Sunday, February 24

Baby Shower!



Today was my baby shower for baby #5.  It was supposed to snow pretty heavily, but things turned around and the ground was too warm or something and though it snowed pretty much for 24 hours nothing materialized on the ground.  I'm so glad because I hate driving in the snow.

Anyhow, the shower itself was nice and lowkey.   There were about 25 people there- mostly high school & college friends plus a few of my mom's friends, relatives, and the family I used to babysit for. An eclectic mix, but it worked.

We didn't really "need" anything so I mostly registered for updates of things we had.  New washcloths, a new bather seat, pump supplies, etc.  It was more about seeing people that I never see because we're so busy.  Like I said, it was nice.  And another reminder of who matters and who we can count on.

Where am I going with this?  All of my in-laws were invited.  Of those that were invited?  ZERO came.  ZERO.  Seriously?  Well, Johnny's family on his dad's side had an excuse-- one in in New Hampshire and they did really get snow that blocked her from leaving the house.  And his other cousin and his aunt were both in Virginia.  Together they chipped in and bought the new stroller we wanted.  And the New Hampshire cousin wrote my mom an apologetic email explaining the circumstances.

But the rest of Johnny's family on his mom's side?  His mom didn't come.  I already know that they (his parents) don't really like me.  (I'm too quiet, I don't appreciate their invasive & sometimes personal questioning) They never have, but this kind of drives up the tension for me a bit more.  None of his aunts or cousins came either.  And I feel like none of them can really blame the weather because it wasn't that bad and there was nothing taken off the registry that we didn't get, so it doesn't seem like anyone had purchased a gift and then didn't make it.  Though, yes, I know they don't have to buy off the registry.  Anywho.  It was just a bit of a kick.   I guess the point is that while I didn't need them there to have a good time (it was still fabulous), it kind of felt like it said a lot by them not being there.

I am going to really reserve judgement until Johnny can talk to his mom and see what happened or why she didn't come.  I suspect the reasons are that she got the invite late (it went out in the 2nd mailing due to stamps, but the rest of her family got the invites before her and she was upset) and that my mom didn't include her in the process (it was my mom's thing... if this is the reason then she needs to get over it, right?) so it was her way of showing how she felt.  But we'll see.

And I have zero pictures so I'm really hoping my mom and sister-in-laws took some good ones!

And since I keep promising pictures here are a few randoms...


How cute is he?  And the alligator hat cracks me up!



I think this is where Syd decided she was ready to take on the world.
All while wearing socks as gloves.  :)


Zo-bers showing off her cheeeeeeese face.


And my three loves all together.




Monday, February 18

What do I need?

A general plea to everyone.

This is the first time I'm really expecting to head to the hospital and have a baby and bring it home with me.  Soooo... what do I need?  I started to make a list tonight, but I'm still kind of at a loss.  I think it's more the stuff I need for the baby.  (Though I'm a little clueless for me... I'll be in the hospital for 4 days post section)  Do I bring clothes for every day?  (In the NICU clothes don't get put on until IVs are out and then they supply plain onesies)  Do I need diapers?

I find this all a little funny seeing as I've had 4 kids!

Wednesday, February 13

Less than 7 weeks until Baby Time!

I've been meaning to update for awhile, but I can't appear to be doing anything even remotely interesting with the kiddos around and by the time they're in bed I've lost all ambition to update.  :)

This past weekend we got a lot of snow- somewhere around 3 feet in less than 24 hours with drifts over 5 feet.  We were spoiled last year with basically no snow so it wasn't much fun.  The kids are having a ball now that it's melting a little.  When it was up so high it was just too frustrating for them to even try walking.  We were fortunate and didn't lose power or have any damage.  My parents were stuck without power for a few days & their house was in the 30's.  Luckily they have a woodstove so they huddled around that for a few days.  Of course they were offered warmed locations, but they were trying to prevent any pipes freezing.  The best part about the snow is the naps that it causes!

Baby Girl Henry is 32 weeks 4 days today.  I had my 32 week check today and everything was looking perfect.  I signed all my consent forms so now we just hang around like a normal pregnant person.  Mostly.  :)  I had a high risk appt last week which revealed a 4lb 6oz baby at only 31 weeks 2 days.  (!!!)  This is crazy because the girls were only 4lbs 10oz at 34 weeks 2 days.  Though I do know not to set too much store by the estimates.  They always seem to be off a bit.  But point because, a high (estimated) weight combined with a slightly-excessive amount of fluid had the high risk practice scratching their heads and asking about my sugar test.

Then the ultrasound also revealed a 2 vessel cord-- which is incredibly puzzling to all because I've been having at least bi-weekly ultrasounds since 14 weeks and never was a 2 vessel cord noted.  Or not noted really because they can't find evidence in my notes of ever noting a 3 vessel cord (what you're supposed to have).  So that really has them scratching their heads, but that this point it's kind of a non-issue because while they'd really follow it if it was noted at 20 weeks to follow for bladder/kidney/size issues, I've never presented any of those issues so whether or not it was always a 2 vessel cord everything has been fine anyways.   Dr. K wants to set me up for one last ultrasound in a few weeks just to be sure, but really there's not much that worrying will do.

And with less than 7 weeks until this one enters the world (!!!!) I'm left with the reality that I haven't done a SINGLE THING to prepare.  Last night I was laying in bed and it occurred to me that I don't even have a place to store clothes right now!  :)  We'll be using the old carseats that we had for the boys.  Colby used his for 10 months and really the 2nd one never even got used (they were too big for the girls when they came home as 4lb peanuts).  We're going to use a Rock n Play or Pack n Play for sleep in the beginning.  After that either the girls will be in beds (Zoe can get out of her crib... but doesn't seem to know that she can do it... if that makes sense) & we'll use one of those cribs or we can always get Colby's down from the attic.

Other than that... we don't really have clothes because of size-timing.  The girls weren't in newborn clothes until the summer (July-ish) and Colby wasn't in newborn clothing until October/November.  We're doing cloth diapers this time and I have those picked out and know what I want.  What else do we need besides love?  :)  Oh!  A name!  We have a girls name picked out... however, if we end up with a boy we're going to be calling it "Baby Girl Henry" forever just like Colby wants.  (Actually, I think he has moved on to "Jake" because of Jake and the Neverland Pirates)

My mom's throwing a shower for me in a few weeks.  I'm super excited.  We had a shower for Colby, but even though it was so appreciated it was just rough.  At the time of the shower I was still 3 weeks from my due late, but Colby was already 2 months old and Connor was gone and it was just brutal.  With the girls we didn't do anything.  I was hoping for a shower (secretly) because we need so much, but that pregnancy turned into "keep them in as long as possible" like with the boys so celebrating wasn't in the cards.  And this time I'm pretty sure that things will just be right.  (Dr. K was back to his cheery- 'We're going to make it to section date!'-self that I love.)

So that's {baby} life in a nutshell kind of.  I have belly pictures and ultrasound pictures and other pictures I'd love to post, but even adding pictures is a monumental feat lately!