37 weeks and growing!

 

 

UPDATE:  Baby's still in there.  :) 

37 weeks 1 day today, and not much change.  Still don't know gender, still no name, still enduring heartburn, still don't have everything prepared.  Poor third child.  Ha!  I'm actually going into super-nesting mode, followed by super-resting mode each day.  I want to do so much before this baby comes, but I have two little munchkins who add to my daily to-do list.  Wouldn't change it, though.  Well, maybe I'd change the sticky hands that touch all of the walls repeatedly.  Other than that, though, nothing.  Today, my goal is to get the pack n play set up in our room, baby's home for who knows how long.  Weight gain:  I'm not scared...I'll post it...Up 54 whopping pounds!

 

Barrett has been sleeping in his toddler bed (crib converted) for a few weeks now, and has been doing great!  He has, however, changed his wake-up time to the minute he see light peek through the edges of his blackout curtains.  Fun.  Already praying about how that will go down when daylight savings time ends in a month and the sun comes up an hour sooner!  Maybe he will just be so worn out from being super-sweet to his new baby all day every day that he'll go back to sleeping a little later.  A girl can dream.  :)  Still going back and forth on whether or not we will move him into Charlee's room.  What to do, what to do.

 

Charlee is doing better about sleeping all night in her room.  She does, however, have to fall asleep in our bed or on the couch and be carried into her bed before she'll sleep in there all night.  I chalk this up to me being too lazy to tackle this beast right now.  She is also my super-sensitive little girl who not only got scared when they talked about electricity at school, but also didn't care too much for the fire station visit.  Luckily, I was there with her for that.  She probably would have sobbed if I wasn't.  The firefighter dressed in his gear scared her (even though she saw him getting dressed and knew he was a normal person), the fire truck scared her, and I had to stand in the picture with her when all of the kids stood in front of the fire truck.  Only momma (fat and pregnant might I add) that had to stand in the picture with her kid.  It was an excellent opportunity (just like the electricity talk) to discuss with her what to do in an emergency, mainly how men dressed in uniforms are not scary, they are here to help us.  It also made me go get new smoke detectors and fire extinguisher which I've been meaning to do for quite some time. 

 

This past Saturday, we headed up to Oxford for a Castle family reunion.  I probably shouldn't have traveled that far this late, but doc hasn't told me I couldn't (I didn't really ask, either).  We had a great time visiting and eating, and my kids had a BLAST.  It was freezing, and of course I didn't dress them accordingly, but that didn't stop them.  We decided to stay in Tupelo for the night, and as soon as we got there and pulled up to get something to eat, Barrett coughed and then blew chunks all over himself, his carseat, the van.  We got him as cleaned up as we could, then headed to the hotel.  "Fun" night was had by all.  Mainly Barrett and me, although the other two will tell you they had a rough night too.  Yeah right.  Ha!  Oh the joys of having a husband with a weak stomach who is very little help at the sight of puke or poop.  Adding to the fun was the realization that I had completely under-packed.  We knew we would likely spend the night somewhere, but I didn't pack any extra shirts for myself.  I brought pants and that's it.  Not even pajamas.  Not quite sure what I was thinking.  I did get clothes for the kids, but Barrett blew through those in no time.  I also forgot nearly all toiletries.  Nice.  It was definitely a warning to me to go ahead and start packing the hospital bag so I don't forget anything!  No, I haven't done that yet.  Late third trimester, sick child with vomit and diarrhea, little supplies, and hotel room DO NOT mix.  There's your tip for the day.  Poor, poor hotel maids.  I did my best to not leave them too big of a mess.  At one point, around 2 in the morning, I had a thought that the only thing that would make the night more "fun" would be if I went into labor.  SO glad God's sense of humor didn't send us down THAT route that night.  Ha!  We washed everything at the hotel, including the carseat which was just gross, and headed back home the next morning.  My night of "fun" was compensated by a stop at Oby's in Starkville.  Mmmmm.  Barrett laid on my shoulder there, and quickly fell asleep in the car.  When we got home (about 3 pm), he went straight to bed and didn't get up until 7 the next morning!  20,000 hand washes later, I have (knock on wood) not gotten whatever he had (knock on wood a second time because that would just be terrible right now), and neither have Charlee or Chandler.  The nice part about it was being able to leave those germs behind in a hotel room.  Hopefully they used a lot of lysol to clean after us! 

