Bekah Singing to Emery

Bekah loves to sing and dance (NO idea where she gets that from ) and now she has started singing to her baby sister. Of course, she only knows Christmas carols, and it's April, but who cares? I thought it was a really cute thing, so I videotaped her. And yes, she says "oh mcfun" instead of "oh what fun"...I don't know where she got it from, but that's how she sings it. She got a little shy with the camera rolling, but I still think she's precious. I'm not bias of course... Enjoy!

Strawberry Picking

I took the munchkins to Froberg's Farm in Alvin last Friday to pick strawberries. Having never been there before, I didn't really know what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised by the whole experience! Caleb and Bekah had a great time picking strawberries, and I got to show them how a strawberry grows from plant to flower to berry. It was really neat! They picked 5 pounds of strawberries, and as of today (Wednesday) they are all gone! So, we get to go back again soon....and Devin said he wasn't interested in going before, but after hearing about it afterwards (and the neighbor boys going on Saturday, so it's not too uncool) he wants to join us on the next trip. We also got several other kinds of fruit from the farmer's market there, and Caleb discovered that he REALLY likes plums! I love it when my kids get to try new things and discover something they didn't think they would like. Here are a few pictures from our day:

Caleb's Dance Pictures

Yup, my son is a dancer too :-) He is taking an "all-boys" tap class (which is surely the only reason he is doing it!) and he absolutely loves it! He gets giddy with excitement every week when it's time for tap class, and the 30 minute class just is never long enough for him to be satisfied. For the recital this year he gets to be a police officer and capture the robbers, who are the older boys. Of course, he can't dance with his mouth closed, so please ignore the open mouth and lack of focus in the video (it was their first time performing in front of anyone, and there was a group of older girls watching!) I have a few pictures, and of course the video of his dress rehearsal. Enjoy!!

Bekah's Dance Pictures

Okay, so I suck at blogging, and I haven't posted anything in almost a month....I know it's awful. But maybe this will make up for it in cuteness at least. Bekah had her dress rehearsal and picture day at dance class today, and I got to get some pictures and a video of her in her costume complete with full hair and makeup. I have to say that she is just precious (I'm not bias at all!). We played beauty shop last night and put her hair in sponge rollers to make it good and curly, and it turned out really cute. We got to put makeup on her this morning (including lipstick and mascara!) and she thought that was just the greatest thing EVER! Here are a few pictures of her in all her glory, and then the bottom is the video of her class practicing their dance. You may need to turn the volume up pretty loud to hear the song. It's Shirley Temple's "Oh My Goodness".

Bedrest...sort of

Well, I called my doctor last night because I was having contractions about 5 minutes apart. They weren't painful, and were very clearly braxton-hicks, but too regular for my comfort. I tried the old stand-by of drinking water and laying on my left side for an hour to see if they went away....they did not. So, I called the doctor on call and she sent me to the hospital. The nurse hooked me up to 2 monitors, one for contractions, and one for Emery's heartrate, and I sat...Emery did not. She did not at all like the monitor and literally kept kicking it off. Fiesty little girl! Every time the nurse would get the monitor positioned correctly, Emery would twist, move, or kick and knock it right off the signal. That at least kept me entertained while I sat and waited for the next contraction.

After about an hour of still continuous contractions, the nurse came in and said that they were going to keep me overnight and give me 2 shots of brethene (sp?) 30 minutes apart and then oral tributaline (sp?) every 4 hours all night long. These are medications (the same thing, I think, just different ways of giving it) to stop contractions and calm the uterus. Well, it worked and after the first shot I only had a few contractions all night long.

The doctor came in this morning, and said he was going to keep me one more night for monitoring, and I just about cried. I asked if there was any way I could go ahead and go home, since I hadn't been contracting, and the baby is clearly fine (still kicking at the monitor constantly). He gave in and let me leave, but not before a first shot of beta-methadone (spelling again?) which is a steroid shot to mature Emery's lungs in case she is born too early (I had the same thing with Bekah, and her lungs were great when she was born).

I have to go back tomorrow morning for a second steroid injection, and I'm now on the trebutaline every 4 hours around the clock. If anyone has ever had to take that, then you know how awful it is. It makes your heart race and you feel shaky all over. I was on it with Bekah for about 2 weeks and it was pretty un-fun. I'm not looking forward to 3 months of it this time!

I am also on very restricted activity, though not official bed-rest. My doctor says I need to take it easy, and sit or lay down whenever possible (has he met my kids??). I can still work, but no coaching, and I have to be sitting down the majority of the day. Oh, and no lifting, exercising (ha ha!), driving long distances, or intercourse (TMI, I know, but it's 3 months!!). At least it will be easier with 4, 5 and 1o year olds than it was with a 6 year old and a 12 month old.

So, I am almost 28 weeks, and she is NOT ready to be born. I will do whatever is in my power to keep her in and give her the most comfortable home I can for the next 3 months. My goal is 40 weeks, but given that I haven't yet gotten past 36, I am really aiming for anything past that.

I know this is a lot of information, and it is really more for me to remember than for anyone else, but I thought I'd keep everyone posted! Thank you in advance for your prayers for our healthy little girl.

Disney World!!

**I swear I started this post right when we got back, but life got in the way. I still haven't gotten the pictures up, but I figured I could post those later.**

We had a fantastic trip to Disney World, and I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get the pictures up! The kids had a great time, and were definitely not ready to come home even after 6 full days in the parks. Devin remembers our last trip 3 years ago, but Caleb was only 2, and Bekah was not yet 1, so they don't remember anything. Devin was tall enough on this trip for every ride in the all the parks, so he had a great time riding everything as many times as Dad could handle it.

Caleb was tall enough for a lot of the rides, but he is just not a "roller coaster" type kid, so he spent a lot of time with me and Bekah (who was still not tall enough for any of the big rides) and we met a lot of characters and got lots of autographs. Caleb was wonderful with the characters on this trip, and hugged them all and talked the ears off all of them that would listen. Bekah was still very hesitant with the bigger characters, especially the ones with big heads that couldn't talk to her. She did much better with the princesses and the other "face" characters that were able to ask her questions and talk to her. Her favorite characters to meet were Cinderella and Jasmine. Cinderella is her favorite princess, and Jasmine was just very friendly and talked to the kids for a long time.

We're going to Disney World!!

Yup, we leave first thing in the morning (okay, 12:30, but it means getting up early for us on a Saturday). We'll be there from Saturday to Saturday, and the kids can't wait!! They are all old enough to understand it this time, and are very familiar with all the movies, so this should be a really fun trip!
I'll try to post updates and pictures while we're gone, but I'm not promising anything...