Dentists and Doctors

It has been a week of appointments for the Eby Family. As you know, I had my ultrasound and check up on Monday - still reeling from the news of another boy! And the kids all saw the dentist on Wednesday and Rylan had her 2 year check up with the Doctor on Thursday.

First the Dentist. I don't have a lot of experience with different dentists, I went to the same one all growing up and I have only had one as an adult, but Sea of Smiles where I took the kids Wednesday has to be hands down the coolest office EVER. When you walk in the office it is decorated (very well) as a ship. It has an old school two player Ms. Pacman arcade game, a small slide, a table with crayons and coloring pages, and a game room with not one but TWO XBox 360s with different games. And this is just the beginning! They took us on a tour of the office and there are rooms with 2 exam chairs so siblings can go at the same time and parents can sit with them. Each chair has a flat screen TV over it so the kids can watch TV while having their exam. And they had a few private rooms that were glow in the dark to help ease kids with more anxiety or special needs. And at the end of the appointment the kids to get a token to put in the prize machines - old gumball style machine where you get a mystery prize or bouncy ball or whatever. WOW. After I told all of this to Chris, he wanted to know if he go there! And they gave each of the kids a tie-dye t-shirt that Rylan put on there and Brenden wore the next day to school.

So anyway, the appointments went great. The kids were all good, even Rylan (it was her first trip to the dentist). As expected, Jake was referred to an orthodontist. Last year one of his permanent teeth came in behind his baby tooth so the baby tooth ended up having to be pulled out and now the permanent tooth is "stuck" behind his bottom teeth when he bites together. The dentist had a couple of recommendations for orthodontists so now its just making an appointment and getting him in to see just what needs to be done. As for Brenden, we did get some surprising news. He has had a darker tooth (top, middle left tooth when you look at him). They asked if I remembered any trauma and honestly there have been too many to know which one would have caused it. So on the x-ray they saw that there is an infection/abscess above the tooth in the gums so he will need to go back in 10 days to have it fixed. They will put him under Nitrous oxide to fix it, I'm not sure if they are cutting it out of his gums or taking out the tooth and then cleaning it out, but they did recommend that we just let him know that he has to have his tooth fixed and leave it at that so we don't scare him. And for Rylan everything was fine, not much they do with a 2 year old beyond the cleaning. No cavities for any of the kids and I think they will be happy to go back the next time they need to!

On Thursday Rylan would have her 2 year check-up. Everything was great. She is still long and lean - 36 inches (95%) and 25.8 lbs (46%). There were no concerns over her health or development. However, the doctor did (for the 3rd time now) really try to push the flu shot. When the boys had their yearly check ups with her she really drilled me hard about the Flu Shot. I told her it wasn't something we did, but she could just not leave it alone. This time she recommended websites that would give me information and answers to questions. I kept telling her thanks, but no thanks and all I kept getting back was "It's your choice, but..." But what exactly? You just said its MY choice and I choose to NOT have a flu shot for me or my kids. So I think we will be switching Doctors. I'm going to try another doctor in the practice and hope that that works so I don't have to have paperwork transferred all over the place again. And we did have a good experience with another Doctor there when Brenden had the abscess in his cheek.

So that's it. Nothing too exciting and overall nothing too bad to deal with. Brenden will finally be going to the Plastic Surgeon September 18th for the scar on his cheek, but other than that I would imagine we'll only be seeing the doctor or dentist for our regular check ups - at least I hope so! :)

Boys - 3, Girls - 1

That's right folks, another boy will be joining the Eby family this winter! All of my instincts had been telling me boy, but after Rylan I definitely had doubts and was ready for anything.

We had the ultrasound today along with my 20 week check up. Our u/s tech had me on pins and needles starting with the head and moving down. My heart was pounding with nerves to find out. And once we knew, we were thrilled....and a bit relieved. Rylan has been more than a handful so we weren't sure we'd be able to handle another girl ;) And I really have always thought I would have 3 boys so knowing we're having the third makes me smile.

The u/s tech was great - super fast, funny, and lots of pictures for us:

I Love the Tech's labels :)

 Alien Face Baby Shots

Sweet Baby Boy :)

After the ultrasound I had a quick check up with one of the Doctors. Everything was great - heart rate good, blood pressure good, weight...not so good (20 lbs to date - YIKES!). She said there's not much I can do about the headaches I've been having, but there's nothing to suggest that there's a problem or anything. My weight is getting up there, but the doctor didn't say anything about it so its more of my issue than a pregnancy issue. With that, here's the latest belly pics:

20w, 1d

I'll go back in 4 weeks for the regular check up, until then its just time to think of names! (We have a few, but nothing final yet)

Cleveland

As I said in Rylan's Birthday post, we traveled to Cleveland last weekend. The trip was mainly to have family pictures taken and for my nephew Gavin's baptism, but it was also just a chance to get away and have a nice visit with Chris's family.

This is the first time we've gone to Cleveland since last year. Since Chris's parents spend the winter in Florida and we were busy with the move in the spring we really just didn't have the time or energy for a visit. We were all happy to be able to go, especially the kids.

