Here we sit. By this time next week I will be checked into the hospital awaiting the arrival of baby #3. Wow. Nerves have set in some. Will the surgery go okay? Will the baby be okay and healthy? I am supposed to bring home a new baby and do what again? I am sure things will be fine and very soon none of us will be able to remember what life was like before this new addition became a part of us. I will post here as soon as I am able too, likely sometime Wednesday or Thursday of next week (November 7 or8) with the news. Along with the first pictures of the newest family member. Every day this week, I know I will be thinking, "This time next week.......". As much as I am ready to be done, there is still that odd feeling of knowing that soon this child, the one I have been carrying all this time, will be outside of me. We will have a whole new person, one we created and one that I carried all this time. What a miracle. I may post some more this week, who knows. I...

The baby officially has a nursery now. We got the crib put together today and I ironed all the items and got it all put together. Hung a few things. Moved things under the crib for storing. It is all done and ready to go. It looks really nice. Kiki has good taste, doesn't she??? After I got the crib all done, Emma came into the room. She was looking at the crib and said, "I can just imagine the baby laying in there Mom. Won't the baby be so cute laying in there?" So sweet. Let us just hope she remembers that when the baby is screaming..... Without further ado.......I give you the nursery. (please note that if this baby is a girl, I will girl up the bug wall by adding some pink flowers and possibly painting the dragonflies pink as well, we will see.....) Window treatments (infant car seat and bouncy seat as well) Dresser with wall hanging Bug wall Crib wall Close up of the bedding So there you have it. The baby's room. Nine more days to go.......

Mark has a cousin who provides comic relief non-stop. He always has some sort of come back. But today I got a real gem from him and must share. This was in response to a family dinner the other night. Adam, the cousin, spent most of the evening downstairs with Mark and the kids. They were watching the baseball game as well. However it meant that the "adults" were upstairs. It was noted that maybe next time Adam could hang out with the adults. To which he replied: "Hanging with the adults is conditional on me being one. Since I took the advice of Peter Pan and the giraffe off of those Toys-R-Us commercials, I am postponing such a transition possibly indefinitely. So we'll see..." Good one Adam. And I agree.

I was thinking today of taking that 37 week picture. And as I thought about it, I thought, "I will wait for a day when I look good." To which I had to laugh. If I did that it would never get taken. I am no longer able to drive. At the request of many family members, Mark being the ring leader, it has been noted that I should no longer drive. I did not discuss this with my doctor and it is not by her orders. However, once you no longer fit into your car, it is probably best to cease driving. To be honest it pisses me off. But, between the largeness of my belly and the shortness of my legs.....it is no longer possible. Simply put, the steering wheel is up as far as it will go and the seat is moved back as far as I can move it and still reach the pedals. The steering wheel now rests ON my belly and my legs are cramping from having to stretch to reach the pedals. Mark is probably right. It is no longer safe. And I hate it when he is right. So we are homebound during ...

If you do not want to see these, look away. Here is the 32 weeks shot. Taken with Emma's camera and fixed as much as I can. And if that were not scary enough, here is 35 weeks. Taken today with my camera. (Have I mentioned how happy I am to have my camera back?) I am aware that the stripes around do nothing for my size. I am also aware that my "hairdo" leaves a lot to be desired. Get over it. Notice how my face is swelling now? As if my face were not round enough..... I figure I will do a 37 week shot and the 39 week one since that will be right before I deliver.

First, I put in pictures of the kids room after it got picked up. Looks much nicer now. Second, my mom commented that they looked cramped up there. Let me assure anyone that it is more about having too much stuff. To see how much space they are sharing I found the house layout with the square footage. Anyone care to guess how much square footage my kids are being shoved into? I will put then answer in the comments for this post. And if you think it is unfair that they share this amount of space..........I am not sure what to think.

Okay, okay. My Aunt Fid did help with the shower. She has a gorgeous house and she offered it up yet again as the party spot. Not only that, but she helped out with the food and set up. She is truly a blessing as well. She also got me these great slipcovers for my ugly old couch. (and once again excuse the mess) So not chopped liver..........but still not the Kiki. Fair enough? Oh and the pink rocker? Yes, I am aware that it is....interesting. Emma bought it from my brother in law, as in Kiki's husband for two kisses. Long story.............but the pink rocker is Emma's and we had to find a place for it. It is a Lazy Boy one and it is really comfortable and in good shape. Just a different color......

Oh around. We got the rooms all rearranged and whew! A lot of work. But all is done now. Except, the stairwell and the room we are in now need to be painted. The baby's room is on it's way. The always on top of things and over the top in things Kiki, is coming by Friday to put her special touch on the room. Which happens to be the entire bedding collection. I was going to wait and just use a blanket for the baby but Kiki? Um no, that will not do for her future niece, as she believes it is, or nephew. She choose the most beautiful bedding......how lucky am I? A sister who has great taste and is willing to come over and do that? Oh yea, I scored in the sibling department. Once it is done, I will take some pictures. The awesome Kiki also insisted on another shower to which I asked that she keep it low key. My sister is all the utmost in party planning. And she did keep it low key..............for her. But to the lay person, it was still magnificent and oh so lovely...

Now this entry was written not quite a year ago. It was October 20 to be exact. The difference? Well read it yourself.

