Homemade Baby Food: Epic Fail

I have been trying a lot of new things recently.  This partly due to staying at home, partly to choosing to live off of one income, and partly due to Pinterest.  I have been crafting quite a bit and made my own laundry detergent.  My new adventure is attempting to make baby food.
Brynlee recently starting eating some baby food.  I realized that while the prepackaged foods are convenient, they are a bit pricey.  $1 for two servings of carrots or $1 for a whole bag of carrots?  
Our blender started smelling like something burning the last time we used it.  So, the logical thing to do was to buy a Ninja on Thanksgiving night.  I'm actually glad I did.  I was attempting to save it for Christmas so that Justin would have something to wrap for me to open.  But, last night I was cooking carrots for dinner and I thought it was the perfect opportunity!

I set aside some carrots before I lathered mine in brown sugar and butter.  Then, I busted out the Ninja. (By the way, the Ninja is not a toy like my mother thought.  It is similar to a magic bullet.)

It worked great at pureeing those carrots! I was quite excited and proud of myself when I put them in the fridge for the next day.

Just remember, pride comes before the fall.

The next morning I was feeling pretty confident, so I mashed up some banana in Brynlee's cereal.  It took a total of about 30 seconds and no extra dishes!

It seemed to go pretty well at first, but then she got a few larger chunks of banana and didn't care for that at all. She wouldn't finish her cereal.

Then, lunch time came.  I was ready! I spooned some of the carrots into a bowl, heated them up, got Brynlee situated and even got the camera ready.  I gave her a bite....and she made the most awful face.   

Ok, she just needs to get used to it. 


 I tried another bite...same reaction.  I tried a few more bites and it just got worse. 

She started gagging like crazy, so I gave up.  I gave her the packaged baby food carrots and she gobbled it up.


So, my first day of homemade baby food:
Attempt #1: Semi-fail
Attempt #2: Epic Fail

I will try again tomorrow after I mash things up more and add more water.  

My Full Time Job

Every day something will happen and I will think "I'm so glad I'm not pregnant right now and I have Brynlee".  Also, something else will make me think "I am so glad I am at home, not working this year!" I have been so much more available emtionally, physically, and mentally to my girls.  Monday after school Kaylie and I went for a quick walk around the block and she told me all about her day! (That would not have happened last year for multiple reasons: I was pregnant, the weather was always hot, Kaylie wouldn't have remembered anything to tell me, I would have been working, etc.
Of course, staying at home is also challenging.  I often wonder how I got everything done while I was working because I am so BUSY! I'm always cleaning, hauling Kaylie to and from the bus, feeding the baby, feeding Myla, cleaning up some more, going to church, grocery shopping, it goes on and on.
One of the biggest challenges has obviously been finances.  I have been working hard to use coupons, shop wisely, not shop, use our food wisely, etc.  Also, I made my own laundry detergent!  It was a lot easier than I thought, but I did make the dry kind.  It doesn't look like anything special and it doesn't seem to do anything when you add it to the water in the machine.  But, how much of suds that are created by store bought detergent are just to make us feel like the soap is really working well?   Honestly, the only differences I can tell so far is that the clothes don't have a strong, pretty smell when they come out (which there are recipes for detergent that can give you that) and I am saving a ton of money.  I guess time will tell if I need to try a different recipe or if the dry one works. 

"Are you kidding me?"

I really enjoy sleeping in my bed for many hours at one time.  With three children, this does not always happen.  Last night was one of those times.  It has been cold here the past couple of days (and by cold I mean we could turn the AC off and the fan on and sleep comfortably), which means it's harder to get out of bed.
I don't know exactly what time I went to bed, but I would guess somewhere around 11. I'm sure I was sleeping great, but then.....

