3 weeks old...

Abby is now 3 weeks old. She is eating (a little too well) and growing like a weed. She is starting to be much more alert during the day now as well. She is such a good baby.

It's so much more different with her than it was with Kd and Ky. We're able to hold her more, and yes, spoil her more. With the kiddos, we were in survival mode. Not this time. Of course, Kd and Ky are jealous and are acting out now that she is here. They are acting like babies. It's getting very annoying.

Clint started back to work today. Hopefully the kids will get back to normal with the routine going back to normal. Anyway. Wanted to update real quick. Here is a picture of her at 3 weeks.

Ok, so if you want Abigail's birth story...

You are going ot have to email me :) I wrote the whole thing out, but for some reason it won't let me paste it on my blog. If you are my friend on Facebook I wrote it over there. Otherwise, put in a request through my comments section and I'll give you an email with the story.

Basics: She was born March 9th at 3:35 pm weighing 8 lbs 10.5 oz and 21 inches tall.

Or not...

Well we thought things were progressing and that the baby would be here sooner rather than later. But nature is a funny thing. Once she decided to flip head down, little Miss Abby decided she was comfortable afterall. I had my doc appt. this week and haven't made any progress as far as trying to deliver her naturally. So the c-section is set for the 9th.
The doc kept commenting on how big this baby is. I am sure she will look gigantic compared to Kd and Ky. Ky was 5 lb 4 oz and Kd 3 lbs 11. So yeah, this one is already guessed to be pretty huge. We're thinking close to, if not more than 9 lbs.
Clint's mom gets here tomorrow evening. Thank goodness! I love my other kids, but they are doing everything they can to drive me insane these last few days. I don't know if they are picking up on my anxiety over this baby not coming out, if they can tell something is about to change soon or what. Hopefully with Clint's mom here, it will ease that stress a bit.
Mon. morning I go in for pre-op labs and to talk to the doc. My last hope is that if I have dialated to a 3 then she may agree to rupture the amniotic sac and see if I will labor on my own. If not, then we have to go ahead with the planned c-section. I was really hoping to go natural, but Abby seems to want to come out a different way. They can't induce with medicine because I have already had a c-section, and the strong contractions from drugs could cause my uterus to rupture, which could kill the baby and myself. So natural is the only way other than the repeat c-section. The most they can really do at this point is rupture the sac if I am dialated enough. Which I am still only at a 1. So it's likely not going to happen. However, is anyone wants to offer up some "get that girl in to labor" prayers, we will accept any and all of those prayers! We have tried every home "remedy" out there that I feel safe trying. The doc said if what we have tried hasn't made a difference, then it's just not going to happen yet.
In addition to that stress, our laptop has contracted some ugly virus. It's useless for now. Which means my time on the internet is even less than before. Add a baby in to the mix, and it could be even longer between updates!
Add to that fun; we had applied for the kids to go to preschool this next school year. They were placed in the lottery, which apparently is a very fitting name since about 500 kids apply for a class that only sits 30. We live out of boundary, so we are even lower on the list for priority. Needless to say, they didn't get in. They are waitlisted at #105 and #158. I applied for 3 schools total, the other numbers they were assigned was in the 200's. So barring some CRAZY miracle, looks like preschool is out. So much for keeping my sanity going. I don't mind paying for preschool, the problem is I just don't know of any good, safe, close preschools around here. We live in the ghetto mind you. So the school they would have automatically been accepted in would have turned them in to drug dealers by the end of the school year, so yeah, no thanks.
So the next update you get from me will likely be after the baby is born. Set your dates for March 9th :)

Moving in the right direction...

So after having a ton of braxton hicks contractions, I had my OB appt. today.
The doc said I am 1 cm dialated, cervix is completely soft (necessary for baby to come out), and the baby's head is really low. We scheduled the c-section for March 9th. He said he doubts I will make it that long though. My last OB appt. is the 3rd. I am hoping Abby comes before the scheduled c-section though!
I still have tons of contractions. So I'm hoping, wishing, praying, that this baby comes sooner rather than later. At most though, 12 days!!!

Jan. 2010 snowstorm and 35 week belly...

So we were right in the middle of the lovely snowstorm out here in DC. Here are some pics of that fun stuff. The tree you see laying on the ground, well, that tree is normally about 12 feet tall. Also included is my 35 week belly shot...

Pictures are way out of order....

But you get the point :)
I don't have the time to sort them and put them in the right order.

The following pictures are from Jan. 2nd (the kids 3rd birthday party). We had 17 kids and 12 adults at their party!

