Another Trip Down

The Pumpkin Patch Crew....all 15 of them

Well, here I am at 35 wks. Due to the many, many ongoing request for belly shots I figured I'd finally post one before I actually deliver a baby and forget about it. I haven't been real wild about taking belly shots this go around since I feel like my butt has done more growing than my stomach ever has. So, I kind of avoided the camera this pregnancy. Oh well. It's just weight and can always be lost. I have every intention of doing Weight Watchers online once she arrives. It is unrealistic to think of making it into town on my own without any of the younger ones once a week for a meeting. And after looking their online plan over really well I am thoroughly impressed and pretty excited about putting it into motion after sweet Ivye makes her debut. I feel really really good this pregnancy and am not feeling like the beached whale that I finally felt I had become with Gavin. I am still moving freely and quite lightly. I don't get out of breath easily and have an overall feeling of not being very pregnant. The discomforts of peeing every 5 minutes kind of get to me at times since I am a woman with a mission on most days and the laborious and time consuming task of peeing that often only serves to interrupt my one track mind. And then of course, do I dare even mention trying to travel this late in the game without making at least 5 stops in a mere 3 hr trip?????? We seriously had the FW trip down to a science and by the time this pregnancy rolled around the children and I could do the entire trip without stopping even once and made great time, accomplishing it in only 3 hrs. It took us 4 yesterday and I had to stop at every bathroom along the way. And the endless miles that stretched without one proved to be pure torture. It doesn't help that I have some swelling and due to trying to down a gallon of water a day not only am I draining off the gallon but the extra fluid as well. Ugh.

35 Weeks:
So you're going to have to seriously ignore the lack of any and all make-up and the unmatching clothes. I'll try to get a better, more glamorous pic tomorrow if I can remember it. But for now, this is as good as it gets. Seeing as how it's midnight I'm thinking makeup is not really required at this hour. Oh well. I figure it's better than nothing since the last pic was posted when I was something like 12 wks along or so. Brad calls her our little basketball baby since she is just so stuck out there like a little basketball. In all fairness, I haven't gained THAT much this time around..but considering the fact I stood to lose a few pounds before getting pregnant makes me feel a little unnecessarily large. But since I haven't seemed to really tremendously grow anywhere else my belly looks like I stuck a ball under it when clothed. Kind of funny.

But at my now 35 wk appt my BP ended up being high thanks to dealing with our insurance for an hour before ever going in to see her. It didn't help that the night before we had spent at Jackie's house in excitement over going to the Pumpkin Patch the next morning only to find that it would be an absolutely sleepless night for every adult in the household. Channing ended up sick and having to be tended to in the den floor while Gavin decided that he is way too dependant on a noise maker. With the lack of any noise at all he awoke at 2 am, about the time I was ready to turn in for the night after sitting up and talking with Jackie into the wee morning hours. It quickly became apparent that he had no intention of going back to sleep in his silent, foreign sleeping quarters. Ohhh.....what happened to my flexible little traveling baby?????? He proceeded to scream until 4:30 am when put down. I even tried having him sleep with me but since that is a very foreign thing also he was not having anything to do with it. We finally dozed off at 4:30 only to wake back up at 5 when Curtis got up for the day and readied himself in the bathroom attached to our guest room. And at that point Gavin was also up for the day. I don't think I've ever been so ready to pinch a kid's head off in all of my life. To say that I was a bit exasperated and at my wit's end is a severe understatement. With no other option I finally just decided we were both up for the day and went downstairs to see what I could come up with for his breakfast. By 7:30 many of the other children were up and he began to play and get happy with life. Absolutely exhausted I fell asleep on the couch about then and woke at 9:30 to find out the lady that was meeting us to go with us to the Pumpkin Patch was on her way there at that very minute. Not only did I have all 8 of us to get ready, I also had to pack everybody back up and prepare for my 2:30 appt that would immediately follow the pumpkin filled morning and then lunch. Soooooo.....in my state it wasn't really coming together and was a far cry from really happening. With Jackie having spent a very sleepless night with Channing she was facing the same delimna that I had going. In an absolutely overhwhelmingly kind gesture this sweet lady I had never met offered to take her 3 children along with the 7 of Jackie's that would be going and the 5 of mine to the Patch anyway...despite our absence. Yep....that would be something like a 200% increase of kids for her......or something to that effect. In all she would be responsible for 15 kids....only 3 of which were her's. After meeting her and falling in love and knowing just exactly why Jackie loves this woman I agreed that the children would have a blast and could indeed go without me. We came up with a buddy system that seemed to work really well. Madison was responsible for the youngest of the group, which were the 3 rowdy boys consisting of Garrison, Grant and Charles. Maggie had the giggly group of girls that never separate that consisted of Evye, Aubrey, Milly and Mercy and then Curtis Wade made sure that Grayson and Pearce stuck with him. The morning went exceedingly well and all reports came back with nothing but praises......except for the small little interlude when Garrison and Grant saw their dearly beloved John Deere sitting wildly within their reach and very open for them to climb up into. They did stray and clamored right up into the driver's seat without ever asking or telling a soul. The rest of the time all did incredibly well and stuck together like glue.

