It's Wednesday night...

and still no baby...

When we were guessing her date of arrival, I guessed the 29th but there is a little over 3 hours left in the day and I don't feel like she's coming so....I probably guessed wrong. Bubba however, told me 9 days ago that she'd be here in 10 days. Obviously, tomorrow, the 30th. I mentioned it here but hadn't brought it back up in conversation to him. Imagine my surprise when this conversation took place at bedtime this evening:

Bubba: Mom, whose watching us tonight?
Me: Me, silly.
Bubba: No...when you go have sissy. Whose gonna watch us?
Me: Well, am I having sissy tonight?
Bubba: Yeah Mom...sissy is coming SOON!
Me: Well if Sissy comes tonight, then Papa will come over and stay with you guys.
Bubba: Oh, okay Mommy. Love you. 
Me: Love you too Bubba, night night.

So, I guess we'll see. I did go see Dr.P yesterday. My cervix was 2cm dilated, 50% effaced, and ''favorable''. I am still having contractions, every single day but they come and go at irregular intervals. They are getting stronger and more intense, especially when I'm up walking around or doing something. As of right now I'm sitting on my butt and they are an even 10 minutes apart. We'll see if Bubba is right and if she's coming soon!

Pregnancy rambling...

I'd just like to apologize now because I can pretty much guarantee that for the next few days (weeks?!) until Sweetcheeks arrival, I will probably be using my blog as a pregnancy journal.

This being our last baby, I have really cherished this pregnancy and honestly, it's been really easy. The morning sickness was mild, the aches and pains have been bearable, the weight gain has been easy-peasy, and everything has gone ''normal''. No high blood pressure, no bed rest...nothing. The cherry on top is of course, having found out that we are having a girl after having three awesome boys. I love my boys, don't get me wrong. They are a blast, they get along great and they are my whole life. But I think that every mom would like a daughter at some point and I think it's really cool that we are finally getting to experience that. People ask if we were ''trying'' for a girl (whatever that means) or if we were going to keep going until we had a daughter. Um, no. I've known from a very very young age that I wanted to grow up, be a mom and have four kids. {honestly getting married/having a wedding was something I never even thought about growing up, lol}. I knew that I wanted to have a boy first, but after that I didn't really care.

At the beginning of this pregnancy, I thought for sure we were having another boy and I really was okay with that. The pleasant surprise was nice but now I'm worried that I won't be a good mom to a daughter. I know boys. I'm comfortable playing outside, getting messy with sand and sidewalk chalk. I like watching Cars and Scooby Doo.

I'm not a girly-girly. I mean sure, I like pedicures and shopping. I like baking and sewing. I do like wearing dresses and skirts but I value the casual kinds that look best with flip flops. And...that's about where it ends. I didn't have nor want a big wedding or even a wedding dress. I was married in a pair of flip flops and capris in Las Vegas. I don't own a pair of heels let alone know how to walk in them, and even growing up I wasn't really into Barbie or doll houses. I liked playing house and teaching school. I never took a dance class, had no desire to. It takes me 10 minutes tops in the morning to pull back my hair and put on some basic make-up.  I'd pick yoga pants over designer jeans any day. I could care less about romance novels, soap operas or how much I weigh. Even as a kid, I insisted on wearing dresses but I then wore them while climbing trees and playing hide and seek.

What if Sweetcheeks is over the top girly? What if she loves Barbies, kitty cats and having tea parties? What if she hates playing outdoors? I'm used to stories about Iron-Man, breaking up arguments over who had the car first and saying things like ''We don't put our hands down our pants".

I do look forward to a lot of things as well, don't get me wrong. It's just this fear that she'll hate me or I won't know what to do with her (entertaining/playing). I can't wait to paint her little toes, to see her twirl in a dress, and to actually get to ''do'' a kids hair. I'm excited that when the boys are a little older B can take them camping and fishing and while he's doing that I could be at home making cupcakes and cookies with my daughter {this vision also includes matching aprons if you must know}.

