Monday's Happy Moments

I woke up yesterday morning ready to bounce. I had bounced my way into labor with Silas so I figured it was time to try again. Much to my dismay, the exercise ball we had at home had a hole in it. I broke out the duct tape, but to no avail. I had a meltdown. Yes, I cried. It's gotten to that point in the pregnancy where anything can set me off. (Please tell me someone can relate?) Thankfully Kevin was extremely sensitive, and we went out and bought a new one. 

I do realize that bouncing on an exercise ball does not guarantee labor, but it's not hurting anybody so I'm gonna bounce!

After running a few errands (including getting that exercise ball :), I came home to find the quilt that I had ordered for our bedroom a few weeks back. I love the colors and pattern. It brought a little sunshine to my day. Thanks, UPS man!

During Silas' nap time I set off to get a pedicure. (Thanks, hubby!) It's really the perfect way to celebrate 39 weeks of pregnancy. I did the same thing during my 39th week of pregnancy with Silas (read that post here). This time I got the full lower leg massage- hot stones and everything! It felt so good on my swollen feet and ankles. For Silas' birth I chose red toes. Liam gets purple!

When Silas woke up from his nap we spent some time outside. We made three pine cone bird feeders together. I had been wanting to make these with some of the pine cones Silas collected over the winter. It was a good activity to take Silas' mind off of his mouth sores. We hung them up in the trees, but so far no birds have feasted on them. Of course, the fact that it's raining this morning hasn't exactly lured the birds in. But birds or not, we still had fun making the bird feeders.

We were supposed to go to story time this morning, but we opted to sleep in. I think the rain made us a little lazy. It should be a pretty low key day.

Easter 2011

 "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation,"

~ 1 Peter 1:3 (NLT)

I hope you were able to reflect on the resurrection of Jesus Christ this Easter. Thank God for His great mercy!

We had a pretty good Easter despite Silas having come down with a cold and another case of mouth sores. This is his third round of mouth sores since December. You may remember the first time I wrote about it here. And then again here. Basically it involves fever, severe fussiness (the worst part of the illness according to Dr. Sears), mouth pain, and refusal to eat or drink. It's no fun. I believe the worst is almost over this time around, but we're still dealing with a fussy toddler.
Despite sickness, we proceeded with our scheduled activities since Silas wasn't running fever or contagious. We spent the morning worshiping with our church family at FBC Lockport, and we spent the afternoon picnicking in the park with our family. It was a beautiful day!

Here are some pics of our day...

(Click the pic below to see more pics in the album.)

And here's a special Easter photo album I made of our niece, Kimeya. Her parents are both serving our country overseas so we're doing our best to keep them updated on their growing baby girl. 

(Click the pic below to see more pics in the album.)

In pregnancy news, I made 39 weeks yesterday. All the prior talk of going into labor early is seeming more like talk and less like reality! I woke up with a sore throat today and just feel blah. I'm glad we don't have much going on this week.

Have a good Monday!

Peacefully Waiting

Sorry I'm a little late with the pregnancy update! We've been enjoying time with some good friends from out of town the past couple of days. Jessica, my friends from childhood, and her husband Scott are in from Texas for a few days, and we have the privilege of hosting them. It's been nice to just relax with old friends and get my mind off of the pregnancy stuff for a while. And, of course, Silas loves having new friends to play with.  Here's Aunt Jess and Silas playing a little baseball...

I saw the doctor Wednesday, and things haven't progressed much. My cervix is continuing to soften, but no more dilation. After speaking with the doctor and being reassured that there are no concerns about mine or the baby's health at this point, we've decided not to induce just yet. I'm really hoping I can go into labor on my own before any concerns arise. I've been feeling ok- just uncomfortable. Several people have mentioned to me lately that they've been praying that the Lord would give me peace during this last stretch of the pregnancy. I can truly say that the Lord has been faithful to do just that. Although I am very ready to meet Liam, I been feeling a great sense of calm about God's timing. 

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 139:13-16

The Three Musketeers

The last couple of mornings I've been caring for these three musketeers!

