Leaps and Bounds

I know all I blog about is the Little Mister these days, he's just changing so fast and I know how quickly this first year goes. He's acquiring new skills at lightening speed, reaching for things, rolling over, even gave us a full on belly laugh that surprised even him. Of course he's absolute perfection and a perfect doll, and here is photographic evidence.

Up, Up, And Away

Mr. Golden Curls is finally done with first grade. We had about a week and a half tagged on to the end there for snow days. Wednesday was his last day and he got to ride in a hot air balloon, sweet! He's such a nervous Nelly sometimes that we weren't sure he'd want to go once he was there but he's getting braver in his old age and not only rode it but loved it.

When I saw the picture of him above he looked so big to me it broke my heart just a little bit. I know a lot of parents dread summer break and having their kids home all day every day but I eat it up, especially since Spitfire will start Kindergarten in the fall! We're already getting into the swing of summer, staying up later, sleeping later, keeping the freezer stocked with frozen treats and living in jammies and bathing suits. Even the Little Mister is getting in the spirit and has been sleeping through the night for about a week, this morning sleeping until a blissful 7am! All is feeling right and balanced in the world, it's summertime baby!

The Sillies

We've got buckets full of the sillies! Almost 8 weeks old and we're getting smiles and sweet talking galore from the Little Mister, making the big brothers very happy...and mamma and pappa too.

Brothers Three

I can't believe its been three weeks since the Little Mister arrived. It already feels like that was lifetimes ago, like he has always been here. I've been really surprised at how easily his big brothers adjusted to having him here. There really has been no adjustment at all. A few times we've been asked questions like "Why does Mama have to hold the baby all the time?" and once or twice heard statements like "Ok, it's time to put your baby down." but all in all its been a smooth and calm transition. Nothing like adding number two 20 months after the first, with all the terrible twos tantrums, double dose of diapers and general chaos that brought with it. In the picture above Three is in the background. It took about 3 hours before he could come out and meet the family, something that did not make for a happy mama!

The big boys are just so, well, big, that its made it easy to keep their routine pretty much the same. They've been doing most things by themselves already so there's no feeling that it's the baby. They are both very curious about him and count themselves baby experts. They seem especially into him when he's crying because it's a signal to them that they can interact with him. They like to be the one to calm him. Mr. Golden Curls had the hilarious insight the other day that "Right now he's the crying type but pretty soon he'll be the smiling type." I think he's ready to be the recipient of some smiles!

Three boys. Oooh boy!! Not sure I really know what I'm in for but I have a feeling it will involve a lot of noise, band-aids and the need for me to have regular, girls only vacations.

One of these things is not like the other! Ok, there is still a chance that the Little Mister will end up blond, his hair is looking lighter already and Spitfire started out dark headed and now look at the blond! But he is dark haired and darker skinned which is making his dark and handsome Pappa very happy!

Bed Rest Is OVER!

The Little Mister was finally born at 5am on
Tuesday, March 22nd 2011
8lbs 14oz 20in

I say finally but, just like his big brothers, he did mamma a favor and came 2 weeks early, sparing me additional bed rest. I didn't have to be induced, yea! I avoided an epidural, I didn't want this to be my first, but I did go a new road and opted for some IV drug to take off the edge. And thank goodness for that, Little Mister was in the "Sunnyside Up" position (facing up instead of down-the easier way) making him a doozy to birth, even with the drugs. And again, just like his brothers, he was very considerate and was born swiftly. Even with trying to arrive extra early, not waiting for 5 min contractions, we were only in the hospital about 3 hours before his arrival. What a wonderful date to be born. As my good friend pointed out the numbers are 32211, super cool! And it's my maternal grandfather's birthday, making it a day with extra special meaning.

Final bed rest count: 3 weeks to the day. Thanks to my mom-in-law I survived with sanity mostly in tact and a clean and fully stocked house waiting for us when we returned from the hospital. If only those three weeks of rest could be stowed away and used during these first few exhausting months of newbornhood. Unfortunately the body does not stock pile rest and I'm blissfully exhausted.

The Bed Rest Club

I have been blessed by two of my fellow book clubbers sending me books and am pretty quickly working my way through the stack. When 'Bed Rest' the novel was brought to my door it was just too fitting not to read immediately. I wasn't sure through most of it whether to feel good that I could relate or doubly depressed because I was going through my own bed rest doldrums and reading about hers!

