I’m getting closer. With every week that ticks by, I am getting more excited. It won’t be long now. I had a doctor’s appointment this morning, and things were mostly good. I got to hear Abigail’s heartbeat. That’s always nice. My results from my glucose test last time were good, and I’m not anemic. I have been anemic in other pregnancies. I do have a UTI that sent me to the hospital Sunday morning, but I’m on antibiotics and doing better with that. I have to go back to the doctor in a week to keep tabs on that. 

We scheduled my c-section today. It looks like Abby Jo and Elijah will have back to back birthdays. His birthday is March 25, and Abby’s will be March 26, Lord willing. I’m glad to have that date nailed down, so everyone’s (mainly Chris and Amy’s) schedules can be coordinated. I don’t really worry about anyone else being there, but Chris and Amy Jo are kind of a must. My kiddos, too. Everyone else is just icing  on the cake. So, even though it’s not the date I was hoping for, it works well with Chris’ work schedule, and I don’t have to be pregnant too much longer than I was wanting.

Here’s an update on how she’s growing from Babycenter.com:

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He’s probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby’s kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

I’m looking forward to my baby shower my church family is giving me next month. I went through the clothes I have saved from when Kyra was a baby, and, turns out, I don’t have hardly any little baby girl clothes. I sold most of them after we found out Owen was a boy. I didn’t think I would ever need them again. Velvet (Chris’ mom) and her sister, Angie, have already been buying lots of sweet little onesies and sleepers for our little girl, though. I get so excited over baby girl stuff. They’re just so cute. 

So, a few minor health things going on, but, generally speaking, everyone is happy and healthy.

Here you go, Elise, and everyone else that’s been asking for an updated belly picture. Here’s a link to my Facebook album with some pictures from today.

I mentioned before that I was planning to very intentionally focus on my family this year. Our family time had been compromised in the time crunch of Chris and I both being in school last year. While taking a year off of school to welcome Abby Jo into our family, I want to make the most of this time and really invest a lot of energy into creating the family I want. I know things will never be perfect, but I really want to do my best to give my children the home that I’ve always wanted.

One thing that I have been trying to do is eat dinner at the table with my family every evening. This was pretty much impossible while I was going to school two nights a week, as well as having Bible study on an addiitonal evening. Now that I’m home most evenings, I have made sure to cook dinner and eat it at the table with the family every evening. It’s great. I didn’t realize how much I missed that. It’s even more pleasant since we purchased a new dining set. I absolutely love it. It is very solid and sturdy, with no ridges or cracks for little kids to spill things in or drop crumbs into. This is a table that can withstand four children and the messes that come with them. It’s also great for when my Bible study girls come over on Tuesday nights, because now we can all fit around the same table, when we pull up some extra chairs. I would post a picture, but I’m having trouble getting wordpress to upload one. Here is a link to a photo of my girls around the table the last time they were here.

I’ve been reading a book about the importance and benefits of family suppers that Sara Fisher, a Chaplain’s wife whose blog I read, recommended. The book is called The Surprising Power of Family Meals: How Eating Together Makes Us Smarter, Stronger, Healthier and Happier . I’m about halfway through with the book, and I’ve found it pretty interesting so far. It’s been extra incentive to get supper on the table for my family, even on nights that I am really worn out.

I am also making the effort to make lunch for me and the kids (and Chris if he’s here), and sit at the table and eat it with them. We have always had such an unscheduled life without much routine, because of Chris’ crazy work schedule. However, I’m trying to work in some simple routines that work with Chris’ schedule. Making lunch for the kids is not just one more time of connecting with the kids over a shared meal, but it is also helpful to me as I’m trying hard to eat enough food while I’m pregnant. With my lack of appetite, I tend to realize at four p.m. that I’ve ate hardly anything all day. So, making one lunch for all of us, as opposed to everyone eating whatever lunch they are in the mood for when they get hungry, is not just nice but really helpful to me as well.

These are just a couple of small steps toward a bigger goal, but I’m happy with the way things are headed. I love my family so much, and I want them to know that by the time and effort I put into them. What kinds of things do you guys do that are important to your families? I’d love to hear your ideas.