I haven't mentioned it on the blog yet, but at the beginning of the year we began the process of trying to purchase a foreclosed home in our community. We were hoping to actually move in before the baby arrived, but it has turned out to be a L-O-N-G and S-L-O-W process. Well, of course, things finally started moving along a week before Liam's arrival! It's been crazy, but Kevin's Dad has been able to help him take care of a few things this week. The house is not officially ours yet, but I'll be updating as things progress. And we definitely plan on staying put in our apartment through May since Liam will be here soon. (That's the very short version of a very long story.. haha..) Anyway, Kevin's Dad works evenings and babysits Kamil and Kimeya during the day. But since he was helping Kevin, I helped out with the girls.
Silas loved having his cousins around to play, and it actually wasn't as tiring as I had expected. Silas and Kamil kept each other entertained, and I mostly had to care for Kimeya. 

We spent a lot of time outside yesterday. I put a blanket out for Kimeya to play on, but she mostly enjoyed "climbing" on Silas playset.

 I gave Silas and Kamil each a spray bottle, and they enjoyed "cleaning" Silas' playset. By the way, moms, if you're looking for simple, cheap fun for kids, dollar store spray bottles and a towel will provide great entertainment!

 Speaking of entertainment, cheap dollar store potting soil is another way to keep the kiddos occupied.. haha. Silas and Kamil made some good dirt soup while I put Kimeya down for her nap. 

Today we spent most of our time inside. We actually started out the morning outside, but Silas had some obedience issues that resulted in the loss of privilege to play outside. But that's another story...

I love watching kids play pretend...

And who wouldn't love watching this precious little one?

It's been a fun couple of days :)

I'm headed to the doctor tomorrow for an update on my pregnancy progress so stay tuned!

Weekend Pics

This past weekend Kevin was out of town preaching for a Disciple Now. While he was away Silas and I spent some quality time with my parents. Here are a few pics from the weekend..

Silas picking strawberries from Pop's garden

Silas being silly with his cousin Ethan

They were making funny faces and laughing at each other.. so cute!

Hanging out by Maw Maw Lucy's flowers with Pop

Can you tell Silas is in to making funny faces? :-)

 Thanks for a great weekend, Mimi and Pop!

Preggo Update (almost 38 weeks)

I went for my weekly doctor visit this morning, and it turns out I haven't made any progress since last week *stinker* The doctor felt around my belly and said she didn't think Liam had much room left in there- that's what I'm sayin', doc! Then she felt around my rib cage and said that Liam's feet were practically in my ribs- tell me about it! Some mornings I wake up with a sore rib cage thanks to Liam's late-night gymnastic sessions! Basically, I'm to the point where I feel like I can't get any bigger without popping *haha*

I'm going back the the doctor on Wednesday of next week to see where we stand. The doctor is able to induce me as early as Thursday of next week if she sees it necessary, but we'll likely be scheduled to induce the week after Easter if I haven't gone into labor on my own. Either way, we're now counting down the DAYS until we meet the little guy. So exciting!

Stay tuned!

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Kevin celebrated his 30th birthday yesterday! And anyone who knows Kevin knows that he's not into huge celebrations or lots of attention on himself. He prefers simple celebrations with the ones he loves- Silas and I being on the top of that list :) So we spent the day as a family yesterday and enjoyed just being together doing simple things. Here's a recap of our day...

For those of you who follow me on facebook, you're probably already aware of how Kevin's birthday started. When he walked in from the gym Silas ran up to him and said, "Happy Birthday, Papa!! I got some new diapers for you!!" He proceeded to give Liam's new diapers to his Papa. Nothing like getting "Hug"gies and "Luvs" from your 2-year old on your 30th birthday :)

Kevin decided he wanted to join us for morning story time at the library. It was his first time coming, and I think he enjoyed it even more than Silas did! One of the songs we sing at story time is "The Choo Choo Song." The teacher has a train whistle to blow during the song. Well, Silas' friend recently gave him a train whistle, and needless to say, it was a big hit with both Silas and his Papa during story time this week.

