Another list

I am still here and still pregnant. I guess that takes away one excuse for such a delay. To be honest, I just don't know what to talk about on this thing! Here are a couple of funny things and other that have been heard and happening around our little pond:

• I recently switched all of the clothing around for the boys. I had to take every single long sleeved item out of Widdle's closet and dresser because he kept wearing them. He wore a long sleeve button down shirt with a vest to church no less that 6 times, even in this crazy heat. So, with the shirts gone, he is forced to pick something else. He was excited to see a new blue and white striped shirt and wore it the first Sunday available. After getting dressed he asked me, "Mommy, can I wear this when I marry Chadleigh?" I replied, "Well, I think you look very handsome and that would make a nice wedding outfit, but it would probably be best to ask her what she thinks."
• Widdle said "Will Chadleigh have babies in her belly when we get married?" Me, "I hope not when you get married, but maybe after you are married if the Lord wills it. How many babies would you like to have?" Widdle, "A brother, a sister, a brother and a sister. LOTS of babies!!" I hope the Lord does bless him with lots of babies, even if he doesn't end up marrying Chadleigh!
• Waddle told me (at the dinner table) "Mommy, don't take your shirt off!" I replied, "Don't worry buddy, mama will not be taking her shirt off in front of you, especially at the table."

Not so funny, but good things that have happened:

• My pre-registration for the hospital arrived in the mail yesterday or the day before, I haven't looked at it yet, but at least I have it!
• Our sibling shirts arrived and have been washed and dried, ready for wearing! I think I mentioned these before, but I just have to shamelessly plug them again. These are THE cutest sibling shirts I have found and I have done a lot of looking! I ordered the baby one with a big blue bird, medium blue bird, medium-small pink bird and a tiny green bird, underneath it just says "baby". Once Paddle arrives I will re-order his/her shirt, but the others will continue to have a tiny green bird on theirs. Receiving this package in the mail escalated my excitement over our little one's arrival!
• The boys are moved into their new room. We are doing a room shuffle to prep for the baby. This house is truly a blessing from the Lord. And I am thankful for it. When we first looked at it I had everyone placed and purposed each room, now that we have lived here for several months, I am repurposing rooms and trying to figure out ways to make everything work more efficiently. Maybe there's a bit of nesting happening too. Who knows! With that, the office/school room has been combined and is in the room that most families would use as a formal living room, right inside the front door. Except that it's always a mess, I love this room. The office originally was in our 3rd bedroom. When the office moved, that room became our guest room. The thing is, Piddle was sweating to death in the 2nd bedroom, which is on the corner of the house, and the guest room was always nice and cool. We could have just moved Piddle from the 2nd bedroom to the 3rd, but that would be too easy and I am a chronic furniture re-arranger and I'm nesting. So, the turquoise 3rd bedroom was painted red, the new bunk beds were partially disassembled and the boys happily relocated. They love their "news room" as Waddle calls it. With their move the other red bedroom, bedroom 1, had to be repainted. Albert took care of that last weekend. There is a bit of touch up left and the outlets need to be replaced, but it is functioning well enough for my nesting to relax. Piddle has switched to the new crib, the toddler bed is in place and I moved her dresser in yesterday. I was hoping to transition her to the toddler bed this weekend, but I don't want her to be able to play with outlets that aren't covered, so she has a little more time in her comfort zone. At least with the toddler bed she can use the same mattress and I am hoping that helps her. A couple of newborn outfits are hanging in her closet and half of the dresser has been cleared out. The second bedroom needs to be painted still. But, thanks to our dear friends, we have a queen size guest bed set up and ready for sleeping on in there. I also have the original crib, a changing table and glider in that room. It will be the newborn nursery/guest room for a little while. I am thinking I'll pull out the changing table and glider when we have guest and put the baby in our room then. After the baby is sleeping moderately well, he or she will move into Piddles room. Hopefully her need for sleep will rub off on the baby!
• I will be shifting the car seats around tomorrow and vacuuming out the buffet in prep for a ride home with the whole gang.

Everything is pretty well ready to go, I just have to cook this baby a little longer and wait for the Lord's timing!

Sorry for the break.....

