– Cbug, upon arriving at the hospital to see his baby brother for the first time, touched my belly and then we had this conversation:

– Cbug is VERY literal right now. If you say it is about time to go, he is already in the van. If you say he can be finished eating, he is UP from the table and gone. So phrases from adults like “you are killing me” are not really best used in his presence- found that out the hard way.

– Lou got some nasty ant bites and for weeks has milked the fact that they were bothering her. Her favorite line was “I need a drink of wat-uh. My daddy said the doc-tuh wants me to have a lot of wat-uh to make my ant bites healed.” Cbug, upon hearing her say this recently, decided to correct her. “Nuh-uh, sister. The doctors are wrong. Only God can heal you.” Bless his sweet little literal heart.

– Then there was the time my own words about waiting until 30 to get married came back to bite me in this conversation with KJ-
o KJ: “Mom, how old were you had me?”
o Me: “About 27 ½”

o KJ (in sheer shock): “WHAAAAAAAATTT???? How could you have a baby before you were old enough to get married?”

– Lou is a little Mommy by nature. She mothers her younger brother AND her older ones. Recently, she was in the car with her cousin C (who is actually 6 months older) and was reassuring and petting her: “ev-uh-thing is just fine. I’ve really missed you and I’m so glad you ah visiting me. Ev-uh-thing is fine.”

– We went to KJ’s new school for address verification. On the way there he was very curious about what “verification” meant so we talked about giving proof. When we went inside, they asked us for the “documents” and KJ proceeded to give them complete directions to our house from the school. Yep, that proves it.

– All of the kids are obsessed with Nashville. They love visiting Nonna and Papa J and especially love that we are always on “vacation” while we are there. This means they get to do things like eat places mommy doesn’t usually like to go, play Wii, stay up late, etc. So…KJ: “I’m going to celebrate my birthday in Nashville. Because Nonna likes Chuck E Cheese” and Cbug “I’m sorry you won’t get to see me when I grow up. I’m going to live in Nashville beside Nonna and Papa J.”

I’m excited to start keeping some of these snippets of memories.  And my friends will be glad I have an outlet other than telling them everything my kids say.  It is certainly hard to contain yourself when you believe your kids to be brilliant and hysterical.  What mom doesn’t?

ABL

Oh my oh my.  If this is THREE, I can.not.imagine what having a teen aged girl will be like.  Oh the drama, or the sassiness, oh the disobedience.  And in the same breath- oh the joy, oh the laughter, oh the LOVE.  Our little (big) Lou is all that and more.  She’s been three for less than a week and has fully embraced it.  Then again she was “almost three” for months so its better that we just made it official.

Sweet Princess Lou-

I surely love you.  I love the pink. I love the bows. I love the strut.  I love the princess heels. And I love that with all of that you can yell BOO-YAH at the top of your lungs, wrestle with your brothers and Daddy, run “super fast” and play super heroes.  You are one of a kind, sweet sister.  And we are so glad you are ours!

Your vocabulary, combined with your sweet southern drawl (enhanced by your lack of “r” sounds), make you a JOY to be with in a conversation.  I love the way you think through things and explain them.  AND I love it when you get words confused. Like when you want me to go faster and tell me to “Go speedy lemon” while driving (instead of “speed limit”). You say “Problems” instead of “Proverbs” when learning scripture.  You like me to “scrub” your back at night, which to you means a combination of scratching and rubbing.  Or, a recent favorite, is hearing you say “Let’s ROLL and ROCK!”

