STILL SICK AS A DOG....

Ugggg!!! Lennon, Evy and I are still working through this bug and our days are feeling so gloomy and hopeless!!! It feels like we will never recover from this. Lennon had a better day on Thursday but backtracked Friday and was in pain from cramping and expelling. Evy and i are experiencing fevers, stomach and intestinal cramping, and expelling. I have been able to keep down small amounts of food liquid, which is such a blessing, but I am not certain that I am absorbing much of it. The body aches are out of this world and I cannot believe that my poor baby boys have had to ensure this kind of pain. Thank goodness Miles is finally over it and is back to running around playing like his old self. My poor poor Miles had it the worst of all of us. Lennon is doing better today, although is still expelling. Momma and Evy are still in the thick of it, but if all goes well, tomorrow should be a much better day!!!

MOMMA AND EVERLY GOT THE NOROVIRUS!!!

With both boys battling the norovirus and momma nursing their poor little bodies it was bound to happen. Well, the nausea and unbearable stomach cramping cramping began in the middle of the night last night and has been swelling and waning ever since. I am so scared for my liitle girl and fear that the lack of water and food will hurt her, but I have been vigilant about getting 3 or 4 bites of mild food in my tummy every few hours and sipping on water in small slow amounts. She is still moving quite a bit, although her movements have slowed down. I have only been sick for about 24 hours now and am hoping that the worst is behind me. Lennon is doing significantly better and was in pretty good spirits tonight. Miles on the other hand is still suffering pretty badly and continues to scream out from intestinal pain and is still evacuating quite a bit. The good news for Miles is that he has had a good time of keeping water down since the end of the first 24 hours and he even kept down a few bowls of oatmeal this morning. Momma is hoping that tomorrow will be a better day for him and that Everly and I are going to make it through this sooner rather than later!!! Uggggg.... What a tough week.

ETSY DRESSER

I scoured the net trying to find a grey painted dresser for Evy's nursery and FINALLY found one that wasn't already sold.  This one is coming all the way from Maryland via Greyhound and the vendor was incredibly kind to me about the price. She knocked off the price of shipping to make it more affordable.  The color is a neutral grey (kinda like putty) and isn't the EXACT grey I was hoping for, but I plan to give it a light dusting of a darker/cooler grey to make it more the color I wanted.  The dresser itself is so pretty and vintage and JUST what I was looking for our little girl's room.  We have to wait 3 weeks for it to arrive, but I cannot wait to see it Evy's gorgeous nursery.  It is the last piece of furniture we need before the room is complete.  Once we get the room finished I will take pics of it on our "fancy" camera and post a photo bomb of the finished room!!!

FEELING ALRIGHT.... FOR THE MOST PART ;-)

At 5 1/2 months along this momma is feeling..... well, alright.  Some days are better than others, but the second trimester burst has been a bit non-existent in this third pregnancy.  I suppose it makes sense when you consider that all that "extra" energy I should be feeling is being used up by two very energetic and demanding little boys!  Another thing I have begun to realize is, despite my previous experience, my body is not getting stronger!!!  LOL.  This pregnancy thing isn't like working out.  Practice does not make perfect.  I have begun to understand that the more my body experiences pregnancy the more tired and "limp" my muscles and ligaments become.  This translates into a lot more tension, pressure, and body aches much earlier on.  The good news is that, despite my body hurting and feeling much further along than I am, my mood in this pregnancy is LEAGUES better than it was during my second.  My hormones are far more regulated and I am feeling generally happy and content. I do have moments (usually toward the end of a long week) when I feel less patient and loads more irritated and overwhelmed, but such is life with our two wild and crazy kiddos!!! My bump is really beginning to take on a whole new look, and boy oh boy am I NOT used to it.  With the boys my bump was super low and pointy, this time around the bump is growing UP rather than out (well at least for now).  This means that my core is bit more "trunk" like and I am already finding it difficult to finish a meal.  Small meals are my best friend these days.  I guess, for some people, it is really true that boy bumps and girl bumps can be different sizes and shapes.  I can't wait to see what the Everly bump turns out to look like.  The scale is moving up like it should and I am so glad for that, but despite a healthy and gradual increase I am beginning to "despise" the weight gain.  I always do.  I feel bloated and heavy and lumbering.  Having a teeny weeny human living inside mybody, taking up space, can make it hard to feel at home in my own body.  But, I try to remember that it is for an incredible reason and at the end of all this we will have our beautiful baby girl to show for it and I will be well on my way to getting back to feeling myself again.  For now, I am just going to try to be as gentle and loving to myself and my body, take it as easy as I can, and enjoy all of baby Evy's rolls and jabs.

