TTT: Season 2, Episode 26

1. This week will be short on thoughts. 'Cause believe me, I'm not having very many right now, I'm so tired! After making it to thirty-seven weeks on Friday morning, I decided to throw in the towel when my blood pressure reads kept coming up 150/100 and beyond. That, combined with a major case of dizziness, contractions, and nausea told me that things definitely weren't getting better and, as I mentioned before, I would much rather have a safe, controlled situation than the chaotic one I experienced once before. My doctor agreed, and little...or should I say BIG!...Grant Michael Asmussen came into the world at 1:34pm on Friday, June 24th weighing seven pounds and ten ounces. Kolbe and Rudy were born seven and six days prior to this point and weighed five/six and five/eleven. So while I fully expected Grant to weigh a little more...oh, say maybe something like six/four, six/five...I was shocked when I heard seven/ten! Can you imagine if I had carried him all the way to forty weeks!?! It was a very smooth delivery and I had no real complications during or after other than a little bit of blood pressure issues. Grant did have to go to the NICU for about forty-eight hours though due to some extra fluid in his lungs. After he was born, he was grunting quite a bit and when he tried to nurse, he wasn't able to drink/suck and breath well at the same time. By about thirty-six hours after delivery he was fully latching on and nursing well and frequently and they allowed him to come up to my room with me. There's been no turning back ever since. He's doing great and is just the most wonderful baby yet. (Can you tell I'm in love!?!) Really, he nurses well, sleeps well (through the total madhouse of shenanigans his brothers produce), and has yet to have much of a reason to cry. We've managed to take him out a couple of times already and he's just slept in the sling and hung on for the ride the whole time. He's awesome! Awesome!

2. Like I said, I have several other stories I want to tell surrounding Grant's birth and how everything went down, but I'm limited on time and energy right now. Hopefully I'll be able to write a separate post dedicated to all of that soon! Instead, I thought I'd give you a little list of random thoughts concerning all things new mama. You know, the things you forget or don't remember quite as vividly until you relive them again.

• There's absolutely nothing better than the smell of your baby. It's like a drug, I tell you!...actually, I think it kind of is, right? Like when you touch and smell them, it releases some hormone in your body and ....
• Nursing and the way your body produces milk for your baby is one of the craziest, coolest things ever.
• My baby has quite possibly the strongest suck ever. Way stronger than his brothers. Strong enough to draw blood. Not kidding. And not cool.
• Dang, I took for granted those eight months without Mother Nature coming to visit. Ugh! You can go back away now! No, really. I'm nursing, so hurry up and do you thing and go back away until I stop nursing. Which hopefully won't be for a long time. Thanks.
• With your first baby you worry about everything-- Has he had a poopy diaper yet today? Will he start crying if I get in the shower? Oh no, has he been asleep for too long?-- I've been loving to find that by the third one, it feels great to make it to the end of the day and think, hey, this isn't so bad! It's just like normal life, but with a baby in it! (no, I'm not foolish enough to think every day will feel that way. And yes, we've have lots of helping hands to make the transition so smooth!) It's just nice not to have all those silly first-time mom worries.
• The whole sibling jealousy thing really isn't as bad as a lot of people hype it up to be. Give the other kids the small bits of attention they crave and they're happy. At least mine are. Besides, they love anything involving being the "big" sibling. Apparently it's a major rite of passage in life.
• It's such a huge blessing to get to be able to do what you truly love to do. Sure, there are times when it is crazy, chaotic, overwhelming, painful, and stressful, but to get to do day in and day out exactly what you feel like God is calling you to do is just a remarkable gift. I pray for the grace to always feel this way about mothering and the means to continue to make it happen for my children, my family, and me.

3. You'd think with the events of this week, I'd have tons of pictures to add for my Instagram collection, but let's face it...when you have a baby, other people are taking the pictures. Not you. And not iPhone pictures on top of that! But I did manage to snag a few:

Here we are in the recovery room! Man, it's just the best feeling to hold your baby for the first time!

Um, yeah. So, typically, if you fall victim to edema during pregnancy, it's supposed to start going away after the baby is born. These were my feet yesterday. Not going away. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's worse! What the heck!?! Am I doomed to have cankles for all times!?! Doctor Reed, we must discuss.

Hello, world! Don't I clean up well? (Just finished with his first bath at home)

Three brothers! Kolbe and Rudy are both in love...just in different ways. Rudy wants to hold him and kiss him and love on him non-stop. Kolbe refuses to hold him. He says he's too little and he doesn't want to hurt him. So he sits by and watches and pats his belly and rubs his hair. And is the perfect little mommy's assistant. He'll come around with his fears. I'm sure of it!

