6 more hours...

Well, in about 6 hours I'll be at the hospital and well on our way to having our 2nd little girl. What a blessing they all are to us and our family. I don't really remember when it was just the 2 of us and I'm sure it'll be back to the 2 of us before I know it. I really do try to remind myself of that when I'm wishing the time away....like when I wish they were 13 and sleeping until noon just so that I can get a few extra winks of sleep. I remember feeling terrified I was scarring Max for life when we brought Molly into the world. Now I can't remember what our family was like with just Max. Now we are going to be a family of 5. It's hard to imagine that by the weekend the bassinet that is sitting next to this bed will be filled. What is she going to be like?

Just praying that everything goes well and that she is healthy.

Tonight we had Aaron's softball game. Max was something else. A little story that I NEVER want to forget. Picture this...Aaron is playing softball & we are sitting on the bleachers. Some distance behind the bleachers the are large cement like steps that people sit on and there is a ramp in the middle. This cemented area is connected to the concession stand and the restrooms are on the opposite side. Well, Max announces that he has to go potty. Ok....great...let's go. I get up and get a bit of a head start b/c I could barely move tonight. I hear him and Molly laughing and racing. Then I hear him mumble something about "going on the ramp". I turn around and in front of about 30 people...mostly grown men...sitting on these cement steps...I see my son standing there with his shorts AND underwear around his ankles announcing that right at the bottom of the ramp would be a good place to relieve himself. I couldn't believe the laughter coming from these men and of course, the children that were around. I couldn't help but smile. I did get after him a bit, but it was humorous. Molly got a kick out of it too.

3 kids??? Can I handle it????

Mom of 2 soon to be 3...

Friday, June 20th is the day...unless of course she decides to come in the next 24 hours. Which, considering how my pelvis feels at this moment, wouldn't be a huge surprise to me. We head to the hospital at 6 a.m. I can't believe that I am going to have another daughter in less than 48 hours. I can't wait to meet her.

Max & Molly seem excited too. Molly kept asking me today if she was out yet. Nope, 2 more days I just kept telling her back. I told Max that he was going to be a big brother again and he just got this sweet smile on his face and tilted his head into my shoulder. I'm so glad that the girls have him for their big brother. I know that he is going to take good care of them when he knows things about their lives that I won't know.

Tonight they had a little "camping" adventure in their room and this is how Aaron found them on Molly's bed around 9 o'clock. The love taking their "vacations".

It's a hard to believe that we ever get after them and yell at them when you look at how sweet and innocent they are when they are fast asleep like that.

Thought today might be it...

Since my other kids and I were all born on a Tuesday, I thought maybe today would be the day. Oh well...another day down and closer to her arrival. I really am getting excited. I went to bed last night wondering if I would be woken up by her wanting to come. I did wake up, several times, but not with contractions. I got up to pee twice and then just woke up for whatever other reason the other 17 times. I'm sure my body is just preparing. I also cleaned like crazy yesterday in hopes that would trigger something. Maybe it helped dialate and the doc will surprise me at 10 tomorrow morning and send me down the hall to the hospital.
I think June 18th sounds like a great day to have a baby....Molly was born on the 18th...so was my grandma. We shall see.

Had tee-ball tonight. Max was off....he didn't bat or field a ball...Didn't want to....that is until the game was all over and all the ohter kids were gone from the field. Then he wanted to hit. So we hit a few and all was right with the world again....who knows? How to deal with by somewhat bi-polar child was left out of the manual.
A funny little story....when we were leaving the field there was an older boy, maybe 14-15, in the batting cage and Max stood by and watched while he drank his Gatorade. I went up to him after a minute or so and told him it that one day he would hit like that. He looked back at me and pointed to the boy. He said, "Look Momma, that boy isn't stepping when he hits. He is supposed to step when he bats". At least I know he listens to his daddy when he is teaching him about throwing and batting. I couldn't help but smile.

Off to pee again....

38 weeks & 4 days

Ok darlin...it's time to come out. What are you waiting for. I know Molly was yelling at you this morning, but she is just really excited to meet you, hold you, love you, kiss you. I know that hearing "Maggie, Maggie, come out! Come out now!" would sound a little scary from inside the womb...again, she is just really wanting to meet you. Your sister is a force of nature. I'm sure that you will learn a lot from her...you will either learn to be her partner in crime or pick up on the fact that she gets in trouble quite often and learn to make a better choice. Either way she is crazy about you already.

