Pictures of Lindsay!!!

Well I don't have a lot of time to post so I will just post pictures for now. I will share her birth story as time allows me. Life has resumed to normal since with your fourth life goes on. Lindsay has been to the grocery store, to Mallory's open house and performance, and will go to a soccer game this weekend. So even though she is a newborn I still have to take my other kids to their activities.

She has been sleeping great at nighttime. She was doing about 4 hours but now she is doing 3 which is still doable so I feel pretty good on the sleeping side. If I can get one short nap in throughout the day I am set. So not too grouchy from a sleeping perspective.

Mallory cutting the cord










My photographer/friend/Nathan helper- she had a lot of jobs that night.






Mallory with my glasses on.

Still here

Well I have been in better spirits lately. My pelvic pain has decrease, I don't know if it was the chiropractic adjustments or just having the baby move down but it rarely bugs me now. My restless leg is still around but I actually had a few days where it did not occur. So that was a great relief. It is happening less later in the night and more around 8 to 10, which is doable. I have been sleeping better without having the late night restless leg or my pelvic pain and trying to find a comfortable position. So that has helped as well. I finally measured my girth and it is 41 inches. I never remembered to do that with my other pregnancies so it was fun to see how wide I actually measure.

I have finally gotten the baby's clothes washed and ready. I am waiting until tomorrow to get the pack-n-play out since we do not have anyway to put it right now. We are suppose to move the bed into our new room tomorrow. So once we get the bed in there we can set up the pack-n-play in the closet. The baby currently does not have a room so we are waiting for our old master bedroom to become Nathan's then Nathan' old room will become the baby's. So the pack-n-play will be fine for now. It will probably end up sleeping with me anyway, so I am not too concerned.


Here is a picture of my ripped sheets as a result of crazy restless leg. You knew I would take a picture.

House progress


Upstairs hall

Upstairs bedroom

Upstairs bedroom with paint

Bathroom tile


Mudroom

Big belly in new room

We visited our newest addition to our extended family on Presidents day-Banjo. He was too cute and so much fun. The kids loved playing with him. They wore him out.





Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-carrying all of my pregnancies past 37 weeks.
-cleaning old baby clothes-too cute how small they are
-Moving out of our old cramped room into our new master suite
-my last few days/weeks with the kids before the new one is born

Officially irritated

OK so I am officially irritated. It is currently 12:55 am. on Wednesday morning and my restless leg(s) are driving me nuts. I went to bed around 11 and it is still bugging me. I walked around about a half an hour ago and it is still with me. I am irritated and mad because I sat on the couch with D from about 8 to 10 and nothing happened. Even when I was reading my book before bed I thought that maybe it would not happen tonight but it did. I am going to work tomorrow and that is never fun because being tired at work and looking at a computer screen or going to a meeting is not a good mix. It is similar to my lack of long distance driving abiliities, doing something monotonous is not good and I have a tendency to get very sleepy. Not because I am not interested or lack motivation it is simply a trance that seems to overcome me and when I have to stay still, read or stare at something for a long time I get very sleepy. It has always been like that. So when I have lots of interrupted sleep over several nights before I have to go to work makes me mad because it becomes a struggle for me to stay focused and not get over sleepy at work. I actually had a few days last week where the restless leg did not bother me as much. I don't know why but it just did, I keep trying to find the perfect solution for when it does and does not occur but it is still a mystery.

The house addition is going along smoothly. The hardwood floors are in the upstairs and the tile person is working this week. I think that the goal is to get tile in this week and have the hardwood floors finished next week, and final painting details the next week. So that would put us in our new master bedroom the last week in February. Which would be great for the baby since we really don't have much room in our current reduced room now for even a pack-n-play. I think then they will move onto the downstairs and finish that space. So they are really working hard and I hope that the timeline stays on schedule.

I went to my first chiropractor visit last week. I made an appointment mostly because I my friend in Knoxville has somewhat fussy babies and she took her daughter to a chiropractor during her first few months and noticed that she was relaxed more after the visit. She still does not know if it helped or not but I thought it cannot hurt if our baby is the same way why not try it. So I made an appointment because I wanted to get to know the doctor first then see if I wanted to take our baby. So I don't really have any uncomfortable body complaints about this pregnancy, except for the restless leg, but the front of my pelvis constantly hurts. I just started hurting the last month and with my other pregnancy's during the end of the pregnancy. It just feels like the baby is sitting on my pelvic bone where the come together in the front. So it hurts when I lay down, sit, walk, etc. I don't know what arthritis feels like but this may be it. When you press on the bones it feels bruised. So anyway, it is tolerable but sometimes I end up taking Tylenol because it is so constant that it starts to annoy me as well. Anyway, so I went on Tuesday and he said one of my hips was higher the the other and he adjusted that. I went back on Thursday and he did the same thing and then cracked my entire spine. Well I did not really feel any better until Friday and especially on Saturday. I did not feel the constant pain at all. It was actually nice. Well it kind of came back Sunday and Monday and today I went swimming and it felt better but is back tonight. So I don't know if I will go back or not. I think it might have helped but how many times do I have to go? It is kind of a chaotic practice with a lot of people getting adjusted at once so I did not get a chance to talk to him so we will see. I would much rather "cure" my restless leg than my pelvic pain. Like I said it is constant but I can ignore it.

Well those are my gripes for today. I am going to try to go to sleep again.

