And Baby Makes SIX!!!

Here I am, almost halfway through, and I still cannot believe I am typing these words...Around Thanksgiving this year, we will be a family of SIX. That's right...I'm pregnant with number 4. And if we are being honest here, unexpectedly pregnant with number 4!

Did I mention baby is a GIRL?!

Late March, we got the shock of our lives...(well, other than the first shock of our lives: Carson. ha!). Taking the test, a few days late, we didn't actually expect it to say positive..but it was so abundantly clear. Now, a 4th babe wasn't completely out of the question....most of the time, I felt "done" having babies, other times we flirted with the idea...which is why we haven't made any permanent decisions-if you know what I mean. We had unofficially decided we would wait until next summer to address the issue...so IF we had decided to, Grant would be four years old at the time baby was born....but God had other plans for our family, and we will be completing our family a bit sooner than expected! (And yes-permanent measures will be taken this time, ha!)

If you want the truth...I'm nervous. I realize that four kids is only one more than we have now, but FOUR sounds like you just said 20. When Grant was born, the boys were older, and it was honestly such an easy and joyful experience...but Grant will be a few months shy of 3 when this baby is born, and I'm worried about the age difference, I'm worried about jealousy, and of course making sure all of the kids get the attention they need and deserve. It has been a constant prayer of mine...that God would just shower our family with grace during this transition time. And if you want to lift our family up in prayer, we would love and appreciate that.

We are excited and scared and nauseous (oh my word, don't get me started on how sick I've been) and already exhausted. But we are also so grateful that God has entrusted us with another blessing. My heart is so full. 

We decided to wait a bit longer to tell everyone the big news....there were some minor complications that showed up on the ultrasound around 9 weeks (two separate subchorionic hemorrhages, with no symptoms) that put me at a higher risk for miscarriage-we found out a few weeks later that all was well, and the bleeds had been reabsorbed (which was a huge answer to prayer!!)  By then I was already 12 weeks, so we decided just to wait a few more weeks and do a pregnancy and gender announcement in one. Surprise! And lets be real here-we knew there would be the negative/annoying reactions from both friends, community, and even family.

I can say wholeheartedly that we already love this baby so much and are excited to meet her! She will be celebrated and loved on by our family! Have I mentioned how Carson and Harper are sooo over-the-moon excited?? And Grant....well.....he'll just have to learn to love her :) lol!

I still can't believe another Trochelman baby is on the way. Have mercy. Praise Jesus. Here we go again.

Easter and Life Lately

Life has been.....going. We'll just leave it at that.

We had a good Easter, although a bit cool and wet! The boys were on Spring Break the week leading up to Easter, which was so nice and relaxing! We had brunch with my MIL and SIL's family Saturday, (along with an Easter Egg Hunt, of course!), and Sunday after church, we had supper with my parents.

The boys both had Easter parties and egg hunts before school got out for break. I love watching them have so much fun! Heres a pic from Harp's class party...I'm not allowed to take pictures of Carson at school anymore ;)

One morning during the boys' Spring Break, I bent down to pick Grant up and shortly after, noticed my back was hurting. I've pulled muscles before, so I wasn't too concerned. However, by the time I got Grant in and out of his seat at lunch, my back was hurting even more....and then when I had to pick him up and put him in his crib for nap....I knew my back was really hurt. I was in a great deal of pain, even texting Kane my concerns about getting Grant OUT of his crib after nap. When the time came, I woke him first and had him stand, but it wasn't enough. Other than childbirth, it was the most excruciating pain I had ever experienced. The pain literally took my breath away. I'm so lucky Carson was home from school...he came in to Grant's room quickly to help, picking a sleepy Grant off of me, getting him distracted, and calling my mom for me. It took a while, but I was able to get up from the floor and make my way to the couch. The next morning was even worse..I spent the next two days icing my back and resting. I'm so thankful for Kane coming home early, my mom who helped me with the boys, but especially for my sweet oldest babe, for his maturity and responsibility in helping me not only around the house, but with Grant. 

Anyways, I'm all better now thankfully...Over the years, when I've been sick or recovering from childbirth, even, I can always manage to just push through any sickness or pain...but this time was different...it was definitely an eye opener for me, thats for sure!

Well, all for now! Leaving you with a picture (or two!) of this cutie!

