40 weeks!

Yes! I have made it to 40 weeks with baby #4!! I am so excited to meet our sweet new little girl! I am feeling really good and continuing to have lots of energy. By the late afternoon/evening, I'm worn out, and ready to go to bed, but any busy mama of littles feels like that. 

Pretty much everything is marked off the big to-do before baby list! There are 23 (I think) meals/parts of meals in my freezer along with several breakfast casseroles, muffins, pancakes, and breads. The pantry is stocked and we have plenty of diapers and toilet paper! :) I am doing my best to stay on top of the laundry, dishes, and general cleaning of the house. 

We are praying that baby girl comes sooner rather than later because of Jacob's super busy week next week. One thing I thought of this morning was that Lily, Levi, and Asher all came on or just a day after their original due date (the due date we figured instead of the due date the ultrasound predicted - for example, Asher's original date according to my cycle was March 10, the ultrasound moved it to March 4, but he was born on March 11). With this baby, the ultrasound didn't move my original date at all, so maybe I won't go like a week overdue. Just a thought! :) I'm really completely content waiting until she's ready. I am enjoying my last few days with just my three little ones. We have been having lots of special times together (along with some not so fun challenging times that seem to come from still trying to adjust to the time change. ugh!)

Can't wait to post that our sweet baby girl is here! :)

Happy Day.

We had such a fun day on Tuesday. I decided to take the kids to pick out little pumpkins at a "pumpkin patch" a local church had. When I drove by on Monday, they still had tons of pumpkins, but when we got there Tuesday morning, they had packed up and all that was left were little gourds. I felt so, so bad because I'd gotten the kids so excited about this special treat.

We tried the farmer's market next and hit the jackpot for pumpkins and apples! I was so thankful that the kids were able to get pumpkins. Then I decided to take them on a nature walk around a local park to find pretty leaves. We wandered around for over an hour, munching on apples, picking up leaves and acorns. The children were so well behaved and we really just had the best time. It was a balm to this tired mama's soul.

Three cuties.

burning off energy.

Later the same day, our babysitter came for a few hours so I could take Lily out on a special date with mama before Baby Girl is born.

I let her choose where she wanted to go. Our first stop was the Dollar Tree for some new dress up stuff. She loves all things girly/dress up! After that, we ran by a local consignment store to see if they had any shoes in Lily's size, but they didn't, so we headed to a new frozen yogurt shop.

It was super windy and sunny, but Lily wanted to sit outside anyway. She kept having to hold her hair out of her face so she could eat. 

Our final stop was Target. We found some shoes (on sale! yay!) and she picked out a new book. In the picture, she's riding in Levi's carseat. Whenever her brothers aren't with us, she loves to ride in their carseats. Silly girl!

After I put the boys to bed that night, I came in her room and found this little setup. I think Jacob's going to need to build her a dressing table! :)

I am so thankful for the fun days with my babies.

Sometimes you just have to laugh.

Random pictures and confessions from the "other" side of mommyhood.

When you don't get breakfast ready soon enough, your toddler just helps himself to whatever he can find.

My child is the one when singing her favorite song in church hollers out between stanzas "louder" just like she does when it plays in the van.

You are afraid that people driving by will assume this is a not so good part of town just by the state of your window blinds. Yes, we still live in the dark ages (ha!) with mini blinds. Someday we hope to replace them with the amazing wide ones, but until then, scotch tape has become my BFF.

A three inch roach crawled across the kitchen (and got under the stove before I could kill it) one morning and I so terrified my children with my screams, that they set up a barricade of Daddy's shoes and the ironing board and kept watch from high stools. Thankfully, after about 20 minutes of watching, the roach made a beeline for the refrigerator and I was able to stomp it to pieces (of course with many screams accompanying the furious stomping).

Sometimes I'm totally ok to let the kids make a huge mess just to keep them occupied while I clean the bathroom or make an important phone call.

Attempting to make granola with a 1 year old.

I am the mom who...

lets the children play "getting ready" so she can get her make up on and hair done without too much interruption. (Levi was "painting his toenails." Ha.)

brushes her teeth with kids toothpaste and doesn't realize it (or think about it) until she is rinsing her mouth.

makes banana bread for the specific purpose of sharing it with someone and completely forgets to share it until it is completely eaten. oops!

rarely irons. If something is a little wrinkled, I just flick some water on it and toss it in the dryer for a few minutes.

while backing out of a parking spot, hears a little voice saying, "mama, aren't you going to buckle me?"

on Saturday night realizes she hasn't had a shower since Wednesday morning. ugh. (thankfully this hasn't happened too often)

while driving down the road after leaving the house, frantically starts asking if every child is present and accounted for because she can't remember if she put them all in.

realizes she's been singing "I'm a little teapot" to herself for the last 20 minutes while washing the dishes after the children are in bed for the night.

starts talking to the kids about the beautiful blue sky and saying, "look out Lily's side (of the van), there is a fire truck!" only to remember she's out running errands by herself. (obviously a very rare happening around here)

After talking to our new neighbor and laughing with him about the way Lily and Levi were dressed (Lily in a poofy flower girl dress, Levi in a blue/green striped shirt and red plaid shorts, both with their winter mittens on) I was mortified to remember that Lily had "done" my hair this morning and I was still sporting an "up-do" with a large bow and play plastic bright green handled knife stuck in it. Wow. Welcome to the crazyhood!

