6 weeks to go! and i don't mean till christmas!

amelia and i are in the home stretch, folks! if the next 6 weeks go by as quickly as the last 6 weeks have, then this baby will be here in no time!! here i am as of today, 34 weeks. (and i don't know what is up with the back of my shirt! look at that right angle on my back! ha! now THAT would be uncomfortable!!) i have been feeling GREAT, pregnancy-wise, for the last few weeks, so that has been a nice change and a huge blessing. i am finally getting over my horrible cold-turned-sinus-infection (my first ever and i would love for it to be my last!), and i am so happy to be tasting food again.

we were able to sneak another peek at baby amelia this week at my doctor's appointment because they were "concerned about her size". :) she has definitely chunked up since her sonogram in september! according to the sonogram, amelia is currently weighing in at 5 lbs, 5 oz! and she's gonna keep growin! the sonogram tech was very happy that i had a lot of amniotic fluid... and she said that was one reason i was probably measuring large (besides the big baby!). so now i finally have an explanation for that lady in the grocery store! :) it's my amniotic fluid!! the tech also said that it's why amelia still has plenty of room to kick and play around vs. just twisting and rolling. she is still able to do water aerobics in there! and boy is she at the head of the class!! amelia is quite the mover and the shaker in my belly. i think she moves more than the other two have combined, but it's never really painful like it was with caroline. i can definitely feel and see her wacky contortions, but it's more amusing than anything. anyway, everything on the sonogram looked good. amelia still had her hands in front of her face, so i guess she's just waitin' to suck that thumb like my other two babies! her head was very low, which made it hard for the tech to get a good look at her face... but i was glad that she is making her way toward the exit! :) here's a couple of the pictures that we did get to see of sweet amelia.



don't worry- the umbilical cord is floating freely-- it's not wrapped around her neck like it looks to be in the pictures. it actually looks like she's snuggling with it! i guess we'll have to get her a blankie. :) you can't really see it in the pictures, but we could tell from the video that she has caroline's chin. so i think she's gonna end up looking a lot like her sister. i can't wait to kiss her fat little cheeks!!!

as soon as i got home from my appointment, the kids asked to see the sonogram video. caroline said "heartbeat!" over and over and over until i fastforwarded it to the very short "heartbeat" part of the video. so guess what we watched over and over?! i had to laugh because everytime the screen would change back and forth between the video and 3D pictures, caroline would exclaim, "another mee-yah (amelia)!" she is getting very excited about being a big sister! here's ethan and caroline watching their baby sister's heartbeat.


we came home with over a dozen pictures of the baby, as well as more pictures on cd, so i was more than happy to share a picture with each of the kids. they carried those little photos around all day long. look how proud they are of their little sister! amelia, you are already so loved!!!


one of my doctors told me this week to "lay off the carbs" since amelia is already 5 lbs... i'm sorry, but that is not what this pregnant woman wants to hear 2 weeks before christmas! (and 3 days before a COOKIE EXCHANGE!!) after he said it about 20 times, i just had to laugh. and then i reminded him that my last baby was almost 9 lbs. and he gave me a look that said, "exactly!" i met his daughter that night at a bible study as i was shoving a christmas cookie in my mouth, so i told her to make sure she told her dad that she saw me eating a cookie. :) ha! on the subject of getting really big, i have to share this realization i had the other day. so around thanksgiving, i could really feel amelia pushing against my stomach, and when i rubbed the big round protrusion, i could feel lots of little bumpy lines in a row. i thought surely those have to be her ribs! so on thanksgiving day, i had everybody feeling her ribs... brian's mom, his grandmother, my grandmother... it was show 'n tell! and everybody thought that was so cool. well, the other day i was rubbing the side of my belly, and amelia wasn't really pushing or anything... but i could still feel those bumpy lines. they couldn't be her ribs. it only took me another minute to realize that i've had everyone rubbing my stretch marks. so maybe i should lay off those carbs!

hope your christmas weeks have been merry ones so far!