Big Stuff at the Clevengers!

First item on the list....baby #3! Estimated due date, February 10th, 2014. I was 19 weeks on Monday. We did have an elective ultrasound, of course, and found out we're having another girl! We go in for our regularly scheduled ultrasound next week. Everything is looking great so far. I felt really yucky through the first trimester, but I started feeling better as soon as I hit 13 weeks.

The way I told Dj was really corny.  I bought a jar of Prego pasta sauce at the store and made spaghetti for dinner.  I sat out the Prego sauce and another different jar.  He was helping with dinner and I asked which sauce he wanted.  He said the other sauce.  I said, "so you want the other sauce, not the Prego?" Lol.  Nerd.  We told the kids after we had our ultrasound and were able to tell everyone else.  We didn't want them spilling the beans :)  Vivian was pretty oblivious, but Cohen is able to grasp the concept pretty well.  He is excited to have another baby sister.

Ab and Rudy hosted a gender reveal party for us.  It was awesome.  I would recommend this to anyone finding out the gender of their baby.  It was sooo fun!

 

In other news, we now have a 4 year old, 2 wheel riding, Pre-Ker!

 

 

The day of his birthday we celebrated by having a picnic and taking him "shishin" at Alum Creek.  We had a lot of fun.  Fishing turned into more of swimming for Cohen, but hey, it was his birthday, so whatever makes him happy!  Can't believe he is 4!

 

 

2 weeks after turning 4, this kid started riding a bike WITHOUT training wheels!  Dj thought he could do it, I had my doubts, but we decided to give it a try.  Dj took them off and off he went!  The very first time!  This.Kid.is.Amazing.

The first day of PreK was Sept. 3rd.  Cohen is in the same class as Reilly and Nate.  His teachers this year are Mrs. Bratten and Mrs. Roberson.  He is doing great so far.  He really seems to enjoy school and is picking up on things fast.  Our big boy :)

 

 

I Would Feel Better if we Had a Boat in Our Garage

It has been raining, no wait, down pouring everyday for about 2 weeks. Yes, we did just have grass planted and have to spend hours a day watering when there is no rain. Buuuut, I am also a stay at home mom to an extremely active almost 4 year old and following his lead 1.5 year old. Life inside everyday is becoming sort of rough. Today it was 95 out. Holy hotness. You couldn't even breathe out there. Our swing set was delivered this week. I have been so. Excited to get it so the kids would have something to do outside. Now I just think about going out with them into my swamp backyard and I think we should hide it in our garage until fall. Okay, enough whining. There is supposed to be a break in the weather this weekend. The neighbors invited us to a splash pad in Powell tomorrow and its only supposed to be 79 with no rain. Yeh! Should be fun.

Everyone came to our house for the 4th. Uncle Aaron set off a boatload of awesome fireworks. It was sprinkling, but still fun. Kids had a blast. DJ also just got his new mower. He and the kids are a little obsessed.

I just wrote like 5 more paragraphs and it didn't save...ugh. I will rewrite tomorrow.

Already July?

Vivi's 18 mth. Checkup went great. She is 65% for weight and 90% for height. Our tall girl! She had one shot but just cried for a minute. Cohen was very concerned about her having to get a shot. He kept saying, "I not want her to get a shot Mommy." There is my sweet boy :)

We haven't been up to much.  It has been really rainy so we have been inside a lot. Good for the grass and flowers, not so good for two kiddos with endless energy. Speaking of, we did order a swing set last week. We're hoping it comes in this week. Sooo excited for the kids to see it. We're also getting ready for the 4th. Everyone is coming to our house. It should be fun! Pics to come!

The Yearly Post?

Guess what?! We sold our house in 17 days and we lived in an apartment in Westerville for 8 months while we had a house built in Sunbury! Yeh! A lot happens over a year. We've been in the house for 5 months now and we love it. Love all the space inside, outside, the neighborhood, the country living.

Everyone is doing well. Vivi has her 18 month checkup next week.  The girl is awesome. She has officially learned to tell us no and uses it every chance she gets. She is working on her bottom molars right now, so has been pretty clingy and a little more whiney than usual. She has also learned how to fight with her brother. She can usually hold her own though. Love her little southern "bye", how lovey she is and her cute little curls. I never thought I would have a blonde, curly haired baby.

Cohen. Cohen. There will never be a dull moment with that boy. He is so sweet and so loving, but also has a real knack for finding trouble. He finished his first year do preschool at Worthington Presbyterian and he did great. With an August birthday he was one of the youngest in the class, but he had no problem keeping up. He'll be going to Sunbury Sonshine this fall and I hope this year is just as much of a success. I love  his curiosity, compassion, affection, energy and goofiness. Love that boy.

Signing off tonight. Will try to do another update this week or next.