Totally not baby related, but I couldn't resist! We went to a little taco shop by our house that has a surf shop theme and Rudy had a blast pretending to ride the surf board. Total surfer dude in the making!

TTT: Season 2, Episode 25

1. Guess what, everybody! I'm still pregnant! Who me? Yes, me! After my last two deliveries and the crazy stressful pregnancy I've had this time around, I would have been more likely to bet that I would have had him sooner than Kolbe and Rudy instead of later. But as they always say, every pregnancy is different and right now, the little guy is still in there! On the other hand, pregnancies in the same mama can also be somewhat the same, and I definitely haven't missed out on that aspect this week. In fact, right now I'm waiting on the doctor's office to call me back with results of yet another twenty-four hour urine test. Sure enough, I woke up on Tuesday with higher blood pressure and it remained high when I went in to my weekly appointment. Blood work showed that my liver and other organs are doing fine, which is reassuring...kind of, but my blood pressure has stayed all over the place. One minute it's what would be considered high and then ten minutes later is just fine. So right now the only way I can describe the state of things is frustrating. Believe me, I don't want anything to go wrong. I'd love more than anything to just have normal pregnancies without complications. But unless you've been through a delivery like Kolbe's, it would probably be hard for you to understand why I'm so paranoid. When Kolbe was born, I had slightly high blood pressure, checked into the hospital for twenty-four hours of monitoring spent a good eight hours sitting there in the hospital with absolutely no problems at all...not even high blood pressure...and was unconscious and having an emergency C-section just hours later. With Rudy, it was a no-brainer. I went in to my thirty-six week appointment and my BP was 190/120. That's way out of control. Not marginal. There was no question of should we? shouldn't we? for the doctors. He had to come out. With this little fella, my "high" BPs are just marginally high (140s/100s-150s/100s)...and there's no other bad symptoms other than a nagging headache. Still, there's that fear of knowing that with Kolbe I went from completely fine to nightmare status within hours that lingers in the back of my mind. I don't want to be paranoid. But I kind of am. I just would much rather have the smooth delivery that I had with Rudy than the chaos of Kolbe's birth. Can you blame me? So we'll see what happens. They did an in-utero APGAR-type test of Mr. Grant yesterday and he aced it! He's ready to go! And as of tomorrow, he'll be considered full term at thirty-seven weeks. So I'm certainly satisfied. Proud of him, proud of myself, just ready to have peace about everything and not worry about if something is going to go wrong.

2. I have to admit, all things pregnancy related have pretty much consumed this week. We've lacked some major structure, and I think the boys are realizing it. They definitely know that something is up. Mark and I have done our best to try to prepare them for everything, but since things aren't exactly going as we expected, I think they're just confused. Kolbe definitely has the excited perspective of things. He's constantly asking when Baby Grant is going to be here. Will he be here tomorrow? And when he knows I'm going to the doctor the next day, he literally can't sleep with the all the anticipation. He's totally ready to be a big brother again. Rudy, on the other hand, is having a really hard time with everything. Poor fella. His biggest concern right now is Mama. When I talk about going to the hospital he immediately starts clinging to me. Not to mention the fact that he wakes up in the middle of the night still half asleep saying, "Mama, Mama, Mama." It's heart-wrenching! I know he's going to be ok and everything will go just fine, but he's definitely always been a Mama's-boy and I hate to see it being so difficult for him. Just have to do my best to make both of them feel as special as possible. Lots of cool big brother responsibilities for Kolbe and lots of love and affection for Ru.

3. I had so much fun doing the instagram pictures of our weekly happenings last week, that I thought I'd do it again this week. Here's a few shots of some of the things that went on:

Does anyone else's dishwasher look like a plastic rainbow exploded in it?

Rudy loves to play hide and seek. And he's SO good at it! Kolbe giggles and gives himself away instantly, but Rudy can have you searching for a while without making a peep! Of course, dangling little piggies tend to give him away...

The Woodlands has a mounted patrol squad that serves a lot of the shopping area and other social events. I'm not sure if they actually chase people down or what, but the boys sure are impressed when they see one of the horsies and patrol men in a parking lot. We finally actually saw one we could go up and visit with and Rudy was just thrilled. JJ was a massive horse but he wasn't scared of going up to pet him with Pinkie at all. Kolbe, on the other hand, wouldn't come within ten feet of him.

