On the Verge...

The last belly photo. I wanted to begin to try and record Simon's birth story, knowing that it may take me awhile to actually complete one post (I think I started this a week ago). Three kids is just about as hard as I imagined it would be, even with a very helpful husband staying at home. While Quinn was in the shower the other day, we had an incident where I was holding Simon and Selah found a partially opened container of almonds on Daddy's night stand, which she proceeded to spill everywhere. I set a wailing Simon down on the bed for a few minutes while I helped the kids pick up the almonds and watched Abram bite the end off of one and then spit it (along with a lot of saliva) back into the box. So Selah started putting them in her mouth and then putting them in the box. And it was all so absurd to me. Thankfully, in the moment, I was able to smile about it instead of crying (which I have already done my fair share of). But I know there will be m...

At least we know that Simon is taking after his brother and sister in making us believe he is coming soon and then settling comfortably back in my abdomen and making us wait a bit longer. He will be full term based on LMP tomorrow (based on our dates, he hit that milestone four days ago). I was dilated to a 1 last week and soft. And yesterday was almost a 2. He has dropped, but is in front of the opening, which makes labor maybe less eminent and exams a lot more traumatic for me. We've had lots of instances of regular, uncomfortable contractions that eventually taper off after a few hours. Last night was pretty bad. They were the most cramp like and painful, but I chalked it up to the exam. They eventually went away and I had a pretty decent night of sleep, praise God.  I've been wondering all yesterday and this morning if any of the spotting I was experiencing from the exam was the actually the plug. And then this morning, it definitively made it's appearance. So,...

Up until recently, Abram has really been a dictator in his and Selah's relationship. When we get out two cups, plates, bowls, spoons, whatever, he decides what color he wants and gives her the other. When they are playing with toys and she has one he wants, he takes it and she would usually just go and find something else. I probably should not have let this go on, even though she really didn't care at the time, for many reasons. But the main reason being that now she has found her voice. Her literal voice and her opinions. And she's not a push over any more. Now, when a toy is taken from her, she hits. Not the best response, but I can understand the frustration of having things wrenched from you hands all the time. So we are working on that. She is also learning colors and new words and phrases every day and now when the cups, plates, bowls, spoons, whatever come out, she wants to have a say in which one she gets. Purple is her favorite right now, so if either are pu...