The next few pictures are from our trip to Williamsburg for Christmas. I didn't feel like playing photographer. Apparently, if I am not the one taking pictures, then pictures just don't get taken. I had to make Clint take some for Christmas, since he is in every other picture of the kids. I don't want our kids looking back asking if they had a mommy growing up because they never see my picture!

These next few pictures are from the day after the huge snowstorm we had. The kids got to build their 1st snowman :) They got some hot chocolate afterwards (I think they liked that more, lol).

On the baby front...

Abby is still kicking and dancing inside :P She makes the scene from the movie Alien look pathetic :) She has been having quite the case of the hiccups this last week. For several days she was getting them 3-4 times a day. They seemed to have calmed down some now though. I am just over 32 weeks now. I have 5 weeks to go until I am considered full term! I still have at 7 weeks before they will do a c-section though. If I decide to go that route. I m not sure at this point. I highly doubt with the amount of contractions I have been having, that I will make it to 40 weeks.

Anyway, sorry it took so long for an update. It seems as the kids get older, the crazier things get. The kiddos just started going to gymnastics here on base. They LOVE it!! They also have a small playgroup between a few friends and I that we do every week. In addition to that, we go to a HUGE playgroup on base. That playgroup easily has 30-40 kids each week. It's in a huge gym, so there is plenty of running room :)

Next month Clint and I have plans to go on a Valentines Day lunch cruise. We'll also be celebrating our anniversary at the same time :) 6 years already!!!

Abigail's first "photo shoot"

So last night we went to a local place that does 3D ultrasounds of the baby. We did this with the kiddos too, but never got any good shots. Well, that's how it started last night. For 25 minutes she had her head burried in the placenta and would not give us a good shot of her face. We ticked her off enough that she even pulled her legs up over her head and covered any chance we had at a picture of her. So after 25 min., they said the time was up. While we sat in the waiting room theylooked and said there were no good shots and we were welcome to come to the back and try again. Well, it's a good thing we did, because she decided to put her legs down and move her face out from the placenta :) It was really funny, because the umbilical cord was right by her mouth and on the video you can see her using her mouth to play with it. She was also grabbing at it too. She gave us about 10 minutes of facial shots before she turned her back to us completely so we couldn't get any more shots. She sure has quite the personality already!

Snow, gingerbread houses, Christmas tree...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Decorating sugar cookies for the 1st time.

We said it was ok if they ate the gingerbread house, wasn't exactly expecting that :P

Went to an exhibit made of ice. It was COLD in there. They keep it at 9 degrees.

Now for the snow pictures. It started snowing around 11 pm Friday night. By 8 pm Saturday night this is what it looked like...

This was the 1st real snow fall of the season. We had a little snow flurries a couple of weeks ago, but it never really stuck to the ground. This storm is incredible. Everything is basically closed down. Including all the churches tomorrow.

Visit with Santa...

The kiddos got to go see Santa today. They even are old enough to tell him what they want for Christmas. The picture is definitely an improvement from last year :) Still needs some work though, lol.
The kids are both over the chicken pox, hand foot and mouth disease, and the other junk. They had a good 2 weeks disease free, and now Kd is getting some kind of cough. Lovely. We're loading him with vitamins, so maybe we can catch this before it gets too out of hand.
The kids had a great Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa (Clint's parents) and their uncles. Those pictures are on my other comp, and frankly I am too lazy to go up the stairs and get them. We have been going non-stop since 7:30 this morning (it's nearly 7 pm now!). I will post them when I get on that computer at some point though :)
Everyone said my 1st attempt at a turkey was amazing. Not too dry, tasted great. I'm pretty happy with myself. We had a friend of ours come over too. She made half the food, I made the other half. Worked out great!
We have quite the busy month ahead. We plan on going to the National aquarium, a new exhibit called ICE!, as well as the trip down to Williamsburg for Christmas. After that, one of my brother's is getting married. The kids 3rd birthday is Jan. 2nd, so I have some planning for that. Clint's b-day is next week. I also have 2 OB appts this month So yes, just a little crazy. I'm loving it though, sure makes the time go by MUCH faster :)
I am 26 weeks pregnant now. Things are looking great! The baby is getting nice and big, and of course, so is my belly. The kids remind me of that daily. The baby is still doing flips and kicks. She doesn't quite want to settle down for the long haul just yet.
Having to pee 6 times during the night is really getting old. 39 weeks they'll pull this baby out at the latest. I can make it 13 weeks, I can, I can, I think I can. I will be fine if she shows up anytime after 36 weeks though :)
The kiddos have been having fun with their friends. They have several now, and they go to playgroup with them each week. Well, the weeks they aren't sick anyway.
That's all I have for now. I'll update with Thanksgiving pics when I can get to it.

