We headed up north to the mountains for a mini vacation and to for me to shoot the kids this past weekend. We had a WONDERFUL time! I have over 650 photos of my littles to sift through as well as get the laundry put away and the house picked up, but I had to edit just one!

And while there are plenty of her smiling and being ornery, this one caught my eye. It.is.so.Gentry. Pouty little attitude!!

So many more to come – of ALL my little loves! I haven’t printed photos for us or our family in FOREVER so a big goal over the next couple of weeks is to edit images from our trip and get prints ordered! The wallets I am carrying around are over two years old! OOPS!!

I am feeling nostalgic. My mind has been unable to focus on anything other than my sweets lately. It hit me like a ton of bricks that in less than one short month Huntler will be in kindergarten and the little spitfire that was our baby for so long will be heading off to preschool. Many tears have been shed as I think about these huge milestones that are literally just around the corner. I want to freeze time – to bottle up each of my kids exactly as they are now. Despite the fact that there are days that I want to run away and other days where I contemplate shipping a child or two off to visit grandma in Kansas, I wouldn’t change one single thing about my life. {Well, other than I would magically transport us back to Kansas, but that goes without saying!}

I have so much I want to share – so many thoughts and moments I want to take the time to write about and forever document. Yet I seem to have no desire to sit here at the computer! Each day the hours tick quickly by and my good intentions turn into yet another day my thoughts didn’t quite make it out of my mind and onto my blog. To put it simply, I just want to sit and hold my baby and hang out with my other two lovelies. And so I do. I didn’t take the time to just sit and hold Huntler or Gentry. I was too busy, too preoccupied to sit and I will forever regret that. And so with Brighton, I sit and snuggle – for hours on end.

We are doing so well. When I last updated, my emotions were so raw and my mind spinning out of control. As the days have gone by and I have now pretty much bounced back to my “old” self physically {plus about 20 pounds I still need to shed!!}, things are looking up. Of course I am homesick and would pack up tonight and move if I could, but that isn’t an option. And so we are settling back into our “normal.”

Huntler and Gentry continue to adore Brighton. They are maybe even a little “overly attentive” if you get my drift! Gentry is such a little mama – always wanting to feed her and help with diaper changes. She is my official wipes getter!! And while Huntler isn’t quite as hands on, he is still so loving and doting and very in tune to what she needs! I wouldn’t expect anything different out of either one of them!

So many of you have commented about photos. Let me just say that indoor photography is NOT my thing. At all. I avoid it at all costs. And outdoor photography when it is 115 degrees isn’t ideal either. I have all sorts of ideas and thoughts, but the reality of me pulling off even a quarter of those is slim! These were all taken last week…

I hope to get my act together and do a real post, complete with tons of photos and all the details, but until I get there, this will have to hold you over!

We had the baby last Sunday, June 27th. It couldn’t have worked out more perfectly. To my complete and utter shock, baby did NOT come early and we were induced! The kids got to stay home with their grandparents who were then able to bring them up to the hospital.

Meet Brighton Monroe. Seven pounds and fifteen ounces of pure baby girl cuteness! She is absolutely perfect in every way and we are all completely smitten with her! Huntler and Gentry have adjusted every bit as well as I knew they would – they ADORE her. And I mean ADORE. They tend to her every single need and are great little helpers.

And that’s it for today! Thanks for checking in on us and I apologize for keeping you on pins and needles by not updating until now!!

And so we wait! At least another week!! If it hasn’t arrived by next weekend, I will be induced. Still crossing my fingers my water breaks or I start contracting on my own before then, but I am not overly hopeful!!

And here is a quick snapshot {meaning I did NO editing to this!!} from our trip to the zoo last weekend. Yes, the zoo. We had a somewhat cool day down here and we made a spontaneous trip! Even trekking around there didn’t make me contract!! Huntler is his father’s son…the little map reader!!

My entire pregnancy has flown by at warp speed, but now that I know this baby could literally come at any moment, life is suddenly moving in slow motion. Or as slow motion as it can with two kids! I am trying to keep us occupied though and my mind off of it…as though that is possible!

Quick update…I will be 37 weeks tomorrow. At my appointment last Friday I was dilated to between a 1 and 2. At that point the doctor said the baby’s head was down but still “floaty” and it hadn’t dropped all the way yet. But who knows now? I know it is shifting and moving because I have had some sciatic nerve pain. However, that is gone so I am guessing I either got used to it or the little bean moved even more. And then there are the contractions. I’ve been having them for months and months with this baby. Last night I was absolutely certain I was going into labor because I was having real {not Braxton Hicks} contractions every 3 to 4 minutes. They were low and they hurt! And they sent pain shooting through my hips and legs. After two hours, I was convinced that we should probably head to the hospital, so I got up and started getting my stuff together. And then they spaced out and eventually stopped hurting. Go figure. However, I am pretty sure that they had to have helped to dilate me a little more and move the baby down. It was going CRAZY the entire time!

