Half a year!

Hard to believe Mark is 6 months old. Took him to his well-baby and was confirmed that he is a wee lad. :)  He is 25.75 inches tall (22% for height) and 14.14lbs (7% for weight). He isn't losing weight, but he dropped a lot in his weight percentage so she wants me feeding him 3 table meals a day. Sigh.

Feel a little bad that I put off solids so long (started him November 20) but I'm finding it difficult to find the time for spoon feeding a baby not so interested in being spoon fed. :) He is quite interested in puffs/table foods, but hasn't mastered chewing yet, so can't eat enough for the calories he needs. So far, we are booking it through our foods--chickfila icecream was his first bite, (lol) but since he's had, oatmeal, apples, peas, (his favorite) sweet potatoes, blueberry and banana puffs, mashed potatoes, blueberries, cheese, bread, ritz crackers, guacamole, and pizzza.

On his birthday he began pulling up and this week decided he wanted more of a thrill so has begun cruising around his crib. He has discovered his learning table and L-O-V-E-S it. His other favorite toys are his Sophie giraffe and his rattle keys.

I'm finally figuring out Marks sleep needs. He is pretty solid 7:30-7:30/8 every night, and he will take one killer nap (3 hrs +) a day, but the other one is utter crap (anywhere from 15-45 minutes). He's pretty flexible which is nice as it makes carpool not quite the disaster it was a couple of months ago. We are in the process of dropping his 3rd catnap in the evening. If he is held he can skip it, but put him down and it's a disaster.

Still getting older.

Chris' birthday cake. We were all wanting to skip dinner to dig in to that guy! Happy birthday to the best father and husband a girl could hope for! (this picture makes me laugh. It looks like Mark knows he isn't getting any and is less than pleased at the prospect.)

 

 

For Chris' birthday, Mark decided to let me capture a picture of him sitting in the boppy smiling. Precious boy. Now, if he would only sleep. :) 

December 4 project

Joyous.

 

The picture quality of my iphone in a pitch black room is poor...but, on his 6 month birthday, Mark decided pulling up and cruising would be a fun thing to add to his resume (!!!). He is giddy with delight at his new vantage point, especially playing with the learning table. I am less than giddy when I go in multiple times in the early evening helping him learn to get back down. :) Growing up before my eyes...

 

December blogging

December 1 blog challenge...my view today. Mark is 6 months old today! He is sitting, crawling and pulling up. I think he's been so unhappy because he wanted to be able to sit up and see and try and keep up with the big kids! Happy half birthday, sweet Mark!

What's in a name?

If you are me, a lot. :)

So I previously hinted at some of the "rules" or parameters for naming Mark. It became quite a lengthy and extensive list by the end of the process. :) We had many friends pondering with us as we attempted to find the perfect name.

Family name.  Had a good meaning. Four letters long.  Contained an "A".  Did not begin with "A", "R", "J" or "H". Couldn't end the same way as our last name. Not short for anything (ie, "Will" was off the table because it is short for William).

***

So, for fun, I will include all of the kids' names and their meanings.

Anna-Grace, favor
Kate-Pure
Ruth-Faithful friend

Ryan-Little king
Elliot-My God is the Lord

Jack-God is gracious/His gracious gift
Henry-Ruler of the home

Mark-Strong warrior
Christopher-Bearer of Christ

I have loved watching my kids grow up and take on their names, and what their name meanings have brought us to pray for them. Just a little special thing for me.

To remember

I don't have a "birth story", per se, but there are some things I want to remember about Mark's birthday.

• I didn't shake or get sick from the pain meds/surgery for the first time. Such a relief!
• Our prayers were beyond answered that Mark didn't need to go to the NICU like his brothers did. 
• The doctor assisting my OB in my surgery said, "wow, you are really thin." I started laughing and said, "you probably say that to all the girls. I feel anything but thin right now!". Evidently I have a very small layer of fat. Who knew? Now, if I could get the muscle control back so it didn't appear fat to the naked eye...
• They wanted to slowly wean me off the epidural overnight so turned off the automatic drip. I awoke to a screaming baby at 3 who I couldn't hold because my stomach was burning. I think I know what it would feel like to be shot or cut open with no meds. Good gracious. Painful. Turned that guy back on and weaned off while I was awake to monitor my pain. 
• My OB recommended an abdomen wrap. I was unsure the proper way to put it on/how tight to do it, so laid down as my two nurses put it on for me. Without thinking, I said, "oh, I just feel like Scarlett O'hara...never mind me not having a 20 inch waist" and laughed it off. Chris was behind the nurses turning all colors of red for my foot in mouth moment. Oops. Can I blame that on the pain meds I was on?
• I was off percocet about a week after surgery, motrin 13 days. 
• 12 days post surgery my incision was completely closed...same day that Mark's umbilical stump fell off (which, PS, I always rejoice over as that is disgusting and then they can have a real bath...but I was a little saddened this time as I continued one of many "I'll never do X again...")

