April Showers

It's April! And it's showering and snowing just to prove that it's really spring. My mom is here now, and we're having a fun visit with her as well as with Jessica and the boys! It's been so good to get to see those sweet nephews of mine. They are so cute and sweet!

On Wednesday I had a regular check up at the doctor's, and my blood pressure was high. I had pre-eclampsia with my oldest, so after checking it several times at the office the doctor sent me over to Labor and Delivery (again) for monitoring and the possibility of induction. I am seriously getting tired of checking in and out of Labor and Delivery! I spent a couple of hours at the hospital and after laying down and resting my pressure went down so I was able to come home. However, they believe I have gestational hypertension which is likely to turn into pre-eclampsia, so I am on bedrest to keep my blood pressure down. I was actually kind of bummed, because if I have to be lazy, I'd like to at least have a baby to hold! But instead, I get to spend the last few days of my pregnancy in bed. Not a great way to make the time go by quickly. But, at least it means I'll be well rested for when baby girl arrives!

In the meantime, we are praying for a safe delivery and a healthy baby!

Life in Limbo

Waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting.

I find myself conflicted lately, as I'm really not ready mentally for this baby to make her appearance- but good gracious I'm uncomfortable and tired all the time and so ready to be unpregnified.

Yes, I just coined a new word.

I'm 37 weeks today and therefore officially made it to term! I'm so glad to not have to worry anymore when I have contractions that take my breath away!

So unless little Tessa decides to surprise us sooner we will be having a baby in exactly two weeks from today!

Catching up

Here I am playing catch up again!

Time is just flying by so quickly lately, and I feel as though I've been ridiculously busy- but I can't really pinpoint with what. I suppose it's just daily life with four children, school and activities.

Baby girl is growing- and has already been giving us a little excitement. Several weeks ago my normally frequent contractions became too consistent and the baby dropped. Since then I've been sent to L&D twice, where they've used the medication Terbutaline to slow down the contractions. I'm supposed to be on restricted activity at this point- until 35 weeks when labor can safely begin. I still have contractions round the clock, and it's extremely uncomfortable (and annoying, to say the least). It's been rough trying to take it easy while keeping up on the everyone's needs- but I've had lots of help with meals and that has been wonderful. We are truly blessed with some amazing friends and family who are always there for us.

Only two more weeks until I reach that 35 week mark! ( At which point *I* am certain that little Tessa will decided to get nice and comfy and stay put for another four weeks.)

Lilah turned 2 last Sunday, and we can hardly believe it! It really seems like yesterday that she was born- and here we are about to have another baby! She's such a sweet girlie, talking and growing like crazy. We just love her so much- even if she has seemed to lose her ability to sleep suddenly....

Jaxson started taking guitar lessons four weeks ago. Before we let him begin lessons, we made certain he understood that he wouldn't be allowed to quit when lessons got hard and that he'd have to buckle down and commit to learning. We had him pay for half of the cost of his guitar, so that he would understand it was a commitment. A month later, we are all absolutely amazed at how well he's doing and how quickly he's picking it up! His teacher says he's never had a kid learn as quickly as Jaxson is learning. But most importantly, he's really working hard at it and we're so proud of him.

I finally decided it was time to download the photos that have been sitting on my camera for the last 4 months.... but haven't had the time to resize them and organize them. So I'll leave you with the few I have of Lilah on her birthday!

Miscellany

There is really nothing going on here that is terribly exciting. So this will be a post of the miscellaneous non-events that make up my lovely life. And I do mean that. I love my life. (Most of the time. There are obviously moments.) I am so blessed to be able to stay home with the children, and I love that.

Non-event #1:

Lilah has decided to start waking up at night and scream bloody murder until we put her in our bed. And I do mean bloody murder. "MOM!!!!!!! MOM!!!!!!! DAD!!!!!!". It's lovely. And we have less than three months to break her of this habit before the baby makes her appearance. Great.

Non-event #2:

We started school back up last week after a long Christmas vacation. It felt great to get back on schedule. I love doing school year around and being able to take long vacations when we need them!

Non-event #3:

Vance is, at this very moment, walking around the house pretending to talk on a banana phone. He is very serious about it. Oh, wait. Now he is eating his phone.

Non-event #4:

I am turning 31 in a few weeks. My mother told me the other day that she is going to give me a book about menopause. Thanks, mom. I'm not THAT old yet.

I am definitely feeling the difference being pregnant in my thirties vs. my twenties. I am tired. This may also have something to do with this being our 5th child.

Non-event #5:

I am promising myself today (for probably the 25th time in the last month) that I will go through photos that are on the computer and/or stuck in my camera and upload them to Facebook and Costco. It most likely won't get done. I still have a huge pile of photos that I printed for photo albums about 10 months ago..... sitting on the bookshelf.... waiting to be placed in said photo albums.

But I have very good intentions!

Coast Toast

We discovered this breakfast dish at a little resturaunt called Brockton Villa, right on the coast in La Jolla. It is the chef's take on french toast and is dubbed, appropriately, Coast Toast. It is so delicious that we have made it our Christmas morning tradition, so I thought I'd share the recipe with all of you.

Coast Toast

1 loaf soft french bread (sliced)
1 qt. whipping cream
10 eggs
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
2 TBS vanilla
2 TBS orange flavoring (I never have this so I substitute with orange juice concentrate)

Combine ingredients. Pour over bread slices. Cover and refridgerate for at least 1 hour.