Yesterday marked two weeks on bed rest. Two solid weeks of sitting on my butt, getting up only to pee (ok, that's quite often these days actually), to refill my water and when I just can't stand the numb feeling in my back and tingle in my legs anymore. That is an amazing amount of immobility! The highlight of my day is getting to take a shower, you know I'm dragging those out as long as the hot water heater will allow. My other daily pick-me-up: the deliveries that have started to come in of all the baby goodies I ordered online like an agoraphobic shut in since I can't venture out into the real world.

The fantastic thing is that I know the Little Mister won't be sticking in there through the entire remaining three weeks until his due date. Dr. already said if he hasn't decided to enter the world on his own within two weeks then we'll talk inducing him in the 39th week. So two weeks tops and I get to meet my little guy! I'm still hoping he comes on his own in the 38th week like his big brothers. If he does that means in mere days I could be freed from bed rest and holding him all wrapped up like a little burrito in my arms!

Are We There Yet?

Are We There Yet? Ceramic Travel Mug by Lenny Mud on Etsy

Today we are 3 weeks away from our due date! That also means 1 week from when I usually have my babies and with all the craziness this pregnancy has brought who really knows. I wouldn't be surprised if this little booger made us wait until the due date.

Bed rest has been a strange experience. The days have been going very quickly, which really surprises me, and yet the feeling of being trapped can be suddenly overwhelming, especially when trapped in with a chatty five year old! My mom-in-law has been incredible though and the other morning took him on an outing to Walmart for awhile to give me some blissful quiet time. I didn't realize how desperately I needed it until the door shut behind them and it was like my whole body sighed in relief! Then yesterday she took both boys to the movies so my honey and I both could have a peaceful afternoon together.

I think one of the toughest things to let go of for me has been the fact that I will not be able to go out for the post baby shower shopping trips I like to go on before baby arrives where I stock up on anything we still need or want. It helps me get my mind on baby and get excited that he's actually on his way. Then I can meticulously place everything in the nursery and go in and out of it dreamily thinking about him being there. Without that I've felt a little stuck in pregnancy, like this is just my new state of being and there is no place where it ends in a fantastic bundle of joy. So yesterday I just bucked up and did some serious online shopping! Not instantly gratifying but I'm trying. And again, my super fantastic mom-in-law organized the shower gifts into the nursery and brought me all the clothes and things to sort and unpackage so I could feel part of the process. For a gal on bed rest I've pretty much got it made, now all I want to know is "are we there yet?"

Virtual Baby Shower

My husband is a youth director and his kids had planned to surprise me with a baby shower Sunday night. Since the bed rest verdict was going to stick they decided to Skype me into the party so I wouldn't miss out! So sweet! They all sat in front of the computer and two of the girls would open the gifts and then bring them up to the webcam for me to check out. Later that evening one of the guys put a picture of the cake on Facebook for me to see, since about cake time they lost video feed, and they sent me home some pieces. Isn't technology awesome?! I also loved that when I asked if someone could take notes on who was gifting what one of the girls grabbed the gigantic dry erase board, put it across her lap and notated away. Most unique baby shower ever!

Day 9 Of Captivity

Whale Tissue Holder by Gnomes Sweet Gnome on Etsy

"I feel like a beached whale waiting around for someone to shove me back into the ocean." That is the way I'm feeling about bed rest, in a nutshell. My twice a week appointments are not a nuisance, they're my salvation. We drive through town and I ooh and ahh that spring is happening in the world. I heave and huff to get myself in and out of the car, up the stairs, in and out of buildings and that's ok because I'm actually moving!

Today brought us another good report. This was the second appointment in a row where my blood pressure was back into normal range and Three passed his fetal non stress test right away so life is good and bed rest is doing what it's supposed to. My husband even took me to Starbucks for a tiny outing to celebrate. I couldn't talk him into allowing me a caffeinnated beverage so I was basically bed resting in public and it boosted my spirits with no harm done. Last appointment also brought us news that we are making some progress, I am 1cm dilated and 25% effaced. I'm feeling much relief that this baby may come on his own after all and extremely torn between wanting him to spend some more time fattening up before he enters the world and just wanting him to hurry the heck up!

Her Majesty Of Bed Rest

Still in the womb and this child is already giving his mamma troubles! Tuesday's appointment brought less than stellar news...bed rest. I went in for a regular 'ole appointment at 9:15am but high blood pressure and a high fetal heart rate got me rounds of monitoring and a sonogram that kept me until about 2pm. Above is a picture of me on the morning of my second appointment where I was still hopeful to receive good news and have the sentence lifted, no such luck. So it looks like I'm doomed to finish out my pregnancy on my butt...my ever numbing butt. I actually didn't think it would be so bad because I felt I had already entered the end of pregnancy mega lazies, but man, I was really underestimating how much I was still getting done.

