wednesday what

This picture makes me smile.I am having Jen do my newborn photos on Friday.But I couldn't resist snapping a few shots while Robert and the boys were at church on Sunday.Going to use this for her birth announcement. So sweet.
I have a confession. One that may make you think I am absolutely crazy.I love labor.Seriously.Labor and delivery is the climax to the 9 months of pregnancy. You wait and wait and wait. And labor is what you are waiting for. That moment where you finally meet the little one inside of you. The one you have been imagining since the moment you found you were expecting.I don't know why, but I enjoy the adrenalin rush of it all.Maybe because my last three deliveries were amazing.Three contractions and out. Two contractions and out. One push and out.Regardless of why, I love it.Which is why I get a little sad when I think that Natalie is most likely our last.Every time I drive by Banner Gateway, my heart aches a little.I think back on the times that Robert and I went into Labor & Delivery.When we were in the final stages before meeting our newest little addition.Being in labor.Getting my epidural and receiving sweet relief from the contractions.Resting and soaking up the moment.Delivering.Holding my precious newborn for the very first time.Determining who they look most like.I think my heart will always ache a little when I drive by Banner Gateway.It's okay. My time is over. Which also brings me excitement.I have all these little babies. And now I get to focus on their growth.I get to focus on teaching them.I get to focus on nurturing them.I get to focus on loving them.

baby girl

I'm sure some of you are waiting for THE post. The one containing every detail regarding Natalie's birth. Hate to tell you it isn't coming. Not in post form. Don't worry. I will share it. You just have to take the extra initiative to click. Why? I understand that not EVERY person cares to know. So if such talk as "cervix" and "membranes" offends or digusts you, don't click the photo below. Which, by the way, is a picture of my doc with all four of my children. Whom he delivered. Dr. Beck is an amazing man.

Click the pic for Natalie's birth story

So. Some of you may have been wondering how I am going to document Natalie's monthly growth. And some of you may have seen the picture on Facebook. But this is what I plan to do. And I am so excited. Because I will never outgrow my love for chalk.

Yes. I drew those flowers. They match her bedding. Or, rather, ALL the fabric associated with her...

birthday boy

So. I lied. No bombardment of pictures. Turns out I didn't take a billion photos. Which is weird for me. It feels like, with four kids, I never get a moment. No time to juggle a camera with so many little ones. At least not yet.
Before Natalie arrived, Robert periodically asked what our plans were for Daniel's birthday. "Have a baby?" Once we had the baby, we both kind of forgot until the night before his birthday. Spur of the moment cupcakes with both sets of grandparents. Extremely simple and easy. Amazing, considering the fact that I thrive on adorable productions. Just a few toys and the perfect amount of socializing. I can't believe my [not] baby is one.
And, of course, we have the FINAL chalk photo. Had to bribe him. Amazingly enough, I got a smile out of him. Well, Robert got the smile. I just captured it.All 12 months. So excited with how this turned out.

wednesday what

Here she is. Little miss NATALIE VIOLA ROOT

May 22nd, 11:59am

7lbs 9oz, 20.5in long

Nearly no pain during labor (prior to epidural).

Came out with one half-hearted push.

Seriously easy peasy.

Me? Felt amazing after.

Until today. Soreness is kicking in.

But for having birthed four kids in under 4 years, I can't complain.

Going home in a few hours.

So a bombardment of pictures is surely soon to come.

new

A year ago (in three days from today) I welcomed my last little guy into the world. Pushed through two contractions. A total of 4 minutes. And he came. All 8lbs 5oz of him.

Today I welcomed my first (& probably last) little girl into the world. Pushed once. A total of 15 seconds. And she came. All 7lbs 9oz of her.

She is my smallest baby (by 4oz). And the one I feel I have been waiting the longest to meet. Brown hair and steel blue eyes, just like all her brothers. My little piece of heaven.

baby!

Ha. No, I haven't had mine. But I bet that title got you wondering. Nope, today was a day to celebrate my sister-in-law in all her pregnant glory. She will be having a baby boy towards the end of June. Yay! So I cohosted her shower today. And took some pictures. And did NOT use my computer at all for uploading. I seriously cannot get over my happiness at not having to touch a computer. It wouldn't be such a big deal if our laptops weren't both half broken. Or if I had an Apple. Sigh. But before you judge my photos, let me just say that I totally forgot to adjust the white balance. So the coloring makes me cringe a little. Or maybe a lot. Hopefully I will remember to make the necessary adjustments when baby girl comes. Or I will just share a bunch of black and white photos. ANYWAY. The shower was adorable. Animal themed with blue, green, orange as the main colors. Everything turned out perfectly if I do say so myself. Ps. Those animal crackers? Yeah, I hand dipped 16 dozen. Not that I counted... Pps. I hate donkey animal crackers. They just give me a bad vibe. Don't ask... Seriously. DON'T judge me by these photos. I just didn't want to edit with my computer...