That's all I have for now. Off to bed. 

The nursery

Well, I struggled with a nursery vision this time. As my big boys {weird that Jack is now "big"} are now sharing a room, I still needed to use my nursery bedding for Jack (it actually coordinates with Ryans, which is great as the window treatment is still up in there). I chose fabric twice and by the time I went to purchase it was sold out until late May--which I took as a clear sign from the Lord to a) scale back what I was planning to sew (everything) and b) choose new fabric. :)

So, back to the drawing board I went, again. I had in my head I wanted to use predominately navy, which is surprisingly hard to find in cute fabrics/nursery stuff. Well, for some reason, as I searched Pottery Barn Kids for the umpteenth time I found a new bumper I'd not seen before. And, bonus, it was on sale--$54 shipped! Done. My mom gave me the cute navy and white polka dot sheets for my shower, and my vision was reborn.

I bought navy minky to make a diaper changing pad cover. Love the softness for his little body. :) The french board was a re-purpose job from Ryan's big boy room (see it HERE). The other two are being used for Jack and Ryan. I recovered the glider and ottoman with a navy fabric with white polka dots that looks identical to the PBK sheets my parents' gave us. 

Still standing in the doorway. I bought cheap white drapes from Target ($9.99 each!) and added a 4 inch border of the navy/white polka dot to the sides and bottom. Love it. 

Here is the bumper and sheet that sparked the whole thing. I made the box pleat bed skirt from a simple white pique and added the same 4 inch border of the polka dot. The letters I just painted navy and added white dots to. And yes, Chris hung them the day before Mark was born. :) Then I took them down and hid them until we came home from the hospital. I'm a sneaky one like that. Lol. 

All in all, I am very happy with the room. It is quite a soothing place to sit, rock and nurse (which is super as I spend an awful lot of time doing those things right now.). :)

Announcing...

{One week late...oops}

The birth of our fourth child...Mark Christopher. 

Hello world!

Our smallest baby weighing in at 7.1 lbs. 

Mark was my brothers name and means "mighty warrior". Christopher is obviously after Chris and means "bearer of Christ". Our prayer for our little Mark is that he will grow to be a mighty warrior for the Lord! If he is anything like his uncle or his Daddy, I will count it a blessing.

And baby makes six!

Smitten with her newest baby brother

Our first picture in the recovery room about 35 minutes after he was born. We were so thankful to an answer to prayer that he didn't need to go to the NICU--our first boy not to!

My last pregnant picture ever. Weird. Total weight gained: 23 lbs. Odd, since I tore through bags of cheetos, powdered donuts and gallons of icecream and ate veggies only as an example to my kids. Ha! 

Baking a BIRTHday cake the day before Mark was born! Yum, raw egg...

 

Not so smitten...in fact wanted nothing to do with him until I produced the Elmo book from Mark to Jack. :) 

Loving on baby

Have this picture, in this same sweatshirt, with all the babies. :) I keep the  room cold. Chris lucked out with our room this time. He had an extra alcove area that wasn't up against the window such that when they brought the baby at night/took my vitals he was often able to sleep through it as the light over him didn't turn on.  

 

Eating cake {cake is his happy place}

With my sweet friend and OB, Stacy.

Ready to go home daygown...not a dress. :)

After much waiting, finally heading home!

A big thank you to my parents who kept the kids while we were in the hospital! My big kids had such a good time and enjoyed their Nana and Poppy time so much. In fact, when I told Anna-Kate that she couldn't hold the baby until she washed her hands, (Chris, Anna-Kate and I all got horrible colds/sore throats during Mark's first week of life) she said, "but if Mark get sick, doesn't that mean Nana will have to come back to our house for more time here?" :) Sweet, but no dice!

Somehow not pictured are Ryan and my parents...there are pictures of them all holding the baby, just not on my phone. Those will come. :) They were there too. 

