UPDATE - Baby Meinhardt #3

So, no pictures for you yet from our 20 week anatomy check/ultrasound but lots to tell you. Where do I start?  First of all, everything looks great.  He said that "our baby was photogenic" because any shot he wanted to get, the baby was right where he needed it to be.  That helped make the appt go quicker.  There were a few super cool parts: one was seeing the heart work super hard to pump blood, second was getting a close up on its face and watching it swallow over and over and third was seeing it sleep hugging the umbilical cord.  It was like it was cuddling with a blanket.  Ryan and I both think it looks like Auntie Courtney (maybe because she's the skinniest family member we have).  It was sleeping so peacefully and it had the cutest little jawbone.  No chubby cheeks yet but there's no doubt those are coming.  The baby now weighs 9 oz and is measuring 50% in femur length, belly size (we also know this will change), head and everything else.  When he typed in all the measurements the computer spit out how many weeks and days I should be and it was right on.  He said that overall, we have a perfectly average baby!  Now, time for the sex!  He told me to turn away when he looked at the sex and I did.  Ryan DID NOT!  He swears it's a girl but I wouldn't trust his ultrasound reading skills.  Remember, we've never found out the sex so we've NEVER seen what it should look like!  Oh yeah, the baby had the hiccups so I am going to say that this one will have acid reflux like Jeremy and Amelia.  I will post pictures when I get the CD of the images....when we get back from Jefferson City!  I will try to post while we're in Missouri but I can't promise anything.

Crazy Kids

Just another day at the Meinhardts!  Watch out Mary, we're coming to town!

Helpful Jbird! If I was put on bed rest....he could have taken over the house cleaning!

Baby Meinhardt #3 update

Had a doctor appt today and I am OFF bed rest!  Everything looks good and the baby was jumping around.  It's butt and legs were all I could see and I tried to sneak a peek of the boy/girl area :)  No luck.  We have our 19 week anatomy check on Friday so I will update with pics and info then!  

Jbird

Silly Jeremy (and Ryan) thought of a fun thing to do with the Costco Cheerio box.  

Dinner of champions....chicken and rice!  Just like his dad who is eating the SAME thing right next to him.

Kids going crazy

Although we're bored being at home with mom, we still have fun in our chairs.  It started sweet, got ugly, sweet again and then Amelia wanted him out of HER chair.  

Watch out Mia Hamm...

The next soccer star is here.  She loves to kick things around so I've started training her early :)  No pressure.

"Moderate Bedrest"

Well Baby Meinhardt #3 is getting some rest!  Or he/she wants mom to have some rest.  I have been put on "moderate" bedrest for one week and if all checks out okay next week (monday is our follow up appt), I will be back to my "on the go" self.  Nothing to worry about, they are just being cautious.  What happens when you can't chase your kids around....

This one is for you Jess...

Auntie Jess wanted to see J on the slip n slide so here it is!  He really has a lot of fun running and sliding!

Another concert...this one was at the beach

We went to another outdoor concert last night and had a good time.  I wasn't too sure about a dinner picnic on the beach with 2 little kids but after the first 20 minutes, we had fun.  When we first got there, there was a rock band and the music was so loud the kids couldn't hear me.  Ryan was bringing the stuff from the car so I was solo trying to get settled.  Amelia was crying and J was rolling in the sand.  Classic of their personalities right?!?!  Anyway, we ate (or tried to eat) dinner and listened to music.  After Jeremy and Amelia finished a huge bowl of strawberries, Amelia started to have fun and Jeremy played with some of the guys.  He loved when Mike threw him over his shoulder and when Michael dragged him through the sand by his feet.  As you can see from the picture, the kids were FILTHY by the time we left.  Oh yeah, Amelia thought dipping her bread into the sand was yummy.  She loved the sand unlike Jeremy at her age who would not leave the towel.  It was such a beautiful night.    

Jeremy the Fish

4 swim lessons in and we have a swimmer. He's obsessed!

Weekend in San Deigo

Lots of fun with Piper, Auntie Jess & Uncle Jon. Sea World and LOTS of pool time!!!!!!

Dancing Queen

Tribute to MJ with Auntie Jess & Piper

Baby Meinhardt #3 - 16 1/2 weeks down, 23 1/2 to go

Had my 16 week appt today and everything looks great.  I had another ultrasound (I've been lucky to have one every appt so we can see the little one, plus the extra ultrasound screening at 13 weeks) and he/she was much more mellow this time.  It looked as if it was sleeping with its head on a pillow.  I asked Dr. Bliss what the pillow looking thing was and she said it was the placenta.  Strong heart beat and the spine looked good.  Anyway, that's it to report until we have the 19 week full check up where they count fingers, toes, check the heart, spine, head, etc.  We will have cool pictures from that so I will post those in a couple weeks.

As for how I am feeling...TIRED!  I'm not sure if it's the pregnancy or taking care of 2 other kids while growing one.  The nausea is gone but I am still getting pretty bad headaches.  They are getting less frequent so I look forward to being free of them.  I am still waiting for the heartburn like I had with J and A but so far, only a couple times.  Maybe this baby will not spit up like them.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  I am trying to enjoy everything about this pregnancy and enjoy Jeremy and Amelia at the same time.  Amelia is entering such a fun age now and while J is a bit more difficult at times, he's such a sweetheart and loves his sister so much.  Alright, after a long day at the museum with Jbird, I am ready for bed.  Till next time!