3:35 am   Brynlee wakes up
3:38        I pull myself out of bed to get her
3:40        I rock Brynlee for awhile
3:47        I lay Brynlee down in her crib, asleep
3:55        I finally get comfortable in my bed again
3:58        Brynlee wakes up again and I repeat the process
4:10        I finally get comfortable in my bed AGAIN
4:12        Brynlee wakes up AGAIN
4:15        I give Brynlee gas medicine and start rocking
4:22        I try to lay Brynlee down and she wakes back up
4:25        I put Brynlee in the swing
4:36        I attempt to put Brynlee in her crib, she wakes up
4:38        I put Brynlee back in the swing (at this point I have basically given up and brought my pillow out to the couch to sleep)
4:52       Brynlee falls alseep in swing and I finally get comfortable on the couch
4:55       Myla comes out and says "Mommy I don't like it when you close my door"  (which I specifically did so that she wouldn't wake up.....fail!)
4:57       Myla: "Mommy, can you put on cartoons?"  Me: NO!
5:00       Brynlee wakes up, Me:"Are you kidding me?"
5:02       I officially give up on sleep and feed Brynlee
5:38       I lay Brynlee down in the crib and finally go to bed
5:39       Justin has stolen all of the covers (the next morning he asked, "Why did you choke me with the covers?!?! You had a look in your eyes like you were doing it intentionally!")
5:41       I'm finally comfortable, in my bed, with covers, and falling asleep
6:15       Justin's alarm goes off
6:42       I remind Justin that he needs to actually get out of bed to go to work (remember how "cold" it is)
6:55       My alarm goes off to get Kaylie ready for school
7:05       Me:  "Oh Man! We're going to be late!"



Oh the joys of having multiple small children.  (Ok so they really are joys, just not quite as much at 4 am)

Thankful....

As soon as Brynlee was born, I felt a huge sense of relief.  Then, I remembered that I had a baby.  Pregnancy turns me into a different person.  I become sick, miserable, grouchy, whiny, etc.  I really embraced that this last time.
Basically within a couple of hours of having delivered her I felt so much better! I had been an alien and was now myself again. 
Don't get the wrong idea. Pregnancy is a great thing and it is a miracle.  And I am thankful for pregnancy in that it brought my three beautiful girls.  But, I am not thankful for morning sickness and the other not-so-fun effects of pregnancy. 

For those of you who don't really know how sick I was, let me give you an idea.
I would say I got sick every day for about 6 weeks (despite the meds from the Dr) and I was nauseous consistently for at least 10.  I had many other eating issues throughout my entire pregnancy.  This was all happening while I taught my first year at a new school and it was very stressful. 

All of my misery has caused me to become very thankful for my health and my normal body. 

I am thankful that I can now (because I couldn't do these things while pregnant without getting sick or at least feeling sick)....

• eat breakfast
• eat sweets
• get up off of the couch in the late evening
• take a nice, big drink of water
• drink without eating
• eat dairy
• do the dishes
• stay awake past 10
• brush my teeth
• stand in church during the loud worship music
• actually eat my dinner by the time I get it home
• drink water instead of Coke
• not eat potato chips every day at 10 am

These are just the morning sickness/eating issues I had.  I did not even go into the other things that made me uncomfortable (like how I couldn't sleep on my stomach, lie on my back, get in and out of my dad's truck, etc).
However, the biggest thing that I am thankful for recently has been the ability to take care of my kids. My life consisted of work and my couch for about 9 months.  We can go to church, I can bathe my girls, I can cook, I can help Kaylie with her homework, we can go for walks, etc.  I have more energy now (physically and emotionally) so I have been praying with the kids daily and utilizing time to teach them about God's saving grace and amazing love. 
I believe that the Lord used my "year" of pregnancy to give me more patience, love, kindness, sympathy, and most importantly JOY.  Last night when I put Brynlee to sleep 6 times in 30 minutes and she kept waking up I was also trying to help Kaylie finish her homework and bathe them.  It was a pretty hectic,frustrating night, but instead of being filled with anger and impatience I was still filled with a great sense of love for my kids. 

