12 Weeks

Only two more weeks left in the first trimester. WHOOOHOOO!! Well, actually less than that. As of today I am 12wks3days. Every day counts. :)...But, nothing too exciting going on. The morning sickness has decided return from the hours of 4pm-10pm. It did that with Patrick, too. Just when I thought I was out of the woods, so to speak, it snuck up on me! There have also been a VERY few times when I wonder if I have felt the baby move. Extremely early for this, but I usually feel my babies move early due to my size. The few times that have made me wonder have been when my bladder is extremely full, I'm pouring myself in to my pre-pregnancy jeans and I'm bent over or squatting on the floor with the boys. Who knows if it's Quad, or not! Oh, and Quad is Baby Carraway #4's name at this point. According to Robert, anyway! Patrick and Marshall have caught on to calling the baby Quad, too. It's kind of funny. But, no worries, we will have a name for him/her by the time we come home from the hospital. I can pretty much guarantee, though, that we will NOT have a name anytime before that! We like to take our time...


On Tuesday I go for my Ultrascreen. We'll get the results a week or so later. Hopefully we will be blessed, as before, for all things to look 'normal' and require no additional testing. These screenings always make me nervous. I think it's because I've seen unhealthy babies and cared for them in the NICU and just pray everyday for a healthy pregnancy and thank God for the three healthy children we have. But, I'll try to post the latest pics of Quad this week. He or she will actually resemble a baby in this ultrasound instead of a peanut!

For the Love of Marshall

Oh, Marshy, Marshy, Marshy...I like to call them 'Marshall Moments.' They are original, very original. They usually involve the trademark whaling that Marshall is famous for. They also usually involve me counting to ten- like a thousand times.


We had a classic 'Marshall Moment' yesterday morning. Marshall went in the bathroom after breakfast to take his diaper off, put pee pee in the potty and put on his underwear. Pretty simple, as it is part of our morning routine. But, things did not go smoothly on this morning- AT ALL. I hear the toilet lid drop and just seconds later the ear piercing whaling that our Marshy is known for. I ran in the bathroom to see Marshall clenching his hands together, mumbling something about pinching his finger while swaying back and forth AND peeing ALL OVER the bathroom. I mean ALL OVER, as in like a lawn sprinkler. I honestly didn't know what to do. I ended up turning him away from me and hugging him from behind, as he was still peeing. I've never seen his bladder that full!! He still wouldn't stop howling- or peeing. And, Marshall doesn't just howl when he's hurt. He howls if he's frustrated, tired, doesn't get his way, in a bad mood...Well, quite frankly, Marshall pretty much howls any opportunity he can. So, after quarantining the other two boys so I could settle Marshall and clean both he and the entire bathroom I seriously just sat and laughed my head off.

This is my Marshy. DRAMATIC, sensitive, accident prone (I think that's why he likes to just wear his bike helmet like all the time!,) hysterical, super silly, goofy, clueless (more so than the average 2 1/2 yr old,) a wanderer, a free spirit, sweet as can be AND probably the reason I'm going to end up in the Loony Bin! Marshall has a way of pushing my buttons. I'm thinking it's because maybe we are too much alike, or too different. I cannot even begin to say how many times per day I tell Marshall to, "settle down," "look where you're walking," "pay attention," "get your hands out of your pockets while your running! Remember how badly it hurt the last time you fell with your hands in your pockets?!?"...I could go on and on and on. But, you get the picture.

Marshall is such a sweet child and cute as can be, if I say so myself! But, how in the world are we (and I mean Marshall and I) going to survive the next 15 1/2 years together under the same roof???? How can this little person bring out so much love, laughter, joy AND frustration? Oh, he's one a kind, my sweet Mash Tater and I just love him to pieces...even though I am counting to one million at this moment because I can see on the video monitor that he has stripped his clothes off and is running around his bedroom instead of taking a nap.

Wordless Wednesday

Patrick-isms

Yup, I've got a couple of new ones! Gotta love the stuff that comes out of the mouth of a 3 1/2 year old.


This morning on our way home from the gym we drove over the same railroad tracks that we drive over almost every time we leave our house. They're kind of on a hill and are a little bumpy, but we deal with them daily. I hardly ever pay any attention. Patrick, however, does. As we were driving over them today he said to me in his super-serious-ever-so-frustrated 3 year old voice, "Momma, my penis is tired of going over this hill! He's tired of it!" Huh?!? I asked Patrick to repeat what he said, as I was sure I didn't' hear it right. But, nope, I was right. Evidently, his penis is just tired of going over the railroad tracks. Note taken. I'm guessing the bumpiness of them jostles him around in his car seat and maybe the buckle irritates him?! Who knows....



