A See Ya Later to the Dinosaurs (For Now)

On Good Friday which was also the last day of spring break here, along with the rest of northern VA, D.C. and Maryland, we decided to head to D.C. to check out the Natural History Museum and see the Dinosaur exhibit before it closed for renovation. It will not reopen till 2019. Our baby boy in utero will be 5 by then.

Like I said, the rest of the surrounding states were there as the line for the museum was outside the door.
Thankfully it moved quickly.

We really were only able to see the dinosaur exhibit while we were there and a little bit of the sea life exhibit and one other exhibit before our children started melting down.
(It had been about 3 1/2 years since we had been and back then we only had 2 children and they didn't really remember it.)

The dinosaur exhibit was PACKED. We were so glad we had decided against the stroller although it meant Rosie wanting to be carried everywhere around D.C. Not to mention that FJ had a tummy ache and wanted to be carried too. So I ended up carrying Rosie which in turn caused me to have one long BH contraction for the entire time I was carrying her.
What we won't do for our children.
Anywho, here are some pics from our time there (along with Flat Stanley):
Took this pic to remember where we parked- 

 Walking to the museum...notice E carrying Rosie..at this point regretting our decision to not have the stroller or Ergo.

 She's unhappy because brother wanted in the pic too. Imagine. The injustice!

Happy Birthday, E-Love

My husband, my love,  the father of our children, celebrated his birthday in February and I realized I never posted this blog post to the blog!

Over the weekend, his parents celebrated him with cake and on Monday, the kiddos and I took him out to eat at Eggspectation...and the name is what it suggests...lots of delish menu items with eggs as the main dish.

Lots of cake and lots of happy birthday wishes for him.
He is such a catch and I try to thank him often for choosing me.
I love him!

Wobbie and Shar-In

Uncle Rob and Aunt Sharon aka according to Rosie "Uncle Wobbie" and "Aunt Shar-In"
came for a visit two weeks ago and we had such a fun time!

They are truly awesome.
We love them!

They are fun, adventurous and very helpful!

We and they took lots of pics to share.

It was truly a great few days.
That Saturday, we took them to a farm that has a ton to do...
like a cow train-

 

And ice cream-

 And a bouncy pillow-

 And feeding the farm animals-

 

Our kids were so worn out on the way home, they all fell asleep

 
That Saturday night, E and I got a date night! Rob and Sharon had so kindly volunteered to watch our children for us so we could go out. They even asked to watch them overnight for us!! But we decided to come back home that evening because we realized we would only be sleeping at the hotel and wanted a little more time to visit with them too.
My father in law had bought us tickets to a play called Camp David in D.C. as an anniversary gift. He has been generously buying us tickets to a show each year as an anniversary gift for about 4 years now.
So we took the evening off and went out to eat and went to the play and I snapped some shots on our way there and on our way home-

 

Friday and Sunday, Gramma came over for a visit-

Then on Monday, we took Sharon and Rob to Great Falls Park which is beautiful. E and I had never taken our children but we had gone when we were dating.

 Checking out a butterfly-

We got outside often with the kiddos and had a great time playing with Sharon and Rob outside-

We were so blessed by their visit and look forward to seeing them in Cape May later this summer!

36 Weeks and a Heart Update

I hit 36 weeks on Mother's Day. 

That was when FJ was born. Thankfully I didn't go into labor on Sunday. 

We had our 4th echo last Tuesday. Took all of my brood. E kept them occupied with the iPad once we got to the echo room.

We received good news again!!

The pericardial effusion (excess fluid) had not returned. 

Only the right ventricle is thick, not the left. The ventricle was thicker this time but only because the heart has grown as the baby had grown. So the ventricular hypertrophy hadn't gotten worse. 

Baby boy will be screened for CHD in the hospital as all babies are when he's born even though he has actually already been screened in utero. It is done simply with a stethoscope and watching him breathe. If he has breathing problems, then our cardiologist will be called and an echo will be done in the hospital. If no problems present themselves, then he will have an echo done within 7 days at the same office where I've had the echoes done.

I got a little sentimental thinking how sweet it will be being back at the office where I've been having the echoes. And holding him there and having our cardio doc meet him after all these months...after this journey. 

Below is a photo of our baby boy's heart:

Please continue to keep him in your prayers-that his heart will be completely healthy and stay that way.