37 Weeks!

Saturday started my 37th week of my 4th pregnancy.  It is so exciting to be so close to meeting my 4th child.  We think we probably have a name picked out, but won't decide for sure until we see her.  We're not telling the name we have picked, it's a surprise!

 

 Here I am with my oldest and my youngest. I'm not too terribly uncomfortable yet.  I have been having quite a few contractions though.  Not sure if I will make it 3 more weeks!

 Brooke turned 2 this week.  We celebrated with "pink a licious" cake.  One of her favorite books is called "Pinkalicious"  It's about a little girl that makes pink cupcakes with her mom and she eats so much she turns pink.  It is so cute to hear Brooke say, "Pinkalicious"  so we knew we had to make a pink cake.  Last year she didn't want to touch her cake.  This year she had no problem diving in!

 Addy has been fingerknitting a lot lately.  She is very creative and came up with a way to make a hat for the baby.

Monday we had some unseasonably warm weather, so we headed outside to do some "science".  Addy found a colony of snails in this water.  One of the snails had red on it.  We talked about why one might be red and not any of the others.  I don't know the real reason, but we decided the red one must be the king. We're still trying to figure it out for sure.

This morning (Wednesday) we woke up to SNOW!  The kids were so excited.  We love this crazy Kansas weather.  (Maybe that's why I've been having contractions!)

Yeah, January....

Baby Update

I wanted to post a picture, but for some reason blogger hasn't been letting me post pictures recently.  So here's the update on baby Marshall.

Yesterday was the last sonogram.  We learned that the cysts have not changed.  It isn't bad news because they haven't gotten bigger.  The Dr. said that they will not cause her any problems and she will have a normal delivery.  Her head is down and in a few weeks she will be ready to go!  He suggested the best thing for her is a calm, peaceful, quiet birth, and said the birth center would be a great place to be born!  He looked all her organs over very well and said that he doesn't forsee any complications, but if there are any it will not be due to the cysts.  All her other organs look great and are functioning great.  I could see her doing some practice breathing.  She was inhaling the amniotic fluid and her chest was going up and down just like she was breathing. 

The one thing the doctor did notice was that she is a little small.  She weighs a little over 5 pounds   now. In past sonograms she has been right in the middle of the graphs, but now she is on the lower end.  We're not too concerned, because all my babies have been on the lower end.  I wasn't even on the charts when I was a baby.  But he wants me to try to get more rest than I am getting and just take it easy more since she is not gaining as well.  He told me to let the dust bunnies collect and let someone else do my chores.  I have been going at it really hard lately trying to get things ready, and I do have a 6, 4, and almost 2 year old.  But I know I can cut back a little.  More training time for the kids on picking up and cleaning!

I  have not been sleeping very well at night already, and my iron is a little low, so that also contributes to the baby's rate of gain. I don't know why your body thinks you need to practice getting up at night.  It knows how to do everything else well when you have a baby, but I don't understand why my body thinks I need to wake up so much, when really I need to sleep more!  Oh well, 4 more weeks until I'm waking up for a good reason.  Could be less, I've never made it to my due date!

Precious, Fun, and Funny Times.

I enjoy my kiddos so much.  It is so fun to watch them play and listen to them talk.  There are also times that are hard and I wonder, "Why am I having more kids?  I can hardly handle the ones I have!"  But then my almost 2 year old comes up to me out of the blue and says, "I wuv you mommy."  And the 4 year old hears it, so he has to come say, "Momma, I love you, can I show you I love you?  And he covers me with kisses."  Then my 6 year old comes into the kitchen and says, "Mommy, you don't need to to all the work, let me wash the dishes."  And another night when I am washing the dishes she says, "Mama, I just want to sit on the couch and talk with you about something." 

It's all those little things that happen during the day that are so precious.  The things you can't plan or make happen by yourself.  But not only are they sweet and cuddly, they are SO FUNNY! 
Brooke is not much of a baby anymore, but she has figure out that if she wants to try to get out of something, she will say, "I'm only a baby."  So Luke was wanting her to help him do something, I can't remember what it was, maybe pick up some toys, and she said, "But I only a baby!"  It is amazing how her little brain works.  She has learned when to use the words his, her, theirs, etc.  so naturally when something is hers, it is "mines".  If Luke has one of her toys, "Lukey, it's mines!"

Addy has been into writing books lately.  She sounds out words and spells them the way she thinks they sound. It is so fun to read what she comes up with.  Her books don't really tell a story, but are whatever she is thinking about or doing at the moment.  One page is a verse she copied from the bible.  The random verse she chose was, "It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper..." and then she ran out of room.

And then there is Luke.  He is always making little inventions.  He likes to invent things in the bathroom with soap, toilet paper and water.  Well, he used to.  He is always building something.  He loves blocks, boxes, blankets and laundry baskets.  Some of the best building material!  He is such a happy little guy, always getting excited for whatever we are doing next.  The other day the UPS truck stopped at our house. Luke sees it and starts yelling, "A package! Yea! A package! We got a package!" Then as the man runs back to the truck he opens the door and yells, "Thank you!!!" He was disappointed to find that the package was only daddy's insulin.

But our highlight of the day is when Daddy comes home.  We are all so glad to see him.  Addy and Luke always hide and jump out and try to scare him.  Brooke runs around yelling, "Daddys home, Daddys home!" She's always right there ready to hug and kiss him.  The kids then start telling him all their stories and adventures throughout the day at the same time. 

I love being a mom more and more all the time.  It's fun, it's hard, and there is nothing I would rather do. There is real joy in knowing that you are doing what God desires. I am so blessed to be able to pour into the lives of 3 (almost 4) of of my favorite people.