22 weeks pregnant

During week 22, baby’s invading your space, which is why it might be tough to catch your breath and why your back might be killing you. Hey, as she grows, she may be expanding your belly so much (so fast) that you might have some stretch marks -- and you might even have a newfound “outtie”! What’s not so cool is that the stretch marks may never fade, but we promise they’ll fade in color after delivery. And your outtie will go back to an innie, we promise. As for sex, all these body changes, along with another fun one -- discharge! -- might be messing with your mojo, but some moms-to-be actually find they have an increase in libido around 22 weeks. That’s because your hormones are pretty much raging at this point. This is also a good time to schedule a maternity portrait session. You’ll want to aim for the third trimester -- but not so late that you risk going into labor before your appointment.

your baby's the size of a papaya!

During month five, the average fetus measures about 10.5 to 11.8 inches and weighs about 12.7 to 20.8 ounces.

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your baby at 22 weeks

• Now that he's got more developed eyes and lips, he's looking even more like a newborn.
• He's sleeping in cycles -- about 12 to 14 hours per day (hint: they're probably those times you're not feeling any kicks!).

 pregnancy symptoms at 22 weeks

• Increased libido. (We hope you're enjoying it!)
• Stretch marks and maybe even a brand-new "outtie." These come with the explanding belly territory.
• More vaginal discharge, a result of increased blood flow down there.
• Steady weight gain -- about 1/2 pound each week from here on out.
• Minor swelling in your hands and feet.
• Back aches, due to extra pressure from baby and carrying around the extra weight.
• Hair growth (maybe in strange places -- sorry!). Thank you hormones.
• Trouble catching your breath, as baby continues to crowd your lungs.

 your must-do's

• Remember: Schedule your glucose screen test (for weeks 24-28)

 your nice-to-do's

• Start looking into childcare options
• Consider taking maternity photos

JELLO BELLY!!!

I have been feeling baby girl move from the inside for months now, but just this week I have been watching her turn and punch and kick and wiggle from the outside!!! My belly is like a bowl full of jelly and, despite this being my third pregnancy, the novelty has NOT worn off!!! There is something so incredibly awe inspiring ( and a little weird - like alien) about not just feeling the baby move, but actually watching my belly jiggle and shake and change shape outside. It brings this pregnancy, this baby (our little Everly) one step closer to the reality that we really are going to meet, become a five some, and very soon!!! Before we know it, life as we know it will change forever (for the better of course) and our gorgeous little Everly will no longer be a dream!!! I may be getting just a teeny weeny bit excited. My heart just swells with each ripple she creates in my belly. I am so excited for my boys to be gaining another sibling and about all of the adventures that the 5 of us are going to have as a family. I am excited that she is going to have two incredibly loving, doting, and adoring brothers who will also see to it that she gets just the right amount of "torture" to hopefully keep the diva at bay. I joke, sort of, but in all honesty, it is also going to be so much fun catering (in small ways) to our little girl. Doing the girlie things and buying the girlie clothes. The combo of two big brothers and a little princess evoke images of spider man in a tutu or gi joe in ballet slippers!!! It's almost too much to bare it's so cute. You see what all this belly jiggle has done to me??? I can't stop fantasizing about future of our brood and about how freaking cool it's going to be!!! So happy!!!

SOME PAPA LOVE...

We took little man Lennon out for some birthday lunch and shopping last weekend, and even papa couldn't resist a few of the adorable little girl outfits that Carter's had to offer. After outfitting Lennon in some awesome new birthday duds, papa turned his attention to the baby girl side of the store and snatched up a few to die for, pink and sunny yellow, outfits for her to wear this coming summer!!! They're really just too precious and we can't wait to see her teeny tiny little sweet self dressed in these!!! Thanks so much for the beautiful outfits papa!!! Love you.

COMPARISON ULTRASOUNDS

The family resemblance is hard to miss!!!

GETTING CRAFTY

Momma and Nana got a little artsy the other day and created some Everly projects for the nursery. We took several blocks that were painted black and decoupaged some artwork that we created in photoshop. The inspiration came from an original block that we purchased off of etsy. We created several more to use as "toys" for her black and white visual phase. We also painted 6 blocks gold and embellishes them with stickers that spell out Everly to use as decor for the room. As you can see, both projects came out really great!!! We can't wait to get crafty again!!!

