We are Ready!

My parents arrived today after a LONG day of Noah being pretty whiney. I wanted it to be a day to remember for us and I guess on some levels, it was. We had some good snuggles, a good nap together and fun watching his Psalty (yes, circa 1985 Psalty!) videos and dancing. But he was overly tired, then I sent him out to the pool with his babysitter, and then Graddy and Jan-Jan didn't arrive till his dinner time. All that made for a very tired, overly stimulated little guy.

I also just didn't have the energy to go and do things outside with him like I normally have been doing - it was over 100 degrees here and SO muggy. There were several times I cursed myself for being the idiot 9+ months pregnant in the middle of the Bayou July. What were we thinking (or NOT thinking) when we got pregnant this time!? Our timing was pretty bad :) But she's worth the suffering.

We are thankful that Graddy (my dad) and Jan-Jan (my mom) are here. Noah was beside himself with excitement! He couldn't be contained - he ran circles for a good 5 minutes! And of course, Jan-Jan came with lots of gifts - it was like Christmas morning for us tonight.

Noah's sensing some changes in the air, I think. He's been waking up randomly at night and screaming bloody murder. He is so hysterical (and still asleep) that we physically have to work hard to wake him up and reassure him it is just a bad dream. Unfortunately for Dan, he's clingy to me right now so I usually have to follow Dan into his room to help calm him and rock him a bit. And he's been a lot more demanding lately. He's normally headstrong but the demands come pouring out of his mouth more and more regularly and it is frustrating at best. But... he's 2 and doesn't fully grasp how much his little world is about to change so he's doing the best he can to adapt; even if it means throwing fits in the middle of Target for no reason whatsoever!

Again, I am not reading into the physical symptoms of the end-of-pregnancy because I did that last time and got disappointed. Yes, I want to experience labor - even for just an hour or so before the doctor slices me open - but I am not stressing over it this time around. No matter what, Ellyotte is going to be here in 4 days and we are soooo excited.

I am having significant pain in my lower back and legs. Ellyotte definitely has dropped a bit in the last few days. I have always heard that the closer one gets to their due date, the less the baby moves. Well... that ain't true here! I have feet sticking out of my right side, a bottom right behind my belly button, and she's got her arms lifted above her head (which has been down since 20 weeks) and is punching my bladder like a WWE wrestler. The fact that she's got so much room to move around still makes me think that she's not going to be that big. And while a great thing, she gets hiccups to the point that I sometimes get annoyed with them... I mean, come on! Hiccups at 3 am when a mom is already not able to sleep well is not cool :)

No matter what, we are excited and ready. Tomorrow morning, I am going to wrap Noah's gift from Ellyotte (we are doing the same thing you did with your Noah, Cheri!) and put it into my hospital bag. We bought him his own little camera - the Fisher Price one you can't break unless you run a car over it. It has it's own software and can hold up to 400 images. Noah loves playing with our camera so much that we thought it would be neat for him to have his own to take pictures of his new baby sister. He will feel like such a big boy, we are certain.

I also have to get our snacks together and make sure Dan gets the carseat installed and his little bag packed. We will be in the hospital for about 3 days before being released. I will be READY to get home! I also have to make sure my parents are squared away with taking care of Noah. But the older kids get, the easier they are to babysit so I am sure they will do fine. Noah's a "mama's boy" at nighttime though - he loves and requires his nighttime routine so I will be interested to hear how that goes for 2-3 nights while we are away.

Ellyotte can come whenever she's ready now! We have the grandparents and most of the logistics taken care of. But even if she waits till the c-section, we are still super ready to get our daughter brought into our little world. What a blessing she already is, and we are so excited.