This has been a busy week. Nursing, diapering, and potty training are taking up much of my time. The older two kids are pretty much fending for themselves.

Squirt is 2 weeks and 2 days old, and already sleeping 6-8 hours at night. Great for my sleep, not so great for my milk supply. She also loves waiting for a new diaper before pooping. This morning, she got three diapers dirty in 5 minutes.

Munchkin is finally getting this whole underwear potty thing. She hasn't had any accidents today. (knock on wood...) She stays dry during naptime. She gets so excited when she pees in the potty. First, she has to get her candy, and then she has to dump the pee and flush the toilet. She loves it.

Thumbelina has fully reverted to sucking her thumb. So we are currently trying the bandaid method (on her and Munchkin) and gloves at night. So far so good. I guess the new baby is throwing her for a loop. But she is getting more independent at the same time. She loves being able to go around the neighborhood with ET and his friends.

ET is done with kindergarten. All this week he kept telling me how much he didn't like school and he couldn't wait for school to be over. Then on Friday, he was sad because school was out for the whole summer. He has become very popular lately. At least a couple of times a day he has friends come over and ask if he can play. We are trying to figure out what boundaries are appropriate for a 6 year old.

I am starting to sew again. I love seeing all the tutorials and deciding what I want to try. I am really working on getting the image in my head to match the finished product out of my sewing machine. So don't look too close for a while. I am trying to decide if I want to try and sew a blessing dress for Squirt. Little things intimidate me. I mean seriously--a sleeve for a newborn?! When I am afraid of regular sized sleeves?! I bought 4th of July fabric at Hancock Fabric's fantastic sale last week for super cheap. I am trying to figure out what I can make for ET that doesn't scream homemade. He wants shorts--we'll see.

Back in the Saddle Again

Sorry-no witty intelligent post today. Pregnancy ate up most of my brain cells and lack of sleep has taken care of the rest. I really can't complain about the sleep...so far anyway.

Squirt is quite possibly the best baby ever. Or she just knows she is the 4th baby and is acting accordingly. She is such a champ. She is eating great--although the kids think this whole nursing thing is hilarious. I am much more laid back about nursing this time. It was always such a cause of stress for me before. I never knew if they were getting enough or not. It's just so much easier to track it with ounces from a bottle. So this time, I am just letting things happen. We usually have to supplement with formula for her last feeding of the night, which makes me a little sad. But then she sleeps for 6 or 7 hours, and that more than makes up for it. She likes sleeping in her carseat much better than her crib. She no longer likes being swaddled. When she is ready to eat, she doesn't cry. She just grunts and wiggles until I pick her up. She likes pacifiers just fine but doesn't seem to need them. It hasn't been too hard getting back into the routine of having a newborn.

It is so nice to be able to roll over in bed, reach my feet and snuggle my kids again. I didn't really have a long recovery time--most of the pain was in my back from the epidural. The guy stabbed me 4-5 times before he finally got it in. And then I would have to pop my back everytime I stood up for the first week because my back was straightening out again. In other good news, I have lost 20 pounds in 10 days. Too bad my baby was almost 10 pounds and I gained 40. :(

Missing

One ankle.

Have you seen it?

(the doctor warned me in the hospital that I may swell up more before it went away. Guess he was right.)

As Requested...

More pictures of the baby.

Here she is thrilled to be out of my belly.

I think they said her lungs hadn't popped all the way open, so they took her to the NICU for an hour on a CPAP.

Munchkin loves her little sister and always asks to hold her...for 5 seconds. "Mom, can I hold your baby?"

This is Squirt today. She took her first nap in her crib. Please excuse the slight yellow tint, she is working on getting rid of her jaundice. Tomorrow will be our 5th trip to the lab for a bilirubin test. Hopefully it will be our last!

But look at that hair! I think Munchkin had about that much at her first birthday:

Nope.

She's Finally Here!

So glad to be home!

FYI

No baby yet. The hospital will call us between 5:30 am and 6:30 am tomorrow--when they are ready for us. Then we will go and get hooked up to the pitocin. Hopefully things will move quickly once this little girl realizes I am serious about getting her out.

(Well, really hopefully my water breaks so I can get some drugs!)

I am not sure how blog access is at the hospital but I'll try to update on Facebook.