Madison had requested the camera for picture taking since the day had been so blown and she knew how badly I wanted pics of the morning. She did amazingly well with the camera too. I got home to discover all of these on the camera and couldn't help but be impressed. And the fun and surprise of not knowing just what's on your own camera is always kind of fun. I love seeing life through the eyes of the children. Inevitably with each download of pics I end up with at least 15 pics that I never knew were taken. Most by a 10 and 8 year old that got ahold of the camera for something they thought was entirely interesting and worthwhile. I love seeing life through their eyes. The pics that were taken at the Patch seemed to capture the essence of their day without me ever being there. I was so glad they got to go despite the harried night that precluded their fun day. We have every intention of going back before Ivye arrives. Maybe for an early November, get-in the-mood-for-Thanksgiving day.

So, I was amazed to find that for the 2nd appt in a row I have not gained any weight. Total weight gain for this pregnancy now totals 16 pds. Granted, I stood in need of dropping about 25 pds before I ever got pregnant. Baby is definitely growing by leaps and bounds but thankfully my thigh and butt growth has seemed to trail off a bit. Technically this should be the time when I'm packing on a pd a week as she gains in preparation for delivery. But seeing as how I have gained every bit she needs earlier in the pregnancy I guess my body recognized that and said all is well and we're both good for now. I go back again on the 31st or so and then go back for my last appt on the 14th where the children and I will stay until she arrives, which I'm guessing will be around the 20th. We'll see. It still seems a bit surreal that we are this close. If we weren't having to go up there and stay I'm actually not sure I'd be giving it much thought. I really feel so good and so normal to be this pregnant....maybe because this is becoming my normal!!! I have to say that I am extremely excited about the cooling weather, the upcoming holidays spent with family and a new baby in our arms and finally being able to drop the weight. The change of seasons motivates unlike any other motivator and inspires the soul to take on everything new and challenging....everything that summer seems way too hot, sultry and draining to do. I can hardly wait to hold this sweet baby girl in my arms, nurse her and find out just who exactly has been growing for these past months. While Madison was here we climbed up into the attic and pulled out all of the baby girl clothes that have been packed away for 5 1/2 years now. It was fun seeing the stuff that I completely forgot we had. And it was fun seeing pink again. I love more than anything having all of these boys but I am falling in love once again with the thought of hairbows and pink little dresses. I have forever been longing to learn how to make hairbows. We could easily spend a fortune on them and I see it so needless to fork out what they are asking for them now. After seeing some of the amazing creation my cousin has come up with for her little girl that is only a month younger than Gavin I have been inspired. So, with the Ebay gift card I received for my birthday I did some researching today and bought an instructional book and DVD on how to learn the basic and advanced art of making hairbows and how to get started in the hairbow making business.....not that I ever aspire to make hairbows for a living. But I could save us a fortune and dress the girls like I envision without ever spending the cash that goes along with the boutique girly little look. Right now it's either figure out how to do it myself or skip the frills and just use the ones we have left from the older 2 girls. That collection has pretty much been whittled down to near non existence since they have now been used to pretty their horses, dolls and Athena. I can hardly wait to get started on them and see what I can come up with for all 3 girls......that is if I can get Evye to wear them. She seems to have a thing with bows in her hair. Seems odd since she is so entirely girly. Maybe if I can concoct a camo bow she might be a little more willing.