 

And now, the belly shots....



 

 

 

35 weeks

 

 

 

 

36 weeks

 

 

 

37 weeks

A is for Art, B is for Barrett, C is for Charlee :)

 

First day of school

 

 

 

Charlee had an Art Show at school during "A" week.  She loves coloring, drawing, painting, anything artistic, so she was very proud of all of her creations.  So was I.  :)

For "B" week, we got to go on a fun field trip to the bowling alley!  This was Charlee's first time bowling, and I think she enjoyed it.  I'm drawing a blank on what they did for "C" week.  "D" week was Donuts with Dad where Chandler got to take her to school, have donuts, and they even played a little basketball.  Last week was "E" week, and a couple of workers from the power company came and talked to the class about electricity.  They brought a lift truck for the kids to see, but by this point my child was so scared that she wouldn't go out to see the truck and had to stay with Ms. Glenda, the school's director.  She told me later that electricity can fall on your house and if you touch it then you die.  She didn't want to go out to the truck and die.  Poor, sweet, innocent thing.  :(  We had a nice, long conversation about all of the ways that electricity helps us and why we shouldn't be scared of it, we just need to be careful with it.  I've never been so glad that I live in a neighborhood where power lines are underground, because I'm sure she would not have wanted to come anywhere near our house otherwise.  I don't think I'll have to ever worry about her sticking her finger in the electrical outlets.  This week is "F" week, so we are heading to the fire station on Thursday.  I'll be there with her this time, so I'm hoping that she won't get scared again.  When she's not getting scared, this girl is having a great time in her 4-year-old class!  I was a little worried about this year because her best friend wouldn't be at her school for the first time, but she's adapted well and loves going and learning.  Charlee is enjoying her new dance class this year and has also taken up soccer.  She had her third game this past weekend, and she scored her very first goal!  She was so excited.  So was her daddy, who had been a little worried that his girl would take after her momma and be non-aggressive.  :) 

 

 

This little guy likes going to soccer, too, because he gets to see this precious thing who says she is "gonna marry baet castle".  His mommy definitely approves.  :)

Barrett is in the 2-year-old class this year, and he is doing so much better than last year!  His teacher says he still likes to hit sometimes, but (fingers crossed) there has been no biting.  Praise the Lord!!!  Let's just hope that the new baby doesn't throw him out of remission!  Another praise:  Barrett's thyroid levels are supposed to be checked every 3-4 months because of the medicine he has been taking.  We started the medicine because his TSH level was "high".  According to his endocrinologist, though, the levels deemed "high" have been lowered and some kids actually have an okay number even though it registers as high.  Makes perfect sense, right?  Anyway, we headed on over to the ped's office a couple of weeks ago (a good month, maybe two past the time we were supposed to go) and had them draw blood to test his levels.  Torturous is all I'll say about that.  Two poked and prodded arms, busted capillaries, and several bruises later, I was told that they couldn't get enough blood to test his levels.  Lovely.  I won't say it was the lack of expertise of the lab tech..... I was too busy consoling my poor baby and assuring my sweet, concerned girl that he was okay to be as hot as I could have been.  Anyway, the next morning, our doctor called and said they actually got enough blood and were able to run the screen.  His TSH was now very low, too low, and it was causing his other thyroid level to be elevated.  He has been taking the lowest level of medicine, so she told us to stop giving him the meds until he goes back to the endo in December.  They'll test him again then (looking forward to THAT), and we'll go from there.  Sounds like he will be normal, though, and not have to take thyroid meds anymore ~ YAY, YAY, YAY!!!!  Potty training a boy....... that's all I'll say about that. 

This boy has gotten to go hang out with his daddy at the hunting camp a couple of times, and he has just loved it!  They were just getting things ready for hunting season, so he wasn't hunting or anything (well, maybe a hog or something).  He just loves riding the 4-wheeler, putting on his camo, and hanging out with Dad.  Last time, though, Dad didn't realize the importance of giving that boy plenty of sleep, and he came home and passed out on the kitchen tile!  He was rather ill when we tried to move him, talk to him, leave him there, anything.  He slept pretty good when he finally got in the bed, though!  Here he is at his friend Carson's bday party ~ Mater was there!

 

 

3 week countdown for baby Castle #3 begins!  Or sooner..... YIKES!