With the arrival of baby number 3 growing nearer and nearer I find myself being more reflective. I am not sure why, but that is where I have been. I am feeling better. I can tell that my thyroid was not up to par and the increased medication has been making a bit difference. My mood has lightened and as I told Mark the other night, I am looking forward to meeting out new little one. I know it will be a lot of work, but babies are so sweet and cuddly. And they have that smell that only new babies have. Just a little over five more weeks and we will get to meet our newest family member. This week was The Summit conference at our church. Due it being hugely pregnant and not up to dragging two kids with me, I only made it to one night. Which was okay. I was reading our Pastor's blog today and in his last entry something he wrote really hit me. After telling a story he summarized by saying this: "The point was simple, yet profound. We will never have enough money to total...

Here is the Tabblo I have created with my pregnancy pictures. I will finish out the last few weeks likely by doing every other week. I missed a week somewhere anyway.

Seven weeks away now. I did find out my thyroid was off. So they increased my medication. By a decent amount. I am beginning to feel better already. I think that my thyroid being off may have been contributing to my lack of energy and my depressed feelings. Those were two of my worst symptoms before. I even had a dream the other night that I was holding our new baby and his/her little head was so soft and snuggled up by my neck. And the baby had that yummy new baby smell. Maybe the fog is lifting. I am HUGE though and have passed the uncomfortable stage and am in the miserable one. Just so big. We have the beloved Kiki lined up to keep the kids when we go in for the c-section. The date is set and on the books. We have plans to get things moved around in the house the first weekend in October to make room for baby. It is all coming together. It is always odd to me.....this time last year I had no idea we would even be thinking about another child let alone actually expecting...

In no longer than 8 weeks, baby number three will join our family. That is the scheduled date for now. I could go into labor prior to that, but it will be no later than then. I am over being pregnant. But not ready for a new baby either. I am stuck in some sort of weird limbo land. My Six Pack (what I call the girls from high school that have managed to remain my friends after............a long enough time) gave me a shower over the weekend. It was sweet and overwhelming. Overwhelming in the sense that, "Oh my, a real live baby is coming." No turning back now right? And now I have this pile of baby stuff and I look at it and wonder what I am going to do with another child. On a side note, these girls have great taste and sense and their thinking of us and doing this for us has deeply touched me. I have discovered there is such a thing as prepartum depression. It is called antenatal depression. How strange....I figure the shock of it happening so soon is what i...

Disclaimer: My camera has still not been sent out to be fixed. I am working with Emma's camera. We took Davis to the ball game the other night. It was his first time to go. He did very well and had a good time. I did take a few pictures of Davis at the game but it was with my camera phone. Which takes worse photos than Emma's camera. Mark took some with his phone and I think his may be better. He has yet to e-mail them to me though. We got free t-shirts at the game. Even Davis. The smallest shirt you can get is an adult medium. But it is his shirt. Today he decided he wanted to wear it. He also found his dad's cleats, ball glove, and hat. So Davis said he was going to play ball. I had to take a picture of him because it was too incredibly cute not too. And if I had a program like Photo Shop I might have been able to manipulate the photos even more and make them look better. I did my best.

Here is the 29 week shot. Yes, I have considered not taking anymore photos. For one, my camera is still not working (no I have not mailed it off yet to the powers that be). Emma's camera takes not so great pictures. And I need all the help I can get. Second, I am beginning to look beat down. Seriously. However, what do I tell the child? I did not take ANY with the other two kids. I can lie to them. I did not take them because I did not think about it, it what I will say. One day they might get the real reason: I knew I would get huge and was afraid if I saw pictures of myself I would never have another child. And if you looked like this with 9-10 weeks still to go, you might feel the same way. So Kiki, if you are checking, no it is not the angle. There is no good angle right now. Cover the boys eyes or warn him before he looks.

Here is 28 weeks. Excuse the photo, my camera has to be mailed in to the Gods that be at Fuji. It is funky. So once again, we used Emma's camera. Right now I am not sure that any camera really matters. Yikes. And yes, I am going to start telling people I was due in July. Then they will shut up and wipe that stunned look off thier faces they usually have when I say, "November."

I have been absent around here lately. I think in part because I am not sure what to say. What is at the forefront of my mind is not easy to admit and discuss. And my computer is being all sorts of crazy. And I am worn out. My understanding is that this baby is due November 12. And besides the fact that lately I am existing on Velveeta Ro-Tel dip and watermelon (don't ask...........no they are not eaten together) I am at 28 weeks, so technically 12 more weeks to go. And freaking out. I have said to people that this has thrown me off. But I have not said all that I am feeling about it. Overwhelmed. Not sure. Hard time bonding with the baby. I am just not doing well with it this time. I feel more like a first time mom than a third time mom and I am not sure what my problem is. I wanted another child and this one was planned the same as the other two were. I have wanted another since Davis was six months old, so for three years. It happened quickly this time and if anything I should b...

Here is a link to that Yo Gabba Gabba .... (and in the preview, if you watch it all the way, you see Mark come out) What is the world coming too?

This morning we turned on Noggin. There is some new show on called Yo Gabba Gabba. Fair enough. We sit and watch it some. Anyone know anything about this show? I sit and some man named Mark comes on and says we likes to draw. He is standing in font of a blank frame. He then takes out this black marker thing and begins to draw in the frame. No connecting the dots but drawing and his marker makes noise. Um, HELLO!? They totally stole Picture Pages. I assume that I am not the only one who remembers Picture Pages with Bill Cosby. I have a horrific memory. How can these people steal Picture Pages?

I got my first reunion CD of pictures today. (Thanks Chris!) I may have to remove this photo if my sister says so. But I saw this picture of my sister, me and my niece and thought, "Wow, we kind of look a like." More so than I thought. So here you go.... (save my protruding belly of course) My sister, me and my niece..... Profile shot mostly.............Kiki if you want it taken down, let me know. In the mean time, did you know we all looked this much alike?