The Voices Within Me

Let the fun begin!

I am going to go with the assumption that most of you that read this have already heard our exciting news :) but just in case, a quick recap since my last post...
Silas Andrew Beck was born into this world April 27th, 2009 at 9:31 am. The delivery went well- a bit of extra bleeding on my end but otherwise pretty uneventful. Our "little" guy isn't so little... tipping the scales at 8 lbs 10 ozs and 20 1/2 inches long- beating out both of our other two in both weight and length. He has a TON of dark black hair (enough to part!) and from what we can tell, blue eyes. He is absolutely gorgeous (I know- coming from me makes that a bit biased but hey...) and I am still in amazement that he is our own. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about how blessed our family truly is.
Micah and Addie were able to come meet their new brother Tuesday afternoon and they were just a bit in love with him at first sight ;) Micah didn't want to give up his turn holding him and Addie wanted to rub his hair and tickle him. Their instant love just melted my heart and I am so thankful that God entrusted these three children to Tim and I. What a wonderful and amazing experience this thing called parenting is :)

So back to the title of my post... it looks like we are going to be able to come home sometime tomorrow- which in most senses, I am more than ready to do. They are still really watching my iron and blood pressure as neither seem to be going up as they should and I am SO praying that those issues won't hold us here another day. I am feeling great as I think I can be considering I just had major surgery and don't want something to hold us back. I had my little emotional breakdown once already and don't want to set myself up for another tomorrow.

I have taken a few pictures but haven't yet gotten them off of my camera so I will just share a few pictures that have been posted on facebook and such for now. I promise that it won't be long before you are annoyed that I am updating numerous times a day and "only" sharing photos ;)







Addendum...
Tim and I have been wondering if he looks like either of the other two... Most people keep saying he looks like Micah but I kept thinking more Addie and I couldn't wait to go home and look at pictures. Tonite I remembered that I had some online so... what do you think?

Silas
Addison

Micah

Everything is complete around here and all that is left is Silas' arrival. We are headed out to the hospital in just a few minutes and he should arrive somewhere around 9:00 am. Please keep us in your prayers and also pray for Micah and Addie as they had a bit of anxiety overnite. It is strange to be apart from them during such a big event but I am sure they will be having a blast without us.
We will be sure to update with pictures when we can : )
Oh and any bets on his size? Tim says 8lbs 7 ozs. and I am guessing 8lbs 12 ozs. Feel free to chime in!! I am sure he will be a big one!!

WOW- I never thought I would say that it is almost too hot in April but it is almost too hot for me today. I am hugely pregnant so I am sure that has something to do with it but seriously- if I satnd up my ankles are swollen within minutes, my fingers are so tight I can barely bend them at times and I just feel blah. Tomorrow is forecast to be the same as is Monday but thankfully... just tomorrow to go for me :)
Today has been spent lounging alternating with getting the last minute things done around the house- though much of it will wait until tomorrow when the kids are at grandmas and can't mess it up again. I still can't believe we are to this point but lo and behold... we are. The kids bags are packed, information stuff typed and printed for Grandma, bookbag ready for Monday, laundry done... still have cleaning the bathroom, kitchen, sweeping, mopping, scrubbing, vacumming and such left for tomorrow. Oh and my own bag since I am indecisive ;) Everything is set for Silas, clothes washed, diaper bag ready, coming home outfit packed, and bedding and such ready for when he arrives home :)
Please pray for Micah he seems to have a bit of a bug today and I am praying it doesn't get worse. This is NOT the time for a sickness to occur- I am already anxious enough. So please, pray with all your might that this is just a random occurence today.

I bribed Tim into taking some pics of me yesterday so I have something to remember this pregnancy by since it is going to be our last. I set the settings, gave ideas as to poses and locations and handed him to camera. All in all, he did a great job and I have numerous pics that I actually really like of myself- even at 38.5 weeks preggo ;)

Less than a week to go...