I think the Catholics totally rock for this video. I think it’s great.

I’m 30 weeks pregnant now. The end is in sight. I am slowing down considerably, but everything is progressing well. Abby Jo is a very, very active baby. I find random strangers watching my belly and grinning. She’s already making sure her presence is known in the world. I’m getting bigger all the time, and am consistently gaining weight now. I don’t have much of an appetite, so I’m having to make a conscious effort to eat enough. I’m sure, once I’m not pregnant anymore, I’ll be ravenous.

From Babycenter.com:

How your baby’s growing:
Your baby’s about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds. A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it’s not very keen; even after she’s born, she’ll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she’ll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

I haven’t made a whole lot of progress with all of the heavy duty cleaning and sorting that I need to do, but I did get the boys’ room (getting used to saying “the boys’ room” instead of “Elijah’s room”, still) cleaned out. I got four trash bags of toys out of their room to take to Goodwill. I haven’t got to Kyra’s room yet. Therefore, I haven’t got to the sorting of outgrown clothes yet. As a result, I have not yet got to sorting through the baby stuff I have stored away. I really don’t know how many clothes I have left from Kyra. I know I sold a lot of my baby girl clothes after we found out Owen was a boy. I sold a lot of my baby stuff period. I need to do an inventory and see what I still have. I only have about eight and a half weeks left before she’s here. 

This may be a repeat, I’m not sure. I thought I would tell you guys how I picked Abby’s name. All of my kids are named after someone. Kyra’s middle name, Joy, is after my childhood friend, Joy. Elijah’s middle name, Christopher, is of course after his daddy, and Owen’s middle name, Shane, is his daddy’s middle name. This time around, I really wanted to name my baby after my best friend, Amy. Chris wasn’t on board with using her first name, and so I had to get creative. Amy’s name is Amy Jo, and I call her that more often than not. So, I chose Abigail Joanna with the idea of having the same intials as Amy and having the nickname of Abby Jo. While Abby Jo is not exactly the same, it does sound like Amy Jo. As an added bonus, my middle name is Anna, so, combining Amy’s middle name with mine was a sneaky way of doing something I always thought I should do…naming a baby after me. After all, I’m the one who does all the work.  So, that was the best I could do to honor my best friend and work with my husband and his naming preferences. Name meanings are important to me, and I’m very happy with the meanings of Abby Jo’s names. Abigail means “my father’s joy” and Joanna means “God is gracious”. Coincidentally, Shane means “God is gracious”, as well, so Chris, Owen, and Abby’s middle names all have the same meaning. I thought that was cool. I find myself calling my second daughter “Abigail”, “Abby”, or “Abby Jo” with nearly the same frequency. They’re all fine with me, so you can call her whichever comes out. I’m not picky. 

And that, my friends, is how Abby Jo got her name. 

This is just a little window into the random insanity that is life in our house.

Picture three very hyper, happy kids running into the living room from the boys’ room, after we just told them to go to bed.

Kyra: “Can we watch a movie?!?!”

Elijah: “Can we eat racoons in the garbage?”

Owen: “Racoons….garbage?”

Yeah. It didn’t make any sense to us either, but it sure was funny.

Today was a good day. It wasn’t really anything super special, but it was nice. Chris was off today, and we had a lot of time to hang out together and talk about stuff. I spent a good portion of my day chatting online or on the phone with Amy, and that was fun. The kids were all fun. Kyra finished up first grade math, and is getting close to finishing first grade in the rest of her subjects. This evening, Chris’ mom came and got the kids for the evening, and Chris and I went out to eat and to the mall. I finally found a cute stuffed animal that I’ve been looking for to get for Abby Jo. It’s a turtle. It has been very hard to find a turtle. Every store you go to has frogs, but no one had turtles. I wanted a turtle for our Baby Turtle. I finally found one today, and it is ridiculous how happy it made me. We came home and watched American Idol, recorded from last night. 

Ordinary day, but it was just good. I’m happy to be alive today. Thrilled with my family. Abundantly blessed. That’s all. 

