Not Sure What I Was Thinking

So, surprisingly I got my period on June 26th!  The only reason I remember the date is because it was the day of Brooke's baptism, which made me think that it might have been a sign from God that there would be more in store for us.  Well, after trying to get pregnant for three years, it's kind of hard to not try.  I haven't gotten another period yet, but that doesn't mean anything.  It's normal for me not to get one, but now I'm overthinking everything.  Are my boobs tender?  Is my leg hair growing faster? Am I nauseous, or did I just eat too much? 

I did decide that I cannot live my life taking a pregnancy test every three weeks.  So I have decided to live like I am pregnant drinking no alcohol and continuing my prenatal vitamins and taking a test every three months.  It should show up negative, and then I go on Provera to start my period again to prevent uterine cancer.  If not, then I may have to announce on my birthday that I am having an Irish twin...that would be INSANE!  I can't imagine having two kids under two, much less two kids under one!  I don't think that this was thought through very well...

Who's Still Reading This Thing?

...for those of you that are, you may have noticed a title change.  After spending three years trying to get pregnant with #2, we know that there is a very slim chance of us getting pregnant again on our own with another.  Brad and I have both wanted 3+ children in our family, and even though giving birth to Brooke was not the best experience in the world, I can't imagine not having more children.

I went to my 6 week follow up visit with the OB/GYN and since I'm not nursing Brooke, I should have gotten my period 4-6 weeks after delivery.  After hearing that news, I was pretty convinced that Clomid would be the only way we would get pregnant with another...if we even wanted to go that far.  Surprisingly, God may have different plans. 

Our philosophy on more children has not changed.  If God gives us more, we will be so happy, but if two is all that was meant to be, we are thrilled with that as well.  After spending three years trying for #2, there is no way I will go back on birth control, but after having Brooke I also don't see the need for fertility drugs to try to have more.  It's all in His hands!

One Month Old Already

Baby Brooke.wmv

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Brooke's Baby Shower

(forgive me for copying from the Bliven blog...)

Last weekend my sister organized a baby shower for me and Brooke. Since I have so many clothes and "essentials" already, the theme was bows and books! A little girl can never have too many bows and we definitely needed to add some "girlie" books to her reading! Amazingly, there were NO repeat gifts! Brooke has tons to read and accessorize with now!

Baby blanket that my mom knitted for Brooke. Will be treasured forever!

Cute personalized bloomers from Megan with "Brooke" on the butt!

My amazingly creative sister MADE this bow holder and some of the bows on it for her favorite new niece.

I am so blessed!

The Closet is FULL!

We are pretty crazy organized when it comes to closets in our house. We don't live in an enormous house with tons of storage space, so we need to make the most of the space that we have. I'm sure that I learned the "clean closet" from my dad (especially if you have seen those pictures), but Brooke's closet looks pretty impressive now that it is complete and full.

Each set of hangers on the right of the tower holds a different set of months. 3-6 on the top, 0-3 in the middle (easily accessible), and 6-9 on the bottom, larger sizes are on the left. Each rack is organized by sleeve length so I can make sure that I get through all the clothes at least once before she grows out of them. Blankets and towels are on the shelves with socks, shoes, and hats in the pink canvas boxes. The top drawer holds bathing suits and coverups and the bottom drawer contains bibs and burp cloths. Diapers are on the bottom shelf with blanket to play on the floor on in the bottom pull out bin.

Remember...these are only the hanging clothes. All onesies and sleepers are housed in the dresser on the other side of the room. We're hoping to have the nursery completely decorated and organized in time for my shower this weekend, so I will post pictures when we are even more complete!

Thanks to Sophia for being born in April, and thanks to Susie for saving, organizing, and storing all the clothes for two years for them to finally be used again.

Closet and Clothes!!! Oh My!

Over Winter Break I washed, hung, and folded almost all of the clothes that I got from Susie. I also washed blankets, towels, burp clothes, bibs, and liners to baby gear. I am so tired of doing laundry. While I was doing all the laundry, Brad was busy building out a closet system to house the massive amount of clothes that we have. I will post pictures shortly! I still can't believe that I have three more months to wait...I am ready for her any day now!

Now I have to start preparing mentally for labor and preparing for the hospital stay and contacting my insurance company and all that fun paperwork. I am also debating whether or not to bank this baby's cord blood. We did not bank Brady's, but now there is so much that can be done with stem cells. I would hate for one of my babies to get sick and have the doctor tell me that it would have been easy to fix if we had cord blood to harvest stem cells from. Not to mention that Brad and I could benefit from it as well as all of our nieces and nephews if they got sick. ...just one more thing to figure out before the big day!

Three more months!