In-Between

Since it is one of my firm beliefs that you are one thing until you become the other (and I mean up until the last second), here are my still in-between preschool and Kindergartener and in-between 1st grade and 2nd grader.  Sad to say, but...Bon voyage, summer.  Thank you for all the wonderful times and memories.  It was a good one!  And...here we come Burleigh!  Watch out, there are two of us here now!

And, here are all of the kids praying together before their big day tomorrow.  (There are some real fervent prayers in there - including, "please help me to go potty" from Declan.  Too cute.)

Finally, all three of them barely containing their excitement.  It was palpable.  I hope there will be some good sleeping tonight!

We're Having A...

I am quite excited to share that Baby Shere is a little BOY!  We all wanted a healthy, happy, beautiful baby, but I also really wanted to give Declan the gift (as I see it, anyway) of a little brother.  Yay! 

The ultrasound was the most fun one I have been to yet - the technician said she doesn't get to do baby ultrasounds very often and so this was a lot of fun for her.  She gave us scores of pictures (including an individual copy for Kyrie, Lariska, and Declan) and took lots of time figuring out the baby's gender, since he didn't want to show us at first.  As you will see by the following collage, her patience paid off...this child is clearly a boy.

(The 2nd "gender" photo -in the bottom row - is mislabeled.  That one should read "SPINE".)

While the technician said she was not allowed to say whether things were normal or abnormal, she did make a comment at the end about everything looking "right on" and her attitude was chipper and fun throughout the whole thing, so we are going to go with the assumption that all is well.  The Dr. will call us if there was anything to report.  The baby's heartrate was 149/150 bpm.  The estimated weight was 12 oz. and the estimated due date was 01/17/2012, but I am sticking to January 20th!  You should, too!

I was surprised at how thrilled the girls were - they also see the merit of giving Declan a brother - and how Matt actually seemed to be slightly disappointed.  We have a girls name and not a boy's - apparently, he was quite attached to the girls name.  I also loved our girls name and while sad we won't get to use it, I am not worried about finding a boys one.  (Please do not take this as encouragement to try and choose a name for us - we won't go with it!  If you can guess our baby's name, then it probably won't become our baby's name!)

Declan...has no clue.  He keeps saying "Baby in tummy" with a huge smile on his face.  But...he doesn't get it!  He loves his new shirt, though!!!

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers - please continue them as we enter the 2nd half of our pregnancy.  I am feeling remarkably well and would love for that to continue!

Love,
Matt, Kelly, Kyrie, Lariska, Declan, and Baby Shere

Oh my gosh!  I almost forgot - we also got to see a 3D generated image of our little man!  Can I just say...awwwwww...  (Kinda weird how it makes it look, but still...so cute!)

Get On That Bike...

...and RIDE!!!!

Lari worked much of the morning with Matt, riding her bike up and down the street and around the block while he held on to the back of the seat, the handlebars, or her shirt.  But, this afternoon, Mommy grabbed on to the back of the seat and...let go!  While she did not ride off into the sunset, she did make it several pedals around before noticing no one was holding onto her and almost falling.  We kept it up and she was getting much better at going further, but having a lot of trouble starting up on her own.  When Matt was finished mowing the lawn and saw her progress, he jumped in (to save my poor back) and began letting go himself.  With Daddy's coaching, Lari was able to push off all on her own and ride her bike in a circle several times.  Woo hoo!!!  Lariska, at the age of 5 years and 3 months, is now a bike rider; no training wheels needed here!

Last Saturday of the "Summer"

We spent our last Saturday before school starts hanging out as a family at home outside.  It feels like we have been on the go a lot lately, so a day at home was not a bad thing.  It was fun to watch the kids being kids, making a collosal mess, and messing around in the garage, driveway, and yard.  Kyrie mostly rode her bike, Declan helped Daddy pick up sticks in the yard, and Lari....we'll save that for a post all of its own.

Good Day/Bad Day

It was the best of days, it was the worst of days...

It started out with Amelia and Elizabeth coming over for the morning (thumbs up).  Then moved on to my mom and I piling five kids in the car to go to the Betty Brinn Museum (thumbs down to the seatbelt difficulties, thumbs up to the museum). 

