Dash

Thought I would share some of the naughty and fun things Dash, our elf, has been doing this year.  The boys love waking up in the morning to find where he's hiding at or see what fun or naughty thing he's up to.  Luckily there isn't many days left till Christmas because I think Dash is running out of ideas, and thank goodness he has pinterest to look for new ideas :) 

Been Awhile...

I feel like I haven't wrote forever about the boys, just my pregnancy, so here's what we've been up to in the past few months...

Cruz started Preschool in September and has loved it so much this year.  He's really came out of his shell and isn't nearly as shy this year.  He played soccer this fall and he now just started playing basketball for the first time. 

I signed Levin up for Gym Ventures for the first time this fall.  So every Wednesday morning while Cruz is at Preschool him and I go to the Y for his class.  It's pretty laid back and they get to do some tumbling stuff, climb things, play with balls and jump on the trampoline.  Levin loves it and it's nice to having something just him and I get to do together.  Here's a picture of him on his first day!

We've had a lot of changes that all had to be done to get ready for baby Hudson to arrive.  It started by Levin giving up his paci, which after cutting the tip off of it he gave that up pretty easily.  Then we moved Levin into a big boy bed so Hudson would be able to use the crib.  Levin did really well at first and then struggled for a couple weeks when he realized mom could just come lay in his bed with him at night if he cried.  It was a tough few nights for this mom but after some "crying it out" he finally realized he has to go to sleep on his own and does really well. 

The next change was as of this weekend Levin has officially moved into Cruz's room with him and they now share a room.  We have another bedroom in the basement but I'm not ready to move Cruz down there nor do I think he's ready himself to move down there.  They've been together two nights and so far it seems to be going good.  The first night started by Levin crying which made Cruz cry so once I got them both settled down they fell asleep pretty easily.  Then last night there was definitely no crying but lots of talking, laughing, jumping and singing.  After about an hour I finally went in and told them it was time to be quiet and lay down.  We never heard another peep and they were both out.  We have the video monitor in there until Hudson gets here so it's kinda run to watch them on there.  They have became such buds lately and I'm hoping them sharing a room will help even more with that. 

O and I have to share something very exciting that has happened over the past two nights as well.  Most of you know Cruz has been a thumb sucker since he's been able to find his thumb and put it in his mouth.  Well the only time he sucks it is when he goes to sleep.  And we've tried a lot of different things to get him to stop, bribing him with gifts, putting yucky stuff on it so it would taste bad and so on but nothing worked.  He'd do good not falling asleep with it in his mouth but when he woke up in the middle of the night back it'd go in his mouth and he wouldn't even realize it.  So as of Saturday night he's been wearing a glove to bed on that hand.  Someone had suggested safety pinning it to his jammies but so far he's left it on so hopefully we won't have to do that.  I've been checking on him right when he falls asleep, in the middle of the night (since I'm up several times going to the bathroom, the joys of pregnancy:) ) and then again in the morning right when he wakes up and the glove has always been on.  I'm so proud of him!  I'm hoping we can do this for awhile longer and then take it off and see how he does.  Hopefully we can get this habit beat!  We were just at the dentist and she said she wouldn't be surprised if he hasnt' lost a tooth when he comes back in 6 months so I knew we had to get this stopped before he started getting permanent teeth!  Wish us luck!!!



I would also like to introduce you to our new family member that arrived this weekend that will be sticking around till Christmas. Cruz named him Dash and if you don't know what he is just google "Elf on the Shelf".  We've been having a lot of fun with it but that will have to be a separate post some other time!

Anyways other then that life has been keeping us busy as always.  Jake has 3 classes left to finish is masters and should have that done in March.  He's excited to be done with school!  I'm 29 weeks in my pregnancy and the 3rd trimester is starting to kick my butt.  Luckily it's the holidays so hopefully the next several weeks will fly and Hudson will be here before we know it! 

Levin's first dentist appointment

Tucker getting his morning belly rub

My silly boys

Uncle Jay is really funny :)

Cruz decorating his own Christmas tree in his room

The new swingset!

Levin fell asleep with a handful of kettle corn after a day at Vala's Pumpkin Patch

Cruz helping paint his new playroom

Before and After shot of the new toy room.  Just need a few things for the wall and it's finished.

ABC's

I've been trying to catch Levin singinig the ABC's for a couple weeks now and I finally caught him this morning.  :)

Fall Photos 2012

My MOPS group did a fundraiser this year with fall photos.  Here's a few that we got that day.  Mr. Levin wasn't in the mood to smile but I still think we got some okay ones :)

23 weeks down...17 to go!

