Some photos from bedrest

**This is my 2nd post of the day.**

On Wed., May 7, Tressa picked me up from the hospital and brought me home (Thanks, Tressa!). My Aunt Faye came to take care of our family from Wednesday to Monday. Since my birthday was Thursday, May 8, she also brought a homemade cake, which was so yummy!!!! (Thanks, Faye!!!)

















Samuel devoured my cake. It cracked me up because he wasn't interested in his birthday cake that we bought at Publix, yet he loved this one. I guess homemade is best! I will have to remember that next year. I'm not promising anything fancy, but I definitely could make a sheet cake.

















This was taken on my birthday, May 8. I was happy to be at home and with my boys. Here are two of my three boys. Jeremy, my other boy, took the picture. I never thought I would be in a house of all boys...
















This was taken in Samuel's playroom on May 8. (Before my dad painted it on May 15. Thanks, Dad!!!) Samuel was entertaining himself while Faye took care of me and the chores. I am so happy to have a child who enjoys playing by himself. He's so creative and such a boy!















This was taken on Monday, May 19. (My parents arrived on Tuesday, May 13, and they will be here until Wed., May 21. ) My mom took this picture of me and my dad before he took me to my doctor's appointment. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)





















This was taken before lunch on Monday, May 19. Samuel and I were looking at pictures on the computer. Here I am in the recliner that a sweet neighbor loaned us. (She told us to cover it since it was old.) I am 35 weeks pregnant and happy to be home with my sweet family! I love my little Samuel so much, and I think he looks really sweet in this picture. It's hard to believe that soon he won't be my only baby... (I will always see him as my baby.)

My early riser...

Samuel's antibiotic really did the trick because he is playing, sleeping through the night, and happy. The only disturbing thing is that he has gotten up at 6:45 or 7:00 since the ear infection started. I'm hoping it's related to the ear infection and not a permanent thing since he's always been a good morning sleeper. My dad says maybe he's becoming an early riser, but I'm not giving up on him sleeping later for me. I know 6:45 or 7:00 is normal for some of your children, so you're probably thinking that I'm nuts or asking too much. Maybe so... Is it bad to feel like I deserve a break since he didn't sleep through the night until he was 15 months old? Maybe so, but this mommy isn't giving up hope just yet. Today my dad bought a blackout shade for his new room, which is very sunny in the mornings. Maybe that will do the trick, or maybe I'm just going to have to go to bed earlier. We live in close quarters, and I just can't sleep through him waking up.

A First and a Mommy update

Samuel is experiencing a first- not the good kind though. My parents just took Samuel to the doctor, and it turns out that he has his first ear infection. (I guess that's pretty good though since he's 2 yrs. old.) It might even be considered a double ear infection since he has an infection in one ear and an infection starting in the other ear. We thought he was just teething since 2 weeks ago at his 2 yr. check-up the doctor said that his 2 yr. molars were coming in. He has the teething symptoms... Well, yesterday after his nap he started tugging on one ear and crying. Then, last night he woke up crying in the night and couldn't be consoled. Poor baby! I feel so bad for him and hope the medicine kicks in quickly.

As far as a Mommy update, I'm still hanging out on the couch, bed, or recliner (that a neighbor loaned me :)). I will be resting at home from now until Vance is born. I should be ok to do more at 37 weeks (June 2), but the problem is that I am not at all comfortable on my feet and have contractions even when I'm resting and taking my meds. On June 2, I will no longer be allowed to take the meds, but they wouldn't stop labor at that point anyway. So, as of June 2, you can pray for me even more... I would love for Vance to decide to come early as long as it's after June 2.