Trust and Obey...

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey. 

This simple childhood Bible song has been speaking to me lately.  Sometimes, isn't life supposed to be that simple?  Trust God and Obey Him and everything will work out.  I had a rough year last year due to my exhausting pregnancy and my stressful job.  I was a mess.  It has been so nice to be at home with my babies this summer.  All summer I have been going back and forth about maybe staying home for awhile and not going back to teaching. In the past, I never really had a desire to stay home, so this was a little odd.

I have gotten into a routine and become pretty consistent with my quiet times in the evening.  I have to do them at night because that is the only time I can be sure that all of my girls will be sleeping at the same time and I can concentrate.  I have been going through a study called Experiencing God, which basically has been telling me that I need to listen to God's voice and then....Trust and Obey.  I have been going back and forth all summer, trying to figure out what God was telling me to do.  Was God telling me to stay home or go to work?  Was Satan telling me that I couldn't get a job or that I needed a job?  I would start to become comfortable with where I thought God was leading me and then something would happen that would make me flip back.  I had a couple interviews, but no jobs. Was God telling me to stay home or just to have patience while I waited for a job?  

Financially, it does not make any sense for me to stay home.  When I was working, we did not exactly have a lot of money left over each month, I carried the benefits, etc.  Shortly before school was starting I was glad that I hadn't found a job because then I did not have to make a decision.  Then I got another interview.  I was dreading it a little bit, if only because if I got offered the job, then I would have to decide.  On the way to the interview my mind was on warp speed.  I told myself that if it were 6th grade, I could handle that, or if it was honors classes.  In the interview I found it was 7th and 8th grade.  On the way home I realized that this decision I was debating about was whether or not to obey God.  I had come to realize that God was telling me to stay home and me getting a job would putting my trust into my own abilities instead of God's.  At that point I was prepared to turn down the job, if I got it.  (They never called so I did not have to actually tell them that I didn't want it).
One of the main things I read in my study that really got to me was a statement about why we don't think we see God working around us.  If we only attempt things that we can do on our own, how could we see God working?  How often do we attempt things that we know only God can do?
Well, here I am attempting something God can do.  If we get through this year, it really will be evidence of God alive and working in our lives.  We have had a few reassurances from God that we are headed in the right direction.  I have a couple of prospects for ways to earn money part time.  We seem to have found a solution to the health care issue.  I am excited to spend this year focusing on my relationship with Christ, my family, and serving the Lord.  I am now in a position where I have to Trust and Obey....

Brynlee 3 months

I realized that I haven't posted about Brynlee since she was born.  It has felt so natural for her to be here that I guess I forgot that it is kind of a big deal that we have another member in our family.  She's 3 months old now (well, getting close to 4 months already!) It seems like just yesterday we brought her home, but it also feels like ages ago.  Here is one of the sweet pictures Ashlie took of her in the first week.

Brynlee Grace 1 week

She has been such a great baby.  She basically started sleeping through at about two weeks (not always, but more often than not she sleeps for about 7 hours a night).  She is very happy.  She has been smiling a lot and even laughing sometimes.  She loves to be held and to look around at everything going on.  She also loves her swing and spends many hours a day in it.
We've joked that she looked a little Asian at first.

Brynlee 10 weeks

 She's starting to grab things and try to play with toys hanging in front of her.

Brynlee looks a bit more like Kaylie than Myla, but is still her own person.  So far, she is keeping her head full of dark hair and I hope it stays that way. 

Brynlee, Kaylie, Myla each at 3 months

Kaylie and Myla have been very good with Brynlee.  I was worried Kaylie wouldn't like her and Myla would be smothering, but they are both very gentle and love her very much.  The other day they were fighting with each other and then started fighting over Brynlee.
Time sure is flying as my last baby just keeps growing.  She's starting to get chunky legs.  She rolled over once (by chance) and is getting closer at being able to do it again.

