Who do you think he looks more like? I need to pull out our baby pictures so we can compare. His hair looks light in this picture. Maybe it’s the lighting. But it is actually really dark.

His sisters are pretty darn excited about him.

Monkey has been surprisingly gentle. I thought he might be wearing an eye patch by now. But so far so good. We just have to watch her very closely.

Now if only he could get his days & nights straight.

More to come soon!

Tomorrow morning I’m being induced. My doctor wanted to induce me a week ago, but my kids were sick & I didn’t want to bring a new baby home to a sick house. And I was hoping to not have to be induced at all. In fact, I had contractions for hours last night, & thought I would go on my own. But things fizzled out in the early morning. The same thing happened a couple times last week. Apparently he’s a little stubborn. Or a lot.

And ginormous. I keep surprising people with my belly. At our church Halloween party, a guy (who I barely know) made several comments on the shocking size of my belly. Luckily I’ve embraced my temporary largeness, so it doesn’t offend me. It is kind of funny to hear the comments actually. But still. I’m ready.

My first two (both girls) were 8 lbs 9 oz and 9 lbs 13 oz. I come from a 10 lb baby kind of family (I was 10 lbs 2 oz.) But Curtis was the 7 lb type. Hmmm. Any guesses on how big this kid will be?

The girls had a blast on Halloween.

Getting them to both sit still, look at the camera, & look moderately pleasant for a picture? That was another story.

Happy Halloween!

Normally I don’t like to run off to the doctor first thing, but with this new baby coming I wanted to get on top of this quickly. Nice timing huh?

Needless to say we’ve spent a lot of time in pajamas this week. In fact, it is 1:30 now and we’re still not dressed.

Monday for family night we carved pumpkins. The girls loved digging through the goo, picking out the pumpkin seeds. I’m crossing my fingers that they’ll both be healthy for Halloween, because they’re sure looking forward to it.

I get all sorts of ideas that I don’t know how to implement. Things I want to make, ways I want to improve the house, etc. And when I say “I”, I usually mean “he”. Enter Curtis. He is what I call a fiddler. He has no real training in woodwork, construction, or anything along those lines. He just fiddles with his tools and my design ideas, and somehow his projects always turn out great. He doesn’t give himself enough credit, but he is truly amazing.

My latest idea? The girls needed headboards to make their now-shared room look more complete. I wanted something simple, crisp, and white to go along with their new bedding. So Curtis whipped up two of these.

He also made the magnet boards above them. I love my man.

I also have to give a shout out to my mom, who rescued me this week. I recently mentioned that I bought a bunch of fabric for baby projects I had no idea how to make: a crib skirt, valance, blankets, and bumper pad.

I made it through the bed skirt, valance, and blankets with minimal a medium amount of stress and profanity.

The bumper pad was a different story. Luckily my mom came just in time to save me from myself and help me finish it. Just don’t look too closely at my stitching… I got to the point where I just wanted it finished and had to let go of my OCD for my own sanity.

Thank goodness for moms. She claims to not know what she’s doing either. So maybe she is a “fiddler seamstress”. She is to sewing what Curtis is to construction. Somehow it just works out.

I found this patchwork fabric I liked at a great deal. (I’m on a patchwork kick.) So I figured I’d save a ton of money doing baby’s room myself. Guess what, I probably saved only 30 bucks. Do you think that’s worth the dozens of hours and the stress it took to make this stuff? I think not.

For anyone thinking of ever making bumper pads for a crip? Reconsider. Unless you are a real seamstress. Buy one and save yourself the stress.

Ok baby boy, your room is ready. Mostly anyway. You can come any time now. I’m waiting……

Did I mention that I have talented friends? I am kicking myself for not getting a haircut before these pictures- I’m way overdue. But I’m looking forward to some more pictures soon with a new baby and a new haircut. Check out Tyra’s photography here.

Hey remember when I thought my 27 week belly was big? That was pretty funny huh. I had a nice comment from my brother, asking for more belly shots. Actually wait, I believe the exact words were “DISGUSTING. COVER IT UP!” But translated to English that means “I love you sis, keep the pictures coming.” I’ll cut him a little slack, because he is not used to such ginormosity. (Yes it’s a word. It is now anyway.) His wife is one of these cute things whose 6-7 month prego ponch looks like me after a good meal when I’m not pregnant. Lucky girl.

