Third Trimester

We arrived at trimester three this week. I was so excited to get here, but with the 28 week marker comes a lot of "stuff" I could really do without. I am fatigued beyond recognition. Yes, that's what I meant to say. My skin looks awful from my face down to my toes. Blotches, bags and dark circles under my eyes, stretch marks, weight gain...the list probably goes on since I can't see a lot of "areas" at this point, nor do I have the energy to try and look or the energy to try and correct. Even make-up does not seem to aid in the monster I have become. Little Ailey (oh, that's her name...it's not posted anywhere but right here on this blog! shhh...) is probably going to be amazingly beautiful since she has sucked my beauty away...like the old wives said she would.
Okay, okay...enough complaining. I am not supposed to be complaining. I am supposed to practice keeping my negative energy to a minimum to help prepare me for my home birth. I do NOT want to be a complaining baby while delivering a baby. (Takes one to grow one.....oh wait, that's not how that saying goes...) Anyway, the Braxton-Hicks are in full-force. Practice little uterus, practice! My weight gain is at about 2 pounds a week which makes sense since I have an around-the-clock appetite. I am huge, but still happy with my weight gain so far. In 28 weeks I have gained a grand total of 15 pounds. Another 12 weeks at 2 pounds a weeks is another 24 pounds, but I don't foresee that happening. With Joey I do recall losing a couple of pounds there at the end...believe it or not. Can we get a reminder of what "the end" with Joey looked like....

Oh yeah! That was CRAZY! And I think I am not getting any sleep now. But Joey was a boy. Perhaps my darling daughter will be a petite little thing...wishful thinking?!? We will see.
So Damaris comes in 2 days. After that my check-ups go from monthly to bi-monthly. I need to get a shopping list from her of everything she recommends I have here on-hand for my special home-birth. Did I mention I am having Ailey in my house? And I am very excited about it?!? Oh, well I am and I am excited! I envision lighting some candles, pulling the curtains, warning the neighbors (haha, just joking...or is that a good idea? I could get vocal!), relying on my bath tub, playing some soft music, and enduring more pain than I have ever felt in my life to naturally welcome my baby girl into the world. Call me crazy, but you have no idea how wonderful that all sounds to a woman like me. How God intended it, I think! He will be there, too. :)
Okay, well, that's my Welcome to the Third Trimester Update. 83 days to go...I might be a second time Mom, but I sure am still counting!

The Busiest Week Ever...

Here I sit in a pair of comfy gray sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt that is covered in spaghetti-o's...finally concluding what has been the "busiest week ever"! On my last post I blogged all about our weekend adventures. What a great weekend that was, but in hindsight, I should have kept that weekend simple to prepare what awaited in this past week. Last Sunday I got a call at work from Carly. "Mimi, I started my period!" Oh boy. Here we go. "Do you need me to come home, baby?" "No, I will be okay." "Are you comfortable? We already bought everything you need, right?" "Yeah, I'm good." "Wow! You are a little woman! I love you sweetheart. See you in a few hours." "Bye Mimi". So of course when I got off of work there were some celebrations in order. Carly and I headed to Hershey's for some ice cream and girl talk. I was so amazed at how prepared and mature she was with this milestone.
Monday morning it was get Carly off to horse camp, Trey off to work, and me and the boys off to vacation bible school. After VBS it was down to Waxhaw to pick Carly up, get the kids home, cleaned, fed, and napped. The rest of the week followed this suite.
Wednesday Carly baby sat while me and wonderful neighbor Erica went to visit our friend Amanda and her new baby girl in the hospital. That evening was church followed by my small group study (appropriately titled, "Calm My Anxious Heart"...blogging to be done on that later) followed by a very special gathering of women. Since Carly was now a woman we, the women of her family, decided that we needed to begin a new tradition...a tradition that is to be carried on for all the girls turned women in our family's future. So after Carly fell asleep I blindfolded and kidnapped her and took her to a ritualisitic (think YA-YA!) ceremony where we let her know how special she was and adorned her with family heirlooms. The ceremony was followed by chocolate fondue and sparkling grape juice. She kept saying, "I feel so special!" and we, of course, assured her of just how special she truly is.
Thursday night it was time for us all to enjoy our favorite tale of all time on the big screen...Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was soo good! We all enjoyed it, but Conner definitely felt it was a little long for his tastes. Afterward it was time to drop the kids of at bio-mom's a night early because they were going to be off to Ohio for the weekend for a wedding!
Friday Joey and I concluded the long week of VBS and celebrated with an extended nap. After nap time it was all aboard the light rail to watch Daddy's co-workers play basketball in the rented-out Bobcat's Arena! Wow was I ever exhausted at this point! We came back and by 9:30 I was OUT. I have been working all weekend and boy am I ever ready for the upcoming week. I need so desperately to get some cleaning caught up around here. I am so much happier in my usual routine! However, in conclusion, I bet the kids made some memories this week that will last them for forever. A first period, horse camp, vacation bible school, a special womanhood induction ceremony, the movies, and game at the arena! It was all worth it, but for now....sweet dreams to this Mommy!

