Where have I been?

If you were wondering where I have been, I have been taken over by blurb.  I had a nice stretch of 10 days off work and one of my biggest goals was to put all of our blog posts into a book just in case I were to lose my blog somehow.  I have been wanting to do this for a long time and have attempted several times.  I've posted so many pictures that I have had problems with programs like blog2print.  About a year ago I attempted a blurb book and had some issues and didn't finish again.  

I want to do a book for each year!  So the book is going well, but unfortunately it is taking MUCH LONGER than planned!  I am on page 83 of year one and am on posts at around 4 months and easily have 15 hours into it...AHHHHHH!!!! 

I'm glad I am finally making progress, but disappointed that I won't have this checked off my list.  I will be lucky to complete year 1.  

It is a cool book, I recommend it for bloggers, but it would be much better to keep on top of it early!!!

Calling all van lovers....or no much van lovers

One thing that comes with three young children are three car seats, which equals a new vehicle for me!  Currently I drive a Trail Blazer, but there is about 8" between my two car seats so a new vehicle is  a must! The big question is WHAT.  Personally I don't get too excited about cars these days and would just soon drive mine until it dies - however, we will have to make a change soon.  

So the "van" word has been brought up many times by my husband who I think really wants to drive a van.  I'm not a huge fan, but am trying to be open minded.  Today we test drove a Toyota Sienna, so I got to feel it out a bit.  

There are a few things about a mini van that are really attractive to me.  I like the sliding doors a lot - have you ever walked out of a store to somebody parked 12 inches from you and tried to get your kid into their car seat -kinda sucks!  Also, since we will have to use the third row, this access will be much easier.  The other big thing I like about the van is the storage.  I have concerns with getting strollers into a three row SUVS.  As for style.....I don't love them!

 We have been looking at a Toyota Sienna and the Honda Oddysey.  Today I decided that I like the style of the Toyota a bit more than the Honda, so if we go van I am a bigger fan of the Toyota.

 For SUVs we have been considering the Buick Enclave and the Chevrolet Traverse.  Both are pretty similar inside with a third bench, the Enclave is a bit more on the premium side.  I was initially leaning towards the Enclave, but after sitting in it today I think I like the Traverse more.  Which is good because it is quite a bit cheaper.  

I'm not a huge fan of the short front end of the van, it's a bit strange when driving.  I'm sure you would get used to it.  My biggest concern is driving in snow with the van - I'm not a big fan of driving in snow!  But Keith doesn't think my car drives that well in snow either.  We definitely have storage concerns with any SUV option.  If we buy a Traverse, I'm sure we could find a used one for a decent price.  If we go van, I think we will have to buy new.  There aren't a ton of used ones for sale and the ones that are, aren't that great of a price for the miles.  

MINI VAN LOVERS...

What do you love about your van?  How does it handle in the snow?  Any other brands you recommend?

SUV LOVERS....

Any other vehicles you recommend we look into?  Do you have three car seats, is it easy to get kids in and out?  How is the storage?  

Wordless WednesdaY

Time to compare

(Left 12 weeks pregnant, right 17 weeks pregnant with the boys)

I looked back and I guess I didn't take a 12 week picture round one, but it looks like I was about the same at 17 weeks with twins!!!  Sure doesn't take long to get a belly once you have had a baby!

It's still too early to make a guess if this baby is a girl or a boy.

Unfortunately I had yet to discover blogging while pregnant with the boys, I did keep a tummy tales book somewhat and after some digging I found it in the basement.

I have been extremely tired this pregnancy and am in bed by 9 - 10:00 easy!  This is frustrating to me (even more frustrating to Keith) because I don't get anything done!  I used to go to bed around midnight, so productivity is way down.  I don't remember being quite this tired with the boys but I have a note that says I went to bed around 9:30 then too.  Hoping I get some energy back in a few weeks.

So far I have been craving sugar candy like Mike and Ikes, Starbursts - anything like that!!! So far no major aversions but chicken is becoming less desirable.  Also, I had a delicious bowl of chili one evening and spent the rest of the night on the couch:(  I see last time Chipotle was on the no list, I ate there today, so I guess that is still agreeing.  I haven't really cared for Arby's since the last pregnancy.  I wanted to throw up just looking at a sign.

