Pregnancy, one last time...

So I'm down to the last 18 days before delivery, which may be the worst... except for those first 16 weeks! :-) At the end, I can't sleep and the heartburn gets so bad it hurts all over. The thing that keeps my up is the restless legs! Its SO bad! I have to kick them or flex or try squats before bed to try and help, but nothing takes it away. I'm hot most of the time, and have absolutely NOTHING to wear that I like and fits well. I prefer to stay home and live in my sweats! I have been having braxton hicks contractions since about 30 weeks, and they are getting pretty strong and frequent. Sometimes I wonder what makes them "fake." For me, each pregnancy has been worse than the previous ones, making this one terrible! I was really sick the first 16 weeks - to the point of throwing up 4 or 5 times a day. When that finally passed, things were much better, but I never did get that second trimester energy surge. I have been so tired this time. I suppose it has something to do with keeping up with the other 3 kids. If I didn't get a nap in the afternoon, I would feel sick in the evening. Thankfully, Sydnee takes good naps. Then there are the veins. I had some veins swell with Sydnee, but this time my legs look like I'm 80 years old. They have swollen and busted and I look like I have bruises all over. This picture is of the veins on my calf, and they're like this all over.
We knew this was going to be our last baby, but if we didn't before, I sure do now after pregnancy. The doctor says a lot of these things get worse with each one, which has certainly been my experience. Not to mention the weight. With Shaye I gained 23 pounds and lost all of it plus more. Each time I have gained a little more. Needless to say, I am going to have a lot of work to do this time! I have put on about 35 pounds. It's my own fault. The attitude I adopted this time was "hey, this is the last time I will be pregnant and won't have to worry about weight... I'll spend the rest of my life trying to stay in shape!" I'll regret it later, but hopefully I'll be able to get motivated and get into a running routine and accomplish some of my workout goals.
I know I should look at it as a blessing. We are lucky to be able to have children, and get pregnant easily. And I know there are a lot of other mothers who end up on bedrest or get even more sick than I do. We are really excited to meet our new baby girl. We still need to pick a name. We think we have narrowed it down to 4, but not sure what it will be. I'm anxious to know if she is going to look like Shaye and Sydnee, since they are so similar, or if we'll get a little girl who resembles Jaxson this time. We will find out on April 9th!

Operation: Column

When we moved into this house, there was support beam in the living room that was just sheetrock and the same color as the walls. It has bothered Sam how plain it is, and he wanted to fancy it up. Some of the other homes in the neighborhood have a column with molding and trim on them and are pretty decorative. Sam followed these ideas, and he and his dad worked over Spring Break to transform our beam into a fancy detail in the living room. They did a great job. You can see in the first picture, which was taken right before we moved in, how dull it was. And in the last picture you can tell how it really stands out now! We do these types of projects in hopes that small touches will make a big difference when its time to sell.

The Duck Pond

Though the wind was blowing, it was a great day today, so Sydnee and I headed over to the duck pond to feed the ducks. The ducks aren't so bad, but the geese are scary! As soon as you get out of the car they come running and they are not afraid of people so they will come right up to you. It didn't seem to bother Sydnee the first couple of minutes, but once I threw out a few pieces of bread and they started swarming her, she was nervous. She held on tight to monkey for a little while.



Then she adjusted, and enjoyed "shooing" them away with the stick and had fun throwing the bread out herself. Afterwards we took a walk around the pond looking at the birds and leaves. We are so excited Spring is on the way!

Spring Concert

The theme for the Will Rogers Pre-K Spring Concert was the 50's. So the boys all wore white t-shirts with blue jeans, and had the option of greasing their hair back. Jaxson was fully against slicking his hair, or rolling his sleeves, but at least I got him in the shirt and jeans! They sang 3 songs - Do-Wah-Diddy, Let's Twist Again, and Rockin Robin. It was very cute. As you can see, Jaxson takes his singing very serious! He always does a great job!