Welcome, Teddy!

I'm happy to blog-announce that our Peapod was born Friday, July 5th at 8:06am. The C-section was no fun for me, but recovery hasn't been too bad. Brian got to see the doctor pull the baby out of me, which he said was cool. He weighs 8lbs. 14oz. and is 21 inches long. He came out with a mop of thick black hair that includes at least three cowlicks, so that will be fun for him. The nurse who bathed him gave him a mohawk and it has pretty much stayed that way for three days now.

We named him Theodore John, and we call him Teddy. The John is after my dad and Brian and I both just really like the name Teddy. We figured Theodore also gives him options for when he is older if he decides he doesn't want to go with Teddy: "Theo," "Ted," "TJ, "The Odor," etc. Brian is already enjoying calling him "The Odor," actually. He isn't exactly named after the Nationals racing president, though that Teddy is dear to all the hearts in our household as well.

My sister-in-law came to the hospital when Teddy was about an hour old and stayed until he was about seven hours old, armed with her photography gear, and came again yesterday to get pictures of the three boys. So she has somewhere around 500 pictures that we'll eventually get sorted out and I'll post my favorites. How awesome to have an eager photographer in the family!

Teddy and I will be in the hospital for another day or two. We've introduced him to his brothers, his stuffed turtle that Cal and Clark gave him, lots of aunts, uncles, Gammy, Poppy, baseball on TV, and some friends. He's a very calm little fellow and has taken to nursing like a champ. Teddy also loves gazing at his Daddy while he sings him funny songs. We're all in love.

The boys are already protective. They keep telling people who hold him, "That's our baby. You can't take it home with you." They're also in love with the idea of being big brothers. It means they need to eat more meat to get big strong muscles, Clark explained. Calvin took on a baby persona and has been talking like a baby and curling up in laps sucking his thumb in order to keep up with the attention Teddy is getting.

Here are the two favorite pictures so far.

The Countdown: 38 weeks

It's almost time! My scheduled c-section is for this Friday, July 5th at 7:30am! Ever since I went off my medication two weeks ago and thought I'd go into labor, I've had more energy than I've had for a long time...and have definitely not gone into labor. So, everything is in place for Peapod to make his grand entrance in three and a half days!

Here's the latest picture I had taken when I was pregnant with the boys. This was about a week before I delivered them at 36 weeks.

35 weeks with the twins

Here's a picture from today:

38 weeks with Peapod

We are all poised here and ready to receive Mr. Peapod!

Waiting to Explode

As I've been waiting to explode for the past week, I've been in various places and usually the thought crosses my head, "What if I had the baby here?"

I've had contractions on three different days but they haven't lasted for very long, so nothing has become of them. So still, I wait.

These started out as places I've actually visited recently and then kind of spiraled...

Worst places to give birth:

1. All bathrooms in general, but of specific horror would be:

           a. bathroom at the pool- aided only by scantily-clad tweens and their iPhones
           b. port-a-potty at the playground- the accident possibilties are terrifying
           c. bathroom at the softball fields- stainless steel toilets and damp cement floors
           d. airplane bathroom- (would it even work?) emergency landing

2. In the middle of a quiet church service- front row

3. In the plush leather passenger seat of my mother-in-law's car as she's giving me a ride

4. In the brilliant blue-green kiddie pool surrounded by children, including my own

5. While getting a massage in a dimly-lit room with a gurgling zen fountain, naked with a stranger- only about a quarter of the way into it

6. At the hair salon with its bright-white walls, plentiful mirrors, and beautifully-clipped and manicured hair dressers in perfect clothes

7. In the slowest checkout line at the grocery store- probably when I finally found my favorite pickles and chocolate to buy

8. Old Navy fitting room while daringly trying on skinny jeans for no real reason

9. Vacation Bible School puppet show

10. Anytime when I'm out alone anywhere and forgot my cell phone (as if I ever misplace my phone)

11. On the bus with my kids, miles from home, next to a creepy man/woman/creature

12. In the stands at a baseball game- a really exciting one, maybe in extra innings (on second thought, this might be cool...eventually)

13. On my tan microfiber couch with guests visiting

14. On a carnival ride- think Ferris wheel or roller coaster

Ready or not, here we go!

Father's Day

I was hoping I could give Brian another baby for Father's Day today...but I guess Peapod is happy with his current residential situation, so we'll keep waiting for him to decide he needs more space.

