Baby 4

Yesterday we got to see this little doodle!  No, we don't know if it is a boy or a girl.  All I cared about knowing was if the space in the brain was the right size, if the femur was too short, and if my cord was 5 ft long again.  The sonographer could not believe I wanted to know all those things.  She said everyone who comes in only asks if it is a boy or girl.  Brain was great, heart was great, femur the right size, and only bummer was that there was cord everywhere again.  So much anxiety over that!! My cords are long. Like unbelievably.  Like the dr wanted to call Guiness Book of World Records with Makenna...for reals.  Ugh.  Long cords are way better than cords that are too short.  But the prolapsed cord with Tracen and my PTSD from that experience just makes me so nervous.  I am praying for no epidural and for my water to break at the end when this baby's head is filllllllling every part of the birth canal.  The sonographer said that since I had a successful VBAC with Mailey, they don't even need to measure my scar this time.  One huge advantage to having kiddos spread apart is that my body has completely healed each time.  The unplanned nearly 5 year gap btw Tracen and Mailey helped me to be an even better candidate for no c-section.  This time with a VBAC already done and the 4 year space, everything is looking great.  I still sit in shock when I actually see a baby in there.  I feel it move all the time, but still!   A favorite game is let's turn head down, then head up, then head down, allll the time.  I want to make this little person stay head down!! The preferred way for it right now is head up.  Blah.  No breech babies.  Beth J got to come with us, and that was just about the sweetest thing ever.  Crazy she is grown up and GETTING MARRIED!! Woo hoooo!  We are so excited for her.  I am in her wedding, at 35 weeks prego.  Hahaha, I told her they could just roll me down the aisle or stick me in a wagon.  We found bridesmaid dresses yesterday.  Kinda challenging to determine the belly in 2 months.  Interesting fact is they do have a baby belly at the bridal store to help you out. Wow.  We got one that will have to be "let out" and "de-boned" in certain areas, but it is flowy and not too short. Thank you Lord for flowy.  Spanx for prego women? Do they make those?  And you can still breathe?  I am very honored to be in her wedding, prego or not.  Unbelievable! So what a day yesterday.  Lots of things accomplished.  Lots of beautiful moments:
Seeing this baby.
Watching Beth walk out in the wedding dress she chose.
Laughing at baby bellies and not so cute dresses.
Videoing Makenna in her last cello concert.
Listening to the preteens sing for the musical.
Feeling Mailey trying to hold my chin when she crawled into bed with us, just like when she was a baby.
:)
ps-we are not trying to make everyone nuts not finding out.  makenna was a surprise, and this one already is, so why not?  it rarely even crosses my mind.  but prayers will have to be sent up for tracen if i have to tell him it is another girl. ha!

randomly on my mind

my brain has been racing lately.  not sure if it is being prego or what...though that can somehow make things bigger and stay longer, if you know what i mean. i was hoping if some of it came out in blog barf, then less would be floating around upstairs.

makenna is having lots more defiance on her new meds, and now panic is back.  not every night, but she just had a 3 day cycle, and i was completely freaked out.  just at a loss as to how to help her, and us.

tracen is having issues with things being super overwhelming to him, thus sending him collapsing in a heap on the floor.  he is the classic GT child, with a good dose of ADD in there.  his iq is way high, his ability to multi-task is low, and he is not the typical happy regardless adhd kiddo.  he ain't got no 'h' in the add.  sometimes sounds like any typical boy, and sometimes makes is really hard for him to do the things he needs to do. like morning jobs or grasping no is the final answer.  we are working on this.  i am so thankful he is sensitive, and i know it will benefit him one day. the balance is off right now though, making things tough.  i've always known that when he is only getting scolded for his inability to listen/take action/complete tasks...it is time to re-evaluate.  that is really the only thing he gets in trouble for. 

i was given so much great stuff from a friend for this baby.  i am still overwhelmed by the lack of things...basics really like towels and burp cloths and sheets and clothes...oh my word diapers.  i haven't really thought about those.  yikes.  BUT i am soooo grateful.  sara gave me maternity clothes and a jumper and play mat and nursing timer thing and a My Brest Friend hahaha and sling and mobile and sound maker and bouncy seat.  probably more i am forgetting! soooo wonderful.  she was also a great friend of brie's.  she even named her baby girl brie.  i just loved feeling that missing piece of my life through sara.  brie would always bring me tons of clothes and stuff.  we shared shoes and bathing suits and maternity clothes.  she would text me or call or facebook me all the time.  i miss her caring and selfless heart.  sara was able to be brie to me that day, and how amazing it was to see brie's prayers for us and for me still bearing fruit through another.  just so good.

i am sick of being on the computer.  every day for months i have been looking for houses and researching things.  every one has been wrong place, wrong price, or wrong timing.  or god just closing the doors....yep.  i found one that was not impressive at allllll.  it needed major updating throughout.  i didn't even look at it really for awhile.  then i kept thinking about it and we went to see it on a random open house day.  i was still not impressed, and hugely overwhelmed by all that needed to be done.  new fixtures, appliances, paint, caulking, faucets....on and on.  the biggest issue was the CAT and DOG urine seeped into the concrete slab.  oh my i was gagging and gagging in true beth juarez style.  you could not even hardly go into the south side of the house.  we stayed for an hour looking at every detail.  there are a lot of goods.  4 bedrooms, one like another master with its own bathroom, THREE full bathrooms.  bigger yard. great storage shed. concrete footing fence.  large master.  marble solid surrounds for every tub and shower instead of any prefab push in junk.  did i mention 3 bathrooms??  honestly, i have decided that is more important than a 5th bedroom.  we have one bathtub in this house we are in.  just takes forever to get kids ready for bed.  we also have 2 boys and 2 potties.  you know that they are occupied and the girls are waiting more often than not.  ha!  all of these ok things kept coming back to our minds.  it is just stressful trying to figure it all out and get offers in and calculate flooring costs and know that is only scratching the surface.  also i am prego!!! what on earth are we even thinking??  but god keeps bringing us back to this house.  we will see what works out with it. 