I haven't been too sick, not feeling awesome but have only thrown up a few times.  About the same as last time.  Lots of headaches, which I remember from the boys.  I've felt more sick in the evening than the morning, which I would actually prefer.

I'm up a good 5-7 lbs (some of which may have happened pre-pregnancy / eating lunch out everyday) - looks like I was up about 5 lbs at about 5 months last time (I gained much more towards the end).  Looks like a measured my waste last time, completely forgot about that so I haven't done that yet.

With the boys heartbeats started at 160's, then stayed pretty consistent around mid 130's.  We've checked the heartbeat a few times so far and it has been about 150 every time.

The Chinese calendar was correct with the boys.  Funny this time I somehow came across two different ones and one says girl, the other says boy.  

It's TRUE....

The Bormann's are expanding!!!  Here is the scoop...

So right now I am 12 weeks, looking at a due date around July 5, but will probably be a bit sooner.

It's been hard to keep this one quiet, I've had to pass up so many drinks the past few months and people catch on to that pretty quick.  Plus I look like I did when I was probably 5 months with the boys!!!

The boys are pretty excited about it - at times!!  They can be really sweet with comments (usually). The day after we told them, Dylan spilled the beans the next day at daycare.  He told his teach that his mommy had a baby in her tummy.  So they confirmed with Carter who told them mommy had a baby brother in her tummy.  Not sure why, but they seem to be set on it being a boy.  I'm not giving in that quick, though on the Bucklin side we are 6 boys to 1 girl and on the Bormann side 3 boys !  Dylan also wanted to buy some PJs for the baby for Christmas:)

A lot have asked, is it just one.  Unless one is hiding out, it is just one!! So we are excited about that.  Also, many people have asked if we will find out.  So I am COMPLETELY ANTI finding out because I love a great surprise, BUT I sure do have a lot of boy stuff so we are leaning towards finding out this round.

I'll keep you guys posted on a few more baby updates.  

A new outlook

Since turning 21, I have really dreaded all my birthdays, hating getting older!! I guess I always enjoy so many things about the present, I don't want those things to go away.  Plus, I really like being in my twenties.  Just a couple short months left. 

However, I recently saw this quote on Pinterest and I guess I never really think about birthdays in this perspective.  But so true!!!  I think I better appreciate the my birthdays a little bit more and maybe getting older isn't quite so bad! 

Loving the holiday season

Christmas is less than a week away!!! I finished my shopping on Saturday, the malls were a bit packed.  Good deals though, almost every store was 40% off.  So I was a wrapping fool this weekend, with the assistance of two helpers of course.  The boys have been big helpers with picking out the bows, so not all match this year:)  Some presents have a few extra pieces of tape and others have a couple extra messages on the name tags, but they seem to be having fun helping.  

It's really fun the boys are finally at an age where they are getting into Christmas.  Dylan and I picked out presents for Keith and Carter (from him) and then Keith helped Carter pick out presents for me and Dylan (from Carter).  We wrapped them and they were both so excited to show them to each other.  And then we work on-- you have to keep it a secret!  Carter hands Dylan his gift and he said "TRAINS".  Then Dylan was looking for something and there were a few trains on the floor, I said it's by the trains, so he picks up his gift for Carter (NO Dylan, the trains on the floor).  

Today they were so excited when they came home from school, they each had a bag of "reindeer food" they put together.  It was pretty cute, so we will have to put that out on Christmas Eve.  We have also been enjoying Christmas music and watching some Christmas classics.  One day Jingle Bell Rock came on and they were like oh is this Jingle Bells, daddy really likes this one!  They are also big fans of Frosty the snow man.  

My bad week strikes again!!!

