Arm Update #4

Wednesday Ben had his standing doctors appointment at Children's Mercy. As usual first was x-rays followed by seeing the doctor or NP. We saw the NP again who said its healing nicely and we can even see a good amount of calcification on the less severe break. She is hopeful that when we go back in 2 weeks they will take the cast off! But she did warn me that depending on how his arm feels they may have to put a smaller forearm cast on for a few more weeks. I sure hope that won't happen as we have been hopeful that he would be cast free for Halloween & his birthday. So fingers & toes crossed!

Quick Beach Vaca

Vince had a work meeting scheduled in Palm Beach, Florida so we decided to make it a quick little beach trip since we obviously won't be making it to Marco Island this spring. I was a little lot nervous about flying with my never ending morning sickness. And while the flights were not great I survived and didn't throw up on anybody! Vince got upgraded to first class and gave it to me so I had constant snacks and drinks which I think helped a lot! Ben was lucky and got to experience first class too-which he of course loved all the snacks! Once we landed Vince had to go to his meeting so Ben and I grabbed a quick bite and ran to the grocery store for water & snacks. Our hotel was great and was like a mini condo-we had a full kitchen, washer dryer and balcony. It was great! The next few days were spent on the beach or at the pool. We put a knee high stocking over Ben's arm when we played on the beach and it kept all the sand out of his cast!  The cast didn't slow the kid down on the beach or the pool! It was great to get away for a couple of days and have our last vacation as a family of 3!

Ben Is Going To Be A...

Yep-Ben is going to be a BIG brother!

And there's more...I'm pregnant with TWINS. Yep-2 babies in the belly. The newest Rupp's have an official due date of April 22, 2014 but they will for sure be here no later than April 8, 2014 as my doctor will not allow my pregnancy to go past 38 weeks. We have been told they will be here by the end of March.

Just for the record my guess is... March 27, 2014.

I am in my 2nd trimester and we have 2 healthy, happy, active little babies. We do have an idea about their genders (our ultrasound tech gave us her "guesses" last week) but we aren't sharing just yet! We are about 90% sure they are fraternal-they each have their own sacs and placentas. This is the safest type of twin pregnancy one can have so we are very thankful for that. So far the pregnancy has been pretty uneventful besides having horrible morning sickness which I really hope will be going away any day now. We have been really lucky and have seen them about 5 different times now (one of the perks of being preggo with multiples)! It is amazing to see how much they have changed since we first saw them at about 5 1/2 weeks with their hearts just starting to beat to seeing them last week with lips and noses and fingers and toes! I have been feeling them for a few weeks now which is crazy to me-its not daily yet but it always startles me when I feel one of them!

Here they are at 8 weeks gestation...

                                               Here they are at 12 weeks gestation...

Arm Update #3

Today was the day we walked into Children's Mercy with our fingers & toes crossed in the hopes of getting Ben a fiberglass/waterproof cast. And after his x-rays we got the great news that Ben's arm had done enough healing to change out the cast! Yay! They took us to another room for the procedure and Ben got to pick a new color for his cast. When the time came to saw off the cast it was not good. Poor Ben was hysterical-he was scared of the loud noise, the saw and he was really upset they were breaking his cast. After the were done they taped his old cast back together for him to keep as a souvenir! The first step of the new cast was to wrap his arm in what looked like bubble wrap except instead of air in the cushions it is more like styrofoam. Then they wrapped the colored wrap around it and molded it for a perfect fit. The only thing we need to do is get it wet everyday. Ben is so excited to be able to take baths again and so am I! We got back next Wednesday for another check-up. This is going to make our beach vacation much more fun! We do have to be creative about not getting sand in his cast. So we are going to try a few ideas the nurses gave us...pantyhose, dish glove, glad press n seal. Wish us luck!

Pumpkin Picking 2013

Pumpkin Picking 2013 can be described in just a few words...Cold & Windy. I think it was barely 50 degrees when we got to Johnson Farms and it was partly cloudy & windy. But we managed to stay pretty warm and found some great pumpkins! I guess one thing we hadn't given much thought to was how many of the activities Ben wouldn't be able to do because of his broken arm. No giant bounce blog, no playing in the sand filled school bus, no climbing through tunnels and no big slides. So we didn't spend as much time at the pumpkin patch as we normally do but I think everyone still had fun! We made sure to buy Ben some yummy cider donuts to help cheer him up!

Ben's Big Boy Room

So before the whole arm breaking incident we had had plans to convert Ben's nursery into his big boy room that weekend. He still wasn't climbing out of his crib yet but he just seemed to be running out of room in there. After coming home from the hospital and putting Ben to bed we realized quickly that I wasn't tall enough to gently lay him in his crib without hurting his arm. Between my height and just how low the mattress was it just wasn't good.

So the next day we asked Ben if he still wanted to get his big boy bed and he said yes! He has been sleeping in normal beds on GG & Grandma's house and he sleeps on a mat at school. So Vince got to work taking the crib apart, moving the rocker out, and putting the new bed together. Luckily GG & BaPa had stopped by to check on Ben so they were a great help!

We had bought his headboard months ago at Revival and had also purchased a mattress and box spring so we would be ready when the day came. I had found a cool nightstand even longer ago and I had refinished it and the headboard back in July. I had also been collecting things for months to make his vintage transportation theme just right! I found awesome blueprints of a tractor, car, boat and airplane from New Zealand and had them framed. I found some vintage books on etsy that look super cute on his nightstand. A very cool train at a antique store. And a giant B from PBK. Ben's only request when asked what he would like in his room was "a picture of my Miles"-well that's an easy one!

 I absolutely love how the room came out and so does Ben! Unfortunately Miles also loved Ben's new big boy bed and would constantly jump on it and Ben would get upset so now Miles has moved to sleeping in the office. Ben is so good-he never gets out of his bed in the morning and after nap until one of us goes to get him. I did catch him on the baby monitor the other night jumping out and grabbing a few books off his bookshelf but he climbed right back into bed! I know it is only a matter of time before I open my eyes and he is standing there staring at me!

Baby Ben Nursery:::

In Progress:::

Ben's Big Boy Room:::

Arm Update #2

I got a call from Dr Latz's office and was told that Dr Latz and 3 of his colleagues went over Ben's case and they have concluded that he does NOT need surgery to reset the break! Yay!

Wednesday was Ben's second doctors appointment. It started the same as last week with some x-rays. The x-ray tech's couldn't believe how well he does during them! Then we met with Dr Latz's nurse because the doc was in surgery. She said the x-ray shows good healing but not enough to change out his cast. Now that the swelling has gone down the cast is much looser on him and they really want to change it. I asked if there was a chance he could get the fiberglass/waterproof cast before we leave for our vacation (Vince has a meeting in Palm Beach so Ben & I are going to tag along for a mini vacation) on Wednesday and she said she couldn't really say either way. So we go back on Monday with all our fingers and toes crossed that Ben can get his new cast for vaca! Either way we will have to get a special cover so he doesn't get any sand in the cast.

Ben's Clap

Last Friday we went to the Sporting KC game! It is one of Ben's favorite places to go! Thanks to Aunt Leah for scoring us tickets from her work! My parents also came along which was so much fun!

As the game got started and everyone started cheering and clapping Ben turned to me and said "oh no mommy...my clap is broken". I had not even thought about that but yes obviously with one arm in a cast you can't clap. He was so upset so I told him he could use my hand to help him clap. He was so cute and used my hand to clap the whole night!