One last thing- If you're a Mom of more than 2, I applaud you. You are stronger than I am. The end of pregnancy is just not easy for me. If I could skip from 32 weeks to labor and delivery, I would love to have a third child. After going through this stuff, I see our family as being complete with 2 boys; although, I would love to adopt a third child if it's financially possible. From the time we got married, Jeremy and I talked about adoption. We were offered a baby or two when we lived in Honduras, but it definitely wasn't God's timing for us. Then, I was researching adoption when I got pregnant with Samuel. I could see us adopting a child from a Spanish-speaking country one day if that's the Lord's will for us. We will wait and see what the Lord has in store for our family!

Thankful for my 2 sons

This isn't exactly the way I expected to spend Mother's Day, but even on bedrest, I can thank God for my two sons. I honestly didn't expect to be the mommy of two boys because I always pictured myself with girls, but I couldn't be happier with the way it worked out. Both boys were prayed for and longed for long before they were conceived. I know that it is God's perfect will for me to be their mommy! I am so thankful to be a Mom. I love both of my sons (as well as their daddy, who was crucial in bringing them into this world).

Samuel is a joy and is constantly putting a smile on my face. The Lord must have known that I needed his laid back personality in my life (as well as his daddy's laid back personality) since I'm such a type A. He is always laughing, talking, smiling, learning new things, and playing. He adds a lot to this household! I look forward to seeing all that God has in store for his life (and mine).

Now, when it comes to Vance, I don't really know what he is like other than how active he is in the womb. If his level of activity in the womb is any indication of his personality, I think he and Samuel will be a lot alike. I look forward to meeting Vance soon (but not too soon). I know that the Lord has a plan for Vance's life, and I thank the Lord for him. He is so loved already!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

On bedrest

Well, my life changed drastically on Tuesday afternoon. I was on the couch resting and blogging, but I kept having contractions. I had decided to rest like that because I had been having more contractions than I was comfortable having at 33 weeks... Well, my instincts kicked in, and I called the doctor's office. They told me to go straight to the hospital. I thought the nurses would monitor me for a few hours and send me home. Boy, was I wrong. I was having contractions a minute or two apart, and I was also 3 cm dialated (externally). I spent almost 24 hours in the hospital. The good news is that Vance is about 5 lbs. 3 oz., and doing beautifully. When I was discharged at 2PM, I was put on bedrest for at least the next week; although, I will probably spend the rest of my pregnancy on bedrest since I can't do anything without having contractions. I don't expect to make it to 40 weeks at this rate... We are praying that Vance stays in until at least 37 weeks. Will you please pray the same? Thanks!!!

Turning your coins into bills

I don't know about you, but I tend to save coins. I used to take my car to one of those self-serve car washes, so I saved my quarters in order to do that. (These days a car wash is the last thing on my list though...) I also keep coins in my wallet and pick up Jeremy's coins from his pants. Today I decided to see how much money I could get for all of those coins. The funny thing is that I thought I might have $10 worth of coins, but I was wrong. I had $27 worth of coins. After Publix took out their fee, I walked away with $25. If we weren't paying for two houses, I would have taken that money to buy something fun for Vance, but I decided to take it straight to the bank and deposit it.

Have any spare change around your house? Take it to your local supermarket and turn your coins into bills. You just might have enough to buy something fun or to take your hubby out to dinner.

Free place to store documents

Just last week Jeremy's computer crashed. He was kicking himself for not backing up his documents. He had planned to put all of them on Google Documents, but he just hadn't done it yet. He is praying Geek Squad will be able to retrieve all of his files... That made me think about friends of ours that have an external hard drive. I told Jeremy that we should get an external drive. Then, I realized that there is a free way to save our documents until we can afford to buy an external hard drive. It's called Google Documents, and you don't have to have an e-mail account with them to use this service. I just checked it out and uploaded several documents that I would hate to lose. Not only can you upload, but you can share documents with friends. Jeremy and Spencer have used this feature to "turn in" their hours to someone they're working for. One more great feature is that you can send an e-mail to a special e-mail address they assign you, and they will convert the e-mail to a document. Or you can attach a document to that e-mail and they will save that attachment. It's amazing...

To check out this free service, go to Google and look for Google Documents. You too might find it useful!