Happy Third Birthday, Callum!

Happy, happy birthday to my sweet boy! I know it's been said a hundred times, but try to find someone out there who disagrees: The days are long, but the years are so, so short. These last three years have flown by. They've been challenging. They've been exhausting. But, they have far been the best years of my life.

Here's a not-so-short recap of what Callum's been up to the last 365 days.

Callum: There's just no way to explain how much I love you. Simply put, you are the best. Here are a few things I never want to forget about three-year-old Callum.

You are not shy. In fact, you are the most outgoing person I think I've ever met. You say hi to everyone and are never scared in new situations. Most of the time, I'm so grateful for this. I can drop you off at new places, and easily leave without tears from you. You always seem to meet a friend or two at the park. Plus, you make strangers smile on a regular basis when you enthusuastically answer their 'Hi!'s. Your brave personality does not go without its challenges, though. It can be especially difficult in public places where you will just explore, and not look back to make sure I'm behind you.

According to you, your favorite color is green, your favorite food is strawberry milk, and your best friends are Bronte, Ollie, and Henry. But, you can't pick a favorite between Jax and George.

You comment constantly while anyone is driving. "Slow down. Which way are we going? Which way are we turning? Go faster!" Instead of saying "press the breaks," you say "Squeeze on the breaks!"

You are so, so sweet! You have the kindest, most caring personality.

Unless we're talking about the dogs. You have definitely gotten rougher with them over the past year. But, you still give them plenty of food, so they stick pretty close.

You've grown so much this year! You literally went from chunky toddler to little boy. And, you seem to be catching up a bit to your peers.

Newborn Callum. Be still my heart. Photo by Simple City.

You amaze me with your mess-making abilities.

You say "Holy Man!" when you are exasperated.

You want an audience for everything, even when you're going to the bathroom (which has to be one of my least favorite mom jobs).

Speaking of the bathroom, you've been potty trained for about two months now. It took some time to click, but once you got it, there was so turning back.

You are still way too attached to your nay nay (pacifier). I just keep telling myself you won't go to college with it.

You love to play hide-and-go-seek and tag. Whenever you hide, you just sit and laugh the whole time, so we know exactly where you are. Also, tag pretty much means you just want to be chased.

You could watch TV forever. (Don't worry. We definitely cut you off, which always results in a fit.) Your favorite shows are Dinotrux, Dinosaur Train, Thomas, and Paw Patrol.

You also love the movie "Land Before Time." You love it so much, that you like to run around and scream "Sharktooth!!"

Photo by Simple City.

I'm not quite through with the dinosaur theme. You "Roar!" at everything. Not only while you're playing, but also when you are upset with me or Dad. It's like you replace "No!" with "Rooooooooooar!"

You are so brave! Any time I think you're too little to do something, you prove me so wrong. You already told Dad you want to ride the roller coaster the next time we're at Bay Beach.

You do not sit well at restaurants. Taking you out to eat is a nightmare.

You can count to ten and sing the alphabet.

You love Bronte. You guys play together just about every single day. One of you will call for the other through the window or over the fence, and then the fun begins.

We've gotten in to the bad habit of laying with you until you fall asleep every night. And, most nights you wake up and crawl in to our bed. This definitely needs to be changed before your little brother arrives.

Speaking of siblings, you are going to be the best big brother around. I think you will be disappointed when you discover a newborn can't play trains with you, but you've already offered up your diaper-changing services. ;) The other day, you said that when the baby arrives, you're going to "tickle him, and share your toys with him, and play hide and seek with him."

You also think it's possible for a baby to grow in your stomach just by drinking an extra glass of milk. That discussion is definitely a few years off.

You've learned how to play "I Spy," but you just say, "I spy a red car!" So, you don't quite get it.

You would be naked all the time if we let you.

You always say, "How was your day at work?" when I get home from the office. It's the sweetest.

You always want to figure out how things work. When we were on the ferris wheel for your first time, all you could do was stare at the gears and try to discover what made it go.

Happy, happy birthday, Callum! Thanks for making every day brighter. I'm so lucky to be your mom. I can't wait to see what your third year has in store.

25 weeks and it's a ....!

Remember that time about a month ago I said I was going to start blogging weekly about this pregnancy? Hahahaha. I should’ve known better.

Well, here we are. Week 25. I figured it was probably time for another state of the uterus address. 15 weeks to go, and I have a feeling it’s going to fly by.