I guess I'm just feeling a bit...anxious? Overwhelmed? I mean the end is near, she'll finally be here soon. The kids are ecstatically waiting her arrival. Pooks wants to bring her flowers and sing Happy Birthday when he visits her at the hospital. Bubba wants to bring her balloons and make a cake. Peanut, while younger, does know that something is up. He's been super super clingy the last few days. When we're upstairs and he needs his diaper changed, he insists that it be on Sissy's changing table. I've caught him looking in the bassinet twice today alone. He will lift up my shirt to expose my belly and say ''Hi Maggie-hee hee hee" and do this little laugh when saying her name. 

I can tell that my body is gearing up. Contractions are much more frequent and feeling more ''real''. Backache is more frequent but comes and goes in spurts. I already know that my cervix has started to dilate and efface. I'm feeling restless and nesting. Today I wiped down the entire kitchen with clorox wipes, cleaned the fridge, and microwave, sorted through all the stuff on our ''junk shelf''. I changed our bed linens last night and the 'old' ones are now in the wash. I washed the bathroom rugs, cleaned the bathroom and I'm caught up on almost all of the laundry. {This would be done already if I hadn't spotted a mouse in our garage Friday night...it freaked me out and until it was caught, I refused to go in the garage or laundry room while it was dark out. Needless to say our furry friend met his fate Saturday night.} It's not even 2pm and that stuff is all finished. Once the boys wake from their nap I'll dust and vacuum, then clean the windows. I would be napping now but my mind is racing and I have heartburn from eating pizza with peppers and onions.

The earliest I've gone into labor was 36 weeks and 4 days. The latest? 37 weeks and 4 days. Today, I am 36weeks and 3 days...if this baby is like her siblings, she'll be making her way into the world within a week! While I have everything necessary done, I can't help but feel like I should be doing something.

Football Season

In the words of Peanut "Go go go Wildcats!"

Coolest, Easiest, and Funnest Project Ever

I stumbled across a tutorial while blog hopping a long time ago using Freezer Paper to make "Screen Printed'' T-Shirt designs.

I know...say what?

I can't even remember where I originally read about it but I know it was last year around this time because I was working on I-Spy bags when it happened. I mentally filed it away for later use but then never had a need to use it.

Until now :)


I knew I wanted to make/get each of the Little Dudes a ''Big Brother'' shirt to wear up to the hospital when they meet their little sister for the first time. I even proposed the idea to them and they loved it! Problem is I have 3 Little Dudes all whom wear a size 4T or smaller and it's not easy finding 3 shirts in the right sizes and styles. Not to mention they each cost around $12 (or higher) so we're looking at dropping almost $40 on 3 tshirts.

Um, I think not.

So I did what I do best and thought ''Oh it wouldn't be hard to make those". The problem was I knew that those Iron-On shirt transfers don't hold up very well to washings. I knew that I didn't have a steady enough hand to hand-paint each shirt with Puff paint and seriously, it's 2010 not 1993...I think we've moved past puff paint. Then I remembered the Freezer Paper shirt idea. So I headed over to one of my favorite blogs: Made and searched through her tutorials. Ah-ha, Freezer Paper Stenciling tutorial.

I won't get into all the details but basically freezer paper works wonderfully as a stencil for creating a screen-printed effect on tshirts. You simply trace/draw your design on the dull size of the freezer paper; cut it out with an exacto knife. Iron the freezer paper 'stencil' (shiny side down) to the shirt. Apply fabric paint, let it dry and then remove the paper...it just peels right off! Then you have a super cute shirt that is 100% original, cute, holds up well in the wash and, most appealing to a mom of soon to be four kids....CHEAP. And did I mention cute? {please excuse the crappy cell phone pic; it's 1am folks and this is the best you're gonna get for now}

Seriously how adorable did those turn out? I used a fun playful font and added a number to the boys just for cuteness. Best of all, the breakdown:

3 Long Sleeve Shirts (size 5t, 4t, and 2t if you're curious) @  $3.50/each = $10.50
4 pack of fabric paint (in the colors the boys had chosen) = $4.00
Newborn white onesie: Free (we already had that)
Grand Total Spent for 3 Customized Shirts = $14.50
Each kiddo having a special shirt to wear on a very special day: Priceless

Overall it took about 3.5 hours to do all 4 shirts. Most of that time was spent cutting out all the letters with an Exacto knife; not exactly a quick task. It may have gone fast if I hadn't been eating Oreos and watching 'How I Met Your Mother'' at the same time. The best part is now that I know how easy it is, I plan on making them cute personalized shirts for their Birthday's and instead of buying Holiday tee's at Old Navy I can just whip up something at home. Woohoo!