Now we go back in on Monday to test for Preeclampsia, oh but first another new experience, collecting a jug 'o pee in my fridge for an entire 24hrs. There's just nothing quite as humbling as pregnancy, childbirth and the embarrassments brought on by rearing children. Anywho, if I test positive then we'll be induced immediately. If I test negative then it's a waiting game. I'll go in twice a week for monitoring and I'll go with bags packed because any of those appointments could lead to the surprise news that we have to induce right away. Personally I'm saying a little prayer for negative test Monday and this baby coming on his own in a week or so!

My sentence allows me to do anything I want as long as I'm sitting or laying down, which encompasses surprisingly few activities. Thankfully I'm allowed to shower, but no housecleaning, no leaving the house and no morning cup 'o joe...gasp, no shopping for baby things, ok that one choked me up a bit. But look at my sexy help! The day before I was sentenced my fantastic husband brought me home this gorgeous apron and a rose, just because. I was really excited to wear it and get some work done, maybe even some cooking, oh well. My husband did a stellar job through the first two days of bed rest but we thought we'd better call in heavy duty reinforcements, mom-in-law! She swooped in on Thursday and by the end of the day Friday had the house back in shape. A true blessing because it was going to be torture to spend the next days or weeks glued to a chair and staring down all the things that needed picked up and cleaned!

One of the many side effects of having a giant pregnant belly and little boys is the belly is likely to be used as a ramp for cars. Hey, Spitfire is just anxious to play with Baby Brother. Actually he really really is excited and Golden Curls too. Spitfire is also my exposed belly police, he's at just the right height to be able to see my tummy peak out if my shirt rides up even the tiniest little bit. He likes to encourage me to correct this atrocity by gasping loudly, pointing at the offense, and whispering urgently "Mamma, your tummy!" A few days ago Golden Curls caught sight of my confused no longer an innie, not really an outtie belly button and disgustedly blurted out "Ewwww, that's gross!" Sweet, sweet memories.

Book Club Baby Shower

Saturday was our first baby shower, put on by my beloved book club gals. The fantastic hostesses did such a great job, just look at that adorable tub full of goodies. It had blue tulle and plastic bubbles, so cute! Baby showers make me so happy, it's a signal that the end is near and it always gets me so excited to meet my little man when he has things that were given just to him. I've been sneaking lots of peaks at all those cute things now sitting in his nursery!

I was especially honored to have my mom, mom-in-law, sis-in-law and niece there with me. I just can not believe I forgot to get a picture of all of us together! My niece is 8 and it's really the first time I've gotten to hang out with her away from the 5 boys that are usually around when she is (her 3 brothers and my two boys). She's one cool little lady. She sat so sweetly with her tea cup of punch, played with the baby and came up to me and almost whispered "I'm having fun." Then my princess niece went out into the hostess' yard, threw a ball for the dogs, kicked around in the dirt and accidentally started a fire in the old burn pile. Now that's my kind of gal!

Me with the fantastic hostesses.

Paper lover that I am, you know I was loving that banner!

Opening gifts on the throne. There is one large baby bump underneath that gift bag!

One of the faves of the day: baby eating hoodie towel

Baby Bench Warmer

A baby has moved into our bassinet, Annie cat. Spitfire found this hilarious. I think she's enjoying having found a safe haven where it's warm and cozy and the dogs can't see or reach her.

A Nusery Is Born

Six weeks on baby countdown, but who's counting? Oh yes, that would be me! The nursery is all decorated and all we lack are some baby necessities and the Little Mister himself. I can't believe all the stuff this kid has already, guess it's bound to happen when you have two older brothers and 4 out of 5 cousins are boys. A lot of these things have been in both his brothers' nurseries but it's amazing how his still looks different. There are so many special things in this baby's room.

I'm in love with the newest special handmade thing, my baby mobile, custom made by a friend of mine. I keep saying we collaborate on them but really that's an overstatement on my part. I make her the paper parts (on this one the pinwheels and carousel) but she works her magic, bending and painting her own metal, adding clay embellishments, and stringing beads, she really has a good eye. It just turned out perfectly!

The rest of the tour: the crib, handmade by my husband's grandfather, has slept all 4 of my sis-in-law's kiddos and will all 3 of ours. The bedding was made by my husband and I, the paintings above the crib and the diaper bag on the changing table were made by me. the little blue creature on the shelf was made by Spitfire and I.