This week I washed up a bunch of my new-mama nursing gear items to get ready for Grant. The boys were helping me fold clothes and while I was working on folding bigger items, Kolbe discovered some of my nursing pads. Minutes later, he was offering me a "taco" that he had prepared for me with some of his bouncy balls. Sheesh. Let the humiliation begin!

Just a month or two ago we bought this bike for Kolbe. I wrote about how all the other three-year-olds on the block were all riding big boy bikes and poor Kolbe still had a tricycle. Mark and I joked that by the end of the summer, Rudy would probably be able to pedal it too. So much for end of the summer. He seriously just turned two in February and is already riding like a pro on a big boy bike. But...but...but...he's supposed to still be a baby!

And Pinkie found a slightly bigger bike at a thrift store the other day for $10 and brought it home for Kolbe to try out. His feet can barely make the full round of the cycle, but he loves it nonetheless. These two are bike riding maniacs!

And there's my little daredevil again! Nothing says summer like climbing trees!

No bikes for me. Just my annoying, stress inducing blood pressure cuff to keep me company....

TTT: Season 2, Episode 24...and InstaFriday Too!

1. So tomorrow is the big day--thirty-six weeks pregnant! Actually, I guess I should say that Sunday will be the big day. You know, the day I officially make it farther than I've ever made it before in a pregnancy. Thirty-six weeks and two days. You're all cheering for me, right? Of course, there's still those thoughts in the back of my mind that I'm somehow going to spontaneously combust some time between now and then. But hopefully not. Hopefully I'll make it! Cautiously optimistic. I went to the doctor on Tuesday and she basically told me to just keep on keepin' on--taking my blood pressure several times a day...especially if I feel weird, have any headache, start seeing spots, etc. She doesn't believe in doing scheduled C-sections any earlier than the 40th week, so unless things go awry, I could be in it for the long haul. We'll see. Heck, three more days and I'll be satisfied!

Kolbe was sitting on my lap after nap time a few days ago and out of the blue said, "Mama, he moved."

"What?" I asked.

"He moved. Baby Grant moved. I felt it under my arm. There's a real person in there, you know."

Yes, there is, little fella. A real person. I proceeded to ask him if he was ready for Mama to not be pregnant any more, which he replied yes to. When I asked him why, I got:

"So your belly won't be so big and you can go outside for a bike ride again and you won't have to say, 'Guys, Mama needs to sit down for a few minutes.' "

Uh, hate to tell you, Kolbs, but with nursing a newborn, I'm probably gonna need to be sitting down for a few minutes a lot more often instead of less. Just another transitional phase for our little guys. It'll be so much fun though. These two can't wait to meet their new little brother. And neither can I!

2. Last week I reported on our completely unpleasant summer colds. Of course Kolbe picked it up too, and for the most part it's cleared up. But it's definitely been the lingering, annoying kind where in the morning and evenings it magically comes back to haunt us. Better go replenish my Kleenex inventory. I haven't checked with Brian and Cristi yet, but after their fun visit this weekend, I'm hoping they didn't get it too. We really enjoyed hosting our first weekend house guests at our new house and we're so glad that we didn't cancel at the last minute like we debated. Sadly, other than going to the free outdoor symphony, I don't think we did much more than eat out. Which, hey, I'm not complaining, but I would have loved to do a few more "touristy" type things with them. Hanging out and eating isn't exactly entertaining. Except to a pregnant person. This weekend we're looking forward to my sister-in-law Abby and our godson John swinging by for a little visit on Saturday while they're in town visiting her family and then two weekends from now, Mark's mom will be here for a full week to help out...either with an end-of-the-road pregnant lady or a brand new baby. Who'd have thought we'd have someone here for at least a visit five weekends in a row!?! Anyone else want to travel to Houston any time soon???

3. I thought I'd try something new this week, taking cues from two different blogs. I'm a habitual blog stalker. There's a handful of blogs out there that I read all the time, and then a ton more that I stumble upon and check-in on from time to time. Of course I always read up on the blogs that several of my friends and family members keep. My sister-in-law Abby started a new weekly post a while back where she shows off her favorite picture of the week. So much fun getting to keep up with them weekly now that we're so far away! Another blog I love is called Life Rearranged. It is written by a lovely lady named Jeannett and she has recently started a weekly post called InstaFriday. It involves posting pictures of your week in review using only photos taken on cell phone cameras and primarily using the free app Instagram. Really, it makes pitiful phone pictures look cool with just a few taps! So I thought it might be fun to do more than just tell you about my passing week as a mom and give you a little visible peek as well! Here we go!

I was strugglin' somethin' fierce on Thursday afternoon so instead of Mom doing the entertaining, the old beat up kiddie pool got the nod. Stick it beside the deck, add a slide, and wha-la! Instant fun!