The Boys

Yeah, I still got 'em.

I know, I know...by the lack of pictures around here, you wouldn't know that I had 3 rambunctious boys. Truth be told, I can barely remember to take my belly pic, let alone pictures of them. They are so active and so independent that if they don't want their picture taken, well it won't happen. Or it will but the pic looks horrible. So here are a couple and while not great, it's proof that they're still here. Still wild.

A Dairy Queen Mess

That pretty much sums up what we've been up too; keeping up with the kids :)

"Just this many days Mom"

Bubba said this morning as he held up all 10 of his little fingers. He's saying ''just this many days'' til Sissy arrives...we shall see if he ends up being right! (His prediction would be Sept 30th).

I had a check up appt with Dr. P today. He's seeing me weekly from 34 weeks (rather than the standard 36 weeks) since my history is to go early. So today at 35w3d:

-My BP, urine and Sweetcheeks heartbeat were all perfectly normal
-My weight was up .5lbs from last week, putting me at a total weight gain of 12lbs
-I had my lovely Group B Strep test, will have the results in a day or two (I've always been negative tho)
-A cervical check found me to be a stretchy 1 cm dilated, soft and while my cervix is still posterior, it's not as far back as last week. She is head down but not engaged.
-After feeling around on my belly my fundal height is measuring around 38 weeks and he's guessing that Sweetcheeks is close to 5.5-6lbs


All in all he doesn't think that I'll have her this week but he does think that when I do go into labor, it'll be quick. She is head down, cervix is already moving forward, I am having ''real'' contractions and if her head was a little bit lower or applying more pressure, he's sure I'd progress quickly. Seeing how I'm not 36 weeks yet, it would be best to have her bake a little while longer.

Now, on to the confusing part:

We did talk for awhile about my due date. Going by my last menstrual period, my due date would be Oct 12. That first ultrasound that I had gave me a due date of October 29th. However, because we were trying to get pregnant, I'm 99% sure that our actual due date based on my longer than average cycles, would be Oct 22. {This is the due date that I have gone by all along and that I base my appointments off of. } Then to top it all off, at my latest ultrasound (which isn't as accurate), Sweetcheeks was measuring big with a due date of Oct 17th.

So the 12th, the 17th, the 22nd or the 29th.

Dr P is in agreement that my due date is most likely closer to the 22nd. However because I've had perfectly healthy babies that have all arrived in their own time (3 weeks early) and all have been over 6lbs, he doesn't really care what my due date is. Bottom line my body will go into labor when the baby is ''done''. He is not the slightest bit concerned about me having a so called ''preemie''.

The issue is with the damn hospital. Because of the labs and ultrasound that I had done in the beginning of my pregnancy, they are ''going by'' a due date of the 29th (I think it's an insurance issue). Which by their calculations means I'm 34 weeks pregnant. Thus if I go into labor anytime between now and Oct 9th, they will labor me and Sweetcheeks as ''Premature'' (because I'm not term until the 37wk mark). Dr. P flat out said today that with her being this big and my cervix being ''favorable'' he does not think that I will still be pregnant on Oct 9th.

It's not a huge deal but they will do more tests on her because of this. More blood draws, a ''car seat'' test, checking her glucose and bilirubin levels more often, etc.Peanut was a ''preemie'' and we went through the same stuff. It's a pain in the ass because they constantly say things like ''Well because he's a preemie and a bit early, he may not breastfeed as well." "Because he's a preemie we need to monitor him." "Since you had him so early, we need to check his temperature again.'' Seriously? The kid came out weighing 6lbs 13oz and didn't need a bit of help. He had slightly low blood sugar but that was it; he nursed like a champ and weighed MORE when we left the hospital.

