What's in a name?

For all of our boys, we've chosen their middle name first. With Carter, we decided that we wanted his middle name to have some significance.. At the time, the most important day of our lives was our wedding day. Rev. Michael O'Reilly married us in South Lake Tahoe. It was a beautiful ceremony. Although we weren't close to Rev. O'Reilly, we used his last name as Carter's middle name to remind us of the importance of the day.

Coen's middle name at birth was Kwasi, but we kept it for more than that alone. In Ghana, everyone is given a middle name that is based on the day of the week they were born and if they are a boy or girl. So, all boys born on Sunday are given the name Kwasi (or a similar variation based on their region) for a middle name. Coen's middle name ties him to his heritege and helps us to tell his story of how he came to us.

With our third baby, we started with the middle name first. I don't remember exactly when it was decided, but it was early on. Maybe 8 or 9 weeks into the pregnancy. Having suffered the lost of two babies at 10 weeks gestation, I was more than nervous when we found out I was pregnant this time. My doctor agreed to an ultrasound at 7 weeks just as she had previously, but wouldn't do any sort of other testing for me prior. If I had low progesterone as I suspected, a simple ultrasound wouldn't show it and by 7 weeks, it might be too late to address it anyway. I started calling other doctor's offices, but no one would consider seeing me prior to 8 weeks - I had ONLY had 2 miscarriages, not 3 which constitutes a problem. Balling my eyes out, I called my friend, Nicole, who told me to call her Aunt Peggy. Peggy is a nurse practitioner and midwife. I called her office and after telling the office staff that I had already had 2 miscarriages they insisted I get in that very day for some testing. I was in the office within an hour and met with Peggy soon after. She was understanding and in just as big a hurry as I was to try to save my pregnancy. I burst into tears due to the hormones and pure relief that someone who could actually help was going to do everything possible. By that evening, results were back. Low progesterone. I had my prescription filled and all has been good since. More than good. Peggy and her staff have made room in the schedule whenever I needed to get in, scheduled ultrasounds to keep an eye on our little guy... they've been great.

No, we didn't choose the middle name Peggy :) but we did choose Hayes, Peggy's last name. Obviously we think very highly of Peggy, but just as I told the whole story here, using her last name as our son's middle name will allow us to share the whole story with him. Had badly we wanted him, the loss we experienced prior to being blessed by him and God's hand in it all. What was it that made me call all those doctors and then Nicole rather than just sit by? How was it that I had a friendship with someone whose aunt would take the time to run the tests? It's all such a God thing.

Our last day...

Our last day as a family of 4! I'm not allowed to eat OR drink anything after 4 a.m. tomorrow so I figured that was cause for the boys and I to enjoy a fun breakfast today. Luckily, Auntie called right as we were headed out the door and had a great idea to try this new place she had heard of, Slappy Cakes.  Apparently you get to cook your own pancakes right at your table. Sounded too fun for the boys so, we were in!

                                                  

This place did NOT disappoint. You get your choice of different batters as well as items to mix in to your pancakes. We decided on the peanut butter batter and the buttermilk batter and used blueberries, bacon and chocolate chips as our mix-ins. (Hey, it's my last day being pregnant, possibly forever, we might as well go all out, right?). The boys loved watching their pancakes cook and adding their mix-ins and we all left very full. This is what I love about Portland. Dining isn't just about eating. It's about the experience itself and the fact that the food tastes great, well that's a bonus. We'll definitely be back at some point!

Coen - completely stuffed

A place to set my milk

Chris and I were sitting on the couch chatting when Carter hopped up between us and set his milk on my bump as if he owned it. We of course, busted up laughing. He, on the other hand, was clueless as to what was so funny.

The baby, well he tried to knock the cup right off. This one is going to be a fighter. Good thing, being the littlest of three brothers.

Camping

We decided to camp in the backyard tonight (oh, no! Not me. The boys and daddy). As we got the tent out, we heard the crackling of our neighbor's fire pit and their teenaged son's guitar. It seemed a party was due to start. Not the best scenario for a 2 and 3 year old to sleep so, we settled on the next best plan... Camping in the living room. It took a little convincing, but Carter agreed and both boys are thrilled to "camp" with daddy.

37.5 weeks

We had our last doctor's appointment today. My blood pressure was up a bit, but still considered low overall (my blood pressure always runs on the low side). She thinks it is just lack of sleep. The next time we should see Peggy is at the hospital next Friday. In the meantime, I have a pre-op admissions call Friday and then some blood work to do this weekend at the hospital. She confirmed for Chris what I already knew and have been complaining about.. this baby is up in my rib cage! His head is nice and low, but his tushy is all the way up there. The is just no more room so I'm super happy he is coming a week early.

The big brother

I love that lately Carter has been kissing the baby bump goodnight without any suggestion from us. He is so ready to meet his brother.

