The Daily Hailey

So many things are going on these days, and I feel like all I talk about is errands we run, work we do, and how the kids are acting that day. To be fair, thats just kind of the season of life we’re in, but it gets monotonous, I’m sure. Today, however, I got home after getting some blood work done to find my husband had finished all the cleaning off my list. He’s working tomorrow through the rest of the week, so it was our last afternoon to just hang out together.

When we were discussing the plans for the rest of our day, I began hounding him to write a blog for me. He recently built something for me that I really want him to write about. He’s a great writer (wasn’t his last post awesome?) and seemed more than happy to do it, but as tends to happen, time gets away and its hard to prioritize these things. I reassured him it took a while for it to become a habit for me, too. It was during this conversation that I remembered I started my blog originally sometime in the end of June. A quick look back showed me that today is the last day of my SIXTH year of blogging!!!

I began blogging when Dekker was a baby. He wasn’t quite a year old yet (his birthday is in August) and I was feeling the need for an outlet, to feel like I was talking to someone and making conversation with possible friends/family/adults. I LOVED my son, but he slept a TON and I was so lonely in the days. Here I am, six years later, and I’m honestly really happy that I’m still at it 🙂 No, my blog doesn’t bring in money. My audience really hasn’t grown a ton. Its not specifically riveting. But the records I’ve kept, almost without meaning to, are things I treasure. I often joke and call my blog my premature memoirs, which I’d say is pretty accurate.

Photo cred: Cher Andrea

I don’t know how much longer I’ll be blogging, but I hope to still for quite some time. I can’t imagine just stopping now, after my children have been so well documented, after we’ve been through/learned/done so much! I kick myself for not starting a little bit sooner, as my pregnancy with Dekker is the one that isn’t documented, nor the first ten-ish months of his life. But I had to start somewhere! Hopefully he still loves me.

I’ve said often enough that I’m not sure what it would take for me to stop blogging. It would have to be something BIG. Yet I don’t want something bad to be what “wins,” you know? Yet what good thing would motivate me to stop? I don’t know! Maybe I’ll just do this forever, who knows?

Year seven starts tomorrow! Who’s with me?

I don’t even know how to introduce todays post. I’m so overwhelmed in so many different directions. I’m thrilled, and truly afraid. I’m tired, and buzzing. I’m sick but I’m ready. I’ve been nesting hard, preparing, crushing my lists, working myself into a tizzy, yet she could come this moment, and everything would be perfect. I’m such a mixture of emotions.

Size Comparison: The baby is the size of a ukulele, which I LOVE! I don’t even really care if its accurate or not, lol! I’m a big fan of the idea 🙂 I suppose it could be right length wise, but I’m pretty sure ukuleles don’t weigh as much as my kids tend to…

Appointments: I had a prenatal appointment on Friday. My doctor was away at a conference, but my student doctor was there, and another lovely doctor was there to oversee. I asked my few questions, we discussed how sick I’ve been recently, and he approved the few things I was doing to try and get through this cold. Baby’s heart rate was all good, according to him. Apparently accelerations and decelerations are really good to see, but I don’t much care for a deceleration the way he does. Gives me the shivers. But he was happy with his findings anyway. I asked him if he could tell if the baby’s head was engaged, and he straight up admitted to me that he’s just not confident really ever in babies positions. He gave me his best guess but said he’d bring in the overseeing physician. I was glad he did 🙂 Not because I don’t trust him, but she was so gentle and confident and used me as a bit of a teaching moment, showing him over and over what felt like what, how the baby curves once they’re this tall, and how to grip the baby’s head. She said that she could still grip Bambina’s head, but that it didn’t wiggle too much. So its somewhat engaged, but not all the way. In my previous experience, once the doctor can’t really find the head anymore, that kid is engaged!! But, to be fair, two of my kids never ever “engaged” or dropped fully until delivery. I blame their huge noggins. So maybe thats the case.