Can you tell I hate labels? Ugh.

So anyway, that was my appointment. Sorry for the tangent it's just irritating when you *know* something but a computer says something different and BOOM it's the end all be all.

35 weeks, prodromal labor (?) and nesting

Yesterday I hit the "35 Week" mark! If I were to go into labor at the same time as I did with Peanut, that means I'd only have 9 days left. :shock: Isn't that insane? Doesn't it seem like this pregnancy has flown by? Eh, maybe it's just me!

I have a check up on Monday with Dr. P and I'll be curious to see what kind of changes are going on. I know that Sweetcheeks is still head down...she has the hiccups as I type and I can feel them way down by my pubic bone. We've used our Doppler a couple times this week and her heart-rate is always right around 150-155. This is totally TMI but since it's my blog I'll share anyway, but I lost a big of my mucous plug already. Eek!

The crazy thing is the amount of contractions that I've been having. While still highly irregular, they are getting stronger. To me, Braxton Hicks contractions are just a general tight feeling over my belly. I get them after carrying Peanut or going upstairs too quickly. Carrying in heavy groceries or sitting up too fast, etc. I've had them on and off since about 22 weeks. But the last couple days I've been feeling ''real'' contractions. I'll get this kinda breathlessness feeling, followed by my abdomen cramping and tightening up and my back hurting. They about a minute and then fizzle off. They don't hurt but they are much more intense. They'll come on weather I'm sitting, standing, and even sleeping...doesn't seem to matter. And they'll be anywhere from 20 minutes apart, to 4 minutes, 8 minutes, then 35 minutes...no pattern what so ever. But it has made the whole thing seem more real, that's for sure!

When pregnant with Pooks I was in Prodromal labor for over a week. Some call it false labor, but I prefer prodromal because for me, I typically really am progressing. At my 34 week appointment I was 1cm dilated, I'm curious to see what I will be on Monday (35w3d). I know that dilation doesn't mean I'll go into labor any sooner but it's encouraging to know that my body is working. I love going into active labor being 3 or 4 centimeters dilated already...without having felt any pain before that. It makes managing labor and getting through the active and transition phases without pain relief much easier; after all if I can progress through {the first} third of labor without even knowing it, surely I can get through the other 2/3 without pain relief!

Lastly in addition to the contractions and general uneasy feeling, I'm nesting. It seems like there is something everyday that hits me and I have to do it right then or I can't stop thinking about how it needs to be done before Sweetcheeks gets here. On Wednesday, I mowed the front yard. On Thursday I vacuumed the entire house, used the attachment to vacuum along all the baseboards and all the air vents/ducts. On Friday I jokingly {and non jokingly} harassed B to clean the garage. Which he did and I feel much better. Friday night I finished packing my hospital bag and attached a post-it to the top with the remaining items to be thrown in last minute. Today I bought a nursing tank and some pj's to wear at the hospital, then did all of the laundry. I mean all of it. Other than the clothes that we wore today, everything else is clean. Bed linens, dog bedding, everything. And I feel much better :)

We're getting down to the wire and it's amazing how quickly it's passed by!

It feels like I'm falling for Fall...

I can feel it...Fall is just around the corner. It's mid September and the temperature is starting to change. Rather than being 90+ degrees it, today it's just 68 degrees out. We've had the windows open all day, took a nice nap with a breeze blowing in. Last night, it was dark by 8pm! This week we had potato soup one night and chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes. As I sit here blogging, I'm thinking about how I could be putting up all my fall and Halloween decorations. Since our impending arrival will be here around the beginning of October, it probably wouldn't hurt to put those out early.

I can't wait for the leaves to fall and crunch under our feet. To sniff the top of my newborns head and savor that baby smell! To visit the pumpkin patch. To enjoy the scent and flicker of fall scented candles in scents like pumpkin, ginger, and spices. For crock-pot and soup weather. For fall TV shows. To get the kids all dressed up for Halloween. To smell the fireplaces. For {non maternity!} jeans and long sleeves. Sipping on pumpkin spice lattes, baking homemade breads and going on walks without sweating to death {or having contractions while doing so}.

