Cinco de G-Ville

I was blessed yesterday to share the afternoon with some dear friends, who showered our baby G and warmed me with their kindness and love.  A special thanks to my friend, Cami, who threw the "Cinco de Gasperini" fiesta, complete with beautiful flower arrangements, a whopping margarita-sized pink lemonade, and delicious food.  It was really fun!!

Tomorrow marks 39 weeks officially with a belly shot coming your way.  I was supposed to have a doc appointment in the morning, but she had to reschedule due to surgery.  I will head in on Thursday instead to see what we can stir up!  GG and I have decided that Thursday is a much better day for an appointment--it gets us almost through the week and allows him to hurdle the final work obstacles remaining...  We are getting ready!! :)

With love,

Blossoming

Well, friends, here is the promised belly shot at almost 38 weeks...

 Notice my little friend, who wanted to show you his "angry face" that he's been working on for some time.  lol.  He and his little sister were having fun running in and out of the shots...

Next up, we have one of our soccer stars, sporting his newest accomplishment--losing his first tooth!  Only took 7 years and 2 months, but here we are!  M has been working on his lower middle two teeth for some time now and the adult teeth have actually already come in behind (think sharks!).  Little brother, T, helped the tooth out during an afternoon living room football skirmish...  T felt so bad--"Did I help or did I hurt?" was his main question.  So sweet.  Little does he know how much he helped me.  We had an appt. scheduled for tomorrow with the dentist to pull the little suckers.  Now mama has a free lunchtime and doesn't have to drag the crew to the office!!  Thank you, dear Lord.  Yet another blessing just in the nick of time saving my sanity!

 Our happy toothless man, who made $1 from the tooth fairy last night.  We're setting the monetary bar low--MANY teeth yet to be lost in our household! ;)

Our Saturday ended up turning out much more jovially than I had initially expected--GG was able to cheer on both soccer games.  The boys played brilliantly.  M is having an especially good season, helping on both offense and defense and really showing an understanding for the game.  His coach thinks its time for him to take the leap into a quasi-travel program next fall.  We'll see...

Later in the day, GG and our wonderful friend/neighbor, Tom, outfitted our garage with a "new" fridge and cabinets from a kitchen project he was working on.  Our garage looks so good--finished product photos to come once we rid ourselves of the extra cabinets.  We finished the day with a fun BBQ at our house with Mimi and Papa.  Always a joy to see them!

I awoke today feeling really nauseous and fatigued, which had us initially worried, but after an afternoon snooze and a fun outing with the kids to farewell friends of ours moving to Atlanta (miss you, L Family!), the weekend came to a satisfying close.  I'm now trying to get my ducks in a row for these remaining two weeks as GG anticipates being busier than ever...  Ho hum!  Such is the life of a corporate attorney!!  I'm just hoping Baby G holds out until her daddy slows down...

Overall, God is good and we are well.  What else can a mama ask for?
Blessings to you at the start of a new week,

Mid-night update

Dear friends,
You've been so tolerant of me lately.  Thank you!
Life in G-Ville has been moving at a nice clip--so much so that this mama fell asleep tonight at 9pm, only to awaken at 1am to a houseful of lights, a dishwasher that needed filling, a blog that needed catching up, and a bladder that needed emptying (sorry, prego TMI! :)  Alas, here I am, sans pics but with a heart full of love for my kiddos and hubby and my Lord, who is sustaining me!

GG is such a trooper and has been *slammed* at work, which means the kids and I are winging it.  Thanks be to God for 38-week ENERGY.  He is totally providing and I am so grateful.  I cannot tell you what a blessing this is as I usually am on-the-floor, scrape-worthy by this point!  Instead, we are finding the means to get everything done and done nicely around here.  Imagine that?!  I gave GG the two-week warning--get the work done now while you have me around!  haha  We are hoping things let up a little so he can attend the boys' soccer games tomorrow... we'll see.

