12 Hours to Go

Big Belly and the Family!

 Ashton is convinced his baby brother is kicking him!

 Brenna has not decided if she wants to have her picture taken.  She could care less about the size of her mother's stomach!

I'm sitting here at midnight downing my last glass of water before the big to-do tomorrow.  You see, my little man will be arriving not long after 12 p.m.  I was praying and hoping that God would allow me to somehow go into natural labor before this day, but it was not to be.  The second part of that prayer involved being at peace with a c-section if that was the best option for the baby and I.  I believe with my whole heart the c-section is God's plan and for the first time I feel peaceful about it.  To be honest, it's a bit strange.

 Now, tomorrow may be a different matter.  I don't do well waiting for surgery.  Heck, I don't do well waiting to give blood.  I have no issue with doing it.  I'll even watch as they stick a needle in my arm, but I get extremely anxious beforehand.  It's nuts.  Lord willing this peace that I have now will overcome that nervousness tomorrow.

Anyway, Daniel and I took the kids for the final Family of 5 swim today at the YMCA.  I love watching how they each are growing. Sarah has always been a water child.  She goes off and swims all over the place.  She enjoys the slides and meeting new people.  I love watching her freedom in the water.  She's also been a great help to me in the pool.  I don't keep her in the kiddie section much, but she constantly comes back over to check if I need help with the kids.  She's even taken to catching Brenna when she goes down the kid's slide. I can't tell you how much of a blessing that's been during this past week.

Ashton loves the water as much as his older sister!  He loves to jump off the side of the pool and has even started practicing holding his breath underwater.  I hate to jump into water, so I find it amazing to watch him do it fearlessly at the age of 3.  We purchased a life jacket for him last week and he's taken to it amazingly well.  Daniel and I have been taking him in the deep end and he's slowly becoming more confident in his ability to swim with it on. Today he wore his new goggles for the first time.  His big sister has a pair and he wanted to be like her.  He kept them on almost the entire time!

As for Brenna, she is going to follow in her older siblings footsteps.  Her main desire, other than splashing in the water, is to go down the slide.  She took a tumble on the steps the other day and ended up with a scratched, slightly bruised eye.  But that didn't stop her.  She went right back to it today.  She's been watching Sarah and Ashton jump into the pool and today was trying to figure out how she was going to jump in!  She reminded me of me!  She would go up to the edge and make to jump in and then you could see that uncertainty and fear pull her back.  She'll certainly outgrow it, but it was funny to watch her do something that I do to this day! 

And me, I enjoyed watching them all.  I sat back and watched as Ashton splashed around and even through him in a few times for good measure.  I waved to Brenna as she set off down the slide and I watched Sarah swim and play with her friends in the deeper section.  I laughed as Daniel dunked Ashton and Sarah and tried to teach Brenna how to jump off the pools edge.  It was such a fun time and I will treasure it always.

While I sat back, I was excited to think of how this new little guy would fit into out family of five.  He'll make a big splash of his own and shake everything up.  Our "normal" is about to get a makeover that will change each of us in some way.  Sarah will still be the oldest, but she will have a little more responsibility around the house for the next few weeks.  Ashton will have a brother who will one day be as rough and tumbly as he is.  And Brenna, poor Brenna... She's going to be kicked out of the youngest child category. While she'll always be our littlest princess, she'll have to give up some of her limelight to a squishy little boy. 

In twelve hours, our family is going to change in an amazing way.  Another of God's blessings will be added to our household and I couldn't be happier!

I'll post pictures as soon as I'm up to it.