Check out our handsome 4 year old Tiger’s spring school photo! Looking sharp!
We had a typical spring week this week – me working lots of hours with the spring rush. Finn went on some fun adventures with Debbie, including the Franklin Park Conservatory. He also made cool artwork at home and at school. Flag football was fun and the weather was brisk! And Finn won the sportsmanship medal this week for demonstrating good determination! Yay Finn! 
My entire pregnancy it seems this baby has been off to the right side of my body! When I have braxton hicks contractions it is SO obvious that my belly is lopsided! I had yet another non-stress test this week. It went well but it took longer than it has been as he was sleeping. The nurse used a buzzer on my belly to wake him up, lol! There were a couple of “dips” in his heart rate so they did an ultrasound. Sometimes the dips are perfectly fine/normal for the baby and other times they can indicate low fluid. The ultrasound went well and my fluid level is just fine. And the technician said she checked and the cord isn’t around his neck (that’s a frequent concern of mine and most moms to be at this stage I guess!). 
Brutus went to the vet on Saturday as he can’t seem to kick this ear infection that he’s basically had on and off since we’ve had him. We got a new med that hopefully will do the trick. He now weighs 88 pounds!! A small pony, right? And speaking of Brutus, one night this week at bedtime we couldn’t find him anywhere. After looking everywhere up and down stairs Kevin went in to Finn’s room and discovered we had left him in there. He was actually behind the chair and Finn had taken a pillow and some lovies back there and was sleeping on him. Completely asleep. It was pretty cute. 
One night this week I had a lot of regular contractions and I got kind of nervous that it could be actual labor!! So, along with doing our first load of baby clothes in the washer I had Kevin take this photo of me and Finn to have before this baby arrives – just in case!
And how can it be that this was 3 years ago already. Whew. I wish life had a pause button. 
Yay for nice weather! We were all able to get out together and go on a bike and walk through out neighborhood. It was Brutus’ first walk on a leash (which seems crazy since we’ve had him two months!) and he did well. Lily was so excited and had a great time but by the end she was pretty sore. We really shouldn’t be walking her with her torn CCL in her right knee. Griffin is so awesome riding his balance bike. He loves to bend his legs backwards and totally balance himself. He really loves to get out and ride his bike. We have had some really warm and unseasonable weather which has been great for being outside!
I surprised Griffin at school for his Valentine’s Party! It was fun to arrive and see him with his classmates. They had a special lunch that day, followed by filling the Valentine bags of each of his classmates with the Valentine cards they each brought. Afterward it was a couple of crafts and activities like making Valentine crowns and playing games. I got to read a Valentine book to the class and since Finn had Tony the Tiger over the weekend Miss Irma read about Tony’s adventures with us with Finn up at the front of the class. It was so cute to see. 
This is Finn and his best bud Jaxson. These kiddos just love to play together in their Tiger class!
For a special dessert Finn and I made a Lemon Pound Cake to go along with our Heart-shaped cheese ravioli dinner. Yummers! Finn helped set and decorate our table too. 
These are Finn’s Valentine’s for this year – glow stick bracelets in a card that we made. The idea is from Pinterest, of course, chosen by Finn himself. 
I’ve always loved that Finn’s birthday is 3/16 as it has always reminded me of John 3:16. In his class at school this week they tied that verse to the word Valentine. Cute!
And here are a few of Finn’s favorite things! It is fun to hear what he talks about at school 🙂
And he also did some fun art projects at home with Debbie!
On Thursday I had a regular OB appointment with Dr. Costa along with a growth scan ultrasound (28 weeks, but a week early) and my glucose tolerance test. I arrived early as they have to draw your blood exactly 1 hour after you finish the sugar-drink. And this never happens, but they were running ahead so rather than doing my ultrasound at the scheduled time they did it early – and Kevin was on his way but wasn’t there yet :(. I was so bummed since Chestnut was breech and in a perfect position for them to get great images. For the growth scan, they measure the head, belly, and femur as well as the amniotic fluid. Everything looked great, they estimated 2 pounds 6 ounces and he was in the 65th percentile, which Dr. Costa said is good and not unexpected since Kevin is a tall guy. The ultrasound tech asked if I wanted 3D images, so I said sure! Apparently not everyone wants them. But check these out – they are the clearest things I’ve ever seen. So different even than the 3D we had at 18 weeks in December. This first one is just a regular (not 3D) profile pic. 
This is the 18W 3D on 12/21/16 on the left and the 27W 3D on 2/16/17 on the right. 
And for comparison, here is a pic of Griffin that Amy sent me from his newborn session. They look more alike than I originally thought!
Thursday night we had loads of fun swapping around all of the beds in our bedrooms and converting Griffin’s toddler bed into a big kid bed! Even Lily and Brutus got in on the fun. 
This always makes me laugh – the three of them in the smallest space possible, our bathroom closet!
Finn’s mattress arrived like this – I had no idea it wasn’t going to be a large flat rectangle! Turns out this is a pretty awesome way to get a bed – we didn’t even go to the store or have to pack it into the van 🙂
First things first, we took apart the queen bed that has been in Finn’s room since he was born and moved it to the front (and now only) guest room which is next to our room. Finn was a great helper. 
Then Finn and Daddy took apart his toddler bed. He would go and get every tool like Kevin had so that he could do the same things that Kevin was doing to take the beds apart and put them together. 
