Bunk Beds

Half of the day yesterday was spent assembling the girls' new bunk beds. Why am I 9 months pregnant and putting beds together? I don't know, but I'm glad we finally got it done and they look really cute! I love the new bedding I got for them too. So cute! And not really something they'll grow out of, like Disney Princesses or Dora. They were very excited about them. Emma loves sleeping on the top bunk. I think when we were talking about them Abby didn't quite understand what we meant. I'm pretty sure she thought we were wanting her to sleep under the bed. Haha! But once we got them put together she got it figured out and was just as excited as Emma. They spent a good chunk of the morning hanging out on Abby's bed. (I wouldn't let them play on the top, because I didn't want Ian falling off) Anyway, I'm really glad they like they're new beds and very glad that I'll be able to set they're room up differently.

Happy Birthday, Ian!!!

Today, my little Ian is 2 years old!!

Two years ago I was supposed go in to be induced at 7:00 am. Apparently everyone decided to go into labor that day so my induction kept getting pushed back more and more until it was looking like it wouldn't be happening that day at all. We finally got in around 4:00 that afternoon and they started the pitocin and broke my water right away.

This labor was very intense right off the bat. I got the epidural only a couple hours into it and oh boy it did not help very much! There was an insane amount of pressure. I had never felt that way after having an epidural before (which makes me think I might just try to skip it this time). I was in labor for 5 and a half hours when they told me I could start pushing and by then I felt like he could come flying out of there at any time. So I was very surprised that it took longer to get him out than it had with the girls. I figured it was my third kid and with all that pressure i was feeling he would be out in no time. It took a whole 30 minutes to get him out of there though. I guess that's still pretty fast compared to a lot of people, but I wasn't expecting it. He was finally born at 10:03PM at 8 pounds 13 ounces and since it was so late it was a lot quieter than after the girls were born. We didn't have any visitors until the next day.

The day after we got out of the hospital Ian got to go to his first party! We got out on a Saturday and the girls' 1st/2nd birthday party. That was a busy weekend. We did get to have our first family picture taken that day.

Happy Birthday, Ian!!

36 Weeks

Here is my 36 week belly! I went to the doctor today to and was checked for the first time and everything. No good news though. Confirmation that his head is pretty much as low as it can possibly get, which I could tell myself every time I switch positions (or walk or lay down or MOVE!). I'm at 1cm which might as well be nothing. That's ok. We'll see where we're at next week. I'm pretty sure the baby is over 7 lbs already. Over the past 4 years I've gotten very good with guessing my babies' weights. Not other peoples' just mine. If we make it to the due date, I'm expecting a 10-pounder! :)

In other news, my house keeps getting cleaner and cleaner!! I'm so happy! One day this week I went crazy and deep cleaned the kitchen and since then I've done the living room, the bathroom, and the girls' room. Everyday I've been making sure to keep up with what I've already done and add a little bit more. The girls' floor was almost completely covered in toys - as in they had a path to each bed and that's it. All three kids helped me pick up and organize ALL the toys. Now they are not allowed to even open their closet without asking first, because if it ends up looking like that again I'm might lose my mind. The boy's room will have to be next. I need to get all the baby clothes into weatherproof boxes so I can get them out in the shed so we make room for little Owen.

Now I just need to learn how to cook! That is something I haven't been doing much of. Hot dogs, chicken nuggets, pizza..... That seems to be what we live on these days. Luckily the kids eat more snacks than they do at actual meals so there is usually a lot of fruit and yogurt and other healthy things throughout the day. I really wish I could cook though. Maybe someday... It would also help if this family (myself included) wasn't so freaking picky. Any recipes or cooking tips are welcomed and appreciated. :)

