He Has Arrived!!!

Caleb Derek was born July 30 at 8:56 pm weighing 7lbs 5oz and 20.5 inches long. We fell in love instantly--every single one of us.

The BIG Reveal

So...this is what we've been up to the last 12 weeks:

Look at those great legs!

I like this shot because you can see the umbilical cord wrapped around the leg.

Getting ready to suck his thumb?

No more photos please!

And, even though we are only twelve weeks--the ultra sound tech said that with 95% certainty that it's a BOY! Can you believe they can tell so early? Other interesting tidbits--baby's heart rate was 162 beats a minute. They could even tell that the egg came from my right ovary. We also listened to the blood flow from my ovaries to make sure that everything was okay. So, our official due date is August 4--only three days away from my own birthday. What a great present!

Last Minute Thoughts...

I realize you are probably sick to death of my details about this pregnancy, so I apologize, but it seems to be consuming my thoughts lately--go figure. These various ideas have been running through my head over and over:
It seems extremely surreal that by this time tomorrow I should have a newborn baby boy--that my husband I created--to hold and admire.
I worry now about how I'm going to do everything that seemed so easy to do with two kids. That nursing thing takes up a lot of time in the beginning if I remember correctly.
I'm loving the name Eli more and more everytime I hear it. I don't know how anyone can wait till the last minute to pick a name because I have to really feel it. I don't know how else to explain it. I don't want "buyer's remorse" with a name.
I worry most about how Owen is going to deal with this. Ryanna is well aware of what's going on, but I don't know that Owen gets it. When I tell him there's a baby in my tummy, he lifts up his own shirt, points to his belly and says, "baby in my tummy."
There are, of course, those last minute-you have no control over it, but you still think about it-thoughts--"What if the baby isn't okay?" etc. I don't worry about myself, just the baby.
I worry that I didn't give Owen enough time to be "the baby." I think it'll be great that he'll have a sibling close to his age. I hope he always feels that way.
My mom and I went shopping for some last minute stuff today and it was really hard to avoid the pull of the cute, little newborn outfits, so we didn't try very hard to resist. My mom seriously spoils me and my kids when she visits. We love every second of it.
Well, next time I post, there will be plenty of pictures for you to view this baby in all his glory. I have less than 11 hours till I report to the hospital...

It's 3 am, but I Won't be Lonely

So, the doctor gave me a date and time to come in and deliver the baby. If you read the title at all, you've figured out the time. No, I'm not joking. I hope all of you get a good night's sleep for me & Derek that night.
So, hopefully, we'll be welcoming Eli sometime during the afternoon of October 7.
Exciting!!!!

I'm 30, but I'm really 29

So, on Friday I left my 20s behind. However, according to everything I hear, 30 is the new 20, so really, what am I doing with these two kids running around and one on the way? At 20, I'm much too young to have a five year old!
For my birthday my husband took me to the Tempe Arts Center that opened not that long ago, where we dined amidst his work associates while we had a fabulous view of the Tempe Lake. It was actually the closing dinner for the summer associates, but it was still really good, FREE food, a beautiful view and we got to tour an art exhibit which I really love. Makes me remember going to the Prado in Spain--back when I was??? What...let's see about 20, so I was really 10?
On my birthday, many of you called, mailed, emailed or came by with cards and treats in remembrance of my birthday. I felt so loved and special. It made me remember how important it is to remember other people's birthdays. It can be as small as a phone call saying, "Hey, I remembered your birthday today." All of those little acts of kindness really made me feel wonderful. I need to be more like that and remember these events and get cards in the mail or pick up the phone and dial a friend. Seriously, you never know when you might be the only person that remembered and that person is feeling so lonely.
So, here I am, 30...or 20 and 29 weeks pregnant and no name for this little boy growing and kicking--definitely kicking me all the time. We seem to be going through the same cycles of names at this point. If we ever do get pregnant again and it's another boy, I may have a mental breakdown. I'm the type of person who likes to go with a game plan and not having a name is driving me nuts. Derek, are you reading this? Driving me nuts!!!! So, we need to get it figured out.
This week I will be 30 and 30 or should I say 30 and 20? Either way, this baby is coming. Named or not.

