Special Mommy/Naomi Time

Since the very first day that I was home on bed rest, I've been telling the kids that the great part is that I'm always going to be there for them. Cuddles, books, sob stories, whatever - I'm there on their level just waiting for them. I've also been trying to have special one-on-one time with each of them pretty regularly, if not every day.
Today was special Mommy/Naomi time all morning. The boys went to a birthday party with Daddy while Naomi and I stayed home.

First we played with our new Pop Beads. We love these things! Even the boys have fun with them, but it was a special treat to get to play all girly with them. By the end Naomi and I each had several necklaces and bracelets.
Then we played a couple of rousing rounds of Guess Who. You can see that Naomi was about to whoop me on this round.
Then Naomi made herself some lunch and, to make it more special, was allowed to eat her lunch in the family room while watching TV.
The boys have another birthday party to go to next Saturday and I already made plans for Naomi to have a playdate during that time so that she won't feel left out. But at the end of our special time together she said, "I wish we could just do this again next week instead." I think by next week she'll have changed her mind, but it was good to hear that she had a good time.
And it was really good for me to feel like an actual productive adult for the morning. Really I felt more like the fun Aunt than the Mommy, but that's a good feeling too!

The View From the Couch

Here is a smattering of pictures from the last few months of me laying on the couch. I have a unique perspective, laying around all day.

I have the privilege of being the place where Isaiah prefers to throw his fits these days. In the picture below he is hiding under his blanket while screaming his head off about some injustice.
Here are Asher and Daddy showing off their matching plaid shorts. Asher was so proud.
Here's Isaiah goofing off on the nice living room furniture. He was soon thereafter scolded.
Here I am supervising Naomi and Asher playing computer games.
Here's Asher giving Samuel a hug. Asher loves to hug and kiss my tummy/Samuel. First he asks where Samuel is, then when I point to my belly he squishes Samuel and I in a hug and then gently kisses my belly. Then he always asks if Samuel hugged and kissed him back. And I always say yes.
In this shot Asher and Isaiah are seeking sanctuary from Nanny Amy who is trying to put them down for their naps.
Here's Isaiah stealing my headphones and jamming out to my tunes (or was it the Book of Mormon?).
Can you tell from these pics who my most frequent visitor on the couch is? Definitely Isaiah. He comes in to cuddle me or tell me something quite often. And I am so OK with that.

Long-Legged and Sideways

I had another check-up today at the hospital. They did an ultrasound to check on my cervix and measure the baby. The biggest discoveries were that 1) My cervix is the same as my last appointment, two weeks ago - very good news 2) Samuel is measuring close to the 80th% leg-length wise, but is in the 50th% for all his other measurements - he is looking like he's going to be a tall boy, and 3) Samuel has his head buried next to my right hip bone with his back facing upwards - which is a crazy position and hopefully he won't turn breech (but that does explain why my hip has been killing me). It was a good visit and, as always, I feel better after confirming that everything is still good. I especially feel better after mentioning to my doctor that a medication he put me on a couple of weeks ago is making me sick and him immediately responding, "Well, it's not worth it then. Try taking it every other day and if that's still making you sick, just stop taking it." What a great answer! I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but having a doctor who I trust, and who trusts me, makes all the difference. I can't imagine how hard this would be if I didn't feel so supported by my dear Dr. Tashman.

Sweet Thought

Isaiah 40:11

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

A Reason To Get Out of Bed

One of the problems I've been having lately is trying to convince myself to get out of bed in the morning. Because, really, why should I? Richard get the kids up and feeds them breakfast around 7. By 8 Nanny Amy is here and she dresses the kids and pretty much takes over things. I mostly just try to stay out of the way when she's here so that it's clear she's the authority figure. So, I repeat, why should I get out of bed? Ever? I am, after all, on bed rest. But staying in bed all day is pretty depressing. So I usually convince myself to get out of bed eventually (like around 10am). It's not that I can sleep that long - although I often wish I could - I read or watch a show on my computer.

A couple of days ago though, I was having a particularly emotionally rough day and I just really couldn't convince myself to get up. I lay there wishing I could just take two sleeping pills and wake up in 24 hours. Or better yet, I daydreamed, couldn't I just sleep for about two months until this is all over? ...Anyway, downward spiral aside, I finally convinced myself to get up and work on this project:
I'm embroidering the scripture that inspired us to name this baby Samuel. When I'm done I'll leave it in the embroidery hoop and hang it up in his room. Richard helped me pick a font on the computer and carefully trace the letters on with my disappearing-ink fabric pen. It's going slowly because I am doing very small, careful stitches. But I've got all the time in the world!

