Next Week

Doctor's appointment today: Adelyn is apparently very comfy in her current home with no wish to get out as I haven't progressed any further than I was last week! Doctor said if I don't have her by Monday, she'll issue an eviction notice (schedule an induction) and maybe the threat alone will get things moving. I really don't want to be induced, it's more painful that going naturally, but we'll see. I plan on doing lots of walking this weekend.
On the plus side, we're still both extremely healthy and I'm not feeling crazy uncomfortable or anything. I mean, yes, I'm uncomfortable, but for almost-fully-baked I feel really good! I still run around outside with the boys and still go swimming, so since I'm not having any health problems, why push it? The belly is still rather like a basketball under my shirt, which is so weird to me because with the boys I was pregnant all over. But it's fun to see and this is my last so I might as well enjoy it!
I have some new pictures of the boys to post but blogger is being cranky on me. They are so stinking rotten these days, so excited for their new sister and are busy making her lego creations (snails and flowers from Trevor, cars and space ships from Carson) that they want me to keep safe until she comes so she can "see". So sweet!

On another note, someone keeps writing me and I'm afraid they have the wrong blog. I don't know anyone named Candice, sorry! LOL And they obviously don't know me either from their messages!

If you want

to send us an e card while we're in the hospital, here's the link to the hospitals website.
http://www.egulfcoastmedical.com/Cards.asp

How cute is that? I heard that they print them off and deliver them to patient rooms, not sure if that's all the time or just when they have the time.

Obviously you'd have to know we're there, so we'll try to keep that updated! LOL

Have a great week! Hope to have news soon!

The Waiting Game

Not really much to report these days, just trying to get everything in order for when the baby decides to make an entrance. I've got directions printed up for my house to the hospital, my house to grocery stores, etc for whomever will be staying here with the boys (most likely Mimi). I've got directions written out for the tv's--LOL you know every tv and DVD system is different.
I've got the fridge stocked with foods and easy dinners, hopefully enough to last a good long while. Laundry is done and I'm ahead on ironing, although I need to do some more this week to truly stay ahead. Just general things that I normally do that I don't want anyone else to be stuck with while I'm gone, to make it easier! Plus, staying busy is keeping my mind off the waiting.

Adelyn did turn head down, so she's where she should be, now we just wait!

The boys have been enjoying the pool every morning (it feels REALLY good when you feel like a beached whale!) and they have improved their swimming skills by leaps and bounds already. Both boys swim without floaties now and doing the cannon ball from the side of the pool and Carson is even diving down for toys and things on the bottom with his mask on. Pretty cool considering when we started the summer neither would even think to let go of their floaties!

Yesterday we spent a relaxing morning at the beach with our neighbor Darcy--the beach was beautiful and the waves relaxing. The boys caught some fish in their bucket and played in the sand. Living at the beach sure has it's perks!!

Wanna See??

So, this is baby Adelyn's room. It's been a long time in the making, and if it looks expensive, it wasn't! The paint (pink and brown) I had a coupon for Home Depot and didn't need that much since I bought the good stuff. The white was actually leftover from another project. I painted the circles with a string compass. The paper lantern was $3 at the outlets in Destin. The shelves in the room (brown and white and the green door hanger) are ones we already had in the house. The letters for her name were like $1 a piece and I wanted them kind of plain. The monogram on the crib (how cute is that?) was done by one of Reed's friends who owns a vinyl shop. The bed was Carson's twin bed, and I just painted it the same brown as the circles to match in the room. The super nice linen curtains were a trade with my neighbor Shaunnah for doing some craft work for her. All the frames and baskets were recycled from the boys with new ribbons and pictures to make it more girly, and I painted the "Imagine" canvas myself. The bedding was very plain, therefore inexpensive, and I made the crib skirt out of tulle and ribbons! So fun.
I think part of the fun was making so much of this myself, and since I have the time and the crafts, it was a no brainer. So far we've gotten lots of compliments! :)

Alert! Alert! Birthday pictures!

Carson wanted an "army" themed birthday party. This is harder than it sounds like! I couldn't find many "army" themed things for parties--just little green army men and things like that. But we did end up making a "camo" cake that tasted better than it looked and a chocolate cake for the extra. The kids had water grenades to bomb each other with, a slip n slide (doesn't that just scream combat to you?), a huge inflatable water slide, plus army hats and camo face paint. They also had leis, because Carson wanted them, so Darcy and I decided that this particular Army must have been hanging out in Pearl Harbor or something. Whatever. Despite the rain that kept all 14 kids (plus parents and even some grandparents!) indoors for half of the party, they seemed to have a blast. And when the storm passed, had just enough time to get some outdoor fun in before it started up again. Who knew that kids could launch almost 200 water balloons in less than 2 minutes?? It took Reed, Darcy and Chris over an hour to fill them up! Note for future parties: start filling balloons way earlier!
All in all, a good day for Carson, which means a success! Thanks to everyone who came and helped us party!