Back from NYC

D and I had a great time in NYC. It was a mini vacation for us for our birthday's and we enjoyed every minute of it. Our first flight on Friday was canceled so we had to leave about 3 hours later. We got to our hotel about 4 and we relaxed and enjoyed our alone time. We finally set out for dinner. We walked around and found a great place to eat. It was neat because it kind of looked like a mobster place. The food was cooked downstairs, I guess to save space, but the basement looked like it might have secret doors and hideaways. But we had fun and enjoyed the different atmosphere. Saturday we slept in then got out and walked around. We went to St. Patricks Cathedral. It was simply amazing. I loved all the detail and craftsmanship put into that church. It would have been great to be alive when the church was constructed. I also would have loved to get an official tour to learn more about the history. We went to Rockefeller plaza and saw where the Today Show is and the skating rink. We then walked to Times Square. It was amazing to see all the people and all the TV screens. Very overwhelming and chaotic at the same time. It was neat to see but great to get away from all the action as well. We found a place to eat lunch and to warm up. It was really cold while we were there but it did not stop us. In the afternoon we walked in central park. It was amazing how quiet it was and it truly was very pretty with the snow and the carriage rides. It would have been great to run together through the park but we did not have that option since it was snowy and icy and I am very pregnant. It was great top walk through the park and that was my favorite part. That night we went to a great Italian restaurant and then saw Chicago. It was a great show and our seats were great. We were in the third row from the front and we were able to experience the show fully. We unfortunately had to leave early Sunday morning so we did not get to experience much more. We agreed that we need to go back a couple more times to enjoy more parts of NYC. I wish I brought my camera, but I did not want to take my large camera. So I do not have any pictures but we still have the memories.

It was great to get back to the kids. Julianne started basketball lessons with the local university. She had a great time and ended up being the other child so she basically got a one on one coaching lesson. So that was great.

The next day we celebrated D's birthday with a homemade cake and lots of singing.




Some sledding pictures.






Sledding ice burn.

Am I manic

Well my restless leg syndrome is obviously against me. Instead of nicely occurring between the hours of 8 to 10 at night this past week it occurred from about 10:30 to 1:00 ish and in full force. On Friday morning, as I was getting ready for work, I was looking at my sheets and noticed that there was a hole in my sheets at my feet. Granted we just put new sheets on Friday before we left for NY so I had only slept in the bed for 5 nights. D saw it and started getting concerned and said that I was manic. He was joking of course but that is how bad it gets. It is not as bad if it occurs between 8 to 10 at night because I can get up and move around but who wants to get up at 12 and walk around a cold house in your pajamas. I am tired of it and nothing is working. Additionally, the morning is the most calm period but having other obligations and being a morning person does not allow me to make up that sleep in the morning. Thankfully I only have a few more weeks, hopefully, and it will substantially subside. So I am completely tired and sleep does not feel like a pleasant activity anymore. I just dread it and wait for it to go away so that I can really sleep. It even occurs if I try to take an afternoon nap. At least I am getting ready for the sleep deprivation now. At this point I would rather be woken up by a crying hungry baby every 2 to 3 hours then try to go to bed only to have to move my legs every 20 seconds.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-this is a venting post so I am not very thankful right now.
-a temporary condition, is all I can say.

Nathan's belated birthday update

My sweet young son turned four a few weeks ago. He was so excited and kept asking when his party was going to happen. We had our family over and he really loved the attention and all his new gifts, like he needed anymore gifts. I cannot believe that he is four. It just seems like yesterday that he was a baby and now he is a big boy. He is pretty outgoing, talkative, and very snuggly and wants to lay in bed with me and read or play the DS a lot of the times. I love spending our Monday and Tuesday's together. We have such a great time and love to hang out with each other. I am hoping that when the baby comes he will not feel left out but I am sure that some of that will occur. I am hoping that since he is older he will experience it differently than the other kids. So we will see. I know that there will be an adjustment period and our relationship will change but hopefully it will be for the better.



He really wanted a basketball or soccer cake but he got this one. He was happy with his moms lack of artistic cake skills.








He loved his new punching bag. He still plays with it and it is ironic that it is Michigan since it give him even more motivation to "destroy it".

The following are house reconstruction pictures from a few weeks ago.






These are current day pictures. The electrical, plumbing and heating and cooling have been installed and next week we are moving onto insulation and hopefully drywall after that.


Master bathroom

Master bedroom and bath

First floor expansion.

Another view of first floor expansion.


Belly shot



Kids decorating my birthday cake.


Everyone singing. So sweet.

I just have to vent for a few minutes about being pregnant. I generally love be pregnant and I have very few issues or problems. Yoga, swimming and keeping in shape keep me from having few aches and pains. I love the opportunity to have the experience of carrying children and know that it is a short term experience. I will miss it when the baby is out and the responsibility kicks in. What I am frustrated with is my restless leg syndrome. It has gotten worse with each pregnancy and I am tired of trying to lay down only to have my legs feel like they need to move. So I have to get up and move around when I really want to relax and stay in bed or on the couch. It happens almost every night and sometimes when I relax in the afternoon. When I am not pregnant it happens maybe once or twice a week and is somewhat tolerable. It is affecting my sleep and I become more irritated when it occurs. So I am looking forward to not expecting it to happen every night.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-my family
-being able to be pregnant and carry 3 happy kids (soon to be 4).
-Having the opportunity to add onto our house.