39 Week Update and My Quest for Great Literature

Today is 39 weeks!  I have to be honest, besides morning sickness all.the.time., this is probably the worst part of pregnancy.  Marcus can attest to the fact that even though this is baby number four and I should be somewhat tuned into the signs of labor by now, I lay in bed at night and speculate on how much longer I think it will be.  I think it's more of a pleading at this point for God to hear how miserable I am and start labor, haha! 

 

I am past the point of getting dressed in the mornings and I might make it to the shower during Mason's naptime, but even that is pushing it.  I've still had lots of pressure and BH contractions, but they always seem to go away just as I'm starting to convince myself that I'm actually in labor.  I actually halfway packed my hospital bag this week, but since I should only have to be in the hospital for 24 hours, it seems kinda silly to pack a bunch of stuff besides a Boppy and nursing tanks.  I have a couple of cute outfits for Paisley, but I plan on going home in yoga pants and a tank top, lol. 

 

Otherwise, we're just playing the waiting game now.  This last trimester I've had restless legs whenever I lay down to rest, which has been really frustrating for both Marcus and I at bedtime because I'm constantly adjusting and trying to get comfortable and it's very disruptive for both of us.  Anyway, I figured out that if I take a hot bath before bed, it helps my legs to relax and I go to sleep much easier.  So during my baths, I've been catching up on a lot of reading and it's been wonderful!  I've read five books in the bath in the month that we've been here!

 

I know that all this uninterrupted reading time is going to come to an end pretty soon with Paisley's birth and school starting back, but I am using this time to work on my "Classics List" that I came up with several years ago.  I have always been a reader, but when we were exploring the Classical education model for our kids, I felt like there were way too many influential, award-winning books that I had either never read or skimmed over in school just to do well on a test.  So I compiled a list of books and have been slowly working my way through the list as I can find the time between my college classes and the kids' school/activities.  I also have to fight the urge to be on social media during any free moment that I get, and bath time seems to be a good solution because I surely am not taking my phone or computer to the bath with me!  Of course, I might be just as upset if I dropped a book in the bathtub...

 

 

It's a pretty extensive list and still have a long way to go, but I am steadily making progress.  The great part about this list is that there are books that I never would have chosen on my own, but now that I've read them, I see why they are considered classics.  I feel sorry for our generation of kids that will not be exposed to some of these books because these stories are powerful.  I just finished Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl right after reading Night by Elie Weisel, both of which are about the Jewish plight during WWII.  Very gut-wrenching stuff.   I've read books about migrant farm workers in California during the Depression (The Grapes of Wrath), Apartheid (Cry, the Beloved Country), and slavery (Uncle Tom's Cabin), as well as mental illness (Flowers for Algernon), racism (Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry), socialism (Animal Farm), Communism (1984), and I'm currently reading about the disgusting conditions in the meat-packing industry and the issue of wage-slavery that immigrants to this country faced in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. 

 

I am so glad that I created this list back in 2012 because, unlike with social media where something new comes along every 5 minutes, books like these force us to examine our own hearts and they tend to leave a lasting impression.  Although many of the books are merely fiction, we still find ourselves immersed in how we would react if we were the characters in the book.  I truly believe that great literature helps us determine where our belief systems lie in the real world.  In the abstract, it is easy to say how we would act in all situations, but when an author is able to challenge those positions, it either reinforces our convictions or it makes us realize that our beliefs were faulty to begin with.   

 

This is why I feel bad for a generation that is not being raised to read and think through some of these tough books.  Without grounding and reinforcement of a belief system, there is a much higher probability of just going with the flow and being blown about by whatever the popular school of thought du jour is.  I want my kids (and me!) to be able to articulate why we believe what we believe and why we always come back to the Bible as our moral absolute.  We may not always understand why God tells us certain things, but we can trust that His plan is sovereign and that He is in control.  There are so many theological lessons that we can learn from reading great books and bringing them back to the Bible, but this post is getting terribly long and I don't want to ramble, so I will save those thoughts for another day!  In the meantime, I'm going to go read!

