Sending up a Prayer.

This is my formal petition to the Creator of the Universe to intercede in a miraculous divine way for all moms who feel the way I do- CAN WE PLEASE HAVE AN 8th DAY IN THE WEEK!!

Life here has been moving so swiftly. Today I went to book a photo session for next week for the girls. Katy will be 4 months old, Brooklyn 18 and Isabella has truly entered the 3's. I looked back on the previous three months pictures of Katy and can't get over how much she's changed already! Brooklyn started "reading" this week. She turns pages while spewing forth animated gobbeldy gook. Katy started interacting with the world around her, she talks to the TV now and so far is the most vocal at this early of an age! Yikes. And if Isabella could have looked anymore like a teenager as we headed out the door to Pioneer Clubs I would have fainted. The days they are a whizzing.

I absolutely cannot keep up! Just as I get one room of the house clean another one seems to have adopted the clutter from that one and there's no getting ahead. My bathroom needs to be vaccuumed daily due to the amazingly large amount of hair my post partum body is shedding, (seriously how am I not bald?), and it irks me to no end.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm loving it. But I am craving a return to knowing I have all my 't's crossed and my 'i's dotted. Tomorrow I get the afternoon to go grocercy shopping to set up for my once a month cooking and I have no idea what I'm buying yet! The days feel so overwhelming, in a good way, and leave me reeling at the end of them.

When I found it easy to go from having one kid to two I naively assumed going from two to three would be the same. Man it's a whole new world with the three of them! With all this craziness there are days when I'm sure you'll all find me (in the near future) in the corner rocking back and forth sucking my thumb, but then I just pull out my camera and start snapping away and day dream about our family completed and as overwhelming as it is I know I wouldn't change a thing. Having our kids all close together is awesome, challenging but awesome, and I'm glad I get a few seconds to snap those pictures to remember all that I'm sure my mind can't absorb in the current chaos.

Good Things come in Threes

Aren't these three adorable?

I love scrapbooking and in an effort to make sure Kathryn does not get overlooked I take her to our closest Superstore once a month and get her picture taken. Usually it's just her and we get the one pose package. This month was also Isabella's third birthday and since there is not a two pose package we thought a sister shot would be the best way to complete our photoganza.

The day went just like any other day a mother plans to the tee- completely awry. These pictures don't show it but let me assure you there were boogs, tonnes and tonnes of boogs. Plus we arrived almost 20 minutes late much to the chagrin of the employees.

My uber fave photographer- whose name I do not even know- was there to take the pictures. I told her we were aiming for one of the eldest, one of the youngest and time/behaviour permitting one of the three of them.

Isabella walked in and asked for her close up.

Katy had just been fed and was happy to be prompted anywhere soft.

Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. Five minutes and the majority of the pictures were done.

Then came The Sister Shot. I had tired to think of poses in which Brooklyn could not crawl/roll/slide/Hoodini away from before the click. This is her usual style. We got Isabella set up with Kathryn, Nick behind the photographers, all manner of whistles and wirly gigs out to keep their attention. I gingerly walked to place Brooklyn on the floor. Her toes hit the background.

Then she oozed out of my arms, literally slid right down the front of me, scooched as close as she could to her sisters, plastered this smile on her face and scrunched her shoulders thouroughly pleased with herself.

Ten minutes and three perfect shots later, we could not be more smitten.

Tripod

Kathryn is three months old already. Almost as shocking as Isabella turning three years old. I am currently reeling from the shock of how different parenting is each time around. With Isabella every 'phase' seemed to linger forever, (well at least the ones I wanted to pass quickly), with Brooklyn it felt like things went much faster and I had to take a minute to remember what life was like before she joined us. With Kathryn I am in simultaneous utter amazement that she's only been here three months and that she's been here three months.

I let her eat on demand and for the last month or so she's been sleeping from 7:30-7:30 along with her sisters. That is all now fantastically out of whack due to the flu and time change hitting our house. I feel like we've re-entered newborn land, but at the same time it feels like we were never there with her.