This poor little guy couldn't be readier to potty train. He's totally catching on and wanting to "get it"...but only for Mama. That being said, I'm having a heck of a time just going for it with him. Especially when I know a big hospital stay is around the corner. Idn't he precious, though!?!

Ah. The ol' pack-n-play. Kolbe and I got it out and all set up on Mama's side of the bed a few days ago. Ready for a new little brother!

The boys made beautiful pictures and we opened a few gifts for an early Father's Day this week. I wanted it to be special for Mark, even if I wasn't available for celebrating on Sunday.

A daily ritual: kicking up the cankles. Elevation does nothing to help. Neither does drinking tons of water. Though I still do both, in hopes...'cause these things aren't cute.

And what would a week be without squeezing in a little sewing? I've cut off sewing for my shop, but I had to whip up a cute new crib sheet for Grant's future room. I know, I know. He won't be sleeping there for a while, but I'd hate to introduce him to his new home with an un-made bed! Ha!

A new little somethin' I'm trying out with Kolbe. He seems to do well with incentives and consequences instead of me just flipping out when he acts up (like my impulsive, hormonal self feels like doing at this point). I added pictures with the words since he can't exactly read, though he knows exactly what the charts say by now. He earns magnets for each good and bad behavior and when he gets three good magnets, he gets to pick a treat, whether it be a tootsie roll or an extra book with Mama. And for each bad magnet he gets a timeout. If he earns three in one day, he loses a privilege. Ironically, the ones that matter most to him are things like "If you get one more magnet on your bad chart, Mama won't be able to sit on your bed when I sing bedtime songs tonight." He flips out. Seriously.

Have a great week! Pray for me, friends!

TTT: Season 2, Episode 23

1. We've been in our new house for right at three weeks and we officially had our first visitors (other than my parents) this past week. Some former Red Raiders were getting married down in another part of Houston, which brought several of our former college friends down from Dallas to attend the wedding. Two families, the Bares and the Sisks, volunteered to come out and visit us after the wedding festivities were over. One of the things Mark and I feared when we decided to move down here was that no one would ever come see us, considering The Woodlands is a good eight to nine hour drive from Lubbock. So we were so excited to have friends come see us so soon! And even though Mark was on-call and had to go in for an emergency surgery, it sure did mean a lot to us. Hopefully next time they can actually stay with us instead of just coming by to hang out for a while. And actually, we're looking forward to Brian and Cristi (Mark's brother and sister-in-law) driving down from Dallas this weekend to stay for a little visit. Our first official house guests! Hopefully they aren't expecting much, because the thirty-five week pregnant version of myself isn't exactly running on full steam. Though the homemaker version of myself is cringing at the idea of having guests that I can't really entertain. I suppose they'll understand. And next time we'll make it more memorable!

2. With first visitors checked off our list, we had another little chunk of before-the-baby-gets-here business to attend to this week: getting a bigger vehicle. While the car seats we use for the boys boast the ability to fit three across in the backseat of a standard sedan, I don't think I boast the ability to get three boys ages three and under in and out of the backseat of a Camry on a regular basis. So as of Monday we officially became minivan owners. Eight or so years ago I would have died at the idea. I grew up riding in a minivan, learned how to drive in a minivan, and always loathed my parents' ownership of a minivan. But let's face it--for a large family with a large extended family, it's the most practical option. (since we can't rationally afford a sweet, massive SUV) And despite my former hatred, I now love it. And to my surprise, Mark has always been pumped to get a van. It's like that final "yeah, I've got a wife and pack full of kids" badge. To start with, we knew it would be between an Odyssey and a Sienna, and I think we both pretty much had our hearts set on an Odyssey. But wouldn't you know, we actually liked the Sienna better. Hey, I've been driving a Camry for the past seven years. It shouldn't come as a surprise that I feel more comfortable in a Toyota. It's like a bigger version of the awesome car I drove since I graduated from college.  So there's now a big, black swagger wagon living in our garage. With "magic doors" as Kolbe and Rudy would say.

3. As I type this, I have to admit that I'm a little bit miserable. No, not because of the fact that I "have no ankles whatsoever," as Mark told me the other night. And not because of the fact that I'm seven days away from the point that both of my other deliveries occurred. Nope. Instead, I was lucky enough to come down with a good ol' summer cold. You know, the pressure-in-the-forehead-stabbing-pain-in-the-ears-watery-eyes-runny-nose-drainage-overload-sore-throat-inducing summer cold. Just ain't right, I tell ya. And Mark has it too! We have our dear son, Rudy to thank for it. And he owes his gratitude to my dad. And since I love those two so much, I'll just say that whoever gave it to my dad deserves a serious whoopin'. As if feeling swollen and uncomfortable from the neck down wasn't enough, just add in from the neck up to make it the total package. Hopefully it clears up...and no one else gets it!...before the little man makes his inevitable appearance! Keep your distance this weekend, Brian and Cristi!

