dinner.conversation

Tonight at dinner, we were all discussing the baby.  Here's how the conversation went...

Meredith:  I hope the baby's a boy!
Claire:  Me too!  And I hope the baby is Chinese.
Me:  If the baby is Chinese, I think we might have a problem.
Josh:  Well, Mommy will have more of a problem than Daddy.
(Josh and I are chuckling at each other.)
Meredith:  Yes!  Because then we won't be able to understand what it's saying.

I was laughing at this point, and Josh hadn't yet processed the comment!  Then he did.  And we both laughed hysterically!!

Then, we went on to have a discussion about dialects and how and why we speak the way we do! :)

I love my children.

baby.#4

Guess who's baby is arriving March 18 if not before...ours. :)

We couldn't be more excited (especially me since my feet have been swelling profusely).  I have a sneaky suspicion that I will go into labor ahead of the 18th, but we'll see what happens.  Either way, it's fun to have a date on the calendar!

Yay for babies!  And in honor of beautiful little babies, I thought I would love on my other 3 little newbies of the past. (Click on the image for a larger view.)
 

no.fun

It's been a rough couple of days in our household.  I woke up yesterday morning with a stomach ache, and I just didn't feel well at all.  I felt like I was going to throw up.  And I did...several times throughout the day. 

I couldn't keep anything down yesterday.  Basically, I learned that pregnancy and dehydration do not mix well.  Thankfully, Josh came home around noon to give me some relief.  On a side note, the girls were so helpful in the morning.  Claire got Amelia breakfast and dressed her for the day.  Meredith made me some toast and brought me some water to drink.  They were so sweet! :)

So yesterday afternoon around 2:00, I started having regular contractions which I was pretty sure wasn't a good sign.  So, I called my doctor's office.  I was so exhausted from vomiting all day that I didn't even want to go into their office.  They convinced me to come in...and they assured me that I would get a shot that would make me stop throwing up.  I was definitely willing to go for that!

My good friend, Kristi, came over, picked me up, and took me to the hospital.  I was having some pretty hard contractions that were fairly close together at this point.  My doctor sent me right up to OB and had me hooked up to an IV and monitors.

By this time, my contractions were full-blown and about 2 minutes apart.  My nurse shot me up with something right away to slow down my contractions.  I was severely dehydrated which was causing the labor.

We thought I might be able to go home after 4-6 hours, but I was so severely dehydrated and my contractions had been so close together that my doc wanted them to continue to hydrate me and keep an eye on me overnight to make sure that the contractions didn't return. 

I got to come back home early this afternoon, and I'm supposed to drink water like I'm a fish....ummm, will do. 

Lots of thank yous are owed to my mom (grocery shopping for us, running me around, doing our laundry), Brian and Kristi (running me around, super-yummy dinner brought over tonight), and Josh (holding the fort down at home, staying home from work, cleaning the crazy kitchen, taking good care of me!).  I love you all.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

I'm feeling much better tonight, and hopefully I'll be back running at full speed by the end of the week!

i'm.crowded.roll.over

We could easily sing the "5 little bears in the bed" song each morning in our house. I'll say it (not that I'm proud of it), but I rarely get out of bed before my children.

Josh gets up before it's even considered morning (still the middle of the night in my book). He's up somewhere between 5:00 and 5:30...ick.

Amelia is always next up. She climbs into bed with me and brings with her a few items: pillow, bunny, giraffe, taggie, and about 20 books. Once she gets in bed (mind you, it's still dark outside), she says, "Read to me!" Ummmm....no. I tell her that it's still time to be sleeping. Thankfully, she almost always goes back to sleep. Unfortunately, she takes up 1/2 of our queen sized bed with all of her stuff.

Next comes Meredith. She climbs into bed right next to me on the right side. Amelia is on my left (in the center of the bed). And I just want to sing a little ditty to the baby...."here I am, stuck in the middle with you..." Meredith goes right back to sleep.

Finally comes Claire. Amelia is always awake when Claire is ready to get into bed with us. She always shouts at Claire, "No Claire, my pot!" (Pot=spot). Amelia eventually decides (every morning) that having Claire in bed too isn't the worst thing in the world. She scoots over, pats the bed, and says, "Right here, Claire." Claire climbs in.

We all lay there for about 5 minutes. Everyone talks about how squished they are...except me....although I truly feel like I'm the most squished of everyone. It wouldn't even be so bad if Amelia would take all of her stuff out of the bed! :) Then we read or talk or whatever. There's really no more sleeping at this point.

But this is our routine every morning. It's predictable. It's memorable. It's us. And I know it won't last forever.