Momma

KJ is S-I-X!!
Sweet-thang had his big day right in the midst of some major craziness for our family- moving out, end of school, weekend visit from cousins, new baby, CRAZY.  SO, it didn’t get blogged.  The day did happen, and I think as far as he is concerned, it was special.  We celebrated (multiple times), but the big day did not get its proper justice here, on our family’s little memory timeline.  And that just won’t do.  I was feeling some Mommy guilt about this little blip. But then- one of my favorite bloggers (Kelly @ 30…Really???), just by being her sweet Mommy-self, reminded me that it’s never too late to share with your children, and the blog-reading world, what you love about them at this age.  So, here we go…
(and stay tuned for Princess Lou is 3.  Also skipped here)

Dearest KJ-
For the entire year from your fifth birthday to your sixth, life for our family has been a bit of a whirlwind.  It has been full of adventures, adjustments, transitions, fun, and unexpected LIFE.  That is important to share in this letter because you, my big boy, have been AMAZING through it all.  So much about you is not naturally flexible.  You love rules (for example: your “health” teacher at preschool mentioned that 10 almonds a day are good for the heart.  And you do ALL you can to eat those 10 almonds. Every.single.day).  You love things to be in order.  You like to know what is coming next.  You are a lot like me in that way.  Which is why it is even more admirable that you have been able to adapt and adjust so frequently.  And not just adapt, but really excel.  You have totally taken on a responsibility and care for others that is well beyond your years.  And you are so responsible.  You’ve really started taking care of yourself (showering, brushing teeth, getting dressed) and of course, I love to see you watch out for your siblings.  You are especially helpful with baby C.  I can completely trust you to hold him and help take care of him.  You have no idea how much it helps me that you are so helpful.  Someday you will, though, and I hope you get to have an oldest child just like you to return the favor.

If home is where the heart is,
then I know exactly where mine (on this earth) can be found.

(You sister loves you so much she is willing to share her baby with you, her other baby. Baby brother, meet Charlotte.)

Baby C’s arrival was fairly uneventful.  And given our history, that is actually a really good thing.
I will say- I don’t believe ANY of the old wives tales about how to induce labor (especially ones that involve eating or drinking something nasty).  EXCEPT, I’m inclined to give some credence to one new one.  If you write a blog post about your baby NOT being born, they will likely come very soon.  I didn’t have a blog when KJ was born, but it certainly worked with Cbug.  Worked with Lou.  AND worked with Baby Brother (who still doesn’t have an official blog name).

I will not comment about whether or not the random lady on yahoo message board (via Google search) was actually fairly accurate on diagnosing my early signs of labor.  Coincidence, surely!  And a little creepy.

So, I wrote a post on Thursday morning that you should go back and read if you missed it at the time because it is quite hilarious that he was born hours later.  When I wrote it, I sincerely had ZERO indication that we were any closer to meeting our angel boy.  I worked on Thursday, came home and rested a bit while the kids took naps, and then cooked dinner.  Normal Thursday stuff.

Then, as we were finishing up dinner I started feeling funny.  And that’s really all it was, just a funny feeling.  And then I noticed some leaking water (posts about birth are the only time it is acceptable to type such a sentence). But still wasn’t having contractions.  I didn’t want to alert RRL, but I did say maybe we should start gathering some of our things just in case.  About 7/7:30, after RRL and I finished cleaning up the kitchen, getting kids bathed and starting circle time, we decided we better call someone to stay with the bigs (thanks, Hatch and Grammy).  I still wasn’t experiencing regular contractions, but was more and more convinced things were getting started and that my water had broken.  Given our history (especially Cbug’s quick arrival), we decided better safe than sorry and headed out the door to the hospital.

But soon he was “unstuck” indeed.  At 10:22 pm (nice round military time- 22:22) he arrived.  From the time my contractions were consistent and I was considered in “active labor” things progressed so quickly that the on call doctor made it into the room just in time to clean-up the mess.  There were several comments made about a nurse delivering the baby.  While I’d prefer to think that I delivered him, she was very helpful and encouraging through the process.  So, for those keeping track at home…that’s Doctors 2, Nurses 2 for Team L baby deliveries.

Because RRL and I had both had dreams in recent weeks that we were surprised by the birth of GIRL instead of a boy, I asked pretty quickly for assurance that we could keep calling him “Christopher”.  I was assured that he was a he, an absolutely healthy and perfect baby boy.  His head was seriously fake it was so round and wonderful.  And the first moments with him were even better than I imagined during labor.  A rumor tells me that a certain celebrity may have “needed” a $30,000 “push present”.  While I’m sure something sparkly added glamour to her hospital stay, kissing this sweet head was absolutely all the reward I needed.