The changing of the seasons is almost symbolic this year, with Sweetcheeks arrival occurring at the same time. It makes the entire experience even better!

I love Fall!

Tutorial: How to make a Diaper Cake

Okay so for about 2 years I made and sold diaper cakes. While they are fun to make and not very expensive, I decided to 'close up shop' so to speak. Mostly because I no longer have the room in this house to keep everything out and the overhead (when not having consistent orders) was really limiting the income that I was making. Most cakes I just broke even on because I'm too nice of  a person I didn't like charging too much for something that is so simple to make. So, better late than never, I'm sharing a "How to" here and on the diaper cake blog.

Step 1: Gather your materials. Basic items you will need are:

-diapers (I highly recommend Pampers Swaddler size 1 or 2...they are all white, they are soft and even if the newborn is 8+lbs at birth, they'll still fit!)
-rubber bands
-cardboard or cake board, tissue paper
-ribbon (fabric ribbon, not gift wrap ribbon)
-scissors, hot glue gun, tape/double stick tape
-any accessories that you want in the cake (in this instance a hooded towel, washcloths, a travel soap/lotion set, a small pkg of wipes)

Alright, let's get started. First things first, we need to cover the cake board/cardboard. Pretty self-explanatory, place the board on the paper. Fold or cut it around the board, taping the excess to the bottom. It'll start out like this:

Finished like this:

So, take your diaper and face it towards you with the size/design facing up.

Starting at the top, roll it toward you. Tight enough that it makes a roll but not so tight that it's super skinny.

 

Once it's all rolled up, wrap it with a rubber band. Again tight enough that the diaper doesn't unravel but not so tight that it leaves a huge indention.

Now repeat that step...a lot. For a 2 tier cake you'll need about 25 diapers, for a 3 tier you'll need about 50. Once you roll a bunch, it's time to assemble the tiers. You'll need 8 diapers to make the center/core of each tier and also for the top tier. Start with one diaper, surround it by 6-7 to form a circle.

Once you have your circle, wrap it with a rubber band. Again, not to tightly..use a bigger band if needed. It needs to look like this:

Now if you're making a 2 tier cake, add another circle of diaper around the outside of your core. If you're making a 3 tier cake (like I am) then you'll need to add 2 more circles of diapers around the core. Bascially if you're making a 3 tier, you need a center diaper with 3 rows around. If making a 2 tier, you need a center diaper then 2 rows around it, etc.

Here is my bottom tier, for a 3 tier cake. I labeled it to show what I mean. There is one diaper in the middle labeled "center". Then 3 circles of diapers surround it.

Repeat this step until you have all your tiers assembled. Next stack them together. If you are going to be using something big in your cake, you can omit diapers to fit it in to your desired tier. If it's a stuffed animal, it can go on top. In this instance I was using a hooded towel...definitely too big to go on top, so I subbed it in to the second tier. You can see where I removed some diapers from the second tier to make it fit, inside of my outer rubberband.

Now stack your top tier.

 Now if you have any washcloths, burp rags, onesies, etc that you are wanting to include, roll those up to approximate diaper size and substitute them in. 

Now it's time to decorate or add little things. I always include a travel set of soaps/lotions with each cake. Sometimes I attach them to the outer ribbon, sometimes inside of the ribbon...just depends on what looks best. On this cake, I opted to place them inside of the ribbon, against the diapers. It's helpful if you have a little double stick tape, to make sure they stay up and against the diapers but it's not required.

Now we have the cake constructed. Let's add the ribbon and pretty it up. I must say that for me, it's an absolute necessity to use fabric ribbon and not that plasticy gift-wrap ribbon. It's so much prettier, the mom-to-be can reuse it if she wants (bow holder anyone?) and it's usually cheaper. Hobby Lobby *always* has this on ''sale'' for 50% off, usually less than $2 a roll. I typically choose 2 ribbons, one wider than the other and stack them.

