Meeting the Sibs

Welcome

Nicholas Alexander
1/14/13
8 pounds 12 ounces (same as Julia and Philip!) That's wrong!  Same as Julia and Thomas.
20 inches

Having problems uploading a picture, hopefully soon.

It Makes Sense Now

So I have been trying since summer to get Thomas to try reading chapter books.  He has the ability but he has been intimidated by them, their length and their lack of pictures.  Until now.  And what wonderful series of books finally hooked him on chapter books?  Junie B Jones.  Oh, Junie, as an adult, I personally think you are hilarious.  You're so very six years old.  You talk and think like so many kids I know and have known.  I read Junie books in college (yes, I know, very heavy reading) and enjoyed them a lot.  But as a parent, Junie, you are a less than desirable role model.  You're often loud, impulsive, rude, self-centered, overly dramatic and mean.  You do have a good heart, and you can do nice things, but everything tends to work out for you even though you've been naughty, and just like with Curious George, I'm not a big fan of that.  So I wondered, why Junie?  Why did this girly series end up being the one that hooked Thomas?  Then it hit me.  Junie is everything Thomas would like to be, only his mother tries not to let him be most of it. No wonder Thomas likes you, Junie.  I've said many times there's no need to forbid every questionable book that ever ends up in your child's hands.  I was tested when Samuel brought home Goosebumps and failed the test miserably by immediately forbidding them.  But then I took my own advice, I told Samuel he could read a Goosebumps book and then decide, "Is this series worth my time?"  He decided it wasn't.  Score.  However, I doubt if I gave Thomas the same option that he would decide Junie was not worth his time.  Like I said, she's hilarious.  I'll ask him though and if he decides they are worth his time hopefully reading Junie will give Thomas the confidence he needs to move on to something better.  Until then we'll be discussing Junie and her behavior, attitude and decisions.  And probably giggling at her antics too.  :)

PS
Being induced tomorrow, prayers are appreciated!  :)

Poor New Baby

He's been sadly neglected on this blog.  We found out clear back in August that we are expecting our fourth BOY!  We couldn't talk about it for a couple of weeks though due to a certain little girl's broken heart.  She really wanted a sister.  But she's over it now and everyone is excited to meet this little boy.  Due to Philip's large size, I had an ultrasound last week to check this little guy's size and he measured 7 lbs 9 oz, with the due date within a day of what we were already going with.  Philip was 8 lbs at this point which got me induced a week early; 7 lbs 9 ozs isn't enough for that to happen again so we'll be waiting it out to the due date.  My doctor said he'd let me go a week over, but he never has before so I need to ask him about that.  I didn't see him this week because he was out of the office due to an emergency.

Here's a picture from about 26 weeks.  

We didn't get any face pictures this week because he's head down and was facing my hip.  All we could see was his spine and the back of his cute little head!  We'll see his face soon enough!

Funniest Thing a Kid has Ever Done...

to my pregnant stomach:

Play tractors with the baby.  It was totally his idea.  The little tractor was the baby's and kept rolling down my stomach.  The big one was for Philip.  We have a hilarious video too, but it's too long to post.

Halloween

I've probably mentioned other years, I'm not a big fan of Halloween. The only part I like is getting costumes together. It's the last day of the month so Jeremy is always busy, it's so easy to get greedy while trick or treating and carving pumpkins? Let's just say none of my kids have ever had a long enough attention span to scoop out their pumpkins and they can't do the actual carving yet so I get to carve four pumpkins to match their (intricate) drawings as best I can. Fun.  Plus there's no good meaning to Halloween. But here's the highlights anyway.

Ready to go.

 A Race car Driver

 A Snow Princess

 The Jolly Green Giant

 A Western Sheriff (the western part was very important to him)

 The Jack-o-lanterns (I kept my pumpkin under my shirt).  By the way, don't try to carve Blue Moon Pumpkins, it's hard!  I didn't really intend to but since we didn't get a regular one for Julia I ended up trying.  It turned out fine, but wow, was the skin and pumpkin flesh thick!  I missed taking a picture of Thomas scooping out his, oops.  His white pumpkin was really soft and easy to carve, it made up for Julia's!

They do look cool lit up.

Welcome Lewis!

My sister Lynn had her baby on Monday!  The kids and I went to meet him Wednesday.  It was love at first sight for all our kids, especially Philip.  Here's hoping he loves our baby that much- for more than a week!  :)

I'm not loving being due after my sister, it's making me feel like I have a long way to go, especially because now Julia and Philip have been asking when our baby is going to come out.  I tried to explain it wouldn't be for three months but neither of them really get what that means.  I was happy to notice on the sidebar ticker that I have under 100 days left though!