So out of respect for the queasy, my 36 week belly shot will be clothed. Sorry to disappoint anyone who was hoping to see a map of veins through my transparent skin, and a doorbell belly button that sticks out an inch.

You know what they say about the elephant in the room. And pregnancy is the one time in my life when you are allowed to tell me I am huge without being slapped. So don’t tip-toe around it. It’s now or never.

P.S. I have started nesting. I went and bought loads of fabric for a valance, quilt, bumper pads, bed skirt, and swaddling blankets. Hmmm. I wish someone had reminded me that I DON’T SEW. Jeez. Pictures may or may not follow, depending on how disastrous it all turns out.

I wasn’t feeling ambitious enough to attempt a birthday cake, so we settled for cupcakes. A Google image search brought up a lot of cute Elmo cupcakes, so we gave it a shot. They didn’t look quite right, but fortunately the kids are young enough to not notice or care.

I don’t recommend making these, for several reasons. The biggest (and smelliest) of all being red poop. Yes, I said RED POOP. I didn’t think this one through entirely. Maybe I should have waited til Monkey was out of diapers before making something with red frosting.

It was a fun little party. When was the last time you were this excited?

We are getting ready to put Stinkbug & Monkey in the same bedroom, to make room for their baby brother. We decided to take it a step at a time, & move Monkey from a crib to a toddler bed in her own room first. I was guessing that she would be all over the room without her cage crib to hold her in. But so far so good. What do you think, does she look happy?

She is pretty pleased with herself. And she hasn’t even climbed out. Yet. (Knock on wood.) No destruction, no climbing dressers, nothing. Which if you know Monkey at all, this is in & of itself a complete miracle. When she wakes up she yells for me, and waits for me to come. Now cross your fingers that when we put her in her sister’s room next week she will adjust as quickly. I’m not holding my breath on that one. I am enjoying each milestone. But time goes too fast. EXCEPT in regards to pregnancy.

Told you we grow ‘em big in my family. Good thing I only have about three weeks left. Wait, did I say three weeks? Silly me. I meant THREE MONTHS. Seriously. At this point in pregnancy, I am bigger than most of my friends are when they are ripe and ready to deliver.

I can’t complain though. This pregnancy has been much better than my last, and I know a lot of people have it much worse. Even though I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately, I have been fairly comfortable. I haven’t puked in a month, and the serious heartburn only started two nights ago.

You know what sucks though? This.

Nice eh? I had terrible tendonitis in my knee playing sports throughout college, so I always wore a strap on my patella to take the pressure off. That resulted in a nice little bulging vein inside my knee. No big deal right? Until pregnancy #1. The sucker spread and took over my right leg. And it has gotten progressively worse with my 2nd and 3rd pregnancies.

The thing about varicose veins? I used to think to think it was just a cosmetic thing, and that people got them fixed for vanity purposes. But oh my gosh they hurt like the devil. This picture was taken after NOT being on my feet for several hours. If I’m on my feet for more than ten minutes or so, they bulge a couple inches and make me want to scream obscenities at anyone who looks at me the wrong way.

*Sidenote for the sickos* If you’re the type that enjoys watching people eat bugs, get hurt, or other things that normal people find repulsive, do a Google image search for ‘varicose veins’. And eat your heart out.

In the meantime, I’m wearing this sucker daily because it is impossible to stay off your feet while chasing two small children and running a business.

From toes to upper thigh. Imagine the tighest thickest thing you ever squeezed into. (Girdles ladies? Spandex bodysuits a couple sizes too small maybe?) It is a compression stocking on steroids. It adds 10 degrees to my body temperature, but boy does it help with pain. So totally worth it, despite the strange looks and comments I get.

If you see me and want to make fun of me for wearing just one? Watch out, I’ve been known to turn around quickly and take people out with this belly of mine. All quite innocently of course. Because me? I’m just a sweet innocent pregnant girl.