championship tournament for the varsity girls in Eugene, so Kyle was pretty much gone from Thursday until Saturday afternoon, but we got to spend all day together today, which was nice. The girls lost their first game in the tournament, which was disappointing, but went on to win fourth overall in state, which is awesome.  Now it's on to baseball... Kyle has his first game on Tuesday, as long as it's not rained out. Between that, practice, work, career day, Payton's swim lessons, and a team basketball banquet on Wednesday, it's shaping up to be a busy week!

On Saturday morning my good friend Jamie and I took Payton to the park. It was a nice day, and we wanted to try our hand at taking some pictures! She's into taking pictures like I am, and is due about five weeks before me with a little boy too. We're planning on taking eachother's maternity pictures, and newborn pictures too. I'm really excited to see what we come up with! We did some playing around, and had a lot of fun!

Jamie, myself and our boys!

 Growing, growing, growing!

I can't wait for him to get here :)

Payton wanted in on the action too!

When we do eachother's "official" maternity pictures, we'll do them around 32ish weeks and obviously include our significant others. But we're definitely having fun scoping out locations, it will be fun to have our babies be so close in age!

This morning Kyle and I made the spontaneous decision to have a family outing and try something we've never done before. We decided to take Payton to check out the children's museum in Salem. They had lots of stuff, but Payton's favorite was definitely the little grocery store where she could put all the stuff in her cart, and even pay for it and bag it up. She was mostly interested in stuffing her cart though, to the point where she couldn't get anything else in there! She freaked out a little about leaving her cart, she didn't want anyone else to mess up her masterpiece I suppose. They had a huge outdoor area that was really neat, even though it was pretty chilly today we played outside and then had a picnic lunch. It will definitely be even better in the summer! She was still talking about no one touching her shopping cart tonight when we were at home, so I'm sure she'll be excited to go back!

You may not be able to see it, but Payton has a big band-aid on her face. She woke up the other morning with a HUGE gouge on her face, we figured she must have scratched her face while she slept. She kept picking off the scab because she said it was a "booger", so we finally put a band-aid on it so she'll leave it alone. We just don't want it to scar!

Washing her kitty at the vet clinic

Tee hee :)

We've also been taking Payton out on her new big girl bike whenever the weather gives us the chance. She's a natural!

Loving the nice weather!

Hard to believe, but I'm already almost 22 weeks! Only about four more months, and he'll be here! He's about 11 inches long or so, almost a foot (or a spaghetti squash, according to my pregnancy app), and weighs about a pound. He's actually starting to look like a mini newborn, even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. Payton has been very sweet now that she's noticed my baby bump. She'll rub it and give it a kiss, and wants to tell everyone about her baby brother. Very cute! When looking at his clothes she'll say "these are for our baby". She talks about how she's going to help bath him and feed him, and put lotion on him and put him to bed. She's going to be such a great big sister! In fact I think she'll be so into him that I may have to fight her to get my turn :) 

Little man!

Soooo cute!

Kyle and I have another milestone coming up too. Kind of silly to celebrate I guess, but I think it's important; on Friday we will have been together for 7 years! I was actually thinking the other day that it's crazy to think that it's been that long since we were in college. Time flies! I'm so lucky to call him my husband and the father of my children, and was very blessed 7 years ago when he came into my life. Love you babe!

Our version of celebrating is attending "casino night" at the high school next Saturday, which is a fundraiser for baseball :) We'll take any date nights we can get! We've actually gone to casino night several times, and we always have a blast. We're looking forward to it!

Have a great week everyone! 

3 year stats!

Payton and I visited her pediatrician on Tuesday for her 3 year well check. She did great! She sat patiently while he looked at her eyes, ears, and mouth, and listened to her heart and lungs; all the while she was chattering away about getting to go swimming later that night. He kept saying how smart she is! Here are her stats:

Weight: 35 pounds even (80%tile)
Height: 39 inches (90%tile) She's grown 2 inches in 6 months!

