Mommy and bady are doing very well.

Introducing Cooper Fraize
Born: 10/15/2009 at 9:33am EST
Weight: 8.7lb
Length: 21in
Hair: Brown

Ten Things Thursday

My friend Amanda does a list every Thursday called Ten Things Thursday; it can be any type of list. I've decided to give it a go!

Ten Things I'll be doing tomorrow before 9:30am

1. Waking up at 5am.
2. Taking a long hot shower.
3. Coaxing a sleepy husband out of bed to shower.
4. Triple checking my bags.
5. Feeding the dog.
6. Getting two sleepy children out of bed way before they are accustomed.
7. Packing bags and both sleepy children into minivan.
8. Driving to my parents house at a ridiculous hour.
9. Arriving at the hospital by 7am.
10. Having a baby.

Wait a minute.......did I really just say that?

Long Time...

No blog, I know! I just have not had the time to compose a proper post! And it's not like there's been nothing to blog about, I just haven't kept up! The worst part is when things start to slide, and I do get a free moment I don't know where to begin! So much catching up to do! Things are good here. Ian just turned 8 years old this past Monday, I can hardly believe it!! I will dedicate separate posts to that soon. He's been a second grader for 3 weeks now, and seems to fairly enjoy school. Getting him up and out in the morning can be a hassle sometimes, but once he's there he seems to do well. He has been out two days this week with croup, but seems to be feeling much better today and will return to school tomorrow just in time for his birthday bash with his friends tomorrow afternoon. This years theme is SCIENCE, and I'm thrilled! So much fun to plan, and so many possibilities! Like I said, a separate post and pictures will come soon. Ana is doing great too. She's a true 2 year old, with a fiery temper and an attitude to match. Everything is a battle these days, and when she's caught doing something naughty, and I start to reprimand, she gives me a flippant "bye bye!" before running off and hiding. As exhausting as she can be, she matches the level in cuteness often. Her language has exploded over the past couple weeks and she can now really communicate her needs, wants and opinions in those cute little pieced together 2 year old word strings! This age is frustrating, and adorable all at the same time! Baby number three is still doing well, and I guess I can share with you all that we have finally settled on a name; Cooper (that is unless we see him and change our minds, so don't hold us to it!). I'm feeling fantastic and am having a hard time believing that it's only three weeks until he's here; I have yet to have that "Oh my God, get him out" feeling. I have so enjoyed being pregnant, I guess in a way it makes me feel normal, that my body is functioning the way it should. As much as I'm looking forward to meeting him, I'm pretty sad to say goodbye to pregnancy! I'm still watching Stevie (he turned ONE on September 3rd by the way!), though tomorrow is my last day until some time after Cooper arrives; don't get me started I'm pretty emotional this week. I'm so going to miss having my little Stevie toddling around the house and seeing my brother every day. At the same time, it has been quite tiring lately as Ana definitely has her moments with him and has lashed out at the poor guy on many occasions. Poor baby has been scratched, pinched and bitten on the toe; always followed by "Oh sorry baby", arrgh! She is doing much better now that she has some words under her belt, but when she gets really frustrated, watch out! For a long while there was a common occurrence of, "No baby!" followed by crying, followed by "Oh sorry sorry baby, shhh, shhh, shhh". I'd like to think she was feeling regret and was trying to comfort him, but really I think it's more likely she was thinking, "quiet down before mummy hears and I get in trouble!". She is certainly a handful; but she definitely has her sweet side too. She can be very loving, and shares really well with a little reminder here and there. She mothers Stevie by fussing with his clothes, trying to change his diapers, and kissing his boo boos (even when she caused them). She's coming along, we just need to get that temper under control! So we'll spend the next couple weeks having some mother/daughter time before her world is completely turned upside down again. Anyways, I think I'll close for now. I've got a list of things a mile long I want to accomplish before this baby arrives and have been trying to pick away at it during nap time. It's going slowly, but I'm beginning to see some progress. Mostly it's emptying and reorganizing closets, drawers, and cupboards, and throwing heaps of things away.....is this what they call nesting? I don't remember it with Ian!