wednesday what

I am over the moon with excitement. Several reasons.First, and most basic: I can upload pictures with my iPad. Without having to deal with a computer.It is life-changing, I swear. So when baby girl comes, I can post pics 10 min later. Just kidding. 20 min later...Second, and most important: my maternity photos are done!Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Sorry for that. Just excited.I am SO SO SO happy I did this. Every woman should feel beautiful during pregnancy.I think Jen did a phenomenal job of capturing that, don't you?This was definitely worth the investment. Especially since baby girl is the last.Jen is amazing. I cannot WAIT to see newborn pictures. Below are just a few of my favorites. Click HERE for more. And check out all of Jen's work at Green Apple Images.In case anyone is wondering:Shirt: DownEast BasicsPants: Old Navy MaternityShoes: Rack Room ShoesNecklace: Premiere DesignsFloral pin: Hobby Lobby

This is just a test. I think I've found an app that will allow me to upload photos from my iPad. Tell me if you can see the image below PLEASE. Thanks much. You may also comment on how beautiful the picture is. Photo by Green Apple Images

the un-mother's day

I did not feel special today. Not that I was expecting to in any way. Mother's Day does not automatically equal warm fuzzy feelings. And my day was no exception. It started well enough. But when Daniel flat out REFUSED me, it started to get rough. He has been my little snuggle bug. The one that loves to cling to me. And he wanted nothing to do with me today. Flat out rejected me. Screamed and cried any time I held him. And it hurt. Because Joel and Lucas are far from wanting anything to do with me when Robert is around. Now all three push me away in preference of Robert. Several people have told me that I am silly for being hurt by this. For getting offended or taking it personally. But how can I not? I get it. They see him less, so they want him more. But that does not make it hurt any less when all I want is a hug or a moment with them and they act as if I am the most deplorable thing on the planet. So yeah. Happy Mother's Day to me.

Unfotunately, that was not all that made today rough (because honestly, rejection happens regularly with the older two). During church, I began having contractions 5 minutes apart. Then 4 minutes apart. Then 3 minutes apart. By the time we got home, they were 2 minutes apart. So my mom came to watch the boys while we went to the hospital. Got hooked up for monitoring. And they stopped. The monitors caught maybe ten minutes of contractions before they 100% completely died off. As I was being discharged I had one last, lone contraction float across the monitor. Didn't cry about being sent home. But I wanted to. I don't mind being pregnant. I really don't. I am just exhausted of false labor. And I have been having quite a bit with this pregnancy.

So I am over today. And hoping tomorrow is better.

fabulous

I cannot type the word "fabulous" without thinking about it being said in a sing-song manner. Possibly by a guy in drag. Why my brain defaults to this, I have NO clue. But it is entertaining.

So yesterday. Yesterday was full of ups and downs. I had two projects that I wanted to work on. Two things that I wanted finished by the end of the night. And I couldn't work on either of them during the day because of insufficient materials. So frustrating. My dad came to the rescue on one. And when robert got home from work, I went out to grab a much needed item for the second. So BOTH projects were completed. Albeit around midnight. But they are DONE. And both turned out "FAB-U-LOUS"!

Let's start with the second project. Since I don't have pictures of it. I made leggings. They are so tiny and cute! I had cut the sleeves off a long sleeved shirt to make it more hot-weather friendly. Kept the excess fabric because I KNEW I could do something with it. So I went out, bought a double needle, and made the most adorable pair of purple striped baby leggings. And a matching headband, of course. Can I just say double needles are AMAZING?! I had never heard of one until yesterday. Seriously. I thought parallel stitches were made by making two separate stitches. And just being dang good at making equidistant straight lines. I was proud of myself. But I will GLADLY use a double needle over trying to make parallel stitches. Love it.

The first project. So happy about it. Because it means the toy room is one step closer to being complete. Rain gutter book shelves. Floating all over Pinterest. So I decided to make some. And it HAD to be done yesterday because I could not take one more day of Daniel ripping books from the book shelf and destroying them. The kid was driving me nuts. It was the first place he would go once in the toy room. Not any more! The books are up, off his level. And they look AWESOME. Once I got into the groove of assembling these shelves, it was super easy. But I like to take the hard way. Like using a screw to drill a hole instead of a drill bit. Thus creating large holes before hitting a stud. Oops. But the "book nook" looks great. And hopefully we will add our custom built bench underneath the shelves with the next tax return.

