She's Here! Patience Olivia Gunn!

First contraction

6:55 am
Fairly mild... Let you know more soon. Please pray

Water Broke!

Around 6am - still waiting for some strong contractions.

Loved this...

DSC_0378, originally uploaded by cgclan2003.

Okay, so I still don't know how to upload photos and Colin has been too busy to do more, so these may seem a bit repetitive. Anyway, I just loved this pic of Gracie. It is SO her!! Full of fun and spirit :)

In other news... due date is a couple more days away and I go back and forth between utter exhaustion and huge energy spurts. I also go back and forth between slight discomfort and not being able to walk at all. Good times... I got a birth ball to try to get labor going, but I end up letting the kids play with it more than I end up sittiing on it :) We are all very excited about getting to meet little Patience, let's hope she really is little ;)

Look what we got!!

DSC_0363, originally uploaded by cgclan2003.

No, the kid isn't new, but the camera sure is! Just in time for the imminent arrival of Patience too. That may have had something to do with the death threat I gave if there were no camera to capture the baby's first few days and moments, but maybe it was just coincidence ;)

Look for more pictures to come soon and pray I can figure out how to use this thing!

BTW - Mercy at the splash park. Notice the pink nails. She brought me the paint and insisted I do her nails. Then she walked around with a big grin like she knew how beautiful she looked :)

Perspective

I'm at the stage where I'm so uncomfortable that I'm forgetting the reason for my discomfort. There is actually a baby in that big ball in my tummy! Oh, yeah! The pictures from this video helped me to remember that after a really long week:


HT: HeartsforFamily.blogspot.com

Unofficially...

...we will name the baby Patience Olivia. We hope others like this name too, but if not please keep it to yourself as it could make things awkward for you and her, oh... say... the rest of her life! :)

Thanks to Kristi for reminding me to tell y'all!

Okay, I really am trying to update this thing more than once a year :)

So... I had my midwife appt. on Thursday and she said she thought the baby was about 6lbs. That got me really excited because it just made the birth seem all that closer. She is no longer a little itty bitty thing, but the size of a lot of newborns out there - maybe not my newborns necessarily, but still...! I'm hoping for another 8 pounder instead of over 9 like Mercy and Molly were.

The midwife is really great and she has been trying to reassure me that this birth experience and the hospital nurses are going to be much better than the last. Yay!! I am really praying that this birth will be calm, easy, and most importantly joyful as opposed to crazy, chaotic, and stressful like last time. I can't remember if I ever posted that birth story on here or not. Long story short... really mean, rude doctors and nurses calling me racist, telling me I don't love my baby, and that I should just go home because I was "uncompliant." Basically, I came in at full blown labor and transition, tried to decline the i.v. and couldn't answer some questions because I was too busy moaning through contractions and they couldn't see that I was in labor and not just rude. That all happened within twenty minutes of giving birth, by the way.

Anywho... onward and upward, right? :)

Happy Birthday!

Knox turns five today! What an amazing, smart, sweet, funny, and loving kid I have there. I am so blessed! May he be a strong God-fearing man one day.

Sorry...

....for not posting in sooo long! Our camera broke and I hate posting without pictures - I'm afraid I'll bore everyone to tears ;) Anyway, we're still here. I'm 32 weeks, about to pop, and would do just about anything to be able to bend over without having to grunt to breathe.
I'm thinking about live blogging the birth - wouldn't that be fun :)

Turning a corner

Yesterday marks a new era in the Gunn household. Gracie learned how to put sheets on a bed all by herself! She worked so hard for an hour and then called me in to surprise me. I was so thrilled to see her try so hard. The girls beds are particularly difficult because you can't pull them out from the wall. Even I have a hard time getting the corners all the way down. She is becoming such a wonderful helper and companion to me.

In other news, we are thrilled to announce that we expecting a new little one sometime next June! So far so good with the morning sickness, but I'm losing my taste for chocolate :(

BTW- my other computer had a nasty virus on it, so I've switched to another one for awhile. This unfortunately makes me lose access to my pictures so none to post right now. I will try to figure out how to do them on this machine soon.

