Thirty-Eight Weeks/Thirty-Nine Weeks

Okay, so this post is a whole week late, but hey, here it is. Contractions and stomach flu sweeping through the house have not made the past week easy, especially since it was Thanksgiving week.

Sweet Baby Girl is doing well, although she has one enlarged kidney. My doctor thinks that the kidney will return to normal size after she is born. She is really crammed in there and hopefully is ready to come out soon!

I am extremely uncomfortable - everything is a chore these days. I am dilated almost 2 centimeters but contractions aren't making any progress yet. I really thought she would try to be a November baby, but it doesn't look like she will come until December. We are all living in a holding pattern, waiting for baby and not making too many definite plans for anything in the next two weeks or so.

WE are all just so ready for her to be here already! Everything is set up and in place for her, and Mommy is tired of watching Biggest Loser marathons on Netflix while "resting" and waiting. Come on baby girl!

thankful

short and sweet today.

The Drama Queen was helping me make a "so grateful" book today, and it reminded me of the innumerable blessings, small and big, in my life.

so grateful for:

grilled cheese for lunch on a cold rainy day

sibling love

imaginative play

online shopping

surprise gifts in the mail

supportive friends

the last weeks of tummy kicks :)

the excitement of waiting for Little Sprout to make an appearance

funny things my kids say

libraries

the comfort of God's Word

the anticipation of leftover turkey sandwiches

spending time with my littles

spending time away from my littles (recharge the batteries!)

coffee. oh yes.

Art Project #5 - Thankful Turkeys

This week's project is in preparation for Thanksgiving coming up next week. You should already have all the materials on hand, and the steps are super easy!

Project Title: Thankful Turkeys

Materials Needed: white paper, crayons, scissors, glue stick, pencil or pen

Purpose: To practice coloring and cutting skills as well as express the things one is thankful for.

Aren't these just the cutest turkeys?

First, you will need to trace your child's hands and one foot on the white paper. (The photos show a turkey made from an adult's hand and footprints; of course a child's prints will be smaller.) Have your child color the foot shape brown for the turkey body and the hand shapes in multiple colors for the turkey feathers. Assist them in cutting out the three shapes.

Make the other shapes needed to complete the turkey. Three triangles colored yellow will serve as a beak and feet. Two skinny yellow rectangles will be the legs, and don't forget to cut out two little eyes and a wattle. (Googly eyes would be cute too if you have them on hand).

Using the glue stick, have your child glue the two hand shapes together as shown. Cut off the thumbs - they won't be necessary for the project.

Then, help your child glue the rest of the turkey together. The foot shape comes next as the turkey body, glued on top of the hand shapes. Next, glue the facial features to the turkey's head. Finally, glue the legs to the back of the turkey body and glue the feet on the ends of the legs.

If your child is old enough to write, have them write down eight things they are thankful for. Cut out the words and glue to the turkey feathers. Write "(Name) is thankful for" on a small circle of white paper and glue to the turkey's tummy.

Then of course, don't forget to display the resulting cute turkeys for your Thanksgiving celebration! Save them afterwards, as they will be permanent reminders of the size of your little one's hands and feet at this age. :)

Thirty-Seven Weeks

The Baby: Little Sprout is pretty firmly wedged in there now. Her movements are more rippling and rolling and wriggling than kicking. She is the length of Swiss chard now (ha, love these food comparisons) and making Momma's tummy stick out further and further. At this point, everything is fully developed so she can make her entrance into the world at any time.

Me: I am just patiently waiting for her to come - really not in a rush except at night, when I am a lot more uncomfortable. My maternity clothes are getting tighter, and I am just about ready for this pregnancy to be over. Otherwise, I feel pretty good and am trying to use what energy I have to get ready for baby and enjoy the holiday coming up.