Instead we had an ordinary day. The boys and I made breakfast for Brian- bacon and egg sandwiches. We went to church. We went grocery shopping. We went to the driving range for the boys to golf. I ate chocolate. Brian made yummy chicken salad sandwiches. We watched baseball on TV. I cut the boys' hair. The boys and Brian had a loud, rowdy game of a cross between tag, hide and seek, and wrestling. We called our fathers. Clark insisted on calling Grandma to tell her Happy Father's Day. I ate more chocolate. Cal drew a house and practiced drawing eights and other "beautiful things." Clark colored a motorcycle. Cal told me he wished we were having a girl so she could have my face, because my face is cute. Awww.

Here are some pictures.

Working on breakfast

a little pepper...

Assembling the sandwiches

Golfin'  with Dad

They look so little with their haircuts!

Setting up...

The lefty drives

The righty aims

Water break

"Drawing beautiful things"

Clark's Happy Father's Day sign

Cal's sign

I'd also like to say Happy Father's Day to my dad, who turned 60 this week!

 And to my husband, who I was hoping to make a father times three today, but didn't quite make it...

And I'm glad they both get along so beautifully together.

Thursday Thesicle

Practice makes perfect big brothers.

Almost There... 35 Weeks

Yes, I'm alive. Just haven't had a lot of blog inspiration or much time spent being comfortable enough to sit and write lately. I'm nearly in unfamiliar territory; I'm 35 weeks pregnant. With the boys I made it 36 weeks and 2 days.

This pregnancy has been much harder than my pregnancy with they boys. And it's because of the boys. I was on bed rest for two months last time. That means I laid around watching movies and snoozing and reading books and napping and sleeping for two months. Brian took care of dinner most nights and I never really left the house except to attend my baby showers. Little different this time. I have two four year-olds who need me and constantly want me involved in most things. Granted, I'm sure it would be harder to have only one four year-old at a time like this-- at least the boys have each other to play with. They want me to take them to the pool, they want me to play baseball with them, to color, to read with them, to play outside, to help build a Lego house, to play Candyland- totally normal little boy things that have gotten much more difficult. And it's not that I don't want to do them... it just hurts. Then there are the non-negotiables like how I need to feed them and clean them and wipe them and help them brush their teeth and wash their laundry and break up their fights. Some days I work in about half an hour of lying down into my afternoons. They're awesome for it. They just play together while I lie there semi-consciously on the couch. I also nearly always fall asleep while doing their reading lessons with them, so that's a nice little break too.

Good playmates...making loud noises

Last week I had severe back pain that I went into the doctor for. I didn't have anyone to watch the boys so they came with me and were super good; they colored and drew in the waiting room for about 40 minutes and then proceeded to talk the ears off several doctors. I had a mild infection and the antibiotics as well as a timely visit the next day to my massage therapist (and blog sponsor) have tremendously helped my back pain. It's still here, but much less intense. I also had other nice things happen during my bad back week- a friend came over and brought lunch, and then I had a much-anticipated night away with my dear friend Missy who I know all the way from the far-off land of College. These days that seems like so long ago.

We called our time away a frienassiance. She just recently finished her year of nursing her son, and to celebrate, her husband got her a night away at a bed and breakfast with spa. Lucky me got to tag along! I think it's only the second time I've spent the night away from both the boys- the other being when my sister turned 21 and we went up to New York. It was refreshing and beautiful and my back barely hurt the whole time. The woman who served us breakfast looked at my belly and asked, "When are you due, like three days ago?" Thanks for that.

Love the swing

Frienassaince!

When I came home we packed the boys up and went to a Potomac Nationals game (Single A Minor League team) as a season-ending party with our Blastball team. We sat on bleachers for one and a half games (I didn't get the doubleheader memo due to a postponed game the day before.), watched fireworks, the boys ran the bases and ate a lot of peanuts, popcorn, and funnel cake with their Red Wings teammates, and we got home super late. They loved it and it was a great night out for baseball. The P-Nats even won both games. (More than the Washington Nationals have done lately) My back barely bothered until the end and I was happy to have slept in late at the bed and breakfast that morning.

Baseball food!

Watching the catcher and pitcher warm up for game 2

The Red Wings with their certificates! 

We've decided on Peapod's name and bought the letters to put on the wall with the boys' names. We have a stroller frame now to go with our car seat. We got a little gift basket of fuzzy blue and white baby things today. I put bedding in the little crib in our bedroom. We found a diaper and wipes sale at Costco and so we've got diapers for quite awhile. It's really happening! And I'm so excited to get this child out of me and in my arms instead of strapped about my middle.

Twenty-five days until the scheduled C-section! I'm thinking things down there are going to be ready sooner than that though...

Yikes!

The Countdown: 33 weeks

I'm struggling lately with getting anything of substance written here. I know I need to write about the latest in Clark's kidney mystery and about all the reading the boys have been doing...all the busy boy playing and the baseball obsession...but oddly the most writing inspiration I've had in awhile came from a visit to a handicapped bathroom stall the other day. You don't want to know. But maybe I'll go ahead and write about it soon just for kicks. We'll see.