New

I've updated my profile pic!  

Sabbath rest

21 But there the majestic LORD will be for us
A place of broad rivers and streams,
In which no galley with oars will sail,
Nor majestic ships pass by
22 (For the LORD is our Judge,
The LORD is our Lawgiver,
The LORD is our King;
He will save us);

Isaiah 33

Dresses, movies, and new friends

I promised a while back to post some pics of Gracie in her party dress, but one of her brothers decided to erase them so that he could take pictures of his Spiderman shoes. We finally got some more pictures, and although these didn't turn out as good as the first ones, she still looks beautiful. :)
Last night, we drove to Dallas to a movie premiere! It was a wonderful Christian movie done by the Heumoore team. We really loved this film and can't wait to get our own copy. These are the same men who made the famous Bubble Trouble movie which is one of my kids' favorites. The boys got to meet their hero Gator and Gracie got to meet Reagan. They were beyond thrilled. Noah kept saying, "Mom, I didn't know the people in the movie were REAL!" The viewing was held at the Faith Prebyterian Church where we got to fellowship with some wonderful new friends. Colin made his rounds with the men and I met in particular a couple of beautiful sisters that were so sweet. They are stay-at-home-daughters and are becoming so skilled in the arts of homemaking. They are where I wish I was when I got married. No - they are where I wish I would be now! The Heumoore boys and the Reins sisters are such inspirations to me as I seek to raise my children to be godly men and women. They are proof that with God's grace, it can be done!

Another post about 8

Happy 8 years to Colin and me!

Random 8

Thanks to Amy over at Moms3Psalms! I think this is the first meme I've actually done. Let's see if I can do find 8 whole facts to tell.

First, the rules are to post 8 facts about yourself, then tag 8 people when you're done.

So.....(cue drum roll)
1. I sometimes imagine I can sing like Celine Dion. Usually in the car when I'm by myself. I love, love, love singing really loud but I'll only do it when I'm by myself, or with Gracie - looks like she inherited this from me! :)

2. I am officially at the same weight I was when I got married, exactly eight years ago today! This is also the lowest I've been since I got pregnant the first time.

3. I'm very, very introverted but have learned to enjoy being in social situations thanks to God's grace and some pushing from my hubby.

4. One of the reasons I hate being in social situations is because I end up really, really, really regretting something I said - either it was inadvertently rude, or just plain embarrassing.

5. I am often inadvertently rude. If I've done this to you, chances are, that I realized it later and then have deeply regretted it but was too embarrassed to apologize to you. So, for the record, I'm sorry!!

6. My pet peeve is people who are fake. I would rather deal with rude than insincere any day.

7. I admire, in probably an unhealthy way, the Duggar family.

8. I'm secretly very, very sad that I don't know anyone else IRL that isn't quiverfull minded. If I meet someone with several kids, I'll try to find out where they stand on the issue. I think people might take this like I'm passing judgments, when in reality I just want someone I can relate to and talk with on this subject.

Okay, so enough about me. Anyone else wanna play? Tag! You're it!

Tunnel of love

FYI - Every time I try and leave a comment on a blogger site, my computer does this weird thing and the page freezes up. I just didn't want anyone thinking I was ignoring them!

Weeeeee!

Music time

It's amazing how quickly dancing and singing....

degenerates into tackling and wrestling.

BTW- Molly managed to lodge our cable for the camera deeply into a hole on the computer so I can't upload any pics of Gracie in her beautiful new party dress she got from Grandma and Grandpa Gunn today. But she L-O-V-E-S it and all her other clothes and presents as well! In the mean time, the above pics are from yesterday with Gracie in one of the other pretty dresses. Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa Gunn!! She's really had a blast with all the packages coming her way :)

A walk on the wild side

That's right! She's officially making her way across rooms. And she's getting her first teeth, a full two months ahead of the rest of the kids. I thank God for these great blessings and mercies!