Full Term

We are officially full term!

Little girl: consider this your eviction notice! It's been by far my most enjoyable pregnancy but I'm ready to meet you. Sleep on my stomach and not pee every 10 minutes!

I'm still able to do pretty much everything I need to and have gotten all of the baby stuff out, organized and washed. Her diaper bag is ready to go to the hospital, my bag is planned out, car seat ready and big sisters are over not fitting on my lap any more.

My Parents came two weeks ago and painted the nursery. They've helped with all dozen of their grandchildren's nurseries and I think it's so sweet. I offered to do the trim work along the ceiling and they had none of it, so 18 foot ceilings and all, they painted the whole room and even let Addiston help a bit.

she was pretty proud!!

I'll post more pictures when we finish it (hopefully next week) But the crib is now re-assembled and important things in place so if she comes (which she's welcome to) We're ready.

Jared also remodeled the laundry room for me for a Valentines present.  We've done homemade presents for each other on valentines our whole relationship. When we were in college and had first started dating we both only worked part time and agreed we'd rather spend the money on a nice meal and make gifts than eat in the school cafeteria and buy gifts. That still rings true for us, so the tradition continues. 

Before:

After:

More functional, appealing and a fun automatic light that turns on when you walk in the room! 

Yay for capable husbands! 

We also had our last big family outing before the baby comes, on Valentines day. Disney Live came to Nashville and Jared was able to get a great deal on tickets so we took the girls, who loved every minute.

They dressed up, swung glow stick wands around the whole show and enjoyed cheesy fries during intermission. 

We had "spring break" mid winter from our homeschool group last week which I didn't realize but I really needed. It gave me a chance to focus on some stuff around the house and get all the little things in order for me to feel ready to have the baby. We also had a cleaning crew start last week which makes nesting A LOT easier. :) They'll come once a month and deep clean the whole house for at least a year. We'll reassess from there to see what life with three kids is like. It was perfect timing though because we hosted a baby shower for my friend Kari saturday (she's due a month after me) and it was so nice to not have to have half the party prep done!  

This week is back to life as normal, school, playdates, meetings, and then a few fun things this weekend for my birthday, but more than anything it's a waiting game. I'm trying to be the calm pregnant lady who is cool with the kid staying in until I'm 42 weeks and miserable she's finally ready to come out but lets face facts: I have a 3 & 5 year old asking every day if she's ready to come out, I'm short and she's pretty much out of room and I've commenced all the old wives tales of walking, drinking special tea, eating spicy foods and hanging out on my yoga ball to try to help the process along! We're ready for you little one. 

Stream of Consciousness

Welp my steady string of almost regular blogging is shot. Holidays happened, they were great, I've been exhausted, I rarely remember what day it is, and frankly can't remember what happened when. I wrote this post a few weeks ago and forgot to push publish, so theres that.

Fun fact, I have 9 types of vinegar. I just got done prepping dinner which called for rice wine vinegar and of course it was the last one I picked up. And well, I have 9 vinegars, and I'm ok with that!

I jot down pregnancy memories here and there. On the back of a church bulletin, which later I probably throw away. In a journal with a thousand other ramblings most of which have nothing to do with this growing babe, and will be lost or forgotten until I die and my kids dig through my junk, and sporadically I write them on a cute piece of scrapbook paper hopefully to be added to a baby book later, but lets be honest, third kid, this blog probably is her baby book.

Not much excitement has happened in the pregnancy since I posted last. I pasted my three hour glucose test after failing my one hour which was such a relief considering I had convinced myself I certainly had gestational diabetes considering how tired I am. Guess my mom was right, having two kids and being pregnant is just that exhausting! The lovely phlebotomist busted a blood vessel in my arm on the last blood draw of my three hour and now over a month later the soreness and bruise have finally gone, luckily it's winter and long sleeves are a must so I didn't have to make up any fun stories about the green and blue bruise just under my elbow.

I'm just  a smidge over a month away from this little girl being here and the least prepared I've been for any of my babies. I hear that it's normal to ready later and later with each child which is good, because for us it's true. My parents are coming next week to paint the nursery which will relieve a lot of mom guilt I'm feeling about my lack of preparedness. We're using the same bedding we've used for Addiston and Isabella (because I still LOVE it) plus a few new decorations so hopefully that'll all fall together quickly, since we've done it before. I was able to sort through ALL of our kids clothes recently. Since we didn't have them all properly sorted before we moved I literally went through all of them, the girls helped me sort, and attempted to try on clothes they thought were cute that happened to be 3 sizes too small, it was entertaining. I have 0-9 months sorted out in the closet yet to be washed (as I'm sure they'll smell like fresh paint after next week) and all larger sizes separated and labeled in our storage room. I even found some clothes I had forgotten about for Isabella so her wardrobe got a boost too.