Counting down!

Baby Girl will be here next month! We are all so excited! Lily and Levi helped me sort and wash the baby clothes last week. After I folded the clothes, Lily organized them in the top drawer of her dresser. Everyone that stops by gets to go see the baby clothes in her dresser. :)

33 weeks

I am feeling well, although last week I had three days of painful cramping and low back pain. The baby dropped, but I was also not getting off my feet enough each day. I've made it a point since then to get my feet up by 9:30ish each evening and I haven't had any more cramping. 

I am still working out at the gym 3 days each week and at home every day as well (stretches, squats, inversions, etc). 

35 weeks

I'm still cooking/baking extra meals and breakfast foods for the freezer. Our freezer is pretty full which makes me happy! No one is going to starve while we adjust to a new baby. :) I've been trying to buy a few extra things at the grocery store each week to have the pantry stocked. 

I think I've mentioned this before, but I feel like the best thing I did after Asher was born was to stay home for several weeks. I'm very much a home-body (since having lots of littles) and it was just the best way for us to adjust to having a new baby. I'm planning on doing that again this time and want to be as prepared as possible. 

36 weeks

I would really appreciate it if you all would pray with me that our sweet baby girl is not super far past her due date. The track record with my babies isn't very promising - 4 days late, 6 days late, and 7 days late, but with God, nothing is impossible! I usually don't mind being late because I want my babies to come when they are ready. 

Funny story, with Asher, the whole week I was overdue with him I was telling him to stay put because Jacob was super busy that week. Well, Jacob got done with all his obligations the Saturday night I was 6 days overdue and I "told" Asher, "ok, baby, you can come anytime now" and he was born the next day. :) 

Anyway, with this baby, the week after she's due Jacob has an insanely busy week and will be out of town a few days too. Eeek! Talk about pressure! :) I'm praying so much that she won't be more than 4 or 5 days late. 

37 weeks and 2 days

Fun weekend.

Last week was the busiest week ever for Jacob. He was gone so, so much. :( Several times he didn't see the kids for a couple days at a time because he left in the morning before they got up and got home way past bedtime. It was a hard week for me. Just with having all the home responsibilities on me as well as being the only parent "present" for most of the week was tough. I'm thankful that this week is going to be better! Although Jacob's busy, he won't be gone 15-16 hours each day!

I took the kids to a festival on Saturday morning. They loved the parade! 

Levi was the only one who actually rode the ponies. Lily didn't want to because she's not a fan of "strange men" (LOL) and Asher sat on the pony but got scared when it started moving.

They had fun at the petting zoo!

Levi's all-time favorite was "driving" the fire truck. He was thrilled!

I'm so glad I took the kids. They had the best time, but man, it wore me out! Ha. It was hot and I pulled them in the wagon and then I was so afraid I was going to lose one of them in the crowds at the petting zoo. Thankfully they all stayed together really well. 

Saturday evening a friend of ours got married. Jacob played for the prelude and processional, but then he got to sit with me and Lily (the boys stayed with our sitter) for the ceremony! After the crazy busy week, it was so nice to be able to sit side by side for 20 minutes! :)

Re-enactment 2013

All the kids got to dress up for this year's War Between the States re-enactment. They absolutely loved it! Asher was mistaken several times for a girl, but "back then" both boys and girls his age wore dresses. :)

Asher loved listening to the man playing the harmonica. 

Enjoying fresh squeezed lemonade after the hot battle.

My parent's celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary the same weekend as the re-enactment. They also celebrated 21 years of the re-enacting ministry (my Dad dresses as a chaplain and passes out gospel tracts from the 1860's).

Pregnancy Update

We will be meeting our baby girl in just around 8 (most likely 9) weeks! I am thankful to be feeling good for the most part. The last few days I've had a ton of contractions, which is normal (for me at least), but slightly annoying because I constantly have to run use the bathroom. ha! 

A few weeks ago I was feeling pretty "draggy" (a few days after running out of my iron supplement), but once I got started back on it, I've had plenty of energy. I'm doing my best to get my feet up every afternoon for a bit while the children nap. 

I'm slowly marking things off my "to-do before baby" list, but I seem to be adding more to it than I'm getting marked off. :) 

I need to get to Target and register for a few things. You'd think that we'd have everything we need after having three babies, but actually, after three babies, things like bottles and carseats are worn out and need to be replaced. Our infant seat expired a while ago (although I didn't realize it until we were done using it for Asher) so we need to get another one. 

28.5 weeks

30 weeks. Silly kiddos wanted to be in the picture :)

30 weeks

31.5 weeks. Due date is November 6.

I am still working out at the gym 3x a week and at home each day. 

Lily, Levi and Asher are all so excited for baby sister to get here! They "kiss" her and "talk" to her daily and they love to feel her punches and kicks. Asher likes to pat my belly and say "baby, baby." He's started pulling up his shirt and saying the same thing. So funny!

We are looking forward to having a newborn during the holidays. I know it will be crazy, but Lily and Levi's births just missed Christmas, so this will be our first time having an itty bitty baby to celebrate with.