My Sweet Girls

Wow! Time really does keep on ticking whether you want it to or not.  I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't been making all of those great decisions that I planned to and here comes Christmas a mere 27 days from now.  I'm not even close to my goal.  However, just as I predicted my sweet Rosalie is much bigger and smilier!  She's almost sitting up all by herself and she's rolling from back to front.  She's adorable and loved by all who meet her.  She wins them over with her tonguey grin!  Her brothers and sister all love her and enjoy having her around.  Isabella still likes to copy her and is slipping into a "baby" phase.  I don't make too much of a big deal out of most of it because I know it's just her two year old way of handling having a baby sister who gets a lot of attention.  She will sometimes put a pacifier in her mouth to try and get a reaction.  She is more attached to her bottle than ever.  She wants to dress like her baby sister and use "baby" spoons to eat her food.  Tonight we discovered that they just don't work too well with spaghetti! 
In spite of all her "babyness" Isabella is successfully training to go potty on the potty and not in her diaper!  Yay!  Potty training is tough.  It's a messy job but it's got to be done.  She's doing great!  Week one down.  I waited until she let me know she was ready.  She did this by wanting to purchase some Dora underwear at the store.  She's wanted underwear before but this time seemed different.  She opened them in the car and couldn't wait to get home and wear them.  I let her put a pair on when we got home.  She wore them the rest of the night without a single accident (going on the potty three times!) and then didn't want to wear a diaper to bed.  I let her go to sleep in them but quietly changed her into a diaper after she was fast asleep.  She didn't protest as much when she was sleepy.  The next day she did great except for pooping in her underwear and the day after that the same.  I set up a sticker chart for her.  She puts a sticker on each time she goes on the potty and when she gets 10 in a row she gets a small gift.  It's working!  She wouldn't poop on the potty and after several days I was desperate to find something to motivate her.  I went into the attic and got one of her wrapped Christmas presents.  I showed it to her.  I showed her her name on it and I placed it on the bathroom sink.  I told her when she went poop on the potty that it was hers.  Within a few hours, she finally pooped in the toilet!  She proudly called for me and informed me that "Now I can have my snowman present!" Motivation.  That's all she needed!  She still has a couple of accidents a day but she's going regularly and will even tell me she has to go when she has a pull-up on and we're out.  Hopefully this whole process will not take too long! :)

Using the Slight Edge To My Advantage

Still wearing maternity clothes because I
can't fit into regular ones yet.  Rosalie is
2 1/2 weeks old in this picture :)

I gave birth to Rosalie Faith on June 7th at 10:18 a.m. She is such a blessing!  She came into this world weighing 8 lbs and 20 1/4 inches long.  Even though she is much bigger than her brothers and sister were when they were born, she is still so tiny and fragile.  My beautiful baby girl is almost three weeks old.  To me she still looks like the same adorable little newborn that we brought home from the hospital, but each day she is changing and growing.  I see her everyday so I don't always see those tiny changes. 

One of my favorite books is Jeff Olsen's "The Slight Edge."  If you haven't read it, you should.  It will change the way you see life and time.  Time is always going by and whether we like it or not, the decisions that we make everyday are making tiny changes in our life.  Before I got pregnant with Rosalie I was already overweight.  I gained 40 lbs during my pregnancy.  So far I've lost 27 lbs since I had her.  My goal is to lose 73 lbs by Christmas therefore I have 46 more lbs to lose. 

Forty-six pounds in six months.  How do I plan to do it?  By using the slight edge to my advantage.  By making better decisions in my eating and activity everyday I will be able to lose this weight by Christmas.  My sweet little Rosalie is changing in tiny ways everyday that I can't see but when I look at a picture of her from when she was born to when she is a month old those changes will be obvious.  By the time she is six months or so she will be learning to roll over, sit up or scoot.  Her body is getting bigger and stronger everyday.  In a year, she will be learning to walk and talk and I'll think as many parents do, "I can't believe she's a year old already!"  That time is coming.  Every minute that goes by she gets closer to being a year old.  I don't want that time to come and have regrets that I didn't do the little things that could add up to big changes in my health and body.  In one year, when I celebrate my baby girl's first birthday, I plan to be in the best shape of my life!

One more day...

