They make me laugh :)

And laughing hurts right now - so I try not to do it too much. It's hard though, when you've got two little goofballs telling you jokes all day long! I'm going to do a BIG no-no and post a blog this morning without a picture - yes, without a picture of the baby. Or of any baby. Or even of the other two. Maybe later today I'll feel up to dragging the camera out and snapping a few but so far it just hasn't happened. My cell phone's FULL of picture of olivia and the kids, but that doesn't do any of YOU any good, does it? ;)

OK so here's what makes me laugh lately:

Ella: Knock Knock. (Who's there) Banana. (Banana Who?) Knock Knock. (Who's there) Banana. (Banana Who? - and this goes on for a while!) Knock Knock. (Who's there) Orange - I mean, Apple. (Apple Who?) Apple, aren't you glad I didn't say banana again? (She is SUPPOSED to say "ORANGE you glad I didn't say banana again" - but that's beside the point, right?)

Micah: Matthew's aunt and uncle came over to visit the other day, bringing with them their brand new teeny puppy. After playing with the puppy for about 30 minutes Micah went to Aunt Tricia and said (in all seriousness!), "How about we trade you our new baby for your new puppy?" :D

HA!

Introducing Olivia Abigail!

We are home. :) We came home Friday in the early evening and we are doing well. I'm very VERY tired - pretty weak too - but all is well. The kids are enjoying their little sister, and so are we. She is (so far) a very content and laid back baby - and she looks just like Micah did when he was born. :)

Her stats:

Born 3:23pm
Weight 7lb 2oz
Length 18 3/4in

And a few pictures - nothing fancy. :) Matthew may blog a little more later on for me . . .

The Big Day is Here!

We are all excited. :) Micah is THRILLED and can't wait to meet her. Ella is a little confused as to how EXACTLY this is all going to work out - I mean, you can see her point. She's in my stomach, and Ella knows I'm having surgery - and then *poof* she's just HERE?

My voice is 80% gone but that's OK because I really have nothing to say - if I could drink something it might come back quicker but NO eating or drinking after midnight last night. :) My last meal (at 10:30) was a yummy ham sandwich from some ham my grandma left me yesterday - haven't had ham in a while because of the salt content and I decided what is the WORST that could happen!? Oh and some delicious applesauce & cottage cheese. :) OH - and 5 reeses pb cups. Can't forget those. So that'll have to do until late tonight or tomorrow when I am eating again. :) I gotta say - I'm not all that hungry . . . too many other things to worry about, right? ;)

So YEAH - today's the day. :) We THINK we have a name but since we really don't know for sure (and since we've waited THIS long already) I think we'll wait and announce her name after she's here and we KNOW that yes, that is who she is. :) Thanks so much for your kind emails, prayers, and comments - we really REALLY appreciate it!

OK - that's it - I've got to find something to do to fill my time and mind - I'll update from here on out as I can :)

Big Day Tomorrow -

"She" will arrive. :) Assuming they do surgery when they say they will, she will arrive shortly after 2pm. I don't expect it to be all that timely, to be honest - but sometime in the afternoon she is going to vacate the premises and I will be alone again. ;) Actually, I'm not sure that "vacating the premises" is accurate - perhaps I should say that she will be rudely and abruptly removed from her happy little home. Poor thing - OH well, she gets to come out and get loved on and snuggled and wrapped and fed . . . I get to lay there and attempt to be "with it" enough while I'm drugged up to get to appreciate her first moments. :)

I've decided that this whole "knowing what day your baby will arrive" thing is for the birds. With my other two children it was a surprise - yes, both were c-sections but both times we rushed to the hospital and it was THAT day. I had no time to think about it before-hand. No time to worry or wonder or anything - it just was time. THIS time, however, I have been lucky enough to be on bed rest the last two weeks with NOTHING ELSE to think about! Today is the last day I have to sit around and try to occupy my mind . . . YAY! I'm not good at it at ALL - occupying my mind with other things - and I am VERY good at obsessing and worrying - so you can probably get a bit of an idea how stressed out I am at this point. :)

BUT - one more day. Hopefully tomorrow I will wake up late and not be TOO terribly hungry (no food after midnight!). We'll get to the hospital around noon and I'll be a mom to THREE muchkins before supper time. :) That's pretty cool, eh??

No baby yet!

No baby yet. :) And no baby until this coming Tuesday - probably. ;) If it weren't for the weekend - and the fact that the hospital won't schedule a c-section on the weekend (reserved for emergencies, plus they probably have less people around) - then she would come Saturday. But we're put off until the first of next week.