Brynlee Grace Adams 3 months

 I am so thankful for this miracle that God has given to me.  I feel privileged to have the opportunity to raise these three girls, to teach them about God's love for them, and how to live for Christ.  Our family is not perfect, but we sure do love each other. 

The Birth Story

Just when you least expect to go into labor, you do!  I had gone to the doctor on Wed and I was 4 cm, so not a whole lot of change in over a week.  I was a little disappointed, but luckily I got the forms filled out so that I didn't have to work anymore.  Also, induction was set for the 24th (Tues).  I went home and crashed on the couch.  I hadn't been feeling great, but thought it was tied to the stomach bug that Kaylie had earlier that week. I had quite a few things planned for the 19th.  There were things that I just wanted to get done before the baby came.
I woke up around 4 am having cramps, but due to the way I had been feeling I thought nothing of it.  Then around 6 I realized that I had been having these cramps and Braxton Hicks contractions sort of frequently and I couldn't sleep.  By the time Justin was awake and ready to leave for work at 6:30 I told him not to leave yet until I was sure I wasn't in labor.  At 6:45 I called my mom to ask what she thought and if I should go to the hospital.  The "cramps" were getting stronger and more frequent, but hadn't lasted very long really (maybe 30 minutes).  So, my mom came over at around 7:15 to get the girls and take them to school and Justin and I were going to go to the hospital to get checked out.  Getting gas in the van was one of the things I was planning on doing that day (and my mom was about out of gas too), so we had to stop at the gas station to get enough gas to get us to the hospital.
I posted on Facebook at 7:25 on the highway that I thought I might be in labor.  I was pretty sure I was in labor, but because it hadn't been that long that I had been in pain I was worried that it would go away.  I even said to Justin on the way to the hospital, "I'm going to feel bad if this is false labor!"  We got to the hospital around 7:40, filled out a small amount of paper work and went into triage.  I was about 6 cm at this point and begging them to get me the epidural quickly.  The nurse was working on getting me into the system and getting me checked out.  It seemed to take forever and she didn't seem to be in too much of a hurry.  Then, at about 8:05 I was technically admitted into the hospital and moved into the labor and delivery room.  I was having pretty strong contractions and screaming in pain already.  I was still begging for the epidural.  They wanted to get a bag of fluids in me before I got the epidural though and they had a little bit of trouble getting my IV in (I guess due to my low BP).  I was laying on my side trying to make it through the contractions, the nurse was having me sign all of this paperwork and probably telling me some semi-important things.  At about 8:20 I felt my water break and told them.  8:25 was about when I knew she was coming soon, told them, and they told me not to push yet.  They were still working on getting me hooked up to the monitors and into the system.  Finally, I said "She's coming now!" and a couple of pushes later, she was born at 8:31.  A couple of minutes later it dawned on me that I had just had a baby!  A doctor came in to finish things up after she was born.
Later, the doctor that was supposed to deliver told us that they called to say that she needed to come in to deliver, she brushed her teeth and got into her car, and they called back to say that she had been born!
I can't believe it happened that fast, but thank goodness it was that fast because it was crazy painful without any "help" as I was screaming for in the middle of everything.
Praise God that everything turned out all right.  There are so many things that could have happened to cause a delay of getting to the hospital and most likely resulted in Brynlee being born on the side of the road or somewhere equally disturbing.  Now, we have another miracle from God in our home and our family feels complete.

Dear Lord, Please let this be my last Pregnancy Update!

