Less than 135 days to go...

Until Sweetcheeks impending arrival. I say ''less than'' because I've never carried a baby to my due date; Pooks was the closest and he was still 12 days early.
So as of now, I am officially five months pregnant. That's over half way folks! It's bittersweet. I cannot wait to meet my daughter, I am thrilled that I even get to say ''daughter''. And at the same time, I'm trying to cherish this pregnancy as much as I can. So far, it's been easy. Other than hip pain and trouble falling asleep, I'm doing pretty good. Morning sickness ended a few weeks ago, I have more energy (heck, I don't even nap everyday), I'm able to move around quite easily still. I do get winded much easier. Before this, I was cleaning the bathroom. By the time I finished scrubbing the tub/shower, cleaning the toliet, swiffering the floor, cleaning the vanity, shaking out the rugs and cleaning the mirror...I was ready to sit down. I mean I was actually out of breath, lol.

This pregnancy has not been like the others. Cravings are different; my 2 prominent cravings recently have been for fried pickles or s'mores. Honestly, until this pregnancy I didn't even like pickles. Last week, I caught myself eating them straight out of the jar. Eeek!

At almost 21 weeks, I have only gained about 5 lbs. (I'm not really sure because I don't have a scale but I'm up 5lbs on the Wii Fit from when I last used it, 146 days ago. Yeah and it told me I was overweight!) Sweetcheeks growth was right on track at her ultrasound, so for now I'm not worried.

Oh and that reminds me, we did finally pick a name. I'll type it once then it's back to Sweetcheeks...her name will be Kinley. It's an Irish name (all of our kids have Irish names) and it means ''fair headed viking''. I'm not sure she'll be fair-headed, lol, but she'll have to be pretty tough!

I have felt her moving for quite some time now but last Friday, B felt her kick/poke for the first time and then on Saturday, Bubba felt her kick. Boy did his eye's just light up! She moves a LOT. Especially in the evenings. Yesterday I felt hiccups for the first time. Here is a quick video of her heartbeat:

It's always right between 155-160. And yes, Pooks is still obsessed with listening. He doesn't want to feel her move or kick him, but he always wants to ''hear sissy's heart beating". So cute! And I wouldn't forget a belly pic...I finally feel big enough to show a bare belly:
I was just talking to B about this last night, but I think this pregnancy has been a little bit easier because I'm not so nervous. I'm not nervous about the delivery. After 2 natural drug-free childbirths, I got this in the bag. I'm not nervous about breastfeeding, although I know each baby is different, I feel like I have enough experience to figure it out and I'm not shy about asking for help. I'm not wondering ''what if she doesn't fit in?" or "what if the boys don't like her?" or "how am I going to go grocery shopping with four kids?".

Trust me, I worried about every single one of those things in previous pregnancies. I was afraid that I'd never love Pooks (kid #2)as much as I did Bubba (kid #1). I was worried that Bubba and Pooks had such a strong bond that they would ignore Peanut (kid #3) and that he wouldn't fit in. I was seriously worried about whether the subsequent kiddos would be as cute as their siblings. I was stressing myself out trying to figure out how I would take all 3 to the doctor or to the store.

This time around, I have it figured out. Yes, she will fit in. She will fall right into place. Yes, at first the boys may not really ''like'' her. They will ignore her because, let's be honest, she can't really do anything. But I know that once she starts to sit up, they will interact more. Once she can crawl...well, look out sister cause your big brothers won't take it easy on you once you can get to their toys! When I go to the store the older 2 boys will walk along side the cart, Peanut will sit in the cart's seat and I will wear ms. sweetcheeks.

Some days will be hard and chaotic and I'll sit back and wonder ''what the hell were we thinking!?" Don't get me wrong, I have days like that now! But most days I'll see 3 little boys loving on their baby sister. I'll see tiny newborn eyes trying to focus in on all the activity. I'll see that our family has grown, for the better and is finally complete.