Just moments after the above took place, we saw a landscaping crew digging up a front yard. They had some pretty serious equipment- bobcat, huge shovels, backhoe, etc. Patrick took one look, his eyes got super big and he said, "Momma, look! Are they digging for worms?!?" Me: " Maybe they are, Patrick!" Patrick: in total heaven, grinning to ear. I could just see the wheels turning in his little head. He will no longer be satisfied digging in the one flower bed that I allow worm digging. He's going to have a excavating crew out there to help him out!!

And I Was Only Like 5 Feet Away... I Promise!

This is how our morning started on Friday. And yes, that is a Styrofoam plate. It is sitting on my stove. Dumb thing to do, I know. Probably pretty dumb (or just plain lazy) that I feed my children breakfast on disposable plates, but our mornings are busy and they make for a quick and easy clean up! Just moments before this picture was taken this plate had the other half of the banana and a sausage biscuit sitting on it. What happened, you ask...

Well, I was just 5 feet away (I promise!) in our half bath drying my hair while the big boys were *supposed* to be sitting in their chairs eating breakfast. Graham was still asleep. All of the sudden two little boys appear in the bathroom stuttering something about the stove being on and a fire. What?!? I throw the hair dryer, still on, in the sink (very dumb move, I know) and run towards the stove. The above picture is what I found. Evidently, Marshall turned on the burner while swiping his little brother's breakfast. The Styrofoam place melted/burned and what he was kind enough to leave on his brother plate got singed. But, at least a potentially life threatening event was avoided. Marshall had the common sense to turn off the stove. And, I now have sense enough to not set a plate on the stove. Both of the big boys got a good talking' to about the danger of the stove/oven/fire and I had to make poor little Grammy a new breakfast.

I know I've mentioned the whole taking food from Graham in previous posts and I have recently decided that it must be some sort of crazy dominance thing. Patrick and Marshall both take his food, but they know better than to take food from each other. Weird. But, Graham holds his own and at the rate he's growing he's definitely going to be the biggest of the three!

Snow! Snow!

The past few weeks have been filled with snow, here in the 'Nati! I did my best bundle everyone up and get 'em out to play each time we had new snow falling. And, I've gotta say that I doubt we will be continuing our snow playing. Maybe my boys just have too much southern blood in them or something, but they just don't really get in to playing in the snow. Patrick is getting better and really enjoyed going down the slide of our play set, but Marshall and Graham have about a 90 second window before it all goes downhill....and I'm not talking about the sled!

This is how all of our snow playing experiences end. At least 2 of the boys have a major melt down because they refused to keep their gloves on, resulting in cold and wet hands. Hopefully they will outgrow this phase, because I really want to do some fun sledding. We have some great hills to sled down around here and I just love seeing all the pics of the kiddos having a blast !

11 Weeks

So, I'm 11 weeks pregnant today! Kind of feels like I should be like 31 weeks, though. Time always moves a little slower in the winter...But, things are going well. My 10 week appointment was rescheduled to this week, due to weather, and because of this rescheduling I (or, maybe everyone in the office!) was lucky enough to have the boys with me. They were actually very well behaved, believe it or not! The only problem?!? Well, at this appointment they do a 'culture' for all the state required STD tests and a pap. No big deal, right?!? Wrong. My darling middle son was just convinced that he needed to be in on ALL the action. Not standing by momma's head holding her hand, but at the foot of the exam table watching every move my midwife made. Awesome...not really. It was pretty funny with both of us trying to keep him north of the equator. I'm just not ready to answer some questions right now! But, the boys were VERY sweet when we got to hear Baby Carraway #4's heart beat with the doppler. They just stood there in amazement while my midwife explained to them that the sound was the heart beat of the baby in momma's belly. Yesterday morning they even put their heads on my tummy and said they were listening for the baby. After Patrick explained to me that he was pushing his little finger through my bebo (aka belly button) to squish the little baby in my belly! Nice, huh?

So, the appointment was a success. We managed to keep Marshall from getting more education than he needs at the moment and Patrick and Graham were easily distrated with my bribe of Twizzlers! Patrick did, however, ask to go to eat lunch at Chili's as were leaving. After my last OB appointment we went to eat at Chili's and he must have really enjoyed it! Or, maybe he just thought it was part of the routine...

But, the stats of my most recent appointment:

10 weeks 6 days pregnant

Blood pressure: 110/60

Pee in a cup: looks good! Yeah, try explaining to three boys why it is okay for mommy to pee in a

cup at the doctor but not them!

Weight: good gain

Heart beat: found on first try!

I go back in a week and a half for my Ultrascreen. We'll get to see our little bean on the monitor and hopefully have great results from our prenatal testing!