Since it's close to Halloween, I thought I'd scare everyone with a bare belly shot at 37 weeks. Loving the glare from the flash and the lovely line down the center of my ENTIRE belly. That just happened to show up a couple days ago. I told Adrian it'd better be the FINISH line!
I had another appt this morning {I feel like I live there lately!} and found out I'm 2cm dilated, at -2 station and 60% effaced. Progress! I was telling Adrian last week I'll probably go overdue because it seemed like NOTHING even hinting at my body preparing for labor was happening. However, in the past few days I've had a ton more contractions and cramps. Nice! I'll give it another week and a half before I start doing squats and running up and down the stairs. Oh, and the neighbors have a trampoline, I'll have to give that a go too. ;)
Lately Thomas has taken quite a liking to Star Wars, and of course, Colin follows right along! So suddenly the Transformers have taken a back seat to light sabers and the boys are running around in Star Wars gear. What I thought might be a passing fad has now morphed into a real obsession. Adrian's thrilled. Me? Don't tell anyone, but I've never been able to even sit through all of the movies. I mean, in my defense, there are what- 83 of them?!
Colin got a light saber for his birthday and used some birthday money to buy the Darth Vader helmet. I think they both look super cute during their little battles. I swear I saw a light saber on Adrian's Christmas list too.
The end is near! I can feel it! I hit the 35 week mark last week and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Thank heavens too, I don't know how much more I can take of this pain in my ribs. Little girl needs to DROP!
Other than the normal aches and pains, I'm actually doing very well. Baby girl is measuring right on track, which is not normal for me! Normally this is where I start getting more ultrasounds and Non-Stress Tests because I'm measuring small. Not so this time! Everything really looks perfect. My blood pressure is normal and there are no other causes for concern. Odd! I've never had an end of pregnancy quite like this! I'll take it though.
We've just about got everything ready for her arrival. I normally try and have stuff done by 36 weeks. Hailey came on her own at 38w and Colin, at 39w3d. I know I have a few more weeks, but I have big plans to spend those weeks laying around eating bon bons. Until I hit 39 weeks, then I'll walk as many stairs as I can manage and pray I go into labor!
I just finished up a few more things in the girl's room today, so I'll have to get Hailey to pick up her toys and I'll take some more pictures of it. It's cute!
Colin turned 3 in early October. He's been super excited about his birthday for weeks. One morning he ran up to me and said, "Mom! I'm almost 5!" I reminded him he was actually turning 3 to which he replied, "Mom, what's after 3? {4} and what's after 4? {5} See! I'm almost 5!" Ok babe, whatever you say.
We took the kids to play at Hollywood Connection a few days before his birthday. It's a fun little place and I can't remember if I brought the camera but forgot to take pictures, or that I just forgot the camera entirely, but we have no record of the event whatsoever. So you'll just have to trust me- we went, we had fun!
The day of his birthday we had family over in the evening for cake and ice cream. Unlike Thomas, Colin isn't afraid to show his love of chocolate. I asked him several questions about his cake and he replied, "chocolate" to them all. So that's what he got- a "Death-By-Chocolate" cake. Yum!
Colin got a few dollar bills in cards and he cracked us up! He has zero concept of paper money at this point and he'd let every single bill fall to the floor each time, like it was a piece of garbage. "why do people keep putting these green papers in my cool cards?!"
Just after blowing out the candles, I tried to get every one's attention for a quick "look over here!" picture. Everyone cooperated, except for Colin. Can you see what he's doing instead?! Little stinker!
Being as Thomas turned 8 this year, the next big event was his baptism! In the LDS faith, kids are baptized when they're 8. It's considered an "age of accountability" and is a pretty neat event. We had his on Saturday, September 24th. The place was packed- we had lots of family come, but being as it was a Stake baptism day, 8 kids from other wards were also being baptized. Thankfully, we got to go first!
Adrian performed the baptism as family gathered around and watched. We felt so blessed to have so many family members there! This side of the family is getting pretty big! I remember when there was only adults...now the kids outnumber us!
We had a luncheon across the street at the clubhouse afterwards. It was a fun occasion. Long day, but fun!
Thomas turned 8 in early September and we had a little family party to celebrate. I'd say something all mushy like, "my widdle baby turned 8!" but seriously- look at him! He's not my little baby anymore! He hasn't been to the Dr for a while, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was still in the 90+% for height. He's skinny though- really, look at Adrian and I. The kid doesn't have a chance. {None of them do!}
Thomas has decided over the last couple months that he doesn't like chocolate. Sure he still eats it all the time, but it's his new thing. So he wanted a chocolate-less cake. His favorite cookies are Snickerdoodles, so I suggested a cinnamon cake and he was sold. I even made white-chocolate cinnamon letters and shapes for decorations. He loved it!
His birthday was on a Sunday this year- and one that we had plans to go see a baby blessing on- so we celebrated a lot the Saturday beforehand. Adrian is so creative. He had this idea to suspend yarn all over the house in a maze-like game that Thomas followed to get to his presents. I had in my head what he was planning, but his plans were a bit larger. He strung that yarn EVERYWHERE. Thomas woke up, Adrian explained what he had to do and my word, Thomas was SO into it! It took him a good 40 minutes to follow all the yarn around the house, then he finally got to open some presents! All while following the yarn he'd roll it up into this perfect little yarn ball. He apparently has WAY more patience than I do! I gave up watching after 10 minutes and went to make breakfast.