35 Weeks!

Well here's a shot of my lovely 35 week pregnant belly. We're getting SO CLOSE!! I went to the doctor today and not much happened - heartbeat, belly measurement, that kind of thing. Next week she will start checking me and it seems weird to say, but I'm so excited. I like to know if I've made progress. I never have any contractions, but by the time they start checking me I'm always at least 1-2 cm. Plus this is my fourth kid so I've got to be getting somewhere by now right?! Not to mention his head has been locked in position for about a month already. The doctor asked me to bring my birth plan though..... my birth plan = avoid a c-section at all costs! I just like to go with the flow. After having 3 inductions, I'd like to go into labor on my own, but if I make it all the way to the due date I'd be all for getting induced. Epidural: had it with the other 3, definitely not against it, but it didn't help very much last time so we'll just see how it goes. Biggest thing: I don't want a c-section!!!! Is that the crappiest birth plan ever? Oh well. Can't help it.

Fishing

We went fishing a couple of times over the summer. We didn't go very often since most of the time it was over 100 degrees. The kids had a really good time though. Surprisingly none of them were afraid to touch the fish. They thought it was pretty neat. They were all teeny tiny fish, so we would get one and then let the girls reel them in. They weren't very interested in just standing there holding a pole so we just let them do the fun part. I even caught a turtle! It was cute and I wish I had taken a picture of it. Oh well. Maybe we can go again soon since it's been much more bearable outside.

Emma with her catch!

Emma also insisted on taking my picture, so that's why there's a random picture

of me looking goofy.

And I think Abby just looked adorable holding her fishing pole!!

Fair Pictures

Since I didn't post anything for most of the summer I have some catching up to do with pictures. Today I decided to post some from our trip to the KY State Fair last month. We had a really good time. I don't think the kids can ever get sick of looking at animals! That was what we spent most of our time doing. The girls were dying to ride the Ferris wheel, so they got to ride that and a car ride right before we left.

Abby loves her daddy!

Ian LOVED the car ride!

He got pretty mad when it was time to get off. Poor guy.

It seems like everyone in bloggy world are starting to have their babies.... And it's making me a little impatient! In the past week or so at least Maggie and Hallie have had their babies. What's up with that anyway!? Of course, one of my favorite things to do is read birth stories so I hope they post theirs. :) I guess that could be one good thing to come out of it. Well, and their cute new babies, of course. It's definitely making me a bit antsy though...

Long Time, No Post

Well, a dear friend informed me that it had been a very long time since I posted anything. So here I am! I'm 34 weeks along now and my belly is quite a bit bigger than the last time I put up a picture (as you can see below)! I feel like I could explode at any minute! I'm very happy that the weather has decided not to be so freakishly hot. Those 1oo+ degree days were killing me! Starting next week, I'll be having weekly check ups so that should help make the time go by a little faster. Scott has the job of picking the middle name and even though we thought it would be Owen Scott in the beginning, I'm pretty sure that he has decided on Owen Benedict. So there's an update for everybody. Only 6 more weeks!!! And so much to do between now and then!!

I started doing reading lessons with Emma back in April/May, but after a few weeks I could tell that she just wasn't ready yet so I decided to back off for a while. I was planning on giving it a shot this month, but I don't see that happening at this point. I'm definitely not worried about it anyway, since she's not even 4 yet! We have plenty of time. Sometime soon I would like to start regularly scheduling some "school" time with her. Nothing major. Mostly I just want to have some kind of routine down for when we start really getting into things.

Little Abby is almost completely potty trained now. She has been wearing big girl underpants nonstop (except a pull-up for overnight) for about a month now with very few accidents. Yay! She also seems to be getting goofier and goofier. What a crazy kid!

Also in the past month or two, Ian has finally started picking up some words. He's almost 2 and I thought that kid would never start talking! He's doing much better now. He probably has about 15-20 words that I can definitely understand and even if he doesn't use any real words he has no problem getting his point across!

The same dear friend I mentioned above (Lynn Davis!) took these awesome pictures for us a couple months ago. These kids are definitely not the easiest subjects, but she managed to get a few usable shots so I consider it a complete success! I think she might be doing family pictures for us after little Owen gets here. That should be fun....

Well hopefully I will start posting more often than every few months! I'll be even more encouraged to post if I get some comments - hint hint! See you soon!