How am I feeling emotionally: Truth be told, I feel both extremes of emotion pretty heavily. I go from euphoria to panic incredibly quickly. Baby day cannot come soon enough! I can’t wait to just take that deep breath when she’s FINALLY safe in my arms.

How am I feeling physically: This week I have felt SO sick with this cold, coughing my lungs out until my ribs ached. Its been pretty consuming, if I’m being honest. I’ve felt completely out to lunch. My whole body is loosening up, so I’m very sore, regardless of how good I am at following the rules. All kinds of fun things like that. A special fun thing thats started recently is that baby girl will get her foot riiiiight on my ribs and push with all her might, and then slip off at the last minute. Its kind of wild, while its happening, to think that there is a person in there causing the uproar. She’s feisty. This all being said, I’m wondering if she dropped! Today specifically, I noticed some relief in the breathing department, yet my pelvis is MUCH worse than its been. Plus, my handibelt almost doesn’t fit over my hips anymore, and it absolutely fit very recently…

Wish Lish/Purchases: Its so hard to keep track of this stuff week to week! Baby’s little purple soothers came in the mail, which is a big YAY! I also got a parcel of three dresses I ordered from the Gap hoping one would be pretty for the baby party, but they were all a bust :/ To be clear, its not a fancy party at all, but I thought a dress might be a tad more forgiving, considering I’ll be less than two weeks postpartum at the time. Oh well! Found one todaaaaay!!

Pictures: The apps said I’m probably as big as I’m going to get at this point…

I don’t buy it. Comparing it to Cher’s picture from two weeks ago, I don’t know, but I definitely see some dropping taking place.

Anyone else?

How are the kids feeling: Two of the kids have now felt Bambina move! Its hard to coordinate when kids have the attention span for it and she’s moving somewhat consistently, but Laela and Rowan have both now felt her hiccup. It seems to have made her existence even more real, specifically for Laela.

She is SO smitten for her sister these days!

Baby girl gets kisses, rub downs, and is greeted all day, every morning and evening, you name it. The kids also love feeling my tummy and finding the hard spots, and then speculating what they are. In fact, they’re sooooo interested in the hard spots, sometimes what they find is a contraction because they’re pushing and poking at her so much!

Getting to know the baby: Speaking of hiccups, lol, she gets them WAY more now! She has not been a hiccupy baby up to this point, but probably in the last week or two, that has jumped like crazy!! I love them 🙂

The BEST part of being pregnant:This week, I realized just how close baby day is! Its NEXT WEEK! I can look on the 14 day trend on the weather network and see the predicted weather on/around baby day! I have enough underwear to last until baby day! Heck, our milk will still be good after baby day!!! Not that it’ll last that long, because we drink an unreasonable amount of milk over here. But seriously, its COMING. Its officially crunch time!

Favourite thing: Skor McFlurries. Hands down. If you haven’t had one yet, go get one. They’re more decadent than you’d like. Specifically, the McDonalds in Martensville loads them with Skor chunks! And not just Skor bits out of a bag. Real chunks.

My beautiful little miss, you are invited to come absolutely any time! You’ve got another week, give or take, before I’m going to just come and get you finally!! Mommy is impatient, and somewhat in disbelief that you could actually come home and join us soon! You are well loved like the rest of your siblings, but it is possible you are the most anticipated baby I’ve ever carried. As your biggest brother Dekker would say, I can’t wait to give you, like, a billion kisses.

I keep saying that our list is slowly dwindling down, but today we’re kind of crushing it! Which is super handy considering yesterday didn’t pan out to be as productive as we had hoped. BUT, there are lots of cute pictures from along the way, so that will be the theme of todays post 🙂 Starting with yesterday!

We kicked off yesterday with washing all the kids bedding. Does anyone else just hate doing bedding?? I really do, and we don’t do it half as often as we should. But it was on the list to for sure do it before the baby came because, if chores are going to get neglected, they’re going to get super neglected once Bambina comes and I’m even less motivated to get up and do them when I could rather be cuddling. So, bedding. That got washed, and Brady remade everyone’s beds, amidst a few take downs between our little sweeties.

