Babies:: 18 Weeks

Thursday was a big day...it was anatomy scan day. That's the day that you have a detailed ultrasound and they look at and measure everything on the baby. The night before Ben's we were a nervous wreck but so excited at the same time that we finally got to see him again. This go round we weren't nearly as nervous since we have seen them 6 or so times and we already knew the sexes. But it was still a huge relief to confirm that yes both babies are absolutely perfect in every single way! Each has wonderful looking hearts, brains and spinal cords. We were able to see that their kidneys are functioning as they should. Their bellies were full of fluid showing us they have mastered swallowing. Each is weighing in at 9oz. Baby Girl (A) was still head down-I'm hoping she stays that way! Baby Boy (B) was head down as well. He seems to be our mover-he's always in a different position. The tech was kind enough to snap us a few 3D pictures. Sister is harder to picture since she is head down  and faces my back but we got a cute on of brother. It is crazy but we can easily already tell them apart. They look so different and they look different than Ben's ultrasound pictures. So now I'm even more excited to see them in person but not for another 18 weeks please! I know for sure they have been busy growing as my belly seems HUGE now and I am feeling both babies daily. They really like to wake up and start playing as I'm trying to fall asleep at night!

                                                                 Baby Girl (A)

                                                                 Baby Boy (B)

                                                     The tops of the babies heads

                                                   Both babies head to head

                                                    Baby Boy sucking his thumb

                                                       The back view of Baby Girl

Ben's 3 Year Pictures

A few weekends back we met up with our family photographer Shannon out at the Overland Park Arboretum. Sadly most of the pretty leaves had already fallen which surprised me since at that point all the trees at our hose still had their leaves. None the less we still had a great shoot! Keeping with tradition I brought a left over number 3 from Ben's birthday party. And I made a can phone so Ben could talk to the babies-I didn't show it to him ahead of time so he thought it was super cool!

Happy Happy 3rd Birthday Ben!

I am still in disbelief that we have a 3 year old. In some ways I can't believe it has been 3 years since Ben joined our family and in other ways it feels like we have had him forever. Vince took off work for Ben's birthday so we got to spend the whole day together as a family! In keeping with tradition after Ben went to bed we decorated his room with balloons. Friday morning he came running into our room yelling..."Baboons Baboons! My Room Is Full Of Baboons"! We played and played in the balloons and finally had to tear him away so we could go to Lamars to get birthday donuts!

After breakfast it was time to open presents! I'm not sure what his favorite gift was but his Jake the Pirate sword seems to be getting the most action!

After opening presents and playing with all his new stuff we went to pick out Ben's traditional birthday cupcake!

Then it was off to Fritz's for lunch! GG wanted to join us which made Ben very happy! Vince had never been to the original location so we headed to KCK to the original Fritz's. Ben had a great time!

After lunch it was definitely time for a nap! After a nice snoozer it was off to the movies! We went to go see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs II! We hadn't actually seen the first movie but we did enjoy the second! Ben had a ball! He ate his weight in popcorn and really enjoyed the movie!

After the movie and after dinner it was birthday cupcake time! Of course after we sang and he blew out his candles he took one bite of his cupcake and decided that mine looked much yummier!

We are so excited to say goodbye to the terrible two's and see what the troublesome three's have in store for us this next year! The skies the limit Benny Boo!


***
I guess I should address the black eye Ben is sporting. Tuesday was a rough day at school for Ben. first a kid ran full speed into him and hit him right on his cheekbone then a few minutes later the same kid pushed him (accidentally) into a metal railing and he hit the same darn spot. I guess I shouldn't say I'm surprised since we have Ben's 3 year pics/family pics scheduled for Saturday.

49 Days Later...

And Ben's cast is finally OFF! We had been telling Ben that we would be taking off his cast for a few days now so he wouldn't freak out when it was time but he still was a little scared. We set him down and I started to peel and then once Ben realized it didn't hurt he wanted to help! It took a few minutes but soon it was off and Ben had his arm back! The skin didn't look as bad as it had last time they took it off so we were pleased about that! Vince gave him a nice long bath and made sure to put some super thick lotion on it. The skin is still healing and it doesn't seem to really bother Ben much. He is still favoring his left arm but that is to be expected as he gets use to being able to use his right hand fully again. We go back to Children's Mercy on the 20th for hopefully the last time to check his arm function to make sure he isn't having any lasting issues.

Sound The Alarm...Ben Is Turning 3!

November 2nd we had Ben's 3rd Birthday Party! I had very big plans as usual for his party and started planning way back in June. My brother helped me with my invite and once that was done I was on a roll. I was not however planning on being pregnant yet alone being pregnant with 2 babies come November. Nor was I planning on dealing with severe morning sickness. So I had to just come to terms with scaling back the party and I must say I don't think Ben was disappointed at all. I always try to have special meaning to his parties but this year was the first year Ben could help pick the theme and he wanted fire trucks so fire trucks it was! Thank goodness for my wonderful hubby and mom and all their help-I couldn't have done it all without them! I must give credit where credit is due and admit that while baked the cake Vince made the frosting and frosted the cake. I think it came out great! Ben had a absolute blast at his party! He had so much fun with all his friends-he didn't want anyone to leave! Thank you to everyone who helped Ben celebrate turning 3-it means so much to us!