So there is that. I go back on Friday morning and if nothing else, I’ll try to just post a little blurb about any changes! Keep your fingers crossed!! I hate to complain because  I have had a super easy pregnancy other than having trouble sleeping and the occasional aches and pains. But let’s get real here. It is hot. And I mean triple digit HOT. I am huge. And I mean HUGE. And I am just anxious – so curious to know whether this little kicking machine is a boy or a girl. To put a name with our baby and a face with the name!!

I snapped this today – 36 weeks and 6 days. {And on a side note, I now see why I have to straighten 3/4 of the pictures I take – I can NOT hold the camera straight to save my life!}

One more thing…if you want to enter the little contest I have going on, there is still time! There are 42 guesses so far! I love it!! Just scroll down to the post below and it will direct you! For some reason some people aren’t able to log in, so if you want to play but can’t, just leave a comment or shoot me an email and I can enter your guess for you! The more the merrier!

Saturday night I took Huntler out swimming for awhile. Chris was working and Gentry was sleeping {a rare nap} so Huntler and I spent a little quality time out back. He was sooooo cute and I got so many adorable shots of him while we were out!! Here are just three. I just don’t have the energy or desire to edit much lately so I’m just not! I HOPE that once the baby is born I’ll have more energy and be able to get caught up on some things! Or not. Pretty sure that third child is going to throw us all for a loop!!

Before I post these, for any of my photographer friends, could you tell me how these look on your screen? I am still trying to find my editing niche with our new computer!! I have the brightness turned down and while these look good on our screen, I have NO idea what others are seeing! THANK YOU!! {I also want to add that the first two probably  need to be cooled down a bit on the skin tones – I totally see that now…}

Alright…that’s all I’ve got for today! I need to get some laundry put away and then find my spot on the bed to snuggle into while the kids watch too much TV and I sleep. Just keeping it real.

Let me preface this with some information. When I was at the doctor on Friday, I had not started to dilate at all. Despite the tons and tons and tons of contractions I have been having, nothing is happening.

As far as my guess goes, I say girl simply because the vast majority of people I talk to think it is a boy!! I have had dreams where it has been a boy and dreams where it has been a girl, so in the spirit of fun, my guess is girl! There is no intuition or anything like that, simply a good old fashioned guess!

And the weight? That number popped up in one of those aforementioned dreams! Because someone will want to be scientific in their guess, I’ll go ahead and share that Huntler was 6 pounds and 11 ounces and Gentry was 7 pounds and 8 ounces. I gained less weight with Huntler than I did with Gentry. And I have gained more weight with this baby than I did with Gentry. And the nurses and doctor are all convinced it is big! {I weighed 9 pounds and 2 ounces so I am bracing myself!!}

Length? Total guess. And no, I cannot remember how long Huntler or Gentry were!

And the birthdate. My actual due date is July 1. Huntler was 8 days early on his own and I was induced 5 days early with Gentry. Once I reach 36 weeks, they will let me deliver whenever I happen to go into labor. Obviously, I am hoping for sooner rather than later on that one! Anyway, originally I picked June 20th as my “perfect delivery date,” but I moved it up to June 10th!! I will be 37 weeks on the 10th. Chris, Huntler and Gentry all have birthdays that fall on the 20th or 30th of the month – and I just think it would be fun for this baby to have a birthday that fell on a date that ended in “0″ too. If the 10th comes and goes and no Baby Thumper, then I am aiming for the 20th!! It happens to be Father’s Day this year too!

So there is that. I should also say that Chris is not guessing a gender. He doesn’t want to. But because you can’t leave that part empty, we just left it with the default of “boy.” Huntler and Gentry picked most of their stats on their own. Huntler thinks this is one big baby!!

For those of you whom I don’t know playing along, be sure to leave your first name and last initial and put “blog reader” or something to that effect in your entry!! Hopefully that way when we figure out who wins, it won’t be super confusing!! I’ve never done this before so you’ll have to bear with me!

Alright…so here is the link:

ExpectNet

Our game is called: LittleGrahamCracker

I am pretty sure you have to register in order to participate, but it is super easy!! Let me know if you are trying to play but can’t figure it out and I will gladly help you get going!

Now…I was NOT going to post this photo because I really, really do NOT like it, but the truth of the matter is that I am too tired {lazy?} to put on a cute outfit and redo it. So this is it. And to be honest, this is totally keeping it real. I have bought like one maternity skirt and two shirts and that is it…along with a few things my mother in law ordered for me. Seriously. I have been wearing regular clothes pretty much my entire pregnancy. It is more than obvious from this photo with a good chunk of my stomach showing!! But it is hot. The kids don’t care. Chris doesn’t care. We see no one most days. And I do NOT dress like this to go out in public…I do try to make sure that most of my stomach is covered!

