How many days did you say?

I just can't seem to wrap my head around this baby...

No matter how big my belly gets or how hard HE kicks, it's like I'm not actually pregnant.  As though I'll wake up one day and nothing will have changed from our current family of 5 status?!?!  What on earth is going on??

Maybe it's God's way of keeping me sane.  I think if I really stopped to think about the complexities of adding another member of the family - namely a NEWBORN - I would loose it.  Cleaning, laundry, grocery store, day-to-day, vacations, leisure activities...all of them are going to change!  Of course, I know it's all going to change for the better, and the moment we lay eyes on little precious bundle, our hearts will grow immeasurably more to add in this gift from God...but it's still weird to be so distant from the actual truth of the matter. 

Today - I had the kids check out the samurai-like abilities of their baby!  He seems to have this awesome ninja-chop well practiced on my right hand side.  I had Raegan put her hand where his chop takes place, took a bite of banana Popsicle (yuck), and waited... It only took a moment and "HI-YA"!  Gotcha he said!  Along with the heel pushes, it's uber-pleasant from the inside (hahaha).  Anyway, R squealed!  "He kicked!" and a big smile crossed her face.  :)  She proceeded to giggle and be hammered a few more times before I needed to change positions and moved on to the next kiddo.  G was next.  He is at the age where he really is starting to understand this whole "baby" process...and the parts that he doesn't, he wants to figure out.  A little awkward, but I'm glad he's interested and wants to know details about his little brother.  He cautiously, and very gently, put his hand on my side where R had had hers.  Moments later, WHAM!  He got the ninja-chop!  G JUMPED a mile high and a huge grin instantly lit up his face!!  "He's MOVING!"  hehehe  It was like he never remembered or experienced it before.  <3  What an amazing experience!  It was definitely at that moment where he connected with this little guy...actually assembling in his mind that baby's human-like abilities...  I know he must have had a weirdly construed version of what a baby in the womb is like.... After he was kicked a few times, he asked me if the baby had his eyes yet.  :-o  LOL  Yes, buddy, he is a little person, ready to come out, as soon as his lung can breath air a bit easier.  :)

Little C - well, he's just not there right now.  He does assimilate baby with my belly and will make comments about other babies in public and how I have one in my belly.  He understands that there is a baby in there and the baby is going to come sleep in the crib in his C-O-L-E room (hehe) but to actually process what that means is going to take experience and then time...  He'll get there.  Having his little cousin come over in the next few weeks a little more frequently to share mommy will be a good starting point.  We did that this week and, well, C didn't like sharing his mommy very much with Baby J.  My lap and basically my whole body was bombarded by his when I would even look in Baby J's direction.  Oy Vay...being the "new" big brother is going to be tough...


On a more personal note, I have devoted myself to picking up my camera AT LEAST once a week and potentially am shooting for once a day.  I am not going to beat myself up for missing a day but I will try to make sure once a week is covered.  I'm guessing that a lot of those shots are going to be of a newborn and subsequent growing baby, but it will be something fun to look forward to.  I am going to create a new blog to keep them all cataloged over the year and will link between this one and the photo one so you can keep an eye out on our lives through my lens.  Wish me luck!!

Doctors appointment in the morning...I'll update once I wrap up there :)