Today marks 23 weeks into this pregnancy.  We have finally agreed on a name.  Let me back up, first of all anyone that knows me knows that I like lists.  I have an app on my phone where I can keep lots and lots of lists (thank goodness I can back it up online everytime I update a list just incase something would happen to my phone)  Anyways I've had an ongoing list of boy and girl names ever since we had Levin 2 years ago.  We knew we wanted to have one more so any time I heard a cute name I liked I added it to my list.  Well by the time we found out we were having a boy my list had about 20 boy names on it.  I spent the next 2 weeks searching through books and the internet to find other names that we liked.  Of course the name had to be cute and uncommon which is hard to find.  Plus we wanted to do another family name for the middle name which was harder then I thought it would be.  Well after 2 weeks went by I added another 10 names or so and I couldn't really find anything else I like and I was sick of looking so Jake and I agreed on Hudson Sawyer.  Hudson was one of the first names I added to my list after Levin was born and has always been my favorite.  Well the next day I decided that maybe we should have his name have a double initial like Cruz Christian and Levin Lynn.  So back to the search I went to find a new first name that started with a "S" or a new middle name that started with a "H".  What we ended up coming up with was Jett Jacob.  So we were set, his name was going to be Jett Jacob...well except it never really felt right to me.  I was afraid his whole life people would call him Jeff, whether they read his name wrong or they just heard him say it wrong.  So this last Saturday night I started looking for names again.  Jake came upstairs and asked what I was doing on the iPad and I told him I was looking for names again and why and he told me we should just say forget the double initial and go back to Hudson Sawyer, the first name we both liked (ok I actually loved it)  And this whole time we we're letting Cruz help some with the name picking, telling him the top 4 names and he always would pick Hudson.  So there is my long drawn out story... baby boy #3 will be called Hudson Sawyer :)

O as for the middle name we went with Sawyer which is Grandma's last name.  Jake was actually home on leave for his Grandpa Sawyer's funeral when we met.  We always say his Grandpa had something to do with us meeting that night so it seemed right to go with Sawyer. 

Things are starting to get a little harder such as tying my shoes and wrestling with the boys as my stomach seems to grow at what seems to be a very fast rate.  I don't remember being this big this soon with Cruz & Levin but maybe I was?  He's definitely pretty strong in there already as I can feel him kicking or punching me everytime I sit still.  Seems crazy but I know we'll have some busy months ahead of us with the holidays and before we know he will be here! 

20 week ultrasound results are in....

Well we went in today for my 20 week ultrasound.  We had a student do the first part of our ultrasound so I patiently waited as she slowly took all the measurements of the fluid, cervix, head, heart and so on.  I of course know what I'm looking for after having so many ultrasounds so the minute she headed for the legs to measure one of the leg bones I saw "it".  And right away I told her it was a Boy!  She didn't catch it so she went back to double check and sure enough we will be having another boy around Valentines Day!!!  He is healthy as can be and his due date so far is right on track.  I'm already getting the question "weren't you sad it wasn't a girl" and honestly maybe I was for a slight second but then all the thoughts started running through my mind of everything we've experienced with Cruz and Levin and I love those two little boys so much and they are just so much fun that I couldn't be more happy to welcome another little boy just like them in our lives.  It's amazing how seeing him move around on the ultrasound makes him so much more real and how fast you fall in love with them without even seeing them in person. 

After my ultrasound I had an appointment with my doctor and when we got out of my appointment my mom had Cruz and Levin there in the waiting room for us.  Levin of course didn't understand what was going on but Cruz was so excited to hear if he was having his baby sister he was hoping for.  Ever since we told him we were going to have another baby he has said he wants a sister because he already has a little brother so it was hard to tell him that he was going to have yet another baby brother.  His response was "no I'm not mom, I'm having a baby sister."  And when I had him go tell Grandma what I was having he of course told her I was having a baby sister.  Throughout the day we've talked about it a lot and how he'll be able to teach his little brother how to drive trains and set up train tracks and how to play baseball, soccer and even how to wrestle with Daddy.  Then we "celebrated" the baby tonight with ice cream while watching the video of the ultrasound they recorded for us.  He made us watch the ultrasound video 3 times and he was fascinated by watching him move around and kick his legs.  I think after talking to him before bed he's starting to come around to the idea of having a new baby brother :) 

Here are a few ultrasound pictures of the little guy...now to come up with a name for him...

Legs crossed, just relaxing

His little foot

It's a Boy!

Profile shot

August

I haven't posted much lately and I was going through my photos tonight and decided I better put some of these up here!  Levin turned 2 on August 18th which is still hard for me to believe that my baby is 2!  This weekend we put him in his big boy bed, he's done great.  It was definitely harder on me then on him :)  Cruz will start preschool on Wednesday, he's excited to go back and see all his friends again.  My pregnancy has been going really good and I'm definitely showing now.  We have our 20 week ultrasound scheduled for September 24th so stay tuned to see if we're having another boy or girl!  Jake ran his first triathlon at the beginning of the month and just ran as part of a team this weekend in the Hyvee triathlon.  He'll do one more triathlon in 2 weeks out at Branched Oak.  He amazes me that he can be working full time, going to school full time for his masters, always have time to be a great dad and husband yet still manages to wake up at 4:30am to bike, run or swim to train for these triathlons!  Luckily school will be done in March for him but we'll see what other "hobby" he picks up by that time :)  Anyways that's a little about what is going on in our lives, enjoy the pictures below...