Tum-ta-Tum-Tum-TUUUUUMMMS!

So, I'm feeling a little silly right now. This morning I woke-up with a nasty taste in my mouth. No, not the typical morning breath as you're probably guessing although that's probably partly true too.

I came downstairs and got the kids some food and then decided that it would probably help to eat to get that taste out of my mouth. Only, it didn't help. That yogurt did nothing. So, I figured that perhaps maybe something like Twizzlers would do the trick? Don't give me the health food talk here, I'm pregnant and trying to get a nasty taste to go away.

Twizzlers, didn't do it either. I went for a handful of almonds--see, I don't always choose junk food as the answer. Nope, no luck with those either. I figured maybe it'd go away on its own if I was just patient.

For lunch, I had leftovers of the orzo pasta I made for dinner last night with some strawberry milk to drink figuring perhaps one of those two tastes would work for me.

No, no, no. Still there.

So, I don't know why I didn't think of this before; it happened with my last two pregnancies--it's heartburn! I just realized that's what that nasty taste is and why I can't get it to go away. I get incredibly bad heartburn when I'm pregnant because there is just no room in there for my stomach to do its thing properly with a baby jumping and kicking and pushing it around.

The first time I ever experienced heartburn I was pregnant with Ryanna and since heartburn and I had no history, I just thought I had reached yet another miserable pregnancy milestone--the inability to sleep without feeling a burning sensation in the back of my throat. I went to my OB and described my symptoms and he said, "That's heartburn." Oh, so I don't have to live this way? No, I didn't.

Tums were my best friends and favorite (read sarcasm here) treat. I honestly started to feel a bit like I imagine a drug addict feels. At first one or two were doing the trick, but shortly I needed 5-7 each go. I would honestly just grab the bottle, put it to my mouth and pour. Ryanna came out okay as far as we can tell.

Fast forward a few years to Owen--a much bigger baby. The heartburn started again. I bought Tums, but this time they did absolutely nothing. One night it was so bad that I slept for only a couple of hours and then made a mad dash to Wal-Mart at 6 in the morning to buy a bottle of Pepto Bismol. This was after having eaten ice cream and yogurt and drinking several glasses of milk. I told my OB that I thought I might have to give up food for the remainder of the pregnancy and he gave me Prilosec. Ahhh, blessed Prilosec, I almost named my first son after you.

So, here I am with baby number three on its way in a couple of months. How did I not recognize these symptoms? How did I go through this entire day not recognizing the nastiness of heartburn? Must be that pregnancy forgetful brain thing that everyone talks about. Good thing I see the doctor next week, I don't think there's any Prilosec in the house! And, I may just have figured out the name for our next child...

Drumroll please....

So, we had our ultrasound today. It went really well. The baby even yawned while we were looking in and that was just the neatest thing. I love to see those little baby hands and toes and... everything really and to hear the ultrasound tech say that everything looks great.
We only encountered one problem. No, it's not what you're thinking, we couldn't get a good look at the baby's face because the baby wouldn't let us. Those hands and arms never budged from being right over the face. The tech had me go to the bathroom--which I was dying to do anyway because they had me drink 20 oz. of fluid and HOUR before the exam and then they pushed on my stomach with the wand thing. Nope, that didn't work. So, she had me lie on my left side. No go. Then she had me lie on my right side. No difference. Looks as though this baby is going to be stubborn.
Oh yeah, did I mention it's a BOY?!?!?
Yeah, I was sure this was a girl. So much for my intuition huh? Now I'm completely clueless on names. Seriously, not a single name. I'd love to hear some suggestions. I don't want a top 10 popular name though, so don't bother with those.
Ryanna was pretty disappointed about the result of the ultrasound and refused to believe that this is the final say. She said, "Well, I think it's still too early to tell. I'm going to wait a little longer and see." I'm sorry to disappoint my sweet, little girl, but we had a pretty clear shot.
I hope this little boy loves sports or he's going to have to learn to love them because I've never seen a child as obsessed with balls as Owen. He's going to love having someone to play with.
And, we get another ultrasound out of the deal because the tech wants to see the face to make sure everything is okay. Yay for us--three ultrasounds with one baby. We are so spoiled.