Amelia video from this morning

She has mastered the stairs as long as they have a railing.  She can do stairs without them (like our front porch) but it just takes a bit longer.  She is climbing onto and into everything and she's becoming more independent.  Thank goodness.  Anyway, here is our crazy girl in action.

Concert at Polliwog Park

During the summer, there are weekly concerts at a park in Manhatten Beach.  It started a bit rough because Jeremy and another little girl slammed into each other.  Ryan was parking the car so I had to leave Amelia in the stroller and run to rescue J.  Anyway, he finally settled down and we enjoyed dinner, listened to music, introduced Jeremy to flavored ice (which he LOVED as you can see by the pictures) and relaxed.  

Date Night

Ryan and I went out to dinner with some of our Hermosa friends to Duke's in Malibu.  It was a beautiful day/night and we had a perfect window table.  Here is a picture of what we looked at while we ate :)  

Amelia and her watermelon

Amelia enjoyed watermelon (lots of it) after a little slip n slide fun of her own!  

Slip n Slide

Organizing

Jeremy likes to play with the hangers from his closet.  As you can see, he likes to organize them!

Fun Morning...not so fun afternoon but a good night!

We had a fun morning.  I packed the kids up and we went to a restaurant near the LAX south runway called the Proud Bird.  They had a blast.  There are old airplanes on display and Jeremy told me he wanted them to take off.  What did they like the best?  A potato bug that crawled out from the grass because the sprinkler was on!  Then we went to get J's hair cut (buzzed) and pick out ice cream for being such a "big boy".  After they woke up from their nap (and my nap), we went to our friend's house to swim.  What was not fun about it...Jeremy cut up the bottom of 4 of his toes on the pool floor.  Talk about drama...he cried forever and crawled around the house on his butt a couple times because "his toes hurt"!  The day ended well with a yummy kabob and fried rice (Ryan and I made) dinner and a walk with the dogs!  Night night kiddos!

4th of July

We had the best 4th of July EVER!  Lots of pictures below and some commentary as to what we did.  Ryan, Courtney, Dave and Opa ran the annual 10K and did really well.  Courtney finished 7th out of 52 (age bracket).  Ryan left for the Palisades early and I headed up when the kids woke up.  I dropped Amelia off with Oma (Teddy also stayed with Oma) and took the big kids to cheer everyone on.  Here they are all loaded up ready to go.  They were quite a load (including the one in the belly) to push but we made it with time to spare.  

Where are they?  They sat patiently on the curb waiting for mom, dad (both Dave and Ryan) and opa to run by.  Luckily, they only had to wait about 10 minutes before we saw them!

Keep on going, you're almost done!!!!

Good job Dad!
After the race, we all headed back to Oma and Opa's house for breakfast.  We hung out, kids played and we geared up for the parade!

The Little gang on our way with beer in the cooler and kids in strollers/backpacks!

Amelia was ready to go with her mardi gras beads on!

The whole family

Jeremy needed Ryan's sunglasses to see since the sun was so bright.  It was hard to spot the divers at first but once they got closer, he was locked in.

Skydivers start off the parade.  4 of them jumped and they all came in and landed very fast.  The kids loved it.

All the kids behaved so well.  They all sat and watched almost 2 hours of the parade. There were fire trucks, horses, bands, bagpipers, local floats and lots of cars.  

The whole clan

Amelia pointed ALL afternoon!  She even said, "hi" every time she saw a horse or dog!

Best Buds

During the parade, the cowboy asked if anyone wanted to get roped?  Georgia did and thought it was fun to have the rope spinning around her!

After the parade, we went home and put some of the kids down for a nap so they could be awake for the fireworks.  While they slept, the adults enjoyed a beautiful afternoon on the patio drinking and snacking.  Once the kids were up, we had burgers, hot dogs and ribs that Dave and Christian grilled on the BBQ.  Yummy.  We put Teddy and Amelia down for bed at 8 and then headed to Palisades High School for the fireworks show.

There were a couple live bands to entertain us while we waited and entertain they did.  Jeremy, Cece, Georgia and Kira danced right in front of the stage and Jeremy was in awe part of the time.

Cece and Jeremy ran around the field waiting for the fireworks to start.  Once the fireworks started, Jeremy wanted to sit next to Cece!  Shocker.

After the show ended we headed to Oma and Opa's to pick up Amelia.  Both kids stayed awake the whole drive (Jeremy saw and looked for more fireworks the entire way home) It was a great day!!!!!  Jeremy couldn't stop talking about the fireworks and both fell dead asleep when we got home.  Oh yeah, they both slept until 8:30 this morning!!!!!
Happy 4th!!!!!!

Playing over at Jack's house!

Mommy set up the cones so the boys could run and get some energy out!  I have to say that I did pretty well...I think I get that from my mom!

Nectarine anyone?

Wait, Amelia ate them all!  Well, half of one and then threw it away and started on the next!

Where is Dad?