March? Really?

Apparently it takes two months to get settled in enough to think about blogging again after having a baby.  I can't believe Vivi is two months already!!!  At this point with Cohen I would have been back to work for almost two weeks.. unreal.  I can't imagine being back at work already.  Being at home is not easy, especially with a two year old in the middle of winter.  That being said, I wouldn't have it any other way.  I LOVE being at home with my babies.  I'm trying to cherish every second and I feel so lucky having seen the alternative.  I feel such a sense of relief knowing that I get to be here with my kids everyday. 

Vivi has been a good baby.  She has fussy periods in the evening, but she is consolable and it is pretty brief.  She is starting to become really smiley and more interactive.  She wakes up once a night sometimes, but she also sleeps through the night a lot too.  She's still in the bassinet, but spends a lot of nights curled up in my arm next to me.  I don't feel as stressed about getting her into a routine and being regimented, knowing I'm not going to have to send her to a sitter.  I still want to try to establish a routine just so that Dj and I can have some freedom, but I'm not going to fret about it. 

Love, love, love my baby.  She is so stinkin cute.  I wish I could just bottle up her chubby cheeks, thighs, cute little baby noises and sweet smiles to keep with me forever.

Cohen.  Cohen has been pretty awesome.  He loves his baby sister.  He gives her kisses, plays little piggies with her toes and loves on her any chance he gets.  I really cannot complain at all about his response to being a big brother.  It has been difficult to try to keep him entertained and find new things to keep him busy every day, but overall, he's doing great.  He's been giving DJ and I fits with sleeping though.  We got him a new big boy bed in February.  He sleeps in it without any problems during nap, but bedtime every night is a struggle.  He gets out of bed a million times and a lot of nights ends up in his crib.  He's also been waking up in the middle of the night and crawling into bed with us.  His 2 year old molars are just breaking through, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that once they are through he starts sleeping regularly.  In the meantime, we're trying our hardest to get him out every time we get a chance and burn off some of his energy.  He's such a funny little boy.  He cracks everyone up.  A little ball of energy and I don't know where he comes up with some of the things he does.  The latest was sticking a french fry up his nose.  That was an experience... He also stuck a piece of spinach in Vivi's mouth the other day.  He told Dj, "Baby wants salad."

The latest with Dj and I is that we are preparing to list our house.  We are in desparate need of more space.  We've been driving through different areas on the weekends trying to find a place that meets our needs.  Over the past weekend I think we found one that may be a keeper.  It is a subdivision in Sunbury.  All of the lots are about 1-1.5 acres.  There aren't any houses available now, so we would probably need to have one built.  I've called the builder a couple of times trying to get more information.  We're going to shoot for listing our house by April 1st and are going to try to sell it ourselves for a couple months.  Hopefully it is a success and we can save some $$$ on realtor fees!  We shall see.  I'm pretty excited about that neighborhood, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!

Nap time is nearing an end. (Ahh.. nap time :) ) I want to give some sort of an update, but I better try to get some chores done! 

October

Sunday we had our 3D/4D ultrasound for Miss Vivi.  It was a lot of fun to be able to see how her features compared to Cohen's at that stage in the pregnancy.  You can definitely tell they're related!  Cohen is on the left and Viv is on the right.   Her cheeks look a little more pudgy.. if that's possible, but they have very similar noses and lips.  Both stinkin cute...

She was weighing in at 5lb. 4oz. the day of the ultrasound.  If she gains an oz. a day like they estimate, she'll weigh somewhere between 8.5-9lbs.  Let's just hope that she gains like they're estimating and we'll both be in good shape! :)

All other measurements looked great.  We took Cohen with us because we thought it would be good for him to be included.  I'm not sure how aware he was of what was going on.  He seemed most interested in the gel they were using on my belly.  He kept pointing at it and going "Ewww.. yuck!" :)  Stinker!

The next day was Halloween and Worthington's trick or treat.  I made a monster costume for Cohen.  It seemed very appropriate...

Bustin a Move

Our pumpkins.  Daddy's on top, then mine, then Cohen's (Elmo)

Cohen did really well trick or treating.  We only took him out for about an hour, but I think he would have had no problem going the whole time.  He said trick or treat at the houses (in Cohen language), took one piece of candy and told everyone thank you.  I wasn't sure how this would all go, but he was a champ!  Maw Maw and PaPa came over after we were done and gave him his 'special' treat bag.  He was pretty excited to see them.  We hung out outside for a bit and handed out candy, but it was really cold so we didn't last long.  Cohen kept running in and out of the front bushes.  Every time he ran out he would laugh histerically at himself.  We all laughed pretty hard too.  It was hard not to.  The child is pretty entertaining :)

Weird to think that next year we'll be doing all of this with another one.  I'll have to come up with a cute, girly costume to go along with something for Mr. Monster.  Good thing I'll be at home!  Hopefully I'll have some more time to put together two costumes!