She's gonna be a big baby!

Well, here I am at 22 weeks. This last week has been quite the adventure. This baby is crazy active! She keeps sending my uterus into contractions. I went in to my OB appt. and instead of a quick check up, I was sent to Labor and Delivery to monitor the contractions. After several hours of fluids, cervical checks, and monitoring the baby's heartbeat, they sent me home. Looks like things are trying to repeat themselves down there. We could use lots of prayers that these contractions will stop and that I don't end up back on bedrest. Good news is the baby is doing great. We have decided on a name. Abigail Ruth (leaving out the last name for privacy). We'll call her Abby for short though. Things may change once we see her face when she is born. But for now, we're going to stick with Abigail.
Kayley is over her chicken pox. She has just a few scabs left. Kaiden is now in the window of, if he's going to get the pox, the spot will show up anytime.
We have decided that we are going to go ahead and retire from the military at Clint's 20 year mark. Which is technically Jan. 2012 but we can take paid leave starting in Sept. 2011. So less than 2 years left in the military!!! As of now we are looking in to retiring in Cedar City, UT. We're hoping to buy some land within the next 6 months or so, then have our own house built. We'll see though. Location was based on price, distance to my family, distance to airports to see Clint's family, and the fact that I am SO done with city life. If I could afford my own private Island I would jump on that! Since that's obviously not an option, I am going to go for the small town feel. We'll be just 6 hours away from family in CA. 3 hours away from family in SLC. and if we want to go to the city for anything, St. George is 45 min. away and Vegas only 2 hours away. We're definitely looking forward to stability and a place to call our own.

Update and some pictures...

This was taken the night before Halloween. They don't "do" Halloween on the weekends in the Airforce for some reason. So they have the kids do trick-or-treating the Fri. before. Anyway the kids were really into it and had a great time. This was also day one of Ky's chicken pox. I have a few pics of Ky's chicken pox, but because this is public I won't be posting them.

I took the kiddos to a small family farm. There is a playgroup here on base of a bunch of kids, and we all went on a field trip to the farm.

They had a fun little craft place for the kiddos, so Kd and Ky got to experience painting for the first time.

The kiddos got to dress up and do some Trick or Treating at the Lodge.

Long day for Kd at the water park down at Great Wolf Lodge. He fell asleep about 5 bites into his dinner :)

So the lodge was a ton of fun. There was an indoor waterpark, a craft place for the kids, Trick or Treating, a show in the lobby of puppets (robotic), and other fun things to do. We'll definitely be going back next year. It was also great at making the kids very tired :P

On the baby front, things are going good. She is VERY active now. If I am sitting a certain way, she lets me know she doesn't like it, and will kick at me until I move. We are still narrowing down names for her. Right now I am really liking the name Abigail. We would call her Abby for short though. That name is the top of the list now, so if we can't come up with anything else by the time she gets here, that'll be her name :) My next OB appt. is Thurs. Basic appt. They'll tell me the results of my labs and if anything showed up abnormal on the ultrasound. After that, they won't likely see me for another 3-4 weeks. SOOOO much different than being preggo with twins!

It's a.....

GIRL!!!!!!

We had the ultrasound this morning. Wanted to get this put up real quick. She was very modest with her legs crossed and arms in front of her face. But we did (after an hour of measurements) finally get to see the "goods".

I have reached the halfway point in this pregnancy now :) I feel her kick quite often now. Her awake times are generally noon, 7pm, and 10pm. At least that's when I feel her the most anyway.

She's measuring about 6 days ahead of her due date. She did at the 11 week scan as well. So I am pretty sure she's going to be due a week earlier than what the docs think from the chart alone.

I have been feeling a lot better as far as morning sickness goes. Mostly just get nauseated easily.

When we came home, i told Kd he was going to have a little sister, he rubbed my belly and said "sister baby". I think he gets it. Of course, he rubs his belly and says he has a baby too :P

We went to a very neat place this last weekend, but I'll update later when I have the pictures loaded in the computer.

Meet and greet with the cast of Ace of Cakes

I don't know how many are familiar with the show Ace of Cakes. Basically, these guys make the best cakes. Today they made one for the troops and their families. Some friends and I decided to go see them and we got some cute pictures. I didn't actually get any cake though. By the time I got through the line for pictures, the cake was gone. Oh well. Anyway, enjoy :)

This is my 17 week belly shot. The baby is very active at night, hopefully that will change by the time s/he is born though. We are going to find out the gender afterall. My appt. is Oct. 26th. Take care!