She is captivating. She seems to have been smiling since we brought her home from the hospital, but she is now smiling in response to things like being tickled by her sisters. She can roll from front to back, (I have yet to see it but she sleeps on her stomach and wakes up on her back some mornings), she tries to pull herself up to sitting when in the crook of your arm and has even made it up onto all fours a few times while playing. She coos as though trying to communicate in a manner neither of her sisters shared.

I had no idea that the speed with which she entered the world would only get faster. I hope it reaches it's peak soon so we can all slow down and enjoy being little together. But, until it does I have to try and keep up.

Let's raise a glass to three months, and re-arranging the living room to fit in the exersaucer, and play mat and baby toys and..........

Happy Birthday Bella!

On Tuesday my baby turned three. I cannot believe I have been a parent for three years.

I think it goes without saying that every firstborn is a guinea pig of sorts. Us parents get to test our 'theories' on them and whatnot. I can't imagine anyone who shoulders being firstborn more gracefully than Isabella. She has such a great demeanor and is constantly making me laugh. She is smart, has a great memory and her skills baffle me. She has taught me so much about selflessness and time management. About quality versus quantity. About the joy found in a piece of paper and the eleven billionth time you color on it.

Some qualities I've come to love about Isabella recently are her servant attitude. She is always asking if she can be of help and I can stop any tantrum by asking her to do something for her sisters. I love her sense of humor. ("No, no, no I'm Jane" is a recurring argument around here that sends her into peals of laughter). I love her artisticness, whether doing crafts, 'writing' words, or mimicing America's Best Dance Crew routines.

I love how she's such a big person, (yes she clearly pronounces Jabbewakez), and such a little person, (all bears are teddy bears didn't you hear?), all at the same time. How she wants to do everything for me but isn't afraid to admit when she just can't. That she wants to take care of her sisters but knows that sometimes they just need their mommy. How she cuddles up with us and the next minute asks for her space.

She is such a superstar in my books. And what do you get the superstar for her birthday? Why the flu of course. We've all been homebound and puking this week so she didn't get an actual birthday celebration yet. Next Saturday her, Nick and hopefully a few other friends will be heading to see 'Horton Hears a Who' for her first big screen movie experience. I know it will open another world of magic to her and I can't wait to be a part of her experience!

She really is the best eldest daughter I could ever have had! Happy Birthday Bella!

Six More, please!

If there were about six more hours in the day I would be in great shape. It's true that it's 2:00am and I am still up,(and for some reason on Blogger), doing a great many things. Finally getting caught up on dishes, finishing folding the laundry that's been hanging dry since Sunday. Actually updating my blog, making an exhaustive list of thank you's I still need to send for Christmas, (and yes even Katy's baby gifts), finding out info for the Murder Mystery I am hosting on Saturday....I could go on and on but really I should go to bed.

Do you ever find that you just need that extra day? I have recently discovered that the secret to a great day here is to have something out-of-the-house for Isabella and Brooklyn to do each morning. That doesn't always get accomplished right now because us girls only get the car once a week and it's been pretty poor weather for toddler walking. I am greatly looking forward to Spring, preferably non rainy mornings and rainy afternoons. (Did you hear that Big Guy, I placed my order...).

The thing about leaving the house in the morning is the inability to multi-task during that time. Being home I know where the girls are, and children learn so well from free play that it's easy to sneak in a few minutes here and there to do projects or cleaning. Not being at home takes away that opportunity. Being out and about is great, but it's a learning curve.

Luckily we've been going through some smooth transitions. Kathryn is now only eating 4 times a day, (around about the same time which she did all on her own, no schedules this time around-AHHHHHH), and sleeping through the night while sharing a room with Brooklyn. They all go to bed about 7:00 and Katy gets up for her "middle of the night" feeding around 9:30 and then sleeps until a blessed 8:00 with the other two! I was so afraid of moving her upstairs to share, but she's done remarkably well. It has only been three nights and I did just blog about it, but fingers crossed it continues anyway.

