37 weeks

 Holy Moly.  There are just no words.

Okay, maybe there are.  Maybe I am astonished by my body and this amazing ability it has to stretch and grow and make room for a tiny human to develop inside me.  Maybe I'll be a little sad when this pregnancy is over.  Maybe I love being pregnant.  Aside from the fact that my skin looks amazing when I'm pregnant (if I may say so myself), I just really do love being pregnant.  I love the unique, special time that it is.  I love feeling life within me.  I love the anticipation of a newborn baby.  I love feeling my heart expand along with my belly as I make room in my life for another heaven-sent babe.  Sure, I'm tired now that I'm at the end of this little journey, sure my feet and ankles are so swollen that there's no distinction whatsoever of where my calves end and my feet begin, but really I will miss this.  I'm thankful for the opportunity I've had to experience this part of motherhood.  I'm thankful for my sweet little cherubs.  I'm going to try and really enjoy these last few days of being with child.


And right this moment, I'm going to go put my feet up because they are starting to resemble water balloons.

Overheard

Maggie (talking to her brothers): There's this place called Hawaii, and if you arrive on that planet the people give you a flower necklace and say, "Hola!".

36 Weeks

Oh my word, guys, look at this belly!  I see myself everyday in the mirror and I still can't get over how absolutely ginormus I am.  It's a little ridiculous.  Baby boy is still breech, and so I'll probably be scheduled for a c-section to take place in 3 weeks or so.  Judging by the size of my belly, my baby's probably going to weigh in at 24 lbs, so maybe a c-section will be a welcome inconvenience?  I'm still trying to get him to flip head down.  Lots of laying down with my head lower than my hips (which gives me a fantastic case of heartburn.  Every.  Time.).  Lots of crawling around on all fours, swaying my hips from side to side (Oscar always tries to get horse-back rides during those particular exercises).  Lots of shining flashlights at my lower abdomen and pressing my iPhone speakers into my lower belly while blasting music- everything from Mozart to The White Stripes.  Ice bags on the top of my belly, somersaults in the swimming pool- if it's been recommended for turning breech babies, I've tried it.  Lots of positive affirmations and talking to my baby.  All to no avail (so far... I still haven't given up hope).

I've called all sorts of doctors and midwives here in South Florida.  No one is really into doing an "external cephalic version", a procedure I had done with Cash who was also breech but was successfully turned and then stayed head down until he was born a day after his due date.  A few doctors down here will deliver breech babies, but this boy's head is HUGE (at 34 weeks his head measured 40+ weeks) and so from what I've been told delivering him breech is not an option.

But honestly, I've come to peace with the fact that this little guy might not turn.  He tries, he really does.  Most of the time he's in what's called a transverse lie where he is laying across my belly instead of up and down.  And a few times I've gotten him to flip 9/10ths of the way, but then he flips back.  And I can't help but wonder if maybe the cord is wrapped around his neck, or something else is preventing him from getting into the optimal birthing position.  Mostly, I just want this little guy to get here safely.  And if that means a c-section, then I'm on board.  But for now, I'm going to go lay upside-down with some frozen peas on my belly and play some music for this boy... maybe that song by The Byrds, "Turn, turn, turn".

Wish me luck!

Beach Babies

Guys, I'm tired.  I'm tired and I'm starting to get that end-of-pregnancy waddle.  Quack.  And yet... and yet I still have 7 weeks to go.  This belly is going to be growing a LOT more.  Also, baby boy is BREECH and so when he flips (you will flip, baby, right???) and he is head down, I suppose my waddle will become pretty hilarious to behold.  Self-prescribed bed rest might be in order.

The other day, though, I braved the beach on my own with the kids.  It was great.  Me on the sand beached-whale style while the kids played in the waves and looked for seashells on the shore.  Oscar preferred to be my little blanket buddy and snack on Oreos.  The sun was shining, the water was warm, and cookies were plentiful.  I might have to do another beach day soon.  Anyone care to join me?  I'll pack an extra bag of cookies...

Maggie is Seven!

My oldest has now completed 7 years of her life.  Which means that I've been a mother for 7 years.  This is crazy!  So crazy!  Maggie was pretty excited to turn seven.  She asked for high heels, clothes, LaLaLoopsy dolls, and lip gloss.  She's a high class little girl.  Maggie is sweet as apple pie, but can be full of vinegar if you cross her.  She loves playing with her little brothers, going swimming, playing with friends, ballet, dressing up, doing her hair, and making up songs.  She is so excited for her new baby brother to join our family, and I'm sure she will just mother the poor little dear to oblivion.  Maggie likes to laugh and will take any opportunity to perform in front of an audience of close friends and family.  Maggie's reading skills have really taken off this year and I love listening to her read books to her little brothers.  Some of Maggie's favorite books to read and look at are Encyclopedias.  She loves to learn about everything: The Human Body, Dinosaurs, Animals (especially sea creatures), The Solar System.  She has a very large appetite for Science- it's her favorite subject in school.  We love you Maggie!  Happy Birthday!