Its good to see Rowan get a win finally, haha! He’s not usually on top of the pile of kids in the wrestling match 🙂

While the kids napped yesterday, Brady and I got some decor stuff started for Bambina’s baby party! Just organizing the fake flowers, mostly, deciding what will go where and what we’ll use for what. It wasn’t exactly hard work, but I’m embarrassed to say that cutting the heads off the flowers gave me blisters inside my hands and fingers, and they hurt like crazy!!!

The flowers are pretty pretty though!

After naptime, we took the kids out for some errands, and unfortunately, things were kind of a bust. We did find a pump for a big water jug to bring to the lake, so that was a small win, but that was literally it. We did, however, have a SUPER CUTE pizza party in the back of the bus!!

Instead of our usual McDonalds, we hit up Little Caesars and braved the greasy mess. And the kids LOVED it!! Brady set them all up eating together while I was in a store, searching desperately for a decent list of things, none of which I actually found. I came out to the van discouraged, but it was had to stay annoyed with that when I was met with this adorable sight!! Our family polished off three of the medium “hot n ready” pizzas, easily. They were super happy.

We drove home, and Laela and I took some selfies before the boys were released from their seats.

I feel the need to clarify that Brady is picking Laela’s nose. Not me, nor Laela.

That was it for yesterday. This morning was pretty wildly productive around here. We didn’t nix a ton off my big list, but we crushed a bunch of little annoying jobs 🙂 We finished off the laundry, including some linens from around the house, and all my stuff that I wash on delicate (read: the stuff I don’t wash nearly often enough.) We tidied some tabletops that tend to carry clutter, reorganized our kids craft area, dusted our bedroom, cleaned the main floor bathroom, aaaaand finally got the ridiculous mess off of our front window from where our homebuilder originally stuck a paper with our house number printed on it. I know, we’ve lived here for two years already, but the stick that the tape left behind was not normal tape sticky stuff, and we’ve never been able to get it off! Not even straight oil loosened it up. But today, I took a dish brush and blue dawn to it, and BOOM – clean!

Brady also washed the kids 🙂

Dekker, too, but he takes his own bath. Once everyone was clean and fresh, they lunched. The littles napped, and the big one legoed. Brady and I actually sat for a bit, and then got showers. We are officially all clean, lol!

Being that I’m still choking my lungs out, my family is off to a birthday party, and I’m hiding at home to avoid passing sickness on to my brand new nephew, and possibly healing my throat by not talking for an entire evening, and maybe even accomplishing a few more things. And then I have a church meeting to attend.

So the day is definitely not done! I have to choose what to do with my empty house. I think I’m going to keep working at all kinds of things, but mostly relaxed, sit down stuff. I have a LOT of things I need to type up on the laptop, so maybe I’ll start there. Wish me luck!!!

Yesterday, I wrote about the few things I’m letting go of from my list. And really, I should have known better. Later that day, Brady informed me that we were going on a date, and Jerilee had offered herself up to babysit the kids. What amazing people we have. I’m constantly blown away by so many of you.

Of course we accepted her offer and she showed up as the kids were settling in to supper. Brady and I trust Jerilee completely with our kids, which goes SUCH a long way! She’s around here enough that the kids know and love her, and she also knows how things tend to run, so we know the kids are still following the rules and and the general routine won’t change too much. Its so wonderful to feel so comfortable with our childcare!

For our date, we opted to eat at Montana’s. Brady was feeling “nice burger” ish, and I was feeling prepared to eat my body weight in pasta baked with cheese. So we did that. It was delicious! From there, we went to the new theatre in Brighton, Landmark Cinemas, to catch a movie. And WOW were we unprepared!