Summer Fun With the Family

We were so over-due for some serious family fun time! Even though we went and broke our budget, we had such a fun weekend. We started things off on Friday by getting the heck out of the house. It's my own fault, but for the past 3 weeks I have been such a lazy home-body. I have been hiding away in my air-conditioned house and doing nothing but cleaning and cooking...and a whole lot of eating what I cooked! (What can I say, my appetite is quite grander with baby girl than it was with Joey!) So we headed to the park in Pineville. I am not a huge fan of "p-town", but the kids like it because there are always loads of geese (and poop to boot!) and it's really big. That was fun and it got Joey nice and worn out for nap time.
After an extended nap we picked up my mini paycheck from Banfield and headed out for all the necessities for hot dogs a'la'grill and S'MORES! The original plan was to camp at Andrew Jackson State Park, but the weather was calling for thunderstorms all weekend long, so we cancelled and cooked-out in our drive way. It was SO MUCH FUN!
We ended the night all cuddling-up in Mommy and Daddy's bed to watch the Phantom of the Opera. The kids absolutely love the music and were very jealous Trey and I couldn't take them last week when the show was in town at Blumenthal. So we watched the movie and let them ask us 100 questions about the live musical.
It was up at 7 as usual Saturday morning. Trey made really yummy French toast and then we were "all aboard" to catch the light rail to Discovery Place downtown. They were having a new UnderWater and Pirates exhibit we were very eager to experience!
We got to Discovery Place after the very crowded train ride (I was a nervous wreck that I left my hand sanitizer in the car...icky icky public transportation germs!!!) and everyone was off to play and experience the Circus exhibit. We had all already been so it was a bit of a review, but a fun one! Then we went to explore the deep! We saw so many artifacts that had been extracted from as far as 1700 feet deep! Most of them were from the SS Republic that sunk in a Hurricane in the 1800's. The kids had fun with video simulations of being under the ocean using the mechanic extraction devices that scientists used to discover the artifacts. Very cool! They took turns steering the helm in a hurricane and what I thought was coolest of all was being in the hurricane simulator! (We all got to experience winds up to nearly 80 mph!).
Then it was off to the land of pirates! These days, someone just says the word "pirate" and thinks 'fun'! We learned all kinds of interesting factoids about pirates through history and even met a live pirate! We learned about "privateers" who were private pirates hired by the governement. Queen Elizabeth had one! Finally, we met BJ, a very cool talking parrot. Did you know that there is no historical account of pirates ever having a talking bird?!? Wonder where that part of the story came from.
As we were leaving DP we passed a pizza guy carrying pizzas from Fuel. The cravings hit me really quick! It was only 2 blocks away so we headed over for lunch. What a fun place to eat with kids! They provide the kids with pizza dough to play with at each table and boy was the food ever yummy!!! We got some great shots of the kids (and Daddy!) playing with the dough.
As we headed back to the train station we decided to swing into the ImgainOn really fast. There we wound up playing in a Charlotte Trolley (that's what the pictures are from), watching a puppet show by puppet master Carly, and getting a library card and taking home a big stack of books...chapter books, picture books, children's books. What a great thing for the kids to be excited about!
We were very excited to get back home and finally get to nap! We are by no means Disney Land parents...so it was very fun to break out of our normal routine (which is still fun!) and try some new things. All our experiences were not just fun, but educational. Since Trey and I are huge fans of this type of fun....it was a perfect day full of exciting adventures!

Life now...

Over the past couple of weeks I have taken notice of several of the status updates of my facebook "friends". I say "friends" because there are so many people who I have on facebook simply because I went to high school or college with them, like to know how they are doing, but really...have nothing in common with these days.
The other day someone posted that they "woke-up in a strange apartment and had no recollection of the previous evening". Now, five years ago I might have found this humorous and perhaps even commended the "friend" on their hard-partying and crazy night. Today? I find this terrifying. I know some of it has to do with being a Mommy. I think, "where were her friends?!" "Why wasn't someone looking for her?" "Oh Lord, did she drive to get to said 'strange apartment'?" At the same time, there is a possibility that if my life hadn't taken the path it had that I could be that girl. Well, maybe not in that exact situation, but something close to being that scary!
I get so tired of waking up before 7 a.m. every morning. I get completely worn out with the constant "MOMMY!" call of my children needing "this" or "that". I sometimes forget the rewards of living my life for my family. There are days I want to throw in the towel and take off for the beach alone with a stash of good vampire romance novels and white wine. But would I trade what my life has become to still be young and wild? The answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT!
When the weekend approaches I wonder what we can do to enhance the quality of our family time together...not what bar has drink specials, is there enough money on my debit card to cover those drinks, and will that guy from last weekend ever call? Man do I ever not miss those types of weekends.
I am just so happy and grateful that my life took the path that it did. I feel so satisfied every day. I know my life has meaning. I am no longer living the shallow life I once had. There is so much relief in that! Yes, I am still young. Yes, a lot of people would argue that I traded in my "wild days" way too young, really missed out, and they would never trade places with me.
Trey knows the feeling of lost youth better than anyone I have ever met and even he would not trade his family for an extended time of being young and free. Our philosophy? We are living the family life on this end. We started way before most people and we will be done raising our children before most people. We are going to make up for it on "the other end"...when we actually have the money to travel and experience more worldly and fine luxuries. I like that plan. :)
God thank you for this life. Maybe they don't know they want it because they have no clue what they are missing, but I hope that so many of the people I know who are still living wild and crazy (and sometimes dangerous!) lives can come to know themselves and discover the sort of happiness in life that I now know.
I hope I expressed myself here without sounding too "high and mighty". I just want others to feel the sheer joy I have found in this new lifestyle.