I had a sonogram last week that Brian and the boys were able to watch. Peapod is checking in at a whopping 5 lbs already! "On the big side," the doctor nicely put it. He thinks the baby will be 8 or 9 lbs!

Here are my week 33 pictures. I wore the same shirt and stood in the same spot for this week's comparison. I think I was bigger last time, though I'm not exactly as sideways in this picture. What do you think?

33 weeks pregnant with the twins

33 weeks pregnant with Peapod

Countdown: Week 32

Time to compare my week 32 this time to my week 32 last time around.

32 weeks pregnant with the twins

32 weeks pregnant with Peapod

Last week I thought I looked bigger than last time but now I think I look smaller...must be the shirt and the angle. Here's the link to those pictures. Calvin just asked me how many more days until Peapod is born, so we counted. There are 44 days until the scheduled C-section! Woohoo!

My Pregnant Mother's Day

I had a beautiful Mother's Day yesterday. It started off with the best gift a pregnant mother could get. Seriously. Brian told me I would be puzzled when I first opened it and then it would slowly dawn on me and I'd love it. He was precisely right. At first when I uncovered everything on the kitchen table I thought, whaaat? Are we going on a giant picnic? Then I got it. Brilliant.

Perfect gift for a pregnant mom!

We won't have to do hardly any dishes until the baby comes...maybe even for awhile after. Especially with our little kitchen it seems like all I do all day is dishes, which involves being on my feet, obviously, and makes me super tired. Or else I don't do them at all and our kitchen is just gross or Brian does them all when he gets home, which chews up the afternoon. Brian told me to save the pots and pans and he'll do them when he gets home. We'll recycle everything else. Nice.

Ready for action

Yesss

Next we went to my good friend Missy's son's dedication at their church. By the way, the weather was awesome- high in the high 60s- maybe it reached 70, I'm not sure. There wasn't a cloud in the sky most of the day. After the dedication we went and got lunch and then headed downtown for the Nationals game against the Cubs. The whole way to the stadium the boys were bouncing along, with Clark saying repeatedly, "I'm so excited for the Nats game! I love going to Nats games!" Our seats in left field were in the sun, but it wasn't too hot. Though the Nats lost in the end on a dumb error, we saw five complete innings of their starter no-hitting the Cubs and the Nats had quite a few hits, though they stranded most runners. Teddy the Racing President had his first win of the season, which made the boys' day. Screech the bald eagle mascot found his mom in the crowd and brought her flowers. Some players used pink bats and batting gloves and to honor their mothers. Cute.

After the game the boys got to run the bases-something they've been looking forward to and talking about for weeks. They got nervous when we found out that Brian couldn't run around with them, but one of the girls helping out held their hands and ran around with them. The racing presidents were all on the field too. As much as they love the presidents dearly, they're still intimidated and scared by the sheer size of them, but they made it with only a little initial crying.

On the way back to our parking lot, which is about five or six blocks from the stadium, we splurged and took one of the bike taxis to the lot. The bike driver was super nice and funny and my giant body was thankful not to do that walk. The boys loved it too.

After that we picked up some food for a picnic dinner and drove to my sister and brother-in-law's softball game with the rest of Brian's family. After the game of course the boys ran the bases several times with their cousins. They came home and crashed in a happy heap of Nats gear and softball field dirt.

Lovely day. I am blessed.

The boys with little Henry- their future bases-running pal

On the way to the park- both boys insisted on bringing
gloves to catch home runs.

Good seats!

Clark poised to catch a homer. This happened often, but to no avail.

Happy Mother's Day

Cal being a baseball player with my sunglasses

Me and my boys

Hot dog munchin' 

After running the bases

The Presidents!

On the way back to the car in our bike taxi

The Countdown

Last time I was pregnant pretty much everything was different. For example, I didn't have 4 year-olds to take care of every day. And I was on bedrest from 28-36 weeks. I took pictures of my expanding belly every Tuesday...it was a little ridiculous. I realized today that I haven't specifically taken a single picture of my belly this pregnancy. Poor Peapod! So today, at 31 weeks, I took the first picture. Actually, the boys took turns taking pictures because they're obsessed with using my camera. Thus begins the countdown until July 5th.

Here's a little side-by-side comparison to last time:

Pregnant with Cal and Clark four years ago

Pregnant with Peapod today

Pretty sure I'm bigger today than I was four years ago with twins. I'll blame it on the twins stretching out my uterus. At this rate Peapod will come out right around 14 pounds...