Monday is full - ha! And so Tuesday it is - 2pm. So we're bumped up a week from what the plan WAS. Ahh - the "plan" - the ever-changing, completely useless "plan". So I have another several days of bed rest ahead of me (Give me patience, Lord!) and so long as my blood pressure remains healthy and there are no new signs of preclampsia developing, we wait until Tuesday. :)

The kids are pleased - I think they're having more fun than our normal life! Ella's first words out of her mouth this morning were, "Good Morning Mommy. Who is coming to get us today? When will they be here? I think it will be Grandma Esther...." and she is right. :) Grandma Esther WILL be here at some point to play with them, I think they'll hit the park and run some errands. Things we'd normally do but NOW the things that we normally do are watch movies in bed, read books, I comb Barbie's hair and dress her OVER and OVER (fortunately she does not have many outfits to change her into!), check out Micah's REALLY cool lego space ships - he makes new ones every day, oh and I can't forget . . . referee! :)

Yes, I am to be considered at LEAST a part-time referee. Micah and Ella play so well but they ARE siblings - and they manage to hurt each other's feelings frequently. Fortunately it's over really silly things such as, "Micah wants to play pretend-Star Wars and I want to play REAL-Star Wars" or "Ella doesn't want to play with my cars, she wants to only play with her dolls" and another one I heard yesterday (only a little worrisome - ha!) was "Micah is Luke Skywalker and he won't marry me! I'm Princess Leia and Luke has to marry me!" . . . I tried to explain to her that Luke and Leia were actually brother and sister - just like micah and Ella. And, just like Micah and Ella can't get married, neither can Luke and Leia. She just doesn't quite get it. :)

OK enough for today - I wish I had some sort of interesting picture to share. How about a mental one?? Yesteraday: Ella, purple Little Mermaid underwear on her head (her hat), dark and light blue striped leggings on her arms, big poofy tinkerbell skirt, one pink ankle sock and one white knee sock . . . she was decked out and ready to GO!

Wednesday April 15th -

This morning Matthew and I are headed to the hospital again. We had a nice visit Monday evening after I wasn't feeling so good. He took me to the doctor (since they were open still) and they just sent us straight over to the hospital. Our doctor told us to plan on having the baby either that night or early the next day. (Bp was very high, other signs pointed to preeclampsia.)

So we nervously laughed and got in the car, heading to the hospital. :) Both of us realized REALLY quick we weren't QUITE ready to be parents again - not without a little more notice - but of course, that isn't how it works with babies, is it? ;) After we got there they did some blood work and other lab tests, as well as regular blood pressure checks. WOULD YOU BELIEVE that my bp started going down? It ended up "higher than normal" but not crazy high - and then my labs all came back within normal range as well.

Part of me was relieved - I'm definately NOT looking to experience preeclampsia for the third time, it ain't fun to be sick like that AND THEN have a c-section to recover from with a little baby. But part of me was disappointed - I want this all OVER! ha!

So after talking with the doctor he decided that what's goign on is called PIH - Pregnancy Induced Hypertension. Which of course could, at any time (with out any warning) turn INTO preeclampsia. So since there was no reason to do the c-section Monday night or early Tuesday, he wants to wait until Saturday - 38 weeks - and then probably go ahead and do the surgery and hopefully avoid this turning into preeclampsia. I'm cool with that.

Today we're going back to the hospital though - I have a lovely bright orange bucket of, um . . . well let's just say it ain't juice! - and they are going to test that as well as do more blood work. If there is ANY sign of preeclampsia then we get a baby today probably. :) If we can hold off a few more days then she'll probably come Saturday.

Of course that's not leaving ANY room for God to work - because His plan is something completely hidden from us in this. :) ha! He could take away all of the PIH and we could end up waiting another 2 weeks for her to come - so I guess this is a post to say - who the heck knows what's happening?!?! I guess the answer would be - Only God - and He has yet to tell us what to expect, so we just carry that handy hospital bag with us every time we go to the doctor or the hospital. ;)

The kids are excited - I'm starting to dread what's ahead (not the new baby part - just the surgery/recovery part) - and matthew is . . . well, a little stressed. :) He's desperately trying to get caught up and then ahead at his jobs so that when the baby does come he doesn't fall too far behind. :) Hmmm - well that's my update this Wednesday morning. If anything "exciting" happens I'll eventually have something more interesting to share!