Remove bread and discard liquid. Spread butter on flat grill.

Cook until golden brown, then bake at 450 degrees for 5-10 minutes until bread is puffed up like a souffle'. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Pretty Baby

Tessa

It's offical...

....I am a blogging loser. I wouldn't particularly care, except that my friend Taylor makes me feel guilty by being a blogging rock star. She is The Lumberjack's Wife. And she blogs at least once a day. Where do you find the time, Taylor? Or the energy? Or the things to blog about? Because, frankly, my life is simply not that interesting or exciting. Oh well, I shall never be a blogging rock star. But I guess I could at least try to post once a month...... see? Blogging loser.

In all honesty I'm really just very, very, very tired. Which I realize is probably because I have four children who are home with me all day and I'm 22 weeks pregnant. But when this particular lady is tired, it's hard for me to do anything beyond the completely essential. I become very anti-social because it takes too much energy to be social. I also find it difficult to psych myself up to do anything that involves leaving the house. Because getting four kids dressed, bundled up, and in and out of the car is exhausting!

And yet, yesterday I not only left the house, but I stood in line in 18 degree weather for 6 hours just to see and shake Sarah Palin's hand. And it was totally worth it. She is a woman I greatly admire. Not only her ideals and principles, but her grace and strength under fire.

Today, I am sore. And exhausted. I have issues with having too many contractions during my pregnancies (my doctor refers to it as an "irritable uterus" which is just a funny term, in my opinion) and sometimes it's hard for me to tell what's going to trigger it. Evidently standing in line for 6 hours does, because last night was a contraction filled night! So this morning I am doing something I never, ever do. I am lazing around in bed at almost 9 am. Oh, I'll get up eventually and clean the house and fold the laundry. But right now, I'm enjoying some down time. And blogging! Imagine that.

What a week

It's been a busy, crazy week!
I'm almost finished packing up our house. My mom came up on Tuesday and took the kids for me so I am able to concentrate on packing. It's been wonderful and I know they are having a great time.
On Wednesday we had an ultrasound and got to see our new baby girl! That's right, the pattern is broken. We're very excited to have another sweet baby girl! No name yet, we'll be working on that one.
Today, we closed on the house! We have keys! It's ours! We can move in this weekend! (Can you tell we're excited?)
Pictures to follow~

Hanging on

I am so ready to move. Seriously. Packing is the pits. I miss my simple life with my simple daily activities! I miss my house being clean and organized! My kids are watching WAY too much PBS. My husband is appalled by the state of the house. But what's a girl to do?

We are so excited and thankful, though, in spite of the mess we are currently living in. Every few days we go check on the house to see how much they've gotten done. I'm already un-packing in my head.... which is silly since I'm not even packed yet.

I'm not doing school for the next couple of weeks- I already had two weeks scheduled off for this month so that worked out well. Phew!

And.... My AWESOME mom is coming up on the 17th to take my children so that we can finish this whole packing and moving thing that week. I love my mom. She's the bestest. ;)

So, here's to surviving!

Bad blogger lady! Bad!

Okay, I have seriously been falling down on my blogging duties lately. I would be surprised if any of you have even stuck around and actually check the blog anymore!
I'm afraid I've been ridiculously busy lately, with school, kids etc. And I am not feeling particularly creative or amusing.
But I am really going to make a concerted effort to be a better blogger lady. And keep all of you updated on our fun, exciting life! (Ha!)
Is there anybody out there?

Coming along quickly!

Less than 1 week later and they already have all the sheeting on and the interior framed as well! It's going very quickly and I'm realizing that I need to start packing. Thankfully, I know a wonderful woman who works for a wonderful company (Mom4Life) and she has graciously offered all of their boxes from shipments and returns! Which saves me from dumpster diving for cardboard boxes! Yay! We have about 4.5 weeks before the move.

We have walls!

First picture

We are planning on taking pictures of the house as it's being built. It will be fun for the kids to see it going up! So since we're in the waiting on permits stage, here's a pic of the lot and the bare ground! :)

Home sweet home!

We are so excited! We're buying a house! We are so ready to be homeowners again, it's not even funny. It's absolutely amazing how everything is just falling into place so perfectly. We're so thankful that God is allowing us to have the opportunity to own again.

The home we're buying is new construction and in a neighborhood we really like. I've been busy running around to various pre-construction meetings this week. I bravely ventured into a lighting store today with four children in tow... crazy, I know, but we're on a deadline! The builder is fast-tracking construction so that it's completed and closed before Nov. 30- since we haven't owned in over 3 years we qualify for the tax credit. So, if all continues to go well we will be posting pictures of our new home in just under two months!

The inevitable question

We are finally ready to announce that in April we will be welcoming a new addition to our family!

And now for the inevitable question- yes, we do know how these things happen. Just thought I'd answer that one in one fell swoop, since it seems to be the question that folks always ask.

I've been feeling pretty sick, as usual for me, and quite honestly we are still trying to get used to the idea that before the school year is out we will have 5 children!! Seems rather impossible. But God is faithful and we rely on Him. We know that our children are a blessing and a gift, and this one will be no different! We do however covet your prayers firstly for a healthy pregnancy and baby- and the strength and wisdom we need to raise our brood!