Baby Update

I think I may have heard a baby crying....

40 Weeks Tomorrow...The Time is Drawing Near

Long story short -Mom's in labor!!!! Could be anytime now, she's getting ready to push!!!!

39 Weeks-passing the time

Well it is now 39 weeks and not much has changed. I head to the midwife on Wed. hoping for some progress. Emily and I have been working hard to get freezer meals, bread and broth prepared. I can't help but think with all of these preparations made that the wait may still be a while-well better to be ready!! I am just praying that this little one is not too far over due as that will cause problems for us having a home birth. I believe I can't go over 42 weeks and still deliver at home.

At this point I can't imagine going that long as this baby would be so huge. We are trusting in the Lord for this little one to arrive safely on his/her sovereignly chosen day and place. What day will that be? We are all guessing right now. For fun we took out the calendar and went around the table giving everyone a chance to pick days they thought the baby would be born on. We filled all of Oct. It is fun to see them check the calendar each day to see whose "day" is today.

I feel like I am in a good place right now-at peace with all of the natural birth, not at the hospital stuff and if-we-need to go to the hospital for any reason I will trust the Lord to provide the right people for that too. I truly believe this is a walk of faith that is drawing David and I closer to each other and closer to the Lord to trust Him all the more. From the incredible gift of this child that medically is a miracle that we conceived to the opportunity to have a healthy pregnancy that allows me to be at home for birth.

I find myself thinking often of our time of waiting to go get A and K and all the unknowns we faced then. Trusting foreign officials, not knowing when we would leave, praying for health for all of us, which is not unlike our time now of waiting (no foreign officials to be concerned about though!). It is all a leap of faith...I believe this is the essence of being a parent. With every child no matter how they come to us there will be unknowns that cause us to walk closer with the One who knows them best...their creator, Almighty God who formed them in their mother's womb (Isaiah 44:24) who teaches us to raise them for His glory.

38 weeks-Getting Ready

38 weeks is finally here. We could be in the "anytime" zone now. We have the birth pool ready and Daddy and the boys have worked out a convenient system for filling and emptying the pool for me. The above video demonstrates their good ole' Aggie engineering. Everyone is getting excited about the baby arriving soon. Kathlena likes to swim in "baby Shiflet's pool" and so does Mommy. The birth pool is so comfy and wonderful to get into at this stage of the pregnancy. I think I would recommend one for every pregnant Mom to have at the end even if you do not intend to have a home or water birth.

I am still feeling pretty good. Just harder to move around and my hips and joints feel so loose! I am very thankful for my compression hose though...they have been a great source of comfort and energy. They are called a second heart helping with circulation to your legs. I definitely would have these on my list as a must have if you have any circulatory issues such as varicose veins. I am still sleeping well which is a huge blessing as I am sure sleep will be in short supply here before too long.

We have set record high "low" temperatures this week. I have to laugh as it seems with each of my pregnancies there have been record unseasonable warm temps. I am looking forward to the cool weather coming and hoping the change in temp will spur on this little ones arrival.

I have been asked if I am having twins to which I reply "No, just one really big one" I am hoping that I do not go over 10lbs. Emily was 8.1 and JMichael was 9.0lbs so hopefully the trend does not continue up so rapidly! The baby is still moving around quite a bit just doesn't have as much room to do his/her acrobatics he/she was doing last month. I am frequently asked if it is a boy or girl. All along it has really been a mystery to me. I am not sure if it is that I have been told so many times that it is a boy that is making me lean that direction, but of late I have started to think it will be a boy. Although, I am not giving up on the idea of a girl for Kathlena. We will have so much fun either way and soon the mystery will be solved.

Andrew's vision update

Andrew went back today for a check-up with Dr. Mazow. Mommy did not make the appointment as the car ride is just too long and causes the swelling to worsen. So, the boys (Daddy and Andrew) were on their own today. The appointment went well Andrew was at a strong 20/40 (yipee!) and was even able to start seeing partial letters on the 20/30 line. Dr. Mazow was encouraged and has us keep up the patching regiment of 8+ hours a day for another 6wks. Andrew is still not able to see any of the 3D stuff, but hopefully as his vision in the left eye more closely matches his right eye he may have an opportunity to recover his stereo vision. His right eye is holding at a strong 20/25 so we are getting close. Hurray for Andrew....it is hard work doing the patch therapy, but he continues to have a great attitude and never complains about wearing them.

We are so thankful that we continue to see progress. Please continue to pray for Andrew and for us as we seek the best for his vision. We continually ask for the grace to accept whatever the outcome the Lord has for Andrew and to encourage Andrew to trust the Lord as well. Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement we are so thankful for you.

Mommy's Birthday

I had a wonderful birthday with my sweet family. We went to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in 3D . A little different than the book, but still a good family movie. The kids had been re-reading this book all week. Andrew and Kathlena couldn't get enough of this book. They loved it. While I was really hoping that Andrew would be able to see the 3D this time it appears that he still cannot. That was okay with him he loved the movie anyway.

After the movie we went to The Goose's Acre restaurant in the Woodlands. We had not been here before, but heard that it was good. We had the wood fired pizzas that were yummy. We happened to be there on a night when they had a group of Irish dancers performing. It was really amazing how fast they could move their feet. We captured a few pictures above. Beautiful costumes also.

