We survived! Barely. I’m so tired! We are all moved in and mostly unpacked. Jon’s Mom was such a help through the entire moving process. Jon’s grandparents paid for a hotel and some food for us through the two days of moving too! Such a blessing. It helped have a base camp for the kids to feel a little more settled through everything, and it kept the kids with us. Sofie hasn’t slept anywhere with out us so I was a little worried to send her to Gramma’s for the night. The hotel saved us all from that stress. Jon’s brothers came out on moving day and assembled all our Ikea purchases for us! It was such a big help! I hate putting that stuff together.

We have a bit more to do in the Master bedroom with our closet that has seemed to be the dumping ground for anything we don’t have a spot for yet. We also have to get some bookcases for Jon’s thousands of books… and I’m not exaggerating the number. I think one more trip to Ikea is in our future.

Nothing is decorated yet which is starting to get to me. I don’t do well without pictures on the walls to make it feel like home. I don’t want to put the first holes in the walls until I’m sure where I want things though.

The girls are settling in well. Livi’s room is all unpacked and Sofie’s mostly is… although we are missing a box of hers somewhere. I want to paint and put a wall of wallpaper up in Livi’s room eventually too. I know what I want, but it will be a matter of finding the right wall paper. Sofie’s room will remain white and bare as she is getting used to her big girl bed and we find out the gender of baby #3. I don’t know what to do with the rest of the house and actually don’t think we have the patience or money to do the rest of the house. Builder’s beige will remain for a few years I think.

For Sofie’s big girl bed we just took a side off her crib and put up a rail up. Last night was the first night and she did great! She fell asleep in her bed and stayed there in the morning! Not expecting that. We’ll see how nap time goes.

Livi has woken up crying a few times and been a little confused about her surroundings but she is doing well. She has been enjoying the new stuff in the house. The floors are dark wood and she keeps pretending they are mud that she will sink in if she steps in it. I love her imagination 🙂

Well, I should probably get back to work! Or take a nap…

Tonight is the last night I will spend in the home I grew up in. It is the only home I have any real memories. It is where I grew up in to the person I am today. I think it just hit me. I’m feeling very nostalgic. A little sad even.

This is the home that we moved to when I was 10 years old after finally being able to get away from my birth father. My mom made us a home in this house, where we felt safe. We never really felt safe before. It was our haven. Our mom was our hero.

It held me through my angry teen years. I was free to cry and hurt and smile and laugh. All those things happened a lot. This home was a secure place to come home to when I went off to college. I came back and forth while I figured myself out. I got married out of this home. Then almost ten years after I left, I moved back to this home with my family, preparing to bring Sofie home. Even though I got a lot of raised eyebrows, and felt some apprehension myself, about moving back to my childhood home and living so close to my mom, it has been one of the best decisions we ever made. This is the only real home Sofie has known. It is has been the safe haven for her, just as it was for me. She has blossomed here, just like my siblings and I did.

Now, we are leaving. I’m excited for the change. The new house is brand spankin’ new and laid out so much better. We are switching with my mom to be upstairs now so she won’t have any steps and the kids have a bit more room to run around. It is a beautiful house where I think we will spend many happy years. Our next baby will be welcomed home there. My girls will start school from there. I might even start to grow old there 🙂 We’ll see what life has for us. I hope this new house is as special to my kids as the one I’m leaving tomorrow is to me.

Think of my kids as we are transitioning. Livi frequently wakes up with nightmares when her world is not on routine. I don’t know how this move is going to affect Sofie either. She has already been hitting more often. I hope she doesn’t regress too much and takes comfort in us, rather than her surroundings. Moves are hard on everyone, but I am concerned for my kids. Pray for all of us.

I’m feeling ready to get congrats’ now on the baby. I think what it took was connecting with the midwife. She won’t be the one to deliver this baby but she did reassure some of my fears of even being able to have a midwife and possibly…. a home birth.

Yup, I’m tentatively hoping for a home birth. Actually, a water birth to be more exact. I would love to have a water birth, whether that is at home or at the hospital. I think I would prefer a hospital water birth but hospitals in BC don’t allow that… unless the woman was to refuse to get out of the tub… which I don’t think would be to hard for me to do 🙂 I might just be pretty good at being stubborn 🙂 I’ll be disappointed and scared if it ends with a c-section but as long as everyone is healthy I’ll be fine with how ever it turns out.

She reassured me about being able to have a midwife even with having an over 40 BMI. The midwife group in the town that I live won’t take women who have a BMI over 37 or 38. I was a little concerned that the group 20 min away would have a similar attitude. They were completely accepting and totally willing to be my midwife. If there are complications where they have to transfer care they can still, apparently, transfer care back post birth and assist with the post birth care of the baby and myself. It felt good to hear that is a possibility. Not sure how that would work out completely though.

They are going to do a little extra monitoring of me and the baby just to make sure the pregnancy is low risk. I will have three more ultra sounds to monitor the babies growth. Around 20 weeks, 29 weeks and 36 weeks. I think the ultra sound at 20 weeks will be at Women’s Hospital. This has nothing to do with the midwife and everything to do with my sister’s heart problems 🙂 She was born with a pretty serious heart defect and my brother has a minor one too. When I had Livi they told me any future pregnancies should have their ultrasounds done at Women’s, so they can do a fetal echo-cardiograph.

Jon and I, mostly me, are hoping to get one of those 3D ultrasounds done. We didn’t get one for Livi because they were crazy expensive back then but they have come down in price a lot. I found a place for only $80. I think I can get Jon to spring for that 🙂

I’m convinced we are having a boy. With Livi I was terrified of having a son, but now I think I actually want one! I want a girl too. I can honestly say I will be ecstatic with either gender! We are going to find out the gender this time. We were surprised with Livi, chose with Sofie and are going to find out with our “boy”. I will be really surprised if we have a girl 🙂 I think we have our boy name too but Jon won’t commit until we know for sure … if you happen to remember our boy name from our last pregnancy it might be the exact same 😉