This was taken at 35 weeks and 1 day.

And what fun is a contest without a little prize package? With the help of my super talented mom and sweet friend Julie, I have created a fun little gift for the winner of this! I did in fact take individual photos of each item, but I am once again too lazy tired to edit each and every one…so this is going to have to work! Plus, I am neither good at nor enjoy taking photos of “things!”

Yes, most of the items are girly. It is so much harder to make boy things – that is the only reason!!

So here is what the winner gets:

TWO fabulous “Messy Pins” made by my uber talented friend Julie! She is in the process of switching her shop over from Etsy, but here is the link to her new locale! She hasn’t added much yet, but I am sure if you don’t win and really, really want a messy pin or clip or headband {we have TONS of headbands and LOVE them!!}, she’ll totally hook you up! Just tell her I sent you!

My super crafty and creative mom whipped up some goodies of her own! The little white top is absolutely DARLING!! It is a lap shirt made by Gerber and is size 0 – 3 months! I can’t believe how tiny it is! She stitched cute rick rack all around it!

She also sent the cute little monkey burp cloth – it has an equally cute pattern on the back {which you would be able to see if I had the energy to post more pics!} and is made of flannel.

The magnet clips are just that – magnet clips.

And under those magnet clips? A set of three girly washcloths. They are made from different flannel prints and have terrycloth on the back! DARLING!! It has been hard for her not knowing what we are having because she can’t make anything up yet! Anyway, if you see something from her goodies you have to have, shoot me an email and I can help you out!

And of course I added a couple of my own pieces! The headband and the two yo yo hair clips! They are on alligator clips. I have about 50 of the yo yo’s made and ready to go, but once again, I am just lacking ALL motivation to complete them. So, if you love them, I am sorry but I am just not in the mindset to be crafty these days! My time is spent soaking up my little loves before our world is rocked and resting!

Whew! So there is that! This is ONE prize – winner gets all! Obviously it isn’t stuff that everyone could use, but if you win, take what you want and share the rest!!

And thanks again Mom and Julie for your additions!!

Have fun!! I can’t wait to see everyone’s guesses!!

Yesterday? Well yesterday I told the kids to jump on Huntler’s bed so I could take pictures! I have seen so many cute jumping photos and read bits and pieces about capturing kids in their bedrooms because a room says so much about who they are. I am not sure that really counts when your kids are five and three and you {as the parent} have chosen the theme and done the decorating, but hey, we only have a handful of photos that even show a glimpse of their rooms, so I thought it would be a fun idea!

Gentry is a jumper. I mean a real jumper. And sweet Huntler? Well, he tried for sure and that has to count for something, right? They were having so much fun, but as with everything, Gentry took control and stole the show. She insisted on me taking a ton of photos of her and then when I told her that her turn was over, she still managed to find a way into most of Huntler’s shots. She dominates and there is just no way around that.

I will preface this with that even in the midday sunlight, the lighting in this house is not that great! I had to max out my settings on this set of photos…my ISO was at 3200 and my aperture was at 1.4 in order to keep my shutter speed fast enough to freeze at least a little motion! For those of you who have no clue what any of that means, it basically means that the photos are super noisy {grainy} and not crystal clear! Noise is hard for me, but I am trying to embrace it in these!!

Check out the hair!! Holy moly! I love this shot!!

YAY! Huntler did manage to get some height in a few! Not exactly in focus, but a fun shot anyway!

So that was our fun yesterday. I am learning that if we are going to be home so much, I am going to have to let go – a lot. That is hard for me because I can’t stand messes and clutter, but there is NO way we can possibly spend most of our days inside and NOT have messes. My kids are good, but they DO like to play and get stuff out! Today includes a trip to the movie theatre to pick up summer movie passes and then popping into Sonic to cash in on those Happy Hour drinks we all love!

Happy Thursday!

So here we go…

1. I did not get Chris an anniversary card. I realized late in the afternoon that I didn’t have one in my “stash.” So I emailed him that I am a loser wife who doesn’t even have an anniversary card for my husband. I also referred to myself as lame in the same email. He wrote back that he didn’t have one for me either so he was equally as lame. We called it even – no cards!

2. I am not a fan of flowers. I think they are a waste of money actually. I would prefer to have something that lasts more than three days. A plant you ask? No. Not a plant either. We have seen MANY plants come and go in this house. I can’t keep them alive. We are currently down to one…and a teeny little cactus that sits on our kitchen counter. I am waiting on the said plant to just go ahead and die so we’ll be down to none!

3. Taking it easy is about the most impossible task ever. I am not cut out to sit and rest. I didn’t realize how much I really do during the day and that I must pick up for 5 hours and clean for another 3. It’s insane.