9 week ultrasound

Went in today for a check up but it's still too early to hear the heart beat so the doctor let me see the heartbeat on the ultrasound machine again.  Such an awesome sight!  And then she got me this cute little picture to take home with me :)  It still doesn't look like a baby but it looks like more of a baby then the first ultrasound! 

Baby Auffy #3

Just wanted to write a quick post to let everyone know that Baby Auffy #3 is expected to arrive around Valentines Day 2013.  I'm almost 8 weeks so today we went in for our first ultrasound and got to see the tiny little baby and the tiny little heart beat.  Everything looked good and healthy so we are so excited.  I've been feeling pretty good for the most part.  Levin doesn't know what to think but Cruz is very curious.  He has asked me several times "Mommy how is the baby going to come out of your tummy"  Hard question!  And today when I told him we were going to go in for an ultrasound to take a picture of the  baby he got all excited because he thought we could hang the picture up on the wall next to his and Levin's pictures!  :)  I have a feeling its going to be a long 7 months for him!  O and the best thing is he will let you know that he does not want a baby brother and that this baby is a sister.  Maybe he thinks if it's a girl she won't play with his toys, who knows! Lol!  Anyways, we are all very excited and I'll post more ultrasound pictures in September when we have our 20 week ultrasound and find out what we are having!!!

 This is the card we gave to my parents and Jake's mom to share our news.

Baby's first picture :)

Baseball

Cruz had his first baseball game tonight!  Don't get me wrong, soccer was fun to watch, but this was so much better.  Maybe because he already understands the game :)  Here's a few shots from the game tonight!

Arizona

We had a wonderful trip to Arizona for my cousin Lindsay's wedding.  The weather was around 100 every day we were there so we spent a lot of time in the pool.  This was Levin's first airplane ride but both boys did really good.  I just wanted to write a quick post so I could post the pictures from this weekend.  For some reason the soccer and hair cut pictures got mixed up in these but just keep watching and the Arizona pictures will come :)

Soccer and Hair"trim"

After Cruz missed his first week of soccer due to some pink eye that hit Cruz, Levin & I (yes Jake was the lucky one that it missed) he finally got to play his first soccer game last night. He was so excited to play and I think I was even more excited to watch him! It was so much fun to watch him run around out there, they didn't have any subs so he played the whole game and never slowed down once. Now we just need to work on actually kicking the ball and in the right direction and he'll be great :) I know this is the first of many many sporting events to come in our families future and I can't wait. So fun!

Then tonight Levin got his first hair"trim" (as I'm calling it) Our kids don't get hair very fast so I hated to even cut it yet but Jake didn't care for the curls around his ears so we decided it was time for a trim. Cruz's hair did grow faster once he got his first haircut so I'm hoping the same goes for Levin. He did very well at first and then he got a little upset in the middle and ended up doing very well by the end. They always look so much more grown up after their first haircut:( My baby looks like a little boy now!

Friday we leave for Arizona with my mom's whole side of the family for my cousin's wedding. We are all staying in a huge house together so it should be fun! Heard it's supposed to be in the 100s the entire time we're there so we're looking forward to lots of pool time! Hope everyone is doing well and I'll post more after our trip!

Cruz turns 4

I still remember it like it was yesterday... 4 years ago today, not knowing if he was a boy or a girl, I was filled with excitement to meet our new baby! My mom had just flown into North Carolina around noon that day and after a wonderful epidural and a few pushes we welcomed Cruz to the world at 3:32pm (I really think that was the moment time began to fly!) Cruz has been such an amazing little boy and we are so blessed to have him in our lives. It's hard to believe he is 4 but we have loved every minute of the past 4 years and I can't wait to continue to watch him grow over the years to come!

Below are some pictures from both of his birthday parties, click on the slideshow to see the photos larger!

Christmas 2011

The holidays came and went so fast this year! Cruz loved everything about Christmas, from looking at lights on the houses to helping make the Christmas treats to opening presents. He was so animated this year and just so excited about everything, it was fun. Levin still isn't old enough to understand what's really going on but he did open some presents so that was fun. It was nice this year to have 3 days to spread the Christmas celebrations out over. We never felt like we we're rushing to get to the next place. We celebrated New Years Eve at Jake's cousins house with a few other families. The boys had fun playing with the other kids and then we counted down at 9 so everyone could get home to put the kids to sleep. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We're excited to see what 2012 has in-store for us!