We're Ready!

I had my 35-week ultrasound on Monday afternoon. I have been feeling great, so it was a bit of a shock when the doctor told me that I'm 50% effaced and 1 cm dilated. She said that there is no telling when the baby will come, it could be days or it could be weeks, and that ideally the baby will wait until 37 weeks, which is considered full term. She said she seriously doubts I will make it much past that, especially since M&R were both born at 37 weeks, and third babies come faster. If I go into labor before 37 weeks they won't try to stop it since the baby is fully developed at this point and is just growing. So we are hoping and praying that he will stay put a little longer, but if he doesn't, we are ready for him...

He has a place to ride. The car seat has been disassembled, washed and reassembled.


He has clothes to wear. The "going home" outfit that both of his big brothers wore home from the hospital has been washed and pressed.


He has a place to sleep. The crib is ready!

Valentine Fail

Valentine's Day is not my favorite holiday...I'm not anti-love, but I don't enjoy going out to eat in crowded restaurants and I don't like stuffed animals or balloons. I love chocolate, but I like to eat it all year. :) And I love flowers, but I don't prefer the standard V-day long stemmed red roses with baby's breath (although I did receive that very type of arrangement this year and enjoyed it).

So we usually keep Valentine's Day low-key but we find a way to celebrate. This year I enjoyed going to both Mason's and Roper's pre-school Valentine's parties. I didn't get a picture of the Valentines I made for their classmates, but this was the inspiration (from pinterest, of course):

Source: familyfun.go.com via Brantley on Pinterest

I found a 6 lb bag of gummy bears at Sam's for less than $6...I think we'll be eating gummy bears for a while!

On Valentine's Day morning, Mason and Roper came running in our room with a card from the two of them, and Graem had one for me too. They were really sweet and now a week later Mason is still reminding me that I'm his Valentine (love it!).

Graem is really good about sending me flowers at random, unexpected times throughout the year...he knows how much I enjoy them and the florist he uses knows the type of arrangement that I like, with lots of color. So I was surprised when my neighbor delivered a bouquet of red roses + baby's breath. It was so puzzling...first that they were delivered by our neighbor {not a florist}, and second that Graem would have spent money on a bouquet that he knew would not be my taste. Turns out the highschooler that lives next door was selling arrangements of roses as a fundraiser for school, so it was for a good cause and I really enjoyed the roses, especially after I re-arranged them. :)

We didn't make plans to go out for dinner, but we had a nice lunch at the Mediterranean Cafe and we put the boys to bed a little early and had supper in peace & quiet for just the two of us. Graem also surprised me with a gift certificate for a maternity massage, which was amazing, and I surprised him with a new pair of hunting boots.

Here is where the "fail" part comes in...later in the week, Graem was searching for some batteries {the replacing of batteries in our home is never-ending}. We were out, but I had picked some up from Target the weekend before along with some things for the baby's room. Everything was still in the Target bag on the dining room table, I told him to check there. Guess what else he found? His Valentine's Day card, which I had completely forgotten to give him!! Would it be bad if I saved it and gave it to him next year? My grandmother has a habit of not signing cards so that they can be re-used...if Gigi does it then it can't be that bad! :)

The Great Smoky Mountains

For the third year in a row, my mother has planned a long weekend winter girl's trip (plus children). The children enjoyed the last mountain trip {2 years ago} so much that we decided to go back. The highlight of the trip was the train ride on Saturday.

I love this picture of McKendree and Roper on the train ride 2 years ago...so sweet...looking back at baby Ro with his chubby cheeks makes me so happy that before long I will have another precious baby boy!!



Here are some of the pictures from our trip this year...









Mason's favorite movie of all time is the Polar Express, for us it's not just a Christmas movie, we watch it year-round. He loved meeting the conductor that was dressed and mustached like the one from the movie, and he especially enjoyed getting his ticket punched! He kept the ticket in his hand all day.




I also love this picture from two years ago...


...I tried (unsuccessfully) to re-create it:


On our way to the mountains we were due for a bathroom/stretch break when we got to Cherokee, so we decided to take in an Indian show in a random parking lot. I'm glad my mom was with us because I kept thinking that she was going to have to do CPR on this poor Indian! But the children were impressed and got to do some dancing of their own...





Bebe with her grandsons & niece & nephew...


It was a great trip! My mom insists that we will have another trip next year, and by that time we will have added three more children to the group since Kelli, Michelle & I are all pregnant!

Strike a Nerve

I really enjoy most aspects of being pregnant. One thing that I particularly enjoy is the way perfect strangers are so nice and make a point to ask about me and the baby. Most of these interactions with strangers are pleasant, but I've also gotten some really annoying comments with this third pregnancy.