Abby Jo is doing quite well, from all I can tell. I think she may be a bit of a fitness enthusiast. She’s very into stretching and kickboxing.  She is definitely the most active baby I’ve ever carried. She’s growing, and I’m growing rather rotund. I’ve gained 11 pounds so far. I’m hoping to gain about what I gained with Kyra (22 lbs). I have about ten weeks left, and I think you gain an average of one pound a week in the third trimester. So, that would be about right. Losing the weight after Kyra was much easier than after the boys. Of course, when I was pregnant with Owen, I had an eating problem. You know, the kind of problem that makes you eat a couple bowls (at least) of kid’s cereal a day. Yeah. I’ve resisted that urge for the most part with this pregnancy. 

So, yeah. We’re both growing, both happy, and both healthy. (I assume Abby is happy. Why wouldn’t she be? She’s way too active to be depressed.)

From Babycenter.com:

How your baby’s growing:

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you’ll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby’s hardening skeleton each day.

Today, I was sitting on the couch with my shirt up, rubbing my belly. This is pretty much my usual state. Abby was moving around and kicking like crazy. The kids got to actually see her moving for the first time. They were always too impatient to watch long enough to see the movements before. Abby was really active today, though, and they thought it was really cool. I told them that she could hear them talking, and Kyra said she was going to think of something to say to her. In a few minutes, Kyra came back, leaned close to my belly, and said, “Abby Jo…Jesus loves you.”

I have made it to my third trimester. I was 28 weeks yesterday, and everything is well with me and Abby Jo. I had a doctor’s appointment this morning. I had an u/s to check my fluid level, which was good, and really enjoyed getting to see my little girl again. She was moving around during the u/s, and I loved watching her open and close her little mouth. I didn’t get any great pictures, because it was a quick u/s and Abby had her hand in front of her face to ruin all of the face shots. I was relieved to have a second u/s to confirm that little Miss Abigail is still a girl. I always have this nervous feeling that they might have got it wrong after only one look, and I am preparing for the wrong kind of baby. She is growing well, and was 2 lbs 12 oz today. I measured right on target, and enjoyed hearing Abby’s heartbeat. I had the glucose test today, and got rather sick from drinking that nasty glucose drink. I shiver just thinking about it. I don’t expect there to be any problems with that. I’ve never had a problem with my blood sugar in any of my other pregnancies. 

After my appointment, I went to Babies-R-Us to look around, and got thoroughly excited about my little girl all over again. I just love baby girl clothes. They are so adorable. I think I’m going to be a different kind of mom with this little girl than I was with Kyra. Kyra was like a living baby doll to me in some ways. I loved dressing her up in dresses, and putting all sorts of “big girl” looking clothes on her when she was still itty bitty. I doubt Abby Jo will have to put up with wearing many scratchy dresses just because they’re beautiful. I totally gravitated to the super soft. The soft, cable knit one piece outfit seemed more desirable than the frilly dresses, and the sleepers seemed better than the three piece ensemble. I got all excited looking at the “Big Brother/Big Sister” shirts and the cute “Little Sister” onesie. You know my kids will all be sporting their big sibling shirts at the hospital. 

I also picked out bedding that I like for her crib. What I had for Kyra doesn’t appeal to me anymore, but I am definitely going to switch the crib (that Owen still sleeps in) from the boy stuff that Elijah and Owen have used. I am going to get this bumper pad, these sheets, and this dust ruffle for the crib. Instead of a comforter, like what comes with a crib bedding set (which I never actually covered my other babies up with), I am going to get this blanket to go in her crib. It’s super soft, and not too heavy. I just love it. So, pink and sage. I think it will look really good together. The bumper pad is super soft, and the colors look way better in real life than they do on the website. I got really excited when I was looking at them in the store. I sold my bassinet in a yard sale after Owen outgrew it, because I thought he was our last. Instead of buying another one, I’m going to get a Moses Basket (not necessarily this one, but it or one similar to it). So, yeah…I got awfully excited about all things baby while browsing today.

From Babycenter.com – How your baby’s growing:

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds  and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She’s also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.