Monday, December 31, 2012

bringing up baby


We took a few pictures the morning of the gender ultrasound and I thought I'd share. I'm not huge on belly shots, but we thought we'd get one by our sweet little Christmas tree to commemorate the day. I still am in shock a little bit that this kicker is a boy! I mean, it's really not shocking news- it had to have been one of two outcomes. But still! A BOY. It didn't really hit me until I got home and looked around- everything we own is pink
We have a lot of work to do.
Now that Christmas is over, I am looking at my very last semester of college. I graduate this April, which will have to be a long distance affair since this baby boy is due to show up at the end of that month. I am so excited to be done with my degree, but it is definitely bittersweet- spending my last couple of semesters doing school online feels like I'm getting a fake degree. It's no fun to have put in so much work and feel kind of like a phony. Of course, the fact that I plan to do, oh, absolutely nothing with this degree might have something to do with that phony-feeling too. Not that I wish I was striking out into the work force- I love being a stay-at-home mom and we have made a lot of sacrifices to keep my job here with my kids. But still, it would be nice to DO something with all of this knowledge! All I feel capable of doing is citing some killer sources and reading copious amounts of literature in a short period of time like no one's business. Perhaps it will come in handy someday. Like in a Masters program. 
A girl can dream. 
The girls are so excited to have a little brother, and they pat/talk to/rub/sing to/poke my belly an awful lot. Which is really cute. And just a little silly. I just hope Carter doesn't want to keep doing it when all she's poking is too much Chinese food or a trip to the buffet in there. We are trying to prepare her for the baby's arrival, and so far so good! While we were in the ultrasound, there was a poster of nine months of pregnancy from the womb- a sort of portrait of how baby grows. Carter begged K to pick her up, pointed to each picture on the poster and said, "That's my baby brother and that's my baby brother and that's my baby brother and that's my baby brother..." And she got a baby doll for Christmas- a little pink girl baby, but still!- that she puts to bed every day and night. But I'm still pretty sure that when baby brother makes his debut she is going to be umm well, let's hope she's aiming kisses at him, and not knuckle sandwiches. 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

if it's too much to ask, if it's too much to ask

Hello Friends! It has been too long since I have had a quiet moment with which to share my thoughts and experiences here. 
Now is not that moment. 
It's finals week and I have two extra children living with me for the week, a four-year-old and a three-year-old. That means that right now I am the mom of a five, four, three, and two-year-old. Did I mention finals? ...just checking.
For the past month I have been counting down with every bit of sanity I have left (and I lose bits by the minute lately!) to next week-- school is out for a few weeks and I am ready to unwind! It is going to be an all-Christmas, all-Family, all-fun time! We are delivering the gifts, watching the shows, reading the books, singing the carols- all of the things I have been looking forward to all year! And then on Friday we get to fly to Las Vegas where we are spending Christmas with my entire family (eee!!)! 
But there is something that I am looking forward to even more than all of that. This coming Tuesday, I get to take a good look at the little kicker I am incubating! This pregnancy has been wonderful so far, and I have been counting down for far too long to find out the sex of this baby! I feel so ready to become a family of five. I am seriously impatient.  In fact, between the move and all the wonderful insanity of getting a new life laid out in a new place, I feel like this is an elephant's gestation period (2 years!!!) and not a human's. Not to complain- I just am so eager to see this baby's little face and feet and arms and hands and uhh gender. Sorry, that sounds dirty or something, but seriously, it all looks like smudges and waves until the ultrasound technician points out all of those things to you, anyway. We will be so happy either way, but I know K has his fingers crossed for a boy! If you want to venture a guess, I put a poll up. It will close on Tuesday morning!
Oregon Zoo Lights, 2012
I hope this little update finds everyone out there well and enjoying the Christmas season!