Wednesday

Whew! Summer has hit here in SC, of course it is set to disappear by Friday! One foreast was calling for 80 today and rainy/60 by Friday.

The children worked hard yesterday to get extra schoolwork done so they could have friends over today. We had a great visit and spent most of the time in the yard. I'm currently at that stage where I have to pick a comfy seat or else the baby starts jabbing me the wrong way!

For the pregnancy we have a visit next week for the final bloodwork. I'm taking Floradix to help keep my iron up. The CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife) will give us the greenlight for the homebirth. The week after, the 28th, my midwife and her two assistants are coming up for a potluck lunch. I believe she'll bring the birthing pool (yay!) and we'll go over the last minute stuff necessary. It's so wonderful to know that Naomi or Elijah will be here soon.

Most of my baby stuff is still at my friends' house. :) She's keeping the swing for her baby til after ours arrives and then will bring it up. We're going to have a small pile of newborn boy clothes and another small pile of newborn girl -- no yellow outfits for this baby! Whichever gender baby is NOT then those clothes can be used by the girls for their dolls. hehe.

School is going great. We're into week 26 so only 10 more weeks to go! We do plan to school during the summer just because it is SO HOT here. That'll give us some days to take off in the fall to head to Carowinds for a visit.

On other news.. the truck is fixed and the van will be done by Friday - yay! The goal is to trade in the truck and look for a larger vehicle. We'll see how that goes. I'm just glad the vehicle repairs will be over soon.

Getting closer..

It's so hard to believe we're getting closer to baby being born! Next week we have no appointments. The week after we visit my midwife, the week after that we visit the CNM for our last labs (bloodwork, group B strep test) and the final green light on the homebirth. THEN our midwife, Lisa, will come here for our homevisit and bring the birthing pool! Jim still has some things to buy for that and I still need to get the rest of the baby items organized.

I think we've also finished our pre-baby cleaning - much to the rest of the family's joy! :) It's kinda ironic that most don't notice the odds and ends.

Today we have company coming over so we're making egg/milk free brownies. The whole house smells like CHOCOLATE. The recipe is on www.allrecipes.com and they're called Vegan Brownies. Hopefully they turn out nicely!

Overall life is still pretty smooth. Peppermint is now trying to get out whenever the door is opened. Mocha has settled in as queen and Sugar is spending time outside whenever she can in the nice weather. It is GORGEOUS today. I think its supposed to be 70. Yay!

At least having a spring baby makes the spring cleaning nicer.

Anyone else addicted to the Yankee Candle tart warmers? Yesterday we used the Linen scent. Today it is Fresh Cut Roses -- it is wonderful.

Kitty Cat News

The Cats

This is Sugar, Charlotte's cat. She's around 5.5 years old and very spoiled. She's 'house trained' and meows to go out.. which is nice... except at 3am. I keep hoping she'll start using the litterbox again. She's all white except for her calico tail and bit of brown on her face. We call her 'Splenda' just to drive Charli crazy. hehe.




This is the new kitten, Peppermint, being held by Bethany. I tried repeatedly to take his picture but he was not holding still at all. He's almost all white.. has the tabby striped head, two spots on his back, and then a tabby striped tail. He's extremely soft and still very light. He's also quite fearless and has been playing games with the Brittany. I think he's around 8 weeks old.

This is Mocha, formerly called "Mother Cat" at the vet's office. She was found with her kittens last summer. All of her kittens were adopted and she stayed. She's *huge* which really doesn't show in this picture. Imagine a fat waddling racoon -- that's her body shape. She's also a tad bit grouchy, but slooooowly getting over it. She does come out for attention and has been watching the other cats. We can tell she's loving all of the new room to explore and has been playing with kitty toys. She's estimated to be around 1 yr old.

Baby Update and such

Hi all,

We're nearing 32 weeks now. As most of our family/friends know this is the time when Bethany was born.. so we're being extra careful as the pregnancy progresses.

The good news.. we have names! :) The girl name has changed a lot, but I think we narrowed it down for good now..

Elijah West for a boy
Naomi Kiersten for a girl (it means Beautiful Follower of Christ, or Beautiful Anointed)

I'm still working on raising my iron up. I've gone from 10.1 to 11.0 so the awful Floradix is working. We're also working on getting the rest of the odds and ends together for baby's arrival.

James has been our most enthusiastic Valentine's Day participant. He's made multiple cards for EVERYONE and is just so pleased when he receives one in return! Jim has a steak salad dinner planned for us as soon as the short people go to bed.. they had pizza.

February Update

Hi all!

I'm so behind. lol. We're trying to get ready for baby -and- softball season. :) Please join us in praying that baby will stay safely in the womb until 4/1. We're planning a waterbirth and baby needs to be 37 weeks old. The girls are hoping for our 2nd Easter baby in a row. We'll see!

Jim and James went to the Monster Truck Jam and had a great time! James's favorite, and most kids favorite *g*, is Grave Digger. He came home sporting a new Grave Digger hat, light up necklace, poster, and his own checkered flag!

And.. a picture of our snow from last week.. not a common thing in South Carolina.