Feeling desperate

This baby is no closer to having a name than she was 8 months ago.
At least by now, we had it narrowed down to two names with Zachy. Course we didn't use either of those names, but still!!
I'm feeling like we desperately need a name..soon. Will it just come to us when she is born? What if it doesn't? How can it be so hard to name our first daughter??

No baby yet

I was informed by my friend, Tommy, that I need to update to say whether or not I've had a baby. I figure you all will get REALLY tired of me saying, "no baby yet" But I'll humor him. No baby yet!
I don't have much else to write. I'm still sick. Zachy was up coughing last night, with a fever thrown in for good measure, but seems to be better today. Just coughy. Collin is currently being treated for an ear infection as well. And my dr was kind enough to perscribe some antibiotics, just in case this is bacterial.
I'm having a really hard time dealing with the fact that our last weeks together as a family of 6 is so filled with illness. Today, it was 82 degrees, and I so wanted to play outside with the boys, but my head is just full of so much pressure and I feel so crummy that I didn't do anything.
I keep reminding myself that I don't remember what we did in the last weeks before becoming a family of 6, so maybe it doesn't really matter. I don't know. I just know I want all this crud gone.
There's other stuff going on in the family, but I don't feel like writing about it. Just news we weren't expecting quite yet, and trying to process it all. So, if ya don't mind, keep us in your prayers. We'll get through it, we always do.
Anyway, that's about it, no baby and wanting to get well soon!

I'm UPDATING

Can you believe it? I know, I've been very bad.
We have all been sick. Coughing our lungs up and other fun stuff like that. Matthew got the worst of it, his was complete with an ear, eye, and throat infection. The dr claims it's all allergies, but I just don't think so. Matthew is getting better and he's the only one being treated with antibiotics.
I told Matt today that I must have a cervix of steel, because as hard as I've been coughing I would think this little one would just be coughed right out!
So yeah, it's been fun.
Meanwhile, we try to go on as if everything is normal. My sabbath school class appears to be growing, which is so great because it was just 2 kids. The problem is, I've felt too poorly to really embrace the new kids.
Last week, my great-aunt Jo died very suddenly and unexpectedly. I adored her, and am so very sad that she is gone. It isn't like I ever saw her very often, but just thinking about her family that she left behind kills me. She had 7 kids, and lots of grandkids, and I know they all adored her as much as me, more so, I'm sure.
At my 34 week ultra sound it was determined that little miss no name was 6 1/2 pounds. Just about what Collin was at that time. So, another big babe for me! WHEE!!
OK, this is so scattered, and Matt just told me it's dinner time. If I ever have something mroe exciting to write about, I will make the effort to do so.

Baby Shower

My baby shower was yesterday and it was so much fun.
I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful church family who loves us all so much.
I've been washing lots of blankets and onesies and towels and and and..it looks like a giant pink monster threw up in my washing machine when I fill it up!!
I also got a bumbo chair (YAY!! the boys think this is especially cool, especially Collin, he just told me a bit ago that we can take her to the beach now and sit her in the bumbo hehe) and I got a monitor!! YAY ME!! And then just lots of clothes and little essential stuff.
A funny thing though...I got a doll, and some pink stuffed animals. They are all piled up on my dresser right now, and every time I pass by I have a fleeting thought of, "whose doll is that? we need to get it back to her" Then it occurs to me that it is OUR doll. It just sooo doesn't seem to belong in this house!! It's totally wierd.
Anyway, I Am sooo excited to have this baby. I swear, I can practically feel the velvety softness of her head cradled in my hand. *sigh* I can't wait....not much longer now.

Really enjoying this time

This pregnancy is in the home stretch.
Somehow, I managed to lose a couple months. I'm quite sure it was the holidays, but it was dragging, and now I can't believe how near the end is!
Being pregnant with a girl is definitely different than with a boy. I feel like she is really out there. Bending down is much more difficult than it was with the boys. I feel like they really nestled down inside me more.
Her movements are also totally different. I have always heard people talk about being able to feel a knee, or an arm, or any other body part. With the boys, I never felt that. I just felt general whollops. Little miss though, she's a different story. I can feel specific legs and arms and her little bottom. And it is so great! I love to watch my belly because she is always moving, and poking out in different areas.
Compared to when I was pg with Collin and Zachy, I am feeling great. I have some general aches and pains, but nothing nearly as terrible as what I went through with them.
My biggest complaint is complete and utter exhaustion. I have zero energy. I can't seem to get enough sleep, and I can't seem to get anything productive done. My house is falling apart, and it is killing me. And yet, I start to clean up, and I just can't. I am so tired. I don't remember feeling this exhausted with the others. Maybe I'm just old! I told Matt today, that at this rate, I just might opt for that epidural because I can't imagine having the energy to get through labor! I'm sure that adrenaline will kick in, but right now it just seems impossible to get through labor.
All in all though, this is a really enjoyable time for me. If only I could get some energy! Maybe I just need to eat a liver.