A Day in the Life

**I've been wanting to blog about what a typical day looks like for us for a while now, just to look back on in a couple of years! I obviously didn't take pictures of everything, but here is a sneak peak into a typical Thursday (from my point-of-view!):

6:35am: Ugh. Wake up time for me! I do contacts and enough make-up to make me look human. 

6:45-50 am: Wake Carson & Harper up. This is SO hard. 10+ hours of sleep a night is just not enough for them. I actually dress BOTH of them everyday (except for the rare occasion that one of them wakes up easily). I know it sounds crazy that I dress them at this age, but it is SO much easier for me to do it...we made them dress themselves last year, and it would take forever, resulting in Carson being almost late or tardy all of the time. They are NOT morning people! I can literally dress them in about 1 minute-assuming they are awake enough to stand up themselves, haha!! Anyways, this works for us right now, so we're going with it.

6:50 am: Breakfast for the boys while I make their lunches for the day.

7:00am: Boys brush teeth & hair. Get book bags together, etc. and kiss Kane goodbye (*I don't wake Kane up to help in the mornings...theres no need for both of us to be up, and I want him to sleep in and get his rest, anyways. He does offer to take them (and does occasionally), but I can't sleep through the noise, haha!)

7:10am: Leave for school. Its usually a 7 minute drive (with traffic). I've really come to love the quiet ride back home. 

7:25 I get back home...Grant starts stirring around this time. He wakes up and watches the Today Show for a bit (one of his fav shows ever! ;)

8 am: Breakfast for Grant while I drink my coffee. I usually do a short devotion during this time, but I don't today. 

After breakfast, I clean up the kitchen, sweep, change/clean up Grant, start a load of laundry, make beds, and pick up random messes around the house.

I've been trying out these laundry pacs for a few weeks...I actually like them! 

Of course in the mist of all the aforementioned, I have to rescue Grant from under the table around 10x. How in the world he gets under there but cannot get out is beyond me. 

I also have to pull him off of this chair a dozen times before I kick him out of the kitchen and close the baby gate:

9am: Start dinner! I know, sounds crazy, but my new BFF (aka, The Crockpot) has been a huge lifesaver lately! Tuesdays and Thursday nights the boys have football, and crockpot dinners are the ONLY way I can get everything done in the evenings, without all of the stress!

Today's dinner is Chicken & blackbeans. 

Love the Crockin Girls website!

It took about 5 minutes to throw everything together: (the majority of that time was taking the lids off of the cans!). And just like that, I'm done making dinner!

In the few minutes that I was in the kitchen, Grant was busy standing on the time-out chair clicking the computer mouse about a million times.

After this, I get Grant dressed to go outside. He is BY FAR my most active child. The boys (at 18 months) would sit and play and read books, etc. Grant will not at all. He just constantly wants to be on the move. 

9:45am: Take Grant outside. He walks the front and back yard at full speed for 30 minutes, only stopping to occasionally peer up at trees. 

10:15-11:15am: Because Grant is SO active, I'm having trouble getting him to sit still so I can actually teach him things. He does seem to love music, so lately I've been whipping out Barney dvd's so he can (hopefully) learn a few things through music...it actually seems to be working! I skip through the dvd and only play the songs he seems interested in.

On mornings where we don't have to go anywhere, I usually do 15 or so minutes of play with Grant, followed by a quick 10 minute (or less) chore. I continue the play-with-Grant/quick-chore pattern most of the morning.

Of course while I was putting another load of laundry in the wash, he hopped back up in this chair. Stinker.

His favorite game EVER is to throw balls around the house, chase after them, and then throw them again. 

His other favorite game is to throw toys over the couch :-)

11:30-12ish: Lunch. With the boys back in school and practice at night, I've had to adjust Grant's schedule quite a bit so that he can have a good nap. So early lunch it is! While I was making lunch, Grant got into Kane's business cards.

12:15ish-1:50pm: Grant's nap. 

1:50: Wake a very sleepy Grant and leave to go pick the boys up from school. 

2:25: The boys are out! 

Normally we go straight home, but today we have to run to my parent's house to check on their house, etc. while they are out of town. I let the boys watch Disney for a little bit, fix them a snack, give their dog a bath, and load her up to come back to our house for the rest of the week (we have a busy weekend ahead and won't be able to get back their house to feed her, so with us she comes!)

Isn't she....cute? haha!