On our way, we made a "quick" stop at school to find out what teacher Kyrie got for her 2nd grade year.  Though, we know nothing about Mrs. Boeder, we are not worried because our experience so far at Burleigh has been that all of the teachers are great.  The problem came in when we walked down to her classroom and saw that the lockers were labeled, which meant Kyrie could see who all is in her class.  Sadly, not a single one of her girl friends from either Kindergarten or 1st grade are in her class.  And, in fact, there is only one girl in the entire class who has been in her class before.  (Major thumbs down.)  Kyrie is very good at making new friends, but going into a new school year incredibly blind as to how its going to go is stressful, and let me tell you, she is stressed.  She will tell you with a smile on her face that she got Mrs. Boeder, but then will get serious and say, "Yes, but I don't have any friends in my class".  I am sad and stressed on her behalf.  The only saving grace is that there are two boys from her soccer team in the class, both of who we know fairly well and I personally like their parents (thumbs up).  I am saying lots of prayers for my big girl and hoping she meets some fantastic new friends this year.

After school, we finally made it to the museum, where we parked on the street and walked 2-two year olds, a four-year old, a five-year old, and a seven year old across a busy street to get to the museum.  Once we had crossed, I realized I had not put money in the meter.  I was going to go right back, but my mom said to wait till we had all the kids safely inside the building.  My mom then went back out, only to find my car being ticketed!  (THUMBS DOWN.)

Okay...this is getting to be a long story, so I am now going to tell the rest very fast...we played for a short while, before Lari and I met Matt to go to my OB appt.  Unfortunately, we were somewhere between five and nine minutes late (because I decided it would be better if I helped my mom get the kids into the car before leaving) and they said they had put me down as a no-show (thumbs down).  We then proceeded to wait an hour before they could fit me in.  Argh.  (Like, the don't usually make we wait 10 minutes for them to take me anyway!  Why did nine minutes late make such a difference!?) 

Finally, moving on to the good part of the day...we heard the baby's heartbeat, around 140 bpms, and the baby even kicked so everyone got to hear that as well.  Then, Matt and I took Lari to Stonefire Pizza for a special Lari afternoon before she goes off to school forever.  We had a great time - Lari especially enjoyed watching Betty Boop with her lunch and play air hockey against Daddy.  Afterwards, the kids had a Movie Night with dinner in front of the TV and then we whisked them off to bed.  (Thumbs up.)  Another chaotic day in the Kons Family.

Stalling

Declan has become a master of the stall tactics at both naptime and bedtime. 

"Water please, Mommy?" 
"Kiss, Mommy?"
"Kiss Lari!"
"Kiss Kyrie!"
"Kiss Daddy!"
"Kiss trucks!"
"Read book, please."
"Have to go potty!"
"Have to go poopy!"
"Need to make mud!" (also known as poop)
"Kiss puppies, Mommy."
"More water, please, Mommy?"

I have a routine (that admittedly is not working that well) where after he has gone potty and read a book, I sing him a song and put him in his crib.  Then he gets a drink of water.  He gets one more till the count of three and if he asks nicely I may even give him another till the count of three...but that's it.  Then I say "I love you, Declan" and walk out no matter what he is screaming or yelling to me.

Today, when I left he was screaming about water and may not even have heard me tell him that I love him.  He was still crying about water after I got Lari down so I went in there and told him he could have one more drink till three.  Without my saying anything, he said, "Love you, Mommy."

I would sigh and say what a sweet boy he is if only he hadn't started crying again as soon as I left...oh yeah...and if he wasn't still talking in his crib to this moment...

Coming Soon

Believe it or not, I am finally about to update the Kons Chaos blog.  For the first time all summer, I downloaded the photos off of my camera and can begin the process of sharing the exciting news and fun summer we have had.  Please be sure to check back again soon, but note that I will be back-posting (all the way to Memorial Day Weekend), so the photos will seem to be posted on the days I actually took them - as opposed to nearly three months later.

Hope your summer has been a good one, too!

17 Weeks

I have done a very bad job of keeping any kind of "history" of this pregnancy.  It finally occurred to me today, that I should, in the very least, start by taking a photo.  So...here we are at 17 weeks - an odd time, I know, but it's where I am at!