A(nother) Big Announcement!

It's the week of big announcements for The Merry Band of Fife!  First we publicly announced that we are blessed to be expecting our eighth baby in April.  As if that isn't big enough, we have another huge announcement - we are stepping out in faith and will become full-time missionaries as of October 1st, 2016!  We noticed a trend as we returned from Candidate class in July.  As much as we were on fire for the Lord in this new capacity of missions, it was just so hard to balance secular jobs, family, and ministry.  We weren't getting as much accomplished as we wanted to - we had grand plans to have multiple face-to-face meetings scheduled beginning in August, but we hadn't had time to schedule a single one.  And so, the Lord made it abundantly clear to James that he was calling us, not this summer, not in a few months, to full-time ministry NOW.  It took me a little bit to process, but now I'm ready to step out with him, hand-in-hand, and we are SO excited to make this next step.  If you would keep us in our prayers as we step into deep waters, relying on His providence and guidance, we would sure appreciate it.  Our God is a great and mighty god!

When God Says No

The resistance to the word No in response to your desire manifests itself at a very young age, doesn't it?  It's one of the first signs of a toddler's growing independence.  Unfortunately, it's something that you never completely mature out of, even as an adult.  Some times, when God says No, it's fairly easy to understand why - perhaps that financial windfall would have led to a sense of pride, or that A on a test that you didn't study for would encourage your tendency towards procrastination and lack of self-discipline.  But the hardest Nos to hear are when you desire a good thing.  I recently went through a miscarriage that tore my heart up.  As soon as I began to sense that things were not going normally, I fell to my knees in serious prayer - asking God for a miracle, desperately asking that he might allow me to keep the baby that I already loved and wanted.  These fervent prayers and frantic pleas lasted for days.  The utter stillness and quiet tormented me.  Eventually, though, God provided an answer, and that answer was No.  I don't understand why, right now, and my heart still hurts.  But what I do know, and what I hold onto, is to be found in the Word of the Lord.

For I know the plans I have for you, " declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you.  Plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11

C'est la vie!

Life gets in the way of things like blogging sometimes, doesn't it?  Oh well, the only reset that's too late is the one that never happens!  So here I am again.  I won't make any fantastic promises, and I'm not planning on trying to catch up.  I'm just going to let my blog be what it will be.  The end and amen.

Summer is coming to a close quickly.  We've spent the week thus far doing doctors and dentists appointments, cleaning up from our camping trip, and starting back-to-school shopping (I always have grandiose plans to get this done ahead of time, but inevitably I wait til the week before - I think I'm in denial prior to that).  I'm excited for Fall: cooler temperatures, football season, all my favorite scents, colors, and flavors, a more structured family life in terms of school being back in session, and, for the first time in all my 16 years of child-bearing, a brand new Fall baby (something I've always wanted but have never had!).  Bring it on, I say!

A pretty sky view from our front yard

33 weeks and holding

Camping fun at Badger Creek

My biggest girls

She's Here

Elinor Kerensa Jane Fife arrived on July 15th, 2010, at 12:55 pm in Wausau, Wisconsin. She came a surprising 12 days before her due date and weighed in at 7lbs 7.5 oz and 19.8 inches long. She was bigger than all of my babies (except for Hero, who was two weeks late and still only 7lbs 11oz) and much earlier too. Some of the best things in life are surprises, and Elle's been the very definition of one since the beginning.

I'll have to spend some time catching up with posts and pictures from our vacation and Elle's birth, but at least I got the pertinent details up for now.

The Last Thing In the World I Wanted To Do Again

The title pretty much sums it up - I just found out yesterday that I have to do the one thing that I dread most during pregnancy: take the 3 hour glucose test. My one hour screen came back slightly elevated, just like it did during my fourth pregnancy, which means I have to do the icky, horrible, terrible 3 hour test. It's a no win situation - I strongly believe that I do not have Gestational Diabetes because it just doesn't make sense given my history and the fact that I have had, every time, babies that at full term weigh in on the smaller side of average. But, GD is dangerous when it's uncontrolled, so it's not something that I can just say, "nah, I'll pass" because it would weigh too heavily on my conscience. I hate, hate, hate this test, for two reasons. Primarily it's because there's this feeling of personal failure. Weight and eating habits are a risk factor for GD. There's nothing like knowing you've royally screwed up because of your messed-up relationship with food (that's a whole other post for another time though). Secondarily, the test is pure torture. It involves fasting and then drinking this super-sugary (blech!) drink and they draw your blood multiple times to monitor how efficiently your body is processing the sugar. By the time I got to the last draw last time (which is about four hours in) I was on the verge of passing out and they could barely find a vein to stick the needle in. I have it scheduled for next week Thursday and James will have to take half the day off so he can take care of the kids. I'm so done being pregnant (with this pregnancy and forever).