Remember my bad week I had earlier this month, well it hit me AGAIN!!! Tonight I opened the mail to find a ticket from one of the speed cams in Des Moines.  At first when I opened it I was excited because it was a picture of Keith's truck, so I thought I was in the clear.  Then I looked at the date, it was the morning I had the flat tire, dropped Keith off in Grimes, then rushed into work.  $65!  It was on 2nd street too, I didn't even know they had the speed cams on that road.  Hopefully I don't get any more in the mail.  

According to Carter and Dylan

I've been trying to jot down some of the random things these guys ask us or say so I don't forget all these silly moments.  Here are a few....

Sometimes noses freeze off

There is still a lot of talk about gum around here, one day they were talking about it and I said where did you get gum and Carter said, Daddy gave us gum, and quickly added a right Dylan, daddy gave it to us. (already working on teaming up on me)

We like cookies don't we Dylan

One morning before school, Dylan said, maybe Grandma can come here and take Dylan to her house

Does Oliver live in Sidewalk (no, Norwalk)

They always pick up on random things we tell them and mix it in - I'm always hearing, can we watch just a little bit of Mickey - hey after school maybe I can watch a little bit of Mickey

One day Carters says - I'm talking about a couple snacks (FYI... couple does not mean two to them)

When my tire as flat, they said, let's stop at papa's work and Tanner can fix it.

They talk about Chips, a restaurant in Ankeny, ALL THE TIME!  They love that place, anytime we ask where they want to eat, they say Chips.  They also really like to go to McDonalds and every time we drive by at night they say McDonalds is closed.  Then the other night they said, hey I see people in there- oops, just the workers cleaning up, they are closed!

One day I was holding Carter like a baby and he was looking in my eyes and he says, mommy, I see Carter and Dylan in your eyes.

My mouth sounds like thunder (as Carter makes funny noises)

Today I asked the boys what they were hungry for, Carter told me meat and ham

Last night one of them yells out, HEY, is papa's truck still old.  Yes.  Maybe we should take it to the car wash, it's rusty.

Lately Carter has been saying, that sounds like fun.  Then Dylan says, that sounds silly.  Sometimes the conversation ends.  Sometimes it gets ugly, Carter will get mad and say hey he's saying it's silly, Dylan will get mad and say I'm talking, I'm talking...

Dylan has been sounding a bit rough with his cold, one morning I told him he sounded like a frog.  Then he said something along the lines that he needed to drink something to turn him back into Dylan again.

They really like Vitamin water, so they talk about it all the time

For a while, Dylan kept saying dammit. Glad that has gone away for a while.

Lately they have been having some of their own speak- they have been calling something by the couch the steamer - they talk about it a lot!  Then they keep saying double me and much other random stuff.  They seem to know what they are referring to!

Christmas Festival

A couple weeks ago we went to the Christmas Festival held at the Baxter school.  They had Santa and lots of games in the gym.  Most prizes were suckers and I think we ate one at about every station.

The boys weren't so excited about Santa!  Maybe next year they will like him a bit more.  

It's tough being mom….

Already at three, it starts mom can't seem to do much right!  Lately I have been getting blamed for a lot of things.  For example, one day Dylan puts his pajama shirt on backwards, I'm standing about 10 feet away the entire time and then I get a mom, look what you did!  

Tonight I was helping Carter with cookie dough and it wasn't rolling out quite right, mom it's all your fault...AHHHH, I want daddy to do it!  I feel like this happens about five times a night.  

creativity

We'll go with that!

On another topic...
So you know it's a sign you change into your sweatpants when you walk into the door and your son has a sticker he wants you to wear, but insists you change from your work clothes first!

 

So this is how last week went...

Last week did not go so hot at the Bormann household.  On Monday night when Keith got home with the boys, things were going OK.  Then the power went out.  Keith got dinner cooked just on time for the boys to eat and then as I was driving home everything went dark.  Super weird!!  Dylan was doing great when we got home, then started to go downhill fast!  He had a fever and said his stomach hurt really bad and really he just looked miserable.  We had to go to Ankeny anyway so I decided to take him to Urgent Care incase it was strep.  Luckily it wasn't too crazy there, negative strep and all other tests looked good. So we went back hoping to have power.  No such luck, part of Ankeny was out and all of Polk City.  We packed up our stuff and we were going to stay at the Boyington's and then Dylan got sick!  I was not about to take a puking kid anywhere!  You really don't know how those nights will turn out.

