On the Verge...

Today has already been hard, but with little moments of obvious blessings from the Lord mixed in. It "started" at 1am when Abram woke up wailing. I let him go from about 10 minutes. He would stop for a minute and then cry for 30 seconds and did that for about 5 minutes. It sounded like he was in pain. I decided he probably needed some pain relief and water. So that's what I brought him. He was eager for the medicine (that kid loves all flavored medicine. Blessing.) And he gulped down some water. I rocked him for as long as I comfortably was able and then sat down next to him outside the crib, sang, and prayed for him. I left and he only cried out a few more times before both of us fell asleep around 2:30. Praise the Lord. I write this and realize that I sound like a single parent, alone in my bed, listening to my child cry and the only one who could tend to his needs. Obviously that is not the case, but I am the wife of a pretty heavy sleeper. Through all of ...

Abram doesn't have pneumonia. I didn't think he did. It didn't make any sense - although the "gunky" chest x-ray is still a big questions mark. This morning he woke up with really rosy cheeks, a low grade fever, and was bursting into tears and acting like he was in horrible pain when we were feeding him oatmeal this morning. So I made an appointment for this afternoon with his normal doctor. When we were driving to the appointment, I reached back to play with his foot. He had taken his shoes off and I noticed that he had a kind of red rash on his foot and some little white bumps. The doctor was running a little late and when he finally came in, he confirmed that his chest sounded fine. He looked in his mouth and found little sores and a red throat. With the bumps appearing on his feet and a few on his hands, we confirmed that the fever was the start of hand, foot, and mouth disease! Yea!!! So it's a really contagious virus that can't be treated and...

The last 24 hours or so have been pretty eventful for us Smiths. Last night I headed off to see "The Hunger Games" with my friend. I did like the books and I was anxious to see the movie. Before leaving around 6:30, I was having kind of a lot of contractions. Painless contractions, but fairly frequently. We got to the theater, sat down, the movie started at 7, and I started having contractions really close together. I had 9 before I decided to get out my cell phone and use my app to actually time them. It was 7:40. I continued to start and stop my contraction counter every 2-4 minutes for the rest of the movie. I ended up having over 30, which progressively got more and more uncomfortable over the course of the next 2 hours. I was a little worried. The sort-of "general" rule is if you have more that 4 contractions in an hour, even if they are painless, call your doctor. I don't live by this rule. If I did, I would have been on the phone with my doctor...

So I thought that we had made the switch to one nap a day. We did it successfully for three days (Sat-Mon). Now today, both of us got really tired and bored around 11. New nap time was 12:30. I asked him if he wanted to sleep and he said yes. So I put him down at 11 and he was out by 11:30. So we shall see what today holds. He has technically only been taking one nap a day for awhile now, but it was a long morning-ish nap and then an early evening "rest". From 5-6 he would roll around in his crib and then Quinn would come home and get him out. I like to be able to plan my days and know when I might be able to run errands and schedule appointments and get together with friends, so this A/B schedule this is a bit aggravating for me. I think I want a routine more right now, because I know that in a matter of weeks there will be no routine. The nice thing about a really new newborn is that you can take them with you anywhere. They do the same thing out and about that th...

Almost 35 weeks and very ready. I want her to be full-term, so I'll hang on for two more weeks, but after that, the praying starts. I know God will bring her when she's ready, but my small frame can't handle very much more. I have had a relatively comfortable, uneventful pregnancy thus far, praise the Lord. But this last part feels exponentially more uncomfortable than it did with Abram. Maybe it's because I have Abram and keeping up with him and not being able to just lay around whenever I want to is a lot different than when I was pregnant with him and could lay around as much as I wanted. So my back is killing me, my stomach is stretching to the point of breaking, and I am inexplicably tired even when I get a full night of sleep. I know the next few weeks (even if a "few" is five) will go quickly, regardless, so I should savor them. This is me... savoring: ...compared to savoring at 35 weeks with Abram: I have been "belly binding" to help w...

I am going to share this story with you because it happened and it was a big part of my day/year/life. But it is a little embarrassing. I don't think I did anything really dumb, but I could have been more careful and cautious. Don't worry, I know now. My car has been dying while driving for a week now. It dies for a few seconds and then picks back up again. A few times it actually dies and it takes awhile to restart. Basically, Quinn and I decided I shouldn't drive it until it goes into the shop (on Monday). So this morning Abram and I drove Quinn to work and then we went to Chic-fil-A for breakfast. We ate, had fun, blah, blah, blah... and then we went out to the car. I unlocked the passenger door with the key and it opened. I threw my bag and the keys in the front seat. It's a two door. I'm pregnant. I had a 23 pound toddler to put in the back seat. I needed free hands and arms. So I climbed in the back with Abram, strapped him in, shut the door and...