We had such a nice night tonight, the kids and I.  Friday evenings bring soccer practice and M has such a great time.  Meanwhile, MG, T, J, and I hit the playground nearby and the kids ran themselves ragged!  Little MG is gaining more climbing skills and has now mastered every slide, even the 12-foot twisty one, with glee.  I am thrilled that she can be so independent and still safe with me standing by...  Again, a great Mercy from our Lord just in time.  We returned to homemade pizza dough in the breadmaker, which then turned into delicious homemade pizza that we inhaled while having our traditional Friday night "movie night".  Love this little family tradition...

I will update tomorrow with a belly shot and more of the boys having a blast on the soccer field!  GG just pulled in the driveway at 2am, so I'm going to greet my hubby! :)
God bless,

36 weeks and counting

Had a "mommy morning" and indulged in swim and coffee at the Y this morning... all while the kids were in child watch. Bliss!

I had my 36-week check yesterday and am thrilled to be entering the weekly appointment phase of the pregnancy. Yes! We're finally getting somewhere... :)

My doc was on vacation, so I met with another gentleman in the practice and he was really nice. Overall, my stats were good and baby G seems to be hanging out, doing well. No labor action on the horizon, which is wonderful.

BP: 120/80

Weight gain: +3 (total 29--funny enough, I'm up only 4 in the last 6 weeks! I thank Easter candy for the little extra this time around. Sadly, the sugar consumption continues. I need to be careful! :)

Dilation: NADA, nothing, zilch, zero. I thought I was naturally around 1 cm thanks to lots of babies, but apparently not. The doc confirmed that the baby would probably not be coming before 37 weeks. Tell me something I don't know! :) All my babies have been a day or two late, so I'm thinking little G will follow suit.

Thankfully I'm feeling well, so all is well. My prenatal vitamin is doing awesome things this time around. In the past I was never good about taking it toward the end and am thinking I was probably really anemic before each delivery. I know, I know--bad mama! I'm hoping boosting my iron this time around will continue to provide lots of energy!! :) That and plenty of naps too! ;)

A Blessed Easter

He is Risen, Alleluia, Alleluia!

A blessed Easter to you from the G family...

We had a wonderful weekend romping all over Pennsylvania, visiting my grandparents and celebrating my grandmother's 90th birthday! Happy Birthday, Gramcracker!

Our adventures started with a Thursday evening visit from my sister, her boys, and Gramz and Pappy on their way up from spring break in Florida. My sisters' boys, A and A, are so dear and *love* the little ones in our family (M and T too!) I caught a few pics Thurs. night of bedtime stories...

MG was hamming

and mostly just loving being spoiled by her cousins.

We left Friday and headed up to PA, stopping to see my G-ma at the rehab facility when we arrived.

Poor MG was a bit overwhelmed, which explains the tears here.

Saturday we celebrated the birthday with a dinner out... Along with one of the twins saving MG from running into a busy street (start the contractions now!) Whew!

We finished the night with birthday cake at the home. My Great Aunt Elva also celebrated her 94th birthday!

The grand children and spouses with my grandparents

The great grandchildren--7 boys and 1 girl!

My sister's family, ours, and my cousin's all celebrated Mass on Easter Sunday. What joy to be together during the Liturgy. Here is our special lady getting ready for the Easter egg hunt back at the rehab. home...

M was still a'hunting even with his cast!

The Witmer clan

As always, it was bittersweet to say goodbye. We don't get to see my sister and family often enough, despite how swimmingly we all get along. Definitely need to get them down here to meet baby G!!

And speaking of the wee babe, all is well on the prego front. I hit the month-to-go mark yesterday and couldn't be more excited. Numerous contractions on the way home told me I needed a good night's rest last night, which I fortunately got. Today has proven to be a nice, relaxing day at home. The boys are on spring break this week, so we're taking it easy and enjoying time with one another...

7 loads of laundry down and counting. ;)

God bless,

1 Ninja, 2 Ninja

G-ville is excited to announce we are now under the protection of not just one, but TWO fierce fighting warriors:

T started tae-kwon-do this past Tuesday and had a *great* time even though according to him: "Mom, I was a little nervous." "No one noticed, honey. You did well," I assured him. Sweet boy.