Thing one. The theatre is still very new. Thing two. It was Friday night. Thing three. The movie hadn’t been out long at all. Oh, and thing four is that we didn’t preorder tickets. We got there about 45 minutes before the movie was scheduled to start, and casually went to the ticket thing to buy tickets and choose our seats. There were less than ten left for the movie we wanted to see at the time we wanted to see it. Aaaaand thats how we ended up in the front row for the first time in roughly ten years.

The big pull of this new theatre is the leather seats that recline electronically. They are VERY comfy, and frankly, without them, there was no way Brady and I could’ve seen the entire screen! Thankfully, we could also lift up the arm rest between us so I could somewhat lay on my side, since reclining/laying on my back is virtually impossible these days. I can either lay back, or I can breathe. I choose life!

So, honest answer, we saw “Tag” and didn’t really care for it. We had high hopes, and the whole premise of the movie was SO good! I loved the ending where we got to see real footage from which the movie was based, and I loved the cast, buuut it felt poorly executed to me. Maybe just not our kid of humor?? Either way, though, there were good moments and a handful of laughs, and it was SO nice to just be out, watching a movie with my husband.

We grabbed some ice cream on the drive home for us and Jerilee, and enjoyed a visit with her when we got home. All of a sudden, it was approaching midnight and we parted ways. But myyyyy goodness, what a lovely time we were gifted!

Date night is officially crossed off the list! And not because we compromised and cut it out, but because a loving, generous friend offered us a gift. I am SO grateful!!!

I know some of you find my posts about lists boring, but they make me feel sane and organized. Even in person, seriously, just let me talk lists with you and I will be happy as a clam!

Today, we crossed a small handful of things off my list! I’m also making decisions about some things that I think just won’t happen, and I need to remove from the list anyway. And then I went and rearranged it all!

Firstly, we got Laela and Solly up to date on their vaccines! We were somewhat behind, and I knew we’d forget if we left it until August, and I really wanted Laela to be up to date before starting kindergarten. So that was a win! Brady took the two of them while I went to my prenatal this afternoon 🙂 Dekker was in school, Brady had Solly and Laela, and Ro came with me. It was a cute date. Also off the list is a couple of things I realized were on their twice, haha! Seems insignificant but they still count!! I also have a running list of all that I’m waiting on to come in the mail, and my Vistaprint order came today! Woot! Oh and I put some water bottles with our hospital bag stuff, so I could mark that off.

Some things that aren’t going to happen, I’m deciding to just let go of, and thats ok. An item or two I was hoping to acquire for Bambina are proving especially hard to find, and being that they’re not necessities, I think we’ll just let them go. Also, a date night with Brady. I’m sad to see that opportunity go, but even if we did get organized and make a plan, I’m SO uncomfortable and pathetic to be around, it probably wouldn’t be the nicest outing anyway. Perhaps we’ll “settle” for an extra special home date 🙂 I may even willingly nix my pedicure, but I’m still hopeful I can weasel Jerilee into going with me next week 😉

My lists were shrinking beautifully when I realized I had one little list on the side of them of things that only needed to get done maybe the week before baby comes. And guys, we have next week, and then the week after that is baby week!!! So I rearranged everything from that list into the regular lists of what needs doing/cleaning/buying, etc. And amazingly enough, they’re still pretty short and concise.

The bulk of the list is that I have some bathrooms to clean, some laundry to do, some baking to do, a hospital bag to pack, and some decor to make. The decor could happen after she comes, but I’d love to get it done before if at all possible! And really, guys, thats the big stuff!! Thats it! Oh and I have to return a few things, but its easy to return through the mail!

I feel good about today. We finally got some answers about Brady’s schedule for the next month or so, which clears up a lot of unanswered questions. It feels like things are legitimately coming together! I’m stoked 🙂

Happy Friday, all!

So I don’t know what I did to deserve the throat punch of sickness I got yesterday but I feel SO much better today!! I hid upstairs legitimately all day yesterday, thanks to my hunky husband who hung with the kids all day, and I think that did the trick! Before yesterday, I had some iffy sick days, but was very much on the upswing, until yesterday. I didn’t push anything or really overdo it, but something was angered and I paid!!!