I should go finish up the last few things on my immediate to do list and head to bed, now that I've graced cyberspace with that adorable grin it's time to bid you adieu.

An Interesting Tag

I was tagged by Tara today with an interesting tag.



The Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people.



Here goes.



"The Gospel According to Tony Soprano" by Chris Seay



"His death is always imminent. Indictments that could ensure that his days would end behind bars are probable and the teenage boy he will leave in his stead has to be picked up from summer camp for wetting the bed. These fears lead to depression and anxiety."



I tag: Jen ; Jill ; Karen ; Elizabeth ; and if you'd like to be tagged consider yourself #5.

Oodles

I have oodles and oodles of pictures from the last bit and finally figured out how to access them. For now I'll tease you with just a few:

One of Isabella's many photo shoots at Ikea. She now runs to the bunk beds and poses until we stop and take pictures of her. Lucky for her Ikea is a cheap family date. We wander the showrooms, wear her and Brooklyn out, stop for $1 hot dogs and Nick and I get almost two hours of uninterrupted conversation while driving to and from.

Brooklyn giving us just a second out of her busy life. Tossing her baby blues over the shoulder as though to say, 'don't you wish you were important enough for me to stop my busy life'.

And Kathryn trying to focus on life. Which she's doing a great job of. I can't believe how big she is already. But that's another post, and who knows maybe I'll get to that one tomorrow!

Period Sweats

Throughout our lives we meet a million people. Well maybe not a million, but we meet a LOT of people. Each person we meet touches our life in a different way. Some hang on forever, some do not. Sometimes distance separates us, sometimes changes in hobbies, sometimes we separate for no reason at all.

In my particular life I have had the opportunity to meet a million great people. People who sink back into my sub-conscious thoughts throughout the days. Whether I'm glancing at pictures, watching an old movie, thinking about highschool classes or digging deep into my psyche to deal with a particular life circumstance.

One thing that saddens me about my life is that I can't gather up all those people I know and put them in the same place at the same time and we can all live there happily ever after. I miss people; and I'm sure people in my current life would love people from my past life if only I could get them together!

I like to pride myself on being good at keeping in touch. I am one of those people who returns emails quickly, I do return phone messages-(maybe not as quickly), I write annual Christmas letters, do this blog, am on Facebook each day to connect, and I don't shy away from trying to hook up with 'old' friends if we're in their city. If you don't return the favor I try not to push myself on you, but I'll never forget to remember you.

When we do hook up again it's great. I'm not one that needs to know what you've been doing for the last ten years. Tell me what you did yesterday and the conversation will flow, the back story will fill in as necessary. Let's just pick up like we never left off.

If you were writing my tombstone today, I would hope it would read; "Amanda-She was like a good pair of period sweats.".

You always know they're there in the drawer for the bloaty days. Waiting for you after a long day's work at the office. They give in all the right areas. They're worn in and fit like they were made just for you. No judgements, no opinions. Sure they have experience and they'll share it with you, but never ambush you with it. A soft place to fall, a warm hug when needed. When you don't need them you shove them in the drawer and even though you don't wear them everyday, you always know exactly where they are when you need them. Waiting for you to call on them and feeling like they've fulfilled their purpose when you do use them.

That's what I want to be. A good pair of period sweats.

Grooves

I am finding it rather hard to get back in the groove of blogging. I desire to, I really find it a great way to document the little tidbits that might otherwise get forgotten in the constantness of life, but we currently are routineless and life is suffering. So while I try to get redirected and back on track, here are a few random moments in our life.

At church after the service our kids are all going bananas and Isabella will not stay still. Our sanctuary is in the middle of the building so you can walk around it in a complete circle. Isabella likes to do the half circle, cutting through the sanctuary and so we let her go for it. It's pretty easy to keep an eye on her knowing how long it takes her to run her route, and the church had mostly emptied out. A few too many minutes had gone by so I went to look for her. I'm walking and all I can hear is someone knocking on a door and a small voice saying 'Hello?'. I call out to that small voice; "Belle where are you?". "I'm stuck in the bathroom." She managed to push her way into the men's bathroom but could not pull herself out.