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter everybody. A busy day in our house - we've got church this morning and then all the family is coming for lunch. :) One of my favorite things to do is ALL be together to celebrate the holidays - and this is one of my favorite holidays. A day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ . . . It's been a fun weekend to discuss with the kids Jesus' death, burial - and resurrection. :) To be honest, it's something we talk about a lot - Micah loves to talk about how Jesus is no longer in the tomb! But especially these past few days it has come up a lot -- and I'm glad that this particular holiday is not one completely spoiled by eggs & candy. ;)

SURE - we've got candy - and we've got eggs too! But both kids have latched onto the TRUE meaning of Easter . . . and they're happy to celebrate ANYTHING with candy and a hunt for it! So - Happy Easter - Happy Resurrection Day.

Here's a great resource from Focus On the Family - helping your children to understand the true meaning of Easter. :) http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/holidays/celebrating_the_easter_season/do_your_children_understand_easter.aspx

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed!” –Isaiah 53:5

Oh - and because all blog entries are SO much better with pictures - here's a couple more from the Callaway family. I'm telling you what - I just cannot get OVER how stinkin' CUTE these kids are!! ;)

SO....Bed Rest it is!

Yes. It's true - I've been officially sent to bed. Indefinately it seems. Wednesday morning I headed to the doctor for my appointment and KNEW this was coming. I will not - WILL NOT - share a picture of my feet and the swelling that is taking place in them with you, but I will tell you that it is horribly embarassing and immediately alarming to my nurses & doctor. :) So was my blood pressure - which has been kinda steadily rising the last few weeks. Wednesday morning we were at 160/80 which isn't HORRIBLE, but it isn't good either - and all of us realize that there really isn't much notice before it just pops up good and high and we HAVE to get the baby out.

So Wednesday my doctor informed me that I needed to take my headache-ridden self home and STAY IN BED. I mostly followed the directions - life is busy and with two little ones I'm not exactly able to just lounge around all day long. But I've been resting a LOT more than I had been the last few weeks and am happy to report that between Wednesday and this morning (Friday - back to the doctor for a bp check!) my swelling had gone down enough to make me lose 3 pounds - WOOHOOO! If only I could count those 3 pounds as ACTUAL weight loss, but then again, the weight GAIN at this point is so sudden and high that I KNOW it's water retention from the high bp, but that doesn't make a girl feel a whole lot better about it, ya know?

So today my bp is still at 160/80 but the swelling has gone down a little and I commented to my mom and sister today that I can ALMOST see my ankle bones. More like I can see where they WOULD be . . . Lydia and mom looked at each other like I was crazy. Mom said - it still isn't GOOD, but yes it is better. :) Nice of them to try to make me feel better about myself, eh? ;) haha!

So my maternity leave started a little early - instead of starting on Sunday - Easter Day - it started abruptly on Wednesday morning. Unfortunately that changes some of my plans - but I have to acknowledge that even though I make all KINDS of plans, I am still not in control of this crazy ride called life. :)

The c-section is scheduled now - April 28th at noon - but my doctor does not expect me to make it to that date. Who knows - we might! But if we don't I will definately let everybody know as soon as I can that she has arrived. Again - we STILL do not have a name for this little girl! So PLEASE if you have ANY suggestions - here are names that are on our "like" list so you can see what direction we're headed:

(By the way - in case Matthew reads this - I realize that YOU do not like all of the names on here but I am putting your favs and mine also, even though they don't mesh up - sorry babe!) ;)

Olivia or Olyvia
Naomi
Abigail
Ava
Mia
Helena or Helaina
Elina
Sophia

I think there are a few more - none of these are "it" - at least not until we meet her - but I would definately love to have more names added since there is only ONE name on that list that we can both even remotely agree on. ;) So it looks like a big list - but really, it's only ONE name with some others that are causing a little bit of stress in our relationship. ;)

Since each blog SHOULD have a picture - here are three. In order, the last three Easters - note: these are SNAPSHOTS that Matthew and I took. Not "artwork" - haha!

2006


2007


2008

It's All Relative :)

Almost 2 weeks ago I met up with the Managan / Walts / Rogers family for a big family session. I do believe that aside from wedding family photos, this is the biggest group yet! :) (And you might recognize these people because Kandy & Arlo were married in January and have already spent some time on the blog.) :)

I won't say much because I have a lot to share (well, a lot of pictures) but they were such a fun group and the lighting was gorgeous . . . I couldn't just pick one or two. ;)

OK - that's it . . . haha - sorry so long - but there are so many different "groups" within this family and they all look so great together. :)

Kites were not made for windy days . . .

