37 weeks is full term!
Well, I’m puffy all over, from my face to my toes, with a bump that is…
well, fairly spectacular and even makes me stop when I pass a mirror and just say, “WOW!”
But as of now, we are both healthy and in the home stretch, counting down the days until the little guy makes his appearance. One to three weeks from now. That seems like such a short time, but the days are still long and uncomfortable. We’ll keep you posted!
I went to an ultrasound school yesterday and got a free ultrasound just for fun. It was so nice to see the little guy who is making me so uncomfortable. 🙂
We didn’t get any good 3D shots, when we started trying he turned his head into my back and wouldn’t move again. Stinker. But we did get a nice profile shot:
That thing up by his face is a foot. The other one was planted firmly between his legs and wouldn’t let us get another look at his gender, but I have no reason to think the first U/S wasn’t right.
Oh… and he’s breech. I know we have a long time for him to turn, so I am certainly not panicking yet. I am mildly concerned because all my other kids were head down and stayed that way well before this point. I have a midwife appointment next Wednesday and we will talk about it then.
I hate to post when I am in a slump. I don’t want to be a downer and really don’t like for people to see me this way. But I have been in a slump for a while now and life is passing this blog by. So I am just going to let this post be what it is and see what happens.
My house is a chronic mess. Picking up things that don’t belong on the floor is a bad idea for me anymore so the best I can do is kick things into piles and nag the kids. That makes them super happy! (Not really.) But better yet it makes me feel like a crappy mom for freaking out about little stuff. And I really screwed up this weekend, with two things that will cost us a bunch of money, so I have spent the day kicking myself. Or I would have, if I could still reach to do it. But mostly I just waddle around and whine instead.
This pregnancy has been a rough one on my vanity. I started bigger and have gained more than usual and I can’t really do anything about it. My skin has been a nightmare, especially on my face where another chin, a wider nose, and a couple of jowls have shown up. And isn’t outgrowing clothes fun? It was when I was a kid. Not so much now. Let’s not even discuss my hair which has become such a nuisance that it mostly is just shoved up in a clip all the time anyway. At least it is cool that way!
Anyway… enough about my messy house, money troubles and weight.
In other news, I have two kids who REALLY want to get their drivers licenses. Which could be a great help if I can ever find time to take them driving. Or gas money, which brings up that whole money thing again. Still, when did my kids get this old?
Lots of reading has gone on here this summer. Since there is really no TV to watch (only netflix streaming and that is limited to stuff PG and under) the kids have finally gotten bored enough to pick up some books. Which is great, except for the giant piles of books on the floor as they filter through them to find something to read. This is the same floor that I can’t seem to bend over and pick things up off of. I can boast that I actually finished a book! Starting them is never a problem but finishing is never my strong point.
We were able to see the Harry Potter 7.2 movie the night before it opened, which was fun, and our 21st anniversary is this Wednesday – We have a gift certificate for a nice dinner and will use that sometime in the next week.
The kids have a little bit bad case of cabin fever since we are stuck indoors most of the time with the heat. Even going places is difficult because they whine and cry about the hot car seats (and yes, they are covered while we park, they still get hot enough to bother them.) So we mostly don’t go anywhere. We do swim a fair bit and Max and Lily have really improved this summer. Lily can get to a back float and rest and can swim all over the pool. Max is a completely independent swimmer now. Molly has a death wish and thinks she can breathe underwater. She is constantly just throwing herself off the pool steps and just enjoying the feeling of being submerged. Crazy girl!
So we have our good times too.
Here are some recent pictures just to bring you up to date:
Posy straightened Lily’s hair one day last week, she looked like a completely different kid!
Snow white bit her apple and fell into a deep sleep…
Yes, another sleep picture.
Who needs Barbie Dolls when you have little sisters to dress up? Molly is ready to take on the world!
And finally, the best for last: Molly and Max having a potty party.
So that is it for now. Like I said in my last post, I am working on small things to make life more manageable right now. This is just one of those long, dreary summers and we’ll get through it just fine.
I hope you all are keeping busy and cool!
The year after Ben was born, we noted a curious trend in our pictures. For nearly a year, all the pictures we took of the kids were either of them sleeping or in the bath. We had 4 children, age 7 and under, and we were both seriously overwhelmed. Seeing the kids sleeping was a reminder of just how lovely and sweet they were. And I guess we documented that a lot to help us remember that!
So I had to laugh when I was flipping through my recent pictures on my phone the other day and I realized that I have an awful lot of pictures of sleeping kids right now, and not much else.
You have to admit, sleep pictures of little children are a little bit enchanting. And it s so nice to know that they are not getting into anything right at that moment. But it brought home to me the reminder that I am gearing up for a year or two of fairly intense chaos and I need to be careful to take care of myself in this, while keeping things smooth for my family as well.
I have felt pretty decent during this pregnancy, but muscle pain from abs that have been ripped apart many, many times now slows me down considerably. As much as I am looking forward to our new baby, I am not looking forward to not having the time to spend quiet hours with him as I enjoy his newness and recover from birth. We will be swept quickly back up into the ebb and flow of daily life with many demands. For this reason, pain and discomfort aside, I am grateful for this pregnant time when the baby is quiet and manageable and all mine.