Thankfully, today has been considerably better! I took Dekker to and from school, I wore real clothes and cared about my hygiene to an extent, and we even went out and ran more errands. My gosh, its CRAZY how much there is to do these days!! We were in the city Monday and Tuesday, and will be again Friday and Saturday. Goodness!!! There’s never a shortage of things to do!

Dekker was super excited for pirate day today, and of course I forgot to take a picture of him 🙁 Fail. But the rest of us got some serious grocery shopping on at both Superstore and Costco!

Anyone else change their kid in the back hatch? Conveniently, this was at our first stop, so there was still room back there!

Just trying on shorts in the middle of Superstore, no big deal.

We did all of our grocery shopping and made it back to town to unload everything. Except in that moment, both little boys had fallen asleep. It was definitely too late to lay them down at home for real naps, so instead, we drove to a nearby town for McFlurries. Because YUM! Its SO hot today!

We eventually made our way home and unloaded/put away all the groceries. We picked up the mail and went through that. We picked Dekker up. We got aaaaall the things done. I even added a few of our purchases to my pile of hospital bag stuff that is slowly coming together. But as usual, I’ll talk more about that on Monday’s series post.

Stay cool these days, friends! Don’t overdo it out there! If you do decide to venture out, stop by for some cold brewed coffee! We’re trying to perfect our blend for Bambina’s party and would love some input! We like it strong but don’t want to blow anyone away, haha! This is a legitimate invite!

Have I mentioned? Our family just had a super mild cold run through us. Nothing too crazy. A few snotty days, one day of dry coughing maximum, etc. Super relaxed. I was actually completely ok with it, because rather now than over baby day. Even I got it, and it took a few days longer to leave me, for obvious reasons. One day, Bambina will give me back my immune system, but until then, I’ll just hang on to colds a little longer.

I had my few days of sickness, and had been feeling a noticeable upswing over the last few days. I felt back to normal, save for a few coughing spells here and there. Well, yesterday, for whatever reason, my cold took a HUGE swoop down and I am completely beside myself, sick as a dog. My ribs are aching so badly from all the coughing, my throat obviously hurts, my neck is tight and I’m so so sweaty, though not fevered. My stomach is all crampy, and I’m burping like a maniac because of all the air I’m taking in from coughing to the point of gagging. I can’t speak above a whisper. When I roll over in bed, and that slight movement puts a teeny bit of pressure really anywhere, I gag like crazy trying to make the pressure go away.

I used the example of rolling over in bed because I literally have not left my room once today. It is both a huge relief and bummer all at once. I’m SO thankful that Brady has let me just hole up and try to heal for the day. I really hope I do.

I ate some lunch, so thats something, but I know I’m wildly dehydrated. Yet, I’m coughing so hard, to the point of constantly peeing a little. Yup, glamorous, I know. Thank goodness for these absorbent underwear I bought for postpartum healing, right?? Been living in those suckers! I wish I didn’t need them, but I’m thankful to have them.

We’ll see how the rest of the day goes. I want to say a soak will help, but I hacked through the entire soak last night, and it brought NO relief. I’ve exhausted my options of what I’m allowed to take and how to help myself, and am feeling a touch helpless. Wish me luck for a better night and some improvement tomorrow! I HAVE to kick this this sooner than later!

Aaaaand rant over!

We’ve had a couple of cute days around here that I figured I’d share with you guys 🙂 Unfortunately, Dekker being at school means he’s not in too many of the stories, but hopefully everyone understands! We also suuuuuper love him!

Brady has been home, so we’ve been doing a bit of running around and filling our days with jobs around the house, and errands that are SO much easier to run with another adult.

Yesterday, we spent all morning in the city, running in and out of a handful of places, getting me to my last  pre-baby physio appointment, buying material for a little project, getting Dekker a few more tshirts for summer, etc. It was busy, but the kids were cute and pretty cooperative!