We got back to our house around 4:15pm. I fold and put up laundry, go through the boys bookbags and lunchboxes, and wash dishes (our dishwasher has been kind of sketch lately). I also take this time to get practice clothes set out, underclothes ready for after their shower later on, as well as set out the boys' school clothes for the next day. I let the boys do whatever they want during this time.

5pm: The boys do their homework, while I add last ingredients to the crock pot and get dinner sides ready. I'm back and forth with the boys, helping and checking their work.

5:30: Dinner! I'm still getting use to eating dinner earlier in the evening on practice days (especially without Kane), but it's just for another month or so.

After dinner, the boys get their practice clothes on, I get Grant cleaned up, dinner cleaned up, and as soon as Kane gets home at 6:15pm, we are ready to head to football practice. 

6:30-7:30: Football practice.

7:45 pm: We get home and all three boys get in the shower. Kane is on shower duty while I get his dinner reheated (yeah I know...poor guy!). I get Grant in his jammies while the boys get dressed & brush their teeth. Carson reads his nightly verses from his bible outloud. The boys take turn praying, and then it's lights out! They are knocked OUT by approximately 8:02pm every night!

8pm-11pm: No pictures, but this this is our time! :) As soon as the boys go down, we shower and I go ahead and get lunchbox stuff ready for the next day, as well as breakfast items (bowls, napkins, etc) and anything else ready that will make the mornings go smoother. From 9pm on, we usually relax together. Some nights I'll sit down to do a quick blog, and Kane loves to listen to sermons on his phone. Around 10:30 we head to bed and start our nightly reading. Right now, Kane's going through his new study bible, and I usually just focus on short passages from my bible.

And that is what a typical Thursday looks like for us right now! Hope I didn't bore you all to death! :)

**Whew! That was the longest blog post in FOREVER! It took most of naptime Friday to type it! 

thredUP reviews & recommendations

**I never do these kind of blog posts-I usually just stick to journaling my kids' lives-but I really couldn't find any non-sponsored reviews/recommendations about thredUP online, so I thought I would do one! :) **

**i am in no way affiliated with this company...just a customer!**

if you don't know already....

thredUP is an online consignment shop. they sell second-hand AND new clothes for women (regular, maternity, petite, and plus sizes), as well as children's clothing (12months-size 20). They have not broken into the men's scene yet. 

I've ordered several items from them over the past several weeks and have been overall very pleased! They have a HUGE selection (which can be overwhelming), but have awesome filter options that can help narrow the selection down.

You can choose from (among other things) sizes, brand, category of clothing, price, and new with tags. I cannot stress enough  for you to use the filters! I like to stick with brands that I know just because I know how different brands fit me. (for example: I know how Target brands, Old Navy (which includes Banana Republic and Gap), etc. fit me, so I usually just filter those brands when browsing to keep it safe, since this is the web and there are no dressing rooms :)

The prices are great and the shipping is reasonable (2.99 for first item, .99 for every item after that).

And now...the downside...:)

-The number one complaint I see about them (but have NOT experienced) is trying to sell TO them...apparently, you don't get a lot of $$ for your items, and the processing time is long. I have not and will not sell to them, so can't speak personally here...just something I see constantly on their facebook.

-I (like many others), like immediate gratification....meaning, when I order something, I like to get it quickly. The turn around time for this company kind of stinks...it averages 8-10 days before I get my order...(NOTE: I live on the East Coast and TU is based out of Cali.) Obviously, where you live in the country makes a huge difference delivery-wise, but even so, it usually takes 3-4 days for them to even ship my items.

-Their customer service is incredibly nice...IF you can get ahold of them...which is VERY hard to do.

****

If you can get past those things, it really is a great online consignment company to shop at!

Another great tip to share: there are always coupons available for FIRST time customers. The first time I ordered, I used a coupon for free shipping plus 35% off [THRED35].....I have no idea if that coupon is still available, but it's worth a try. If not there are ALWAYS coupons available online.

Also...I LOVE their refer-a-friend credit...if you share your given link, new customers receive $10 off their first order.

My personal share link is:

http://www.thredup.com/r/KWA0DX  

Any new customers who use that link will immediately receive $10 off their order. I'm not sure if it can be combined with another coupon? Worth a shot! :)

Also, if you download their mobile app, you can receive 20% your order too. (note: this coupon is the currently available coupon that can be used for returning customers!)

