scan

I had another ultrasounds scan today.  Baby is doing well.  Lots of movement.  Plenty of amniotic fluid.  Looks like he is going to be a big one.  The sonographer estimated he would weigh 10 lbs +/- 24 oz.  That is quite a range, but still means he is going to be a nice chubby baby.  :)

still no baby..

But waiting patiently.

i love my house, i love my nest, in all the world my nest is best....

...just ask the little guy in my nest.  He isn't interested in coming out.

Yesterday, in New Zealand, it was my birthday.  If the little guy had been born on June21st, in New Zealand, he would have been born on Winter Solstics.  I was born on June 21st in New York, I was born on Summer Solstice.  While the novelty of sharing a birthday would probably wear off, it would have been pretty cool to have been born on the same day on opposite sides of the world.  We didn't plan anything for my birthday because we thought we would be at home gazing lovingly at our new little boy.  But some kind friends stopped by for visits, which made the day special.

Even with exact same estimated due date it looks like Max and Maya and our Lil' Slugger (with the way he likes to punch me in the gut I think this might end up being his actual name) will be born at least a month and a half apart.  Amazing. When I was pregnant with the twins I was diagnosed with cervical incompetence and was given a cervical cerclage.  It seems pretty funny now that I am "over due".  Who is incompetent now, huh?

I finally had some extended nesting instincts kick in yesterday (not that I haven't made previous attempts, that have promptly been un-nested by a loving brother and sister who also wanted to help).  I packed my hospital bag.  With the help of a friend I finally installed the infant car seat.  Then I cleaned out the closet in the baby's room...which hadn't been organized since we moved in and I tore the ligaments in my ankle.

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Update:

I meet with my midwife, Sharon, this morning and she said that I am dilated to 4cm.  Great news given that I haven't really felt much pain.  I went with the kids to Playcentre today, helped out some but not a lot.  It was nice to keep occupied and not have to entertain the kids.   Hoping for a peaceful delivery.

belly painting

On my EDD at Playcentre I decided to celebrate being full-term by letting the kids paint my belly.  I had seen some pretty interesting photos of pregnancy belly paint.  This painting turned out a big different, combining the artistic talents of ten kids, who especially liked to stick their little paint brushes into my belly button.  The painting started out with just Max and Maya but soon involved almost all of the kids at  Playcentre that day.  

I was enjoying the belly painting more that it looks on my face in this photo. :)

EDD

If you look at the ticker on the right hand side of this blog you will notice that as of today I am 40 weeks pregnant.  Today is June 17th my Estimated Due Date (EDD).  As a matter of fact all three of my children were given the Estimated Due Date (EDD) of June 17th.

Had they gone full term, Max and Maya would have been born on June 17th.  But three years and five weeks ago Max and Maya were born five weeks early on May 14th.  This is what they looked like five weeks after they were born.

Today is our newest little baby's EDD and I am wondering if he will decide to come today.  I have already been pregnant with him 35 days longer than I was with Max and Maya.

Not that I am complaining.  While I am heavy, large and awkward, I'm very glad this baby is full term.  It was hard having 4 lbs new born babies.  I am hoping that this one is a bit easier because not only will I have only one baby, but he will come out strong and chubby.

Lonnie says that the baby is waiting for me to agree to name him Tyrone.  If that is the case you can expect me to still be pregnant next year at this time.

what's in a name?

39 weeks....wow!  I still can't believe that this new baby's birth is going to happen soon.

We still haven't settled on a name, although Max and Maya have.  Max wants to name the baby Giraffe and Maya wants the baby to be named Rex.  While we are more likely to go with Maya than Max on this issue, we still aren't convinced.  Lonnie is still sticking with Tyrone, but I'm just not feeling it.

We had though we could wait until after the baby was born, take our time, maybe even a week or so, until I called immigration to find out what we needed to do to get the baby health benefits.  I was told that technically the baby wouldn't be legal here in New Zealand until he has a visa....which he can't have until he has a passport, which we can't get until we have a photo and a name.  The immigration officer I talked with on the phone kindly said "But its not like we will deport him or anything".  Yeah, thanks.

So Lonnie has posted another poll.  This time there are names that we both like....but we won't tell you which ones.  But we are interested in your opinion.  So vote in the poll and leave us a comment....maybe even other options, just let us know what you think.

blame it on the nudists

When Lonnie and I were engaged, we bought our first house, which is on Hyland Lake Drive in Murray, Utah.  It was a lovely old four bedroom house.  It was a great place for us to start our marriage and our family.

