Sleep

Its 4am and I can't sleep.  Being a mommy is so hard at times.  I often find myself worrying about what I'm doing is right.  Lately its been his sleep.
 
Typically night sleeping is what most moms worry about.  As for me, it's day time sleeping.  I'm so frustrated and I find myself worrying about it a lot.  He sleeps so randomly during the day.  There for awhile he would not sleep from 9am-1 or 2pm.  Now he sleeps from 9-12 and wont sleep  in the afternoon.  I find that when he has a morning and afternoon nap that he sleeps much better at night sleeping longer stretches.  If not he is up every 3 hours which I don't mind at all.

I'm not a baby wise mom.  Well, I haven't read the book and I find myself not wanting to read it either. Is that wrong.  No offense to other moms out there who do it, but I don't have the desire/heart to let him cry it out at this point of his life.  I want to nurture him. Maybe I should read it first before criticizing. :)

One problem we have  is that Justin and I get antsy being at home so I like to go out a lot.  Isaiah sleeps great when we are out and about but when we are home all day he does not nap well.  Maybe I'm worrying about it too much. Maybe I need to take a week at home, not leaving the house specifically working on naps.

Any of you moms have any advice or reassurance?

I'm still PREGNANT!!!

Ok, so I know I haven't done much blogging on here likely because we have been so busy working on the house, transition of jobs,  church stuff, and just pure exhaustion from being pregnant.  I wish I blogged more about my pregnancy, but every time I would sit to do it I wouldn't know what to say.  

As for now, I don't really know what to say :)

Tomorrow I will be 41 weeks pregnant.  Yes I'm still working.  I'm patiently waiting for the babies arrival.  Its so interesting to hear everyone's comments when they see me.  

"Your still pregnant."

"When are they going to induce you."

"OMG, your still here?  I thought you'd be off by now." 

"What's your doctors plan?"

Its been fun hearing the comments and getting to say, "Yep, I'm still here, working, patiently waiting."  Everyone has a remedy to induce labor.  I've heard everything.  Have lots of sex, take primrose, drink castor oil, walk, walk, walk, jump on a trampoline, eat spicy food, eat pineapple, go for a run, swallow semen (yes, someone gave me that advice), take the stairs, blah, blah, blah.  Do you really think I'm sitting at home just laying on the couch?!?!?  Well, some nights I am. :)  

It's also been overwhelming to hear how many comments I get about needing to be induced.  It is such a common practice that its expected.  If your baby's not here by your due date then Pitocin it is.  People look at me crazy when I say that I could wait until 42 weeks before induction.  Some really do say I'm crazy.  If you look at the statistics most 1st time moms can be ~8 days past their due date before the baby is born and can be pregnant 42 weeks safely.  

Of course I have been emotional, tired, frustrated, and some days screaming for this baby to come out.  Especially when I'm getting comments constantly about it.  It's not easy waiting, but I care more about letting nature take its course than using medications.  I'm not opposed to medications, I just want to make sure I tried to go as long as possible before initiating them.  

I actually would love to have a home birth.  I have watched so many videos of home birth and want to cry every time. The experience is so intimate, natural, and bonding.  Who knows, maybe with baby #2.

So yes, I am still waiting for baby to come.  I love him so much and can't wait to meet him.  If anything, what I want to hear is encouragement to persevere, that I'm doing a good job by waiting, and affirm me that I'm not crazy.  :)  

Tomorrow I go for my 41 week appointment.  They will do an ultrasound and check my fluid levels and hopefully give me the ok to wait one more week.  Yes I also know about getting my membranes stripped, just saying.  

 

Ben Keeling Photo Shoot

As of Now....

I am only 4 weeks away from delivery - 36 weeks preggo
Am I scared?  Only curious of the unknown....
My lower back has been hurting - very painful
Do I plan to go all natural - I'm hoping too, but who knows what will happen
I have lots of charlie horses in my legs and other weird places (very weird)
My ankles are swelling daily
I get tired very easy
Im not sure what to think except what I have left to get done
The baby room is pretty much finished
I have things that need to be put away in storage
I need to organize my closets & cabinets - Who knows when that will happen
I'd like to get our cars interiors detailed clean
And install the car seats
One of our cars is broken down with a transmission leak
I need to pack a hospital bag
And print the Birth Plan
Isaiah likes to move the most when I'm sitting alone and its very quiet
I start my weekly appointments tomorrow
My brother gets married 9/10/11 & my due date is 9/14/11
My husband has been very gracious, caring, and loving

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;

the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forever more.

4D ultrasound & 34 weeks Pregnant

Life seems to be a bit busy lately.  I guess you can say I have been nesting, trying to get things ready for our little man.  I can't wait to meet him, hold him, and love him.  Justin and I are excitedly waiting his arrival.  Here's our little man.

Here I am at 34 weeks.  I'm feeling great at this point.  

Of course the bump gets in the way at times and can be a tad bit uncomfortable, and peeing can get old, but every time he moves around I am reminded how awesome pregnancy is.  I love it!

