Cha-cha-cha-cha-changes

Note: This is mainly a record of how I'm feeling for my own recollection. Read only if you feel like hearing me complain!

Four weeks of bed rest down. After the initial shock, it got better for a while there, but it is getting old again, fast. Here comes the whine....

I am SO ready to have my house and life back (even though I know I am SO VERY BLESSED to have so much family support). Sitting back watching other people run your life is extremely hard! Although it sounds nice, it is anything but. I never saw myself as a control freak but I am starting to wonder if I had a clear view of myself! It is driving me insane to not be able to take control of my own household, spending normal quality time with Quincy and getting out and doing things. It's killing me to know that I am stuck here in bed with the precious few weeks left before all our lives are turned upside down. I feel that the days are wasting away and I am able to spend quality time with Quincy less and less because I am constrained to one room, barely able to roll over anymore! These are the weeks I wanted to spend extra time with Q, bonding with her, doing special things, and I am just having to sit back and watch her deal with all this out-of-the-norm activity in our house. I haven't had much, if any, one-on-one time with my baby girl lately... or more than 15 minutes when I am alone in the house! :( I am a pretty independent type and having my independence taken away has sure been hard.

I am feeling super sad about the upcoming change in her life and feeling terrible that right now I can't tuck her in, bath her, read to her in "our special rocking chair", get her ready for school, etc. Is this normal? I assume it is, right? How can you not begin to feel a bit sad knowing your "baby" will soon find out that they are not the center of the universe?

I know it's affected her already. Before I was put on bed rest just four weeks ago, life was good. It was normal, and we had our routine with things under control. As the weeks have passed and her routine has been disrupted, I have seen her change. She has been pretty darn sassy, defiant, whiny, and she's had more crying fits in four weeks than we've had in two years! So frustrating considering I can't even get out of bed to discipline! I am still not sure if it's completely due to the changes or if it's just partly her age. She'll be four in about 4 months and I recall her going through a "difficult" phase a few months before she turned three as well.

I even read a whole parenting book today (since I happen to have some extra time on my hands). It seemed full of good ideas and strategies but so much easier said than done, especially since I can't even remember what the book said 4 hours later! I guess I'll have to go back over my highlights again tomorrow and take notes :)

So, that's how I'm feeling. I have plenty of time to rant since I'm here all day. I don't mean to sound ungrateful for all our blessings. It wasn't easy for us to get pregnant with Quincy or the twins and we know how extremely blessed we are. This is all completely worth it but it is still not fun :) We'll get through it all, of course. I know that. I also know that as hard as this seems now, it's still the calm before the storm! I am just looking forward to a time when life is back on track. I like routine and normalcy. I'm a planner and this was not all part of my plan! It sure has thrown me for a loop.

Mobile Life

Ha. Now that I have plenty of free time, one thing I've been meaning to do is back up the photos on my phone. Here are a bunch of random photos from our life out and about in the past year or two.

Q before her first dance class (two-years-old)

Q & Mommy at Verizon store, upgrading to a Blackberry only to find out the iPhone would blow up a few weeks later

Um, Q being Q


One of many trips to the park

Cleaning house???


Cody Bear

Dinner in Vegas with Mom & Dad


Sitting & waiting... and waiting... and waiting at Mommy's Dr.

Nordstrom Rack with Mommy & Grammy... "Please Daddy, can I have these high heels?"

Ahhh, one of my favorite past times... shopping with my baby girl at Target!

A dinner fit for a Princess

Just pulling out of camp

Pit stop at Mickey D's. No idea what the bandaid on the cheek was for.

Q's second dance class

Riding the train at the Chandler Mall while waiting for Daddy to shop for tools in Sears


Dressing Miss Daisy

Mommy & Daddy brought Q to Peter Piper on her 3rd Birthday for a little pre-party


Again... sitting & waiting... and waiting... and waiting at Mommy's Dr.

First haircut!!!





Pouring on the sugar so Mommy would cave and buy her this "wedding dress" at JC Penney

Goofing off before dance class

Pink sandals on seat are NOT Quincy's :)

Tumbling Class



Frozen yogurt with Grandma Wood

Goofy hat after bath

San Tan Village playtime

Playing princesses with Grammy

Tumbleweed Park

Mickey D's

Our "fat cat" Bradley

M.I.A.

Wow, "when it rains, it pours" is such a cliche but oh so true. Things have been a bit overwhelming the past month or so. Life is passing by day by day, in such a routine fashion and then BAM!—in a moment, things can change.

Life had already gotten little more complicated and challenging in the previous weeks when I went in for a routine ultrasound at 29 weeks (Monday, the 7th). During the US it was discovered that my cervix (TMI?) has gotten drastically thin, not to mention I had been experiencing some slight contractions the night before. I was sent straight to the hospital for some more monitoring. After being there alone until 11PM, they decided to send me home on medications and strict bed rest.

Two days later I was given a test at my Dr. called the fFN test. If it came back negative, that was good news meaning that I was not at risk for preterm labor. A positive result meant that there was a 17% chance I would deliver the babies within 14 days. Unfortunately, the result was positive.

So, here I am, 12 days of bed rest behind me and hopefully at least 21 more days to go. Marshal finally moved my computer into the family room where I've set up camp. I really dont know how women do it for months and months. It is torture for me to have to ask others to do things for me. Especially since I like things done a certain way! I am so used to getting things done, being productive. I have all this time and it's going down the drain! Okay, enough complaining. I am actually extremely lucky for many reasons. My mom and mother-in-law have been wonderful. They have been taking turns "living" here to take care of Q and wait on me. Family is certainly something that I am so very grateful to have.

So, there it is. That's where we've been. I am not able to take pics, but I now have plenty of time to write! I'm sure I'll be bored enough to write lots in the next few weeks. After the babies, I am not sure I'll be able to post, well, ever again!

Happy Valemtime's Day (early)

I'm not sure if we're mean parents or just really bad ones but we can't help but reinforce the way Quincy can slaughter words. It's just so darn cute. So, as she refers to it, we invited her BFF from school over on Sunday and while the boys watched the Superbowl, we had some fun with a spur of the moment "Valemtime's Day" photo shoot. She and her friend Rhea absolutely love each other, well, when they aren't tattling on each other or fighting over things ;) When we're home, everything is about Rhea. Rhea likes this, Rhea said that, Rhea does this. She's been trying to convince us for 5 months to name her baby sister Baby Rhea. These photos show what good friends they are. Can't you feel the love?