The mattress went from this to on the bed frame in about 5 minutes!
Check out these big boy digs! His room feels so different now! 
Fast asleep – he had no troubles at all his first night in his big kid bed!
And check out all of these clothes that needed re-homed during our bed change-out activities. We have been beyond blessed with so many hand-me-downs from the Bethune’s! When I look at how many clothes Finn has outgrown and the number we’ve bought compared to what has been given to us it is astonishing! Thanks, Bethune’s!
And here is a look at Chestnut’s future room. For now it has a full-size bed, which Likely won’t stay. Not the best picture as there are no lights in there and this was taken at night with a flash from my iPhone camera. 
And here is the final of the now guest-room in the front of the house. Brutus perfectly matches the bedding and is ready to hit the hay himself. 
Thanks to Kevin we’ve broken out the “pregnancy pillow” from storage and given it a good washing. It is like a ginormous snake and Griffin loves to snuggle in it.
To kick off the weekend we attended the Howard’s annual Christmas Dinner Party with the Koehler’s, Assaf’s, Ackerman’s, and Yarbrough’s. It is always an evening full of laughter and sarcasm and of course the famous White Elephant gift exchange where the prized possession is the Christmas sweater. Unfortunately, we weren’t the winners this year as it went to none other than Chris Howard. The kids also do a white elephant exchange and this year Finn came home with a purple batman!
Prior to the Howard’s party Kevin got home from a day of shopping and said we needed to “chat”. I thought something seemed up as he took his shoes off in the loft, where I was wrapping, and Lily was turning them upside down sniffing them. I asked him where he’d been and he just gave me a sort of sideways look and said that’s what we need to talk about. He went on to say that he had been out visiting breeders and picking out a puppy!! What?!?!?! This was the first I’d heard of it! We had talked about getting another dog someday since both Hailey and Cameron were gone but we never really put a time to it. About a week ago I texted Kevin the video of Finn asking for a puppy for Christmas and he took that to heart apparently! I was pretty ecstatic, honestly. Griffin was down for a nap so Kevin went on to tell me that the reason he brought it up (rather than making it a total surprise for both Finn and me) is that he went out looking for a chocolate female. When he visited one breeder they had 4 pups left from a litter of 10, one male and three female “chocolates” which were actually silver in color. He had seen pictures of them on the AKC website and the breeder had emailed him some and he thought the picture quality just wasn’t that great. However, when he arrived, the pups were actually silver/gray in color similar to a weimaraner. As it turns out the AKC only recognizes three colors (yellow, black, chocolate) so they are registered as chocolate but are silver in color. Kevin was on a mission for a girl and was playing and meeting the three girls, but he was continually drawn to the male pup who would play with him for a bit and then wonder off and just sit and look at him from afar. There was just something about him that Kevin really liked. Kevin also met the mom (who was about 60#) and the dad (a large 120 pound guy!) and loved the temperament of the dad. Upon talking with the breeder and sharing with her that we currently have a female white lab and used to have chocolate and black females too she suggested that if he was considering switching to a male dog that he may want to ask me and find out why I’d never had a male before. Hence the reason Kevin brought up that he was getting a puppy! He wanted to know if there was a reason why or what I thought about getting a boy. I was so excited I literally couldn’t help him choose – I’ve never had a boy dog (so how would I know if I wanted one or what it’s like instead of a girl) and I hadn’t met the pups nor the mom and dad so I didn’t feel like I had much insight to offer in regards to choosing a boy or girl. At that point he was upset that he’d even mentioned it to me and wished he hadn’t so it could be an all-around surprise. We compromised and I told him the surprise could be whether he chose a boy or girl.
The kiddos helped Grandma and Grandpa make strata on Christmas Eve in preparation for Christmas morning breakfast. They love being kitchen helpers!
Here is our annual 2016 family photo courtesy of my sister. Check out our new addition, who has been named Brutus!
And here we are Christmas morning once everyone was awake and the kiddos are amping up getting ready to go and see if Santa has come. 
Griffin discovered his gifts from Santa: a real glove, a real wood baseball bat, real balls, a catcher’s mask, bases, and a pogo stick. Whew, his sleigh was full I’m sure! 
Brutus was really calm the entire morning and basically slept at Kevin’s feet for long periods of time!
Rowan was super excited about the sloth that Grandma and Grandpa gave him!
We gave Rowan the OSU helmut and jersey/pants and Grandma and Grandpa gave Griffin an OSU helmut/jersey/pants – so they were twinsies! Here they are all sporting their new OSU gear. 
Since it was a rather “warm” Christmas Day all the kiddos, young and old, headed outside for a game of street hockey using the Bethune’s new hockey goal from Grandma and Grandpa! 
And after all of that gift opening, breakfast eating, and exercising the fellas were beat!
We headed back home late afternoon on Christmas evening to go the Chad’s for Christie’s birthday dinner. Griffin fell asleep in the car on the way home, which was perfect timing, so he could regroup before the next social gathering. We quickly unpacked our car, brought up the dog crate from the basement, put it together, put Brutus in it – and left for the dinner party. Whew, on the go. It was a delicious dinner and Griffin enjoyed passing out all of the gifts for the kiddos. And that’s a wrap for Christmas Day 2016! Yet another late night bedtime! 