We had the biggest snowstorm Nashville has seen on over a decade last week (or maybe 2 weeks ago?). 8 inches of snow in 24 hours is respectable even for Jared and I's northern selves. The girls and Dogs loved it. There was lots of comfort food, snowball fights, snow angels and a decent snowman.

The Best Part was that 3 days later it was 60 and the month long gross, dirty snow that we're all used to after a beautiful fresh winter wonderland melted away, turning our cute little creek into a river with semi-respectable rapids for a day or so. But a girl could get used to a snow storm like that!

We're trying to be intentional about spending time with the girls before the new baby comes. Random one on one trips to stores or to grab a snack, individual game time and random "dates" Addiston and I got to go to a special children's event at the symphony recently and She was so cute. She had perfect manners. She could have taught the adults in the box next to us a thing or two. It was precious and I swear sometimes she makes parenting easy. SOMETIMES!

Isabella and I got to sneak in some one on one time last night too, we went to the mall and rode the carousel (which we had all to ourselves) did some disney store shopping and topped it off with mini-cupcakes.

28 weeks

Figured I'd get this down before I forget half of whats going on because... Pregnancy Brain is real my friends!

Our halls have been decked, presents are waiting under the tree and littles are anxiously awaiting tearing open gifts in a fraction of the time it took to wrap them.

We've been more intentional about participating in the season of advent this year as a family. We've been reading a nightly advent family devotional and progressively decorating the tree and house to participate in the anticipation of the coming of Christ. The girls' are getting it and it's so precious to hear their sweet childlike faith and wisdom remind me what it's all about.

The third trimester is here.

We've taken a break from all things baby prep for the holiday season, which after the move, the new car, the new job and wanting to stay on track homeschooling is, oh so NECESSARY!! But I have spurts of nesting where I clean like a maniac and cook freezer meals to store till after baby comes. I'm anticipating the new year and getting this little girl's nursery ready and washing all the little clothes and hopefully finishing unpacking the boxes that have been neglected in our storage room.
I'm excited to know little one in there is growing and things are looking good. I've still been feeling good, although getting slightly more uncomfortable, which I'm reminded of every night when I try to get comfortable. Luckily Jared doesn't mind the 4 extra pillows that have recently taken up residence in bed.

Friday, I had a doctors appointment and 1 hour glucose test, which I found out today I failed meaning I get to return to take the 3 hour glucose test in a few hours. (BLEH) I had gestational diabetes with Addiston and it seemed terrible because I already had food aversions, but as good as I've been feeling this time I honestly don't think it would be that bad to have it again this pregnancy. Don't get me wrong I don't welcome the hundreds of finger pricks but in the big scheme of things it's manageable. And do to the excitement (anxiety) about the follow up test, I'm up at 4am blogging (not eating-even though a pb&j sounds divine) instead of sleeping-lucky you!

Sunday when we were in our regular hurry to get all four of us dressed, ready, fed and in the car for our (we've been in the new house 3 months and still cant get used to the) 30 minute drive to church. I was loading up the van with breakfast items that hadn't been finished, make-up that still needed applying and little girl hair bows when I slipped. My cute leopard print ballet flats have nearly no traction and as I was reaching to put something on the console my feet just slipped out from under mean and my belly caught my fall on the edge of the seat and van. It hurt, startled me and Jared and led to a few  hours of baby girl being chill (which is very unlike this growing little karate kid) I tried to take it easy the rest of the day sunday, but woke up Monday feeling extra sore, so I called the doctor who told me to head strait to Labor and delivery.

After a few hours of being monitored, they determined Baby and I were ok and that I should try to limit myself till the pain subsided. I had a few days of being sore and nervous but am feeling much better!

We're headed to my parent's house for Christmas and I'm super excited to see family and get to continue with our little family traditions. The girls' are at great ages for traveling and usually we can make it strait through only stopping once. I'm only a little annoyed that It's suppose to be in the 50s on Christmas day, in Cincinnati. I love that today it was 70 in Nashville and we played outside, but I go north for the holidays to get my white Christmas. (get it together mother nature) On the bright side, heavy winter clothes take up more space and require and extra suitcase, so here's to packing light for the trip!

Safe travels and Merry Christmas Friends!

Balance

Balance y'all...I'm not finding it!