The house had some strange quirks, including a serious infestation of box elder bugs, a yard that needed serious work (which we never really addressed), and a shallow well (which entertained Lonnie but we didn't ever use).  But the most obvious quirk in the house were the floor-to-ceiling mirrors in the front room and in the kitchen (unfortunately, we don't have any of our own photos of the house to show here because we lost them after moving to Houston. I found the photo above on the internet).  The mirrors provided endless entertainment for our nieces and nephews, who loved to look at themselves while eating at the kitchen table and performing in the front room.

Shortly after moving into the house and meeting the neighbors, we started hearing bits and pieces about the people that had lived there before us.  According to the neighbors, the prior owners were nudists.  We had this confirmed when we found out that they had sold the house and moved to a nudist colony.  They must have been high self-esteem nudists with all the full-length mirrors in the house.

Max and Maya never lived in this house.  We moved to Texas before they were born and since then we have moved to Auckland and lived in two different homes.  But our house on Hyland Lake Drive was where our family began, and it will always have a special place in my heart as our first home.  It wasn't until the last couple of weeks that the residual effects of our family living in a nudist home started to show.  No, don't worry, Lonnie and I aren't going to run off to a nudist colony.  Maya loves to wear clothes, but Max loves to be naked.  Once he is naked, getting him dressed is a huge struggle.  He runs away, hides, and does anything he can to stay naked.  He walks around the house naked.  He runs outside naked.  He even climbs trees naked.  After we put him to bed, we will go down to check on the kids only to find Max completely naked asleep in his bed.

I can't imagine this has anything whatsoever to do with my parenting or anything to do with the therapy-inducing stress of potty-training....so I'm just going to blame it on the nudists.

the vic

The kids and I went on another fun Playcentre trip today.  We toured The Victoria Picture Palace and Theater.  The Vic was built in 1912 and is the earliest purpose built cinema still in existence in the Southern Hemisphere.   It is also located just a block from our Playcentre.  When we first moved to the Devonport area the theater hadn't been in use for quite some time, but it was recently reopened and is becoming a vibrant part of the community.  One of our Playcentre moms works at the theater and arranged for us to tour the theater, use the stage and then watch previews for some up coming kids movies.

Maya was pretty excited about being on stage in a yellow princess dress. She twirled and sang and didn't take the dress off until it was time to go.

Max was more interested in playing music.  He loves strumming on the ukulele while tapping his foot.  

I kind of love Max's shy face in this photo.  

Marisa, sitting next to Max, is due two weeks after me.

After exploring the theater and putting on a show we had morning tea (which doesn't actually involve tea but is nevertheless always called morning tea) at the cafe.  Max liked watching all the cars drive by the window.  

We left The Vic so they could have a few minutes to prepare for the morning show and headed down to the library.   

Max and Maya talk a lot about how things are going to be when "my baby" arrives.  Usually the discussions start with...."When your baby pops out....".  Max says that he wants his brother to sleep in his bed.  Maya wants to help feed him.  Maya has also been a little more emotional than normal.  Yesterday she cried for quite some time when I wouldn't "carry her like a baby".  

On Friday I will be 38 weeks pregnant, three weeks longer than I was pregnant with Max and Maya.  For the most part I am feeling alright, but I am tired, emotional and physically awkward (maybe I have always been this way).  On my last two ultrasound scans the technician told me that I was measuring in the 90th percentile.  Considering that Max and Maya didn't even make the charts until they were about 9 months old,  I'm happy to have a big healthy baby.  I'm glad that this little guy is staying put in the oven until he is fully cooked.  I told myself that I would never complain about being pregnant to long.  It is nice to get the the stage where I don't have to think about making sure I don't go into labor and only thinking about when it will come.  I'm looking forward to the experience.  

maternity photos

My friend Zoe is a wonderful photographer and kindly asked me if I would like to take some maternity photos.  When I was pregnant with the twins we did a pretty good job of keeping up the photo documentation.  This time around it has been a lot harder to due to the fact that I am chasing around two crazy kids all day long and by the time Lonnie gets home from work I am in no state to be photographed.

We took these photos on Max and Maya's birthday.  I am exactly as pregnant as I was the day they were born.  I was very impressed that Zoe was able to get so many great shots as Max and Maya had a busy morning and nap times were disturbed by partying and eating cake for lunch.  If only we had been able to convince Lonnie, who isn't a fan of getting his photo taken, to be part of the photos.  He has agreed to hire Zoe to take our family photo after the baby is born.  

If anyone is looking for a photographer in New Zealand I would highly recommend Zoe, she was able to catch some great moments, even with the chaos of the day....http://www.zoesasulu.com/ 

Thank you Zoe!

love/hate relationship

Max and Maya were climbing in our backyard tree.  Max got frustrated and bit Maya.  After Max had a short time-out, I told them they needed a quiet activity and we decided to watch a movie.  Maya was still a little upset and said "I need someone to snuggle with me.....Max will you snuggle with me?".