Updates

Well, there is still no news on the insurance front. My adjuster is in the process of going through arbitration, so there hasn't been a final answer. So there's that.

 I had a lovely shower thrown by my sweet friend, Leigh-Ann, last week. But that is a post in itself. :) Chris was heavily pursued by an awesome company and finally decided to make a change in a couple of weeks. I am so proud of him and beyond thankful that his commute will be less than half what it is currently. Amazing. Praise the Lord for providing what we didn't even know we needed!

 Me. My back is still hurting. I'm not completely useless, which is an improvement, but am definitely starting to count days, which I don't particularly recall doing in previous pregnancies. 38 days, if you were wondering (And, holy cow! Typing that is UNREAL!!!). I was texted a "baby update" last week that advised me to have all of my baby clothes, toys, paraphernalia washed and put away to be ready. Ya, a bit overwhelming as we still don't have a nursery set up, (and I'm in the midst of dealing with my second fabric choice being sold out everywhere...I evidently have amazing taste...) a name for our child, (and thank you to Anna-Kate for pointing out last night that "Anna, Kate, Ryan and Jack all have "a's" in them, so we'd better have a 4 letter name with an 'A' in it too Mommy." Wow. I hadn't even thought of that yet. Great...) and are still in the midst of settling the big boys (weird) together in one room. Ya, hopefully they will get washed before he arrives. And hopefully the race to the finish nesting will kick in. By evening I'm doing good to walk upright to the bed. Sigh. I'm stretched a bit thin right now and am feeling my emotions heavily as I am dealing with a few disappointments. I find that I expect people to react, respond and do things they way that I would do them--which isn't fair, as God created us all differently, and is 100% not reality (unfortunate as that is...lol). Though I'm stressed out and worried about this summer, I am very much looking forward to a slower pace and more time to sit back and enjoy my kids (though, I'm praying they don't get bored out of their minds with endless summer days and a mommy recovering from surgery).

 Anna-Kate is devouring books. I'm so proud of her and thrilled that she loves to read! She literally is beside herself if she forgets to bring a book in the car with her. She's gearing up for her party and is thrilled that it is soon, along with summer. :)

I am loving Ryan at age 4. The freak outs, tantrums and hardness that was three has produced a precious boy who loves to learn and is a sweet brother and son--Praise the Lord! He loves his school, which is a huge blessing and has started giving me good information when he gets home (something I feared wouldn't happen as I've heard boys don't share as much).

Jack is still my happy boy--though age two has brought a new naughtiness to him. He will look me in the eye as he does something wrong and then just give the biggest, happiest smile in the world. Little stinker. He's precariously close to opening doors. Praying we can hold that off a bit longer.

Baby Caboose is continuing to grow. I mean, if we are taking bets, I'm betting he is close to 9 lbs and I'm not exaggerating! I can barely breath sometimes! He remains a bit violent in the womb. I keep telling him to get it all out now so he can relax and sleep in his lovely new nursery when he arrives. (fingers crossed). So, that's what we've been up to. (well, that and the 50 other things that have pictures associated with them that I am too tired to upload and blog about today...). :)

Toothpicks

I told someone the other day that I was holding my life together by toothpicks right now. Clearly, I'm spiraling and quite thankful for a God who holds me in His hands and is in control {despite my best efforts}.

{Be forewarned, this is not funny or witty...it's a bummer of a post, so read on at your own discretion.}

So, my poor van. If you'll recall, I was rear-ended a few weeks ago. I called to check the status and was told it was deemed 50/50 liability which means we are out our deductible, rental car costs and, in my state, my premiums will all go up. Say what? For being rear-ended? I insisted the case be re-opened per the suggestion of my mechanic and comments the adjuster said when he was looking at my car (ie, "it looks like you were stopped when hit." and "I'm surprised since you know who the person was that she wouldn't just offer to pay your deductible to avoid the hassle" etc). We are still waiting to hear back. I'm doing the call every day in my sweetest southern accent and try to annoy the poo outta them so they just sort it out to be done with me thing...we'll see how that strategy works. We took a calculated risk and reported that our car had been key'd (ps, who key's a van? seriously?) as it doesn't raise premiums and pays for a rental car. Well, for better or worse, it was able to be buffed out. Saved some money, but we were still out for it and no rental car as it was lower than our deductible. Anyway, went to pick up my car on Friday afternoon (after realizing my garage door opener had been left in the rental van...and they say they never saw it and it isn't there...) and found my right front tire completely flat. Like, the hubcap was resting on the ground flat. They patched it (a rusted nail that had evidently been there a while and the nail head finally rusted off= completely flat) but resulted in new tires. Expensive week for my "as good as new" van.