Here are a few things I have ordered:

The windbreaker, cardigan, and shorts (all for me) were all brand new. The shorts were $3 & cardigan was $5 and the windbreaker was $8. The two shirts on the far right I bought for my sons, and were each $2.99.

Anyways, I know this was kind of long, but just wanted to pass along a customer review and a few recommendations in case someone in the cyber-world comes across this post!

Happy shopping! 

our weekend

On Saturday morning, Kane and I (sans kids) went to Richmond to see his brother get married! It was my first time leaving Grant, so I was a bit nervous, but he and the boys were in great hands with grandma. We had such a great time! The drive wasn't too bad-only 4 hours from where we live. When we arrived we drove around the city a bit, to get an idea where our hotel and the wedding venue was, then went over to Panera for some lunch. 

After lunch, we checked into our hotel. We hung out there for a while then got ready and headed to the wedding! 

We had SO much fun, especially seeing family that we haven't seen in such a long time. 

We went back to the hotel afterwards and visited with family the rest of the night. We left Sunday afternoon and got home to the babies late afternoon. We had such a great time together, we hope we can get away again soon! :)

Leaving you with this hilarious video of the DJ dancing at the reception-my SIL Traycee and I were dying! 

anniversary & our week

saturday marked 5 years of being married! 

we are so blessed! Saturday night we were able to sneak away for dinner and a walk around town. we kept it pretty low key-which is perfect for us!

*******************

this past week has been MISERABLY hot, but there were a few mornings early last week that were near perfect, so we took advantage of it!

grant LOVES his feet right now. & besides, this is the only time in ones life that it is okay to suck on your toes, right?! 

i wanted to do a test run the other day to see how he would like purees. i was going to wait a bit longer before introducing food, but he LOVED the apples so i think we might go ahead and start him slow.

baby bottoms are the best. & in case you are wondering that is a size 18 mon onesie he is wearing. baby boy is not missing any meals.

all for now!

Balding.

oh.my.goodness.

we have a crisis on our hands heads here.

and by we, i mean me.

i am going bald.

i have always had lots of hair. like, enough to make a few wigs and then some. i have also always shed like crazy, too (probably kane's number 1 top pet-peeve of his. your welcome, hon).

post-pregnancy hormones have been working overtime, and i have a BALD SPOT in the front! most women really start losing hair 3-4 months post-baby, and i really have noticed it more so in the last month. i can pull chunks out easy. i have to gather balls of hair out of my brush daily. Kane and the boys complain endlessly about the hairy shower...there is no possible way to get every strand out. 

so imagine my complete shock when i pull my hair back yesterday and see this:

i know you're like, nobigdeal. i assure you, it looks worse in person.

and kane has been less then supportive. he straight up laughed at me. patted my shoulder. and then laughed some more. he ended with, "wow! i hope it grows back!" 

 do you see that hairline?! it is somewhat hideable for now. for now.

at least i'm in good company:

30 Day Shred

a few days ago i started the 30 Day Shred. not familiar with it? it's Jillian Michael's (from The Biggest Loser)  intense work-out video.

i am only 4 weeks postpartum, but i need to lose this baby weight. i always gain a lot of weight when i'm pregnant (i gained 40ish with Grant). right off the bat i dropped 20 pounds in the first 10 days...but then thats it...the weight loss has stalled and i am desperate. desperate because my pre-pregnancy clothes don't fit at.all. and desperate because my maternity clothes are way too big. [and besides, who wants to wear maternity clothes after the baby comes?!] desperate because i don't want to spend the $$ on clothes that do fit me when i (hopefully) won't be in them too long. and mainly, i'm desperate because i don't feel good about how i look right now.

my weight has fluctuated greatly over the past several years. from gaining 60 pounds when pregnant with carson (oh yes i did!) to being severely underweight (when the boys were toddlers) to being at a good, healthy weight right before i got pregnant with grant...i want to be back where i was 10 months ago...but that is going to take work.

the really hard part?

i have never dieted before. ever. and i have never exercised before with the goal of losing weight. 

i am a beginner. a novice. 

i have never looked at a food label before. and calories? what exactly are those?  

lucky for me, i found an amazing app on my phone (its the top rated weight-loss app paid or free) that can also be accessed via web: myfitness pal

it keeps track of all your daily dietary intake and counts calories for you! all you have to do is search their database for what you ate and enter it in. and their food database is pretty impressive. actually, the whole app is pretty amazing...honestly, i think the website is a bit harder to use, but the app is very user-friendly.