And yes, I have AWESOME bold stripes. This area is one of my happy places.

wednesday what [for reals]

This was a year ago. Almost. In just over two weeks, my youngest will be a year.But he might not be my youngest any more. Crazy
Sorry for earlier. Long story. Made up of many little things. Including false labor.Several hours with contractions 6 minutes apart. A few separate times. Annoying.I shouldn't be surprised. The same thing happened with Daniel. Obviously it will happen. And soon. But I am at that stage. Where you are ready to be done. But you aren't done yet.To save myself from dwelling, I busy myself with projects.You might call it nesting.I call it "if I don't do something to keep myself from sitting around, thinking of how done I am with pregnancy, I will kill all of the existing members of the household with whatever random object gets the job done".So I have been sewing. As you saw last week. Sewed some more.I had a play may that we bought for Joel eons ago.Let me just apologize for the horrible picture quality. That was several cameras ago.Moving on. Play mat. Infantino. Jungle themed play mat. The boys used the heck out of it.But I am having a girl. And girls should have feminine toys. Since society conditions it.So I recovered the play mat. And will be making new dangling rattle toys.Super happy with the new look. Love the fuzzy strawberry. AND it was done with the fabric I was going to use for her bedding. So yay!
I also decided I wanted a cute newborn hat for her to wear in the hospital.I hate the blue/pink striped hats. You have no clue the gender of the baby.Some how I went from making a hat to making a baby gown AND matching hat.All from an old shirt I never wear due to stains and holes. Score.Can't wait to post pictures of her in this little outfit.
Ps. You HAVE to go to Green Apple Images and check out the preview from my maternity session.Jen made me feel so beautiful. And I can't wait for her to capture baby girl in a few weeks. Ecstatic.

wednesday what

I am canceling my "wednesday what" today. Several reasons. I am too lazy to use the computer to upload pictures. Lame, I know. I am too tired to care since I got little more than two hours of sleep last night. Yeah, not fun. I am too full of negative today to say anything useful (and I don't want to alienate everyone that may actually like me due to my sour mood). So, too bad. If my mood changes or I feel inspired later tonight, maybe. But I doubt it. Maybe I will post tomorrow. If the sun chases away my little storm clouds...

On a lighter note, donations of chocolate, dr. pepper, money, or food are gladly accepted to help me feel better.

Just kidding. Sort of.

wednesday what

Did you know that my front door is TEAL? I absolutely love it.
WHY is my front door teal? Because of my husband.
I wanted a purple door. But my neighbor two doors down has a purple door.
You CAN'T have two purple doors on one street. It's the rules.
So Robert jokingly says, "How about turquoise?!" Completely mocking me.
And to turn the joke back on him, I painted it a bright teal.
I smile every time I go through it.

I have kept myself crazy busy recently. Because I just don't know how to stop.
Splash pad. Cousin's baby shower. Friend's birthday BBQ. Family get together. Zoo.
On top of going, going, going, I have been sewing, sewing, sewing.
My dear neighbor asked how the baby bedding was coming along. Told her I quit. She asked why.
Sewing machines are stupid. Period.
She brought my machine home and worked her magic. Fixed it.
So I have been sewing ever since. Literally every single day. EVERY DAY.
Yesterday I decided what the heck. Let's try to recover the infant car seat.
You know. Easy peasy...
Even though it was an ALL DAY task, I am so happy I did it.
I was nervous at first. What if I failed?
Robert would kill me for unstitching it and not being able to reassemble it.
I wanted to give up at times. Just buy a new one.
But I made the last stitch somewhere around 1am and put everything back together.
And almost cried.
I LOVE IT.

The brown was already part of the carseat cover. I just replaced the patterned fabric. So proud of myself, people. My ego is swelling.
Ps. Her bedding will be the same material. Minus the brown.

Now for some RANDOM THOUGHTS:
My two year old may not survive. I do not remember Joel going through terrible twos as badly as Lucas. AHHHHHH!
Chocolate and cold pizza. So delish. Need I say more?
My dad recently had surgery for not-cancer cancer. He is fine. It's confusing.
I have been missing Japan like crazy this last week. And I was only there for a week...
I have less than 4 weeks until my due date. I'd tell you how I am progressing,
but do you REALLY want to talk about my cervix? Didn't think so.
I hated mushrooms before this pregnancy. Now I crave sautéed mushrooms regularly. It's weird.