How your baby's growing:

Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 (HA- Silas was that about four weeks ago!)
pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

I had a wonderful start to my morning, beautiful warm sun streaming in my window, laughter from my kids whom awoke with the first shaft of sunlight (but yet let me sleep in until almost 7:30) and the melodic sound of birds chirping outside my window. I love mornings like that- everything seems so much clearer, joyful, optimistic. (I won't add in that some of the pureness was taken away when my daughter came in and told me that I stunk- her new favorite thing to tell me... and then ran away in a fit of giggles)
I wish every morning could start that way- what a happier place this world would be. The morning has gotten progressively better as I now sit at Starbucks after having finished two HUGE things on my work to-do list before Silas makes his arrival. Life is good.

Yesterday was a sad reminder of a person that has now been missing from our lives for two years. It seems hard to believe at times that two years have gone by but though that time has passed he will never be forgotten. I have been thinking about him quite a bit recently as we are about to have little Silas- I know how proud he would be to have another little Beck boy to carry on the family name. He was so excited for Micah to carry on tradition and unfortunately, he won't even get to meet little Silas. I know he will be watching down but I really wish Silas could have know him...

I have so many little things to do in the next week- time is going to pass quickly. I want to really spend time with Micah and Addie as I know they could get lost in the shuffle of a new baby and then of course tidy up other things here and there. It is crazy how little time is left... eek! I hope I can be a good mom to three- kinda getting nervous here!!

Addie finally got over her sickness Saturday afternoon. Four days of sickness was almost too much for me to handle... blech! I pray that no other family has to deal with all we did- it was horrible and poor Ad was just drained. We celebrated the end of her sickness (well that isn't really why we went out... it was more of an Easter treat/ last hurrah before Silas arrives) by going to see "Hotel for Dogs" Saturday afternoon. The kids enjoyed it- Ad missed about the last fifteen minutes due to sleep taking over but all in all, they had a good time.
Micah looked as if he was coming down with the bug Saturday evening so we decided to lay low and cancel any and all Easter plans and go with the flow. Thankfully he wasn't too bad Sunday and we made it to church service and then just chilaxed around the house. Being that we had cancelled plans, we had nothing around here for dinner so we ventured out to see what restaurants were open and ended up at Fridays. It was actually a great time to go- no wait and fast service... not your typical Easter fare but we all ate to our hearts content, had great conversation and an entertaining waiter to boot. Following lunch/ dinner, we came home and all napped for about two hours and then went outside to clean out the van, install Silas' seat/ move the other two and allow the kids to play. Ad and I ended up washing the outside of the van as well so all in all, it was a very productive day :)

The kids enjoyed their Easter baskets- although Micah did come up about 7:00 and told us the Easter Bunny hadn't yet came as he only found a notebook for himself. I sleepily told him to look around for a blue and white basket and come back after finding that. When squeals filled the air, I knew the Easter Bunny didn't let him down :) Ad woke up not too long after and found a basket with treats specifically for her. They had a bit of time to enjoy everything before services and allow me to attempt to capture a few photos to remember the day :) I thought I would share a few of those and get back to watching "BedTime Stories" with the kids.

Thank you to Johnny Baker and Proost for sharing this as a download this Easter Season.
May you all rejoice for the freedom He gave us through His sacrifice. Have a wonderful Easter Day.

Today's title is an excerpt from a poem Micah wrote for Addie this evening. As your can probably surmise, we are dealing with some sort of sickness here and praying that it is only a 12/24 hour bug or such. Ad went to school today, seemed fine it ended but about a half hour later said her belly hurt. I wasn't sure how serious it was as she had been playing and wasn't warm or anything but not long after it started at one end and within an hour or so worked it way up to the other. Poor girl couldn't keep anything down- water, crackers, nothing... so she is pretty weak and listless tonite. It has been about 5.5 hours since the last oral issue and she has had about half a cup of water, three bites of jello and two bites of butter bread so I am hoping that maybe we are on the upswing. I HATE seeing people get sick and not only coupled with that, this time I am fearing it being passed around... esp. to me and I am not sure my stomach that is already stretched to it's max can handle that. We would appreciate any extra prayers in that respect...
(as I was writing this, Ad sat up and said, "I am not even a little sick" and laid back down and fell asleep. I can only hope that is true.)