Her head circumference is still off the charts, but he said this year it's closer to actually being on the chart... she definitely gets that from her dad! :)

No shots this time, so all in all it was a very easy appointment. We are now on a yearly schedule, so she doesn't need to go back to see him until she's 4! Although I'm sure we'll be in that office quite a bit this summer... for someone else though!

Tuesday night was Payton's first "big girl" swimming class. We've been taking her for lessons, but either Kyle or I have always gotten in the water with her. When they turn 3, kids are eligible to take a class with an instructor. I was nervous about her getting in the water without us, but I just kept telling her that I would be sitting in the bleachers watching her and cheering her on. She did great! She's still not a big fan of putting her face in the water or laying on her back in the water, but I think she'll get those things with time. She does love kicking and splashing around though! We're going to go twice a week for the next few weeks, I'll try to get some pictures this time!

Say hello to my little friend!

The high school where Kyle works, West Albany, has asked me to participate in career day this year. I get to talk to 4 groups of students about my career in ultrasound, how I got there, the education, what the job entails, etc. I'm mostly excited to educate people that I do more than just look at babies... however we thought a baby video would be really fun for the kids to watch, and I just so happened to be the perfect volunteer! These are a couple little videos of baby Hall moving around in there. Isn't technology so neat?!

Career day is next Wednesday, and I'm actually really excited. Kyle requested that I do my presentation in his room, so we'll even get to spend some time together. I haven't done any public speaking in a long time though, wish me luck!

I feel like I can't post pictures of one of my babies without posting pictures of another... so here you go! :)

Who me?!

My sweet little angel

Have a great week!

Happy birthday Payton Marie!

Time has flown! It's already been 3 years since Kyle and I welcomed our daughter, miss Payton Marie Hall. Although the road of parenthood has had it's ups and downs, whenever I look at her I am amazed by how much she's grown and how smart she is. She is a funny, sweet, nurturing little girl, and I am extremely proud to be her mother. We had a party for her last weekend, which she was VERY excited about. She talked about it for like a week! For some reason she kept saying her presents were going to come under a Christmas tree... I think she was still in Christmas mode! No tree, but she didn't complain once she saw the pile of presents for her to open!

 

As always, a very lucky girl! Spoiled!

Birthday girl! I can't believe she's 3!

Having so much fun!

Princess Payton!

My love :)

The Hall Family! Payton on her new big girl bike!

It's not a party without cake!

It was a great day, much better than last year when she was so sick, poor girl. She's sick again this weekend, must be something about this time of year. Luckily not like last year, just a bad cough and she feels a little warm. She's not letting it get her down though! She's acting pretty normal, but I'm trying to make sure that she gets lots of sleep and drinks lots of fluids. I was planning on breaking the binkie habit this weekend, but decided to postpone it temporarily, thinking that may not be the best idea if she's not feeling well. I'm really not looking forward to it, but... I think it's time. Right now she's going through what I hope is a phase, because it's driving Kyle and I crazy... we've officially entered the defiant, disobedient, not listening stage (which I hear I was a pro at as a child... sorry mom). We sailed through the twos and are hitting the threes hard! If I ask her to come here, she will tell me she needs to do something else first and refuse to do it, or I'll ask her to please lower her voice and she'll say (even louder mind you) "I am NOT too loud!" *sigh* Especially since she and I are by ourselves so much in the mornings and evenings because Kyle has school, games and practices, it's really been stretching my patience. I can slowly feel my blood pressure start to rise when she talks back to me! I'm just trying to be consistent, and not tolerating it. It's so easy now to see how parents can lose their cool with their kids! I just try to take a deep breath, keep calm and carry on. Hopefully this too shall pass!