Brady had to run into a grocery store right at the end for milk (Is it just us, or is everyone always out of milk?!)  and Laela and I played with the leftover fries from lunch.

When we got back home, the little boys had both slept in the van, so nap time was shot. Brady took the littles out with him while he worked on a project in the garage so they could bike on the street, play in the garage, etc. They LOVED it, until they didn’t anymore. The noise of the saw eventually got to a couple of them, and they came in and hung out with me while I blogged and rested in bed. Rowan felt the baby move for the first time!! I have it on video, but videos are SUCH a pain to get onto the blog (if only it were as easy as pictures!) so if you’d like to see it, just let me know and I’ll send it around or throw it on Facebook 🙂 It was VERY sweet, anyway.

He was blown away that she could get the hiccups while she was still in my tummy! It was so cute to see him so excited.

We ate a ridiculously yummy supper that was given to us by neighbours! They were just married on the weekend and have a ton of leftover food from their wedding, and we were more than happy to take some of it off their hands, haha!

My gosh, it was SO yummy! Every single thing. I would happily just sit with one of these trays on my lap and dig in if not for the rest of my family who in fact also eat.

Another one of our loving neighbours SO sweetly bought us some flowers for our front step planter, and Laela even asked to have her preschool beans planted in her backyard garden! So we spent a bit of time with them, digging in the dirt, planting and watering, and somewhat manhandling their garden :/ Sorry, guys!!!

It was a solidly full day, and the kids fell asleep quick. Brady and I realized yesterday, however, that we had left a few things in the city that we need, so we decided on a shorter trip in for the morning.

And that was this morning! We all managed to be ready and dressed in time to take Dekker to school together, and then we headed into the city once again. Look at this little sweetie, rocking her romper!

She was so sweet!!

We got some lumber that we missed the other day, hit Value Village for a couple of things, and went to Starbucks to try the brand new refresher!

Its SO pretty, and way more purple than the picture shows! Also yummy 🙂

And home we went! Brady, once again, has the kids in the garage while he’s working on the project, and I’m taking a load off, blogging, and putting my feet up. As is Bambina, whose feet are literally underneath my ribs this very moment. She’s lucky I love her so much.

We’ll see what the afternoon holds, but I hope for a solid mix of relaxation and productivity! Our to-do list is dwindling, but I have a little list on the side that is things that only really need doing the week before baby week. Aaaaand that’s next week!! WOW! So we sort of need to crush this list before too long!

Eek! I’ve never been so excited to get work done!

ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS!!!! That feels absolutely crazy! We are OFFICIALLY full term!!! 😭 I feel SO prepared in so many ways, with her cradle all ready, bottles washed, clothes laundered, etc. Yet I still haven’t packed a hospital bag for myself or Bambina, nor has Brady. I swear, its like I’ve NEVER packed one before! How in the world do people pack that thing in advance?? I wear the clothes I want to bring! I brush my teeth with the toothbrush I’ll pack! We use the electronics daily that we’ll bring to the hospital! How in the world do people pack a hospital bag?? I have a list, but literally ALL I can pack off of it is a pair of socks and chapstick. I can’t even pack Bambina’s things because some of it will depend on the weather. Maybe I have some sample sized toiletries kicking around that I could use instead of my everyday stuff….. 🤔

Size Comparison: Apparently the baby is the size of a skunk…. 😒 Or a BABY! I’d love to ballpark the baby’s size this week but really, while they’ve all been big, they haven’t all been the same. Dekker was over 10 lbs and he was two days past his due date. Solly was about the same size and was eight days before. So really, who knows. Not I!