Friday was Rylan's birthday and we had a nice time with cake, presents, and catching up. We also got to meet baby Gavin for the first time, well first time for all of us except Chris. I didn't get to meet my other nephew Dylan until after his 1st birthday so I was very happy to meet Gavin at just 3 months old and it gave me a chance to practice holding a baby again :)


On Saturday we had family pictures in the evening. In April, Pete and Ginger celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary so as a gift Meredith and Chris arranged for a full family picture with our families all together. We also took the opportunity to have individual family pictures taken as well. Considering the amount of children 7 and under we were dealing with I think it went really well. We took lots of pictures and I'm sure most will have at least one person looking in another direction, but I'm also sure that the photographer managed to get at least one good one as well - at least we all hope :) Here's a picture Meredith took of our family - the boys are all looking good, Rylan and I could use a redo ;)

Sunday would be Mass and Gavin's Baptism. We had some sleep issues - I'll go into it later - so Rylan and I missed it so that she (and I) could get a good nap. Brenden went with Ginger and Pete to Mass and was on his best behavior. Chris and Jake showed up for the end of Mass for the Baptism afterward. Everything went fine with the Baptism, but because of the Catholic Church's rules (don't get me started) Chris was unable to be the Godfather, although he is still claiming it even if the Church doesn't recognize it. We all went to Meredith and Todd's house afterward for a small, informal party with family. Rylan and I made it over for the end after she woke up from nap. We all had a nice time, it was so wonderful to see the cousins all play together. Despite the little time they get to spend together, its clear they all like each other and get along very well. Here are a couple pictures of Dylan and Rylan having fun:

While at Meredith and Todd's house I started to get some good "kicks" from #4 while sitting down. I told Chris to come over and try to catch one. We have been trying to get him to feel the baby for about a week or so with no luck. Shortly after he put his hand on my stomach this time there was some good movement and I could see from the look on his face that he felt it too - at 19 weeks exactly :) So now we've both felt the baby moving around and now only a few more days until the big ultrasound to find out what is moving around - YAY!

On Tuesday I would need to take the boys back to Cincinnati to start school on Wednesday and Chris would be off to Pennsylvania for a business trip, it would also be our 8th Wedding Anniversary. Since we wouldn't get to spend Tuesday together we celebrated Sunday night instead. We left the kids with Pete and Ginger at dinner time and checked our selves into a hotel for a quiet night away. We had a wonderful low key dinner and just relaxed at the hotel afterward. And in the morning we went out for a nice breakfast. Unfortunately, some rude people across the hall kept Chris up until 2am and since I can't sleep in because I wake up starving in the morning, we didn't get as much sleep as we would have liked, but we did have a nice time just the two of us. Thanks again to Pete and Ginger for letting us "get away" for the night!

Monday was just a nice, quiet day and a good end to our trip. The boys and I would leave by 9am on Tuesday morning. Chris would be off to Pennsylvania later on Tuesday and Rylan would get to stay with Grandma for some girl time. When we tried to explain that she was staying and that she and Grandma could go shopping she simply said "shoes" which made Ginger smile ear to ear :) When it was time for me and the boys to go she was very upset until we reminded her that if she stayed she would get to go shopping, this helped a bit :) So our trip is over and the boys and I are having some mom and son bonding time until Chris and Rylan return Friday. It was really nice for all of us to get away and see the family, a great end to our summer! (And as a bonus, I scored some maternity clothes, THANKS MEREDITH!)

Now for the sleep issues:

As I mentioned earlier there were some downsides to the trip - the sleeping arrangements. In the past, we would put Rylan to sleep first and then the boys would go into the room later for bed once she was asleep. Well, Rylan no longer goes to sleep at 7:30p so we would have to tweek things a bit. Also, she is no longer in a crib so we needed to figure out another place for her to sleep. We thought we would try putting her on a small mattress on the floor, but after an hour of her getting up and trying to play or get in bed with Jake (who never says no to her) it was clear we would have to come up with something else. The first night after it was clear no one was settling down we had Rylan fall asleep in our room (after 10p) and then moved her to the floor mattress when we went to bed. This worked until Brenden woke up in the middle of the night and it woke up everyone and I found them all playing at 3am. I then had to take Rylan out to sleep on the couch with me the rest of the night. The next night we scrapped the floor mattress and decided to try Rylan in the top bunk and the boys in the bottom bunk (the bottom is a full size bed). This worked a little better, but since Rylan likes to "chat" herself to sleep the boys had a hard time falling asleep so I had to lay down with everyone to make sure they could stay quiet and/or ignore Rylan's babbling. Once again, it took until almost 10p. The other nights were all about the same. Once they were asleep it was all fine, but getting them to go to sleep was exhausting for all of us and then Jake for some reason wakes up at 6:30am everyday so that meant we ALL were awake at 6:30am.

So now I'm starting to worry about what we're going to do once #4 arrives. We had originally decided to put Rylan in with Brenden for 2 years, but he had such a hard time falling asleep with her "chatting" that I worry he won't get enough sleep and he needs it more now that he's in school. Hopefully if we do put them together it'll just be a small adjustment period for both, otherwise I don't know what we'll do. I really don't want to put Jake and Brenden together again and we'd have to do some major room swapping to put Jake and Rylan together and I think that would be bad too. I wish there was an easy solution, and who knows, maybe it will be easy when the kids are here instead away. I think we'll try the new arrangements in October/November so we have plenty of time for adjustments. Until then I guess we'll just keep talking with the kids about it and hope it all goes well....