Potpourri

There is no rhyme or reason to this thread, just random pictures I've had for the month of March.

This is spring weather in Idaho - I took this photo two Saturdays ago when we woke up to dumping snow. Pretty in December, not so pretty in March. I was so cranky about it. Late snow is depressing especially after you've gotten a whiff of spring weather. Luckily it melted off later that day and we haven't seen any since.

And then we have some assorted "Cecily eating" pictures, because that's what it seems like she's usually doing. She loves waffles and those super-expensive Gerber Yogurt Melts best.

Then we have Cecily's first mini-pigtails from Sunday. It took about three times to get each one in but she was so cute that it was worth it. She's got hair just like the rest of the children - super fine and slick, so it's pretty hard to work with. Oh, except for it's medium brown color, which is so unlike the other kids at this age. I'm so excited to find out whether the new baby is another brunette or if we go back to having blondies.

And, finally, an updated pregnancy pic, even though it's terrible. Could my hair BE any flatter? (((sigh))) At least you can't see how badly it needs a coloring. Oh well, bills before beauty, right? This was from Sunday, so I was 21 weeks.

Halfway

We have met the halfway point in this pregnancy which is CRAZY! We had our anatomy scan last week and I'm so surprised that basically I've gotten my gender "preference" for the last four babies. Isn't that unlikely? Of course any healthy baby would have been completely fine, but I was hoping for a girl for Cecily's sake and for our sake. So, happily, Cecily will have a little almost-Irish twin sister and our sixth baby will not feel out-of-place in her girly clothes and accessories LOL. Everything looked great - baby was measuring right on schedule and weighed 9 ounces (smallish, but in the normal range, and to be expected since I don't have big babies). She was squirming lots but we got good pics, except for of the face - the placenta is attached in the front of my belly right now, so it was kind of in the way, but it does explain why movements are pretty infrequent still. She has a name (I think) already, but we're planning on keeping it a surprise til birth, at least as of right now.

Valentine's Day

I've been remiss in my blogging duties. It's been busy, but not inordinately so. I think I'm just feeling pretty worn out right now. Hero's been trying in a 10-year-old-trying-to-assert-her-indepence kind of a way. This is the slow time for James' business, which is stressful. It's also the slow time for MY business, however I should start picking up by the end of the month. Colin's not doing much as far as potty-training, but we are down to his last box of diapers and after that we will not be buying anymore, so we'll have to really get serious (please God, make it easy on me, as I'm not ready to deal with poopy pants right now). Allegra, Hero, and Ian are prepping for piano festival this Friday and Hero and Allegra have been upping their figure skating practice sessions because they've committed to doing their first competition in June. They are completely loving watching the Olympics on television. Cecily has learned to wave and it's SO cute. I love, love, love this age. James and I got to go out for Valentine's Day dinner (thanks to Nana and Papa for babysitting). We went to PF Chang's (such a stereotypical pregnancy craving, I know) and enjoyed a relaxing linner, as James called it (at 4:00). Then we went to the mall and stopped into the Disney Store before they close for good here and also went to Motherhood and I got some great new summer clothes. Buying summer dresses makes me wish for fine weather (and yes, I had to include the pictures of the dresses I bought just because I love them so much LOL). Speaking of pregnancy, it's flying by pretty fast - I'm 17 weeks today and our big gender u/s is just two weeks away. I had the second half of my sequential screen yesterday and am anxiously awaiting the results. Most of the time I don't stress much about the elevated risk we got back from the first tests, but it's constantly in the back of my mind, so getting a definitive answer late this week or early next will be such a relief (and please pray for me that I don't need an amniocentesis because that procedure scares me, for some reason).

What's Shaking?

Not much really, but it's been too long since I've posted, so I think it's time for a quick update. Colin is potty-training (kind of, it's definitely a one step forward, two steps back process). Cecily is starting on finger foods and surprised everyone by "stealing" her brother's grilled cheese sandwich while he wasn't looking. Ian signed up for T-ball, which won't start for a while, but it's going to be kind of strange to do boy things after so many years of being a quintessential girl mom. And we did the first part of the sequential screening test which included a long ultrasound, meaning we got to see Little Poohba again. It was fun to see the baby. Some of the results came back a little elevated for risk (not enough to be concerned, but we'll definitely be waiting anxiously for the second part of the bloodwork to be done around 18 weeks or so).