anyways, so i have the food part taken care of...i'm not sticking to any diet plan, just becoming more conscious of what i'm eating/drinking on a daily basis.

so i also did my homework and decided that the 30 Day Shred was the way to go for me as far as exercise goes.

armed with a new sports bra and a couple of 3 lb weights, i officially started March 24.

it boasts really quick results that only requires you to work out for 20 minutes a day. as a busy mom/wife/home maintainer i can definitely commit to 20 minutes a day. anymore than that? probably would never happen. [by the way, i do the workout at night when the boys are in bed and kane can take care of grant should he be awake/wake up during the 20 mins.]

i'm not going to lie...it is NOT an easy 20 minutes. and its not meant to be. Jillian Michaels will kick your butt. which is why there are quick results. well, thats what i've read at least :)

i'm only on day 3, but i really enjoy it.

i can honestly say that i'm not as much concerned about the weight-loss as i am about losing inches. my target problem area are my thighs/hips (isn't that everyone's target area?!). my stomach isn't too bad post-baby, just soft from only being 4 weeks pp.

so thats my plan. i don't have the guts to post my "before" stats on here because wayyy too many people that i know in real life read my blog...but i will (hopefully) do a weekly check in where i (hopefully) am able to post inches that i've lost.

if anyone is interested, all you need is the 30 Day Shred DVD (got mine at Best Buy for $9.99), two hand weights ($6, Walmart), and a mat if you have hardwood floors (we have a rug in the living room).

the myfitness pal app is free.

wish me luck!

settling in

at 10 days old, we are settling in with our sweet baby boy. 

we seriously could not have asked for a better baby. he is SO good. and calm. he sleeps great. eats great. loves his paci. and get this...he actually likes his carseat! the only thing that ticks him off is getting his diaper changed. 

right now he is eating right at every 2 hours during the day (definitely having a growth spurt right now, before he was eating more like every 2.5-3 hours) and sleeps two 4 hour stretches at night! i"ll feed him around 11:30-12 at night, not again until 3:30-4 A.M, and then at 7:30-8 A.M.  after his 8 A.M. feeding, he starts eating every 2 hours again.

why is he such a great sleeper at night? i think it boils down to two things: 

this:

and this:

the fisher price rock and play sleeper is pretty awesome. when searching for something for him to sleep in (bedside) until we switch him to his crib, i knew i wanted something that was slightly elevated. the boys both hated their bassinets, and i didn't want to waste money on one for Grant. so when i saw the FP sleeper, i had to have it. and it is a lifesaver. he LOVES it. there were quite a few reviews about it concerning babies developing a flat head from it, but i make sure to turn his head opposite ways every time i lay him in it and i'm not concerned.

oh, and the second reason he sleeps so well at night? i think it has to do with his big brothers. when at any given point of the day, you are getting smothered with kisses, have power ranger ninja-kicks going on around you, remote control cars running into the legs of your sleeper, and balls whizzing by your head, you really appreciate nighttime sleep (aka when big brothers are sleeping). he also has adapted to said chaos very well.

the boys absolutely adore him. they kiss and love on him constantly. (so far) there hasn't been any jealously issues and they love to be "big kids" and help me. they mainly just call him "baby" but harp does call him "grant joseph" too. 

and me...i'm feeling pretty good. i think i've bounced back (physically) a lot quicker then i did with carson and harper. i really do feel good. every once in a while my hormones get the best of me, but thats normal and will go away in a few weeks :)

this week will be our first "real" week in the swing of things. kane has been taking carson to school in the mornings and my mom has been picking him up, but i'm taking over again this week. kane will take carson to school on appointment days for grant and if the weather is bad, but otherwise, i'll be back at it again. 

speaking of appointments, grant has two this week...a normal weight check at his peds and an appointment with the urologist on wednesday...a few things are going on with him, but i'll blog about it later when we know more.

until next time!

still trucking along

i'm 39+ weeks pregnant. this friday (the 24th) is my due date.

patience is not a strong point of mine and i am really ready to meet this little guy and figure out our new "normal." i like consistency.

i had a bit of a revelation the other day...this pregnancy has been SO different then the boys' pregnancies, why would labor and delivery be the same?