If you have not seen or heard yet, we have chosen a name.  Brynlee Grace Adams could be here any day now!  
I'm very ready to have this baby girl.  I'm 37 weeks and 4 days today.  I went in last Monday and found out that I was 3cm dilated an 80% effaced.  I was pretty miserable last week at work.  I was exhausted, in pain, and of course crabby.  I went to my doctor appointment this past Monday planning on getting a note that said I didn't have to work anymore.  Unfortunately, the midwife said that there is no medical reason why I cannot work.  I also found that I hadn't progressed much at all in the past week.
So, I came to work to try to find a way to take some time off before the baby comes.  Basically, I found out that I have to work up until the day I deliver.  I was very upset, angry, etc that no one could help me out.  I just wanted a few stress free days before the baby came where I could focus on the baby coming instead of focusing on how to make it through the day at work. 
Thankfully, God is good and has actually helped me to feel a bit better this week.  So far, I'm making it through the week.  Also, my family has been very helpful.  I just hope this baby comes soon (but of course on an even numbered day, so tomorrow would be good!)
I'm a little worried that I will go into labor at school.  It could take me an hour to get to the hospital from work and who knows what could happen in that hour.  Of course, the Lord is in control and He knows what is best.  At least I'm making more money while I wait for Brynlee to "Grace" us with her presence.  (Sorry I couldn't help it).
I have nicknames for the girls and I'm trying to find one for Brynlee.
I call them Kaylie Ann from BradentAN (so that it rhymes of course), Myla Rae from Tampa Bay, and now we will have Brynlee Grace from.....
Outer Space?  Another Place?  Too bad we live in River's Edge instead of River Place.  I guess we have a little time to figure that one out.
And now.....I will wait.

Final Post about Redecorating the Girls' Room!

I'm finally done! (For now....haha) I was messing around with a few ideas and waiting to hang everything up until I knew what I had.  I made the yarn-wrapped letters (K & M) for their names.  I glued buttons onto fabric in the shape of a heart and framed it. I made a butterfly out scrapbook paper.  Then, I had an empty spot on a wall, so I just framed a piece of scrapbook paper for now.  I'll probably eventually think of something more creative to put there.  I also finally hung the string so that the girls can use the clothespins I decorated to hang their art work.  Here are the final results:

 The girls from my life group had a girls night/baby shower for me and Ali.  Erika made those adorable pinwheels and I had to take one since it matched everything in their room perfectly!

 Kaylie and Myla read every night using the flower light before going to sleep.

 Thanks to my Mom and Dad we have a nice, new tree right outside the girls' window now.  Kaylie named it Sarah because I refused to name the new baby Sarah.

 Below are a few close ups of some the things I made, including collages of each of the girls. 

Redecorating the Girls' Bedroom-Part 2

Pinterest has given me a lot of great ideas.  I had to narrow those down to projects that I was capable of and to things that would be possible in the room.  I came up with a few things that seemed easy enough that I thought would bring some character to the room.  The first one was the scrapbook banner.  I picked out a bunch of scrapbook paper that followed the blue and pink color theme and found some pink ribbon.  I made a triangle stencil to cut out the scrapbook paper and then just glued the triangles onto the ribbon.  It was very easy and I think it's pretty cute for how cheap and simple it was!

The second project was curtains.  I was going back and forth about buying curtains or making them.  I knew that sewing was out of the question.  I have no sewing machine and absolutely no talent in that area.  Luckily, in searching through Pinterest I found a great website on how to make curtains with hem tape.  No needle and thread was exactly what I needed.  I couldn't find cute store-bought curtains that I liked and had the right feel to them.  I finally found some fabric that was cheap enough to make it worth it to make them myself and I that I actually liked.  At the fabric store I almost bought way too much fabric because I was counting feet instead of yards.  The lady who cut the fabric for me was very nice and helpful when I told her that it was my first true adventure with fabric and that I couldn't even sew on a button.  The lady at the register, however, gave me a somewhat sarcastic, "Good luck!"  Thanks, lady.  Way to boost my confidence!
So I cut my fabric in half to make the two panels and thanks to the advice of the first lady at the store, I just had to hem the top and the bottom.  (The sides are made not to fray and they were already straight)  The challenging part was cutting the top and bottom so that I could make them straight and even with each other.  I laid the fabric on the ground and got the tape measure and started stressing out.  Justin came in and said to just measure the two sides so that they were the same and the top and bottom the same.  This would make a rectangle.  This is where the math teacher in me was actually quite helpful.  Two pairs of congruent sides makes a parallelogram.  I did not want parallelogram shaped curtains.  I wanted rectangles.  So, I had to make 90 degree angles!  I think I finally made my two panels just about even, so the hemming began.