The Siblings: My family and friends just threw a nice baby shower for the Sprout and me, and the house is now full of cute baby things. With all these reminders lying around, the kids are now constantly talking about the coming baby. The Drama Queen and Beast are very excited and can't wait to help out with Little Sprout; while the Spud is adamant that he doesn't want a new baby and that she can just stay at the hospital when she is born. Poor little guy - I know he will come around, but it's tough when your position as youngest is being usurped. :)

The Plans: As I said, I was blessed with a wonderful baby shower the other night. Little Sprout now boasts a wardrobe more stylish than her momma's! I am grateful for the gifts of diapers, bibs, wipes, blankets, and other essentials for sure. One thoughtful lady even gave the Nerd and I some money for a date night. Super sweet and super thoughtful! I didn't expect a lot of people to come - after all, it is baby number four for us; so I was humbled and amazed by the great turnout. My mother-in-law and my friend Dawn worked hard to make it a big success.

The guests all took turns sniffing a variety of diapers to guess what melted candy bar was inside.

It was so fun to talk and catch up with friends.

Three teams worked to decorate their "baby" with toilet paper - the one with the drinking problem on the end was the winner!

The little guests had fun too - maybe a little too much cake!

We're ready! Come on, Little Sprout, you can come any time now!

My View

So.

I can't see my feet. Which is probably a good thing, since I am well aware that my last toenail polish job is sadly in need of help.

I can't put on any shoes that require tying laces by myself.

Heaven forbid I drop something on the floor. Fortunately I have three eager young helpers to pick it up for me.

I get extremely winded climbing the stairs to our front door.

Probably three-fourths of my maternity clothes don't fit anymore.

I sang with my ladies' group in the morning church service today and almost passed out from lack of breath.

Still three weeks to go. Unless Little Sprout decides to come a bit earlier. Momma wouldn't mind at all!

Thirty-Six Weeks

The Baby: She is growing and becoming increasingly more uncomfortable for mommy. :) At an estimated six pounds, she is big enough now for a safe delivery, which means momma no longer has to be on bed rest. Praises! We are all eager to meet her but want her to stay in for a while yet to grow and develop as much as possible.

Me: I am getting a little antsy for sure - all the baby weight is solely in front which puts a tremendous strain on my lower back. Now that the bed rest has been lifted, the nesting instincts have kicked in and I have been cleaning like a mad woman. My back is not thanking me for that! I went in to see my doctor a few days ago and was tested for the group B strep. Today I got the call that I did indeed test positive so I will have to be on antibiotics during the labor and delivery process. In my doctor's words, "Now we just wait for the labor to start - it could be tomorrow, or it could be another couple of weeks."

The Siblings: Unfortunately, I was not able to get a babysitter for this last doctor's appointment; and all three kiddos got to come along with me. That prompted a lot of questions about how the baby gets out of mommy, etc. I did my best to answer the questions without giving out too much information. I heard the Drama Queen explaining to the Beast today that "when the baby is ready to come, Mommy's body will know and will know how to get it out safely." Nice work, kiddo.

This is definitely the hardest time of pregnancy. It's hard to focus on other things besides the upcoming arrival of Little Sprout. But we are excited, knowing that she will be coming soon. And then we'll be a family of six! Amazing!

Thirty-Five Weeks

(yes, I know I look like I am about to pop, and yes, I still have five weeks before this baby is due)

The Baby: She is firmly in there, with little room to move around. Still she manages to keep me up at night with her kicking and punching, making my ribs ache and my belly sore. Her size this week is comparable to the weight of a honeydew melon, and her job now is to just keep putting on more weight so she will be fat and happy when the day comes to change our world.

Me: The days seem interminably long at this point. I remember this point well from previous pregnancies. Because I am not sleeping well at night, it feels like the time is ticking by so slowly. Still, I am grateful that Little Sprout stayed in place for another week and am hoping that despite all my discomfort, she continues to stay in there until she is fully grown and developed. I am so thankful for my mother-in-law, who has come over several times to help with the housework. She also took the kids out for a few hours the other day so they could get out of the house and so I could get some rest. My good friend Dawn has been faithfully taking the Beast to and from preschool and helping out in any way she can. Friends at church are helping to cover my responsibilities in children's church; so I feel deeply blessed.