I'm 32 weeks today and my Dr.'s office has told me that they won't induce any sooner than 39 wks., so we're still planning on the 21st.. unless little miss decides to come on her own.. doubtful.  So 7 weeks and counting!  I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going.  Having our ultrasound and getting to see her sweet little face has made me that much more excited to meet her.  I keep bringing her up to Cohen.  He'll kiss my belly and say hi baby, but I don't think he really understands.  How could he really?  I'm hopeful and keeping my fingers crossed that he'll do well with this major change.  He really takes an interest in babies when he is around them.  Hopefully he'll have that same, POSITIVE interest in his own baby sister :)

The Last Few Months

I haven't written in a llllong time!  Things have been pretty crazy since July.  We haven't had a lot of down time, but I think things are finally starting to slow down.  Thank goodness, I'm pooped!

Last time I wrote we were entering "binky detox".  I thought we were in the clear and I was  right!  We've been managing quite well without the bink.  Diane did tell me a funny story though.  They could hear something upstairs (where the kids sleep) so went up to check on them.  Cohen was out of his bed and in another room sitting on a cot talking to another little boy.  They put him back in bed and didn't think much more of it.  We found out a few days later what he was really doing in the other room.  He had hidden a binky in there.  Diane and Shirley found him in bed with a bink and realized that he had gone into the other room to get it.. where he had stashed it!!!  What a turkey!

 Since then, Cohen has also turned 2!!  He had a fun time at Kelley's Island celebrating.  This year Maw Maw and Papa went with us and so did Aaron and Tiff and the girls.  We took the day off on Friday again and stayed Friday and Saturday night.  We rode around in golf carts, went to the beach, rode in Papa's boat and sat around the camp fire!  Cohen did a great job with his cake too.  What a difference a year makes.. he helped us sing, blew his candles out and then clapped his hands after we sang!!  It was so cute :) 

I would say we did hit some kind of behavior marker around his birthday too.  Terrible two's began for us sometime around 18 months, but we hit a whole new level at 2.  I like to call him George because he is just so darn curious, but he gets this look on his face when he is about to do something that he knows he shouldn't that just makes you know that he is about as ornery as they come.  In the last couple weeks we have not only decided to say no to everything, but that the word "no" should also be backed up with some attitude.  He gets this scrunched up, annoyed look on his face and raises his voice to say "NO!"  DJ and I are constantly on our toes and Diane and Shirley have a new story for us every day.  I am starting to become very nervous for what is to come in December .. :) 

Speaking of December.. I had another appointment on Friday and Vivi has had the big jump I was anticipating.  I was 27 1/2 weeks at my appointment, but measured 30.  Dr. Wurst says it is normal for babies to have a growth spurt around this time, but that if I had any more of a jump at my next appt. that they would be scheduling another ultrasound.  Who knows, maybe she'll be completely different than Cohen and decide to come early.  If not, we're still planning on December 21st!  Her bedroom is starting to come together too.  I've been picking away at it here and there.  I'll post pictures when it is done.

I'm down to about 6 weeks left at work and am starting to feel extremely anxious to be done.. Cohen never wants to get out of his bed in the morning, so it always takes about 15 minutes to coax him out.  I rub his back and say, come on, it's time to get up and he says No, Mommy!  Little guy sure does like his sleep :)  It will be so nice to wake up in the morning and both have our time, instead of trying to rush around and get out the door.  I'm also looking forward to having some one-on-one time with my little monster before Sister comes along!

Just because DJ and I like to have major life changes in 3's... DJ has also taken a different job.  A recruiter for Waste Management contacted him back in August and wanted to set up an interview.  We ingored them the first couple times they contacted DJ because we figured it was bad timing with my leaving my job.  Finally DJ decided to pick up the phone and just hear what they had to say.  They told DJ that WM was very interested in talking with him and that he should send in his resume.  We forgot about it for a little while and pretty soon WM started contacting DJ directly.  Then we got a little curious about what the offer might look like.  He went ahead and set up an interview and came out of it with a much different perspective.  Suddenly, this seemed like it might not be such a bad idea.  After doing a second interview and getting all of the details of the job, DJ and I discussed and decided it was an offer he couldn't refuse.  The new job had a lot more flexibility, allowed him to work from home, had a lot more growth-potential and relocation options and just seemed like an overall better deal for our family.  It would make my staying home a much easier adjustment!  DJ started in mid-September and has been nothing but happy with his decision so far.  The company seems to really look out for their people.  We're hoping that everything will continue to go as well as it has so far.

I will try my hardest to update again soon!