And a big huge thank you to all the great people who are helping us out through this. My brother is watching the kids. Friends are taking ET to school and birthday parties. Hubby's sister is coming on Friday and my mom is coming on Monday. I feel so loved with all the friends calling to check up on me this last week.

I will post pictures as soon as I can. Wish me luck!

Today's A Little Better

Seeing as how even if I were progressing on my own, the earliest I could be induced was tomorrow, Thursday isn't that bad.

(You know, I can either be upset about it or deal with it because there is nothing I can do to change it :))

So I am giving one last ditch effort to try and get things moving naturally tonight (so hubby can miss 3 days of work instead of just two) and if not, they will start things moving on Thursday.

I even took the kids to the park this morning. If that's not a sign of a happier Mom, I don't know what is.

**Note: Pineapple does nothing. Just makes you have to pee more.

Not In A Good Mood

I had a doctor's appointment today. I am sure you can guess by the title what the outcome of that visit was.

I am 40 weeks and 4 days and still dialated to just over a 1.

My blood pressure was good--so I couldn't go be induced for high blood pressure.

The baby is not in distress--so I couldn't go be induced for that.

And they won't induce me until I am 41 weeks.

I HAVE TO BE PREGNANT FOR 3 MORE DAYS!!!

I am not happy.

Whatcha Gonna Do...

...When you are 40 weeks and 3 days pregnant and bored out of your mind waiting for your new baby?

Embellish 20 burp cloths and eat ice cream.

Now what?

Sick of It

Anyone else sick of all of my 'I'm still pregnant' posts?

Me, too.

So a little update and no complaining.

I feel fine. Actually a little more comfortable than last week. Which makes me think she is settling in for the long haul. (Wait, was that complaining--ignore that.) I have contractions every night. Little contractions but enough to make me clean up my house --just in case. Hubby is disappointed every morning when he asks if we can go to the hospital yet, and the answer is negative. He really wants to get out of work, I think, and just take a nap. I have an appointment set up for Monday with the promise of a 'plan.' And they have assured me they won't let me go over 41 weeks. So at the very least, this pregnancy will be over come Thursday.

40 Weeks

At this point in all of my pregnancies, I had a baby by now. I am really trying to be okay with still being pregnant with no end in sight, but it's really starting to wear on me. I was fairly sure I would go into labor last night. I cleaned the kitchen, finished the laundry, and vacuumed the floors in case someone had to come and sit with my sleeping children.

I had a fairly good attitude yesterday. Today, not as much.

So I am focusing on the after. I am coaching the kids that my tummy will still be big even after the baby comes out--and we don't need to bring it up. (After I had Munchkin, ET asked me when the other baby was going to come out of my boobs. AWESOME!)

So after the baby comes, we will:

Get rid of all the weeds in our lawn.
See if the pool will still hold water.
Pull out the fans.
Potty train the munchkin.

But for now--it's just a whole lot of waiting.

Who Wants Free KFC?

Go here and get some free grub. KFC is promoting their new grilled chicken by giving away free meals. If I can't have this baby today, I may as well have some KFC.

It's Time

I can't sleep. I have heartburn all the time no matter what I eat. My house is only clean from the table tops up because I can't bend over. I am sick to death of every smell in my house--even my yummy shampoo. The dining room is finally sorted and all the stuff put away. The darn owl blanket is finally (relatively) finished. My sewing machine needle broke and I don't have the energy to figure out where I put the extras. My hospital bag is packed. And my belly button is popped out like a turkey timer.





COME OUT BABY!!

Dear Readers,

Contractions suck. Especially when they are the do-nothing-but-annoy-you-and-keep-you-up kind.


The end.

On Being Mom

My early Mother's Day present:

I love this kid!

Now, the one who seems to have taken up permanent residence in my uterus...I'd promise her a pony if I thought it would do any good!

Still Here

I'm still here. With a baby in my belly.


I tried to figure out why she wasn't coming out. Last night I packed my hospital bag, started the marathon that is my laundry pile, and watched hubby catch up with the dishes.


Today, the kids will get bathed, put away all of the laundry, and help me with cleaning the house.


Then, tonight, there will be no reason this baby can't come out.


Unless she's waiting for me to finish her blanket. Then I'm screwed!