"My Sweetie"

Adilyn loves to pretend, and she has about four pretend games that she loves to play. Anytime she plays "house" she is always the mom, I am always the dad, Cory is the brother, and Kacy is "Sweetie". I don't know where she got the nickname Sweetie, but it's hilarious. Kacy totally goes along with it, and she will even say, "I Sweetie." I love when they play well together!
Another pretend game she loves to play is with her tiny princesses and the one prince that we have. Poor guy, he is outnumbered about 45 to 1! I have to be the prince, of course, and Adilyn will walk the princesses up one at a time to the prince. The prince will ask them to dance, and they will maybe dance or maybe make up an excuse that they can't dance. They have meetings, dance recitals, or other reasons why they do not have time to dance with him. We also have pretend weddings, but the princesses will fight over who gets to marry him. I love playing with her and listening to how her sweet little mind works, but sometimes I just don't want to be the prince anymore! :) Repetition is the key to learning, though, right?

Brooke is Waking Up!

Well, I knew it would happen at some point, but Brooke is no longer an amazing sleeper at night. She is also no longer a super easy baby. Although she is grumpier than she was the first couple weeks, she is nowhere near what I would call a "hard baby". She calms down pretty easily when she gets mad, but she does get mad a lot for no reason. A couple strange things is that when she is sleeping, she will randomly scream bloody murder for a couple seconds, and then go right back to sleep. I don't know why she does that, but it scares the crap out of me sometimes! It's also a little sad because it seems like something scares her or hurts her, but maybe not. The other thing that is odd is that at night after she eats, she gets congested. I feed her, and when I lay her back down, it seems like she can't breathe. She coughs and sounds all stuffed up. Of course, she can't go back to sleep very easily, so I usually end up holding her and having her sleep on my chest while we both sit up in bed. I can't tell if she just has a little cold, or if she is maybe allergic to something. Whatever it is, I am much more tired than I was those first couple weeks when she was sleeping 5 or 6 hours a night! :) Oh well, I know that she will sleep more eventually!
On a much less complainy note - she is more awake during the day now, which is awesome. It's always hilarious when they start to wake up more, but they can't really be entertained or communicate. You just stare at them, and they stare back, but those are awesome sweet moments. I swear she has smiled at me a couple times! She seems to focus a lot more when Cory, the girls, or I talk to her. I just can't wait to see what she is like when she starts to interact more! I love getting to know their little personalities in these early months!

Oh, the Joys of Selling a House...

Our house has been on the market for almost 2 months now, and we have had absolutely no offers. We have had 15 showings, which is good, but I would rather have an offer! I really thought that the house would be sold by now. I know that the area is not that great, and the market is not fantastic, but I really thought that it would see in the first couple months. We don't really need to be in a new house until July or so for Addy's school situation, but I just really want to get settled. I really don't mind having to keep the house cleaned, it is actually kind of nice to have to clean for a reason. What I really, really hate is having to get out of the house for showing. And, what I hate even more than that is when we clean up the house, and we load everyone up, get out of the house, and then the people never show up for the showing! That has happened to us two times, and I guess two times out of 15 is not too bad, but it is still frustrating. The other thing that I hate is having to take the dogs with us everywhere we go! They do pretty well in the car, but it's still annoying to have to drag them with us everywhere. We have to take them all the time when we go more than an hour away because you never know when you might get called for a showing. If we don't have time to get back to get them out of the house, then they have to come with us.
When we have to get out of the house, this is what we do - #1 destination - go to the "Windy Park", which is one of our favorite parks. It's always empty, it has a dog park, and it has a bathroom.. #2 destination(s) - friends or family's house. #3 destination - run errands or just drive around aimlessly.
We have had some really fun times on our adventures out of the house, but we have also had some seriously annoying times! The other day Willow decided that she didn't want to ride in the back of Cory's truck anymore, so she jumped out on our way out of the driveway! Luckily, we were still close to home, and we weren't on a busy street, but it was still annoying. We had to switch over to the Tahoe after everyone was completely loaded up and ready to go. The Tahoe was full of stuff from Cory's fishing trip, and it didn't have all the carseats in it, so we had to drive to a parking lot down the road to switch everything out. Grrrr...Another time we had to get out right when Brooke had to eat. We pulled in our neighbor's driveway and fed her, then we had to change her diaper. When I changed her diaper (in my lap), she peed all over me! We were already supposed to be out of the house, but my shorts were completely soaked in pee! I ran back in the house and changed my clothes, all the while imagining the prospective homeowners walking in the front door. As I ran back to the car, Brooke spit up all over Cory. Luckily, he had an extra shirt in the car. One time we were in the middle of the grocery store about 15 minutes away from the house and someone wanted to see the house in 45 minutes. We had a cart full of groceries, and we paid super fast, ran home, put the groceries away that we had just bought for dinner that night, and went out to eat.
I know that it will sell when it is supposed to sell. I keep thinking that maybe it hasn't sold because the house that we are supposed to live in isn't on the market yet. With everything that has happened in the last year with my job changes and the pregnancy, I absolutely know that things happen for a reason. I know that everything will work out in the end, but it is just really hard to go through the current situation when it can be so annoying.

I know when it finally does sell, I will have all sorts of other  emotions. This is our first house as a married couple. It quickly became our home. Zoe and Willow joined our family here first. As our family grew we brought our three baby girls home to this house. Adilyn and Kacy took their first steps here. Years and years of wonderful memories fill this space.
But...with all that being said...let's get this house sold!!!!

My Middle Child

I am going to try really hard to avoid the typical "middle child" syndrome with Kacy. I have always heard that parents subconsciously forget to celebrate the middle child's accomplishments. They are never the first to do anything, but they are never the last either. Kacy already has some traditional middle child personality traitsis ...she is super silly, she starts trouble when she is bored, and she is a little feisty. We will see how things go as she gets older, but I have a feeling that we are going to have some serious fights through the years :)

The other day, we realized that it was pretty quiet in the bathroom. I told Cory to go check on her...he found her painting her face with makeup...yikes!

"I See Baby"

Adilyn and Kacy love Brooke so much, but they show it in different ways. Adilyn likes to hold her and help me take care of her, Kacy just wants to get her hands on her as much as possible. She comes over to me a million times a day and says, "I see Baby?" This means that not only does she want to see Brooke, but she wants to hug her, kiss her, hold her hand, and basically attack her in a loving, sweet, gentle way. I love that they both love her!

The Quietness of One

Adilyn and Kacy have been going to school a couple days a week to keep us all sane. It is so strange to be home with just Brooke. I am not used to being home much without Adilyn and Kacy as it is, but now to be home with just teeny, tiny Brooke is so quiet. She sleeps so much, and there is nobody asking for juice, nobody fighting over Barbie dolls, and nobody asking to watch cartoons. I love having a little quiet time, but honestly the quietness kind of freaks me out! I love having time to bond with Brooke alone, but it's an uneasy feeling that they are not here. I kind of feel bad sending them to school when I am home, but like I said, I think it's good for all of us to have a little time apart. Once summer comes, we will be together for almost three months straight. Yikes!

The Miracle As I See It

Since this is definitely the last time that I will experience pregnancy, birth, and all that goes with it. I want to write down some things that I think about or that I love about the whole process. I never want to forget how amazing the entire experience is...

From the moment I find out that I am pregnant, my whole thinking changes. I think about what I want to name the baby, what I should be doing to get ready for the baby, or how my life will change when he or she arrives. It's not like I obsess all day and all night about it, but any time there is a quiet moment or I am alone, my thinking always drifts back to something about the baby.

As I start to feel the baby move, I begin to wonder what she is doing in there. Is she trying to get comfortable? Is she "dancing" to the music that I am listening to? What is she going to look like? There is something about feeling the baby move that makes the pregnancy seem so much more real.

Every appointment I go to, there is always that moment when the midwife puts the jelly on my belly to listen to the heartbeat that I hold my breath just until I hear that heartbeat on the monitor. There is just that moment of nervousness each time, and then a moment of relief when that strong heartbeat is heard.

Even though there are some things that are hard about a growing belly, it is always so amazing to see how my body changes throughout the months to accommodate the sweet baby that is growing. Each pregnancy, there has been a certain morning that I woke up, and it really hit me, "Wow, I am pregnant!"

As my due date gets nearer, I always wonder if I will know for sure when I am in labor. I will definitely say that no matter what, I always, always knew when I was in labor. Once that moment came, there was not a doubt in my mind that the time was here!

Of course, the labor and delivery is the most amazing part of the whole experience. When I get in there, and it gets to be time to push, adrenaline takes over, and I seem to just go to another place. I am there, and I am focused, but there is another part of me that takes over. I am lucky that I was able to deliver all my babies naturally and with midwives, the way that I wanted to. There is nothing in the world like the pain of when that baby is actually coming out, but oh my, the relief when they are out is amazing! At that moment, all pain, all stress, and all anxiety is gone. The midwife puts that sweet little gooey miracle in my arms, and it is a feeling like nothing, absolutely, nothing else in the entire world. Not a single other thing in the world matters at that moment. The baby that I carried, dreamt about, and loved for 9 months is here in my arms...healthy and beautiful. The feeling is a feeling of peace, happiness, and total overwhelming joy. Looking into the face of this precious baby for the very first time is more than I can even put into words!

Then, the baby is here. Instantly, I love them. Instantly, this sweet girl is part of our family. Instantly, it feels like this was exactly what I was supposed to do with my life.

Days pass, and it is still amazing to think that this 8 pound miracle fit inside my belly just a couple days before. It seems impossible that she grew from a tiny little bean to this perfect baby in just 9 months. Her toes are so tiny, her little fingers begin stretching out, and her sweet little eyes opening to take in the world. It's just the most amazing experience from start to finish!

Seriously, I'm not usually this sappy...but I just can't help it. Must be the hormones! :)