Pregnancy..the second time around.

Yesterday I let my obstetrician know that I wished to have a natural birth, out of the hospital, with a midwife whom I had already hired. This was very difficult for me. You see, I love my OB. She is great. She was wonderful when I birthed Joey. But, she's an obstetrician. I am not having a C-section, nor is my pregnancy one of high-risk, so I feel that I have no need to see her or visit her in the hospital on delivery day. My birth-experience with Joey, as I have always said, was not a negative one. However, why I needed to be in the hospital and hooked-up to all that machinery is beyond me and I am not making that mistake a second time around.
As most of you know, I have fallen in love with Midwifery. My path to midwifery is such an obvious one. When I was 36 weeks pregnant with Joey I up and left Charlotte OB/GYN. Something in my heart told me that this was not a practice I should have ever visited for my pregnancy. When I had a doctor who I had never even met before (there were soo many in the practice!) tell me at 35 weeks that I may need a c-section because my baby was so large, I was stunned and knew he was wrong. My body was made to deliver the baby inside me! Of course you want to cut me open...you can schedule the surgery and then go home for dinner. Sorry buster, but NO WAY.
I made the switch to woman owned and operated, Arboretum OB/GYN...making closer strides toward the birth experience I felt pulling my heart strings. Still scared and lacking information, I went forward and delivered vaginally after 10 hours of laboring and 13 minutes of pushing...with an epidural. The experience was powerful, but still lacking.
So now here I am, pregnant with (bio) baby #2 and ready to embark on one of the greatest adventures on my life...the birth experience I always wanted but never knew it until after Joey was born. A natural birth-experience. No hospitals, no machinery, no flourescent lights, no one telling ME what I need to do for ME and MY baby, and no whisking my little girl away after birth to suction, weigh, and scrub her down...these things can wait until after she has met me. I want to be her first experience. Not cold scales, bright lights, and rough towels.
When I was pregnant with Joey, my pregnancy was my main focus during those 9 months. This time, all I can do is fantasize about labor and delivery and the joy of birthing my daughter in the comfort and privacy of my own home. As I wait for that day to come I am loving studying to become a midwife myself. I feel becoming a midwife is so important to keeping the beautiful practice of midwifery alive. While more and more women are having their eyes opened to natural birth and it's benefits, there are still great strides to be made in the area of birthing. I want to be a part of those strides. I want to make a difference and empower and educate Mommies and Mommy-to-be's everywhere.
Want more information on Midwifery? Try out some of my inspirations:
Video: Ricki Lake's, "The Business of Being Born" and Book: "Your Best Birth", also by Ricki. She has become a great advocate for midwifery!

Welcome

Well, as life's pace constantly picks-up I find less and less time to blog and more and more of a need for it! Hmmm...where to start? After moving-in to our house in Indian Land, SC (just south of Ballantyne--"Ballantyne South" in fact, as we like to affectionately call it:), Trey proposed and we tied the knot April 25th of this year. We honeymooned in Mexico (and returned to the states Swine Flu-free!) and are now awaiting the birth of our 4th child in October! Apparently October is our magical due-date month and my dream came true when we found out that baby 4 is a girl! Thank GOD. I really didn't want to be one of the woman I see at the Target trying to control 5 sons and admiring the frilly pink clothes across the aisle from the Spider Man t-shirts and Incredible Hulk underwear. Since Trey started this wonderful journey called parenthood at such a young age, I know he is glad that baby 4 is our last.
Trey is doing great at work. He works really hard and, most days, loves his job. He has come a long way from the days we used to spend stocking Jelly Belly's and traveling around South Carolina making sure gas stations were fully stocked with the proper junk food. (That was fun, though!) I recently changed my part-time work status to partly part-time. I go in to the vet two weekends a month, see my friends, make a couple of dollars, and escape from the house for a bit. Otherwise, I am so fortunate to spend my days at home; growing baby, cleaning house, raising 3 children, cooking dinner, and taking the kids on fun excursions! (In summer we have lot's of time to do that!)
That's life for now. I cannot wait to welcome baby Girl Montgomery into the world in October! She will make our house feel smaller, cause us to go "mini-van" and make our lives busier, our hearts full of even more love, and our family complete.