We took the kids, one of Thomas' friends as well as Kory, Raz and their family to a bounce house place to celebrate Thomas' birthday. The pictures are terrible, but the place was really fun. The verdict is out as to who had a better time though- Kory and Adrian, or the kids?!? Hmmm...
We posed for some pics before leaving for church today and looking at them all, I'm blown away by 2 things. First, it used to be so hard to get all 3 kids smiling in the same pic, and now, we get picture after picture of cheesy grins. I love it!
Second, my babies are growing up! I know, it sounds so cliche, but wow, time sure flies when you're having fun. I swear I just had Colin a few months ago and now he's a month away from turning 3...and we have another baby on the way! Crazy.
So I just had to share how darn cute they all are. Oh wait, if Thomas heard me calling him cute he'd make faces at me. Handsome. That's better. Even the one below where he's all goofy. Handsome goofy.
I'm now 28 weeks- into my 3rd trimester and things are going well. I just had another appointment and baby girl is doing great! I'm measuring perfectly, which means I feel huge and baby has thankfully decided head-down is a better position than transverse {across my belly horizontally.} I literally felt relief when she moved, but I do feel a lot more pressure down yonder than before. Lovely.
Nesting has kicked in and we're in full baby-prepare mode. Well, when I say "full", I mean I start a project one day, then it's completed 2 weeks later. I get tired a lot, what can I say?! Colin graduated from the "nursery' room into the "BOYS Room" with Thomas a few weeks ago and we're slowly getting Hailey's room turned into a GIRL room. We took the pic above last week after we painted and now we've even got a beg for Hailey! The crib is now in the infant position and once we get a dresser, I'll be able to start washing teeny tiny clothes and getting those ready. Once I get the wall hangings up, I'll take another picture- I love how it turned out!
My midwife swears I'm never going to make it until my due date of November 16th, and well, the odds and my history are not in my favor, so I agree! I aim to be "ready" to go by 37 weeks, which is October 26th, a whopping 7.5 weeks away. Exciting!
Adrian found a frog in our backyard last night and the kids were completely enamoured with the little thing forever! "Mom, can we keep him?!" Ummmm....that would be a no. I'm no fun! These kids ask for a pet all the time and I know someday we'll break down and get something {not a frog!} Right now I'm so focused on taking care of 3.6 kids without going insane, I think a dog might just put me over the edge! Sorry kids, the random frog in the backyard will have to do for now!
Last week Thomas had his first day of school! He's now in the 2nd grade and is just super excited. His teacher seems to be a good one, so we'll see how the year goes!
Hailey starts Pre-School next week and Colin is just happy to be here. He and I will get some bonding time 3x each week while Hailey is gone. It's going to drive him crazy, I can't wait.
Adrian celebrated his 31st Birthday in July and we had a little party in the back yard for him. We didn't go all out, but in true Adrian style, that didn't seem to phase him!
He got a stereo system for his car, which he's thrilled about. Makes commuting that much more fun. He also got a snorkel for our Hawaii trip. It fits! {and yes, we did use it in Hawaii!}
The summer is pretty much over, but I didn't want to leave these pics out. My goal this summer was to go to the pool very consistently so that most, if not all the kids would be swimming on their own by the end of summer. Everyone was all set with their goggles, so one FHE we decided to practice swimming. That was fun.
Well, I'm happy to say- mission accomplished!! Even by the end Colin could swim to the side of the pool on his own. It's hard watching 3 kids at the pool and simultaneously taking pics, so it didn't happen that often. These shots are from the middle of the summer- Thomas and Hailey had the process down, while Colin was still learning.
Adrian's Dad, Keoki helped out a ton! my word taking 3 kids swimming multiple times each week is exhausting! He was a trooper though and helped this preggo lady out.
We had our 20 week ultrasound today and are thrilled to announce we're having a baby girl!!!! I have to say- you can kind of tell from the post below, I had a gut feeling it was a girl, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking- gosh, what if I'm wrong?! For about 2 weeks now in my head I've been calling baby "she" and I've been secretly going over girl names. If it's a boy I'm going to have to seriously start re-thinking things!
Luckily, we didn't have to wait long to know. I told the u/s tech I'd like to guess, but as she was rubbing the gel around my stomach, I caught a glance and had a feeling I was right! She then got a really good shot and paused, looking at me, and I said, "Well, I certainly don't see any boy parts! It's a girl?!?" Yep!
Everything looked perfect- baby girl was measuring spot on, at 19weeks5days, so just 1 day shy of my due date, which is really good for me! We have such small babies, usually by this time we're already at least a few days behind. Baby girl was moving all around and didn't seem to like the poking and prodding the tech was doing. :)
We saw no remnants of the blood clot too, which I'm so happy about! It's gone! It will be nice to not have to worry about that anymore.
We got some great shots, but then later saw the tech didn't print out many at all. We got this super cute one of her perfect little footprint that she didn't print. Dang it. Take it from me, she has cute feet. We did get some great profile shots- above, and some very clear "I'm a girl" shots like the one below.
Raz watched the kids while we were at the ultrasound, so we had it planned to film them as we told them the news. Here's how it went:
Yep, Hailey was excited and Thomas cried. I thought it was cute when Colin said, "I wanted a boy to be my best friend!" Awwweeee. Too bad, it's a girl. You can kind of see Thomas acting subdued, then of course, you saw what came next. Everyone should know that now, hours later, he's doing much better about adding a girl to our family and is getting to be excited. When I told him we'll have one room for girls and the other room for boys, he perked up. He's tired of sharing a room with Hailey, she has too many girl toys.
So that's our update. It's a girl! Now only about 20 more weeks until she makes her debut...