My parents, Chelsea and Richard came into town to stay with us this weekend, which was awesome as always. My parents even made a reservation at an RV park in Albany for July! They just bought an RV, and are planning on being here for a while after the baby is born. I am so excited for them to be able to spend so much time with us and their grandbabies! Such a blessing! Chels and Richard went home on Sunday afternoon, but my mom and dad stayed through until Monday so they could come to my screening ultrasound, which was Monday morning. Sue, Kyle and Payton went too. We had a little viewing party! Hard to believe, but I'm already more than halfway through this pregnancy. I've been feeling a lot of movement, which is fun. Much more than I did with Payton, but I think a lot of that has to do with where the placenta is. It was on the front of my uterus with her, which can make feeling movements harder, but this pregnancy it's on the back of my uterus, so right now I'm feeling lots of kicks and punches! I love it though. Every time Kyle has tried to feel him he stops moving though, which is exactly what his sister did. Little stinkers! We got some great pictures at my ultrasound, he was the most cooperative I've ever seen him!

Getting big!

Looking straight at us... hello!

Hopefully he will forgive me someday for posting this... boy parts! 

Awww :)

Little arms covering the face

He looks so comfy in there!

He's really popped out in the last couple weeks! I've gained 8.2 pounds so far, I feel like it's all in my belly!

I had another doctor appointment on Tuesday, which is the first one that Kyle has been able to go to with me. He had to take the morning off from school and get a sub, but he was happy to do it because he knew how important it was. It was our official VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) appointment, where we talk to the surgeon about the risks of attempting a VBAC, discuss my specific odds of success, and answer any questions. She was very nice and didn't flinch when I opened up a piece of paper full of questions! My "official" percentage is 66%; however she said that about 80% of the mothers attempting VBAC's are successful. She was pretty encouraging, and when I told her that my biggest concern was not wanting to repeat my previous experience, she assured me there was pretty much no way that could happen. Due to the risk of my uterus rupturing (which is very small, but possible) I have to be monitored very closely, and she said they don't really tolerate any signs of distress from the baby. She also said that if I were to push for 45 minutes and not make any progress, then they would just go ahead and proceed with a c-section. Or, I could also call it at any time if I so chose. That information was comforting to me, because I do not want to push for 4 hours again! I'm willing and wanting to try, but if it's obviously not working, then just get him out safely. She said they will not induce labor on a VBAC patient, so if I make it to 41 or 42 weeks with no baby then I will automatically get a c-section. She also said that if I were to decide not to try the VBAC they will not schedule me for a c-section more than a week before my due date, which means I may go into labor on my own anyway (Payton was almost two weeks early... but every pregnancy is different). My thought is this: Let's say I do go into labor earlier than 39 weeks. If I dilate quickly like last time and everything seems to be going ok, then why not try? Well there are a few exceptions to that actually. If he is facing "sunny side up" like Payton was, which is a harder position for him to get through the pelvis, then I don't want to try. Or if he's breech obviously I won't get a choice. There are so many factors, we'll just have to see! It was good to hear all of the details and options, Kyle and I are planning on writing up a really specific birth plan to address all these different scenarios so that we're prepared for whatever happens. I think my last experience was stressful for so many reasons; my water broke when we were out of town, we had to rush to the hospital, neither of us had slept, everything happened so quickly, I was stressed that my mom wouldn't make it in time, no pain meds didn't help... then after all that pushing for so long and ending up with a c-section. I'm sure it will be different this time! Unless I go into labor in Enumclaw... that is absolutely worst case scenario! I don't even want to think about it! 

Anyway, enough about that stuff for a while. Some extra pictures from this month... 

I'm a natural on my big bike! Just took off riding!

She looks so big! Kyle and I got a carseat for her baby dolls for her birthday, and now it goes everywhere with us!

Speaking of Kyle, his basketball season is officially over. His first team finished 17-3, they had a great season! Very proud of him!

Mr. Hall, doing his thing!

Huddle

Kyle and his girls!

They're... unique :)

Hope you all have a great week! I can't believe it's March already!

P.S. Happy birthday Carissa, Richard, and Grandpa Dave!