 



 



38th Week in Pictures

38 weeks pregnant today! Still having lots of pressure down low, but no contractions so far!  Hopefully she'll decide to make her appearance sometime soon! It's getting too hot for me to be this pregnant, lol!

Kelly's mom was transporting five puppies between shelters on Saturday, so she called us over to let the kids play with the puppies for a while.  They had a blast! I think the puppies had a good time too;  they slept all the way to the next shelter!

Saturday night, Marcus took Hunter to a Boise Hawks baseball game.  It was Hunter's first time going to a baseball game and he had a blast!

The bat "boy" was a dog!!

Whoa! That's some intense looking nachos! I guess ball park food has changed since the last time I went to the stadium!

Panorama view of the stadium

The Hawks ended up winning in the bottom of the ninth with an RBI triple!  There were fireworks after the game and Hunter couldn't stop talking about how much fun he had.  I love that there are all sorts of things to do here with the kids that we might not have had the opportunity to do elsewhere.

I had to end with the sweetest picture ever from naptime today.  Melts my heart...

37 Weeks! Almost time!

This past Tuesday I reached the 37th week of this pregnancy!  It has gone by so fast in some respects, but in others it feels like I've been pregnant forever!  I am seeing the doctor weekly now, and everything has been going well with the appointments.  She is head down, heart beat is still looking great, and all of the routine tests have come back normal.

 

Now we're just playing the waiting game with Little Miss.  She has been consistently measuring two to two and a half weeks ahead of schedule, so I am guessing that she will be here sometime between now and her due date, but sooner rather than later. I have been feeling okay, but I have been starting to have lots of pressure down low and Braxton Hicks contractions, which probably means that my body is gearing up for labor.  I'm also starting to get tired much more easily and today was a good example of that.  Marcus let me sleep in and I woke up at 9:50, and then by 2 pm, I was ready for a nap and slept until 5:45!  To be fair, EVERYONE slept that long, but I don't normally need a 3 1/2 hour nap on a normal day. 

 

I've been having less heartburn as well, which is fantastic and probably means she is dropping.  I've gone back to getting sick every so often, which is not so fantastic.  I've also been reacquainting myself with the Bradley method of childbirth, which is how I delivered Mason.  I have just about finished re-reading the book, Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way, which was extremely helpful with the natural birth the last time and I am praying will be the case this time.

 

(Amazon.com)

 

I am definitely starting to get more antsy about labor getting closer, but I can look back at the other kids births' and remember that although it is painful and hard work, it will only be a distant memory soon and Paisley will be here!   We cannot wait to meet her!









29 Weeks and Our Last Full Week!

(I originally wrote this before we left South Carolina, but in the midst of the chaos, I forgot to publish! So it's better late than never, I suppose!) 

 

29 Weeks today!  Miss Paisley is growing like crazy and getting heavier by the day!  I've noticed a definite difference when I walk around and especially when I (attempt to!) bend over.  My belly is getting in the way more, which makes it harder to do things around the house.  It's a good thing we've taught the big kids how to do most of the chores around here-I'm definitely having to delegate more lately!

Tonight is our last Bible study before we move.  I am really going to miss this group of friends!  We are starting to get to those "lasts" that are making the move real for us!  Tomorrow night is our last Wednesday night service and Thursday will probably be our last trip to the beach.  Our last week here is going to be super busy, which will make time go by much faster, I'm sure. 

I am not looking forward to when it actually hits me that we are leaving for good.  We really feel like we have found a home here in Beaufort, if only it were closer to family!  There is something to be said for having very good friends, but the desire to raise our kids near their cousins and aunts and uncles is tangible.  It is such a hard thing to have to choose between many good options, but in the end, we feel like this is what is best for them.  So next week, we'll load everything up and say goodbye, possibly for this lifetime.  I'm trying not to get too emotional yet but I know it is going to hit me sooner or later.  Maybe I can blame it on the pregnancy hormones??  ;)

28 Weeks! Third Trimester, Finally!

We finally hit 28 weeks yesterday! Miss Paisley and I made it to the third trimester, yay!  I had my 28 week appointment yesterday and had to sit for the fun glucose testing.  We're still waiting on the results, but I haven't had gestational diabetes with any of the other pregnancies, so I don't expect anything out of the ordinary for this one either. 

