The other day, I was getting an old picture off of the old blog. And I missed it. With tears in my eyes, I asked Blogger to take me back. Do you know how much I have come to dislike Wordpress- for people like, me, who are not computer savvy, I mean? I really like change- rearranging rooms, painting something a different color, etc. And I liked a lot of the new aspects, at first, but I had envisioned it a lot differently before I began- for instance, I imagined that I would be able to actually maneuver my way around and change widgets and layout and fonts, graphics, etc. as I pleased. I don’t know how to do anything on Wordpress.org. I can make a new post and add pictures (though it takes me a sixteenth of an eternity). I should have paid more attention in EMS (Electronic Media Studio) 1 and 2. If I want to change the look of the header (which I’ve been wanting to do for a while now), I have to wait for a good time to ask for Mike’s much-needed assistance. But he has so many better things to do than try to program what I am trying to dictate to him from an image in my head. And I have better things to do too– seriously. Besides the agony of uploading pictures- after resizing, adding them to Flickr, changing their size on Flickr, etc.- I’ve had it with Flickr, who I refuse to pay more to have more than 200 of my uploaded photos show up at a time. I had issues with Blogger, but I could at least do (just about) everything myself. We’ll probably be dragging ourselves back to Picasa too.
No more trying to be a hero- or a computer programmer. I’m caving in to the commoner-conveniences of Blogger. And I may change the appearance every now and then, and you will bare with me. It’s my blog. So change your links, feeds, urls whatever– I don’t even know what those are– back to http://michaelandkellieryan.blogspot.com/. I think I will try to move over some of my posts from this blog just to have them archived on the Blogger one.

For my sister, who “hates” pregnancy progression pictures . Having multiple pregnancies, I like these (and any notes) for personal use- to look back and compare.

Abigail’s pregnancy- 21 weeks and 1 day:

Baby three’s pregnancy- 21 weeks and 1 day:

I feel oh so much bigger than I did with the other two at this point in the pregnancy- it’s not super visible in the photo, as it’s evenly distributed all over, but I weigh quite a bit more with this one compared to with Abigail. Unfortunately, I don’t have Jack’s pregnancy documented that early. I had trouble gaining with Abigail, as I was turned off by most food during the duration of it and in the end, gained 12 lbs total (the exact weight-gain requirement to delivery at the Midwife Center without an ultrasound- we had an ultrasound the week before, when I’d only gained 8 lbs). I’ve already gained more than that this time around, though I’m still intentionally exercising multiple times a week and eating fairly healthy, though larger portions. I’ve just been really hungry most of the time. I’m not concerned about it at all as long as the baby and I are healthy.

My legs have been itching a lot- something that started later on with the past two- a nuisance. And the stellar veins on the back of my right leg continue to be worrisome. I feel so much pressure just when I blow my nose or sneeze.

I can feel the baby moving, mostly at night when I go to bed, though I’ve been feeling more movements throughout the day. When I nudge it a little while lying in bed, I’ll usually get a pronounced kick in return.

I have my third midwife appointment next week. I like being able to have more spaced appointments, as a return-client. Since I take the kids with me, the infrequency is a lot more convenient, though they’re always great at the appointments and enjoy tagging along.

If all goes well, we won’t have any more ultrasounds (we had one at 10 weeks to determine the due date). It’s always exciting to see the little bean, but with the kids, it’s a hassle, and since we’ve already had two uncomplicated pregnancies, if everything feels and sounds fine, we’re not concerned. For us, the mid-way ultrasounds for the previous pregnancies were to find out the gender, and we’re excited about the surprise at delivery this time.

Jack and Abigail now initiate talking about the baby, or in Abigail’s case, mostly giving my belly hugs and kisses. A while back, Jack made it clear that he wanted a boy. We asked him if he loved the new baby, and he said, “No! I love a boy!” He may be sorely disappointed come delivery day, though we have tried to explain to him that we have no choice in the matter and that we’ll be happy with a new brother or sister for them. He hasn’t talked as much lately about desiring a brother- it’s mostly just been “the baby in your belly.” So sweet, too, is when Abigail has her baby doll give the baby kisses.

I thought this was an interesting article at the blog Nourished Kitchen. It’s not only because Jack cries every time we tell him he has to wash his hands (the child HATES to get his hands wet) that we don’t insist the kids wash their hands before every meal, etc. I’m sure he’d be washing his hands a lot more if he were potty trained… ahem (we’re thinking about setting aside a day, or weekend, soon- it’s time). There are times when I’m sure to wash my hands, and have the kids wash theirs- after we’re in public places like the toy lending library, a consignment store, or touching germ-laden grocery carts, etc., but within our home, other than not sharing glasses and silverware when someone’s sick, we’re pretty lax about washing away the germs and are a-okay with eating off of the floor- where a lot of the kids’ food falls.
While the kids and I have caught one or two rather long-lasting colds this fall/winter, we’ve been healthy, relatively speaking. And we’ve let them all run their natural courses, making sure to load up on fruits and veggies. Unless they’ve gotten especially dirty or been somewhere I think there might be a lot of germs (again, the tll), the kids have two baths a week. Gail has put everything short of a dead bird crawling with ants (this one almost happened) in her mouth since she was born, and has been the healthiest one in the family. Let them eat dirt.