In other news, Matthew is doing much better. He had a follow up appt today with the pediatrician who said he was on the mend. Hooray!
All of the kids seem to be sick though. I can't tell if it is sick, or allergies. I am also totally stuffy. Matt was having major sinus pressure a few days ago, so who really knows what is going on.

On Sunday, my wonderful friends at church are throwing me a shower. I feel so loved. I have better friends here than I have had in a long time (and you know that doesn't include you Michelle!!). They have become my family here, and I am so grateful to them. Yeah, Theresa..I'm talkin about you!! I love ya!
OK, I'm off to bed, I'm so tired.

Just a quickie

I had my 32 week appt yesterday, and everything went well. I'm measuring big. Big surprise. My blood pressure was lower than it's ever been.
Which is amazing considering Matthew was feeling totally under the weather, and stressing me out. We were able to get him to the dr, and then to the ER to find out he has an infection. Poor thing. He is pretty miserable right now. But hopefully the antibiotics will clear things up. He follows up with a dr next week sometime.
Dillon and Matt have been hit hard with allergies the last couple days, so they are pretty miserable as well.
Thankfully, the other 3 of us are doing great. I am always extremely tired, including now, so I'm off to bed.

A simple little project...

So in Science we are studying about the ocean. And have studied sandy beaches and rocky shores. The boys were supposed to take some sand paper and create a sandy beach. I left this project for Matt to help them with, because he is definitely the more creative one. I told him that they needed to create a beach, with animals that would be there, shells, and a strandline. I then went to the store.
This is what I came home to!! Simple..HA!!

~~~ Edited to add..you really can't tell, but Matthew's has a swimming area, sun bathers, a bird, a sting ray, a shark, a turtle, sea grass, jelly fish, a crab, and even a bottle of sunscreen. The boy's got some talent.












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And because Robin asked so nicely, here is a 32 week belly shot. It is really a bad bad picture. But alas...complete with stretch marks..my belly.

Update on the ice storm

So none of these pictures do it justice. The pictures in the last post were from the first day, and the second was much worse. Basically, any exposed object was covered in a layer of ice.
Matt finally went back to work yesterday, after being off all week. South Texas is not equipped to handle ice, so therefore just shuts down. It was interesting. And very nice, I must say. We enjoyed having Matt home.
But now, all the ice is gone. And it is supposed to be 65 on Sunday. Go figure.
Anyway, more pictures for your viewing pleasure.


This tree usually stands upright, it just couldn't handle the weight of the ice..it is back to being upright now though.

We have ICICLES!!

I never thought I'd be able to say that here, but alas, we are under a sheet of ice.
The entire city has closed down. The freeways are closed. Matt was supposed to report to work at 10:30 this morning, but didn't know it and went at regular time. Around noon he came home. The base closed down. I didn't know that bases closed down! Lackland was the last in the city to close though.
The freezing rain is supposed to carry on until tomorrow afternoon..maybe he won't have to go in.

Does anyone need a gorilla??

It has been raining here, and Zachy keeps telling us we need a gorilla. We say, "you mean an umbrella?" and he says, "yes, a gorilla" It is pretty funny.
So, I promised an update after my ultrasound, and I neglected to do it. It was totally uneventful. Baby looks great. Approximate weight is 3 lbs 11 oz. So sweet. She did yawn during the scan which made me want her RIGHT NOW. I can't wait to see those little yawns.
The weather has turned here. It is freezing. Literally. It is so wierd. All of the schools are closed tomorrow, and lots of the roads are closed, to be honest, I'm not sure how anyone is getting around town..everything is closed. All because of freezing rain. It is supposed to continue on through the night and through tomorrow.
Last week, the kids were playing with waterguns on the trampoline, in swimsuits! Craziness.
Matt had the day off today, for MLK day. It is always so nice having him home. The only problem is that then I miss him that much more when he goes back to work! Too bad hospitals don't close due to bad weather, we'd get him for another day!
This entry has been totally all over the place. Life is just so boring right now (I am NOT complaining about this) and it seems there isn't much to report on.
Stay tuned for more exciting entries.

Good News!!

First of all, my friend Maria (she is the one who's son has the same defect as Zachy, she was in the heart walk pictures) just found out she is pregnant!! I am so excited for them! I know the gamut of emotions she is about to go through, and I know she'll get through it all wonderfully!
Anyway, Congrats to you and hubby!!!
Then, I got word that my cousin is expecting her third boy. I didn't know she reads here, but she left me a comment, so she must! So CONGRATS on the boy! Boys are such a huge blessing, and I wouldn't trade a single one of mine for all the girls in the world. And it is fun to be able to say, "my three sons"!
