Thankful Thursday, 7/21

Today, at 39 weeks, I'm extremely thankful for air conditioning! Today's high is supposed to be around 100-101 and I know there are people who have died from this heat. Such a sad situation to be deprived of something so simple. This has seemed like the most challenging pregnancy for me physically, especially here towards the end, and a lot is due to the heat. But I'm trying to keep perspective and maintain a gracious attitude of how much worse things could be. And obviously, I'm very thankful that we will be meeting our bundle of joy soon. By next Thursday, I just might be writing about how thankful I am for our newest addition! :-)

Wednesday Wonders, 7/20

I'm still constantly amazed by Ethan's growing vocabulary and development. The other day Tim had on a shirt that read St. Thomas. Ethan was reading the letters off his shirt. For a long time he was clingy and antisocial. My husband had to take the boys on his own to T-ball last night since I had class. Though I'm sure it was frustrating for Tim, Ethan kept inching out towards the kids playing. He hasn't listened when we've told him to stay closer. When Tim told me about this, I brought up a positive point. He's wanting to be where kids are. And that's a big deal since for so long now he has steered far clear of other kids. Maybe he'll adjust to preschool fine in September afterall. :-)

Thankful Thursday

Another regular blog I'm going to post is Thankful Thursday.

Today I am thankful I have had two nights in a row of decent sleep. Still very broken up. This is a very relative term. For most folks, these would be rough nights. But for me and the extremely little sleep I've been experiencing for 4-5 months, getting 2+ consecutive hours of sleep in a single night is a huge bonus. Usually I'm lucky to get one night like that a week and God has blessed me with two nights in a row! Add to that these past two nights, Bryce has slept til 8 as well! He's been up around 6:30 very consistently. He's good about coming downstairs, playing on his own and watching TV. But I would often be woken up by him playing a little too loud. I could get used to this routine. Yay sleep!!

Also thankful for outdoor toys, a deck with some shade and deck furniture. So I can use this extra boost of energy to get the kids outside for playtime and I can take it easy on the deck. This is another big plus because every step hurts. My hips seriously feel like they're bruised to the touch. So I can relax and feel good about the kids getting some outdoor time. :-)

Wednesday Wonders

I'm going to start a new regular blog posting on Wednesdays called Wednesday Wonders. Just going to be a few tidbits of things my kids do or say the previous week that are amazing. To me anyway. :-)

Last night Tim had the TV remote upside down. Ethan was able to recognize all the numbers upside down. He did mix up the 6 and 9, but the rest were right. He can count to about 13 but didn't know he could visually recognize the numbers. Yesterday (EXACTLY) he was 2 years, 4 mos old. He also has the LeapFrog Leaptop that he plays with every day. He could recognize the letters when asked randomly on the laptop. Yay for learning milestones. :-)

Bryce reached another milestone in the past week. Sleeping through the night in underwear and staying dry. Nice to officially have him out of all diapers/pull-ups. Just in time for another one to join in diapers in the next couple weeks. And at lunch today, he said vegetables are his favorite part of a meal!

Full-Term (practically) Thoughts - I like to round up!

This morning I had an appointment with a nurse practitioner. It went great. My group B strep came back negative. And they decided to check if I'm showing any imminent signs of labor. Unfortunately, no. Physically I've been going through so much for so long with this pregnancy. So part of me is definitely ready to be done. But day at a time, we'll get there. Oh, and my blood pressure was great. Thankful for that, for sure.

The nurse checked my vitals and was really nice. She asked if we knew what we're having so explained that we don't. After she learned about Bryce and Ethan, she casually said, "Well, maybe it'll be pink this time."

Then I waited a while and the nurse practitioner came in. She, too, was very nice. We talked about sciatic nerve pain. There's not much they can do for me with that. I just have to wait it out. But I'm feeling upbeat (today at least - actually got more than 2 consecutive hours of sleep for once!). I'm also quickly approaching the 37-week FULL TERM mark this week. I'm convinced it will get better once this Baby is off whatever nerves are being pinched.

She, too, asked if we knew what we're having so explained the same story. Not sure we wanted to know and then Baby didn't cooperate. After learning about the boys, she said, "Aww, you need a girl." Followed with, "Maybe she was being bashful on the ultrasound."

I've had what I'd call different signs this pregnancy that seem to point to this baby being a girl. That seem to prepare me emotionally for what I've thought I've wanted since childhood. Whether they are signs from God or not is the question, though. If they are from God, then I'm convinced we will be having a daughter. If they are from the master deceiver, though, then this will be a lesson learned. We obviously are in love with our baby already. And feel incredibly blessed. Especially after the early scares with the cyst on the neck. I've learned and heard different scenarios that would have been a very scary road and God chose a different path for us. I keep thinking about that as we near the end of this pregnancy. He has given us such a precious gift in this baby already. A healthy baby. I took so much for granted with Bryce and Ethan's pregnancies. Experiencing the unknown of the first half of this pregnancy was certainly a wake-up call to that. And His freely-given grace that He has gifted us with.

I'm still soooo curious to know what we're having, of course, though. And can't wait to meet him or her. I still think about the nurse practitioner's words this morning, though, as she listened to Baby's heartbeat. "Well, if Baby cooperates, it should be a girl." Not sure if she was referring to the well-known heartrate theory or not. But I didn't ask. I didn't ask what the heartrate was this morning, even though I have at previous appointments (usually hovering around 145 bpm). This is higher than the boys' at this point in pregnancy if I remember right. But I've given up and let go of reading into wives' tales. Not that I'm still not curious about them, but just that I don't trust them. :-) God made it VERY clear He was setting aside the surprise for us at birth. Sure, Dr. Wheeler said we could come back to find out if we just had to know. Sure, I could try other gender-prediction methods like the pharmacy product that is supposed to tell you (intelligender) or the ever-popular Drain-O test. But I won't believe any theory/wives' tale until he or she is born and we experience the moment God has set aside for us to experience. I'm really excited to 'unwrap' God's surprise gift to us in the coming weeks. Stay tuned, friends. I'm excited to share our happy news whenever God and Baby decides it is time. It's up to them, not me. I'm just the vessel. The proud, uncomfortable, emotional, blessed vessel. :-)