The kids surprised me with some sweet gifts they made and purchased. They are all so thoughtful and enjoyed being in on the surprise for me. It will be a sweet memory of the 6 of us. I cherish these days as they are about to change so quickly. We are all excited for that, but I am not wishing one of these days away any sooner. Each day is precious.

36 weeks-1 month to go!

We have one month to go and Momma is ready! Baby is growing fast and getting big. It is so fun to see Mommy's belly move and the movements are much bigger. Baby is in a great position so we are thankful that all is looking good for our home delivery. I have had some minor blood pressure issues and swelling, but otherwise it has been a good 3rd trimester. We greatly appreciate your prayers as we look forward to the safe arrival of Baby Shiflet #5. I must admit I am more frequently asked the question about boy or girl and honestly I have no clue. It seems strange as I had a good idea and was right with Emily and J.Michael, but this one is remaining a mystery to me. Many of the indicators of boy or girl point to boy, but I am not convinced. It will be a wonderful surprise when he or she arrives. I am excited about this too. It has been hard to plan for this one as I am a pink or blue person, but having to wait has helped me to be more focused on necessities which is good. I am sure there will be a pink or blue explosion as soon as the baby is here and what fun that will be too.

As for names we have some names we are going back and forth on, but decided we would wait to announce the name when we see his or her little face...just to be sure it fits. :) David and I have enjoyed the blessing of being pregnant and talking through names.

Walking along with the kids through all these pregnancy stages and seeing them so excited to have another sibling...a baby around the house. Kathlena and Andrew have been practicing with their dolls and it has been so sweet to see them care for and learn to nurture through play what will soon be their real brother or sister that they can help with. I am sure there will be some difficult days of adjustment, but those will be teachable moments too as we learn and grow together what it is like to be an expanding family. Trusting the Lord to grow us all as we trust Him with the size of our family.

Andrew-Happy 7th Birthday

It seems impossible that Andrew is already having his 7th birthday (second birthday with us). Time just flies by too quickly. Andrew has grown and changed so much since his last birthday. He has lost more teeth than I can count and now those little front teeth have been replaced by big kid teeth that make him look so grown up. His adorable smile has stayed the same though and I am so thankful for that. He also now has his eye surgery behind him so gazing into those beautiful blue ocean eyes that are straight is an amazing blessing we are so thankful for this year.

Andrew requested green beans, cooked carrots and steak for his birthday dinner. He is my vegetable lover. He also wanted a Thomas cake this year that we ordered from Sam's in a large size so we could take it to church tomorrow (on his actual birthday) so he could share it with his church family. We decided to have his dinner and family party the night before and let him open his presents and blow out his candles. It was a sweet family night together.

Andrew loved getting to open presents from Mom and Dad; grandparents and siblings. Kathlena made us laugh as she thought that your birthday "comes in the mail". Meaning that's how you get a birthday through the mail since packages and cards arrived in the mail for Andrew's birthday. Too cute! She thought her birthday could be any day...she would just keep checking the mailbox to see.

Andrew enjoyed opening his gifts and was not quite as shy about tearing open the gifts this year. He has gotten the hang of opening presents over the past year. It really didn't even take much practice. :) He loved his star wars clone helmet and gun from Nana & DoDad & Uncle Todd, scooter from J.Michael, Candy & coloring books Emily picked out for him, His new lefty baseball glove and boxing set from Mom & Dad, some really cool robot magnets and robot game from PawPaw and Grandmommie and birthday card with $$ from his great-grandmother. Thank you all for making Andrew's 7th birthday so special for him.

We are so blessed by our extended families and I love the sweetness of the thoughtfulness of our kids to each other. Birthdays are a fun time around the Shiflet home that remind us of the whole year that has passed and we look forward to the year to come and all that the Lord is doing in our lives.

Curly Girls

The girls had me french braid both of their hair (should have gotten a picture of that but didn't). It was so cute. After wearing that for a while they decided to go curly so we took out the braids and here is what they looked like. I can hardly believe how long Kathlena's hair is now just 16 months later see picture here.

Emily just loves having a little sister and she is such a great big sister. I am so thankful to the Lord for giving Emily and us our hearts desire for more children through adoption. We are all now waiting for our newest precious gift from the womb...my cup runneth over. While I can hardly wait for the baby to come these are sweet days of our family of 6 together that will be transformed into a family 7 quickly. I am holding each day dear.
Especially ordinary moments like this that can so easily pass by without capturing this sweetness of childhood and sisterhood.

Sound effects

We were just playing around and captured one of Kathlena's many adorable moments on video. She has become quite the sound effects girl. She is so observant and it is so fun to see how she "translates" what she observes into Kathlena'ish. Well here is a little glimpse into our world that is never dull with little sunshine!
Kathlena first does her impression of my VitaMix blender which runs almost everyday so she is quite familiar with it. The second impression was from a trip to Nana's where a cat had crawled up under the hood of the Kabota (a.k.a Ka-mow-da) and Kathlena and Nana unsuspectingly started the Kabota with a surprise. The cat was not harmed, but the Kabota had to head down to DoDad's shop for some tweaking.