It seems that I am not a great writer, or great thinker these days, and thus the blog is left to gather dust...... along with every other project that I have ever started that is an ongoing thing. This blog makes me think of those little digital pets that were popular (at least with me and my sister) in the early 90's. Mine died. Not much has changed for me. If something does not make noise or in some other way demand attention, it will not be fed or cared for..... hence the stack of folded, clean laundry sitting on my dresser and the poor maintenance of this blog. But, you will be happy to know that my littles have been bathed, fed and changed in the recent past. :)

In other news, life is moving right along. I am 31 weeks and set up our hospital tour for next Tuesday. We do not want a repeat of Waddle's delivery. If you'll recall, we were planning to visit the hospital Saturday morning, drive by and see how to do everything. Well, I went into labor Friday night, only the Emergency entrance was open and we had no idea where we were trying to get to. I recently visited a friend at the hospital that I will be delivering at, so I at least know where our final destination is. I was talking to Albert about the tour yesterday and we both feel it is very important to figure out where we park and go in if I am in labor "after hours." Our first three were born at 8:05 a.m., 1:15 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. They like to party all night!

(This pic was taken over a month ago, just pretend this is still what I look like. )

The baby is moving like crazy and often feels like he/she is doing a headstand and keeping his/her balance on my ribs....... not the most comfortable thing ever, but it's temporary. My midwife recommended that I read "The Birth Book." I so wish I had heard of this book while I was pregnant with Widdle. I have been so clueless all along. I already feel much more educated for this birth and I would HIGHLY recommend this book to any lady who is expecting a baby. It is excellent.

Widdle is doing well. I can't believe he will be four years old next month. We have started his pre-school curriculum and he always asks to read more stories. I thought he would like the manipulative for math more than he is showing interest at this point. My main goal is to teach him to be considerate and thoughtful towards others, everything else he learns is just icing on the cake! It seems the Holy Spirit is working on his heart and it is a great joy to see. We still have a lot of hard days, but the fruit is showing and we could not be more joyful!

Waddle is half-way working on being potty trained. He does not seem to be very concerned with it and I am too distracted to keep potty time at the front of my mind. I think we will work with the timer next week and see what happens. Every morning I pray for more energy and the ability to accomplish the things the Lord has set for me, all I can gather is that the Lord is not extremely worried about Waddle's ability to potty on the toilet and keep his undies dry. Thankfully I have been able to relax and just roll with this. Waddle is extremely interested in babies these days. He is the most interested in our baby and wants to take it out. I wish it were that easy. He will be a wonderful big big brother and I suspect he will have a very special bond with this baby.

Piddle is sweet and sour. She makes us laugh all the time. She is walking everywhere and just learned how to go down the two steps that lead from our laundry room to our play room. Unlike every little boy that I know, she had decided that sitting down and scooting her bottom to the edge of the step is the safest and best way to move to the lower step. Our boys have always flipped over to their bellies, dangled their legs over and kicked until the felt the step. For the longest time Piddle would just stand at the top of the step and half whine, half grunt, looking for someone to rescue her. Widdle has been very happy to help. Now she can handle it, though she still looks around for an assistant. On Father's day she learned how to give "nucks." She has finally learned how to say "please" in sign language and how to knock on the door. I love seeing them figure out how to communicate and function in the world around them.

Albert took the boys to CO for a few days last week and they had a blast. Widdle has said several times that he wants to go back. Waddle will give me a little pouty face and say, "I leave you, I miss you." Today when he said this I replied, "it's ok though, you came back to me" and his face lit up. That warmed my heart a bit. While in CO they went horseback riding to breakfast and seem to have had a blast. I have heard about R.J. (Waddle and Papaw's horse) more than anything else from the trip.

Piddle and I had girl's time at home. She inherited a sleepy head from her mama and we both enjoyed sleeping in, taking naps and going to bed early. I had high hopes for getting a lot of things done in prep for the baby and the only real thing that was accomplished was resting up for the boy's return..... I work better when everyone is at home anyway. :}

I think that's the short overview of our last month. Maybe I'll be a little more with it in the next 5-9 weeks leading up to baby Duck 4's arrival, or we could just call him/her Paddle.