I have been so blessed this pregnancy. Save a little scare early on with a short stint on bed rest, this pregnancy has been great. I've felt wonderful, been able to eat whatever I want, (and more) and genuinely my only pregnancy symptom minus the shrinking wasteline is that I'm tired.

Life has finally started to slow down after the roller coaster that was summer! We feel settled into the house, most of the unpacking is done, we're calling a hiatus on all things house until after the new year when we plan to tackle the nursery and a few organizational things we'd like done before baby.

We're figuring out (slowly) a new house schedule (wood floors need to be cleaned A LOT), gifting the girls' swiffer dusters has been major help and letting the dogs enjoy the huge back yard! Homeschooling is going well. I've loved tutoring Addiston's Kindergarten class this semester and we're doing well with staying on track at home. Addiston is starting to read which for me is a double edged sword. The girl is a bookworm and would happily sit and let me read to her for HOURS every single day, which I love. So I'm thrilled that she is picking up some more on her own especially after we had a small stint of stubbornness and she decided she didn't want to read, but now that it's clicking I'm a little sad to see her grow up just a little more.

Jared's new job schedule still has us all confused. He works mostly 9:30-6:30 which is hard on the girls. By the time he gets home we have dinner and then start getting ready for bed. We do get to eat breakfast and dinner everyday as a family and I'm really enjoying this season of sitting and just chatting with the girls over meals before the new one arrives and we're distracted by crying and nursing schedules and lack of sleep. The girls miss having more play time with their dad, so we're trying to be intentional about carving out more weekend time as opposed to doing chores and running errands.

For the most part thats it in life right now. I'm in bed shortly after the girls every night, so Jared's getting in some reading, video games, and helping with dishes or laundry that I have left over from the day. But we're lucky to get in a run down of the day, much less a long talk. Luckily we have 2 date nights scheduled this month so we should get to catch up there, and we're taking a birthing class on saturdays, so long drives are anticipated!  I've text a few friends here and there but pretty much unless I see people at church or our homeschool community day I've been MIA to just about every relationship I have :(

Last Month our college friends came to stay for a long weekend and oh my word the sweetness of 5 little girls playing!

(Praise the Lord for having someone who REALLY gets it!)

Jared and Jesse were college roommates, Amber and I hit it off first semester of Freshman year. We were married within months of each other and had our first 2 (4?) children in the same seasons, we are now embarking on homeschooling together and are all food hippies. A decade of friendship in and we laugh at how much life we've done together and how in a few short months we will have 6 daughters between us!


Last week we went to dinner with dear friends to find out that they are having a girl less than 1 month after we are. I'm so glad for a friend to do pregnancy with and a built in friend for our little girl!

I know there are seasons in life and I'm glad things are running smoothly for our family and household but being an pregnancy-exhausted extrovert is hard. When you yearn to go to dinner with friends, or sit and catch up over coffee but really all you want to do is sleep, your mind and body are at odds with each other! I'm hoping I get a small spurt of energy before this third little girl arrives to catch up with some friends and family over the holidays. In the mean time I'm clinging to forced outings and pop-in visitors!

Halfway (20 weeks)

The Thursday I was 19 weeks and 6 days, a friend watched the girls so Jared could come to the doctor with me. We scheduled our appointment for the first one of the day so that he wouldn't be late to work. We had an anatomy scan first then a normal doctors appointment.

We both sat and tried to read our books while waiting to be called back. I'm not sure about Jared but I'm pretty sure I re-read the same 2 paragraphs 3 times because I couldn't focus through the excitement.

We had the super calm, quiet, unexcitable ultrasound tech. She without inflection or expression measured the little one growing inside me. snapped pictures, of things I didn't recognize. (at least a dozen ultrasounds into this motherhood journey and I'm lucky to spot a profile and the spine maybe a heartbeat) I was able to see a four-chamber heart beating. But other than that Jared and I spent 20 minutes giving each other questioning looks as my nerves went nuts. Eventually she asked if we wanted to know the sex-we did!

We got an all clear from the doctor who said the little one was perfectly healthy and that things were progressing just as they should. Little one is measuring about a day behind where she should but as far as we're concerned thats perfect.

20 weeks

The following Saturday we threw a combined house warming/gender reveal party to let our friends see the new house and let our girls discover along with our friends the gender of our newest little one.

I had saved one of our larger moving boxes and filled it with colored balloons, the girls spent all week saying blue balloons means it's a brother, pink means a sister. For the most part they were ok with either except one threat to not love a brother as much as a sister.

IT'S A GIRL!!

They are thrilled and so are we!!