1. "Oh, you're having your third baby, you know you could just keep going like that Dugger family did." Seriously?? I'm having baby #3, not #13 or #23. I think when people make this comment it is their sad attempt at humor. Not funny, people.

2. "Oh, you're having your third boy, that's great because boys are SO MUCH easier than girls." (For the record, this is not a majority statement...there are plenty of people who have responded, "third boy? Oh God bless you.") I know I'm pregnant & irritable & that people are just trying to share words of encouragement...but it annoys me because there is nothing easy about being a parent. And there is certainly nothing easy about having a 4-year-old & a 2-year-old and being pregnant. I'm pretty sure that it won't get any easier when the baby is born. Parenting is H-A-R-D, no matter if you have boys or girls, regardless of whether or not you work, and regardless of whether you have 1 child or 23. I can't think of a single instance when someone has said, "Wow, this parenting thing is so much easier than I ever expected!"

So I just have to remind myself that people are crazy and at times can say the most ridiculous things!

Roper's Catechism & Scripture Memory Review

Is it surprising that teaching Catechism and Scripture Memory work to a 2-year-old is a challenge?? And that it requires massive amounts of patience?? I know it is just a phase...but the distractions were endless...from a picture of Graem, to scissors, to paper, to the sound of his foot kicking the chair, to the dog. Watch and see...and believe it or not, when we went in for the mid-point review, he passed with flying colors!! He climbed up in the chair and {correctly} answered all the questions without flinching.

Excuses, excuses

Actually, I would like to think I have good reasons for being absent from my blog...not just empty excuses. I'm pretty far behind, so here I offer a quick re-cap of what's been going on around here.

I headed down to Charleston a few weeks ago with Tara & Sally for some much-needed girl's time. While there, I picked up an Easter basket for baby D. I thought it was very close to the size of Mason & Roper's baskets, but turns out it is slightly larger. I guess the baby is already getting spoiled. :)



When I was writing out the check to the lady that made the basket, I commented to her that I recognized her name and I was sure she also made the last basket I bought (which would have been Roper's Easter basket). I checked when I got home...puzzling...

Roper's basket...



Duncan's basket...



Moving on...two weekends ago the boys and I headed up to the NC/TN mountains for a long weekend with my mom, aunt, sister-in-law and all the children. That trip deserves a post of its own...pictures to come.

Some of my closest friends were very sweet and generous to host a shower for me & Duncan with a group of my local girlfriends. I felt pretty spoiled to have a shower for my 3rd baby boy...but goodness I got some CUTE things and I'm so thankful to have friends that love my children so much!

In between the trips & partying, I've been doing my best to get the nursery in order. The closet was full of my off-season/non-maternity clothes, which I weeded and re-located. The dresser was full of random stuff which had to be purged, since it is now M&R's dresser. I got distracted inspired by all the cleaning/weeding/purging and tackled our upstairs linen closet, which was an absolute mess. I had seen a suggestion on Pinterest to store sheets in their pillowcases.



Genius! No more searching through the closet for the matching set of sheets and pillowcases! Admittedly, mine don't look as nice and neat as those pictured, since I'm still mastering the art of folding a fitted sheet. So my stacks are a little lumpier, but nonetheless, its a good change and I highly recommend this system!

In the process of cleaning out the nursery closet, dresser, linen closet, my closet (to make room for stuff from the nursery closet), I filled up 9 big trashbags for a LICS donation. That felt good!

This past weekend we made the most progress on baby D's room...but I still have a few finishing touches before it is picture/blog worthy. :)

And here I am at 34+ weeks pregnant, and I keep reminding myself that M&R were both born at 37 weeks, which seems way too soon for Duncan to make his arrival! With all 3 of my pregnancies I have felt like the first half DRAGS and then the second half FLIES by! The clock is ticking...

On the Market

My cousin Kate is now officially on the market! :-) Her debutante ball was last weekend. We had a great time and it was fun to get all dressed up, even in my very pregnant state! Kate looked lovely in her gorgeous white gown.

My brother was her escort. He looked so dapper in tails and white gloves...and he and Kate waltzed during the presentation! I never thought I'd see the day! :-)

We couldn't take pictures during the ceremony, so I snagged one from the photographer's website...


And here is one of me with Kate and Sydney...I honestly had no idea that they were doing their best to bring attention to my belly! :-)



It is so hard to believe my sweet Kate Kate is all grown up. I can remember the day she was born! My mama picked me up from Bell Street Middle School {I was in 6th grade at the time} and we headed straight to the hospital to meet my newest cousin! Needless to say, she makes all of us very proud!