No Wonder...

I'm so darn tired!

Greg snapped a picture (cell phone, sorry for the quality!) this morning after he got up. This is how it usually is when both children join us in bed; Greg ends up with at least an entire half to himself while I share the other half with the kids (plus the one in my ever expanding belly!). You can't see in the picture, but I'm laying with my knees hanging off the side of the bed, and Milo is laying eagerly underneath them waiting for any pillows or blankets to fall off for him to claim; which he does quickly. Add that to the children who lay on TOP of the blankets, and you can get an idea of the miracle that it is that I even have a blanket covering me! Before I was pregnant, turning from side to side on a dime wasn't that big of a deal, but I'm not so graceful these days to say the least and flipping myself in such limited space is quite a bit more complicated! I've even tried sleeping on the other side of the bed, but it doesn't matter, they still find me. Not that I mind the fact that my kids like to snuggle with me, but just one night in a bed by myself these days would be glorious! Oh, and did you notice who's laying next to Ian? His old pal doggie was requested last night; and it made me smile.....

Within Normal Limits

The nurse just called to inform me that my 3 hour glucose test results were all within normal limits. I am so relieved! Another bit of news I have acquired is the date of my planned C-section. As long as the baby behaves, his birth date will be October 15th, which is exactly one week before my due date. So that leaves us just shy of 9 weeks before he arrives, yikes! Where did the time go?

Baby Update

Just a quick baby update. Things are going pretty well, I feel great and the baby is very active which I'm enjoying every minute of! Up until my last visit about a week ago, it was looking like the trouble we had at the beginning of the pregnancy was going to be the end of the drama but alas, this is not the story. The first thing, is that I'm measuring 3 weeks ahead of my due date. Now I've not been terribly concerned about this as I've been measuring 3 weeks ahead since my first measurement at my 20 week appointment, and just the week before that appointment, I had my ultrasound that showed the baby was measuring right on target, and the doctor said ultrasound measurement is far more accurate than her tape measure thingy any day. Anyways, after measuring too big for the third visit in a row, my doctor figured we should have another ultrasound (oh darn, twist my arm!) just to make sure things are okay. Like I said, I've not really been concerned about the measurements; that is until last week when I found out that I failed my 1 hour glucose test. Then I started to freak out a little. My 1 hour number was 157 but should be below 140. Bummer. I went in yesterday for the 3 hour test so I'm now waiting for the results. I should add that I failed my one hour with Ian as well but passed the 3 hour with him just fine, but who knows what will happen; I AM eight years older this time around! Having PCOS puts me at an increased risk for diabetes, so there's a real chance I'm heading that way. Anyways, no use in speculating right now; I should hear from the doctor tomorrow, and we'll take it from there. One day at a time, right?!

Favorite Photo Friday

O is for "OH MY!"

I love this picture because it's probably the only solid proof I have that Ian, the world's pickiest eater has indeed eaten a healthy snack in his lifetime! This was taken on an apple picking trip three years ago with his kindergarten class. Who can blame him; what's better than apples straight from the tree?! Seriously though, this child is terrible with food! He is notorious for throwing up on at the dinner table when asked to follow the "one bite rule"; meats, any pasta or rice, most vegetables (especially cooked ones), and many fruits are potential gag inducers. We've had to develop a new rule for Ian; he can earn his coveted PBJ at dinner time if he first eats a fruit AND a vegetable in the serving size of our choice. Carrot sticks, celery, cucumber, green and red peppers, grapes, apple slices with peanut butter, and watermelon have all gone down with relatively little fuss. Hooray for glorious puke-free dinner times! And hooray for whole grain bread, natural peanut butter and Polaner All Fruit Grape Jelly; at least I'm sneaking SOME nutrition in! Do you have a picky eater?