The trick to using ''real'' ribbon is you must heat-seal the ends so it doesn't unravel. It's really easy to do...once you've measure how much ribbon you need (add an inch for overlap), take a lighter and (without actually touching the flame!) get the ribbon close enough to the flame that the ends melt together. Please use common sense when using fire..don't do this while it's on the diaper cake, etc. Once it's heat-sealed, wrap it around your cake and hot glue the top ribbon to the bottom ribbon. Never put hot glue on the diapers, just the ribbon.

If using an accent ribbon, attach it in the same manner, on top of the wider ribbon. Repeat for all tiers. So now you have all 3 tiers prettied up, but we need to ''stick'' them together.

My method? Bamboo skewers. They're inexpensive, they aren't intrusive, they don't reduce the amount of diapers that you use, and it's simple. So, stack your cake up again...bottom 2 tiers only. Then slowly push 2 bamboo skewers down through the layers, between diapers, until you reach the cardboard.

It'll look kinda funny with the skewers sticking up; go ahead and break/cut those off so they are even with the top tier.Take a 3rd skewer and insert it in into the center of the cake but DON'T cut/break it. Use this as a stabilizer to attach the 3rd tier. Carefully slide the 3rd layer over the skewer (careful not to rip any diapers). Now your diaper cake won't be so wobbly!

(I circled where the hidden skewers are..)

 Tada! Your cake is now finished :)

 Now if you want to wrap it up in tulle, you can do that now. You'll need about a 1.25yd of tulle (again, it's like $1/yd at Hobby Lobby) and you just place the cake in the center of the tulle yardage. Pull the tulle up and rubberband it just about the top tier. Cut the excess off, attach a ribbon to cover the rubberband and you're ready for gift giving. (I made this cake just before taking it to the shower, so I did not wrap this cake in tulle.)

the naked chef

34 week check up and update on Peanut

Firstoff, Peanut is doing much better. His fever broke Tuesday night and then yesterday we noticed a few tiny red bumps on his neck and chest. Today he has a full blown rash all over his neck, stomach, back, groin and butt. So, we now know that he had roseola. His fever is gone, the rash doesn't itch and we're just waiting for the irritability to simmer down. {Which may be wishful thinking since he seems to also be hitting the Terrible Two's phase of his life}. Such a relief!

On to today. I had my 34 week check up with Dr. P. Blood pressure was an awesome 112/64, Sweetcheeks heartbeat was 153, urine came back clear, I'm up another .5lb and my total weight gain for this pregnancy is: 11.5lbs. Yeah, crazy right? With the boys I was up at least 20lbs by now!! Dr. P isn't concerned in the slightest. He went over the results of my ultrasound that I had about 2 weeks ago. Sweetcheeks looks wonderful. Perfectly healthy. Size-wise she is in the 65th percentile. My fluid level was 12 which is great, not to little but not too much either. He said that I am pretty much ALL baby.

I had my first cervical check, just to see where things are at. Baby is head down, not engaged, my cervix is posterior, soft and I'm 1 centimeter dilated.  Basically this means that the Braxton Hicks contractions that I've been feeling are doing something but nothing that says labor is gonna start tomorrow. Given my previous labor history, he thinks I'll go right around 37 weeks again. (Last week of Sept/First week of October.)

I do have a lovely condition called PUPPP, or Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy. They thought I had this early in my pregnancy...around 29 weeks and it's essentially a harmless rash but it is EXTREMELY itchy. When I first got it, it looked almost like a heat rash. It hasn't gone away at all but the itchiness had settled down.  Then a couple days ago I had what kinda looked (and itched) like a bug bite but rather than just being a raised bump it was kinda blurry along the edges and then, started getting bigger. This morning I woke up with 2 more 'spots' like this. From what Dr.P explained and from what I've read, it can get worse or it might stay the same. Either way, it's a hormone thing and won't go away until after delivery. He did write me a prescription for a cream that should help.

I intentionally took my belly pic this week so that the rash was showing; figure I might as well put a picture of my big itcy belly in her baby book :) Although the tiny red bumps don't even show up, just the bigger hive-looking spots.

Here is a close up for anyone that's curious...doesn't look like much but it boy oh boy it itches! And here is one more that I took for the baby book; for the first time ever, my belly button is popping out!