4. Next week is Huntler’s LAST week of preschool. Then we’ll have a kindergartner on our hands. And a preschooler. And a new baby.

5. Have you seen the commercial for the new Birthday Cake Ice Cream Sandwiches? I saw it last week and have been craving them ever since!

6. We bought Moon Sand over the weekend for the first time. Actually, Gentry bought it with her allowance. Have you ever had that stuff? M*E*S*S*Y!! By the time it was all said and done, Chris had to haul the sweeper out and spent 15 minutes sucking up pink and yellow grit from the tile!

7. Huntler bought a new chapter book with his allowance. He was sooooo excited to take his money up to the register and pay!! He is going to be through the entire series of books before July rolls around at this rate!

8. Gentry’s birthday invite is really coming together cute! I can’t do it all this year so I am using a designer on Etsy who is totally rocking it!! SOOO happy with how it is coming along! I’ll DEFINITELY share her name and more later!

9. Anyone familiar with Batman? That’s the theme Huntler has chosen for his party this year. I am clueless when it comes to Batman. So is he. He just heard that someone else had that kind of party and now wants it. Although I wasn’t thrilled with Madagascar, at least I have seen it 100 times and could create a cute party around the theme!!

10. ANOTHER one of our neighbors is moving. We have seen SOOO many people come and go on this block in our 3 1/2 years here it isn’t even funny. I am trying not to be bitter, but praying that our turn is coming up soon.

My how time has flown…

It started out as a typical Friday around here. Get up. Eat breakfast. Check Facebook. Check emails. Check blogs. Take a shower. Get ready. Get the kids ready. Send Huntler off to school. Make beds. Do laundry. Pick up. The same stuff I do every morning. Throw in my 33 week doctor’s appointment and it was just another Friday morning.

On the drive to the doctor’s office I noticed I was having stronger than normal contractions and they were coming often. I was probably having them all morning since I had a few Thursday night that took my breath away, but in the hustle and bustle of the morning and my refusal to sit still for five minutes {I am NOT a good rester}, I didn’t notice until I was strapped in the car and forced to sit! I did notice that my stomach was tight and crampy, but once I sat I could tell that I was having consistent contractions. While sitting in the waiting room I continued to contract so I decided I should probably tell my doctor since I was there anyway. However, there was no need to tell her because as soon as I pulled my shirt up for her to check the baby’s heart rate and measure my ever growing belly, she could see me contracting.

On the bright side, at least I wasn’t over-reacting and imagining it! To be safe, she went ahead and checked me. I wasn’t dilating yet. That was a good sign. So she sent me home to drink water and rest and gave me instructions to head in to labor and delivery if they didn’t stop in 2 to 3 hours so they could hook me up to monitors and see what was going on. Two hours later, I finally made it home. Since I was out anyway, I had to mail off a client order at the post office, get a Sonic drink, stop at Chris’ office, pick up Huntler and then swing through the drive thru at McDonald’s. See, I am not a good rester!! Anyway, once we were home, I did as told. I guzzled water and laid in bed watching cartoons for over three hours while I updated Facebook from my phone and willed my contractions to stop. But they weren’t going anywhere! And so I called Chris…

Gentry girl was already in her jammies of course so in the midst of contractions that hurt so bad I could barely walk, I had to get her dressed and ready, along with myself. And we were off to meet Chris at the hospital. Yes, we took the kids. I really didn’t even want Chris or the kids to go, I was fine with going on my own, but he insisted that he be there. Anyway, they got me into triage right away and started hooking me up and things moved quickly! I was contracting every 2 – 3 minutes so they immediately gave me a shot of Terbutaline. And although I wasn’t dehydrated, the doctor on call preferred to error on the side of caution and ordered me to be hooked up to an IV and get fluids. Turns out it didn’t hurt anything and was probably good because that way I had to be there longer and they could monitor my contractions.

After I received the first shot and was hooked up to the IV, Chris and the kids left to go eat and piddle around for a bit. They stopped back by an hour and a half later or so to check on me and then headed home. They were totally fine there, but bored. I know there is no way we can take them with us when I go into labor and actually have this baby, but everything yesterday worked out fine!

Long story short, the first shot stopped them but only for about 20 minutes. So then came shot number two. I was STILL contracting more than they were comfortable with so I received shot number three!! At that point I had received the maximum they could give me but luckily they FINALLY stopped! I was checked twice while there and didn’t dilate any which was also a good sign.

No one really knows why I was having all of these uncontrollable contractions, but chances are this baby is going to come early. It just needs to wait until 37 weeks!!

Anyway, after about three hours in the hospital I was back at home and watching Friday Night Lights by 7:45!! I was shaky and wound up from the meds, but fine. They did not put me on any kind of restrictions, but I know I have to take it easy and be smart. So here is to being as relaxed as I can and not overdoing it!!