It's just so frustrating!

Add to that, that I've reached the once or twice a night wake up to pee stage which has left me utterly exhausted and moving the boys in to the same room, which has resulted in a rough week of sleep...I'm just beat {In my opinion, all children have a direct link between behavior and sleep. That is certainly the case for my boys, one in particular.). I have no patience. I find myself with little grace. I wake up and my back hurts before I ever get out of the bed. I told Chris I just long for the day I can breathe and move without pain. There are various things in my life right now leading to some stress and worry on my part (which isn't my normal personality, or of the Lord, so I am definitely praying about that) and I'm just tired. And this baby is violent. I've spent the day nauseous praying I won't get sick, and just have been completely unproductive. My mom asked me the other day if I was "cured" of being pregnant. As I have loved {almost} every second of my previous pregnancies I think she was surprised to hear me say "yes" before she'd finished talking.

I'm sure I'll laugh about it some day. That's usually how that works, right? :)

Baby update

Well, I'm in my 3rd trimester. Guess I left the 2nd trimester behind in my dust. Hmm. Time flying much??



Had my OB appointment and glucose test today. I arrived starving and nauseous from the sugary (non-carbonated) drink. YUCK. Am not sad to never have to take one of those guys again! Anyway. My doctor did a fun 3D ultrasound to check growth/position etc--and just because she's fun and awesome like that (get this, she's even more fun and awesome because the baby had his face jammed up against the placenta and we couldn't get one decent picture, so she is gonna do another ultrasound next appointment! Yes!). He is already over 3 lbs (3.3 actually-71%) and his head, wait for it, is in the 97%. Ya, not that there was any doubt on the repeat C-section, but seriously. Was excited to hear he was such a beef-cake as I've only gained 12.5 lbs this whole pregnancy (this is huge for me...and certainly not from anything I've done as I just ate my way through Disney and have been living off Mickey rice krispie treats, Easter candy and peanut butter m&m's the last few weeks...). I think I'm gonna have Ryan.2 on my hands! :) She said he looks perfect and that all looks well.

Can't believe it's so close to over. Definitely have mixed feelings. Chris and I both are feeling peace and closure over this stage of life, but it's weird and scary at the same time. I'm still enjoying the kicks and movement--but he is hands down the most active of all of my babies. Wonder how that will translate to life outside the womb??

Further thoughts on the caboose

So, today is my ultrasound. I've woken with the ever-so-lovely pregnancy insomnia around 5 every morning this week. Basically, I've had lots of uninterrupted time to think about the baby. :) As we are in the Christmas season and I've heard it read often, I've really been struck yet again by the sentence, "Mary took all of these things and pondered them in her heart." Not that I am comparing myself to Mary, but I doubt a woman in history has not felt more closely aligned to her than while pregnant during Christmas. I have been very introspective as I think about this coming baby. All of my life my desire was to marry, have babies and be a mommy. That's it...never wanted to be president or a doctor. Just a mom. And while I know that the job will never end, I am seeing the day fast approaching that my role will shift from supreme comforter...Mommy...to Mom. I think I'm a little fearful of the change.

Chris thinks it's a boy. Anna-Kate thinks it's a boy but is still hoping for a girl. Ryan thinks it's a boy. Jack still can't talk. And me? I just don't have a strong feeling. There are certain things that make me think it's a girl...dreams, cravings I've had. Then the realist in me says it's a boy...I look like I did when carrying the boys and I've had 2 boys since my girl. Statistically speaking, it's a boy. So, today will be a surprise for me because with all of the other three I had zero doubts in my mind what it was. When polling friends, I get more guesses of girl. Made me wonder if I'm starting to explode all over, until my friend Emily told me that she forgot I was pregnant until she was sitting next to me and noticed my belly. God bless her! Ha. :)

As you probably know, we would love to have a girl. I've always said I wanted two boys and two girls (though, to be fair, my plan was to have boy, girl, girl, boy...so clearly, my planning didn't align too closely to the Lords' plan!). And then there is my sweet Anna-Kate and her desperate desire for a sister. To be honest though, before there ever was a number four we began praying for the Lord to prepare us for a fourth child...not another girl. This baby is loved, prayed for, wanted and will be the perfect book end to our family. :) So, all that to say, we would also love to have another little boy.