I ironed on the hem tape according to the directions and it actually turned out to be pretty easy once I got my system down and it didn't look half bad!  Of course, when we hung the curtains they weren't exactly even.  Justin tells me it's because the floor isn't quite level, but I have a feeling it was really my fault.  Overall, I was pretty happy with the end result and glad I chose to make the curtains instead of buying them.

It was difficult to get good pictures of the curtains because of the light coming through the window.  Those little boxes are ottomans that the girls can sit on and part of the solution to the whole "two-girls-sharing-the-same-room-with-limited-storage" problem.  My original intent was to buy/make a nice storage bench, but that will have to wait until we have more time/money. For now, these boxes are perfect.  

 I'm also very happy to have the horizontal blinds instead of the vertical blinds.  They are just more practical when the window opens horizontally. 

 

I'm hoping to get some more things done in the room the next few weeks.  However, my to-do list is a mile long and my energy level is not keeping up. 

Redecorating the Girls' Bedroom and the Nursery-Part 1

When we moved into the house we basically painted the walls to match the bedding and that was the extent of the decorating.  The windows had vertical blinds, so we didn't even have curtains.
This is also the first time that I have really been able to decorate a nursery.  With Kaylie and Myla, we were living in apartments, so we couldn't do much to the walls, etc.
I knew that I was going to really try to decorate the nursery this time.  Then, I felt bad because Kaylie and Myla didn't get that much attention to their rooms when they were born or now.  So, I decided to decorate Kaylie's room and turn it into Kaylie and Myla's room.  Luckily, they have both enjoyed sharing a room the past few months (I wanted the transition to not be too close to when the baby came because I knew the addition of the baby would be hard enough).
Here's a look at the rooms before we started the transformations.

 Kaylie and Myla's room Before

 Nursery Before

The nursery transformation started with finding crib bedding.  I tried to find bedding I liked that matched the walls already.  That did not go so well.  I finally decided on the bedding, but then I couldn't settle on a paint scheme.  I finally chose the pink, brown, and chair rail.  I'm glad I did!

With the girls' room I knew I wanted a change, and something creative, but not busy.  Kaylie wanted to paint the walls black and Myla changes her mind about her favorite color every two seconds (and usually copies Kaylie with the whole black thing).  Kaylie has wanted blue walls in the past and the bedding had the blue stripes, so I chose the blue.  Then I ran into the problem of how to add interest to the walls.  In order to tie in the theme of the bedding, the only thing I could do is stripes.  I didn't want stripes everywhere though!  So I settled on the two stripes in the middle of the wall in the accent pink color (to make sure everyone knew it was a girls room!).  I had a lot of help painting from Justin and my parents, especially figuring out those silly stripes. 

So far, the painting is done and very little else has been completed.  I have done a few of my pinterest projects, but I have a ways to go.  I'm still trying to figure out what to put on each of the walls in the nursery, etc.  I will be updating again with complete before and afters when the rooms are completely done, but for now....here's some pics of how the rooms look painted. 

 Paint Job in Kaylie and Myla's room

 Paint/Chair Rail in Nursery

Pregnancy at 30 weeks

Being 30 weeks pregnant is a lot different than being 10 weeks pregnant, especially for me.  At 10 weeks I felt miserable and couldn't do ANYTHING.  I also had no motivation to do ANYTHING! One of the hard parts was that I didn't look pregnant, so not everyone knew why I looked/acted/felt crappy.  At 10 weeks I was losing weight consistently and could barely eat.