Your brother is excited too. He wants to name you Mario. He says that Uncle Joel's Mario game is "so cool" and he thinks you would like to have the name Mario. I told him he could call you Mario if he wanted, but don't worry, we won't put that on your birth certificate. Still not sure what we are going to call you, but your daddy shot down the latest name, Mila. We'll see what you look like before naming you.

I think your brother and sister were trying to prepare me last night for your arrival. I woke up at one a.m. to Max whispering, "Come on Molly, it's time to go catch fireflies." I went into their room a million and one times to remind them to be quiet. I found Max down on Molly's bunk reading Scooby Doo to her. He was making the Scooby sound effects and everything. I'm sure that he'll read Scooby Doo to you too. He has already mastered climbing in and out of your crib, so I'm sure it'll be one day soon when I find him in there reading to you.

I finally decided that I wasn't going to get any sleep unless I stayed in there. So with you in tow, the three of you and mommy had a nice little slumber party on the floor. I finally ended back up in my bed at 4 a.m. That was after Max told me his McQueen blanket wasn't comfy enough so we switched blankets. Then Molly informed me, "Momma, my water isn't cold enough". To be honest with you little one, she scares me a little bit too. I just can't let her catch on to that fact.

We are ready for you. We can't wait to meet you and love you and watch you grow and find out what type of personality you are going to have. Oh and are you going to look more like you momma or your brother and sister and daddy? Daddy thinks that you are going to look more like me. We'll see. Come out and find out. We can't wait for you to be a part of our family.

We love you.

Catching fireflies & other fun stuff from the weekend...

We had a terrific picnic at the park today for Father's Day and I left the camera in the pool bag. I hardly ever forget my camera. It is always the first thing on my list when we go anywhere and of course I forgot it today. I put it in the pool bag last night and left it there. That'll teach me to empty the important stuff out of that bag and into the appropriate one everytime we get home from the pool. Anyhow....

Let's see...the above pics are from Friday night. Aaron got home a bit late so we had breakfast for dinner and then took a ride out to the storage unit. We got the car seat and my big rubbermaid tub of photos. I wanted to go thru them and find the pictures of my grandpa I've been wanting since the second I heard he had died.

We headed to the RedBox at McDonalds and got a movie for the kids. We went home and made popcorn and had a movie night on the beach towel on the floor. Of course, before we even got into the house the kids discovered fireflies....Fireflies...one of my favorite memories from my childhood. We saw some last summer when we were at an old friend's home out in the country. Before that....I can't remember the last time I saw fireflies. The kids loved chasing them and looking at the one on their Daddy's arm when he finally caught one.

Saturday, we spent the day hanging out until we decided to spend the late afternoon at the pool. The kids love going there and I love watching them run right up to the kiddie pool, take off their shoes, and jump right in. They don't have a care in the world and I want it to stay like that as long as possible. Molly stared down a little boy with Spiderman floaties on his arms when he started splashing her. Max made friends with several 10/11 year old girls. Humorous...yes....scary....yes. I'm going to blink and he is going to be getting phone calls from girls!

Today was a great day. We slept late, went to Shoney's for breakfast, headed out for a few groceries, and then off to the park. We discovered a great place for a picnic. The kids couldn't wait for Aaron and I to finish eating before they started griping about wanting to play at the playground. I think Aaron gave about 100 underdogs in 2 minutes. Then we headed down to the lake where the kids spent at least an hour throwing rocks in the water. Molly would pick up the biggest one she could find and throw it maybe a quarter of an inch. She didn't care as long as it was big, it went in the water, & splashed her. They had a great day and were both asleep by 6:15 in the car. I'm sure that tomorrow morning will come quick, but I loved having 5 hours alone with Aaron tonight. We caught up on an episode of Lost (after watching 3.5 episodes last night). On a side note, I'm pretty sure that we won't have a problem getting thru 4 seasons this summer. We spent some time out on our back patio playing a game and chatting. I miss that. I hope that once the baby gets here we'll still be able to do that. I'm worried just like I was with Max & Molly. Nothing to fear, I know.

So that's our weekend in a nutshell.

Happy Father's Day to everyone....especially the dad to my 3 wonderful children.

Memories from the last couple of days....