I love homemade pizza. I love it because as long as I have a packet of pizza dough mix and some protein, I can make dinner. Usually it's a (sort of) typical Italian style pizza - with marinara and chicken or ground turkey or beef. Abram sometimes likes it and sometimes won't touch it. So tonight, when I hadn't planned dinner and Quinn came home hungry, I started to figure out what I could do that everyone would eat. I had a pizza dough packet, but hadn't thawed any meat (and I hate microwave defrosting meat). We all needed some kind of protein. Abram likes black beans. I had some in the pantry. But do black beans go with marinara - I didn't think so. So I decided to make the black beans the "marinara". Maybe this is not a new idea and many others before me have done it, but for me, it was a moment of unexpected food ingenuity. Then I just went from there, grabbing out vegetables we had in the refrigerator and making what I am now calling the ...

I had to go to Once Upon a Child the other day to buy Abram some 12 month shorts and t shirts. He only had 2 pairs of shorts and it's warming up here fast. I think he's a little warm natured anyway, so he's been sweating a lot in the pants and dress shirts that I have been dressing him in. Once Upon a Child is a resale children's shop (if you don't have one near you). I usually limit myself to the amount I spend on any given piece. So I got 2 pairs of short for $5 each and 4 polo shirts for $2.50 each. Then I got up to the register and they asked me if I wanted to try to "make a basket" for 50% off my purchase. I looked around for a hoop and the girl pointed me to a tiny kids standing hoop on top of their display case behind the counter and she handed me a tennis ball sized ball. I've never been one of those lucky people and definitely not one of those skilled basket making people. So I asked her what happened if I knocked something off the wal...

I am awake at 4am. I have been awake since 1:30. I don't think that I will be falling asleep in the very near future. Selah is supposedly putting on about 1/2lb a week now. But I think the way that she is doing it is waiting 6 days to grow at all and then gaining that 1/2lb and that 1/2in in one day. Today was that day for week #34. She did not feel this big yesterday. I guess she had her growth spurt last night. I'm starving all of the time (because she's stealing all of my food). Like right now. But if I eat and lay down, it will probably come right back up as it has nowhere to go. Which is why I am sitting up on the couch right now. I think I may be experiencing my first bout of acid reflux. I don't know, though. I'm not sure what it feels like, but it's the only thing that would explain the uncomfortable burning sensation in the bottom of my throat. Pregnancy is so fun, man!! Also there has been a crazy thunderstorm happening since 1am. It wa...

Is there really such a thing? I guess there is when most of my family who is not on facebook (or instagram) can't see the very adorable photos I am getting of our Bug. So I thought I'd do a quick share of a few from the last couple of days. If Abram is awake when Quinn is about to get home (sometimes he's down for a "rest"), then we go out for a walk right before we think Daddy is going to drive into the neighborhood and walk until we see him. Then Quinn gets out of the car and walks with Abram and I drive home. It means that Abram gets a lot of walking - which he loves, I get a little bit of walking - which I like, and Quinn gets a bit of walking with the Bug right after work - which he loves. Then Abram has to come inside for dinner and he usually cries. I made a comment to our long time friend yesterday that Abram is really happy when he's outside and walking. Todd said "Sounds like Quinn's son." Truth. So, since he really likes to be o...

Like a baby shower. Not a real shower (like this long ago post ). I had one of those that morning in preparation for my baby shower. Which was more like a "sprinkle", as it was small and there wasn't a need for as many big gifts and baby items as there are with the first one. My first memorable moment of the day was Saturday morning when Quinn was taking care of Abram so I could get ready (I straightened my hair and everything!) I heard a lot of running around and "Abram, come in here please!" and "Abram, where did you go?!" and "Abram, I said no!" And then, suddenly, I heard the sounds of Baby Einstein. My husband, who has previously been fairly adamant about not wanting our children to watch TV, turned on Baby Einstein. I wanted to rush out to the living room and shout, "SEE! NOW you understand why we watch Sesame Street sometimes in the morning!" Instead, I waited a bit and when I came out to pack my stuff up I casually s...