31.5 Weeks

He's getting bigger! It's still amazing to me how much this guy is sticking straight out in front. I guess he doesn't have much chance to spread out to the sides since I'm always laying on my side.

The Start of a Short Hiatus OR Potty Training Isaiah

A short hiatus from diapers, that is.

Today Nanny Amy started potty training Isaiah! This was an interesting day since Amy's own child is only 9 months old, so she's never potty trained before. But she said she was up for the task (and I promised her a bonus at the end of the week for the extra drama). The day started with a special Daddy/Isaiah trip to Target where Isaiah picked out Thomas the Tank Engine underwear and M&Ms for a reward. Then they came home and Isaiah was thrilled to just put it right on. I so wish I had pictures, but sadly my camera batteries are dead. Isaiah was so proud of his new Thomas underwear that he walked around wagging his toosh and showing us all. For the beginning of potty training I give the kid a treat for each time they even attempt to "put pee in the toilet" by sitting on the throne. So Isaiah had at least 3 servings of 5 M&Ms each before 11am. Then he had an accident - which wasn't really surprising since he had yet to successfully pee in the toilet in his life. But the next time that Amy coerced him to sit on the toilet he had success!! His first morning in big-boy underwear and the total was one accident to one success. Not too shabby!

To keep up with the trend, we also let Asher wear his underwear during nap time for the first time. He's been pretty much potty trained for a year now, but during nap time I've always put a diaper on him and locked him in his room (oops, if you're with CPS I just mean "locked" in a metaphorical sense. If you're not with CPS but rather a Mom dealing with a crazy kid, I highly recommend switching the lock on your kids door knob so that it locks from the outside.) Anyway, Asher also successfully made it through nap time with clean and dry underwear.

It's just all about poop, pee and underwear around here right now.

Good Mom / Bad Mom

I'm supposed to be telling myself that I'm being a good Mom by laying around all day, right? I'm taking care of Samuel by not moving as much as possible.

But then there are times that my other children need me to do something that would require me getting up or moving or whatever. And then I feel like a bad Mom for not being able to do that thing.

So sometimes I cheat. For example, I just got up and changed Isaiah's diaper because Richard isn't here at the moment and I couldn't stand the idea of Isaiah being poopy for another second. I was being a good Mom.

But then when I got up from the floor, I had a contraction. And felt like a bad Mom. Because apparently that wasn't good for Samuel.

*sigh*

Half

I am at 30 weeks now. 40 weeks is full-term (although, actually, I think anything after 38 weeks is still considered full-term). So, with that 38 weeks in mind as my goal, I realized that I am probably half way through this situation. I went on bed rest at 22 weeks - so 8 weeks down. And if full-term is 38 weeks - 8 weeks to go.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. Sometimes I feel like, "Alright! I just have to do what I've already done one more time - and this is all done!". However, there are plenty of other times when it's a little more like, "I have to do what I've already done again?" Also, it's starting to sink in that when this is all done, I'm nowhere near done. After this I have to deal with a newborn. While I have a body that hasn't worked at all in four months. ... I kinda feel like I need a break inbetween this situation and the next. Don't I deserve a break? Then I feel terrible for feeling like that because the only way I'm getting a break inbetween is if this baby ends up having to stay in the hospital for a while. ... And I really don't want that.

Anyway, as you can see, I've still got plenty of worries on my mind. I did just have a check up today and everything still looks fine. I got to see my cute little baby Samuel again and this time we could even see hair on his head and got a great look at his chubby little cheeks.

It's all good. And it kinda totally sucks, too.

(Stay tuned for some catch up posts with pics from my Moms visit, the 4th of July, and painting Naomi/Samuel's room.)

July 4th and Grandma A

Grandma A came to visit over the long 4th of July weekend and really perked us all up. It was fun to have her here, as always, but I think this time the kids really enjoyed the special pampering that comes with a Grandma visit. And it was a great pick-me-up for me, too, since I love my Mama so much.
She helped with so much while she was here and did a ton of crafts and activities with the kids. One thing they really enjoyed was making fruit kabobs for our July 4th meal.
Grandma made everything so cute and festive for us.
And she and Richard took the kids to the fireworks that night. She even bought matchy outfits for the kids (our mistake was in letting them eat dinner in their cute outfits - Asher made a mess of his and had to change before the photo op.)
Here are some pics of cute kids waiting for the fireworks.


The fireworks were a hit. Everybody loved them. However, the getting home at 11pm part was a little rough. Apparently each of the kids had a meltdown on the way home for various reasons.
Overall, I think it was a memorable day for the kids.

My Theme Song

Check out my life's theme song these days. How did Alicia Keys know?