Here's the proof

that Adelyn seems to look alot like my Trevor! Same pose and everything..but that's not it. Those cheeks, lips and nose all seem to resemble her big brother very much! We'll see when she's born!

Baby Adelyn

This morning we went to the doctor for a check up ultrasound to make sure our baby girl doesn't have a club foot like mommy did. Thankfully, it looks like both feet are fine, although that's never 100%. We're pretty optimistic though. However, we found out today that she's frank breech, which means completely sideways, with her little head and feet both under my right ribs and her bottom under my left ribs. She's not facing down like she should be, nor is she putting any pressure where she should be so things aren't progressing quite the way they should be at this stage. We go next week for another ultrasound (another peek at our cutie!) and hopefully by then she'll be where she should! If not, we'll have to schedule a c-section, as the doctor said she's already too big for my pelvis to deliver breech(5 lbs 15 oz!!). By next week she should be 6.5 lbs and that's a big girl! Just look at those fat cheeks! We think she looks alot like Trevor did when he was born. :)

one last one

just before dark, I caught them watching some little crabs and jumping fish. This is summer, y'all...

Still going...

you know you love pictures...thank goodness my kids are patient with mom and the camera!

Trevor doing his happy dance up on the table

fingers up!

and getting down! lol

Relaxing Afternoon...

After we got to the Shimet's house, the boys soaked up some sun out back. Trevor looks like an ad for relaxation here, doesn't he? LOL

and when you zoom out, you can see why! cool green grass, bay breeze, boats passing by...who wouldn't lay there?

Trevor, Evan and Carson hanging on the dock

you think this is Reed's son? really?

Earlier in the day...

at Lincoln Park in Niceville, FL

cheesin'

Hope you had a happy Fourth!

We definitely did! We drove to Niceville, FL--where Reed spent his high school years--and hung out with some old friends of his and their family. It was WONDERFUL. They were super kind hosts to our whole family, the boys enjoyed playing with Caleb and Evan and baby Sloane, we relaxed in their gorgeous bay front house until night fall and then got some of the best seats around for waterfront fireworks! Everyone was invited to bring a dish for dinner to go along with some yummy meats and I got a bit carried away. I was feeling festive (nesting maybe?) and made a yummy coconut cake with strawberries and blueberries, my signature fruit salsa and homemade cinnamon chips, and some yummy potato salad. After everyone stuffed themselves we moved down to the dock where we'd set up chairs and watched the lights. The kids had a blast, and we mentioned that we're free to hang out any time!! ;)
Earlier in the day we'd done some driving and checked out Reed's old house and school and took the kids to the local park to play. It was hot but beautiful. I'll put more pics up in next posts, but can you see why I love Florida?? Sure, it's hot, but the beautiful scenery and good ocean breezes more than ease that pain! And I'm 9 months pregnant! So you know it can't be too unbearable.
Hope everyone else had a great day and stayed safe!

We've been around...

Just enjoying the summer...how about you? Lately our routine is to go swimming early in the morning, around 8, before the heat of the day and before the rest of the neighborhood decides it's a good day to swim too. We usually have the whole pool to ourselves until about 10 am, which is awesome! Then we come back, clean up, play for a bit before lunch and naps. What a life! I usually have to work later in the afternoon, so while they nap or before/after dinner. Even if I do, I've spent so much time with them earlier in the day I don't feel guilty any more for having to take time out to work. So glad we finally worked out a schedule for Florida living!

Last Sunday we went to St. Andrews State Park with our neighbors. John, Darcy and Garrison have a boat so they rode over to the beach and docked. It was very relaxing..the adults sat in the water and chatted while the kids played on the sand dunes just next to the water, snorkeled and tried to catch fish. There were stinging jellyfish about that day, which sucked, but they weren't too bad. Carson, a few of the other kids, and John all got stung but it went away pretty quickly. Then we went for a boat ride with John and the kids...that was awesome! The boys just love being out on the waves, and they aren't scared a bit. They love bouncing on the waves and all the wind--Trevor kept yelling "Go faster John!" :)

We were on the lookout for dolphins and saw a small group of them that weren't interested in us so we kept going. Reed and Garrison jumped off for a bit of a swim and I'm embarrassed to say I had no idea starfish were normally a dark grey color when they are alive. I'd never seen a live starfish! They caught several from the ocean floor to bring up for inspection but threw them back in before we took off again. This time we saw a friendly dolphin who not only came over to say "hi", but swam alongside us long enough for the boys to get a good look and have a friendly pat from Garrison! The boys haven't quit talking about the dolphin since we got home--the fact that he blew out his blowhole, hearing the squeaky sounds he made, Garrison getting to pet him..."He is so lucky!!" It was really a cool experience and I wish we'd seen more friendly ones or gotten to see him longer, but really, how many people get to experience wild dolphins on just a random Sunday??