I still feel good, although sleeping is becoming more and more troublesome because I can't seem to get comfortable.  Besides my belly getting in the way, I've been having restless legs like crazy!  It makes it hard to get settled and I usually end up tossing and turning until I finally fall asleep.  Other than that, I've been having lots of heartburn in the afternoons and evenings, but I figured out that if I take a Zantac around lunchtime, it seems to prevent me from having heartburn all evening.

 

As far as the moving progress, today is T minus 2 weeks until we hit the road! It feels like we still have a ton of stuff to do, but really we won't be able to make much more progress until we get the U-Haul and can start loading it up.  Our shed has been filling up quickly!  I expect Monday the 8th and Tuesday the 9th to be very busy days and then Wednesday we will officially be moving! 

 

 

The timing has actually worked out really well because I have had to take some time off from all the moving stuff to focus on finals this week!  I just submitted my Governmental and Non-Profit Accounting paper today, and now I have two papers left, Federal Taxation and my capstone course, the Senior Seminar!  My Senior Seminar paper has to be a minimum of 10 pages, and I'd like to have everything done by Friday, so I see a couple of late nights in my near future.  But it will all be worth it because then I will be completely DONE!  I won't officially graduate until August 15, but all of my courses will be finished and I can spend this summer relaxing and getting ready for our move and baby's arrival!

 

Speaking of summer, the kids have been playing outside almost every day this week and today, while waiting on lunchtime, they made "stained glass windows" from the colored magnets for a fun, quick project.

 

 

And sometimes, despite our objections to the contrary, even big kids need naps.  We both sat down with books while the boys were napping and I looked over to see her sound asleep.  Nope, she wasn't tired at all... ;-)



27 Weeks

Well, the end of the second trimester is finally here.  This is the last week and I'll be in the home stretch.  Miss Paisley is definitely making her presence known lately.  She kicked me so hard the other night that she almost knocked my Bible off my lap!

 

She likes to be active mostly after breakfast and when I'm lying in bed at night.  I've been having way more heartburn, especially in the evenings after dinner.  Other than that, my energy is still up and I'm feeling really good!

 

We've pretty much gotten everything packed up that we aren't in the process of using.  The last week we're here, we'll have to get the rest of the kitchen stuff and all the furniture ready to go, but other than that, the packing is essentially done!  We've taken care of everything that needed to be repaired around the house--so proud of Marcus for changing out the water heater by himself!!  He saved us almost $400 by doing it instead of having a plumber come. 

 

Last night, Marcus had a brilliant idea and gave the kids the water heater box to color on.  It kept them busy for over two hours before they had to get baths. 

 

 

So much fun for them!



26 Weeks and a Trip to Charleston

Tuesday I was 26 weeks!  Only 14 left to go.  It finally hit me that I'll be 30 weeks when we go to Alabama and 34 weeks when we begin our trip to Boise!!  We'll definitely be praying that Miss P holds on until closer to her due date!  I would NOT want to have to find a hospital somewhere on the road!

Both Marcus and I needed to get our VA ID cards, but the closest place we could get them made was in Charleston, so we decided to make a day of it and take the kids to the aquarium while we were there. 

From the entrance to the aquarium, we could look across the river to Fort Sumter.  There was a ferry that took people on tours of the Fort.  Maybe if the kids were older we would have taken them.

Also across the river is the USS Yorktown.

The aquarium was literally right on the water.

 

Inside was a coastal rainforest exhibit.

Daddy and the kiddos in front of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge

Mommy and the kids

In this touch tank there were a couple different types of sting rays and a bonnet head shark.

In a different touch tank, they had horseshoe crabs and smaller sting rays.

 



Had it not been naptime, I think we would have had a better time.  Mason ended up having a total meltdown and he and I had to leave and go wait in the truck.  He fell asleep about 2 minutes after I put him in his car seat!  I was also not impressed with how expensive it was for the size and quality of the exhibits.  If it had not been a somewhat spontaneous trip, we might have done a little bit more research and gone somewhere else instead.  But you live and learn, and I think the big kids enjoyed it.  We got what we needed to get done accomplished, so I count it as a productive day!

