The baby is here!

And, we have...


...Another girl!

She's beautiful.  And big.  She was born Saturday night, weighing over 8 pounds!

I'll post pictures and details soon.  Right now, sleep is very important.

What 40 weeks, 5 days looks like

Although I'm much bigger than last picture, I feel much better.  Besides a horrible headache and heartburn, I'm just really tired.  Could be because I stayed up until 1am last night...

My wonderful sister and brother-in-law took the girls to the beach today so Troy could get some work done around the house and I could get some walking, (and shopping), in.  Maybe the walking will do it?

What I think of as I wait for this baby...

As I sit here being grumpy that I'm almost 3 days past my due date, I reflect on how I "know" I'm 3 days past.  It's because I know exactly how old my baby is.  It's because my baby was a frozen embryo for 5 years before it began growing inside me.

I think of how lucky I am.  I survived 5 years of infertility.  I survived a near-cancer diagnosis and a year of treatment.  I survived IVF and all those shots.  I was lucky - I got pregnant the first time.  I had embryos leftover to freeze.  I have two beautiful girls and a baby on the way from that cycle.  I have 2 angel babies waiting for me in heaven.

So many people aren't as lucky as me.  So many are still waiting for that first baby.  So many keep getting pregnant but losing their babies.  So many are waiting on adoption for their baby.  So many have given up on ever having a baby.

So, even as I sit here hoping the storms outside and the full moon tonight will relieve me from this uncomfortable pregnancy, I couldn't be happier that I'm pregnant.  I can't believe how lucky I am that I can sit here, listen to my one daughter singing songs I can't understand and the other one singing songs I really can't understand.  Listening to them fighting over a chair one minute, then playing together giggling the next.  Waiting anxiously to meet the "baby" as they both love to say.

What 40 weeks pregnant looks like

From the side.

And head-on.

Do I look uncomfortable?

What a day

After a sleepless night, (I believe I got about 3 hours of sleep), we packed up and headed to church for Cam to register and do her skill test for Upward soccer.  Troy was there to help with registration, and it was way too humid for me to stay, so we left and went to the mall right down the street to do some shopping.

Here's Camdyn running.  (She did really great, kicked the ball all the way through the cones, but I couldn't get a pic of that - all I had was my phone.)

So, we piled into the van and headed out.  As I was driving through the parking lot, I noticed a flash of blue sneaking behind our dumpster and shed.  I tried to see who it was as I drove past but I couldn't.  I didn't think anything of it, because, being in our climate and so close to the beach, there are often homeless people hanging out somewhere on our land.

We went to Marshalls, because I was in the mood for sneakers.  But, didn't find any.  I did find some great towels, a candle and a container for sugars for our church coffee ministry.  We spent almost an hour there, then decided it was time to head back to see if Daddy was ready to come home.  As we were standing in line, we started hearing a chopper right overhead.  Some people in line said it was the trauma chopper, that they land in our church's field and meet the ambulance there.

We paid and headed out to the van.  Which was quite a walk, because we had arrived right when the store opened, we couldn't get a close spot so I had to park at the far side of the lot...near the bank.  Yep, the 9 month pregnant lady with 2 little girls.  What a sight we were, I'm sure.

The chopper kept flying over us, and as I drove back to church, I thought it was odd that a Maryland State Trooper chopper was the trauma chopper.  I said so when I talked to Troy, and he said they had already talked to the emergency team about landing in our field, (since there were children kicking soccer balls all over it.)

Well...

Come to find out, a few minutes later, the bank I had parked right in front of was robbed, and the robber was sneaking around our church trying to escape.  If only I had paid more attention to the flash of blue that I saw, he might have been caught.

In other news, I am 4 hours, 10 minutes from my due date and still no baby...

Macaroni and Cheese

I've e-mailed this and posted it on FB, but can't seem to find it - with pictures :(

Anyway, this is the BEST recipe EVER!!!

Mac and Cheese Casserole

4 Cups (16 ounces) elbow macaroni
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
salt and pepper
5 cups milk
4 cups (16 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 350*F.  Cook pasta to al-dente, drain.

In large saucepan, melt the butter.  Blend in the flour, salt and pepper.  Gradually stir in milk.

Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens and begins to bubble.

Add cheese, stir until it melts.

Add in the pasta and pour into a 9x13 pan.

Top with REAL bread crumbs, (toasted bread broken into small pieces), mixed with melted butter.  I usually use 6 slices of bread and 1-2 sticks of butter.

Bake for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Camdyn Turns 4!

I'm skipping around with our summer.  Camdyn's birthday came after our vacation, but it has way fewer pictures than our vacation for me to "edit", (I'm not good at editing), so we're going with the birthday first.

I'm not doing well with the humidity and heat this summer, it makes it hard for me to breathe.  But, we wanted to do something special for our first little girl's birthday.  We have a great zoo in town with a cool new castle playground attached, so we decided to take her there.  My sister and her boys joined us, and my mother.

Here are the cousins enjoying their wagon ride.

This owl was at the zoo because he was hit by a car.  There was a mouse or some sort of rodent eating a banana peel on the side of the road.  He swooped down to catch the rodent and got hit.

Looking at the pink flamingos.

Aves enjoyed running away down the hills.

After the zoo, we went to her favorite "restaurant" ... McDonalds.  Yummy!

That night, we had dinner and gifts just with our family.  (We did the rest of the family party on Sunday when everyone could make it.)

Daddy got her tons of princess stuff.

Grandpa and Grandma got her a fishing pole.  We haven't put a hook on it, yet.

Soon, I'll add the pictures from her big party...

Am I still pregnant?

Yes.