My cravings or lets just say preferences.

I can't say that during this pregnancy I have had strong cravings for anything specific.  I have not asked Justin to make any midnight runs or even any spontaneous runs for food.  My taste buds have changed and I have desired only certain foods: Protein, Carbs, and Sweets

Here have been some (very few) of my food cravings

Chili Cheese Dogs (preferably cincinnati chili)

Eggs (preferable hard boiled eggs, scrambled, and fried)

Potato wedges

Right now I having been eating a lot of this

So not many food cravings, but strong food preferences! :) 

Protecting our home.

Our house is a mess again.  This is a good thing because it means our kitchen is being finished.  We are finally finishing our countertops and backsplash thanks to a dear friend of ours.  Owning a house has been such a new experience for both Justin and I.  We have a sudden need to be more responsible and PROTECTIVE.  Well there's a little baggage with the protective part.  I'll explain a little.

One, we don't live on the best side of town.  It's not a bad side of town, but just not where everyone wants to move too.  With that being said the safety is at a higher level than other parts of town.  When we first bought the house, the guy living here before (his parents owned the house and sold it to us)  broke in the house and stole some things he left on the property.  SCARY.  If he had just called us and asked us to give it to him we would have, but why, oh, why would you do that.  Then when we were moving in this guy, (supposedly he was living with a friend a few houses down), came up to Justin and asked to get his grill back.  Justin had a few nice/firm words with him and noticed the ladders were at that house he was staying at.  We didn't make a big deal about it, but did tell him that we knew it was him that broke into our house and we have a police report on it, so stay OFF our property or we WILL call the police.  We haven't had any of the problems since.  We put new locks on everything and locked things up that were not locked up (our garage, fences, etc)

Two, a family that lives a few houses down that has many children always has different people coming in and out of their house.  They like to hang out on the front porch a lot and their kids like to play in the front yard. I met the mom and she was very nice.  Well, a few weeks ago, we were grilling out on our back porch with some friends and this mom walked around to us and asked us for money.  She gave us a story that her son was out of medicine and she didn't have any money to purchase it.  I'm not saying she was lying because I do not know.  We had to believe that this was a moment of ministry for us.  This was the first time.  However, we were still a little suspicious.

Three, last week Justin and I were at home just finishing up dinner when we noticed 5 cop cars pull up in front of our house.  Another cop car was at the end of our street with his lights on.  The cops hopped out with a drug dog and huddled around.  Oh no!  What was going on?!?!  Here we were, being nosey, peeking out the windows.  The cops entered into the house of the mom who asked us for money.  Nothing really happened.  Hours later we hear knocking at our door.  It was our back door, which was even scarier, because NO one knocks there.  It was two cops and the drug dog.  The cops had jumped our fence and was looking in our shed for this missing person there. They wanted us to unlock our gate so they didn't have to jump it.  Yeah, we were just a little FREAKED out.

Well, we still have no clue whats happening.  The cops still drive down our street monitoring.  No one has been around that house since that night.  The children's toys are still in the same place. The grass hasn't been mowed, and it looks vacant.  All I can think about is those poor children.

So, yes, we have been very PROTECTIVE of our house, or belongings, our safety.  Owning a house comes with new challenges, but it is rather exciting at the same time. :)

We are still working on the house! It is ALMOST together though and I'm super excited to be done with it for a little while.  I think we pretty much have almost every room finished except for the babies room and a few things to hang here and there.  As soon as it is together I will post pics!  That may be a month from now, but maybe I'll post a picture of each room as we get it done.

I'm so excited to put Isaiah's room together. I'm going with a rocket theme. Here are a few items for the room.

Celebrating 5 years!

Thanks everyone for your sweet comments!  It is always nice to know what has worked for everyone else.

Justin and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary!!  I can't believe it's been 5 years already.  So much has happened.  This year Justin and I celebrated by treating ourselves to a very nice dinner at The Dish and then continued on with great conversation at the Beer Trappe.  I am blessed.

Justin took this picture of me while waiting for our food.

I can honestly say that I LOVE marriage.  I love my husband and I love being with him every day.  I remember when we were engaged and people would make their mean snide remarks about marriage. "oh honey, why would you do that for?"  

It's crazy how our society views marriage these days.  Many people have been hurt and then hurt others.  People are afraid of marriage.  Divorce numbers are higher than ever and many broken families exist. People have forgotten how to love.

Marriage is not easy.  It can bring out the worst in you.  There is no hiding. I have learned to use these moments as a point to change and transform.  The worst can be turned to good if we allow it.   I'm lucky my husband thinks the same way.  We both have blossomed in our marriage and have used it to become better people.  I have no doubt that our love will continue to grow.  If I'm not more in love with Justin than I was a year ago, then something is wrong.  I'm sure at 80 years old, Justin and I will look at each other in the eyes and be able to say we are more in love than we ever have been.

Cheers to the next 50 years ahead :)