The bookshelf feels like a masterpiece of giving and makes me feel loved because it and everything on it was given to our boys over the years and it makes me overwhelmed with thankfulness that there are so many people in our lives that have helped us provide for, love, and raise our most precious babies.

Spitfire made this for the baby in Sunday School months ago. On the hearts are written all the things he loves: Mamma, Pappa, Brother, Baby and himself.

Coffee Shelf

It's a perfect fit for my morning cup, but I'm glad it's temporary. We're 7 weeks away from our due date, yea! We're hoping for 2 weeks early like his brothers which means only 5 weeks, 5 weeks sounds so much better.

Baby Love

Lil' Spitfire pointed to my belly yesterday and asked "How long until our baby comes out?" "Well, we have mamma's birthday, Valentines Day and then he'll be born." I'm always describing large expanses of time by what holidays and birthdays we have to cross first and it made me realize how few there are left between us and baby. I look back and feel like I've been pregnant forever but this April 3rd due date doesn't seem ages away anymore, a realization that has me both incredibly excited and incredibly frightened all at the same time. Yep, I'm no rookie and I'm still frightened at the prospect of what lies ahead. Or maybe it's because I'm no rookie that I fear what lies ahead.

Lil' Spitfire is drawing a lot of family portraits these days and his depiction of me always includes a big 'ole scribbled baby belly. Everyone else usually gets a letter on the their tummy to show who they are. The picture below was drawn just after his 5th birthday so his letter was replaced with a 5 for his impressive age.

What's In A Name?

I'm not sure but it took us an awfully long time to pick one for this child! We've known since we were 20 weeks along that he was a boy, immediately started the name search/debate and only last week settled on one. Really the only reason we finally picked was because we got stubborn and decided it was time.

What made it so hard? Boys names have always been hard for us, with this being our third boy it was just triply hard! We had a good list of names we just couldn't find one that stuck out more than the others. Also, once the boys had added their faves to the list it became very tough for me as a mama not to pick their names. I didn't want to disappoint them, especially Lil' Spitfire who had been talking to my belly and calling it by his favorite name! Once my honey let me off the guilty hook we were finally able to pick the name that I really liked the best, a late comer to the name list that wasn't even heard by all the family and friends who were trying to help us decide! I think that was another reason it was hard to commit to it, not wanting it to be something the family hates. Ooh, but the suspense, we don't reveal our names until we're introducing our babies to the world.

With a name picked I think my husband and I are really getting excited. He came home all giddy one day "I bought something for the baby!" *see picture at the top of this post* I love my nerd! Then we got all registered for baby stuff and we're finishing up the nursery. It's really getting pretty close, though the discomfort in my lower belly and back tell me it could be a long haul. The due date is only about 8 weeks away!

Sonogram Says...It's A Boy!

I'm pretty sure people with girls do not show off a "girl parts" sonogram pic but hey, he's a boy and he's proud!

Finally the long awaited news! Not just to answer the pink vs. blue question but, more importantly, to see that baby is healthy and perfect! And I had better invest in some earplugs and buy stock in Band-Aids because I'm gonna need them.

Spitfire and Golden Curls went with us dressed in their "Big Brother" tees and they were nearly bouncing off the walls with anticipation. They have been waiting to see this baby with about as much anticipation as we have. They were amazed at what they saw and bombarded the tech with a million questions but it was super cool to watch and listen to them. She gave both boys their own sonogram picture. Golden Curls took his to school and got to pass it around and tell all about his experience. And proud big brother Spitfire carried his all over the place and then put it up on the fridge, surrounding it by magnets, "a frame." I kept seeing him pass by it and stop to touch it. They're going to be perfect big brothers!

My absolute favorite thing is to see baby's profile on the sonogram, I can almost picture what he looks like. Three was very active during the sonogram and very stubborn. The tech was getting onto him the whole time. She would just get a good view of something and he'd roll over or put his hands up to his face. She had to jiggle my tummy (ick!) and had me roll over and back just to be able to get a good view of all his vital organs. Huh, imagine that, us having an ornery child.

The next two pics are from when she turned on the 4D ultrasound. A little horror movie to me, I think I prefer the classic sonogram, but pretty cool to look at. She could hardly get a view of him without his hands up by his face. She told the boys he was picking his nose, which they just found completely hysterical!


Alright, now it's time to get to work, there are walls to be painted, 3 years worth of baby clothes and nursery things to dig back out of the yard sale pile (read mountain) in the garage and get cleaned up, rooms to shift...whew!