the boys' pregnancies were great. little/no nausea. no pains or uncomfortable aches. no false labor or braxton hicks with them. pregnancy really was smooth sailing. 

and this one? wow. :) really bad morning sickness that lasted throughout my 2nd trimester. oh, and did i mention that it came back about a week ago? yup. from about 30 weeks on, i have had terrible back and pelvis pain. some days are worse than others, and some days are almost unbearable. it hurts to walk. to roll over in bed. to step into our SUV. it sucks. i try not to complain about it too much because i hate complaining, but gracious it hurts. kane has been giving me back rubs at night that REALLY makes my back feel better, but there is really not much you can do about the pelvic pain (which is the worst). and i'm not even going to start with the uncomfortable braxton hicks AND inconsistent "real" contractions that have been plaguing me for weeks. 

okay, i'm done complaining.

anyways, last thursday i went in for my weekly appointment and the OB stripped my membranes. with the boys, i went into labor almost immediately and had them within about a day of the sweep. this time? well i'm sitting here typing up this post so obviously it didn't work :)

i have another appointment this thursday where i will get my membranes stripped again and i will hopefully get an induction date set up. so if he doesn't want to come on his own, they'll probably induce me sometime next week. the only thing i absolutely do not want is a leap-year baby. seriously, how bad would that stink to only "technically" have your birthday once every four years? i'll fight em if i have to! :)   

carson is out of school today so i'm going to get them dressed and out for a bike ride! you'll probably see me back here next monday...overdue but (hopefully) with an end in sight!

where did october go???

seriously. october flew by for us...

i was taking a look at what our November looks like and it looks to be shaping up just as busy. 

i had a regular check up today (22 and some weeks) and was told that after my next appointment in 4 weeks, I'll start coming every 2 weeks. How crazy is that??? this pregnancy has flown by. the baby is doing great, from about week 18 on his kicks have been coming steadily.  i cannot believe how strong his kicks are so soon! kane has been able to feel him for weeks now....i told him the other day that we would be in for some trouble if this little guy is as active outside of the womb as he is in! 

school work at night consumes my time, but i hope to have some more belly shots up soon! 

leaving with a few pictures...

two things...

...that are completely unrelated.

A. catching a nasty cold while pregnant is the absolute pits. 

B. kane and i are parents to superheroes. 

and now i will go lay miserably on the couch and dream of all of the extra strength cold meds that i cannot take.

just a thought...

i can't believe i'm 17 weeks pregnant and am STILL nauseous. it started around 8 weeks, lessened around 12, and came back with a vengeance two or three weeks ago. i know every pregnancy is different, but i didn't experience this at.all. with my previous pregnancies, so i'm kinda new to this aspect of pregnancy. at this point, harp actually knows/uses the word "dry heave." 

and one more thing...february must be a popular month to have kids. i know 5 other people who are due within two weeks of me. crazy.

preg and such

okay, FIRST of all, before you see this picture of me I want you to know two things:

a. i really am not as big in real life as i look in this picture. the belly is about right in the picture, but i swear i have not gained that much weight in my legs, face etc. the angle mixed in with some loose pants make me look way bigger than i actually am.

b. however, i did just scarf down a footlong from subway. and on that note, i have mustard on my shirt.

a few things:

i'm 16 weeks and some change in this picture. this pregnancy is going by WAY too fast. i'm feeling some fluttering, and fully expect to feel the jabs soon enough. we will hopefully find out the gender next week when we have a 3d/4d. call me crazy, but we have a (definite?) boys name picked out and i'm going to be super sad if we can't use it. i think it flows so well with the boys names. we probably will not be telling anyone the name of this one until he/she is born because well....everyone seems to think they have a say in the name and it worked out so much better when we kept harp's name a secret. 

i've said it 100 times before, but i have no time to blog with internet classes, etc. but carson is loving school, harp is loving special time with me, and i am slowly adjusting to our new schedule.

harp and i went to chapel hill last wednesday morning for his post-op. they cleaned up the stitches, and it looks great. right now the plan is to wait one year and come back for more testing. they want to see if it is going to stay the same size or grow. from there we will make a decision as to what we will do....i was thinking about it all on the way home and it hit me...one year from now (in addition to a 5 and 4 year old) i will have a 7 month old. that is SO wild to me. 

anyways, hope everyone has a great week ahead!

edited to add:

happy 1st birthday to our sweet niece, Annlyn!