We made it through camping!  We ended up leaving for Cook Forest on Friday after Brandon got out of school and stayed until Sunday afternoon.  The kids had so much fun playing outside with their friends.  We weren't too far from the bathrooms and sleeping on the air mattress was just as comfortable as sleeping at home. I think I probably slept better because I was more tired when I went to bed.  We got up around 7:30 each morning which made for a long day.  We ended up leaving a couple of hours early.  It was pouring rain and I was having contractions.  Turns out, after five straight hours of them, that I was "dehydrated."  I was having contractions but they were not causing me to dilate therefore I was not in labor.  We went to the hospital where they gave me an IV of basically Gatorade and sent me home.  It was nice to be home Monday and not have anything we had to do.

I've had contractions for hours at a time on several occasions since then but still no dilation.  My body is getting ready but taking it's sweet old time.  I've had terribly swollen feet for months now and its gotten progressively worse.  When I went to the doctor on  Wednesday, May 30th, my blood pressure was 138/84 so my doctor ordered some blood work and another ultrasound.  The blood work showed that some things were a little off (literally that's what they told me!) but nothing to worry about.  The ultrasound was good.  They claimed she weighed about 7 1/2 lbs at that point.  I'm curious to see how accurate this is because that would put her over 8 lbs. at birth which would be crazy to me since Brandon, Xander and Isabella were 6 lb. 14 oz., 6 lb. 6 oz., and 6 lb. 11 oz.  Rosalie would definitely get the prize for biggest baby at birth!  I went back on Friday for a blood pressure check-up and it was staying steady.  I was concerned about preeclampsia but my doctor didn't seem to have the same concern after getting all the tests back. 

Went back again on Monday for another blood pressure check and ultrasound.  Both were good.  I got to watch Rosalie practice breathing even though it seemed very shallow compared to when I watched Isabella do that at 30 weeks.  Now we wait.  Isabella was born at 38 weeks 5 days.  Today was 38 weeks 5 days for Rosalie and she didn't make her appearance.  Tomorrow is her last chance to come on her own time and, if not, then Thursday at about 9:30 a.m. they will be wheeling me into the OR to take her out. 

The kids are in MI with their grandparents having lots of fun.  They went to the zoo today.  I miss them but it's been nice to have a couple of quiet days with David.  We have been able to get some things done that we've been putting off.  So many things to go through and organize.  Basically the extra cleaning that we don't usually get to.  We've had some fun too.  Sunday we went to the movies and saw Snow White and the Huntsman and The Avengers.  It was nice to go to the movies and enjoy a night out - just the two of us.  David had bought me a gift card to the movies for Christmas!  Still hadn't gone and it's June.  So I think it was worth watching two movies.  Who knows when we'll get to go again after Rosalie is born and the kids are all back home.  We have gone to some kids movies.  We just usually don't get to go to "grown up" ones.  Over spring break we went to see The Lorax.  Isabella was ok for most of the movie but she couldn't sit through the whole thing which meant I had to get up and walk around with her... Just not the same as going out with my husband!

So we're down to a maximum of 33.5 hours left in this pregnancy.  Knowing that is a strange feeling.  I'm going to miss my belly... Not going to miss my ogreish swollen feet, sleepless/uncomfortable nights, aching/swollen arms, acid in my throat... Just going to miss my pregnant belly and her little kicks, her little hic-ups and feeling her little body in my belly.  Carrying around another person inside your belly is a pretty awesome thing.  A special time that is coming to an end.  Now we're moving on and I'm ready to meet this new little blessing!  Come on Rosalie, we're ready for you to come out!!

To Camp or Not to Camp

This is the first time I've ever been at the end of my pregnancy and NOT wanted to go into labor.  We're hoping to go camping this weekend (Memorial Weekend) - well, the kids and I are.  David cooperates but camping is not his favorite thing to do.  I'm 36 weeks.  I'll be 37 on Thursday.  I know the chances of me going into labor before we go are about 50/50 and the chances of me going into labor when we're gone are probably more like 75/50 because Brandon and Xander were both born by 37 weeks.  Isabella hung in there for what seemed like forever and was born at 38 1/2 weeks even though I wanted so badly for her to come out!  What are the chances that the girls would be similar in that way?