DR. SAMADI ANATOMY SCAN

We saw our little girl, again, today!!! She is beautiful, healthy, and fully formed. Her heart looks and sounds perfect and she has every appendage and digit she is supposed to. She is estimated to weigh 1lb. 1 oz. and has VERY long arms and legs!!! Looks like she will most likely be tall like her brothers. And speaking of her brothers, we were able to get a good look at her in 3d color and she looks JUST like them!!! She has the same nose, mouth, and chin. I am going to dig up some of the ultrasound pics of the boys to show the comparison. It's crazy!!! In other good news, Everly has flipped head down and is in a great position for birth. Hopefully she will stay that way for the next 18 weeks. Also, the placenta has moved and I no longer have prévia. I was given the green light for exercise and hanky panky!!! Yay!!! It was such a great visit with incredible pictures and lots Of good news!!!

OH THE CLOTHES...

The beautiful, endless array of teeny tiny, plastered in feminine, girl clothes that abound!!! It's too much to handle. Every now and then we see something that we just can't live without for Everly and add it up her wardrobe. She already has a closet full of yummy attire and I don't foresee that ever stopping!!! We love every article in her closet, but here are a few pictures of some of our favorites.

NURSERY...

Excited about this one!!! We were a little disheartened by the lack of quality in the armoires appearance. We should have known better, as we opted go with the more affordable option, but we had hoped for some luck. Truth is, the armoires are pretty darn cute and sturdy, the doors on the armoires just have some cheap looking panels that we felt needed some sprucing!!! So we picked up some decorative shelf paper in the latest nursery trend pattern, chevron, and applied it to the faces of each door!!! We went with grey and white chevron in order to pull the grey from our diaper changing dresser into the other furniture. It came out fantastic and I am beyond thrilled that we were able to incorporate a little ( and I mean a little - some people go over board) chevron into the mix!!! So trendy!!! Here's some pics of how it turned out!!!

NOT EVERLY RELATED... BUT HAD TO BRAG ON JAY JAY

The nursery isn't the only thing we have been busting our butts on, trying to get finished before baby makes 5!!! Jason demo'd, framed, dry walled, taped, mudded, sanded, texturized, and painted the dining room/entry pass through, by himself, in a week. And it looks incredible. I am so proud of his work. We have a solid, useable wall, in both rooms now that will make our entry a fantastic mudroom and dining room a classroom. I feel so proud and so lucky to be married to such a talented and hard working guy!

THE BLUEPRINTS??? LOL

The very crude blueprints that momma designed for Everly's nursery. It is actually coming together pretty much like drawn here!!! Lol.... Only.... Better.

EVERLY'S "JUST BORN" OUTFIT

I guess, since she will be born at home, it can't really be called her going home outfit, but that is technically what this beautiful little sleeping gown is!!! Nana found this gorgeous, handmade, sleeper and gave it to me as a birthday gift!!! I was telling her about what I was looking for in a "just born" sleeper and that very same day she found this! Thanks so much, Nana. Everly is going to look so beautiful in this gown!!!

20 WEEK BUMP!!!

There she is!!! The 5 month Everly bump. You can actually see the line of demarcation between where the top of my uterus is (just above the belly button) and where my upper abdominals have been squished to. Lol.

SMALL "TRIGGER" OF A POST -- ROE V. WADE

"Roe v. Wade: Observing the 40-Year Anniversary

Fifty-five million.

That's a lot, isn't it? It's more than the human mind can fathom. But it's the number of babies who have died in American abortion clinics since Roe v. Wade declared open season on our precious and innocent wee ones."

This is an excerpt of a post from a blog I read frequently.  I am certainly not one to start ANY kind of debate when it comes to this topic.  I do believe that this is a personal and private choice that belongs to each individual woman, but my heart has been hurting for days over this number.  Can it be true?  Can the numbers be THAT high?  I found this so incredibly heartbreaking.  That is a lot of babies.  That is a lot of Miles, and Lennon's, and Everly's whose laughs and smiles will never grace this world.  I think, as mother, once you have babies, it is so hard to fathom any pregnancy (any fetus) as something other than growing another child like the ones you already have.  Uggggg.....  55 million is just too many.  It's an awful lot of precious babies to discard no matter the reason.  So sad.

MORE NURSERY... IT'S GETTING THERE

Here's a few more shots of the progress. Some of the pictures are up and the armoirs are mostly built. We are just trucking away!

NANA BROUGHT OVER SOME PICTURES

Look at these pictures of baby Amanda and High School Graduate Amanda!!! How funny is it that BOTH pictures were taken in an oversized wicker chair??? Even more incredible is how much baby Amanda and Lennon look alike!!! I had no idea that my baby boy, who always resembled the Koiter side of the family to me, actually looked like me!!! I have a few baby pictures floating around where you can see that Miles looks just like me too and I am beginning to suspect that little Everly is going to look just like this baby picture here!!! Oh my little clones!!!