TTT: Season 2, Episode 22

1. Last week I wrote about how well my thirty-two week appointment went. And how maybe-just maybe- things might go a little differently this time around. And who knows. Maybe they will. But after the past week I'm starting to think that things might be starting to look a little more par for the course. No worries...my blood pressure is still doing ok. A little bit high at times but not any where near the dangerous range that it has gotten to in times before. It's just that the swelling has gotten out of control. Bad! I'm thinking that a lot of it has to do with the heat. (Kolb and Ru were both winter babies.) But these things from the knee down are just out of control! Slightly better in the morning, but so tight that it feels like the skin is going to tear in the evening. Oh so attractive.

So who knows. I have my thirty-four week appointment on Monday and would not be surprised (or excited) if she says I need to go on some sort of bed rest. I've been waiting for that nesting instinct to kick in, and it has a little bit, but not like how it was with the other boys. About a week before Kolb was born I just knew he was going to be here. I started washing all his clothes, setting up diapers and wipes, assembling all the gear I thought I'd need. My mom told me that with more than five weeks to go, I was being crazy. But somehow I just knew. The same thing happened with Reagan. I already had most of the baby stuff out since Kolb was still just fourteen months. But I had this overwhelming urge to organize everything in the house. Cabinets, shelves, random spaces. I just knew it was time to get ready. With this guy, I'll be thirty-four weeks tomorrow, and thus far, I've managed to wash all the preemie and newborn clothes after running across them in a box while unpacking. That's about it. Haven't even ordered the car seat yet. I'll get around to it though. I suppose with your third trip to the rodeo you don't find it necessary to strap your spurs on too far in advance.

2. Call me crazy (it's true), but throughout this whole ordeal of selling a house, moving, buying a house, moving again, setting up a new house, and muddling through the third trimester of pregnancy, I've still managed to keep my little etsy shop open and running online. It's actually still going really well and with all the expenses of moving and a new baby, the money sure doesn't hurt either. It has kind of worked out where I have a week or two to go at it sweat shop style and build up my stock and then when I can't sew for a week or two (like while moving and unpacking) I've got plenty to sell. I'll admit that I'm definitely not brave enough to try to run it through the delivery of the baby and then adjusting to having three, so it will definitely be shutting down for just a little bit and I'll re-open it when my head is above the water. But I just thought I'd mention it because this month I will be celebrating one year of the shop being open. Can't believe it! Of course the first few months were insanely slow, but I look back and see how much business I've done, how much extra spending money I've been able to bring to the family, and how much I've enjoyed having my own little nap-time business. I'm so glad I went for it and I look forward to keeping it up in the years to come. I really do enjoy it and can't get enough of all the sweet compliments and comments from customers. Isn't it crazy how the internet has completely changed the way things work? I've run an independent at-home business for a year and have never met a single one of my customers! Twenty years ago, this would have been totally impossible. So thankful for all the opportunities that have come my way. Especially this one!

3. Before I go on and on about "me time," let me just start by saying how much I love my boys. When they aren't with me, I think about them. When I'm alone, I miss them. They're precious and darling and I'm so blessed to be their mom.

That being said, man, is it nice to get some alone time! Yesterday, my dad offered to spend some time with the boys. The conversation went a little something like this:

Dad: Hey T, mind if come get the boys for a bit?
Me: Do I mind?
Dad: Yeah, I was thinking maybe I could come pick them up, bring them back to our house to walk Molly and then they can just eat lunch and take their naps here.
Me: Uh, is this a question? YES!

He arrived at nine in the morning and by four in the afternoon I had to call over there and see if they had made it to the border with my kids yet. And entire day of time to myself. Ahhhh. No sippy cups to fill, no squabbles to settle, no diapers to change. Just time to put my big fat feet up and relax. Which I'm sure was my parents' goal anyway. I know they worry about me. I got tons of laundry done, hung a few pictures up on the walls, ran to the store for some milk and a few other necessities, and watched a lot of pointless TV. It was awesome!!! And yes, I did miss the boys. The house was way too quiet. But a day like that would benefit just about any full-time stay-at-home mom. Thanks, Mom and Dad! All I can say is, "Ahhhhhhhh...."