The cousins

:)

We're expecting!  Which explains why I haven't posted in so long.  My normal computer time is now nap time.  But I'm starting to come out of the exhausted icky stage so maybe things will get a little closer to normal again.  I'm due in mid January and everything so far looks good.  The kids are enjoying looking up how big the baby is every week.  When we first told them it was tic tac size, then jelly bean, then we happened upon a web site that compares the baby to healthy things so now we're at a grape.  Any prayers for "Grapie" and our family are greatly appreciated.  :)

New Stuff

Here are a couple pictures of the finished trim in our bedroom. They don't really do it justice, it looks nicer than the picture. We also got new windows upstairs. Jeremy had talked to me about getting them an he even told me he had the guy order them but my pregnant brain forgot. So the windows came in and the guys arrived at 8:20 this morning to install them. They were were done by 12:20, much to Thomas's disappointment. He was hoping rest time would be disrupted. The windows look nice and should be more energy efficient than the old ones. Jeremy will have to stain them sometime.
The windows just happened to come in and the guys could put them in today which worked out great because... drum roll please... I'm being induced tomorrow! Say some extra prayers for us please.

Almost Done!

With my pregnancy and our bedroom! (I know they are both in the same category of importance, huh?) Dr. H's office is supposed to call this afternoon and let me know when the hospital has room for me to be induced. It will be Wednesday or later because Wed is when I am "officially" 39 weeks.

Jeremy has been working feverishly to finish up the trim in our bedroom for the last two weeks. The last time someone redecorated they put a very thick layer of paint over all of the very nice trim work. Jeremy pulled it all off, stripped and sanded it and now has it back up. The mopboards are actually three pieces, quarter round, a tall, flat piece and the top fancy part. (Don't get confused by my technical terms for all of this!) Adam Q was kind enough to make us new quarter round because most of the original splintered when Jeremy pulled it off. It's 1 inch by 1/2 inch which is not made anymore so we couldn't just buy it at Menard's. So this weekend Jeremy got it all put back on and, with the help of my dad and his mom, got it stained and put one coat of varnish on. He'll put a second coat of varnish on tonight. Then the only thing left will be the ornate pieces that go above the windows and doors. They have a strip of beading on them so they are more work to get the paint off of and I assume will be a little harder to varnish with all the crevices to deal with. I forgot to snap a picture before Julia went down for her nap in there so I'll post one later. It looks really nice. We're very happy with how well the trim stain goes with the flooring. I helped putty in nail holes and Julia really wanted to help too. She got to "putty" on this board with some play doh. It was hilarious and it kept her busy for about 20 minutes! I think she'll be ready for real puttying next time. :)

PS Blogger's spell check knew that I had spelled Menard's incorrectly! Impressive!

Baby Update

Baby weighed in at 8 lbs, head down but on his back. I'll talk to Dr. H Monday at my normal appointment and we'll see what's up from there.

Next Week?

I have an ultrasound scheduled for Thursday to check the baby's size. If he's 8 pounds or over Dr. H will probably induce me late next week. Ultrasounds can be a pound off, up or down, but even if it says the baby is 8 pounds and he's really 7, he'll still be pushing 9 pounds in two weeks. Dr. H said the biggest concern with big babies is actually their shoulders being too wide and told me a little too much about the complications that can cause. I'll spare you the details. Anyway, keep us in your prayers!

Baby News

I just barely passed my blood sugar test today. I was three points under where they would be concerned I have gestational diabetes. Dr. H said it was okay, they set the minimum where they do for a reason, and that it means I'm not metabolizing my sugar as quickly as normal, which is not unusual in pregnancy. But because that can up your "risk" for a big baby, plus the fact that Thomas and Julia were both 8lbs 12 oz Dr. H said we will do an ultrasound at 36 weeks (I'm 30 weeks now) and based on how big that says the baby is I will probably be induced early. He did ask how I felt about being induced but I'm fine with it. I was induced with Thomas and Julia and didn't even need Petocin last time so it really wasn't a big deal. We have an hour drive to the hospital, and honestly, if I can do that drive not in labor that's fine with me. Plus knowing ahead of time will be so much easier with the big kids, especially since Samuel has kindergarten to take into account. Looks like we'll be able to enjoy the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday) at home with a brand new baby!

In Case You Don't Know

I think we've told most everyone in person but just in case... (I put it where it should go chronologically)
She's Only Got Brothers Part 4

She's Only Got Brothers Part 4

Three of them to be exact!

Did You Notice?

There's a new ticker underneath Julia's picture! I've been able to tell most of you in person, I apologize if I missed you. We found out we were expecting at the end of July, I'm about seven weeks along, the due date is April 1st (no fooling!). The nurse says "don't worry, they never come on their due date." Well, Dr. H induced me on my due date for Julia and Thomas, but no big deal, at least it's not Leap Day! Julia has learned to say Baby, but of course she has no idea what's in store. Thomas immediately asked "How'd the baby get in you?" (God put it there.) and Samuel thought we were joking. We didn't realize it for an hour or so, until he told Lynn it was just a joke. When we told him, no, we're really going to have a new baby he just said a heartfelt, "Whoa!" I've been battling some morning (okay, all day) sickness but I feel like we're past the worst. Plus yesterday my nurse said I could take half a Unisom and some B6 before bed and this morning I felt the best I have in a while, yay! Please keep us in your prayers!