Mother's Day 2015 - Park Evening

After we left church on Mother's Day, we went out for lunch at Applebee's and then went home and the boys laid down for a nap while I finished up some homework.  Taylor and Daddy bought me some beautiful roses, a Mother's Day card, and some Twizzlers, yum! :)

It was a gorgeous day, so we decided to grab a pizza for dinner and have a picnic at the park.  We all had a blast.  Everybody got in on the action, even Daddy!

Taylor helping her brother! Proof that it does happen occasionally! :)

Mase munching on a breadstick

Daddy and Hunter racing across the lily pads.

Mason trying to figure out how to get down, lol!

Miss Paisley and I relaxing on the bench.

 

This was right before Mase decided he wanted off and almost flew into the mulch, lol.

Tay and Hunter swinging like a crab.

Whee!!

We saw this cool flower; I have no idea what kind it is, but it was beautiful!

 

We drove home with the windows down and enjoyed the sun going down.  I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day!  I even got a back massage, which is a little slice of heaven for this pregnant mama!  :)  

 

25 Weeks and the Packing Begins

Another week down!  It seems like time is moving really fast this pregnancy.  Maybe it's just because of everything we've got going on with the move, and Marcus traveling back and forth to Boise, and everyday life raising three rambunctious kiddos!

I felt super big this week and I haven't been sleeping as well because my feet and hips have been hurting when I lay down.  We finally started packing up the stuff that we're not using between now and our move day, so we've been doing a lot more physical work than I am used to.  We got the shed cleaned out and organized on Monday and yesterday we tackled the kitchen and my craft supplies.

Today was errand day, so we didn't get anything packed up, but we took several returns back to various stores and ended up with over $100 in gift cards!  Definite score!  Those will come in very handy after we move. 

It has been wonderful not having to rush around and get everything boxed up fast.  We've been able to take our time and organize things into the rooms that they're going into when we get to the new house.  We even bought different colored tapes so we can see quickly which boxes go where.  I am trying to keep this move as low stress as possible.  It is going to be hard enough trying to unpack at 30+ weeks pregnant and getting everything ready for new baby and the kids' new school year and Marcus's new job!  We will have a lot going on within such a short period that we absolutely must simplify as much as possible!

I'm also looking forward to being able to bribe family to come over and watch the kids while Marcus and I unpack.  It's kinda hard to get things done when you have to stop and break up fights every 15 minutes! :)

24 Weeks

Already at 24 weeks in this pregnancy! It is hard to believe because it is going so fast!  Miss Paisley seems to be growing like a weed in there, at my appointment yesterday they had to do a growth check ultrasound because she was measuring a full 3 weeks ahead!  The ultrasound revealed a strong heartbeat (142 bpm), and her sweet face.  It also showed that she is measuring 10 days big, which is in the 75th percentile, so everything looks good!

 

We can't wait to  meet our precious little girl!  I'm feeling pretty good, starting to get a little bit more heartburn and I'm finding it harder to get to sleep at night because my legs feel restless and it's getting harder to get comfortable.  That makes for some early mornings sometimes when the boys are up at 6:30, raring to go.  

 

Marcus has been in Boise since Saturday and he had the scenarios portion of the Sheriff's Department application process yesterday.  He passed!! I'm so proud of him! I know it was a big deal to have to perform when you don't really know what the people watching you expect.  But he did it and did a great job, as we all knew he would!

 

Taylor wasn't feeling very good yesterday and the poor girl fell asleep sitting up yesterday afternoon.  She wasn't hungry for dinner, so she ended up going to bed at about 6:30 last night.  She woke up about 1:30 with a headache, but was able to go back to sleep and she slept the rest of the night and seems to be feeling better today.

 

 

We're taking the next few days pretty easy because once Daddy gets back, we have to get to work!  It's about time to start organizing and packing up all of our stuff and get ready for the big move! We can't wait!