Jack and I went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox tonight at the dollar theater– Jack’s first movie theater experience, and he was pretty fantastic the whole time. After all, there were animals and a train and even some ‘diggers.’ I had wanted to see the movie, as I was a big Roald Dahl fan as a child and remembered the book well. The movie was… fantastic. Ha. It was a Wes Anderson film, so it had to be pretty good.
Wondering what the other two did on their ‘date night’? Mike took Abigail shopping (for new pants for himself), but it sounds like they still had fun. We met up again after the movie and had dinner at A&W, and I don’t know whether it was sitting still for an hour and a half through the movie, the excitement of seeing a movie in a theater for the first time, the small pack of Nemo gummies I had sneaked for him, or the pink lemonade, which I watered down– a lot– at the restaurant, but Jack was WIRED. Or maybe it was the whole chocolate chip oatmeal muffin he ate before leaving. I guess we kind of let ourselves go today, as far as healthy eating.
By the way, this baby is not like Abigail was in the womb. Baby three lik’-a the food. Not always the nutritious variety. And I’m not having a bit of trouble gaining enough weight this time around.

Since it got up to 50 today, and we’ve been stuck inside for so long, we walked to the park, which was still very much covered in snow, but wet.

Jack spent the majority of the time on the bulldozer.

After a fall in the snow, he just wanted to sit in the swing for a while and then requested to go home and put on warm pajamas– which we all did.

The bootees I was hoping to make in time to give with the matching hat that I failed to photo (for my soon-to-arrive niece). These stay on a little better than than the strap ones I made a while ago, (though those are very cute).

We’re glad that Mike probably won’t be traveling as much, if any, with his new job, but we’re missing him terribly while he’s gone for this week for training in Mountain View, CA. At least he has some friends out there he can meet up with in his free time. And we’ve found plenty of things to fill our time here as well.
Mimi left this afternoon after a wonderful two-day visit. The kids enjoyed someone else to play with and read to them, and I appreciated having some help for a couple of days. And I got some assistance with some sewing questions/projects I was in the middle of. The kids were sad she was gone when they woke up from their naps this afternoon.

Things we’ve done the past few days: Chik-fila (It happened to be family night, so the kids got free ice cream- which they of course needed a lot of help with, and my mom and I were happy to do so); the kids and I (well, mostly Jack while I watched Abigail) watched Up on Sunday night and the kids had their first popcorn. A movie I’d highly recommend- very uplifting; I emptied out about 370 lbs of garbage and things we don’t need anymore from our house (this didn’t have anything to do with Mike being gone) this week ); my brother came over and we all ordered pizza- what’s not to love?; I had plenty of time to work on some sewing and knitting projects; the kids enjoyed playing at the library, as usual… and I have a few more fun things lined up for the week (even a sitter for myself tomorrow evening so I can meet a friend for dinner) until we can celebrate Mike’s return. We miss him SOOOOOOOOO much.

A friend asked me if I would make some little girls’ aprons (and a matching bib to go with one of them) to give as gifts. I’m still such a beginner that I enjoyed the opportunity to learn new things, and with each apron, I discovered new techniques to make them better.

I still need to make one for Abigail. She loves modeling them.

I changed the buttons on this one since the picture was taken- a better match for the apron- and a better placement to line up with the straps.

I’m so glad my mom was here while I was trying to finish this bib. I made my own pattern but followed instructions from a sewing book I got for Christmas, and I was unfamiliar with some of the terms. So my mom stepped in and helped me finish it- thanks Mom!

I saw an apron with an elastic neck band online somewhere while looking around online and liked the idea, especially for a small child whose small finigers can’t attach velcro as easily, so I did that for the second one.

Jack, following Abigial around the house: “Can I help you with anything, Abigail? Oh pleeeease, let me help you with something.”

Mike asked Jack if he was going to be a good boy at Mass tonight. His response, “Ummmm, I don’t think so, but I’ll try.”

Jack recounting Christmas (without taking a breath): “When Santa came, I did not say anks you for the tain because I was seepin’. Maybe next time, I’ll say anks you for the tain, and he’ll say ‘Ho ho ho’ because that’s what he always says.”

I don’t think Abigail can keep both of her socks on for more than three minutes. She’s always whipping them off to check to see if any more lint has accumulated between her toes– “Eeeeee-yuck!” as she says. I remember Mike’s old boss’ daughter doing this when we went to his house for a Super Bowl party one year. When we visited the Wards on Saturday, we were surprised to see Mali and Brinnly plop down after going down the little slide in their grandparents’ living room to snatch off their socks and commence doing the same thing- carefully pulling each toe apart from the others to inspect. Is this a habit of all little girls?