First Day of School

First day of school for the boys! And as you can see above, Brenden was very excited! 

Jake is starting 2nd grade and my B man is starting Kindergarten. Where does the time go?????? I know it sounds so cliche, but I can't believe both boys are in school. When Jake started I was actually a little excited - definitely NOT sad. Since Rylan was just born it meant that things wouldn't be too hectic all the time. But now that Brenden is starting I'm a little sad. I'm now seeing how quickly the time is going for both of them. I find myself holding back some tears this morning (I'll blame the pregnancy hormones), my boys are growing up *sniffle, sniffle*.

Anyway, enough sappy mom stuff. The boys were overall very good this morning.They let me take a few pictures and give them hugs and kisses. Brenden will only be doing half days so I'll get him off the bus at noon. And Jake will have a full day so Brenden and I will get him off the bus around 4p. I've heard great things about Brenden's teacher, Mrs. Yeatts, and one of the other mothers at the bus stop told me Jake's teacher, Mrs. Crowe, was great and a little whacky (perfect for Jake). I can't wait to hear how their first day goes, but until then I will enjoy having an empty (and quiet) house this morning :)

My Boys :)

 The Bus Stop Crew

 And they're off...

The Ry girl turns 2!

Where does the time go??????????? We have had so much happen over the past two years yet it seems like just yesterday we were welcoming our little girl to the world :)

For Rylan's 2nd birthday we would be off to Cleveland. We started the day at home with presents from us. Rylan had helped me pick out her wrapping paper and been telling me "mine, mine" all week. So when she came downstairs and saw her presents wrapped she was super happy and let out a very loud "MINE" :) She was very pleased with her gifts - clothes, jewelry, headbands, and a Zooble (sp?).

 Some Pics of the Birthday Girl and her new gifts - and of course refusing to look at me for a picture

We also had our neighbors stop over to give Rylan a gift - they are so thoughtful! Annie decided that Rylan should have some dress up clothes of her own. Needless to say, Rylan was THRILLED with her gift and insisted on bringing it to Cleveland and sported it for the evening:

So after presents, cake baking (to take to Cleveland), packing, and a visit from the neighbors, it was off to Cleveland. When we arrived I tried to take the cakes out of their pans so I could make the frosting and frost them and I ran into some trouble......only PART of the cakes were willing to come out, meaning I would need to throw them away and start all over. Fun times for sure. So a couple hours after our arrival here is what I had:

I think I was most impressed that I remembered the recipe, which requires that you add the ingredients in a specific order. It not only looked good, but it was quite tasty as well and still warm when we got to dig in. 

Meredith, Todd, Dylan, and Gavin also came over to help celebrate the Little Ladies Birthday. We had a wonderful dinner, lots of play and catching up, and of course CAKE!

 Rylan refusing again to have me take a picture

 Singing Happy Birthday and Blowing out Candles

CAKE! CAKE! CAKE!

Baby Gavin and Fun with Cousins :)

Baby Update

I'm almost half way or if CK decides to come as early as Rylan then I am half way :) 11 more days until the big ultrasound when we will (hopefully) find out if the girls will even out with the boys or the boys will take a commanding lead - btw, don't forget to make your guess to the right over there!

So anyway, things are going well. I've made it over 2 weeks without having to go to the doctor, but I did have to call the doctor because of headaches last week. I have had lots of headaches this pregnancy and last week I had one that lasted 4 days with no relief so the doctor gave me a Rx to break the cycle. I have had a few more since, but I only take the Rx if the headache becomes debilitating and nothing else provides any relief. Other than that, everything seems to be fine. I listen to the baby every night before bed and I've been having much more regular movement. I can now feel the baby on the outside and its just a matter of time now before I'll start to see the little guy/girl move around. He/She did kick and move the probe on the doppler when I was listening to the heartbeat the other day :)

I started working out this week as well. Nothing major, I'm just trying to do an easy run/walk 3 or so days a week. So far I've worked out 3 days this week for an average of 4 miles/workout. Everything feels fine during the workout, but my back and hips have started to hurt more in the evening. I'm hoping it'll get better as I get back into the groove a bit more, but I won't be surprised if it doesn't.

And here are my most recent belly pic, still large and in charge ;)

18w, 3d

Operation Sink/Counter upgrade: COMPLETE!

Now if only I could say that for the millions of other projects I want done :) Anyway, we had our granite contractors out this week to remove the old counter and sink and put in a new sink and granite counters. And I have say, we are THRILLED with how it all turned out. Everything looks wonderful and it was all done with little disruption to our daily life. We were without a sink for a few days so the main floor bathroom became our temporary kitchen sink and we used paper plates whenever we could, but it wasn't really that bad.

So here it is! The before and after shots with a few in between shots as well, hope you like it as much as we do!

Before:

 During Deconstruction:

 After: