Cubbies Graduation

For the last school year, Caleb has participated in Cubbies, an Awana program for preschoolers at our church. He really enjoyed the structure and activities in Cubbies and looked forward to going each week. I must be super pregnant because I got emotional watching him "graduate". I typical would not be this way. You can see from the pictures that the kids were all quite silly during the whole thing.

Caleb following his class into their spot in the sanctuary- Jon and I cracked up at the face he is making. It is very Caleb.

The kids receiving their awards

One of the boys accidentally fell down, and then about half of the rest of the kids threw themselves on the ground too.

Caleb jumping off of the stage at the end.

Caleb and his certificate

Ha! That is what I get for the post below!

Well on Sunday night, I woke up around 2:30 and was feeling some distinct contractions- not painful but significant in that they were come every 3-5 minutes for about 3 hours. So after tracking them for awhile, I was thinking that delivering a 34 weeker at home sounded like a very scary/bad idea. We decided that we should head to the hospital in hopes of them being able to stop the labor. My body is strange. I just don't feel much pain from contractions until the very very end- like right when the baby is ready to be born. Also with Abby, the contractions were barely showing up on the monitors, and I just continued to progress and dilate mostly painfree. So those circumstances make it hard to know what to take seriously contraction wise. Yesterday the nurse asked me if I was having a contraction, and I asked her if she thought I was! They were probably laughing at me at the nurses's station. But, that said I did make some progress throughout the day, and my doctor said he thought that Luke was probably going to be born soon. I received two steroid shots to help Luke's lungs to be more developed and to perhaps make a NICU stay less painful. Then sometime in the afternoon, my body just calmed down, and I stopped progressing. I had kind of stalled out at 4 centimeters. We spent the night, and things were the same this morning... still contracting a bit, but not make any changes in dilation. (sorry if this is more info than you would ever want to know- I kind of want it documented!) So the doctor has sent me home and told me to take it easy. I am praying for 2 more weeks. My dad and Katie and baby Kennedy are headed this way to help out. Also I have to recognize our friends the Ecklunds who watched our kids all of yesterday and then let them stay over for a sleepover last night. The kids swam, colored, rode bikes, watched some of their favorite shows, and had pizza for dinner. I didn't have to worry about them for one moment. Ya'll rock! Thank you so much!

I don't have any pictures to post, but I thought it would be noteworthy to say that Luke has surpassed his brother in gestational time. Caleb was born on this exact day of my pregnancy at 34 weeks and 4 days. So Luke's little lungs have had about 8 more hours to mature than Caleb's did! Based on my last doctor's appointment and how I have been feeling, I think that he will be staying put and behaving himself. Abby was born at exactly 37 weeks, which was the very day that she was considered full term. So if Luke could do the same, that would be great. That would be 17 days from now. Can you tell I have been laying in bed at night going through the countdown in my head? I am trying to prepare myself that he may come even later though. Either way I figure I have less than a month to go (I hope!). I am definitely ready for this baby to be in my arms rather than in my body!

Sweet Friends Celebrating Baby Luke

My friends threw a combo baby shower for Emily and me last night. It was a dessert shower- yummy! I feel so blessed with all of the fun gifts for baby Luke and most of all blessed with such a special group of friends here in Waco. Even though Luke is baby number 3, he is being well celebrated! Thanks, friends!

Bluebonnets Round 1

Friends

Aren't friends such a blessing and gift from God? I so cherish all of my friends- especially my mommy friends who I see multiple times throughout the week. They certainly help keep me sane in this phase of my life! Abby and Selah were born just days apart from each other, and they are starting to really have a fun friendship. Every time I pick Abby up from the church nursery, I ask her what she did and she tells me that she "played with Selah". Selah tells her mom the same thing. The nursery workers often comment on how these two just love each other. Yesterday Selah and Abby were having a ball in our rocking chair, and I had to get a picture. Then I remembered this picture of their older brother and sister in that same rocking chair. Emily, Selah and Gianna's mom, is also expecting. She is having another girl! Our due dates are less than a week apart. I can't wait for our third children to become friends too! What fun we have had making memories with the Ecklund girls!

Pony Tail Girl

Okay- enough with the picture of my big belly at the top of the blog. These pictures aren't great, but they do show proof that Abby's hair is long enough for a ponytail. This ponytail didn't stay in longer than the car ride to our friend's house that day, so I guess that we need the pictures as proof! Abby's little baby look is fading more and more each day. What a cute little girl she is!

Kelly's Belly Week 32

Reflections:
*I took this picture using the timer on my camera. I wish it wasn't at that exact angle; it seems to make the belly look extra large!
*I feel pretty good. I have been really hot though. On Saturday, it was over 90 degrees here, and I just kept thinking about how thankful I am that this pregnancy will be over before summer really hits!
*I went to the doctor today, had gained an alarming amount of weight in 4 weeks, and then headed to Taco Bell for lunch. I really can only blame myself!
*Crushed ice is so extremely satisfying to me lately.
*I have to cut myself off on the glasses of ice water in the evenings. Several nights ago I went to the bathroom at 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 5:30, and 6:30. And I woke up hot as can be each time. The first night of sleep that you get after having the baby is so nice... You are instantly more comfortable. I have been thinking about that a lot lately.
*If Luke comes when Caleb did, I have 2 1/2 weeks left. Hopefully that will not happen!
*If he comes when Abby did, I have 5 weeks left. That would be great!
*Luke is a kicker. I keep thinking about what his personality will be like. I am getting so excited to have him here in our arms!

Sisters and Brothers

These two have actually starting playing together more and more lately. Like sometimes I want to wake Abby up from her nap because I know she will keep Caleb entertained. He kind of tells her what to do a lot, and they mostly play with her toys; but they will be interacting and busy for long periods of time together. It is such a fun thing to see as a mom, and it gives me a little encouragement that I can handle having three kids. I guess it doesn't matter if I am encouraged or not, we will have three kids sometime in the next 2 months! We are all excited about Luke's arrival and looking forward to it. For now, I am enjoying watching these two develop a friendship (with a fair share of fighting mixed in). They both sure look like kids and not babies here, so I guess Luke will be the perfect addition!

Faces Outside

We are enjoying every outside moment that we possibly can. Yesterday it was 86 degrees- maybe a little too hot! I just almost pulled out the kiddie swimming pool. It may come out today.

Caleb and Gianna's Bouncing Party

We celebrated Caleb's birthday with a combo jumping party with his friend Gianna. These two have done a lot together in their short 4 years, and I love that they are so close in age. It makes things fun for the moms. I didn't get any pictures that were in focus of the kids bouncing... guess they were just too fast for me (and I need to work on shutter speed!). But, here are some pictures from the party room:

Nothing like juice boxes to make everyone under the age of 5 really happy!

The Birthday Boy enjoying his juicebox

Abbers enjoying her juicebox

Gianna and Caprice looking like such big girls!

Selah, Gianna's sister, enjoying her pizza

The yummy cupcakes that Emily made- Caleb was very concerned that he would have to have a princess cake, since it was a joint party. We made sure that there were indeed princesses for Gianna, but also trains for Caleb.

Caleb blowing out the candles.

Caleb happy about his James cupcake

The three expecting mamas: Emily, Jennifer, and me. We are all due within a week of each other. It will be fun to see which baby comes when!

Our family of four, soon to be five. Somehow my camera got set on black and white, which I am annoyed about. But, it still captures the moment!

Caleb at 4 Years Old!

Caleb is four years old today. Here are some of the things that he is up to these days:
*He still wants to wear pajamas all of the time. I don't fight him much on this one- just not worth the battle!
*He went to the doctor for his 4 year checkup today and was in the 75 percentile for height and 40 percentile for weight. He also got 4 shots. He cried a bit during the shots and then wanted me to take the band aids off immediately. I guess that they were a reminder of getting those shots.
*He is still a huge fan of trains. In fact the tracks are overtaking our play room, but I don't mind too much because a lot of the time he will play by himself with them.
*Most of the time he prefers playing at home by himself to going somewhere to play. However, we do get out and play with friends a great deal.
*Caleb and Abby have started having brief moments where they will play together. Caleb is learning that he can calmly ask her to return a toy to him, and she will usually just hand it over. I am glad that they are working out their differences calmly, but I hope he isn't being too bossy about it! It sure beats screaming, grabbing things from her hand, and pushing her, which is the other likely scenario!
*Caleb is signed up for 4 year preschool in the fall. He is a structured kid, and I think he will like a classroom school environment. He tells me that he doesn't need to go to preschool because he already knows all of his letters and numbers and colors.
*Caleb has started to make everything into a boy girl thing. "I don't like that because it is too girly.", "I don't want to play at a girls house.", etc- not sure how he has learned this so quickly! ?
*Caleb still talks about my mom often. This morning, he woke up and told me that he had a dream that we were celebrating his birthday at the park, that my mom was there eating cake with us, and that it was snowing. It touched me in special place to hear that he had that dream. I don't know if anyone can speak to us from heaven, but before my mom died, I asked her to come to us in our dreams if that was possible. So yeah, I have no Biblical basis for any of this, but it was a sweet thing to hear from Caleb. I know that my mom would have been the first one to call and sing him Happy Birthday this morning.
We love you son! You are growing up very quickly, and we are so proud of you!

Abby Girl: Little Mommy on the Go

The Cousin Crew

Around the yard...

Spring

is

making

its

arrival,

and

it makes me so very happy!

Almost 4...

I remember going to the NICU to hold my little 5 pound 12 ounce redhead. We suspected his hair was red, but we weren't sure because he was in too fragile of a medical condition to be cleaned. Also he had to have light therapy for jaundice and had a little hat covering his head. And now he will be four in a little over a week. The time has gone by so quickly. We love our redheaded Caleb!