After a long day we went to McDonalds for supper before picking up Nick from work. We were in our booth and the girls were doing a great job of eating. A man with two boys entered and sat at the booth next to us. The youngest boy looked about Belle's age. They began making faces at each other et cetera. I noticed the man wanted his son to eat so I tried to coax Isabella into turning around to eat her food. I was met with this reply; "But mom, I'm checking out the boys."

Isabella has learned to use a book to push up her lightswitch and everyone knows when the lights are on it's time to play. We put her to bed at 7:00 and she was up playing until 1:30am. We tried several times to turn off the light for her and such, all to no avail. One thing we learned though, she has an amazing imagination.

You will notice Brooklyn missing from these tidbits. She still isn't talking and she will not sit still. I'm not exaggerating, we cannot get her to be still unless she is sleeping!

The First Month

The old adage is really true. This is my baby whom only a few short weeks ago was still safely nestled within my womb. She is alert, with big blue eyes, taking in the whole world at once. She holds her head up with ease for as long as she likes soaking up the images and colors around her; choosing when to rest her head upon my shoulder and settle into sleep. Her arms already support her torso as she looks up from the floor with a quizical expression trying to figure out what the other little people in our home are doing around her so busily. She is already so big, so strong, so established in our lives.

Kathryn is great. At her one month check up she weighed in at 9 lbs 4 oz putting her around the 50th percentile- which for my children is amazing. She is shockingly strong and mobile in comparision to my other two at this age. Ofcourse there are still times of inexplicable crying which grate on the nerves, or when she screams to let me know her unfulfilled desire to be held at this particular moment that my hands are full with other childcare tasks.

Already I can feel the days passing at an alarming rate and there are many times I simply throw up my hands as I want her to stay small forever and hurry up and get big so we can interact with each other. I look around at other families who were in this place a few short years ago and I smile and I laugh for in the blink of an eye my life will go from doing everything to watching everything and it is all good.

I'm BAAAAAAAACK!

It feels good to be getting back to a routine which I hope will come to include regular doses of blog land really soon. I have about 600 photos from the last two weeks, and as soon as I can figure out how to access them I will. I am looking forward to catching up on everyone's posts very much-and there seems to be a tonne of them. I guess that's one of the joys of winter; everyone stuck inside near a computer!

Happy New Year Everyone!

A little disruption

My family is here visiting from Saskatchewan right now. I think I may need to recover from their vacation after they leave. Not that I don't enjoy their company or anything like that, but I didn't realize how much the routine varies when there is company! I think I"ll need an entire day with a good cup of tea to catch up on the blogs I've missed, (and post the zillion adorable pics I have), once they've left on the 18th. I guess I'm on a blogging vacation while they're here on their vacation. Variation is good for the soul, right?

This is how Wii do it.

The days since Christmas have totally flown by, but here are some pics of us enjoying the day at home.
The goofy grin Isabella felt needed to accompany the opening of each gift.
Brooklyn attempting to open a gift.
And the last gift Brooklyn had any interest in. Everything after this just wasn't good enough. She cuddled her glow worm the rest of the morning.
Me being completely confused as to why I was the one receiving electronics. Nick had to explain to me that it was a DVR before I got excited. Now I can tape the shows I want to watch while the kids are awake or I'm at other commitments and enjoy them on those weekends when Nick is at work and I'm home doing nothing.
Playing a bit of Wii before we headed out to Christmas Dinner. Isabella lasted four frames of bowling before she was done.
The 30 seconds she kept her cute pigtails in.
A little Brooklyn
A little Bella
Nick secretly wishing he was father to 5 year old boys so that he could be playing with Lego right now and not busting an artery blowing up the girls ball pit.