Maggie's Current "Favorites"

Food: Steak

Dessert:  Chocolate Cake

Book:  The Maggie B

Movie:  Shark Week videos on Netflix

Fast Food:  McDonald’s Hamburgers

Color:  All the Colors

Song:  Walking the Dog (by Fun)

Subject in School:  Science

What do you want to be when you grow up?  Doctor

Best Friend:  Abby (her cousin)

Likes to: Watch documentaries, play house, play school

Let the Countdown Begin...

Tomorrow I am officially 30 weeks along. 10 weeks to go. I know that is still 2 1/2 months, but it will go by fast, I'm sure of it. I can't wait to hold another one of these:

Baby Cash

Baby Oscar

Zoo

We bought an annual pass to the Palm Beach zoo a week ago, and we've already been twice. It's a small zoo, they don't even have elephants or giraffes, but they have a komodo dragon, so the kids are cool with it. Oscar has the idea that a zoo is really just a huge pet store where he can pick and choose which animals he'd like to take home with him (all of them). This is what a conversation with Oscar at the zoo sounds like:

Me: Kids, look over here! It's a giant anteater!
Oscar: Awww! Mom, are anteaters good for kids? Can I get a baby anteater?
Me: No, we can't get a baby anteater... Ooooo, look over here guys! Ocelots!
Oscar: Awww! Mom, are Ocelots good for kids? Can I get a baby Ocelot?

This last time we went Oscar fell in love with the Wallabies. In Oscar-ese it's pronounced "Wawwabees". He kept telling Ben and I that he "wants a wawwabee wewy wewy bad." Cute, huh?

We love the zoo and love learning about animals. This last time we got to watch a Honduras Milk Snake eat it's dinner (a little mouse), the kids got to feed the peafowl (Maggie was a little upset that peahens are nowhere near as pretty as peacocks), and we got to see a spectacled owl up close and out of it's cage.

This last picture was taken in the butterfly garden. I came around the corner and was confused because I couldn't figure out what all of my kids were so seriously (creepily) pointing at... when asked, Cash told me, "No, mom. We're holding real still so some butterflies land on our fingers." Too bad no butterflies cooperated. (And thank goodness my kids aren't possessed a la Children of the Corn)

I don't know how to "end" this post.

The End
(how's that?)

I have to hurry and give this a title because Ben and the kids want to go swimming...

I think I'm suffering from instagram-itis. It's where I have absolutely no inclination to blog because I can just post these little "mini posts" on instagram. Snap a pic, add a cutesy caption and Bam! Done! I'm trying to get over my disease. Promise. Here's what's been happening in the Sunshine State (also, incidentally, known as the Winter Salad Bowl State... thank you Trivial Pursuit for that random little gem of knowledge).

Well, we found out what we are having... it's a...



HUMAN BABY! Are you all surprised? It's also a boy. Sometimes when Maggie is fed up with her little brothers' shenanigans she laments that fact that yet another pesky brother is about to join our family. Then she goes on and on that since she's daddy's only girl she should get whatever she wants (whenever she wants it). She's going to milk this. Dry.

On to other Maggie news, she finally lost her first tooth! We were all thrilled because for months now one of Maggie's favorite things to whine about was how she was NEVER going to lose a tooth. Every one else in her class had lost at least three! It's just wasn't fair! A great injustice was made right the day she yanked that tooth from her gums. The tooth fairy left her a whole dollar- major bragging rights in Maggie's opinion.





What else, what else. Oscar is officially out of diapers. Even at night. I think I'm more thrilled about it than he is!



Here's a picture of me at 21 or 22 weeks.



I'm around 25 weeks now, so I'm even bigger than I am in this picture. Baby boy moves around a lot which is a very good thing because I have been so nervous this time around. Every time I have a doctor's appointment I have these mini panic attacks until I hear that little heartbeat and am reassured that everything is okay. I'm trying really hard to not be paranoid during this pregnancy, and usually I'm fine. I know that the chances of losing another baby in utero are slim to none, but there are a lot of deep seated fears that come to the surface every now and again. I even have dreams where people tell me that my baby's not safe inside me and we need to get him out now. Crazy. But things are good- he's healthy and growing right on schedule. (this whole last paragraph seems really... "heavy" for my blog).

We are loving living here in Florida. It's beautiful here. Visit us. Soon.



p.s. I didn't mention Cash at all in this post. Don't worry- we still love Cash.

February Post

It looks like once a month posting is my max, guys. Deal with it.
Now on to the good stuff!

People, this is what happens when I attempt to re-create Pinterest projects.

I found this little lovebirds-in-a-jar project while browsing Pinterest on my phone recently (something Ben will tell you takes up 85% of my day... I say 40% is more realistic):



I thought it was kind of creative and cute and not your usual run-of-the-mill Valentine's Day decor.
So, I tried to make my own (apology here for the lack-luster photo... I didn't even bother editing it):



Look closely... those birds look like they are sitting in their own goopy excrement. Just darling, isn't it?