Honestly this pregnancy has been wonderful. This PUPPP rash is nothing in the grand scheme of things. We already know that Sweetcheeks will be our last little bub and I'm trying to cherish everything. Luckily, she's making it easy on me!

What a weekend!

I didn't get a chance to blog over Labor day weekend. Thankfully I wasn't in Labor, we just spent the weekend being lazy and hanging out with family.

On Friday...I don't remember what we did, lol. Peanut had a slight fever but it wasn't really affecting his behavior at all so we thought it was teething. Saturday we all slept in until 10:15am! It was amazing. Then we went over to Nanaw & Papa's house to hang out. Uncle Matt and Aunt Rachel were in town so we visited and had dinner over there.

Sunday we returned to Nanaw and Papa's house for a BBQ. We had the most amazing pulled pork sandwiches that were to.die.for. Seriously, delicious. We again chatted with Matt and Rachel as well as Papa Bob and Gma Mary. After eating, we ended up taking Peanut to Stat Care because he still had his fever, was acting super fussy/clingy/grumpy and I thought maybe he had {another} ear infection. Luckily he doesn't. It's ''just'' a virus.

Monday we stayed home and the in-laws came to town for a visit. It was nice having them over as they live 2 hours away. The boys chowed down on some yummy Vietnamese food...Peanut inhaled the food. Seriously I don't think that he could have eaten more rice if we let him.While he had quite the appetite, he was still 'sick'. Fever, sleeping a ton, clingy, etc. We pushed fluids and did the whole Tylenol/Motrin every 3 hours as needed thing and he did better.

Well today is Tuesday and he's still irritable and still has a fever. I'm thinking I might have to take him back to the doctor. He doesn't have a cough, no runny nose, he's eating/drinking/wetting fine, no rashes, no ear tugging--I don't know what's up but yesterday his fever reached 103.3 so it's pretty high. Tylenol and Motrin always bring it back down though so I'm kinda at a lost.

I hate it when our babies are sick and we can't physically do anything to make them better!

Old Wives Tales and what the ''Experts" say

Back in May, I did a post predicting Sweetcheeks gender based on Old Wives Tales. Most of the tests said "Girl" other than the Chinese Gender Chart (which has never been right for me, I'm always opposite).

But as correct as they were about some things, others were completely wrong. Typically, Old Wives Tales say that if you're pregnant with a girl you carry the weight in your butt and hips...you look like you have a watermelon under your shirt. With a baby boy you carry right out front, looking like you have a basketball under your shirt. Well take a look at these 2 pics:

Both are from my 33rd week of pregnancy. The bare belly one on the left is from when I was pregnant with Peanut (a boy) and the one on the right was taken today, pregnant with a girl.

Call me crazy but I think I look more ''basketball-ish'' with Sweetcheeks. I am carrying a bit higher this time around too.

Obviously being my fourth pregnancy, I've noticed other differences too. When pregnant with any of the boys, I had morning sickness really bad. Not just nausea but actual vomiting. With Bubba, I was sick up until 22 weeks when it finally wore off. With Pooks it was bad but nothing compared to Bubba. With Peanut it would hit me all the sudden but I felt better after actually being sick. Now with Sweetcheeks I had a nausea/hungover/carsick feeling and occasional vomiting but nothing like I did with the boys. My skin as also been much clearer this time around...very few if any breakouts, even in the beginning.

I've gained less weight being pregnant with a girl; my face isn't as round as it was with the boys and my boobs haven't gone up a single cup size. With the boys I gained 23-26lbs total and went up AT LEAST 2 cup sizes...at 33wks with Sweetcheeks I've gained 11lbs and still wearing my regular itty-bitty bras.

I have to wonder, is it a difference in carrying boy vs girl or is it that this is my fourth pregnancy and my body is thinking ''been there done that'' and handling/adjusting to everything really well?