I'm feeling all melodramatic at the moment. I think a little part of me will be sad no matter what the sonographer tells us. Whatever gender the Lord has blessed us with, I will never again have the other. A whole genders worth of baby things will be sold or given away, never to be used and loved by me or my family. I am so one that deeply connects music, smells, visuals (ie, clothes) with memories. It's like the end of an era, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't saddened by the thought. Soon we will know our family. The full picture of God's plan for the people in it.

I guess I can then spend even more time praying for my future kids-in-law.

So, we're off.

An educated guess

Well, I have my ultrasound scheduled (an early sneak peak only purpose it serves is to determine the gender) for December 17th! Very exciting! So, for some fun, thought I'd compare pregnancies and we can all have an educated guess as to what this little cabooses gender is. :)

First off, here is a picture of me from today. I am almost 15 weeks. To be clear, this picture was taken vertically and when I rotated it I got wider. My cheeks haven't actually got fatter (yet) and tummy isn't quite this big (yet). I would call this carrying "high", if you want my opinion. All of mine have been higher though.



OK, I'm craving salt. Gracious, I swear I could eat it by the spoonful. I love basic salty lays potato chips (which I usually could take or leave). I love french fries, assuming I've dumped salt on them. I'm craving grapefruit and berries. And blueberry bagels with butter. I always like these, but I LOVE them right now...like think about toasting one every time I walk into the kitchen. These are all similar food loves I had when I was pregnant with Anna-Kate.

I don't have any huge aversions, except purple onion (or any, raw) and sloppy joes, which I don't love in the first place, but I could shiver at the name now. There is not a good comparison to this. When pregnant with Anna-Kate I had a major aversion to lunch meat turkey, purple onion and anything sweet (for the first trimester). None with either of the boys. I generally love a bowl of icecream most nights, but I'm finding I can take or leave dessert--mostly leave.

I was the sickest with Anna-Kate (13 weeks) and Jack (16 weeks)--lost weight, had to do the whole eat saltines before moving thing, lots of ginger-ale. With Ryan, my nausea lasted a long time (18 weeks) but it wasn't debilitating. It seems I'm on a similar path this time. Currently feel horrible.

My skin is pretty clear, similar to Ryan--very different from Anna-Kate and Jack.

{Side note: now does everyone see why I thought Jack was going to be a girl???}

I'm wondering if since Anna-Kate and Jack seem to take more genes from my side of the family that I "reacted" stronger to them? So, since Ryan looks more like Chris the pregnancy didn't affect me as much (so would assume this baby will look more like Chris and Ryan?). Is this a plausible hypothesis?

Caboose

I thought this post deserved to be alone. :)

The biggest reason of all for not blogging much lately?



This little blessing...baby number four, and {we think, at least} our caboose.

I'm in my second trimester, due sometime late May or early June (June 1 c-section if I can maneuver it!). Thoughts on this pregnancy...I haven't felt amazing, but I've felt worse. I still think of my pregnancy with Anna-Kate as being my sickest, but I also wonder if, when pregnant with your first, I had nothing better to think about than how not normal and icky I felt? Who knows.

It was so fun when we told the kids! They are all very excited, well, Jack was excited that he got to open a present (a big brother shirt) and that the kids were happy). Anna-Kate was jumping up and down with {happy} tears in her eyes and said, "is this my sister or is it another boy in there, because we don't need any more boys in this family!" {on that note, we are praying for a sister, or for peace in our girls' heart with another brother. As she has been praying very regularly over the last 3 years for a sister, we certainly don't want her to experience doubts on the power of prayer!}

We have zero consensus on names...figure we'll cross that bridge in a few weeks when we can cross off a whole gender's worth of names.

As this will be my fourth c-section, we plan on this being our last...if for no other reason than than strong medical recommendation. I've found myself savoring each thing, even morning sickness, and as I pass each milestone lamenting and seeking closure as I will never do X again (ie, take a pregnancy test, hear a heartbeat for the first time, see that little peanut ultrasound...etc). I'm such a sappy mess!

I've really struggled with excitement. Not my own, but others. We are thrilled and have prayed for this baby since before its conception, but in a world of two, maybe three, kid families, it seems that many consider this pregnancy (and frankly, Jack, as I already had one of each) to be overkill.

Regardless, we are thrilled to be expecting and are praying for this sweet little one to grow healthy and strong and for the Lord to prepare us to parent it, along with our others. We feel so blessed!