Don't Underestimate the Sneakiness

Somehow Christmas seems to sneak up on me every year. I sit back just after it's all over and think of all the things I had wanted to do and never got around to doing. I don't quite understand how it manages to happen, it's not like Christmas changes days or happens like a surprise birthday party! We did do some great things this season, but I am looking forward to next Christmas already. I am looking forward to doing the things I had planned to do this year and didn't get to because I was exhausted during the last weeks of pregnancy and now am stopping to feed an infant every 2-4 hours! We've already taken down all our decorations and have re-arranged the entire main floor to accomodate the Christmas gifts. Not that there were a tonne, but the ones we got require room. I'll post some photos to show you what I mean as soon as I get them off my NEW camera! I got the camera I have spent the last year salivating over. Our old faithful point and shoot kicked the proverbial bucket and so Nick got me a camera for Christmas. It's just sitting here staring at me, begging me to use it off of manual mode, but it will have to wait until my house is clean. I wonder if it has a setting for that......

Merry Christmas from the Franks

Merry Christmas!

For those of you who have been on our ‘mailing list’ for a few years now you’ll find this year’s update to be rather unusual. With no cross country move to document or major life changing decisions being pondered over; it appears that we lived a very regular life for the past twelve months.

However, in keeping with tradition, our family grew for the third consecutive year. Kathryn Elizabeth moved out of my uterus and straight into our hearts on December 3, 2007. She is growing quite well and spends her time eating and sleeping. We are absolutely smitten with our newest addition and amazed at how our love has grown for Brooklyn and Isabella as well.

Brooklyn’s personality has really begun to emerge in the last couple of months. She appears to love all things rhythmic; dancing anytime music can be heard, singing along and playing her instruments each day. She has been walking since the end of October and really gives Isabella a run for her money. She has a charming mischieviousness about her and a wonderful twinkle in her eye. I am so excited for this year coming up as she begins to talk and let us into her world.

Isabella, what could I possibly say to sum up Isabella? That girl needs her own reality show, she keeps me on my toes everyday. Belle has developed a real love for crafts and baseball this past year. We were blessed to be able to take her to four Jays games this past season and are hoping to do the same next season. She began attending Pioneer Clubs at our church this fall and is enjoying her special night out immensely. My baby has become a true big sister this year, how quickly they grow!

For myself this ‘regular’ year has relaxed and rejuvenated me. Having no stress about major life decisions this year has been such a welcome blessing. I’ve even begun to embrace the life of a stay at home mom; learning about stain fighting and feeding toddlers healthy foods; things I never thought I’d find myself enjoying. I’ve been working from home since July as a transcriptionist. The job really fell into my lap and the work comes in spurts. I have learned a lot through various assignments, making it enjoyable and it fits into our lives perfectly.

Returning home has been a blessing for Nick as well. Being surrounded by so much love and encouragement Nick has been able to refocus his journey on becoming the man God has called him to be. Although there have been many struggles and much to drain his physical energy he has continued to learn the lessons of ‘being’ in Christ this year. As Nick prepares for his accreditation interview at the end of January he is encouraged by his growth in knowledge of the Scriptures and of what being in ministry is really about. Nick has spent time with people from all age categories through different ministry experiences this year and it has been neat to watch him embrace each challenge, not only to complete the task but to learn more about himself in each situation.

Now that we’ve had some time to downshift and revel in familiarity we find ourselves really enjoying the settled life. We look forward with anticipation to the end of January to know if we’ll continue to settle in here for another year of ‘regular’ life or if we’ll be hopping back on the roller coaster we’ve been used to in previous years.

We’d like to thank everyone for the support you’ve given us over the last year. Whether you’re near or far: whether you’ve been able to support us with hands open or folded; we greatly appreciate your encouragement and love. We trust that this letter finds you happy, healthy and enjoying the holiday season!