I think I've jotted down three or four things my kids have done on a piece of paper down in the kitchen. Of course at this point I can't find it so I am trying to remember what they are.

Wednesday night, I was making dinner while talking with Aaron. The kids were in the back playing. Mid-sentence, Aaron says to me, "Look at your son". I look out the window and there he stands with his shorts & underwear around his ankles...peeing. He also had no shirt on so you could see his little butt and everything. He looked so proud and I have to say, I felt a little proud. He did the same thing yesterday while we were swimming in the little pool. He had to pee so bad, but he was SOAKING wet. So off to the edge of the woods he went.

Oh and before we headed outside yesterday we had to get some work done. We had lunch, we cleaned the living room, and cleaned their room. Max kept asking me, "Can we go out now?" I told him as soon as everything was cleaned up. We made it down to the living room and he says to me, "Momma, I'm starvin'".
"Starving? You just ate." I say back.
Then my son bends his knees, holds out his arms palms up like he does, rolls his eyes, and responds, "I'm starvin' to go outside". Pardon??? Where did he learn that???

Last night at dinner, Molly almost made me cry. I actually think a few tears came to my eyes.
We always start dinner with our "God is Good" prayer. Then we have a second prayer that begins, Dear Jesus, thank you for this day, thank you for this food and then we go around the table saying what we are thankful for. Max usually says he is thankful for something that we did that day. He said, "Thank you Jesus for Spiderman and the new baby". Then Molly says, "Thank you Jesus for the pawk (park)." Then she looks at me with her head tilted and resting on her praying hands and says, "Momma, what you thankful for? You thankful for your family?" Big knot in my throat immediately...my baby girl...you are growing up so quickly.

Then last night before bed Molly got a hold of the music box part of the baby's crib mobile. She cranked it up and said "Aww...for the baby?" And she walked straight over and put it on my tummy so that the baby could hear it.

Then the two of them ruined any sweet thoughts I had of them over those past 24 hours b/c of the complete tantrums they threw while being put to bed. That's a whole other post though and one that I can't write about not b/c it's morning and I can't do ANYTHING on the computer when they are around. I can't believe that I just got all of that down this morning.

Signing off for now to go and start my day as a mom.....

and life goes on part two...

The thoughts in my head yesterday and what I wrote didn't really match up. I think I was so tired last night I wrote off on my bunny trails...

Isn't it strange how when someone passes life just charges on? It seems as if there should be a moment where everything stops and everyone take notice and say a little prayer for the loved ones of the person. But there isn't...life just goes on. I remember when Aaron's grandfather died and I heard the message. I just stood in the kitchen that Easter Sunday wondering what to do next. Do I call Aaron at work? Do I wait for him to get home? Do I call his dad back? Everything seemed to get quiet and peaceful for a moment, but then the kids darted into the kitchen. Life goes on.

When I was listening to the message from my grandma Monday..."Honey, Pop waited until I got there and then he passed away"....Tears immediately fell from my face. I felt horrible inside. Again, everything got quiet and peaceful for a half of a moment and then the kids ran around me in circles. Maybe they noticed the tears, maybe they didn't. Life goes on.

The last several phone conversations I had with my grandfather all ended with him saying, "love those kids, do everything you want to do with them, enjoy them, give them kisses, and you can even kiss that husband of yours too". He was such a good man. Shouldn't everyone and everything stop to take notice that the world has lost such a man?

He was such wonderful man. He loved bright socks, sweets, cookies, wood-working, cars, (he could tell me every car he had ever owned, color, & year). He cried at television shows, movies, and commercials...I am certainly my grandpa's grand-daughter. "Stick it your ear" he used to say. He would sit with us and play the organ. We would sit in his basement watching him do his thing with all of his tools. And the things he made with those tools. The kids have endless cars, blocks, and trucks from him. Molly has her red "Molly's Rig" from her great-grandpa and her baby cradle. The one Christmas I remember most was the one where me and my sisters got our dollhouse from Grandpa. From the shingles to the little toilet...we spent endless hours playing with that. Every summer when we would stay we would go bowling and putt putt. I remember him judging our coloring contests as kids and remind us always to outline and stay within those lines. I will always remember how the kids (our kids) looked at him when he talked ...and how when he told a story and imitated one of us girls his voice would get really high. And his laugh...I'll always remember his laugh.

I was blessed to have been his grand-daughter.