I'll never really know the answer but it is interesting that my fourth pregnancy is the easiest. They {you know the experts} warn you that the ideal spacing from children is at least 18-23mos between pregnancies...so that your body can ''heal'' and get back to normal. Well there was a 4.5mos ''pregnancy free'' gap between Bubba and Pooks, a 10 month gap between Pooks and Peanut's pregnancies and a 14 month gap between Peanut and Sweetcheeks....and my body is handling it just fine. My hips are sore but other than that, I feel fine. My blood pressure is the lowest this pregnancy than it's ever been. I've never had problems with anemia. I've always lost the baby weight after each kiddo, I've always stayed fairly active during my pregnancies and while I haven't always eaten great, I have always taken my pre-natal vitamins. I don't think that the ''experts'' know what they are talking about!
As were nearing the end, here are belly pics from various points in my pregnancy this time around...

Day 1, 2 and 3 are done!

I know, I stink at updating, sorry 'bout that. But the boys did start preschool on Monday. Bubba went for a semester last year so this was all old hat to him but Pooks, he was excited! So excited that he woke up at 7:04am asking ''Is it time for school now?". Um...school starts at 9am buddy...you're a little early. So they got up and immediately got dressed in clothes that had been laid out the night before. Then they wanted to eat. But I was responded with "We can't eat yogurt mom, it's just too messy. I want ceweal."

As you can see, Bubba thought he was a little too cool for photos 

And one with Peanut, who acted like it was his first day too

So by the time they were finished getting dressed and eating breakfast it was, oh 7:31. "Is it time for school now mommy?"  Um...no. So while they hunted down their shoes and picked up their pajamas, I got myself ready. I then had to do their hair...a first for us. But since they had gotten their hair cut last Wednesday, they had been insisting that I "spike it up" for them. Okay so I used B's hair paste on my 3 and 4 year old's, what other choice did I have? By the time this was all done it was almost 8am. Still had another 35 minutes to kill before we needed to leave the house. Okay, let's take some pictures outside...

Can you tell who was still a bit sleepy? Bubba wasn't quite used to getting up at 7am...

After about, oh 3 pictures he was complaining about the sun in his eyes and it being too bright and why did I need to take SO many pictures?

So by now it's all of 8:15 and they are chomping at the bit to get in the van. Okay, okay we'll get in the van! So I let them buckle themselves in, I slowly make sure that I have everything we need. We head across town and Mommy "needed" to stop at Sonic for a 99 cent Dr. Pepper. We get to the school ant it's 8:31. I know they don't even unlock the doors til 8:45am. So I suggest we listen to two school songs on our Wee Wigglers CD. 

We do that and it's 8: 37.

So we call B and I try to encourage him to talk the boys up, that lasts about 30 seconds. At this point another little boy is also there so we get out of their minivan. We get to the door and yep, it's still locked. So I bust out my camera to get a pic of Pook's first ever day of school. The one pic I get:

Yeah, I got the whole ''sun's in my face mom, no more pictures" and that was it. I put the camera back in the van and called it a loss. Shortly afterward, Miss Deb came downstairs and unlocked the main door and the boys trekked upstairs. They {meaning all 3 boys} immediately head straight for the toys while I fill out paperwork. Pooks was super excited, bringing over cool toy after cool toy to show me. I finish the paperwork and chit-chat with their teachers for awhile. I then tell Peanut that it's time to go and he tells me "No Mama, I play". Um, no you don't get to play here but we'll go to the park. That was the hardest part, getting Peanut to willingly leave. The older boys? I heard a ''Bye Mom!!" as they were playing.

One and a half hours later it was time to pick them up. They did wonderful. Miss Maria said that they both listened so well and they played together like little best friends. They got along with the other kids, they didn't fight, they ate their snacks...everything went well. No tears, no hesitant moments at all.

Tuesday and Wednesday were much the same. I got a hug and a kiss and a ''See ya!" . Today though Peanut didn't even fight leaving. He was more than happy to say bye to his brothers and have Mommy time. He is really liking the attention of being the only kiddo. Everything is "Mom or Mommy". I think he says my name so many times just because he gets my immediate attention rather than having to wait or having to repeat himself. His behavior has been wonderful! Overall, it couldn't be going better. I'm enjoying the time with just Peanut, the boys are enjoying school and we're plowing along. Now in a month, when Miss Sweetcheeks makes her appearance, I'm not sure how well Peanut will handle sharing me again but we'll worry about that when the time comes.