Off to the lake

My firstborn son is going on vacation with his grandparents, without us. I miss him already and he leaves this afternoon. I know he will have a wonderful time and I wish we were going too, but alas, I am way too big and scarily pregnant for a 15 hour drive! He will swim, help with cooking, play with his uncle, and explore in the dark with his flashlight, among many other great things.

Very Grateful Wednesday

I am extremely grateful today for my 2 friendly neighbors (and very good friends) who threw a beautiful baby shower for me on Sunday. It was on the top floor of an Arlington apt building, with gorgeous flowers and great food. I was so happy & so was the dear husband. Kids made a fun space for themselves, games were played and it was such a super group of people, mostly our neighborhood cocktail hour crew. It hasn`t been easy for me to even attend baby showers in the last 4 years, but it was healing and wonderful to celebrate this new little person arriving in 3 weeks(!!!!). To the ladies that planned this party, THANK YOU!

Don`t give your child a blackberry protein shake and then leave the room to talk to your other child...

or this could happen to you too!

Trying to be grateful

OK, not feeling very motivated right now. I`m way bigger than I hoped to be and I`m not dealing with it very well & I just feel so out of breath. Let`s still find things to be grateful for:

1. I`m grateful to my husband for having the patience that he does and having many mad skillz to do all kinds of things, like helping a man in the middle of a grand mal seizure yesterday. I hope that guy is Ok today.

2. I`m grateful to God that I`ve gotten this far with little Joaquin and he grows and moves well. I may be big, but so is he and I have to be substantial to support him, now & when I make milk for him. I`m also pretty thankful for the new experience of great skin, hair & nails this time.

3. I`m grateful this week that we had another good LLL meeting and lots of mamas were there asking tough questions. It was exhausting but those ladies are inspiring.

The most beautiful desert in the world, in Saudi Arabia

I spent a lot of time here when I was a kid and I love this landscape. It was like the calm before the storm in the Middle East when we lived there in the late 70`s.

Warning, mature themes

One of the scariest movies I`ve ever seen is "Candyman" and what makes it scary to me is that the Candyman can kill you anywhere no matter how many people are around you. Nobody can help you. Losing a baby to shoulder dystocia is just like that. Everybody was tested and everybody failed, nobody could save my son and lots of people tried. It looked to me like there were more than 30 people in the ER alone and none of them could help Alistair in time. This little boy I`m carrying now feels big like his brother and every day I feel more Ok with the choice (or lack thereof) to have him born surgically.

With the urge to organize the house kicking in, where should I start? Oh, maybe I`ll make my dear husband a Mojito station in the kitchen so the counters aren`t covered in mint & lime. Priorities!

A photo of a 6 year old`s favorite spot next to his house, taken by the 6 year old himself

and both boys dressed alike by Papi, complete with Pirates of the Caribbean hats on.

The mighty Luna Hibiscus on my deck

I`m so proud!

A hot day in the park.

Tiny Boy # 4 has a delivery date!

OK, so teeny will arrive on August 16th at 12 noon!

The boyz, happy & handsome on a Sunday morning.
Father & son hanging out on the floor.

mama!

My deck in the Shire, just pretty & then cleaned up & prettier

Another rock star!

Its been awhile since I posted a photo of one of my favorite men with serious star quality, but I just heard a Ziggy song on XM & remembered how much love I had for him in high school. I got made fun of by the Husker Du & Camper Van fans who thought liking Ziggy was just weak. But he has some gifts from his dad & then he has a powerful voice & a spiritual strength all his own. Love you Ziggy!

Grateful one day early this time...

Getting bigger every day it seems like. I honestly have no complaints right now, the 3rd trimester is usually good to me. No heartburn, swelling, headaches, high blood pressure, roid rage, ha ha . None of it. I just hate bending over a lot & I have one very active little boy in here. I`m also one big mama. I am grateful to still be here, growing & glowing. I have the joy of another surgical delivery to look forward to, but I don`t think there`s any other way and I`m Ok with that.

I`m grateful that my 2 friends who both had their water break at 33 weeks are both doing so well. One is still on hospital bedrest and holding tight to grow a bigger stronger baby girl. The other one had her baby girl after 5 days on hospital bedrest & as she has been through a lot in the past I`m just so glad she`s safely here. Thank God!

a boy having a great time with his cousins on a rainy Saturday in June.

"Breastfeed or Else" article in NYT

The NYT had a great article about breastfeeding and how to have a public health campaign to encourage more moms to nurse longer. On Bloggingbaby.com, I stole this comment and I`ll give credit to Amanda for writing it. She`s a mom who both bottle & breastfed & I think this is so well said:

"Many moms, on the other hand, do not make informed decisions and are unaware that formula carries risks. Everyone things that breast is best or breast milk has benefits but that's all hogwash. Breastmilk does not carry benefits. It is the biological norm. It does what it is supposed to do. Any deviation from that carries risks. Now the extent to how great those risks are is debatable even among the medical community and each family has to do their own risk/benefit analysis when deciding whether or not to breastfeed because it IS a choice. No amount of lactivism will take the choice out of it."

My face is pregnant too!
And one cute little creature.

Grateful Wednesday on Thursday again.

I am just happy to be right here, right now, and healthy. I am grateful to be alive and thankful that I have instincts to tell me when things are wrong.