The thing I both love and hate about Google is that if you look hard enough you can surely find someone that agrees with you or validates you. There is someone out there that can take your symptoms or concerns and diagnose them exactly the way you had hoped.

Which is why it may or may not have been a TERRIBLE idea for me to Google “Early signs of labor” yesterday. I was 3 days away from my due date and I just needed to find someone who could tell me that what I’ve been feeling (which actually amounts to not very much at all), is DEFINITELY a SIGN that our sweet baby boy will be here soon. Surely there was someone who could take my symptoms (or lack there of) and accurately predict when our son will be born.

And, true to Google form, I found someone. On a random message board I read that one person described her journey toward active labor this way:
“With my second, labor started via radiating pains in my hips and lower back on Tuesday, nothing but crankiness on Wednesday and horrible contractions on Thursday morning that felt like I was being stabbed (baby was born 5 hours later on that day).”
SWEET. I actually did have random pains in my hip on TUESDAY and was super cranky on Wednesday. This must be a SIGN. But guess what? This is Thursday. And so far- nada.

Which reminds me. There is no such thing as a reliable crystal ball…even on Google. And it appears that our oldest son’s constant mantra of “Only God knows when baby C will come” is very true. Shockingly. I wonder how our 5-year-old got to be so wise? It certainly must be his amazing parents, the same ones that were Googling their symptoms.

The funny thing about trying to find an answer on Google is that it is so different the “normal me.” It actually makes me laugh to think I could know in my head that I would not find something there that could predict CT’s arrival, yet I had such urgency about the search.

The end of pregnancy is funny that way. There are so many ways in which my head and logic are completely disconnected from my actions. In my searches yesterday, I found this hilarious article about “early signs of labor”.  And I loved the funny spin it put on the last days of pregnancy.  So, I thought it might be fun/funny to document a few of my own irrational behaviors from the last few days.

1) A couple of weeks ago I remembered that I had a pair of linen maternity pants. Where in the world were those? Why haven’t I been wearing them? Instead of waiting until morning to find them, I decided to get up in the middle of the night, go into the attic, dig around in my rubbermaid storage bins, and find the missing pants and take them to the laundry room to be washed. Absolutely COULD.NOT.WAIT until morning and let RRL help.

2) And you can bet that they were washed quickly because I’m nearly in a panic if I leave the house in the mornings without having all of the laundry clean, folded and put away. Because how in the WORLD will anyone be able to find clothes for my babies if everything is not in their drawers/closets. Which reminds me, maybe I need to go ahead and layout some outfits for each of them. I wish I was kidding.

3) On Sunday we met some friends for dinner at the park. The picnic was at the other end of the park from our house, maybe a mile away. So, like any reasonable person at this stage in pregnancy whose husband is at work- I decided we would walk. As if trying to keep up with two boys on bicycles while pushing a stroller full of our Princess and our picnic stuff wasn’t silly enough, the whole way there I nearly worked myself into a frenzy thinking of all of the “what-ifs” concerning going into labor while walking through the park. None of which, thankfully, actually happened.

4) When I purchased milk on Monday, I noticed that the expiration date was May 6th. More than a WEEK after C’s due date. I cannot tell you all of the intense emotions that came holding this gallon of milk, standing in Braum’s, thinking about how it expired in May. MAY for crying out loud.

5) On Tuesday, I felt the sudden urgency to have a stocked fridge and freezer in case anyone was staying at our house while I wasn’t there. So, I took all 3 kids and my very pregnant self to the grocery store. During nap time. Because this absolutely COULD.NOT.WAIT. Obviously, my friends, my mom and mother-in-law have NEVER shopped for groceries before and definitely could not find their own way to the closest walmart (less than 1 mile from our house).

6) And because we had a stocked fridge and freezer, I determined that it would only make sense to type up two pages of notes on meals. Including a menu and recipes for all dinners for the next week. AND it gets better…I also included a chart on how to pack lunches for the kids to take to school. A chart. With three columns. Main course, fruits/veggies, and a snack. Does this sound necessary to anyone else? Helpful? Maybe. URGENT? Maybe not. Because we would definitely leave our children overnight with someone who is not capable of packing a lunch without a table of directions. Good thing I got that cleared up.

