I know, I know, best laid plans and all that…  caveat ortus.

Three months from now we’ll be snuggling up with Baby R, either ready to leave the hospital or doing so the next day.  My Dad, Duncan, Cheanna, Emma Catharine, Elena, Ephraim (and possibly a yet-to-be-determined designated Ephraim handler) will have been there at the birth with Richard and me.  We will be planning our traditional meal out on the way home, and doing some more snuggling.  It will be soon be time to focus on Cheanna’s big birthday, swimming lessons, baptism, baby blessing, Elena’s birthday, but for now all of our thoughts are on the baby.

So that’s my ideal there, 24 May, taking advantage of the Memorial Day weekend to maximize the time Richard is off with minimal vacation time used. Late enough in the month that my Dad is done with the semester.  Early enough to have some time before Cheanna’s birthday. It’s my pick in the baby pool–y’all have to choose your own dates!!

Just for comparison, though, here is when this baby would be born if following previous gestational trends:

• ~Duncan’s–June 17  (aaack!)
• ~Cheanna’s–May 20
• ~Emma’s–May 6
• ~Elena’s–May 21
• ~Ephraim’s–May 13

Here’s where we are now:

At 26 to 28 weeks a fetus:

• –is rapidly developing its brain
• –controls some body functions
• –weighs about two pounds now and is 14 inches in length
• –has a stronger and more supple spine, no longer than the span of the average adult hand, now made up of 150 joints, 33 rings, and some 1,000 ligaments.
• –is forming air sacs in the lungs.
• –begins to secrete a greasy substance called surfactant in the lungs, which prevents the fetal lungs from sticking together and allows them to expand after the baby is born.
• –has eyes that are opening and beginning to blink this week.
• –forms retinas 
• –has detectable brain wave activity for hearing and sight. If you shine a light on your abdomen, your baby will turn her head, which according to researchers, means the optic nerve is working.
• –is responsive to touch according to brain scans.

Very very cool, no?

In what might be called a tender mercy from God, I ’outgrew’ my first article of clothing in this pregnancy on Saturday. I realized that the jeans I was wearing were getting just a little tight around the tummy, so they are going in a box instead of my dresser after being laundered.  Between my having lost so much weight and carrying this baby so differently, I am still wearing my normal clothing–with some pants I wore in 2006 needing to be belted even.  I donated 99% of my maternity clothes after Ephraim was born, and at this rate it’s likely I will be able to get by with the two pairs of maternity capris that we’ve picked up along the way–a huge blessing.

4 jars of poison peanut butter staring at me!!!!!

No, it’s not what’s been keeping me off the blog lately…be a pretty cool excuse, though.

“Hey Téa, you’ve been slacking with the posting. What gives?!”

“Yeah, well, you see I started craving peanut butter and it just kinda went downhill from there.”

(On a grocery-related note, my recent Albertson’s receipt says I saved over 80% on my groceries. If they hadn’t been out of some of the stuff I’d have gotten free with sales/coupons, it would have been an even higher percentage. Still felt pretty cool though. And pathetic. Cool and pathetic–sounds about right!)

Last Friday the homeschool group had a Valentine’s Day party and so the children made valentines to give away and valentine carriers for the activity. I crafted Ephraim’s for him,the bag also has little arms that you can’t see very well in the picture.

This morning the children awoke to find curtains of love in their doorways. Richard and I attached paper hearts to ribbons, and decorated the hearts with personalized expressions of love to each of the children.  Elena and Emma are holding up their valentine containers outside of their purple room.

Cheanna’s doorway had some for her and for the new baby, even though it will be some time before she is officially sharing her room. Duncan is posing with his blue mailbox in front of ribbons for him and Ephraim. I thought his box was a little large for the occasion but it turns out to have been a good size.  He had valentines piled up high enough inside that it was a good thing we had designed the door on the front to stay closed!

We were going to celebrate Arizona Statehood Day at Museums on the Mall at the Capitol this afternoon but I took a nap instead. We’ll just have to visit the museums one by one through the year  =)

Six years ago, I didn’t think today would be like it is…   

I didn’t think Emma would be as she is. Six years ago she was in the NICU and I was sitting in my hospital room, alone, crying. Thinking that my little baby girl might not have fully escaped the statistics we’d heard four months earlier. Richard couldn’t bring the children to see me or the baby, as the hospital was on restriction.  All that day I was too scared to go see her–Richard spent much more time in that dimly lit room than I ever did.  If I went and saw her with all those wires and tubes then it was real and I wasn’t sure if I could handle that just yet.  She and I had come through so much together already–how many times did we brace for impact? How many times did Richard look on helplessly as I was at death’s door?  Only seven hours before Emma was born my blood pressure crashed and once again he faced being a widower at 24 as the nurses and doctors rushed into the room.  We’d made it and she was here, not term but close enough, or was it? 

Our ward family had carried us through those four months of hospitilizations & bedrest, and I know their prayers ascended with our own on her behalf. Emma Catharine was the ward’s baby–their faith sustained ours in our times of need. 

I remember the first time I shuffled into the hospital nursery on Saturday, looking for my baby. The nurses had made a sign for the foot of her isolette, the hand drawn and colorful EMMA was a visible indicator of their devotion to her as an individual case. Her sign didn’t stay there as long as some of the others did…  I sat in a nearby rocking chair and watched her for a while. Love and awe filled my heart, not taking the place of the fear but giving me courage to face it. 

Today I sat on a trampoline and watched Emma Catharine gallop around the backyard with her friends, riding their hobby horses through the steeplechase Richard created.  Love and awe filled my heart again, grateful for her presence in our family.

She came and kissed me goodnight a few minutes ago, telling me she had the most wonderful birthday party. Emma Catharine is the best birthday girl February 9th has to offer–even if she didn’t spend much of her birth day with me. 

Emma Catharine had a harder time waking up this morning than expected. 

Wake up, sleepyhead, it’s your birthday!

Happy Groundhog Day from the rest of us here in Phoenix, where Phil’s shadow seeking is as meaningless as any other seasonal vanguards (but hey, we’ll have our cupcakes anyway!)

We waited to ’eat our Phil(s)’, posing with these cute little cupcakes from a Family Fun magazine a few years ago. Richard is holding the finished critter plate and not doing a bad varmint impression if I do say so myself. Elena and Emma Catharine made the cupcakes and I handled oven duty.