Ziggy

Ziggy...it's fun, and it's a little silly, like all our other waiting-for-baby-nicknames. Roo was Lampshade, Friendly was Goobie/Goober, and Pip was Newby...And now Ziggy.

Ziggy comes from the name Siegfried which means "Victorious Peace". Siegfried also happens to be one of my favorite literary characters of all time (think, James Herriot).

Anyway, Victorious Peace has definitely been a theme of this pregnancy...Just learning to go with the flow, hold onto peace, even when it's a bit of a battle to do that!

We had the big ultrasound today, after having a few friends have babies with unexpected health concerns we felt quite strongly about being sure every thing was really well checked out.

As far as science can say, Ziggy is perfect.We concur, isn't he beautiful?

Yes, HE! Pip was very much right when she made this picture of our family...

 It definitely is, a baby brudder!

 We were really content with our 3 girls, I've said it many times..."I never knew three could feel so complete."

Four feels fantastic too. Our bonus baby, boy. We feel so very very blessed. We can't wait for September!

Easter 2014

Easter this year... The younger two got some strange (thankfully) short lived virus that involved a high fever, and ended with an ear infection for Pip and a doctor trip because she was inconsolable.

We had some of my Mom's family over in the afternoon and I'm really trying to remember much of the day. I was quite sleep deprived from 3 rough nights with a sickie little Pip.

Sunday morning Pip and I stayed home from church and took a walk,

This is actually from the next weekend but I didn't take a picture of our Easter walk...She loves to take walks and talk, it's one of her most frequent requests in life!

then there was some cleaning...Lots of visiting with family....An Easter Egg hunt...And an afternoon crash.

The day before we dyed Easter Eggs...

 All of the kids are sensitive to food dyes. We don't eat any thing with food dye in it, and haven't for a few years. Red Dye 40 is like ...No words describe what it does to my children. So we avoid all dyes..And haven't felt safe enough to allow Easter egg dye because of how messy it is (and your skin is an organ of your body, getting dye on your skin is almost as bad as eating it!). This year we chanced it and they all did great!

Aren't they pretty? Next year we'll use a different kind of dye, this kind was a little too hard core and soaked through the egg shells!
The easter egg hunt was fun! It was funny to watch how intense and FAST the kids aged 4+ were

Roo hunting!

Pip Hunting

Friendly off to hunt!

It was a great Easter...And after the company went home...

We crashed. Ryan napped, Pip and I snuggled. :D

I don't think I got a picture of the Easter Baskets or of them opening them. My Mom might have taken some...

Oh here are a few from breakfast that morning...We had Donuts, OJ, and Berries with Easter Eggs

So 7! <3

Spring...It's a Real Thing!

Well, spring took it's sweet time trickling in, but we're finally getting to really enjoy it!
We took a few damp and chilly walks...

Battled a few spring colds...

Pippy fighting an ear infection: a lot of cuddles!

A lot of falling asleep on Mommy because she, "didn't need a nap."

 the end of March and early April have been full of sniffles and snuggles for sure...

And parties when the sweet baby finally falls asleep!

But there has also been tons of this...Our "field trip" to the "Fish Factory" (AKA the Hatchery, thank you Pip!)

 Swings and slides!

 Science Center!!!

 And getting the yard ready for spring!! We built our bean teepee and the kids have been picnicking in it every chance they get!

 And our favorite, the Rose Garden..Always in for a good show there!

And lot of this with colds and fevers happening...

Netflix had new episodes of Rescue Bots, so exciting!!!

And this little girl...

 Pretty much any time I am sitting or resting she is snuggled up right next to me. She knows her days as "the baby" are numbered and she has been soaking up Mommy Time for all it's worth. Pretty much every hour of every day is a potential "Mommy Date" and she is taking all she can get. I can't say I mind!! :D

 

Because Ziggy (baby's nickname) is growing...

17............................18..............and.................19 weeks.

We're 20 weeks through- half way (hopefully!) there! Every thing seems fine. Feeling lots of pops and kicks and he seems to love any time music comes on, he wakes right up and starts playing. He Also seems to respond when it's been quiet an one of big sisters starts talking to me. I don't feel as much movement as I did with some of the others, I think I have an anterior placenta again and the movements feel very different than the other times (even Pip- who I also had an anterior placenta with). 

It still hasn't sunk in that all these changes are really coming. After being out of baby mode for longer than the other times, it feels a bit strange. I do like that our spacing will end up being 1.5 years between Roo and Friendly, 2.5 years between Friendly and Pip, and 3.5 years between Pip and Ziggy. We couldn't have planned that if we tried, but I like nice tidy sequences like that. :D

We have our "big" ultrasound this week. Checking all the parts, making sure Ziggy is growing well, and confirming gender! We are pretty sure we saw "boy parts" at the 15 week scan, it very much looked like it. Prayers that everything goes well with the anatomy scan and that Ziggy is healthy and well would be appreciated!

 So far this has been my easiest pregnancy, except for a few weeks of "uuuuugh", I have felt pretty good. But the more babies we have the more I worry about them. I am so thankful for our 3 healthy children so far and I just can't wait to hold this one in my arms and know he's here safe and sound too!

Next Post EASTER!!