Until next year, warmest wishes

Little Fishes

Isabella took to water like a little fish right after she was born. We enrolled her in her first swimming lessons at 6 months. I figured there would be a lot of other 6 monthers in her class enrolled by nervous parents not wanting to dunk their kids under the water for the first time without someone else to perform CPR should it be needed, (we were such parents). There wasn't a single child under the age of one in her class. It turned into half an hour of Nick and Belle floating around in the pool. But neither one of them would have given it up for the world.
This fall we enrolled both girls in their respective classes Parents and Tots 3 and Parents and Tots 1. We all got up early and headed to the pool on Saturday mornings. Me and Brooklyn would hang out and eat breakfast while Nick and Belle did their lesson. Then we would switch kids. It was a great time of individual bonding. I was sad when it ended the last week of November. We will probably enroll the kids again in the fall, but it wont be the same. The next class Isabella enters is one without parents. I"m not sure she'll be ready for that in the fall, we'll have to see.
Both kids learned a lot of new skills and had a super fun time. Unfortunately there aren't any pictures of it. Not because I didn't bring my camera, not because I wasn't snap happy and ready to document this precious time. The lack of pictures is due to the state of our society in that no one can take pictures in a public pool here, just in case you're a pedophile. Totally sucks that I can't share the way Brooklyn's eyes light up when she is in water, or the way Isabella throws up her hands in victory when she emerges from the water after going down the slide. Totally sucky that I wont be able to share that with them either, but I'll hold those memories dear in my heart, a photo album not open to those with dishonest intentions.

The Wait is Over!

The wait for our newest little one ended on Monday, sorry it has taken me all week to update here and let you all know about it. The story isn't long at all, so I'll just spill all the details at once!

I went to the hospital on Monday morning to be induced which was the original plan. I had told my doctor that I would love to not have to be hooked up to an IV in the process this time around as I truly, truly hate getting an IV. So we decided to go with Cervidil to start and see how the day would go. At 9:00am I was 2cm dilated, just like I had been for the past few weeks. At noon my doctor came back and checked on me and I was still at 2cm. Absolutely no change at all. The monitors said I was having regular contractions, but I wasn't feeling them. Nick and I had spent the morning talking and watching 'Knocked Up' on our portable DVD player trying to keep the mood of the day light. After the doctor's noon visit I totally broke down. I just couldn't believe I had been sitting there all morning and my body was doing nothing, absoultely nothing, even with drugs to help it along. To add a little insult to injury there was a lady in the next birthing room screaming to high heaven and I was sure it was going to be a day straight out of Friends, (you know the one where everyone and their dog has a baby while Aniston is in labor.) I excused myself to the bathroom and had a good little cry. Then I put on a smile and headed back to the bed to watch another movie. This time we chose Pirates of The Caribbean, secretly hoping to drown out the laboring woman.

My doctor was supposed to return at 5:00 to check on my progress, but got sidetracked and arrived shortly after 6. I had finally made it to 4cm!! We decided to break my water and wait until 8:00 at which point my doctor would return and hook me up to the pitocin. My doctor when home, minutes away. The laboring woman in the room next to me finally accepted an epidural.

As soon as my water was broken I could feel the contractions I had been having all day and they steadily got more intense. They were coming right on top of each other and lasting about 90 seconds each time. Since we had had such an emotionally exhausting day I told Nick that if this was how intense 4cm was going to be I would need a shot of morphine, just to stay in the game mentally. Now Nick is in the delivery room to talk me out of drugs unless even he thinks I need them. He immediately went to get the nurse. She said I could have the morphine only if I was still at 4, and I was. She returned with the morphine and I rolled to my side, got the shot and breathed a sigh of relief. I was informed it would take about 15 minutes for the morphine to kick in. It was about 6:50 at this point.

I had three or four more contractions that were steadily stronger with a lot of pressure and I began to lose it. In retrospect I should have known I was already fully dilated, but having been told seconds before I was at 4cm I was completely convinced I was having a bowel movement at the most inappropriate time and it was going to kill me before I had the baby. :) In most ladylike fashion I explained to Nick that I was dropping the mother of all bombs and could he please get the nurse so I could be helped to the bathroom to retain my dignity.

The nurse arrived and I rolled to my back and began to roll to my other side to exit the bed when I was gripped by the python that is labor and could not move. The nurse calmly said, 'why don't we take care of this here' and had me assume the usual position to check my nether regions, and all of a sudden two crazy sentences were screamed;

'STOP PUSHING RIGHT NOW!' and 'I'M NOT DOING ANYTHING I CAN STOP!'

