36 Weeks and Family Photo's

 The cousins!  

 My beautiful daughter full of personality.  Funny thing is she is in this camera shy stage of life and they still got some great shots of her!

 My family L-R : Tyson, Chris, Jocelyn, Maddie, Mom (Olive), Kenzie, Me (Hayden in the tummy), Jeral, and Jaris

 A mother and her daughters

 The kids are going crazy yet not to shabby!

 We were playing round about mouse to get her in a happier mood!

 Love his eyes!  

 31 weeks here in this picture!  More to come on August 4th!

 I love being this boys mommy!

The kids and Dads throwing rock in the pond!

Life is busy around here between two 2 year olds and appointments we are busy, busy, busy.  However today is a stay at home pj day since starting tomorrow we have a week of non-stop appointments and outings.  We are gone every day of the week with something.

Yesterday I had my almost 36 week check up with my OB, and strangely enough yesterday also marked a year ago that I took the misoprostol to force my body to let go of our little baby girl who was already with Jesus.  That night was probably the most painful, hardest, and loneliest nights of my adult life, and the days that followed were so hard on my heart.  

Now a year later I was in the office of the same OB almost 36 weeks pregnant with our son.  And crazy enough we have 3 weeks and 2 days at most until he is here!  So far so good with Hayden, however my blood pressure is doing what it did at this stage when I was pregnant with Jaris, it sky rocketed through the roof.  We are waiting to see what next week holds.  I have another appointment and an ultrasound.  We are still hoping and praying that my body goes into labor naturally, and I am secretly hoping by the 16th of August in part because I really would like to have both of my support people there and Jeral.  However I also know Hayden will come when he is ready unless we get to August 20th.

Last night Kenzie was sitting on my lap looking at the pictures I just posted and I decided to pull up two more pictures.  I spent some time telling Kenzie about about the woman who gave birth to her and showed her a picture of the two of them together and told her that we can look at this picture and talk about it when ever she wants.  I know she does not totally understand yet, and that is okay.  We really do not want to showing her the picture for the first time when she is 5 or 6 and throwing her world for a big loop.  We want conversations like last night to be normal so when she is able to understand more it is not strange or weird.

I also pulled up the only pictures we have of Kenzie with her namesake.  Honestly the lighting is awful and I am sure that they got better pictures with their camera when they came to visit her when she was 5 weeks old.  One day I will have to explain that the locket in her hope chest is not from her birth mom, instead it is from the lady we named her after.  I am thankful that Kenzie can also read my blog from that time.  It is funny one would think that after not seeing or speaking to someone for 2 years you would not miss them however ...!  The reality is Kenzie has lots of people who played a huge roll in her becoming a part of our family that she may or may not ever meet.

Well I have lunch to make for the kids, laundry to do, and rooms to tidy up!

34 Weeks

Wow so close to the finish line!  34 weeks, and still feeling pretty good, at least when i think about how sick I was at this point with Jaris.  Every day/week that I get to breath properly is a blessing and something to be thankful for!

I remember when we lost baby Annabelle (a year ago July 21st, we found out she had no heart beat), I told someone that I would go through nine months of not being able to breathe if it meant we could have her back.  So when I got pregnant with Hayden I started praying I was not going to have to live out those words.  And while I have been stuffy a lot through out this pregnancy I am still able to breath at night thus far, and hoping that I get to keep breathing through my nose right to the end.

It is also nice knowing I have an end date in sight and that day is actually now scheduled for August 20th.  Yeah for not going over due. While I would way rather go into labor naturally than be induced I am thankful that my OB will be around for this delivery.  So why the early induction date?  My OB is going to New York with his daughter on my original due date so he is inducing me before he goes.  With the possibility of complications arising during delivery like they did with Jaris he wants to be the one to deliver.  Plus I was the first woman be preformed an ovarian drilling on (yep I was a guinea pig), and he missed the birth of the first child as a result of that surgery, and he does not want to miss this one.

There is lots to do in the next 5 and a half weeks!  However we are trying not to stress over those things.  What gets done and that is that!  Well okay that is one project that has to get done otherwise my wonderful hubby maybe in the dog house!!! :)  Other than that I do not care that much!

32 Plus Weeks

 Our weather lately has been cool and damp and guess what I am not complaining at all!  I know that by the end of summer things will heat up, however I am on thankful woman right now that the weather is cool!

 I seriously could not get a good picture of the kids on our little walk at Margert Falls yesterday!  However I love my little boy, so great picture or not I am posting these!

 Kenzie not so sure about mommy stepping away to take a picture

 Daddy and his miracles watching the water!

 Finally looking at mommy.  I love his curly hair!  I wonder what kind of hair Hayden will have?

 The top part of the water fall.  This time the waterfall was so fast and gushing that water was spraying us from a good distance away.  The kids at first were unsure and then Jaris decided he liked it and it was hard to contain him.

Finally a smile yet a fuzzy picture!

Last weekend we were in Kamloops for a family photo shoot with my family and the photographers were amazing and I am so looking forward to getting those photo's and posting them here.  We loved their work so much that we have asked them to do my maternity photo's and our newborn photos.

So I am just over 32 weeks in this pregnancy and wow, I feel pretty good.  I can still breathe which is awesome. I have at most 7 weeks and 5 days left and while that may seem like a good amount of time, I know it is going to go by so quickly.  We are already in July which means next month we will go from a family of 4 to a family of 5.  This past week I have been reading a great book, that I so wish I would have known about when I was pregnant with Jaris.  Alas hindsight is always perfect.  I am not able to go back and redo things from when I had Jaris, however I am positive that Hayden's birth and after will be very different than things were with Jaris.  I have learned a lot, and also spent time being sad realizing that things could have been very different.  However that was then and this is now and I while we are anxious about somethings generally we are just very happy and looking forward to Hayden joining this family!!!!! 