After story time we had a quick lunch followed by a visit with Silas' friend Alexa and her family at the hospital. Alexa's new baby sister was born this week, and we couldn't wait to meet her! I didn't get a pic of the new baby, but here's one of Silas and Alexa. These two are in for some major adjustments in the next few weeks! :)

After our hospital visit we headed home for naps.
We spent our evening enjoying good food and fellowship with some sweet friends. Silas especially enjoyed spending time with his friends Madison and Mikey. They have a great playroom and a big backyard. What more could a 2-year old ask for? :)

And Silas' Papa enjoyed taking him for 4-wheeler rides in the backyard. My boys LOVE riding the 4-wheeler. I have a feeling this will be one of our "investments" if we ever have room to store one of these!

After dinner, our sweet friends insisted that Kevin have something sweet for his birthday so they stuck a candle in a Little Debbie pie and we all sang "Happy Birthday." It was such a cute moment.

Of course, Silas had to help blow out the candle...

And the cutest part was Kevin handing out little pieces to all the kids...

Silas, Liam, and I are blessed beyond words with the Papa and husband that God has given us. If there's one thing I never have to doubt, it's Kevin's devotion to our family. He leads us selflessly and loves us unconditionally. We look forward to the next 30 years with you, Baby!

Hello, Mr. Crawfish!

This weekend we were blessed to be invited to share some boiled crawfish with a special family from our church. I've been craving crawfish for several weeks, and these were my first of the season. They were SO delicious. Mr. Roger took several pictures while we were there. I thought I'd share some...

Silas enjoying a Popsicle while waiting on the crawfish to boil... 

Silas sitting with Kevin and Mrs. Susie trying to figure out the whole crawfish peeling method. Mrs. Susie was kind enough to allow Silas to pull her crawfish tails off for her. He was a great helper.

Silas peeling crawfish...

Sweet Kim and I enjoying our mud bugs...

My favorite of all the pics... Silas and his crawfish :)

It was a great day of sweet fellowship and good food!

The Bigger Little Brother

I've heard that babies get bigger with each consecutive pregnancy. True or not, according to my ultrasound today, little Liam is weighing nearly 8.5 pounds, putting him almost a pound over Silas' birth weight (7.7) already. Thankfully, my doctor assured me that Liam's weight gain will probably slow down a bit in these last days, and that he'll likely be under 9 pounds. Of course, we won't know for sure until he makes his arrival, right? 

Speaking of his arrival, I'm dilated 1 cm! I know that doesn't mean much since some women stay dilated 1 or 2 cm's for weeks, but, hey, at least we're making progress! The picture to the left was taken today. Liam is definitely sitting low. The doctor said that it's very likely that I could go into labor on my own before my due date, but if I don't she'll definitely induce the last week in April. So it looks like Liam will share the birth month of his Daddy. Kevin turns 30 on Tuesday so he and Liam will be almost exactly 30 years apart!

I've been feeling pretty good except for lots of pressure and more frequent Braxton Hicks contractions. I've also been SO hungry this past week. Not sure what's up with that. Thankfully, everything stays down. I've only gained 19 pounds in 37 weeks,  but the way I'm eating, I may gain 10 pounds in the next 2 weeks!

Silas came in the room for my ultrasound today, and he sat quietly as he watched his brother on the screen. When we were leaving the doctor's office he asked where Liam was. He was a bit puzzled as to why we couldn't take Liam out of Mama's belly today. Haha. I was kinda hoping for the same thing, Si. :)

Anyway, there's the update for anyone following my pregnancy journey. I'll try to keep updating as things progress. 

Have a great weekend!

Nesting Update

The majority of the washing is now done, and Liam's clothes and neatly put away awaiting his arrival. Since Liam will be sharing a room with his Mama and Papa for a while, we decided to put his dresser in our room. That way we won't have to disturb Silas during those late night poop explosions. The dresser has shelves on top and drawers on the bottom so I've been searching for the right sized bins to fit on the shelves. I found the perfect ones at Target today and dressed them up a little bit by tying some labels on them. Here's the finished product...

I had room for four bins on the shelves so I divided them into sleepers, onesies and bottoms (mismatched), bibs and burp cloths, and outfits.

The bottom drawers hold blankets and towels for now. I may move the towels to the bathroom if I can make room in the bathroom closet, but that's a project for another day.

The bassinet/changing table, diaper genie, and baby hamper are also making their temporary home in our bedroom. We're ready to welcome our new roommate!