Molly... No wait a min...

"Well. If it looks like a Molly and cries like a Molly and has poopy diapers like a Molly it must be a Molly, right?"

Wrong! It's Claire! :-) Even if Laura and I keep calling her Molly :-P Even Grandma Jen called Claire Molly this morning. Claire, you are one lucky girl to be as cute as your sisters. Hope the little red baby hair sticks around for the long haul. CUTE! And if you keep looking like Poppers and have Lucy's hair... You are going to be a force to be reckoned with. Truth.

This is our first time with a 38weeker so nursing is going a little slower and Claire is much more sleepy than our 41 and 40weekers Lucy and Molly. However, she is nursing now and has used nursing to calm down her crying! She's obviously super smart and knows that boobies make the world go around ;-)

Laura is doing well. Up and moving. Showered, dressed and pleading with every passing nurse for discharge orders :-) Same as with Lucy and Molly. :-) They all politely say "I don't see why not but the doc writes the orders, we just follow orders" in their standard bedside manner.

Grandma Jen just left and Kasie is on the way to see us @ the hospital with the girls.

Whoa! Largest poop yet! Black and sticky. Mmmmmm. I'm going to mail some words of wisdom to my fellow expecting dads in the next few days. One nugget of wisdom has held true for 3 kids now. Stay away from the black tar poops! Yuck man! That's not human :-)

11 hours to a family of five.

Well, it's 11pm here and I'm still wide awake, as I'm dreading my spinal and not wanting to do all the "fun" stuff associated with the C-section. Surgery sucks even when you get a baby out of the deal. I'm incredibly nervous about the spinal this time around, considering my anxiety attack with the last one...It was not pretty, that much I can say. I'm really hoping that this one is swift and effective and that they can get my husband into the OR very quickly this time. After my section with Mo, I'm just not looking forward to the big needle. :-(

I am so, so, so excited about meeting the next addition to our family. I'm just over the moon excited and as I type this, the baby is fairly flipping in circles. I can't believe we still don't know the sex of the baby - so difficult, but it's been fun. I think.

I can't wait to introduce Molly to the new little one. Lucy will, of course, take it all in stride and just mother away, but Molly is seriously going to flip a lid when she realizes she's getting a baby to take home.

I wish I had more to say, but my head is all swirly and I just need to zone out. Too much to think about and sort in my head to write anything worth reading. Check back here tomorrow afternoon for a picture of 2A3A3!

Letter from dad @ end of pregnancy #3

Well folks, we're wrapping up the pregnancy for baby #3. It has, much like the others, been an absolute joy and beautiful mystery. Even up to and including this pregnancy, Laura and I have that random funny conversation. You konw the one... "how the heck does that thing breathe in there? I mean, s/he has lungs but there's no air. S/he hiccups, but there is no air. How... !?" then I always contribute some insight like, "well clearly the doctors remove the scuba gear during delivery."


Lucy and Molly over the last few weeks have really been angels. They are loving this warmer spring weather (w/ the exception of the occasional tornado warnings) and one of their absolute favorite activities is going for a walk around the block with me after work or on the weekends. Lucy talks the entire time and feels 'honored' that I let her run independently to the each corner until Poppers & I catch up. Poppers simply cannot stick to the sidewalk. She's constantly up in people's yards 'exploring', picking up rocks, barking at their dogs (yeah...she's hardcore).

That said, they have seen Laura starting to move a little slower and have eased-up on their usually aggressive playfulness (standard almost-4 and just-turned-2 y/o) behavior. They definitely know that baby #3 is on the horizon and are EXCITED about it.

Yes. We have names. We had a moratorium on the "name discussions" a week or so ago because it was getting ridiculous. Not in that we were coming up w/ ridiculous names, but we just talked it to death. Afterall, we have to pick TWO names this time! If you are (or have been in the last 10 mo) in "the know", Laura has probably fieled a couple name combinations (first/middle) off of you. For those select, very important few, thank you for your inputs! The two names we have as of today 27 April 2011.... are.... drum roll please...................... yeah right. That's a secret ;-) Needless to say, I love 'em both. They "fit".

We have also been blessed throughout this pregnancy to learn that SO many of our family and friends will also be welcoming a new baby into their homes & lives this year. Too many to list actually. I think Laura told me we have like 7 or 8 new babies in our immediate friends/family this Christmas. So, congrats to all of you guys who conceived late 2010 or early 2011 ;-) Wonder what college is going to cost in 2029 :-/

Yes, for anyone wondering. We'll be back in Baltimore, MD area for Christmas. Make your plans now people. We want to see everyone. Get on the agenda w/ Laura :-)

Laura is nesting. Nothing new but I forget by the time the end of each pregnancy comes along how crazy it really can get. Today? She spick-&-span, spin-shine-cleaned four (4) closets. Why? Because the rest of the house is immaculate as a result of earlier nesting throughout this month. God bless her. And all expecting mothers. If men got pregnant, I don't think God would also give us the 'nesting bug'; I think it'd just exaggerate our 'lazy, clutter bug'.

With this post......... we'll place our official bets:

Laura thinks baby #3 is a BOY with a weight of 7lbs 4oz.
Andrew thinks baby #3 is a GIRL with a weight of 7lbs 5oz.
Lucy thinks  this is a baby GIRL
Molly was told by Lucy that Molly also thinks this is a baby GIRL .

Fwd: results from 50+ work people...

Various and sundry.

I really don't have much to talk about, so I thought I'd just add the latest pictures from around the house. We made Paschal candles during Holy Week, and they came out so cute! The kids were really able to help and they were super simple. Had I any artistic ability at all, I'd so monogram a couple and actually make them insanely awesome. Maybe I could trace...



Babydoll Roll Call. L to R - Molly, Orange Baby, Baby Cinderella, Snap and Style Baby, Baby Baby, Baby Aurora, Dirty Baby, Scary Baby, Poopy Baby, Jingle Baby, Baby Beans (Mimi's baby from childhood - a fave around here!), Hairy Baby (Mama's baby from childhood - another "always naked" hit), Lucy, Bear McNair. 

Molly with stickers all over her face. Obviously. 

                                            Two girls under a blanket with a flashlight.

The tulip that ate Forth Worth. We bought this one week ago tonight at Walmart. When we bought it, it fit neatly in a white plastic grocery bag and the not-yet-open blooms came to the bottom of the sign behind it. Clearly, something is amiss. The stem in the very front, right over the bird? That wasn't there 4 days ago. At all. In seven days it's grown into the most terrifying plant we've ever housed. It grows by at least a couple of inches every day, and it's so heavy it's starting to crawl. It reminds me of a Goosbumps book.

Our table set for a weeknight dinner. this was about 5 minutes before Molly climbed up and spilled her milk everywhere, and about two hours after I put a clean tablecloth down.

                                              The napkin basket! I like the red ones the best.

See? They're so easy a Golden Retriever could make them. I cut a 20x20 square, roll the side to make a double hem, zig-zag stitch and pretend I bought them from someone who actually knows how to use a sewing machine. I've been screaming at my machine for three days. Then I realized I was using the bobbin from my other machine. It complicates things.

Well folks, that's about as good as it gets around here. Nothing very thrilling, except for the tulip that's about to eat my two-year-old. Over and out.