At least not the $1 kites from Wal-Mart. Today we're playing with our cousin/niece, Alex, and while we were running errands this morning we hit the jackpot! Kites for $1 - Micah found a Transformers kite, Alex found a Hannah Montana kite and Ella of COURSE ended up with Barbie "Da-Punzel". (A side note to those who might not remember - Ella is a little on the ghetto side and instead of Rapunzel, pronounces it "Da-Punzel".) :)

We finished our errands, had lunch (my intention was of course to feed them something "healthy" at home - but the little one in my belly who currently is in charge was INSISTING on food and we were nowhere near home). :) Micah and Alex ate more Taco Bell than I thought was POSSIBLE - seriously, I've never seen that girl eat so much at one sitting! And baby #3 and I managed quite fine with our strips from the Fil-A. ;)

We got home just a little while ago and pulled the kites out. I figured if we did it in the front yard it would be less windy (the back yard is like a wind tunnel!) . . . but it was still too much. We put the kites together inside (which was by far the best part of the activity) and then took them outside. This is where I got a couple of pictures. Then - it all went to pot.

A big wind came up, grabbed the kites - the kids let go in their excitement (even though I was shouting "wait! Wait!" - and immediately all three kites, kite tails, kite strings and three children were tangled up together. Micah was on the verge of tears because he was wound around so tight he could barely move, Ella was panicking (and shrieking) because Barbie Da-Punzel was getting stepped on, and Alex was standing there calmly. She looked at me and said, "I'm not sure this was the best idea." HA!

She's right. So after about 15 minutes of me standing there surrounded by the chaos - trying in vain to untangle three kites, three kite tails, three kite strings and three children - I said, "That's it! This is the biggest waste of $3 EVER!" :) Micah was loose (after lots of wiggling and finally taking his shoes off) and he went inside for scissors. While he was doing that I managed to get Ella free and Alex took care of herself. She again said to me, "That wasn't that much fun . . . I think it's too windy." :) She cracks me up! I agreed and told her it wasn't supposed to go like that. . . . ahh - the best laid plans. :)

oh yeah - these are the ONLy pictures I took. They're not great - and they don't show ANY of the drama - but at least it's something. ;)

E-Session: Josh & Danielle

Warning: This is going to be a LONG one. :)

I met up with Josh & Danielle Saturday afternoon - holy COW it was hot! We'd even pushed back our session time an hour in order to grab a bit of respite from the heat, but it didn't really work. That totally did not stop Danielle from completely working it out - SERIOUSLY - this girl was made to be in front of a camera! :) And I've got to say - Josh was too! Both of them were completely comfortable (or at least SEEMED that way) and only looked at me like I was crazy once or twice when I asked them to try something different. ;) (It could have had something to do with me trying to climb up on a wall that I probably couldn't have climbed even if I wasn't pregnant!)

Alright - so they are in a bit of a rush because their engagement party is coming up VERY soon. How exciting for them! Josh and Danielle - I hope that you enjoy your images and that they are very special to you in the years ahead. Congratulations on your engagement and may you have MANY wonderful years together!! (Here comes the long part - the photos!)

Work it Danielle!! :)












A bit o' flare for her bling...

Oh, Goodness Gracious, Me-oh-MY!

This evening I met the C family - and I have to tell you, Miss Madison STOLE my heart! Her big brother Tyler was a blast - and SO much fun (the boy version of my own three year old!) . . . but Maddie. Oh Maddie - your sparkly blue eyes, your curls & those CHEEKS! She had also JUST started waving with her teeny pudgy hands (in the last few days, her mom tells me!) and she waved and watched her big brother run around the yard. :)

What fun! I'll be honest - I'm kinda tired . . . I'm not as quick on my feet as I've been known to be in the past....but that didn't stop us from gettins some super fun family pictures. :) Tyler played soccer, "shot" bubbles around from his bubble-gun, and of COURSE there was sand and a dump truck! All the while, sweet Maddie watched, very interested in all that he was doing - and not so interested in me pointing my big "eye" in her face. ;)

Bill & Gina, it was so great to meet you guys - and Gina I am so sorry for the panic I caused you over where we'd meet! Preggo-brain strikes again - thank goodness you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Here's your sneak peek, I didn't even last 2 hours before I couldn't help myself from looking through them!

I've been wanting to try this - Thanks for indulging me guys!