The nurse told me to start panting in order to stop pushing, while she put her hand on the baby's head and pushed her back in a bit and held her there. The nurse started calling for another nurse, my doctor had already been called. No help came so my nurse had Nick run out to the hall to get the delivery table, (a table on which is all the stuff needed to cut the cord et cetera). As soon as Nick was back in the room she moved her hand and let me push the baby out. Poor Nick got the doctor's view of our baby entering the world which he never, ever wanted to do.

Our baby let out a single cry and then was quiet, the rest of the world was chaotic enough. The second nurse entered the room and calmly mentioned that perhaps 'we should move the cord from around the baby's neck before we cut it'. Gotta love the calm ones.

Our baby entered the world at 7:05. Our doctor entered the room at 7:06. The morphine kicked in at 7:07. And we became a family of five. Kathryn Elizabeth Franks moved out of my uterus and right into our hearts.

I was moved down to a recovery room around 8:00 and from what I can remember of my drug induced haze the loudly laboring woman was delivering at midnight when they brought me Kathryn to feed her. I'm not sure when she had that baby, but I still heard her screaming at 2:00am.

I am thankful that once my body gets into labor it goes so quickly, but I wouldn't mind getting there without waiting in a backless gown all day.

Family Revisions

Our camera batteries died when Nick brought the girls to the hospital to see Kathryn, so the majority of this week's pictures are on a disposable camera we have yet to use up and develop and Nick's phone which he has at work with him. Here are just a couple shots of the sisters.

All in the Name

Names are also pretty important to us, as you can tell from posts like this . When we arrived at the hospital on Monday we had a boys name in mind that we liked, simply because we thought it sounded good. In the middle of the afternoon, after my little breakdown, Nick decided he should finally concede and have a conversation about possible girl's names. Up until this point he had flat out refused to even consider any girl's names since doing so would ensure another daughter.

We chose Kathryn Elizabeth purely because we think it sounds nice and old soulish. We will be going with Katy or Kat as short forms, but not Kathy. During our conversation Nick pulled the baby name book out and we looked it up. Kathryn means 'pure' and Elizabeth means 'pledged to God'. Again I am amazed at how perfect a name we chose for our daughter without even meaning to.

This pregnancy was quite a surprise to us and it took some getting used to. We had our ups and downs while we waited for this baby to be born and in total honesty it took up until just a few weeks ago for us to be truly excited about adding another member to our family right now. But, every good and perfect gift is from above, and Kathryn truly is a gift. God gave her to us in his timing, which was of course perfect, and we are both smitten and absolutely giddy about our most recent addition. The only appropriate response is to daily offer her back to him, to acknowledge each day that her life is a gift to us and for him to do with as he wills. Kathryn truly is our responsibility to purely pledge back to God and to raise her up to know him and serve him.

Typical.

That's how things are going here on the pregnancy front, typically! I was due yesterday and still waiting. My doctor has offered to induce me as early as Thursday, and would not like to wait longer than Monday. We will not be choosing Thursday because it is Nick's birthday and we would never choose to make him share it, you give up so much as a parent you should at least get one day all to yourself!

We have plans/activities scheduled for the rest of the weekend and then Nick has to work on Monday and Tuesday so choosing the day this time around is proving rather difficult. I know that should this happen naturally we will be thrilled about it whenever it happens, but in choosing the date there is a sense of making sure it works with life, and a small smidgen of hope that labor will begin on it's own the longer we wait.

However, I do need to be done being pregnant. I know, I know, please hold back all your 'how could you be so selfish to chose your own comfort over your baby' comments should you be urging to spew them forth. My physical limitations and maladies impede my ability to take good care of the children I already have, it's time to be able to bend at the waist again and pick up my 13 month old babe who needs some snuggles.

So, somehow there should be a post up here by Tuesday about our new little one. I may not post much before then because sitting is really. not. comfortable. And I have given myself long to do lists each day to keep from going insane. Like baking 300 cookies, which I'm off to do now.