*That's a lie, after looking through the pictures and pulling these out, I see that we have been up to quite a bit more. We have gone blueberry picking several times and have about 20 lbs in our freezer. Hopefully we'll pick more next year, but I am just a little over it for this year. The boys had a BLAST shooting off fireworks in our front yard. We also enjoyed the show the city put on on the 4th of July. I just never get tired of fireworks! We hosted my mom's surprise 50th birthday party. I was certain she had an idea of what was going on, but she was totally shocked and I think it turned out great. The littles and I went to see the Blue Angel's practice show. That is another thing that I never get tired of seeing. I hope to go again next week. I had my hair cut short again. My dear cousin came to a beach near us and we were able to hang out with her and her sweet family for an evening.... before the oil hit. We had a very special time and I wish it could happen more often. OK, I think that's a better summary for now.

Just for you

Happy Summer!

It's about that time

No, it isn't baby time yet, but it certainly is time for me to start hashing out my to-do list. Or should I call it a "Dream List." I think my list is a tad too extensive to actually be completed before BabyDuck4's arrival, but we shall see.

- Paint all of the walls in our house. We are making an effort towards this, but I think we need to be a tad more focused on getting it done.

- Buy the boys new bunk beds and sell the ones they have. Anyone looking for a twin/full bunk bed? If so, we have a great one!

- Transition Piddle to a toddler bed. This won't happen until the boys have new beds and she is climbing a bit better. She just doesn't seem quite as capable for the transition as the boys were. We still have time though.

- Potty train Waddle. Do you think I can will him to be potty trained? We've been lazily working at this for months and with neither of us being focused, it is very hit or miss. I just want him to wake up one day and tell me when he needs to go potty and poop. I do not want to have three littles in diapers!

- Buy new car seats. With the frequency of my nephew traveling the city with us, we need to be able to fit the maximum number of children into the space we have.

- Pick a boy name and a girl name for our baby. Right now we pretty much have nothing. Neither of us are in love with any of the names on the table........ This one is mandatory!

- Stock pile meals. This one is also mandatory. I hope we don't have to feed ourselves for a while after the baby arrives, but you just never know and it is better to be prepared.

- Figure out how I will handle day to day life with a newborn and three littles getting into everything.... This one may be a "learn as we go" thing.

I feel pretty relaxed about things at this point. Of course, I do have quite a while to go. Albert and I are taking a little mini-vacation soon and the bed transition can really begin after that. Everything else (pretty much) is just things I'd like to do, except for the car seat. We gave ours to some friends and do not have a car seat for the baby. But I am sure all that needs to be done will be done before D day!

19 weeks

Well, I'm almost 19 weeks, tomorrow I will be. Things are going smoothly so far. I haven't had any sickness, a tinge of nausea, but nothing to complain or really think about. I seem to have a bigger belly in the evening than in the morning and it seems bigger when I'm sitting down rather than standing. I feel like I'm still not showing enough for anyone to really notice, depending on what I wear. I have felt the baby move a tiny bit the last three days, but nothing like I seem to remember from my other three pregnancies. Will all three of them I knew I felt a baby move during week 16. This leaves me a little concerned and ready for our ultrasound, which is on the 21st. Hopefully the baby will be moving around like a little wild person!

Widdle is certain we are having a boy. When asked what we should name a girl he first says, "we need a boy too." His name options are Aniken Luke Skywalker or Tinkerbell. According to him if there is a Tinkerbell there will also be an Aniken...... we shall see, though I doubt either of those names will be used. He can call the baby whatever he likes though.

Waddle is sure that he has a boy in his belly. "Waddle" is what he thinks the name should be. While he speaks clearly, I'm not sure he gets it yet. He will though.

Piddle could care less as long as she is held on demand and gets plenty of Mama and Daddy love. I am trying to teach her to be gentle (a hard thing to learn with two big brothers for an example) and she is oh so close to walking. Her latest thing is walking around with one hand on the cabinet or furniture. It is only a matter of time. I think we are going to leave her rear-facing in her car-seat until she is two years old, or I loose my mind trying to buckle two babies in backwards...... whichever comes first. Right now she is still too tiny to face forwards anyway, so it isn't an issue and she doesn't know what she's missing. She is enjoying her bed more these days. It is one of the only places I allow her to have her paci and therefore, she goes in willingly and looks longingly at the crib when I pick her up. She has mixed emotions about telling her paci night-night and watching me put it in the drawer. I think A LOT of tears will come before sleep once it is totally gone.