7) Then I decided that a table of how to pack lunches would be completely useless without TWO DOZEN peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the freezer. You know, in case each of our children eat EIGHT sandwiches during the time I am away from the house and anyone else there is unable to make more.

8) AND THE VERY BEST ONE for the finale. RRL and I had a difficult conversation this week about the overwhelming reality that we will soon have FOUR children. We were talking through all of the emotions that comes with that. Of course there is joy in knowing that the Lord created this little one, but it was good for us to talk about the fact that deep-down there are some emotions that don’t quite equal joy. We know it will also be hard at times. It really was a necessary conversation and will be so beneficial to us as we continue to work hard at being united on the parenting front. That said, maybe it would have been better to talk through some of that a few weeks ago, before my current state of complete irrationality landed in our home. Mid-conversation I actually said something like “FINE. If you can’t be more supportive and excited about this, I’d rather just DO IT BY MYSELF.” Right. I’ll just drive myself to the hospital, encourage and support myself through labor and bring home our newborn ALONE. That would be so much easier. Luckily, that is not how the conversation ended. And thankfully, he knows how I really feel. RRL is my favorite team-mate and my biggest supporter and fan. HOW.IN.THE.WORLD could I do this without him? Sorry, Babe! PLEASE COME WITH ME. Please.

Obviously there have been the normal nesting things like washing all of Christopher’s clothes, blankets and burp rags. Being sure diapers are accessible, pacifiers are sanitized, etc. Possibly this urge to prepare is because there is so little control I have right now over the process the body is going through to prepare. Which is truly miraculous indeed!  It really is such a sweet feeling to know soon baby C will be here and none of this will even matter. While we wait, I guess I’ll just keep writing long blog-posts, building necessary spreadsheets and organizing areas of our house that can.not.wait another minute. Because once he arrives, I plan to do nothing but snuggle his sweetness and eat frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

ABL

So, here are some highlights for March.  What a month!  And I thought this was going to be our “down-time” before baby arrival.  The March opener at the hospital ended that dream in a quick hurry.  But we did have some fun!

It’s a GIRL PARTY
Lou learned the art of the “Shower”
or as she would say “The GUHL PAH-TEE”
Twice she got to attend events filled with presents and treats and NO BOYS and our little social princess decided there could be NOTHING better.

First, she got to be center stage to celebrate her baby brother.  My sweet friends from work threw a shower for baby C at a little tea room near us, and invited Lou to join us.  She got to leave pre-school in the middle of the day, order her own lunch, eat a cupcake AND open baby C’s presents.  Yep, GUHL PAH-TEEs are F-U-N!

 Her second round was to celebrate the addition of another famale to my family HOORAY for sister-in-laws.  I’ve got two fantastic ones!  Lou loved playing games, snuggling with her Nonna, helping D open presents and of course…eating cupcakes!

NEW SHOES
The next March occurrence may not seem all that noteworthy.
Unless you have boys.  Boys who can wear out clothes and shoes like it IS THEIR JOB.
Seriously, my boys can get holes even in their PAJAMA pants for cryin’ out loud.
So, its quite noteworthy that they received these AWESOME spiderman shoes in March.
I mean what could be better to a boy than combining 1) shoes that make you run fast with 2) spiderman.
I’ll tell you what could be better- spiderman shoes that make you run fast AND last 8 solid months.  Seriously, as I write this post (in December) the boys are STILL wearing these shoes.  They’ve worn them nearly every day for 8 months.  Granted they are getting too small now, but still that’s got to be some kind of record for us.

A PARK DAY
With pretty weather in March and Cbug feeling better, we were able to soak up a little more sunshine in March.  I was happy to do it because  it got us out of the house and I didn’t know how much longer we’d be able to have these walks to the park since our house was for sale. 

And there you have it-
a SUPER quick March through March.
Good thing we have on our fast shoes.
ABL