Speaking of movements (hahaha!), Maggie joined the anti-bare-feet alliance and got herself (by unabashedly begging me) a sparkly pair of Toms, thereby donating a pair of new shoes to a child in need. (She was sure to emphasize that perk to Ben who wondered why she needed a pair of Toms in the first place. Of course, we all know that really she just wanted keep up with the smaller Boca crowd, who are- apparently- extremely benevolent...)



This purchase just continues to show that my children dress better than me... (free "gently used" pair of Chaco flip-flops that your husband found on the side of the road anyone???)

Ben and I have instigated "Saturday Morning Chores". I make Oscar do them in his undies.



New things that are happening this coming month that would be blog-worthy, but I'll probably be too lazy to blog about them:

We will (hopefully) be finding out soon if this baby is going to be of the male or female persuasion.

Ben put me on a strict cash-not-card budget. Boo.

Maggie is starting ballet.

I am finally potty-training Oscar.

p.s. If you, too, would like to attempt the "Lovebirds" project, go here. Theirs is waaaaay cuter than mine.

Whoooooooeeee!

That was a refreshing little unintentional blog break. My computer is still in a coma, so I use that as an excuse to not blog... but that's lame, right? I know. It is. But here I am to renew my efforts at blogging on a kind of sort of regular basis. Savvy? Here is what's going on in my life:


I still mother these:


My house still looks like this most days (except my toenail polish usually doesn't look that good):


I still live in a place where you can experience this:


I am growing this:

(Not my manic 5 year old son, although since I feed and water him perhaps I could say that I am "growing" him, too, but I was referring my protruding belly- 16 weeks pregnant...).

Hello? Is there anybody out there?

Why on earth did I just quote a Pink Floyd song? Ready for a massive update sans pictures? Well then, here we go.

The Quinns now reside in the lovely town of Boca Raton, Florida. When we left Mobile, Alabama for Florida this is what it looked like:

{I lied about the sans photos... my computer is broken and I'm using Ben's computer
but I remembered I have a few photos on the internets that I can use here.}

Pretty classy little get-up, right? Here is what the average joe in Boca drives:

{picture via Google Images}

Okay, so maybe not everyone drives a rolls royce around, but I've seen my fair share. At the grocery store, parked outside the corner drugstore, picking up their kids from school. It's crazy. Also lots of BMWs, Mercedes, Porsches, Range Rovers, and some cars that I didn't even know existed like Maserati and Buggati (Ben had to educate me on the latter two cars and how awesome they are. I'm still like, meh). Suffice it to say, Ben and I felt like we fit right in when we pulled into town in our 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan pulling a U-haul trailer.

We actually really like it here so far. The weather has been a dream, the beaches are beautiful, Maggie loves her school, the parks here are immaculate, and there are geckos that live IN MY HOUSE. Usually I give Cash the task of catching and releasing them on our patio, but they eat bugs and spiders, so I kind of have to see the symbiotic relationship there. My little gecko friends.

The only bad thing about Florida is that we are on the opposite coast of a lot of our friends and family. But there is an open invitation to come visit us! We're like only 1 1/2 hours from the Florida Keys, guys. And 30 minutes south of Palm Beach. Oh, and we live IN BOCA RATON. So, who's going to be our first official guest? Anyone? Anyone?

9 years ♥

Story Time

Once upon a time, Cash and Oscar were crazy, active boys. Like way crazy. I signed them both up for gymnastics so they would have an outlet for all their energy. Yesterday was gymnastics day and at the very end of class Cash decided to grab at Oscar's feet while he was hanging from a swing over a pit of foam blocks... Oscar's hands slipped and he fell face first into the side of the foam block pit and split his lip open both inside and out (luckily it didn't go all the way through). After I washed all the blood off I got a good look at the wound. It's very reminiscent of a famous scar (albeit it's in entirely the wrong place).



We drove home to find Ben to let him have a look at the lip. Ben (a.k.a. Dr. Dad) decided that this was a wound he could handle. He found a bottle of superglue, laid Oscar down on the kitchen table, dabbed a little hydrogen peroxide on the cut and glued the skin back together. I admit, I was a little skeptical and apprehensive, but it worked! Oscar laid down for a nice long nap and his little lip stayed shut.




But then Oscar woke up. And he didn't like the feeling of glue on his lip. And he picked at it. And picked at it, and picked at it. Pretty soon the cut was unglued. Ben was about to play Dr. again, but at that point I decided maybe we'd better have a professional take a look at it. So, despite Ben's protests, Oscar and I drove down the road to the Urgent Care. Oscar was loving all the attention- the nurses all thought our little man was so adorable and brave.





The doctor came in, took a look at it and said, "Oh this is nothin'! I'll have this fixed in no time!" He turned around, opened a cupboard and pulled out some... superglue. $142 and 30 minutes later, Oscar and I drove home- patched lip, empty wallet and all.

The End

Oregon Coast 2011

Here are some more photos from our trip to Lincoln City. I should just move there, I love it so much...