First and foremost, we do know the gender of Baby Olson. We are having another BOY and we couldn’t be more thrilled. I’m so excited for Callum to have a brother. I can already envision all the shenanigans in the years to come, but I totally love it. I’m so looking forward to watching how their relationship grows and develops. I also feel like I can predict a bit more of what I’ll be in for. I already know how to be a boy mom, and it’s pretty darn great. I do know I’ll have to brace myself for lots of wrestling, broken everything, a refrigerator that will be impossible to keep full, and so much, let’s just say boy grime, but I can’t say that I’m bothered by any of it. At least for right now.

We did do a gender reveal with some of our best friends and family. Our friend, Jill, baked cupcakes for the party, so she was the first to find out. It was so much fun and definitely exciting. With Callum, we never found out the gender, and I’m still on the fence about which I like better. There was something so exciting about not knowing the gender until the baby was born. But, this time around, it’s been so fun to paint the nursery and buy a few things for a baby boy. Both experiences were exciting, and I’m just not sure I can say which I prefer. I’m sure I’ll have a stronger feeling one way or the other as I finish this pregnancy and have the baby. I’ll keep you posted.

Finding out it's a BOY, with a beyond amazing banana cream cupcake!

Overall, I’ve been feeling really great! Still pretty tired almost always, but I think my body is just getting used to that. The last three weeks or so have probably been the best I’ve felt this whole pregnancy. It’s been much less humid out, which I think helps a lot. I’ve also been eating a lot better, and I know that definitely helps how I feel.

I’ve still been working out 4-5 times a week, which also helps me feel less sluggish. I try to run 2-3 times a week. I do about three miles at a time and am clocking about 11:00 minute miles. They still feel pretty good, and most days I can make it without feeling like I’m going to pee my pants. So, I’m going to keep on trucking. I ran with Callum until the end, but was definitely doing more of a run/walk the last several weeks of the pregnancy. I’m hoping I can do the same this time around. I’ve also been taking barre classes the other 2-3 times a week. A new studio, Barre District, opened a month or so ago just a couple minutes away from us, and I love it so much! I can not say enough good things about the place. I can tell the workouts are making me feel so much stronger. Plus, the people are just amazing! It really is like working out with your friends. Not to mention, they have free childcare for some of the classes, which Callum loves going to. If you’re in the Tosa area, I definitely recommend checking them out. I’m going to keep up with barre for as long as I can, too, which I’m hoping is until baby's arrival. It’s low-impact and pretty easy to tone down as I need to.

My hormones have definitely been pretty out of control, but that’s to be expected. Speaking of barre, we were late to class the other day, and ended up missing it. I called Matt in tears because I missed barre class. Bahaha. So ridiculous. I was also watching this video the other day of a pregnant woman doing zumba. Also made me cry. I was just so proud of her, I guess it brought me to tears. But, just check out how she rocks that bump! Super impressive. I can’t help but laugh thinking of it now. We also just adopted out a foster dog, Clefairy, we had for about a week. I’ve never had a harder time getting rid of a foster. She was a pretty great dog though, and we bonded almost immediately. She was my shadow and such a big snuggler. I loved her. She will go down as my favorite foster ever. Combine her absolute perfect dogness with my hormones, and saying good bye was so ruff. (Sorry, couldn’t resist that one.) But, honestly, it’s a good thing she got adopted pretty quickly. Lord knows the last thing we need is another dog.

At my 20 week anatomy scan, they found “dilated collecting tubes” by the kidneys. Basically, the ureters would a little larger which could be the sign of a blockage. So, I was sent to the parenatal specialist for another ultrasound. At that ultrasound, the doctor did another complete scan and gave us the all clear. Everything looked great and had cleared up on its own. Whew! The doctor said that sometimes those tubes just aren’t quite developed at the anatomy scan. I had the specialist scan at about 24 weeks, and was told the baby was measuring about 1.5 pounds, right on schedule. I’ve also gone in a few times to GE as a ultrasound volunteer, which is always such a cool experience. Their machines are amazing and it’s always so nice to have another peak at baby.

Baby Boy at 24 weeks.

I’m still seeing Dr. Hoelzle, and really love her. At my last appointment, though, I found out she’s expecting her second baby and her due date is exactly the same as mine! I’m obviously super excited for her, but a little bummed that she’ll most likely miss my delivery. This is just how it played out with Callum’s delivery, which sort of makes me smile. I saw Dr. Hoelzle my whole pregnancy, and then Dr. Mickleson was there for the delivery. At least we’re consistent. :)

Well, 1,000 words later, I think that’s about it for now. Sorry for the beast of a post. The desire to write hasn’t been striking often, so I’ll take advantage of it when I can. I’ll do my best to get ya another update in the next few weeks. Until then, it’d be great if you could bottle up any extra energy you have and send it my way. I promise it will go to good use.