Still, his time will come, and I will find myself again in that mommy fog of having 4 kids under 7, 3 of whom aren’t yet in school. Only this time I have several children older than 7 who also need me. So I think I have preemptively gone into sleep appreciation mode.
This coming school year will be a challenge like none I have yet faced, and I am bracing for a bit of a hurricane.
In the mean time, I am doing my bit to prepare: planning a month of meals that replays each month on my google calendar, working on a running chore chart for the kids (and getting them to DO the chores, which is the real trick), decluttering the house, tightening the budget, planning out Christmas.
God, for His part, is working on my heart, as always. Teaching me to let some things go, to trust more completely, and showing me more of what it means to really pray. You can follow that part of my journey over at Circling Jericho, where my wandering around in circles does seem to help get me somewhere. I am specifically being raked over the coals addressing the issues I have with trying to control everything and surrendering to God right now. (Part 1 and Part 2, with more to come.)
For now, I will prepare for what I can and try to let go of the rest, and maybe take a few more pictures of the kids with their eyes open, because they are absolutely delightful awake as well.
I realized yesterday as I posted on Control and Surrender at Circling Jericho that there are quite a few things I have left out of my recent blog updates. Mostly because there haven’t been many recent blog updates. So, in the interest of keeping you all up to date with us, I will cover the last few months of stuff.
Let’s see… where to start? You all know that I am pregnant with number 9, and I can say now that morning sickness this time was on a completely normal level. As much as morning sickness sucks, it is not nearly as bad as hyperemesis. But I was spared that this time and, while it slowed me down quite a bit, it wasn’t too bad. HOORAY!
As I was easing out of morning sickness, Jay had a pretty major work accident where part of his right middle finger was removed when a manhole cover slid from his grasp and crushed it off. This led to emergency surgery and many weeks of pain. I have never seen him in such pain. But he is doing much better now and back to full function, albeit with one finger a bit shorter. I have pictures of the injury, but I think I will spare you those.
The next thing up this spring was a string of sicknesses in the kids (which they generously shared with us as well!) that lasted over two months long. It included two stomach viruses, and a couple of nasty respiratory bugs that brought on asthma flares and eye infections. One of the things I have learned in this large family is that about every 4-5 years we will have a string of sicknesses that lasts for months on end, where it seems like we just can’t get everyone well at the same time. This is one of those years for us. As I write, everyone is well (knock on wood) but from the sounds in the other room, I am betting Molly gets a breathing treatment before the day is out.
Part of this spate of sickness hit Molly particularly hard and landed her in the hospital for a night for IV hydration.
That was no fun for any of us. She hadn’t held anything down for over two days and suddenly hit a point where she was nearly limp and barely awake anymore. Time to head to the ER! After looking at how dehydrated she was, they made the call to admit her. One dose of Zofran (How I love that drug!) and lots of fluids later, she was good ans new and was released just 27 hours after arriving.
So that brings us to about the end of March, which puts us squarely in the middle of Lent with all its extra masses and events. And so we spun in circles for a few weeks.
Then a couple of weeks after Easter, Tessa received the Sacrament of Confirmation and First Holy Communion! Her godparents were able to come into town for a whirlwind trip to be with her and we had a lovely weekend. (Isn’t she just beautiful?)
The next big event was our 20 week ultrasound. So I am sure you are all wondering what the boy/girl score will be with the addition of #9.
<Drumroll…>
IT’S A BOY! And, more importantly, he is perfectly healthy.
Which brings us to a total of 4 boys, 5 girls. The kids were all hoping for twin boys to even the score. But I think one baby at a time is enough for me right now.
Finally, at almost exactly 18 months, Molly decided that she was done with diapers and potty trained. That took up a lot of my time while she went through the stage of needing to go potty nearly every 20 minutes. But I think we are past that now and she is reliably even sleeping in panties!
After that, school got out, summer school started for Posy, and I spent a lot of time writing for the moms’ retreat. And now here we are in the middle of June.
2011 is speeding by faster than I can grasp!
Molly and Lily stare longingly at the pool. It’s still not warm enough for me yet, though.
So here begins the year in pictures once again. I make no apologies for it’s lapse, even though it was longer than I planned, or for the quality of the pictures. This here is real life and it moves too fast sometimes for me to go and get my good camera.
So… here are Molly and Lily, ready for their daily viewing of Cinderella.
Molly is a blur, because she is always trying to grab the camera or phone. Lily did her own hair this morning! Can you tell?
Paisley doesn’t get her own feature very often anymore. But she is growing up and writing her own life now. Today she went with Lily, Molly, and me to Costco. She has gone often enough before and picked up a few items, but today she outshopped me! She filled her own cart. I just thought that was a big milestone.
Lily had been stuck in the house all week, so after picking the kids up from school today I decided to stop for a treat, ice cream cones and playland at McDonalds.
Happy Birthday, Posy! I can’t believe you are really 16 years old. You have gone from a fussy baby, to a rambunctious toddler, to a creative, thoughtful, amazing young woman. You are quiet and watchful one moment, taking in everything around you, and wild and crazy the next, keeping everyone around you laughing. You are going places, my little girl. The world is your oyster.