Time flies...

when you're pregnant/exhausted/mom-to-toddlers/in the summer. I can't believe it has been a week since I posted. I've had plenty of adorable stories of cute things the boys have said or done, but I haven't had the energy to post about them. We just had a great weekend with Auntie Storm and cousin Isabelle who were in town for Auntie Lindsey's baby shower. It is so fun how Carter and Isabelle always jump right back in where they left off no matter how much time passes. Constantly holding hands and even leaving Coen out of some of the fun now. We've hit that stage of "older kids" and "little kids" (Yes, they are only 13 months apart, but Carter makes it clear that Isabelle is HIS friend and Coen is just the LITTLE brother). Hopefully Bronson and Coen will form their own little bond when they get together next.

 Coen is keeping me on my toes finding new ways to potentially hurt himself. He is still running through the house full-speed without watching where he is going and climbing on furniture. He now is constantly seeking out furniture to jump off of and walking down the stairs without holding on to the railing. I scold him about these actions multiple times a day to the point that all I have to say is, "Coen, what is mommy going to say?" and he will fill-in the blank and scold himself. He still does it.every.day.


We're not only counting down to the 31st to welcome our little one, we are also counting down to September 7th, the day that Coen stepped off the plan in Portland and we became a family of 4. Weird that it has only been a year. Weird that one year to the day is our due date to welcome his little brother (our due date is the 7th, but the C-section is schedule a week prior). So much going on and so much to look forward to. For now, I'm pooped and this baby is trying to get out through my ribs.

It's 5 o' clock

Honey,
When you get home and wonder why I look tired or stressed out, it is because this is what occurs daily starting at 5 p.m. By the time you walk in the door.. Well, tag. You're it.

Poor sick baby

Coen woke up with a 104* temperature today. We got it down a little with medicine, but he is still not himself. The doctor says to just wait it out.

More getting ready...

We finally made it to the hospital to take a tour today. We'll be delivering at a different hospital due to our choice of physician this time. It was a no-brainer. We want Peggy so, we'll go to her! We haven't doubted our choice even once, but got a kick out of the CNA that gave us the tour constantly telling us, "Oh, well you're with Peggy so, she'll take care of that!" and "Oh, if you're with Peggy, she'll insist you get one of these two rooms. They are the biggest and always her preference." In fact, this particular CNA had Peggy delivery her last baby and couldn't stop saying positive things about her.

Yep. She is totally worth the drive for every appointment and switching hospitals!

3 weeks...

As of tomorrow, we have just 3 more weeks until we meet Baby Roberts (as long as he cooperates). I can't believe it is so close and yet, I can't remember NOT being pregnant. I'm frantically trying to pull the remaining pieces together before he arrives - where DID we put the boppee and the bath tub-thingy? Did I seriously get rid of all of our bottles?!

Yesterday I had my Peggy appointment and everything looks good. We ended up doing another ultrasound. Peggy felt he just wasn't moving enough so, we took another look to make sure he was doing good and he was.

While I'm not ready to actually have a baby in the house yet, I am ready for this baby to be out. He is taking up way too much room now. You know you're at that point when your husband says from across the room, "WOW, he is all on your right side isn't he?!" Yep, you can SEE where he is from across the room.

Carter is stil over-the-top excited and ready to help. The other day we had to have a discussion with him about needing to be a mommy or daddy to wipe his brother's tush. Yes. He offered to go and wipe Coen when Coen was done on the toilet. We also had a discussion about his needing to go back to sleep if the baby wakes him rather than getting up to help me. He was pretty upset by this one and pointed out that if he doesn't help, I'll be tired during the day. My sweet little man! Yep... he is going to be a helper with the baby for sure.

Coen... he says he's excited, but my mommy intuition tells me that when the baby arrives, he'll be over the whole thing pretty quickly and wondering if we really have to keep him.

Pen pals

Ever since Carter got mail from his dentist he has been asking me if I have mail for him daily. I finally suggested he write some letters to see if maybe he can get one in return. He was so excited as he drew his pictures, told me what to write, stuffed the envelope and put them in the mailbox. Now we just have to wait and see!

Preparing for baby

I'm trying to stock the freezer and pantry so we're not eating pizza every night when #3 arrives. Blueberry honey breakfast loaves. Yum!

A gift from the boys

We made this and hung it in the nursery for Baby Roberts. It always cracks me up that Coen's handprint is the same size as Carter's.

35 weeks

I cannot believe we are down to less than a month! We're still looking at August 31st, but I have an appointment tomorrow so, we'll see how everything is looking. 

We determined at the last appointment via ultrasound that our littlest man is a big guy - somewhere between the 83-95th percentile for babies at this stage. What is odd about this is EVERYONE is saying that I look "small". Now, I know they don't mean ME, they mean my belly is looking small. I'm constantly confronted with looks of shock when I say how soon the litter mister will be joining us and people feel compelled to tell me that they had no idea I was due so soon. Complete strangers are telling me this. 

So, I had to look back at old photos to see how I compare. I was horrible about taking bump photos last time (just as I have been this time) so, all I have is my today photos (we had a date night! I don't normally wear 3 inch heels especially while 8 months pregnant) 

35 weeks

Let's just ignore my hair. It did look much cuter earlier, but it was dang hot in the restaurant tonight (or maybe it was just me that got too hot)

And, last time at 37.5 weeks (just 2.5 weeks from now)

Hmmm... hard to tell with the angle and there is a 2 1/2 week difference...