Even better, now M has someone with whom to practice his moves. Though I will say, his cast is deadly--hard as a rock and usually flailing around. It's a good thing we opted for something big and protective. He needs it! :)

T will keep his white belt for the next three months while M will test for his yellow belt next weekend. Overall, they're loving it and the teacher couldn't be a better example of focus and discipline. They are in the same class, to boot. Fantastic!

A Happy Easter to all.

God bless,

A G-Ville First

Our Hero-Turned-Injured-Warrior

The Battle? Walking to school can be rather perilous when turning and waving to your younger sister!

The Wound? A fractured pinky; yep, all that cast to immobilize the baby finger!

The Culprits? A guilty mom and dad, who thought our hero was being dramatic until we noticed the swelling and bruising persisting almost a week later! Yikes!

The Reward? An awesome blue cast (mom distracted him from his initial choice of neon yellow :); a McD's ice cream cone--all good patients get one; and lots of attention when we got home and surely tomorrow at school.

Cheers to G-Ville's first broken bone. At least we are all in positive spirits tonight! :)

Our Hero of the Week

As I blogged last Friday, M was the "Hero of the Week" this week in his class, which meant he had to create a poster, bring in a treat, read a story to his principal, and showcase his "Parent of the Week" (yours truly) in class for a visit.

This made for a lot of excitement getting ready last weekend. I'm happy to report that his poster making was stress-free, child-initiated, and done in advance. This is huge for us!! :) Yet even though we were mostly done ahead of time, don't you know he was still gluing on Star Wars drawings the morning it was due before walking to school... lol. Old habits die hard for us, G's. :)

I visited the class on Wednesday and talked about "All Things Baby", including baby pictures and stories about M, our family and upcoming Baby G. M enjoyed interjecting his own commentary while we talked... We then read a story about siblings and were able to include his teacher in the discussion, who just announced she is expecting her 2nd in August! The kids seemed engaged and I had a blast being with my biggest little man. He and I ate lunch together afterward. Special times, for sure.

Here is our little hero, flying his "Hero Pops" we made to give to his classmates. They were a Valentine idea on Pinterest that we turned into a themed treat to hand out! As you can see, M was excited about them--give a boy anything with a cape and he's thrilled!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for... The much-anticipated, much-dreaded (by me!) belly shots, starting at week 35!

I bring you the un-showered, pajama-clad B-mama at 35 weeks. I forced myself to take this photo this morning, dear friends, so I hope you enjoy it!

I promise to have one up here every week to document the remaining time we have with baby G in utero. Easter marks the 1 month-to-go mark, so I'm starting to feel a bit antsy. On my to-do list today is reserving a copy of "Husband Coached Childbirth" by Dr. Robert Bradley. I plan to read it cover to cover over the next month to mentally prepare for natural labor... GG will read his required chapter 5 in order to be ready for husband support. I joked with him the other day that he needs to start doing exercises to ready his arm muscles for putting counter-pressure on my hips. This was crucial for me the last time...

A recent decision we made was to forego the use of a doula this time around. My active labors go pretty fast, so if we can time everything right, the two of us can swing it together! We're a good team!! :) I just need to set my stopwatch on interval settings and view labor like a track workout. 30 seconds "on", 60 "off", and repeat. I did a good visualization the other day in spin class (yes, I'm still going with the help of seat pad--brilliant!) and felt moderately ready. We just have to keep practicing... Without having a doula this time around, I think I'll feel less pressure toward the end to go into labor. This was a struggle for me the last time because I felt like I was having to report in to someone, who had expectations. Baby G and I need to just HANG OUT toward the end and enjoy those last days of pregnancy. I plan to do a better job of that this time around.

Quick soccer report (without pics--sorry!): the boys had a fantastic start to their spring season yesterday. T ball-handled well and scored 6 in his game against the Tigers--he seemed to be having a great time out there with his buddies. Later, M's team scrimmaged (due to lack of players) and T joined him out on the field to be an extra body. What fun to watch my two older boys play together and work as a team. They both did great! M showed true to his aggressive competitiveness and was everywhere on the field. He's fast and fierce--watch out, world! ;)

So that's that in G world! Thanks for journeying with us...

God bless,