i also don't want to sound or be all snooty or something.  we have been taken care of so well here.  so many have no space or bathrooms or anything.  i think i struggle now even wanting to update something because it really is fine and should be fine and why do i care, etc.  i want so badly for my kids to be able to play in their yard, for my dog to not be plagued by ticks from next door, for a garage to be able to walk into, for mailey to not wake up every single night bc she is in the sunroom with no doors...but i want us to be a solid family striving together more than those things.  maybe that is why god keeps bringing this house back to us?  something we will make our own and work on together and the kids can take ownership of...i just want it all to work out the way god wants it to.

and for me not to lose my mind through it all.

:)

i know this blog is soooo boring.  it is really just my way of documenting life and events through pictures.  i could post every day about something.  but i don't.  that's ok to me.  same reason i don't scrapbook or anything like that.  too much for this life right now.  and i am not less of a mom bc of it.  so this is my place to sum it all up or stick up too many pictures with detailed captions like those written on all of our orangey faded polaroids from when we were little.  my place to look back and see how much life changes and where it takes us.  to notice that makenna is only here 7 more years.  to see tracen mature and take on things we never thought he could do.  to laugh again at a mailey antic or comment or smile.  to very soon have a picture of this precious baby wiggling around as i type. 

boring.

and amazing.

Easter 2013

Easter morning baskets
 

 

This child would not get out of bed, so we brought his basket to him.

These next few are true miracles.  All 3 smiling and looking for one, and even more than one pic.  I am still amazed.

Mom bought them these cute dresses just to match, but we decided to wear them for Easter. Tracen didn't say a word about his pinkish shirt.  He thought it was great.  Whew.  Yes the arms look long, but if I get this kid an 8 his monkey arm wrists hang out, so a 10 it is.  Cursed with Bubba/Daddy arms. 

Oh my, really?? Cuties...and acting like it for a change!

Mak and Wesley have so many pics together over the years at various holidays and events, and we had to add another.

Also Mailey and Grant had to get a pic.
So bummed I didn't get Tracen and Meredith and the twins!

Since we are having the tick invasion from the neighbors whose yard is infested, we could not hunt eggs here.  I know, I know.  We have sprayed and called and everything we can do.  It is nearly pushing me over the edge!! Or maybe it already has. SCREAM.

Sooo, we went to be with the Juarez fam for Easter.  We ate together and the kiddos hunted in their backyard.
Here is Beth's PawPaw.  He is mighty cute.

Tyson and Mr. Rick were a little too into hiding eggs...

Some excited faces

 

Mailey was enthralled by each egg, of course.  She just thinks everything is so wonderful and beautiful. I pray she never loses that quality.  She kept stopping to smell Mrs. Vicki's flowers in true princess style.

Tracen was the usual super serious.  He also kept dumping out eggs as he would reach for another one to beat Makenna.  We were laughing so hard!  It was like watching that kid on a movie not realizing all his eggs were falling out. He recovered and had fun.

 

Makenna just looks like a little nearly teeanager hunting eggs.  Oh my. That is exactly what she is!  She is just too old too soon.  How will I do a preteen and a baby???

 

Counting candy and money

 

 

Thank you Juarez family for hanging out with us and letting us hunt and play at your house!  I promise all us girls were there.  I never am in the pics, and I sure didn't do a good job of taking family pics or pics of anyone else. Oh well, Happy Easter!
Jesus is alive every single day.

Easter Hunt and Last Minute Family Brunch

Mailey had a quick Easter egg hunt with her little PDO class on Thursday. She was sick the week before, and most parties have been on Tuesdays since lots of kids go both days.  Sooo this mom had no idea there was a hunt or party! I ran to United and got some eggs and candy for Mailey and Julianne's class.  She thought it was so neat to find all the eggs with a flower on them.  Each kid had a different symbol.  She would pick up an egg and announce the symbol.  When she didn't know what it was she would say, "Here is a...a....shape!"  So funny!  Besides the gangsta' Target bag instead of the cute baskets everyone else had, it was great.  :)

 

 

On Friday night we heard Auntnie and Uncle Milt were coming up here for Easter last minute.  We went to One Guy Friday night and then everyone came over for crepes Saturday late morning.  I just decided that since they were all here we should celebrate together, so I just looked in the pantry and went with it. 

After that we dyed eggs.  I tried the bake in the pan way instead of boiling them.  It was ok, but each had a burned spot and they were impossible to peel.  So back to boiling water next time.  Mailey had been asking every.single.day when we were going to color her pink eggs. 

 

 

 

Tracen had the most patience.  His egg took forever, but he wanted it as dark as he could get it, and it turned out great.

RyRy got way excited to dye some himself. :)
I am soo glad it worked out for us to hang with our family while they were here for a quick visit.  It was such a surprise and so fun to be together. Last minute might be the way to go...