At 30 weeks, I'm consistently gaining weight and eating a lot.  Everyone notices right away that I'm pregnant and asks how I'm feeling.  Now I have crazy amounts of motivation and OCDish cleaning impulses (I hope you can understand that crazy language I just made up).  However, my body can't handle too much of my motivation.  I typically crash in the evenings.  I'm just thankful to be able to get some of the things done that need to be done and extremely blessed that I am no longer getting sick.  I'm feeling lots of kicks and rolls and flips.  I'm starting to sense her personality already.  Kaylie was constantly moving and kicking regardless of what I was doing.  Myla was a stretcher.  Whenever I moved I could feel her moving around as if to get herself comfortable.  This little girl seems to tell me when she's mad.  I will lay down and get comfy and then she starts kicking. She will kick and jab and bounce until I move.  She stops, as if to say, "Thank you, that's where I want you to sit". 

I was very tiny when I was pregnant with Myla.  I'm not as tiny this time.  My belly has definitely been growing faster with this baby.  I just hope that doesn't mean I'm going to have another big baby!
This is my first attempt at a photo collage: 

I recently had to take the 3 hour glucose test.  The 1 hour was "not-fun" enough so I was absolutely dreading the 3 hour test.  Turns out, there was good reason!  I have been known to faint in the past, especially when getting blood drawn while pregnant.  For the 3 hour test they had to draw blood samples 4 times.  Seriously, 4 times in 3 hours!  The first blood draw went pretty well and I actually got that disgusting drink down pretty well (think flat orange soda with about 80 times extra sugar in it).  I was feeling pretty good for awhile and then started getting a little queasy, but nothing I couldn't handle.  However, when they did the blood draw at the 1 hour mark, they almost had to cancel the test.  I was about as close to passing out as I could get without going completely and I also came very close to getting sick (which would definitely cancel the test).  Luckily, I made it through and they took the last two blood samples from me while I was laying down on the cot in the back.  Now, I just wait for the results. 

I'm very excited to meet our little girl!  There will be more updates with nursery, names, etc.  For now, I'm just trying to make it to spring break so that I can go crazy nesting!

Pregnancy: 24 weeks

I'm 24 weeks tomorrow.  That means I probably have about 15 weeks left (Myla was 9 days early).  That is way too long.  The main thing I have learned this pregnancy: I am not a good pregnant person.  Besides getting so sick for Week 5-15, I'm uncomfortable, crabby, emotional, tired, moody, and just blah.  I wish I was better.  I wish I was one of those girls that feel better when they were pregnant and just glowed!  So, despite the fact that I really wanted 4 children, I will be doing everything in my power to not get pregnant again.  I am not ruling out adoption to get a boy though.  Of course, I'm not counting on that happening either.

I am definitely feeling better than I was though.  I haven't officially "gotten sick" in weeks and my ability to eat has definitely improved.  I even got to eat a few sweets over the Christmas season without becoming miserable. 

I'm very excited to be able to fully decorate the baby's room this time.  We lived in apartments with both Kaylie and Myla and therefore couldn't paint the walls, etc.  I have almost chosen the bedding and once I have that I can officially start the decorating process. 

I am a little worried that this sweet baby girl will not have a name when she comes.  I am terribly picky about names.  I have looked through lists and lists and I just can't find a name that feels right.  Then comes the challenge of Justin and I agreeing! Kaylie is set on the name Sarah and was quite upset when I mentioned the name Brooklyn because she did not want to name her after a village! Myla used to always suggest "Cat", but recently suggested "Stacey".  I feel as though she was meaning to say something else because I have no clue where she could have come up with that name!
We might finally have a name now, but it is still not official because it doesn't quite have everything I want in a name.
I jokingly call her "Kevin" after the mother bird in the movie Up.

"Kevin" has been more and more active.  Many people have been able to feel her move, including Kaylie! She was very excited to feel the kick.  Myla loves to talk about the baby and say that she felt a kick even though she didn't.  We are all very excited to meet "Kevin" in April!

22 weeks on Christmas Eve