Pictures

Today was our first "official" OB appointment. We got to see the little one and he or she was moving around like crazy - the entire body and the arms and legs. So cute! I can't wait til I can start feeling those movements because that's one of the most awesome parts of pregnancy. The due date was moved up a few days to July 27th, which is almost always a good thing, but in this case not so much LOL. At least it wasn't by far. We get to see the little poohba next week too, as a part of the sequential screening test.

Still Here...

I'm still here and still pregnant, to my shock, truth be told. I'm now more pregnant than I've been since my second pregnancy and I have no idea when this baby might decide to come. I had an appointment yesterday and the doctor stripped my membranes to try and bring on labor. She said she was very hopeful that it would work (I'm already 4.5 cm dilated) but also that she couldn't predict my uterus. Well, I had some good contractions and crampiness all day long but when I went to bed I slept the best sleep I've had in a long time, go figure. Obviously she's going to be a "handful" as she's waiting to come til her due date week because we have no one that week to watch her older siblings :-(. The stress is immense at this point. On a side note, who wants a post without a picture, so here's a random one of the boys together this week.

Mother's Day

I was so hoping that the full moon was going to help me out and give me a Mother's Day baby but no go. I'm still here as pregnant as ever. 38 weeks 3 days, to be exact (do you like the cut-off head? Hero took the picture LOL). Here's what I certainly hope is our last pre-baby family portrait. Well, James is missing because he's taking the picture, but you get the idea... Happy Mother's Day Mom!

OMG - One Month Left!

I can't believe that our baby is due in one month! I'm excited and terrified LOL. I can't wait to meet her but we've got a lot of things to finish before we are ready for her arrival. We cleaned out the garage this past weekend and hopefully we can focus on spring-cleaning the house this coming weekend. She is still in dire need of a few essentials including a coming-home outfit (don't get me wrong - she has lots of clothes, I just haven't found the perfect outfit to bring her home in because it's hard to predict what the weather will be like in mid-May) and a new carseat (Colin was such a spit-uppy baby that I don't want to use his old one, plus they now recommend the bigger infant carseats that fit up to 30 lbs). I'm nervous at the thought of when I'm going to go into labor and what we are going to do with Hero, Allegra, Ian and Colin while we're in the hospital. I'm wondering if Cecily's going to be as much of a handful outside as she is inside (she's ALWAYS on the move). I'm curious as to whether the transition from four to five will be easy or hard. 30 (ish) days to go!

Mad Good

I have a new craving - McDonald's sweet tea. They just introduced it here and so you get a huge 32 oz cup for only $1. It arrived just in time for me to wean off of diet sodas in preparation for nursing. It's crazy good and it comes in an insulated cups so the ice cubes don't melt, so I get to chew on them after the sweet tea is gone (bad, I know). Now I'm sure that Southern purists would have a fit with my plebian tastes, but you know what, I'm a Northern girl through and through, so I'm easy to please when it comes to tea. On a more serious note, I had my fetal fibronectin test today and it came back negative which means that I will almost certainly not go into labor in the next two weeks. They still want me on modified bedrest and pelvic rest, and I will be seeing my OB weekly from here on out, but it's definitely good news.

I've Officially Lost It

Okay, I have now entered the phase of pregnancy that is just downright scary. I'm a raging lunatic ;-P You never know what might set me off. James just received a lovely phone call from me an hour ago because he bought the wrong kind of ham. Literally I yelled for 30 seconds about ham. (((SIGH))) This too shall pass, right?! Today was my first two week visit. She went ahead and checked me because I told her about all the contractions I've been having, and just as suspected, things are progressing. I'm 1.5 centimeters dilated at 32 weeks 5 days. The nurse practitioner kind of panicked about it and said I would need to go over to the hospital for monitoring, but I told her that I started dilating early with Ian and she checked my records and indeed I was 1-2 cm at 33 weeks back then. So she's ordered a fetal fibronectin test for tomorrow (it predicts if a patient will go into labor within two weeks) and modified bedrest (ie take it easy) and pelvic rest until 35 weeks (yeah right) if the test comes back negative. Fun times! And just so you don't have to stare at a solitary picture of the offending ham (yes, I pulled it out of the fridge to take a picture, I have a point about it being totally gross, don't I?) I included one of the boys playing together yesterday. Sometimes I suspect they might actually like each other. Gotta love the mess they created too, although to their credit they did clean it up last night.