Appointments: Oh my gosh, WHAT a debacle!!! Lol! TOTAL pregnancy brain moment at my appointment on Friday! I got there a bit early, as I try to do. My appointments are always at 1:30pm, and I tend to get there 15 minutes early. I went to the desk and greeted the receptionist. We’ve known her since we had Dekker, as she’s worked at both clinics my doctor has in that time. When I got to her, she commented something along the lines of “You’re here! Is everything ok?” I was a bit lost, and said everything was fine. She went on to tell me that my appointment was at 11:15 this morning 😮 WHAT?! They’re never in the morning! But then I remembered 🤦‍♀️ At my appointment LAST week, someone new had walked me back to the exam room, and she had presented me with a paper listing all of my upcoming appointments. I noticed that one or two had changed times, and she had added a couple of appointments in there that I knew I wouldn’t need. I figured I’d run it by someone familiar before marking it down in my own information. Aaaaand then I forgot. 😔 I tried to be super understanding and asked if I was out of luck. I took all the responsibility, and expected to go home. She said she’d call back and ask Dr. Guselle if I could still be seen. As she was waiting for the call to go through, Dr. Guselle showed up at the front desk. She saw me and burst out laughing right away. She told me they were surprised when I missed my morning appointment, as I’m not a flaky patient and try hard to be on time. Their first thought was that I was in labour! She called the hospital, but I wasn’t there. She and my student doctor settled on “She probably forgot, and she’ll come for 1:30.” And that is exactly what happened!! I can’t believe no one called me or anything!! But they were all SO understanding and we all just had  good laugh. So, that aside, I was allowed to stay and see my student doctor right away. He was also totally understand and made up some bizarre explanation that made it sound like I was early 😂 I have great health care providers. Beyond that whole debacle of even getting seen, I’ve gained one pound, my swab from the other week was negative (woot!) and baby remains in the optimal position for delivery! Can’t complain about that!

How am I feeling emotionally: We are in the stretch before delivery where baby’s heart rate starts dropping juuust a touch, and its freaking me out more than usual this time around, for obvious reasons :/ For this reason and many others, I’ve caught myself saying something I NEVER thought I’d say! I would give up my beautiful, scheduled, controlled induction and accept a scary, fast, unmedicated, unplanned “Laela” delivery if it meant I could have Bambina today. I’m so ready, and like I said last week, I’m so tired of worrying. I just want her. No more of this waiting and wondering business.

How am I feeling physically: I am feeling LARGE and IN CHARGE. I feel overdue. My body is resorting to hibernation mode. I nap most days, almost always by accident. My few food aversions are back, so coffee is tricky, and eggs are risky. I’m often nauseous, and my bowels are iffy. Don’t get me wrong. I couldn’t be more happy to be pregnant!! But, in all honesty, I’m in a constant state of discomfort at this point. Take sitting, for instance. I can’t lean back because I can’t breathe. I can’t lean to one side or another because my pelvis crunches out of place. And I can try to lean forward but she’s still so high up that its next to impossible. Oh and sitting straight up is HARD with the lack of core muscles. Sooooo thats a fun thing to figure out.

Wish Lish/Purchases: We have a few things coming, yup! We ordered that new cradle mattress a while ago, and it was shipping from the UK with no way to track it. We were told it could come anytime between June 16-July 22. The old mattress we have in our cradle is ok and everything, just old and has been vomited on a LOT, so it would be useable if the new one didn’t come in time. Well, it did! It magically showed up on June 15th!! So we have that, along with surprisingly soft little pink sheets. Perfect!! We also found a way to order the soothers we’ve been wanting, so thats a win too! They’re on their way, just not here yet. There may be more I’m forgetting…

Pictures: My dear friend and photographer has suffered a HUGE hit recently, losing a second family member in a short period of time 💔 SO awful! Please send some prayers her way, if you think of it. That being said, these things come MILES before a belly picture! So my very sophisticated shot from the bathroom mirror will have to do! 

I know. I’m a tank. There is a LOT of baby in there. But I’m so thankful that she continues to grow.

