As promised...

...there are "all three of us" as Kyle would correct me if I mistakenly referred to "just the two of us in that picture". Today we went to the safety fair on the campus of one of the local hospitals here in Tucson and it was great! We had the car seats checked to make sure we've been installing them correctly (Kevin got 5 stars for his "welded to the seat" installs from the car seat techs). Kyle is on the verge of reaching the weight limit for using the 5 pt. harness in his current car seat, which makes me sad. I want him in the 5 pt. harness longer, but I don't see any new car seat purchases in our future. They were also doing bike helmet fittings that included a free helmet, and passing out booster seats! Kyle was afraid of all the mascots wandering around, from the Chick fil a cow to the hospitals trademark turtle. He claims he wants to go to Disneyland, but I have a feeling it would be a little traumatic at this point still!

We had a lovely dinner out with some neighbors who have a little girl the same age as Kyle; it was so much fun and the kids did great! Kevin continues to be busy, which probably won't change for awhile and I'm feeling about the same as always. Micah continues to remind me he is still alive and kicking (yea!).

28 weeks

Well, it's official: we are in the third trimester. I feel more and more like a house everyday, which, I guess in some ways I am a living house for this little guy. I had Kevin take the first belly shot of this pregnancy yesterday, because I knew I would never wear that shirt again, until after Micah arrived, lol. I was hoping to post it for you, but alas, it has yet to make it off the camera, so you will have to wait. Sleeping is becoming more of a chore, even with my nightly unisom and b6, but naps seem to come easier, so who knows. I feel like there is more and more I want to get done, but I need to take it slower and slower now, lol. There is something about the impending birth of your child that makes you want everything just right.

We did make our one and only big ticket purchase for Micah's arrival: that fancy stroller I've been alluding to! I found one on craigslist in Phoenix and just happened to be the first person to take a look at it. Of course, it is now sitting in our TV room. It is only 7 months old, but man, that mom must have let her kids live in it! I vacuumed, scrubbed, and polished for over an hour to get it to my level of acceptance, but it was all so worth it. We have made a big deal about referring to it as Kyle and Micah's stroller and Kyle now tells everyone who asks about his new stroller that it is his and Micah's new stroller. Kyle often feels an intense possessiveness of his strollers, which makes it hard to sell them when we move new ones in, and he was not about to let Micah touch his Maclaren Triumph, which we've been using for the past year. I'm still trying to figure out how to sell the Triumph and our Burley bike trailer from under his nose without it traumatizing him. Our new stroller is the Phil & Ted Sport Buggy V2 with doubles kit in blue camo, if you are curious.

Kyle has been increasingly interactive with Micah the last week or so. Micah always gets a kiss and hug good morning and good night, in addition to songs, and, on occasion, prayers. This morning he was hugging my belly and said "Micah's such a good brother", lol! Easy to say when he's still inside mommy! He had his ear up to my belly and said Micah was crying, so I asked if he wanted to sing him a song and he said yes. I started with the good morning song, then Kyle said he was still crying and we needed to sing rock a bye baby. It's totally cute and wonderful and eye opening to see this pregnancy through Kyle's eyes.

It's late and I'm exhausted...here's praying that sleep will come!

Happy Birthday Kevin

Can you guess where we celebrated Kevin's birthday? It's the only place in Casa Grande where you can watch a game without sitting at the bar...The grandkids/cousins did not mind at all!

Kevin turned 27 yesterday. My birthdays don't jolt me as much as Kev's remind me how the years have passed; he was 21 when we got married: TWENTY-ONE. Maybe it's because I've already been the ages he's beginning. I'm just excited to have Micah shy of my 30th birthday, lol! I think we all had a really good day yesterday, seeing family, enjoying each others company, watching the Wildcats win! I'm really excited for Kevin this year, for all the things he's finishing up and starting new, for all the open doors he'll be walking through. He continues to excel above and beyond my expectations as a husband, father, and friend.

Happy Birthday honey, and may you continue to be blessed in all that you do!

Appointment update

Guess who's head down?!?! Yep, I was told this morning that Micah is now head down and that is a huge relief. Heartbeat sounded strong and my last medical test of the pregnancy will happen in 2 weeks: the glucose test. We are just shy of our third trimester, which means appointments every 3 weeks and some paperwork to fill out (birth plan, hospital registration just in case we get transferred, birth certificate stuff, etc...). I'm allowed to ease back in to working out, but have to stop again if I start contracting. I think that's about it! Have a great week...I know I will with all this good news!

Friends

Kyle has a lot of great friends here in Tucson and this will be one of our truly great losses when we move, so I've been snapping up pictures of him w/his friends when I remember:

His friend H is the perpetual princess...almost always in a Disney princess costume when we see her!

Of course, Rose and Kyle have practically grown up together these past couple years.

Kyle's friend G is always up for some rough and tumble play!

Your whole perspective changes...

...when you have angel babies. Tomorrow is the due date of our second angel baby, the second baby we lost to miscarriage last year. It's hard not to think we should be a family of six this year, lol, after all that's been said and done. Kyle often asks us what his sister's name will be, thinking there is more than one baby in mommy's tummy, lol. Being pregnant is the hardest 9-10 months of my life; I don't know how to explain it, but it's this combination of physical, emotional, and psychological drain that just does me in. I never feel worse, than when I'm pregnant.

We thought we'd be fostering right now, on the community adoption list. We weren't planning on being pregnant this spring. After the two miscarriages last year, I didn't even want to risk getting pregnant again because I knew I couldn't take the physical and emotional turmoil of losing another baby. In October I was anxious to sign up for a bike race and a 5K I wanted to compete in later this year. Kevin told me to wait, just in case, we might be pregnant. I don't know if my personality changes or he just knows me that well now, but I was sure we weren't pregnant. I waited to register anyways. The whole 4th week of my cycle I did pregnancy test strips. I thought I saw a faint line on the first couple, but no one else could see it, lol. Then, on day 28, it was there, we were pregnant for sure, again. It was a Friday and I immediately called the birth center for blood work. On Monday, when I called back for the results, all were normal...but the progesterone was in the "low" normal. I insisted they prescribe me progesterone. I was going to do all I knew to do to keep this baby through the first trimester. And then we prayed a lot, I puked a lot, and flipped out a little around the time we had lost the other babies (at 40 days pregnant).

But WE ARE STILL PREGNANT! And I wouldn't have it any other way right now, not with all the nastiest that is pregnancy for me, all the meds, the hospital visit, and the potential c-section this breech baby might be. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Did you notice we have less than 100 days to Micah's due date? I can't believe it, that we are so far along...just a few more days and it will be "Hello third trimester!". I have an appointment on Monday.

Doctor's visit

I know, I know...my appt. was yesterday and I failed to update! Well, the midwife said I could come off of complete bedrest, but to take it easy, "easier than you probably think you need to". If I have contractions again, then they will start me on medication and weekly visits to monitor everything.

In other news, Kyle has been kinda flipped out from his usual self since I was in the hospital. He's been very emotional. This morning I started doing preschool with him again and he loved it. We are going to have to keep that up and it's nice that I can do it from my bed. We went to a baby store here in Tucson today to check out a stroller and some car seats I've been desiring. Kyle cried when I took him out of the stroller; he wanted it sooo badly. It was even on clearance, with the doubles kit. Regretfully, last years doubles kit only holds kids to 32 lbs, this years doubles kit holds kids up to 40 lbs, I think. We have had a double side by side stroller before and I'm just not a fan. Especially since Kyle most likely won't be strolling very much now that he's almost 4. I just want the option for those really long outings of having both kids in the stroller.

That's all the typing I'm up for right now.