Apparently, the kids like the new car!

In the car last night on the way home from AWANA, we had this exchange:

Owen: “Ok, Mama. Can you try not to hurt this car because we really like this car.”

Me: “Yes, Owen. I will try.”

Owen: “Thank you, that will be very good.”

My little "snowman"

Here's the first image we have of Baby #4, taken last week at my appointment with the midwife. I was so happy to see only one baby, I didn't really get a chance to examine it. I sent it to my mom and she asked if it was the "two circles that look like a snowman." Yup, that's it! These things are difficult to decipher, even at the standard 20+ weeks but this baby is only 12 weeks so even tougher.
I already love this little baby more every day and really can't wait to have a family of six stuffed into our little house.
Speaking of stuffed, I am going to have to break out the maternity clothes pretty soon! What a hassle to bring them all out of the basement, wash and iron them. I guess that will be a weekend project either this weekend or next weekend for me. I swear, by Monday I always have the weekend project all lined up for myself. Does it ever end???

Springing Forward

Wow, don't I wish this would have been the scene at 9pm last night...or 10pm...or even 11pm. Our little guy is not adjusting well to the time change so far, so it was PARTY TIME until after midnight! Poor mom!!!!

Heart Attack!

I had my first appointment with my midwife this morning. She is not the same one that delivered William at home; she delivers in the hospital where Chris works.
Anyway, she had a student with her (older lady) who is learning to be a midwife and the two of them went through my medical history and just basically got to know me and how I wanted everything to go. Finally, we got to the part I was looking forward to which was hearing the baby’s heartbeat. Especially after my recent car accident, I was really feeling like I needed to be reassured that everything was ok.
So I laid back on the table and bared my tummy so they could put the goop on and run the machine. The midwife immediately asked “How far along are you? You’re measuring REALLY big – have you measured big before?” She had a HUGE smile on her face and the student lady also got very excited when she felt how high up my uterus is. The midwife said “You do know what we’re thinking, don’t you?” I started sweating and freaking out right away! She ran the Doppler to hear the heartbeat but was unable to hear anything so she ran to the back to see if the ultrasound room was open. Thankfully it was...
It was a long walk back there, thinking about how on earth would we fit TWO more kids into our house! We would clearly have to adopt William out. (any takers?) She set me up for the ultrasound and found that there is, in fact, only one baby in there. WHEW! I swear, it was the most nervous/excited I have EVER been in my life! Anyway, that’s my heart attack for the day.
We got to see the baby kicking around and moving, so all is well. He/she is already looking really cute. We are so excited!

Oh, and we got a car last night. It’s a 2005 Honda Pilot and we LOVE it! It has seating for eight, so will fit all the kids even if we do end up having twins next time! (just kidding!)

THANKFUL!

Well, I totaled my car the other day on the way to work. I lost control on black ice and spun out, eventually hitting a tree at around 50 mph. Thankfully, I hit from the back so there was no impact to my stomach/the baby. Other than being pretty sore for the next few days, I suffered no injuries and am sooooooo thankful! It's amazing how God protected me and the baby.
The worst thing was that I was on the phone with my mom in MI at the time. She heard me yelling "I'm spinning out! I'm spinning out!" then silence before a VERY loud crash. Poor thing! After a couple more minutes of silence, she heard me yelling "Mom! Mom" as I was digging through the backseat looking for my cell phone. She had visions of me bleeding and pinned inside the car, calling to her for help. She was quite relieved to hear me finally come on the line and tell her I was ok. Phew! What a morning that was!

Visitors

Well, we are in the middle of a visit from my mother and father in law. I've worked almost the whole time they've been here, so not much time to spend with them yet but they know instinctively how to butter me up: Faygo redpop, fresh from Michigan. Aaaaahhhhh! It's like they brought a childhood friend I hadn't seen in many years: a sweet, sugary, refreshing childhood friend!
We decided to roll William's crib into our room and allow them to have their own room, complete with our handy-dandy Aerobed. Unfortunately, William despises change and so even though he's in his own bed, being in a different room is almost more than the poor guy can take. Subsequently, sleep has been hard to come by for all of us this week.
Since moving away from our families in the summer of 2006, we've gone through some challenges as any family would, not having dependable (and free!) babysitting available. But overall, the move has been a good thing for us. We have learned to be very independant and it means the time we do get to spend with family, whether at our home or when we travel to MI, is QUALITY time and we truly appreciate it.

Sleep, anyone?

Anyone who's been in their first trimester of pregnancy knows sleep becomes your body's main requirement. I guess I can't blame myself, I mean I AM building a whole other person inside me right now! But as any mother of small children also knows, sleep can be VERY elusive and not just for one or two nights, but for a loooooong stretch!
So it was last night when I crumbled into bed after running errands with the kids until almost 9pm and not getting a lot of sleep the night before. There were a couple odd trips to the bathroom (another nice pregnancy bonus) between 9:30 and midnight but then it looked like I might be able to get at least 6 hours of solid shut-eye.
Not so, unfortunately. Shortly after midnight, I awoke to my 5 year old yelling for "Daddy." (Daddy, meanwhile, never missed a snore!) I immediately went across the hall to find him sitting up in his bed in a pool of vomit. UGH! I did get my husband up at that point and to his credit, he snapped to attention, cleaning up the foul linens and getting our son stripped for an impromptu tubby. Needless to say, sleep was elusive after this incident as well since I had one ear on him the whole night for round two, which thankfully never came.
So maybe tonight will be different and I'll be able to get some much-needed zzz's. Wish me luck!