Molly Madeline

Our little lady arrived last Sunday, Oct 10 at 1:17pm.  She is wonderful!  So far she just sleeps almost all the time; I guess that will change before too long.  Today she's probably been awake for a total of about 1.5 hours (which I may pay for tonight.....but it is really hard to keep her awake!).  She usually only eats for a few minutes before drifting back to sleep.  But when she's awake and looking around, I love holding her and talking to her. She gets the hiccups (very loud and squeaky!) multiple times per day, which she also did in the womb.  And she's just so tiny.  It's been fun having a cuddly little newborn in the house again.

Her big brothers both adore her, especially Drew.  He gives her kisses all the time and wants to hold her quite a bit too.  The other day Grant was holding her and said, "I love my baby sister.  I love Molly."  They also like pushing her in the swing.  It's totally different from the way Grant reacted when Drew came home.  He mostly ignored him, and definitely was never interested in kissing or holding him!

Nana and Papa have been here for this entire week, and Aunt Corie came for a long weekend.  We had so much fun with them and it was a huge help!  Dean's going back to work tomorrow, and my mom is coming to help for a few days.  I had a much easier labor and delivery this time (not nearly as much healing to do as I had with the boys), but I still want to take it easy for a few weeks.  And.....this is a long story, but Grant's foot is in a cast for at least three weeks.  Early last week he just stopped walking on it entirely....it hurt him so badly to walk that he'd crawl everywhere.  It turns out that there's a bone in his left foot that hasn't developed properly, so they have to immobilize the foot to allow it to grow.  I was counting on him to be my little helper, so this is really bad timing (considering he can't walk anywhere!).  So it will obviously be very helpful having my mom here.

Here are some pictures from this past week.....

 

Waiting game....

38 weeks!

First, happy birthday, Papa!

Now we're definitely expecting labor to start at any time. Every time I call Dean at work, I have to start by saying, "I'm not in labor!" And I'll feel a contraction and wonder if this could be the beginning. I'm just always aware of all of the little symptoms I feel, wondering if they might be a sign that the baby is coming.

I have actually been feeling fine for the most part over the past week. These past couple of days I've felt maybe a few more contractions than normal, and a little bit of lower back pain. But only for short times. The weirdest thing is the stretching feeling way down low when the baby moves. I guess because I'm already partly dilated, sometimes when the baby shifts around it takes my breath away and it feels like she's on the verge of popping out! It doesn't really hurt, though.....just a weird stretching feeling. I don't really remember that with the boys.....

I've been so neglectful of the blog....I've been using the boys' nap times to do some last minute things. Our camera lens went out a couple of weeks ago, so I had to research new lenses and order one so we'd have it in time for the baby. It came last week....it has twice the zoom of our old one and so far I love it!

I also ordered some of these little swaddling blankets that are all the rage (at least in our area) right now. They're stretchy and breathable and huge (much bigger than the standard receiving blankets from Carter's or Gerber), and all of my friends with new babies love them. The brand is called Aden and Anais....look it up if you're needing a baby gift!

Of the 15 or 17 things on my to-do list before the baby comes, I've actually made my way through most of them. I still haven't caught up on photo albums and scrapbooks like I wanted, but I don't think I will EVER be fully caught up on pictures. So I might as well not be disappointed about that!

And I've also been spending WAY too much time on this baby name website called Nameberry. It's so much fun.....it's my new little addiction. I posted a topic on their message boards a few days ago (asking for name advice) and it's been fun seeing how people react to the names we like. Molly is the funniest one.....some people think it's adorable, and that Molly Madeline is just perfect, especially with the boys' names. Then others say that Molly Sloan sounds like an Irish pub! Caroline seems to be the other favorite....and I think I agree. I just don't know.....I can't seem to make a final decision about any of them. I'm pretty sure we're going to go to the hospital with a running list, and we'll just have to wait until we see her.

I'm still not completely done with the nursery.....I went up into town yesterday while the boys were in school, and I bought some cute oversized papers at the Paper Source. I'm planning on framing them or wrapping them around cardboard and hanging them on the walls for artwork. When we decide on a name, I want to incorporate her name (or initials) into them somehow too. I feel a little overwhelmed with so many options.....and I know I have to get it done in the next few days or I'll never do it after she's born.

That just about sums things up right now! We'll try to post something as soon as we can after the baby's born, if I don't get around to another post before it happens. I still haven't packed anything for the hospital.....maybe I need to get busy and do that while the boys are still sleeping....