And lastly, Matt got official word yesterday that he will be promoted to Captain in July!! WOOHOO!!! This is really exciting for us! I'm so proud of him. :-)
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I have an ultrasound appointment today, I'll try to update when I get home!

Huge accomplishment

Woohoo!! The boys all saw the dentist today. It took forever, but it is good to have it done now for 6 more months. They were all free of cavities! Zachy thought it was so cool to look at himself in the mirror with a big smile after they cleaned his teeth..he kept walking up to it with the biggest smile on his face. They all did so good. Dillon goes back next week for sealants on his molars, but that's it till July!
It feels good to have that big ole appointment done. Now I have to manage to get the cat and dog to the vet for their shots before March. I'm trying to get all these big appointments done before baby comes.
I'm waiting on appointments for Collin and Matthew to see the ophthalmologist, and Matthew has his MRI on the 17th. After that, we should be good for a whole year. YAY!!
Ok, off to watch Barnyard with my kiddies!

YIPPEE!!

Houdini has been captured!
This morning we woke up, and there was a hole in the wall where the scratching had been last night. We are pretty sure it was Houdini in the wall, but we have no idea how he got in there.
At any rate, tonight I checked under the fridge and he was there. He is back safe and sound in his cage.
Thank goodness!!!

Scratching

There is scratching coming from our walls. Very. Loud. Scratching.
Matt was first convinced it was Houdini. Only, there is no way for him to have gotten in there. I think it's a rat.
I'm disgusted. I'm freaked out. I, quite frankly, don't know what to do. Do we call housing? Do we call the exterminator? What do we do?
When I was growing up, we had scratching and thumping in the walls. It ended up being a big ole rock chuck who was stealing our cat food and living in the wall. We caught it with a fishing net when it came out from the hole it was using to access the wall, and were going to take it to the lava beds to set it free. It escaped before we could take it. We saw it once, in our yard, after that.
I doubt we have a rock chuck. I don't even think those live here. Maybe we have an armadillo..but I highly doubt it. I'm thinking a rat is much more likely. GROSS.

More pictures

Pictures galore

Just a ton of pictures from our park day, yesterday. I have more to upload, but am going to take a break for now!

Hello Hello

No luck catching Houdini yet..but he keeps stealing food, so we at least know he is well! Tonight, we are on to yet another plan of attack!
I am pleased to announce that I passed my last 3 hour glucose test with flying colors! WOOHOO!! I hadn't heard anything about it, and was really sweatin it. I figured they were being nice and letting me enjoy the holidays before breaking the bad news to me. But no.
Matt has had all week off, and doesn't go back to work until Wednesday. It has been so fun having him home, I so don't want him to go back to work. It will all be ok though, because we will have to start school up again. Can't play all the time, now can we? But, it's been fun while it's lasted.
Yesterday, we went to a park we hadn't been to before, and took lots of pictures, I'll have to upload them and get some on here.
Today, Matt is spending some quality time with Dillon and Collin. I'm home with Matthew and Zachy, so need to get going.
I just wanted to update on Houdini.

Houdini...the hamster that is sure to be the death of me!

OK, so his name is really White Spot, but I'm renaming him Houdini.
The hamster can escape out of anything. At first, it was easy to find him, he always went to the same closet.
The week before my mom came, he got out of his cage overnight, and was nowhere to be found. We had told Dillon that if a week went by and we couldn't find him, we'd assume he was dead and get him a new hamster. Dillon was certain Houdini was in the cat's tummy.
Well, over a week went by, but my mom was here, so we didn't do anything. One night I was in the kitchen and he went waddling past me, behind the fridge. We were able to catch him and put him back, safe and sound.
Not even a week after that, Dillon was holding him. Some time later, he says to me, "Can I move the couch to get my hamster?" I thought the hamster had been put away a long time before. Of course, he was no longer under the couch.
Since then, we have not been able to find Houdini. I think that was last Thursday.
We put carrots in the kitchen, in various locations to see which one he would take, to try and give us some idea of where he might be. No such luck, he takes them all!
Last night, we decided to try leaving his cage out on the floor in the kitchen, hoping he might find his comfy bed too irresistable to leave!
The silly thing took ALL the food out of his dish, and evidently is stashing it somewhere. How I wish I could have seen his cheeks full of all that food!
We have searched high and low and cannot, for the life of us, find him. At least we know he is alive and thriving! I told Matt, tonight is stakeout night, and we will be watching all night till we find him!

They say your blood gets thin

Today it is in the 50s and VERY windy. I am FREEZING!!! Two years ago, 50s would have felt great. Not now..I am soooo cold. BRRRRRRR

Feliz navidad