Grant and Charles scaling the blow up mountain

You'd think I'm bored or something. I still have the children's pajamas to make for Christmas. And here I go again taking on yet another project and potential hobby. I figure by the end of this I'll either suck at it all or I'll be an expert on anything and everything you ever wanted to know in your entire life on homemaking. At some point I still have to get to the cloth diaper making, gardening, dairy goating, egg producing, hairbow making, outfit sewing, canning and preserving and everything else I have ever mentioned in here that I have begin to take on where cooking, bread making and homemaking is concerned. Oh well. Where there's a will there's a way. I'm living proof of that one.

So....back to the road............in my sleep deprived state exhaustion did prove to eventually set in and by the end of our trip I was sincerely praying that I would not fall asleep on the road. I called Brad to tell him my predicament of fighting off sleep and needing someone to talk to to keep me awake. He was quick to give instructions of taking some caffeine loaded stuff I had on hand and to stop and get a huge coffee at the next town we went through. I did as instructed but still managed to pass up our exit. After giving Daddy a hard time and some teasing about blowing past our exit on his way out here last week I succeeded in doing the very same thing. Although, to our credit, it is very easy to fly by...especially when consumed by conversation or in a sleep deprived state. So it was that by the time I realized it we would have had to backtrack 30 miles to correct it. We found a new way home and, thankfully, a very beautiful one that was completely new to us. As we sped by the sprawling Texas ranches we were all captured by the rolling beauty and the livestock that dotted and graced the pastures as they grazed. It was enough to give me the energy boost I needed to make it home. Upon arriving home I discovered Brad had prepared a huge gourmet meal...complete with desert.....and was finishing up the last of the preparations of it. The children unloaded the van and then went out to jump and exert the pent up energy that comes with road travel. I took Grant, who wasn't feeling so great at this point, with me and piled up in bed. I dozed while he just chilled out until we were summoned to dinner to feast on this meal I had no part in preparing. It was heavenly. It was like going out to eat right here in the comfort of our own home. Grant did eventually run a low grade fever and showed some signs of getting what had rifled through Jackie's crew but it was short lived in our family, for which I was extremely grateful. He ran fever at 5 after we returned home and then it came back up again around 4 am. He slept until 11am this morning and never ran any again. None of the others ever showed any signs of getting any of it. Since several of her crew sounded croupy I didn't think there was much hope of avoiding it going around through everybody but we were indeed mercifully protected. I let them all sleep late...though no one even came close to outsleeping Grant with his 11am rising......and after pulling the house back together they played outside for the remainder of the beautiful day. They jumped the majority of the windy, overcast, 79 degree day. I love these days. I love the open windows, the cool fall winds and the cloudy skies that seem to promise rain. I love being on the go and doing everything fun that our trips always consists of but I so entirely love coming home. I love where we are. I love our place in life. I love our little life filled with tons of children and surrounded by a family that loves us in every way. I love our little house that seems to burst at the seams with children. I love the children's laughter that tinkles in like faint, far away wind chimes. And so as not to paint a picture not too far away from reality, I too am in love with the screaming and yelling that goes along with someone being hammered by a ball that was thrown too hard or a small finger that was accidentally slammed in the workshop door or the howling that comes along with a goat head that mercilessly pierced the heel of a bare little foot. I am so in love with the change of the seasons, the moving growing baby that lives within, my crawling/walking/laundry basket baby that laughs at anything and everything that passes him by and the sounds of my children that drift on the winds that blow through the house. I am so grateful for where we are. I am so blessed to be here.

Aubrey and Mercy

2 of my little pumpkins

4 little pumpkins

The whole crew...there were so many they filled up the wagon on their own.....too funny!