Well, this moring, once Claire was situated, she looked over at Amelia. She says, "I love you, Amelia. You're so sweet." Amelia replies in the sweetest voice, "Tanks."

These are the parts of life that I love and want to remember. Oh, and once baby arrives? Well, we might need a bigger bed!

baby.love

So, I've been thinking so much about this baby lately.  Last night I was longing to hold our little one in my arms and trying to remember what it's like to hold a newborn. 

I was thinking about how hectic life will be in our household when there is one more little person that is vying for my attention.  But what's new?  He or she will be the most needy and the least needy all at the same time (at least for a few months). 

As I sat on my couch last night, I thought about how Claire and Meredith will be constantly wanting to hold the baby (which I'm sure I won't really mind too much), but I also thought about the time after the girls go to bed.  I thought about one-on-one time with my new little bundle and pictured him or her curled up on my chest just snoozin' away (mouth open, of course). 

Being that this is most likely our last baby, I have mixed emotions about everything.  On one hand, I'm thrilled to know that in a year my body will be all mine for good.  No one will stretch my torso skin waaaaaay bigger than seems humanly possible.  No one will wake me every single night to eat.  I won't have to diaper bottoms.  I won't have to look at a high chair in my kitchen.  I won't have to lug around a baby carrier or a stroller.  These things I will not miss.

I will, however, miss this incredible feeling of having a child inside of me.  It truly is the most miraculous thing I have ever experienced.  I wish I could bottle up the "feeling" of carrying a child.  But I can't. 

I find it extremely interesting how I can read back through my blog posts and recall memory after memory and emotion after emotion.  But someone kicking me and rolling around inside of me?  In a couple of months, I'll quite possibly never live it again.  And there are no words for me to write that will bring me back to where I am today. 

Last Sunday, I had one of my photographer friends come over and take maternity pictures of me.  I've wanted them for all of my other pregnancies, but we never found the time to get them done (for some reason, we always seem to be in the midst of crazy times in our life when I'm pregnant).  I vowed to do it this time!

I haven't seen any of them yet, but I'm just so thankful to have gotten them taken.  I think between my last 3 pregnancies, I have a total of about 5 pictures of me pregnant.  I didn't want to let this one pass me by!  Even if I can't remember how I felt, at least I'll be able to remember how I looked.

Thinking back to my other pregnancies, I don't recall my other babies being this active in the womb.  I'm not sure if I don't remember correctly or if this baby is just more active.  I also remember getting almost a sick feeling at times when my other babies would move around so much, which isn't the case this time.  Maybe I'm getting more tolerant in my old age. :)

I had to laugh when I saw my pregnancy ticker say this week, "Soon I'll be too big to move as much as I can now."  I'll be surprised if this baby slows down too much!

Being pregnant with baby #4 has been the sweetest experience to share with my girls.  They have loved (and that's putting it lightly) feeling the baby move.  All 3 of them will crowd around me if I mention any movement at all!  And Amelia often assures me that her baby is kicking as well. :)  Don't even get me started on that topic...I can't believe that she's not going to be our "baby" in a couple of months. 

I really didn't mean for this post to go on and on, but I just feel like I need to document this time.  I have about 8 weeks to go before they'll take the baby by c-section.  Sometimes 8 weeks sounds like a pretty long time.  But our days simply fly by around here, and I am very much aware that it will be here before we know it. 

Everyone says to treasure these times, and I promise you that I try (most days!).  But it's like anything, you can't even begin to appreciate what you have/had until it's gone.  When you're in the midst of it, life is downright crazy!  And, rest assured, I'm not complaining...I fully realize that I have a lot on my plate.  I have chosen this path in life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  It is beyond sweet, and I couldn't even begin to count our blessings. 

In light of all of the good things that we've been given, I'll leave you with this:
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

Thank you, Lord.  Amen.

pregnancy.brain.round.5

The other day, after the computer died, I took it back into the office to plug it in for a recharge.  I proceeded to grab the cord and plug it into the side of the computer. 

I hit the power button.  Nothing.  I hit it again.  Nothing.  Hmmmm...

Serious business here.  This is usually very simple. 

Then, I figured it out.  Plugging the printer cord into the computer does NOT bring the same results as plugging the power cord into the computer. 

Problem solved.

And pregnancy brain strikes again! :)

hi-yo!

One of the cutest things that Amelia says right now is "hello". She gets all of her sounds mixed up. One of her mix-ups is y's to l's and l's to y's. Each time she says hello, it comes out like this (in a sing-songy voice):

HI-YO!!!

It really is one of the most adorable things I hear on a daily basis.