If she's born then great! We stay home and have a baby but if she's not, why sit at home and do nothing when we could be out camping with friends?  I've been told by many people that I'm crazy for still wanting to go camping.  I blow them off of course, but a tiny part of me is screaming "They're right!  I'm going to go into labor and have this baby on the side of the road!"  That's probably extreme but I do have to admit it is a little scary to think of what COULD happen.  I did talk with my doctor though which gave me some confidence that everything will be fine.

So will we go camping or will we have a baby and stay home?  If we go camping, will we leave in a rush for the hospital?  Only God knows and only time will tell...

Isabella at 18 months

I wrote this more than six months ago but for some reason just never finished it...

My sweet girl recently turned 18 months old.  She is learning new things everyday.  Even though she is my third, I am still amazed at what she is cabable of doing at this age.  I love her big blue eyes and soft blonde curls.  Her stick straight bangs reach down to her lips now but I refuse to cut them.  Most of the time she wears her hair in a clip to the side.  Lately she's been pulling it out of her hair although I don't understand how she can tolerate her hair in front of her eyes! If I ask her about her hairbow she will say "hairbow" and run and get it.  She usually knows exactly where it is. 

She has become much more interested in watching t.v. lately.  She's been a Baby Einstein fan for awhile, but now she enjoys Blue's Clues, Dora, Diego or whatever her brothers are watching.  I've started putting on Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake for her because I liked them when I was little.  She'll watch them but the cartoons are usually too long for her attention span.

She is saying many new words and will try to repeat almost anything you ask her to say.  She's not shy in sharing her feelings.  If she wants something, she will let you know.  Usually either by smacking you or getting in your face.  She loves her baby dolls.  She will carry them around, sit with them or push them in the stroller.  She calls cats and other animals - dogs - similar to the boys at this age. 

She loves her big brothers and wants to do everything they are doing.  For the most part they are good with her.  They give her a kiss and hug each night as she goes to bed and usually each day as she goes for nap.  She surprised me the other day as I got ready to put her down for nap.  I had gotten her bottle of milk (yes, she still takes a bottle for nap and bedtime and I'm not worried about it) and showed it to her.  She immediately stopped what she was doing and got up to follow me as she always does but I said to her "Go tell Daddy 'Na-night' and you'll see him when you wake up."  She ran right over to David and puckered up her little lips to him!  It was so cute!!  He gave her a kiss and a little hug and she turned and ran right back to me.  I guess 18 months of carrying her around to kiss and hug everyone before bedtime paid off! 

The end is near...

So much for blogging a lot through this pregnancy!  Our baby girl, Rosalie Faith, is expected to be born within the next three to four weeks.  She is a big girl.  At 33 weeks, she weighed 4 lbs. 14 oz.  I think she just might be our biggest baby at birth.  Brandon was born at 37 weeks - the biggest at 6 lbs. 14 oz.  Xander was the smallest born at 36.5 weeks. weighing 6 lbs. 6.6 oz.  Isabella was right in the middle even though she wasn't born until 38.5 weeks weighing 6 lbs. 11 oz. 

Of course, I've gained way more weight than I had intended to. I look forward to losing it all and more after the baby is born.  It should be easy to lose the weight chasing after four kids all day every day, right?  I know I'll have to work at it but I'm determined that I'm going to do it this time.  My goal is to lose 65 lbs. by Christmas.

We are all excitedly awaiting Rosalie's birth.  I have so much to do though before she is born.  I have bags to pack, baby stuff to wash and lots of cleaning/yard work to do.  I keep thinking that I have plenty of time to get all these things done.  I had my 35 week apt yesterday though and the Dr. told me that I am 50% effaced and dilated to a 1.  Doesn't mean she is going to be here tomorrow but it does remind me that the clock is ticking!  

Rosalie is going to stay in mine and David's room until she is at least 4-6 months old and then she will share a room with Isabella.  Eventually the two of them will end up with bunk beds like the boys.  I think it is so wonderful that we have two boys close in age and now two girls close in age.  How wonderful God is.  Jeremiah 29:11 says "I have a plan for you..." He certainly does.  God has been great to us and we're so grateful for all the blessings that He has given us.  I look forward to seeing what else He has planned.