How are the kids feeling: Laela has been asking a lot of details about how babies grow. Lately, she’s been talking about how the baby eats. She understands that baby has a long belly cord (she calls it a rope) thats attached to a big hunk that feeds her. We’ve explained that Bambina gets aaaaall the good things I eat, aaaaall the vitamins, etc. If I eat too much bad stuff, that would be unhealthy for her, too, so we’re careful not to have too many treats, but that the baby is healthy and eating lots. She asked me the other day if Bambina likes bananas 🙂 I told her I thought she would eventually, but probably doesn’t recognize what a banana tastes like just yet. More conversations about Bambina not eating food with her mouth just yet. Disappointment that Laela won’t be able to feed her sticky buns at the lake. My favorite question was whether or not Bambina “has” to eat crusts 🥪 Lol! The things that make life hard when you’re little 😉 SO many questions! 

Getting to know the baby: I know we all have different experienced in family building, so please don’t fault me when I say things like this, but I feel like its been AGES since I’ve had a new baby! I think getting to know Bambina is going to be a whole new ballgame!! I’m confident it’ll all come back in the blink of an eye, but I am SO enjoying looking back at baby pictures and videos of my children, and remembering how AMAZING those little stages are, and how EXCITING it is to watch them change and grow! And I feel like I’ve learned so much in the recent past, and will do a handful of things differently to encourage their development straight out of the gate. Not too much, but a bit 🙂 Basically, this category today is less about speculations about her and more about how excited I am to have the opportunity to get to know her at all. I am SO fortunate. 

The BEST part of being pregnant: I LOVE THAT I’M FULL TERM! That feels victorious! I know its not over yet. The “hopefullys” and “what ifs” aren’t gone yet, but its coming! It finally feels like crunch time, and I’m SO thankful to have reached this point!

Favourite thing: I can pretty safely say my favorite thing this week is ice cream sandwiches! Even just the no name ones are sooooo good! I have to really limit myself to ONE when I have dessert because I could easily wolf down that whole box!

Folks, I feel like we are in the final stretch. My big ominous list is mostly taken care of. Much of the cleaning is done. I literally have ONE more thing to buy. I’m waiting for a few things to come in the mail. I have a bit of decor to make for her party. Have to pack hospital bags. Maybe bake something. And I’m pretty determined to get a pedicure in there. But guys, she’s coming. SOON! I’m beside myself with excitement and joy and sorrow and fear and readiness and newbiness and just ALL the emotions! The anticipation is HUGE!! Lucky for me, I have a handful of things to keep busy with until then 😉

But seriously, help me know how in the world you packed a hospital bag!! Apparently its been a while since I packed mine! What are your “ride or die” items for staying at the hospital? Mine are hair ties and chapstick, haha! What can I NOT forget?

I like to think I do my fair share of bragging Brady up on the regular, so I doubt any of you are left wondering if he is or isn’t a great dad. He is, indeed, the most excellent father to our children. I am SO thrilled with the man I watched him transform into on the day Dekker was born. BOOM. He was a DAD, and he was all for it! Full disclosure. Neither he nor I had ever changed a diaper before we had children. Neither of us had cared much for babysitting, either. We were complete and total newbs. And wow, how our life has changed! I believe Brady changed just about every single diaper that Dekker produced in the hospital. He wasn’t afraid when Dekker would choke a bit of the leftover mucus he was carrying from delivery. He was SO natural. I never once had to try to convince him to have more kids. Brady is 110% on board to having our home positively teeming with kids!

The kids and I bought him this shirt for Father’s Day, though he would never have bought it for himself, and you’ll likely never see him wear it out in public.

And its true, you know. He is truly the BEST. He decided to make everyone a yummy breakfast, himself, of egg in a holes. And he invited the kids to help, which resulted in a lot of ripped bread and a bit of a mess.

He is a patient, loving father. Yet on top of that, he has not just chosen our kids. He is also an incredibly warm, attentive husband to me, his blessed wife. What a wonderful man he is to his entire family. We are so fortunate.

I love you, Brady 💙 I love you all the way! We all do. Myself, Dekker, Laela, Rowan, Solomon, and our littlest Miss. Are you the best. Dad. Ever.