The Siblings: I think they are all ready to get Mommy's lap back! Also, I am pretty sure they are tired of the "Momma can't pick you up, remember, she's carrying a baby" and the "Sorry honey Mommy needs to rest". I made them special shirts to wear to the hospital when Little Sprout is born.

Whew! I'll just keep plugging along until this baby makes an appearance.

Iphone Photo Phun - Holiday Fun

It's time for yet another edition of Iphone Photo Phun. I didn't remember taking very many photos with my phone this week, but when i checked my album, I was shocked to see over fifty new photos had been added! A quick perusal showed that a certain little someone who was supposed to be playing Angry Birds on Mommy's phone may have been taking a few extra photos as well. I would share these masterpieces, but they are mostly shots of knees, hair, and really dark objects.

So it's back to the few I actually took this week.

Even though I am laid up and cannot take the kids anywhere by myself, I still wanted to make Halloween a fun-filled day for them. We had these pumpkin pancakes with sausage and scrambled eggs to make dinner a little more special.

Lunch was fun too - ghost toast, jack-o-lantern carrots, and hairy hot dogs dipped in ketchup blood made up the menu. The Spud promptly dipped his ghost toast in the ketchup and declared it his "bestest snack ever."

On Sunday morning, a helicopter was supposed to fly over the fields next to our church and drop candy for the kids. Fog and rain thwarted the helicopter flight however; so the Nerd and several other miserable-looking men took buckets of candy and spread the candy out on the field by hand before the kids rushed in to claim their sweet treats. The kids were soaked!

All the Spud cared about at the Fall Festival that evening at our church was eating his hot dog that he had roasted over the fire pit.

And this big ole pumpkin needed to rest; so I basically just watched from the sidelines while Grandma, Grandpa, and Daddy took the kids around to the different Fall Festival attractions.

I can't believe it's November already! Never fear, there will still be pumpkiny activities in the future for us. . .

Recent Culinary Adventures

There's just something about fall that gets me much more motivated to produce satisfying and creative meals for my family. Well, it's probably not just the season but also all the wonderful ideas I see on Pinterest. My family benefits from this of course and we have found some new dishes to love.

First, I decided on a whim at the grocery store one day that we all really ought to try couscous. I had seen it many times before on various cooking shows but had never tried it. I had all three kids help me make it (this always seems to make them want to try new foods better) with butter and a little salt. I loved it - so yummy and easy - and was shocked to see my will-only-eat-cereal-or-crackers kid wolf it down.

Then I saw this recipe posted by a friend on Facebook and decided that its Mexican flavors certainly sounded appealing to this preggo lady. These taco chicken bowls simmer in the slow cooker all day and are fantastic. The Nerd raved about it and told me that I would definitely need to make more for the freezer for when baby comes. The kids were a little hesitant to try it, but we will bring them around!

While purchasing my couscous that crazy day at the grocery, I also bought a bottle of 7-up because I had seen the recipe for those 7-up biscuits over and over again. Posters raved that they were the best biscuits they had ever tasted - so I figured they were worth a try. Only a certain hubby of mine and his children decided to drink the 7-up, but I caught them in time to save enough for the biscuits. And oh. my. word. "Best biscuits ever" does not even begin to describe these delectable creations. As the Nerd ate his, his eyes widened and he emphatically stated that this was the only way I was to make biscuits ever again. Yes, they are THAT good.

And finally, the Beast wanted me to make something for his class on Halloween. Normally I would have made adorable cupcakes or cookies, but I had no energy for such creativity. So we made this candy corn bark instead. It's super easy - you just melt a bunch of white candy melts, pour them into a wax-paper-covered pan, and sprinkle the melted candy with candy corn and pretzels. When it hardens, you simply break into pieces and serve. Well, that is, until you get to school and find out that they no longer accept homemade goodies for parties and birthdays. Oh well, we just waited until after class to hand them out.

Now I'm hungry for lunch!