The boys did just fine in the cold, they never seem to get too cold.  Me on the other hand froze with about 6 blankets.  Power finally came back around midnight.  Dylan's fever finally broke by morning, but he still seemed pretty miserable, so we kept him home and Keith took him to the doctor on Tuesday.  He ended up having croup, so they gave him a steroid and he is sounding a bit better every day.  

Wednesday morning I took off for work and something didn't seem right so I got out of my car to find this!!!  Keith was still home getting the boys in the truck to take to daycare, so I called him quick and told him to wait for me.  He was headed to Chicago for a few days for a trade show.  So we left my car, took the boys to daycare, then I had to take him to Grimes, then finally to work.  I had to drive his truck until Friday afternoon.  I always hate driving that downtown, it's so darn big!  That is my second flat in a year.

   

My Thursday didn't start off super well.  Dylan was not having getting out of bed - he said, "mom, shut off my light."  When Carter woke up he said is it a school day or stay home day.  I said school day, he said I'm sick.  I asked him what kind of sick and he said throw up.  Oh boy!!  Then he acted as if he was going to throw up and insisted on getting the bowl!  It took me an hour and fifteen minutes to get them to daycare.  Then they weren't super nice to me that night. 

Thursday I got this parking ticket!  Luckily it was only $5, so I won't complain too much about it.  My mom came over that night to help me with the boys and make us some yummy dinner.  Thank goodness!!!  

Friday I took Carter to the allergist - good news, no allergies.  This is where they did the tests on his back.  He was pretty tough and thought the marks on his back were pretty cool!  He asked me to show him a few times.  

Carter ended up getting croup later this week too.  Poor kids, both sounded awful at night coughing their little lungs out.  Carter's got really bad on Saturday night, so Keith took him outside a couple times but we found the steam seemed to work better.  

Decorating

I enjoyed a bit of extra help decorating this year!  They liked to keep things in the same area!

I think they enjoyed vacuuming more than the decorating!  (Guess what Santa is bringing them!)

Pizza Party

My girlfriends Angie and Sara made a trip to Polk City for an evening.  We had all the kids make their own pizzas, then lots of playing!  Good thing Payton is a big fan of Thomas because we don't have too many girly toys around here.  

Wishbone

After a bit of convincing, I got the boys to do the wishbone.  Not sure they totally got it, but it can be a fun tradition for the years to come. 

Black Friday Shopping

Here is a pic of the boys on Thanksgiving!  Exciting, huh.  Don't try to have a conversation with them while watching a movie.

This year I decided to join the crazies and do a little Black Friday shopping.  I arrived at the mall at about 11:55 pm and waited in my car until close to midnight.   There was a massive line to get in, so I thought I would let them stand in the cold and join them after they were all inside.  It was a bit on the crazy side!!!  However, I was surprised to find about 95% of the crowd consisted of high schoolers that were, let’s just say…in my way!!!  The good side of that, if you stayed clear of Abercrombie and Fitch, it wasn’t all bad.  I didn’t even have to wait in line at a few of the stores.  I was hoping to score a $40 crockpot for $6 at Younkers, but that store was a zoo with a massive line, so I passed on that one and headed to Target. 

I almost left the minute I walked in because the line curled throughout almost every aisle of the grocery section.  I found a toy I was looking for and several games to donate to the Smile Mission on sale for $4. 

Since I was a late arriver, the only carts that were available were freakin monster sized kid carts.  I have to use these things enough – I didn’t really want to in a mad mix of people.  Have you ever pushed one of those, I hit about every shelf. 

So I ended up buying a bunch of stuff at Target, clearly not my best judge at 2:00 am, the next day I had to return a few things that I purchased the wrong type of.  I finally made it back home by about 2:30 to get a few hours of sleep to arrive at the office at 8:00.  I do think I might participate in this madness again someday, but will be sure to have the next day off!