I think this gives you a good idea of what's going on in baby news and baby prep at our house. Have any guesses what the sex of the baby will be?? Feel free to leave it in the comments along with a birth date and weight. Here are some tips to help you form a guess:

Widdle was 9 lbs two days late

Waddle was 7 lbs 2 oz three weeks early

Piddle was 7 lbs 9 oz nearly four weeks early

My due date is Sept 9. I've had two dreams that this baby is a boy and one dream that the baby was a girl and we introduced her to someone by the name we have chosen. That leads me to think it's either a boy or a girl! HA!

Feel free to leave a boy name idea too. That's always fun!

Brain Purge

It seems that a lot has been going on and not much at all around here. Here's the run down on what's up with the Ducks:

- I read an amazing book that I HIGHLY recommend. It is called "Treasuring God in Our Traditions" by Noel Piper. I think every Christian and especially every Christian woman should invest a bit of time in this book. I only wish I had read it sooner, like while I was single, so that we could have started intentional traditions from the beginning. Also, the spaghetti recipe in the book is delicious! I made it last night for some friends and none of us could get enough. We are going to try out the Breakfast Cake for Easter and the Chocolate Eclair cake next week. Does that have your interest sparked yet?? Give the book a shot, it's amazing!

- We met with a midwife out in town last week. I really like her. She seems to be a MUCH better fit than the doctor I was given through the base. I tried to mentally just stick it out with the doctor I was given, but I just couldn't relax about her and decided to switch. I'm really glad I did! Our ultrasound is scheduled for April 21st and at this moment we are not finding out the sex. Hopefully I will be able to stay strong!

- My belly has semi-popped out. No, you won't be seeing any pictures. If you want to see it, come visit me, though you still won't see much of it. I'm not sure if I'm smaller this time or if I've collected a variety of clothing that flexes with my mid-section. Either way I can still were several of my non-pregnant clothes and a few pair of pants. No maternity clothes yet!! I think that's pretty good for a fourth pregnancy within four years! :)

- We have a 16 year old girl staying with us for 5-6 weeks. Some friends of ours are traveling around the country to raise support for going on staff with Navigators and their daughter was hoping to stay in town and take care of her horse. The first option fell through and at the last minute God laid it on our hearts that our home would be perfect. We are less than two miles from her horse and we have the space. She is a great help and I'm thinking she should just stay here until about Christmas!

- Upon moving M in, we set up our guest room. It isn't totally complete. (That would be nearly impossible since we found out she was coming Sunday morning, picked her up Sunday afternoon and attempted to organize the room for her after church!) But, it is a work in progress and at least the work has started! Since we painted the office two weekends or so ago, we were able to easily move the bookshelves into the office. Albert put the frame together for the full sized mattress that was on the floor, the boy's trampoline is now gone. And we found a use for the three drawer plastic thing that was sitting in our room empty. I think it still needs a fresh coat or two of paint, but it's perfect for a 16 year old girl and we actually have a quilt that goes great with it. It's just right for now.

- God has provided us with a temporary second vehicle. There is a whole huge story behind this (and if there's enough interest I might share it) but we have been using one car for about the last 8 months and for about a year before Piddle was born. Upon moving to the beach, we were hoping to have Albert's Papaw's truck. The addition has taken longer than we expected and we were needing another vehicle. Albert shopped Craigslist and looked at several trucks, none seemed right. Then, a guy from our Bible study offered his truck. It is perfect. Our friend bought a new car and wanted to give his truck to someone or sell it, but he felt that it wasn't worth enough to sell it and it wasn't in good enough shape to gift to someone. So, it is on loan to us until it dies or he moves. Whichever comes first! Hallelujah! For April, we also have M's dad's truck. He wants to make sure it is still running and asked us to drive it. So, for this month we have three vehicles to choose from. God is so good!

Little Lady

A little lady around here turned 1 last week.

Unfortunately she felt horrible and ran a low-grade fever all week. She did enjoy her cake, but it was hard to get a smile out of her. I can't believe Piddle is 1. In some ways it seems like she has always been a part of my life and in other ways the time seems to have flown by. I really enjoy reflecting back on the day each child was born on their birthdays. Piddle's was no different. In hindsight I am still so thankful that Albert was able to make it home in time to see our sweet baby girl enter this world. I wish I drank more water leading up to her delivery, maybe she wouldn't have had to spend a few hours in the NICU. I still remember asking Albert, "So, is it a girl?" Then laughing and asking, "What's her name??" I am so thankful Piddle is a part of our lives. I'm just not sure our family would be as well rounded if she weren't in it. Happy Birthday (10 days late) sweet girl. I love you!