Pictures and Finally Ultra Sound Pictures!

 I know these pictures are a little late is getting put up!  Here is Hayden Ezra's foot at 19 &1/2 weeks. I am now 31 weeks!  There you have it the official post naming our son.  With Jaris we had the name picked out before the ultrasound, however with Hayden we were still tossing a few names around and actually Hayden was not even on the original list.  Last summer we had liked the name Silas Asher when I was pregnant before our little one went to be with Jesus, and that name was the front runner this time around.  While Jeral was working on the car he is restoring for his uncle late one night i was looking at names and really like the sound of Hayden Ezra.  Then I found out the meaning of Hayden and was not to sure about it, yet as I sat with Jesus and pondered the meaning I came to realize that there is more to the meaning of the name Hayden than just what we have deemed it to be.  Hayden in German means infidel or heathen.  The truth is that many Christian men and women through out the course of history were considered to be infidels and heathens and were persecuted for their beliefs, beliefs that many of us today fully believe.  They were men and women who did not just go with the status-quo.  They were pioneers and founders of the very blocks of truth we many of us hold.   As I raise my children my desire is that they will choose to follow Jesus, and my desire is that they will not blindly flow, yet instead that they will ask questions, dig deep, and not always go with the status-quo because that is the easier path.  So I am more than okay with the German meaning of my soon to be born son's name.  Jeral and I are so very excited for our third child to be born, and we are also anxious as to how we will parent three children.  Yet we know others have before us and so we will navigate these waters too!

 Cute side profile picture.  I still am in awe everyday that I get to be pregnant with this little miracle!

 Kenzie dressed her self on day for going to hang out with Grandma J.

 Jeral took this picture at his sisters house in Vancouver.  She sure is a beautiful girl!

 Oh sand!  Sand is so fun to play in!  Jeral built the kids a large yet amazing sand box that has been a huge hit with both kids!

 Talk about personality!

 Mommy I do not want my picture taken right now!  I love Jaris' curly hair! Okay who am I kidding i love this boy period!!!!!!!

Father's day at IHOP for dinner.  Yes Jeral picked IHOP as the place he wanted to go.  And hey who I am to complain, he picked a child friendly restaurant so great!!!!!

28 Weeks

Wow I am in the third trimester already.  When and how did that happen?  In some ways I feel this pregnancy has gone by so very fast and in other ways not fast enough!

I saw my OBGYN this past week and I went from measuring small to now measuring 3 weeks a head.  Oh well Jaris was that way too except I measured big the whole way through with him!  Every thing is going well so far with this pregnancy.  I did not get really sick with Jaris until I hit 32 weeks so we are hoping though that this time round will be different.  However I was informed that due to the potential risk complications, even if I do not get sick I will not be allowed to go over due with Hayden. So that means if Hayden has not made an appearance before August 25th, he will be appearing that day!  I will admit the control freak in me likes knowing that I have an end date, that does not include going 10 days over due!!!!!  While I know that many of my friends who have been induced thought it was hell on earth, and I will say it hurt a lot.  Hey labour hurts and that is that!  For me the induction itself was not the hard part.  It was all the stuff after!!!!!  So in 12 weeks max we will have our son in our arms!  12 weeks really is that all I have left?  Yepppppp and then we are officially out numbered by our great kids.

While I truly desire for Jaris to talk more, I do desire he goes to bed at night instead of lying in bed saying, "Bum, bum, bum, bum!" Over and over again, and then stopping to laugh because he thinks he is so funny!  Yes my son you are adorable and very funny, just please go to bed and talk lots during the day!!!!!  Love you!

A Conversation

While driving in the van the other day!

Kenzie: "Leanne, where are you?"

Me: "I am here and I am MOMMMY!"

Kenzie: "I love you Leanne!!!"

I sure do love my daughter!

Almost 26 Weeks

 I absolutely adore this boy!  I love this picture of him.

 I know instead of rushing to help Kenzie I used the tears as a photo opp!  Jeral was there to hold her, and honestly I cannot remember what happened, however a few minutes later - ...

 Crisis is averted and all is good.  Apparently now Kenzie is seeing something she is thinking about eating.  Look at her licking her chops!

Deep in thought!  I love his curls and wings.  His hear get so curly after it is washed, and then flattens after he sleeps on it!

We have been getting back into the routine of life since our family get away!  It always seems to take about a week to adjust back to life here on the farm.  Kids have to get used to going to bed at a proper time and we have loads of laundry to do and a home to get back in order etc.  I am so grateful for such an amazing husband at times like this. Jeral helps out so much with everything that needs to get done, and also tackles my to do list before Kiddo Krahn #3 comes along in approximately 14 weeks and 3 days, and trust me the list is a big one.  I think the biggest project is going to be getting the boys room ready.  Besides repainting the room, we also need to re-do the closets and that is going to be a big job, plus we will hopefully find another dresser similar to the one I bought on Monday so the boys have similar if not matching dressers.

We realized this week that I am as far along in this pregnancy as I was in my pregnancy with Jaris when we brought home Kenzie who was only 2 days old.  Looking back I realize how clueless we were about the reality of how much work having two infants would we.  Yet I am so thankful that we were clueless otherwise we would not have chosen the path that we chose, and I simply cannot imagine a life with out MacKenzie Joy.

Hayden is moving a lot these days, and I am enjoying laying still and cherishing every time he moves inside of me.  This is my last pregnancy and I want to enjoy to the fullest the moments that I am present and aware of.  With two toddlers to run around after I know I am not as aware of Hayden's every kick, roll, and punch.  Plus he kicks towards my back and those are harder to feel, at least until the end.  Then those will hurt my back, yet he is worth whatever comes my way, and I have a great massage therapist!