Due in two days.

Still no baby yet.

This child is going to be HUGE when he/she is born.

I bet it's a boy.

Wish we had some good names ready.  Maybe that's why we have no baby yet, anyone want to help us come up with the perfect name.

Honestly, we don't love any of the first ones on our list, and we have no middle names picked out.

This baby could be "baby boy/girl Chute" for quite a while...

39 Weeks, 4 Days...

And still pregnant.  I wish this baby would hurry up and get out here to meet us!

I'm not sleeping well.  I itch when I lay down, I can't sleep on my back, of course, and I really can't sleep on either side.  For the past 2 nights, I haven't been able to fall asleep until 3am.  Luckily, I can sleep until about 8am each day.

I'm having contractions all day.  If only they were true labor contractions, but the BH's.

I'm nauseas.  I guess my "morning sickness" has returned.  Ick.

But, each week at the doctor, seems I'm progressing, that's good news :)

Maybe...

Spending time with the girls

I've been trying to spend time with the girls now, since I'm off work for a while, before the baby comes.  It's not easy, they really enjoy being together.

Over the weekend, Troy's brother was visiting.  One day while they went to the beach, my sister-in-law and I went shopping with Cam.  (I only made it to 2 stores, I am tiring really easily...)

Old Navy had this cut-out for taking pictures.  Someone had decided it was for throwing a football through, but after Cam tried and failed, I explained what it really was for, and she posed...

I haven't taken Averie anywhere alone, but have spent time with her in the morning before her sister has woken up.  Here she is enjoying her cereal while watching tv...

We hoped to go to the playground with the cousins yesterday, but I felt very sick, I didn't feel comfortable leaving the house.  They came over to play and we had a great time doing that.  It's so nice to have them nearby :)

Grumpy

I am so grumpy.  It's a good thing I'm already on maternity leave from work, where I'm supposed to smile welcomingly and greet my guests by name while calling their drink that I have memorized.  (Yes, that's the truth, but I'm not good at that yet...)

Instead I believe if I were working I would be leaning on the counter barely looking up when someone came in the door.  I bet that's why my boss sent me on leave early.

If this baby were following in Averie's footsteps, he/she would be born in the next 3 hours.  But, no, not looking like it.

I'm in pain, feeling full, my stomach muscles are sore from contractions that aren't doing much, tired, hungry.  Grumpy.

But, I'm so excited to meet this baby.  I can't wait to see him/her, to see who she/he resembles.  I see pictures of newborns in magazines and get so excited to meet mine.  Even anticipating the after-birth body pains, the sleepless nights, the crying, the "how in the world will I hold onto 3 children's hands while crossing the street", I'm ready to meet this little one.

One more set of maternity pictures

I know a bunch of my readers come over from infertility blogs, and I know it's not easy to read about other people's pregnancies when you're going through infertility.  I know it's not easy to read about them even if you have succeeded in becoming pregnant or adopting.  So, I try to make sure you can tell from my title if there will be something to avoid in my post of not.

Just an FYI, over the next couple of weeks, you will probably see quite a few to avoid...

We experimented with the self-timer on my camera yesterday and got some pics of Troy and I with the new, unborn baby.

Camdyn really wanted to be in one of the pictures,

I think I may need to make my white stronger in my editing.

Super fast posing = funny arm placement

"Maternity Pictures"

I did the professional maternity pictures with Camdyn, and I think I did them with Averie?  (Sorry, middle child syndrome.)

I was all set to do them with this baby when I had a brainstorm.  I thought it might be awesome to take pictures with the girls and new baby once the baby is here instead of using the ones the hospital photographer takes.  You know, the one where they lay the baby on the sheet of paper, (or white sheet if you get the new, fancy photo company), and take a few pictures and charge you $150.

So, I have a friend who is a professional photographer who has agreed to come take pics of all of us when we get home.  Yay!

Which means, I probably shouldn't spend the extra money on maternity pictures.  I have a great camera, why not take them ourselves?

So, that's what we did.  Of course, I waited until Averie was past her nap time, so she was hard to get to cooperate.  But, I did get a couple of neat ones.

(I don't have any with Troy yet, he was the photographer.  We'll work on that tonight.)

Today, at the doctor, I weighed the same that I did last week.  But, looking at these pictures, I see how much water I'm retaining - look at my cheeks!!!

He was encouraging - he said to schedule my appointment for next week, but that he didn't expect me to make it that long.  Yay!

(Watch me go to 41 weeks...)

July 4, 2010

I know it's late to post this, but I'm taking my time getting around to what we've been doing this summer.  We went down to the beach on the 4th of July to watch the fireworks.  We had a great spot, right down the street from our church.  It happened to be right under where they were shooting them off, and right down from where a band was playing.  The girls really enjoyed playing in the sand, but it was so crowded we couldn't even get to the water.  That's okay, it was still a little cold then.  It's way warmer now, I may even make it there on Thursday - or so I have planned ;)
Here are some pictures from the evening...

The girls all wore matching swimsuits - you just can't see Averie's.

Daddy relaxing

We brought bubbles.  Averie thought it would work best putting the wand on her mouth.

There's a picture of them all matching.

I can't remember what she saw in the sky.  Guess that's why I should post sooner...

Dancing with Daddy.

Dancing with Kimberly - one of our summer missionaries.

I thought what my camera did with this picture was so cool - like double exposure.

Yes, I was so uncomfortable I just sat around all night.

This is when they first saw the fireworks.

Cousin Charley and her mommy.

Messing around with settings...

I was worried they would be scared of the firework noise, but they loved everything about it.

They were so pretty - I got quite a few pictures.