We Are Ready

Well, In just a few hours we will be meeting our sweet Burke. I think it's safe to say everyone in the Nevels house is as prepared as we can be. Here are a few things we've done this week to get everyone ready to meet little man...

Campbell joined the haircut club and finally got rid of her mullet.

Even Teddy got his mohawk freshly trimmed and is ready to meet his little brother.

The girls have been doing some extra rocking and loving on their baby dolls in preparation for little brother.

My sweet in-laws came today for their stay with the girls while we are in the hospital. My awesome father in law brought tons of fresh corn and tomatoes from his huge garden. Yum!

The girls insisted on coloring a picture for their little bro.

Burke's sleeping quarters have been set up. It will be so funny to only see one tiny baby in the pack and play as opposed to two! :)

And last but not least, the girls have been practicing doing "boyish" things like catching frogs. Sophie couldn't decide whether or not she liked Mr. Frog, but we are trying our best. Their cousins Canon and Crew have definitely been sharpening their wrestling skills and teaching them how cool trucks and boy things are.

We are all giddy with excitement to meet this little guy. Hoping I can get at least a little rest with one last night of baby boy doing back flips in my belly. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts during this special time! We can't wait for everyone to meet him. :)

xoxo

Waiting on Burke

Four days...

Ten Days and Counting...

Saying that we have 10 days (at most) until we meet Mr. Burke seems so surreal. I know all soon-to-be-moms say that, but there is no other word to describe it. I have about a million different thoughts running through my head on a daily basis when it comes to thinking about meeting him and growing our little family of four to five. Oddly enough, the closer we get to him being here, the less I have been worrying. I'm starting to feel the excitement of having him here and meeting my baby more so than I am thinking about how in the heck I'm going to take care of 3 children under the age of 2, if I will ever leave the house, or if the girls will think I have abandoned them. Maybe I've just worried about these things so much that I'm finally to the point of accepting them and realizing we will all make it work somehow because I love all 3 of my babies too much not to make it work. God gave me these precious miracles for a reason and His timing is perfect in spite of what I may think. So I'm hoping in these next 10 days, God will help me to fill my tank with positivity, love, patience, and excitement for what is about to happen in our lives. To get a good jumpstart, here are 10 things I'm looking forward to the most:

1. Hearing his cry and looking into his eyes for the first time.
2. Watching Kyle hold his son for the first time.
3. Watching the girls meet their brother for the first time.
4. The excitement of our families meeting him.
5. Having a "normal" hospital experience with hopefully no NICU and being able for friends to come see us so soon.
6. Having Kyle home for a whole week and having so much time together as a family.
7. Getting through the rough first few weeks and establishing a good routine with the girls and Burke.
8. Although I'm sure the girls will have some jealousy issues, I also can't wait to see them love and kiss on Burke. They are hilariously sweet with their baby dolls right now, and I feel pretty confident they will really love helping Mommy take care of the baby.
9. The butterflies that will most definitely be in my stomach the day before/morning of us meeting him.
10. Do I really have to say it? NOT BEING PREGNANT ANYMORE! Although I'm trying really hard to cherish these last few days of feeling our baby move inside me, and trying to remember those dark days not so long ago where feeling a baby move in my belly was all I dreamed of, I long to feel light on my feet, get up and down easily, and have more energy to chase my little monkeys. And let's be honest, enjoy a refreshing adult beverage or two in this brutal summer heat.

If I had to add an eleventh item to the list, it might be the fact that I am feeling more excitement than fear to meet our little man more so than I did with the girls. My delivery was so unexpected, earlier than I had hoped, and overall much more stressful than I see this delivery being. When the nurse came in and told me we would be having babies very soon, my first instinct was to burst into tears and scream, "but I'm NOT ready for this!" (and maybe I did just that in so many words) This time, it will be so great to be able to pack my own bag, have things somewhat in order, and know the wonderful emotions that come with meeting our baby for the first time.

So as I sit here and feel the B man hiccuping in my belly, I'll leave you with this pic. Every time I pick up Campbell these days she wraps her legs around the top of my belly like a little baby monkey. It cracks me up! I'm sure both girls are ready to have their belly-less mama back... ;)

xoxo

Sophie + Dora = BFFs Foreva

So it's no secret that the Nevels ladies are die hard Dora fans. You'd think they watch it 20 of the 24 hours in a day as much as they adore this little latina cutie, but we do our best to limit Dora as much as possible in our house (we cut them off after around 12 hours of Dora viewing per day-someone's gotta set boundaries around here). After talking to several friends, we are fairly convinced that they lace in subliminal messages into these programs. But hey, the girls have already repeated several words in spanish, so I suppose we can't throw Dora into the category of mindless cartoons. 

I digress.

The purpose of this post is to illustrate Sophie's intense love of all things Dora. A few days ago, Aunt Sara shows up at our house with...are you ready...Dora Crocs. Now mind you, I've never been one to put "character" type clothing on my children, nor is Aunt Sara. She is just in the running to become Aunt of the Year and knew the girls would go bananas over these shoes. To say Sophie loved them would be an understatement. I didn't think much of it when she refused to take them off all day. I mean, Dora is her BFF next to Campbell. However, around bed time things started to get a little creepy. She insisted I put them back on her after her bath/PJ's (yes, I did purchase the Dora PJ's for them in a moment of weakness). This seemed a little nuts, even for Sophie. However, the real issue arose when we kissed the girls goodnight and Sophie started screaming her head off, desperately wanting her "shoes." She's tired, I thought. In a few minutes she'll forget all about her giant plastic shoes and drift off into dreamland. 

But no.

After about 5 minutes of pathetic sobbing, I decided I would put the shoes in the crib, she would play with them for a minute or two and then drift off into Dora dreamland.

But no.

She needed the shoes on her feet. So, I did what any good mom would do, and put crocs on my child so she could fall asleep peacefully. 

Success. No more tears, and within a few minutes this girl was conked out, dreaming of her next great adventure with her favorite gal...

...Dora shoes safely on feet. Kyle and I couldn't believe what had just transpired and thought there is no way she will keep these on all night. I mean, HOW ON EARTH CAN IT BE COMFORTABLE TO SLEEP IN CROCS?!

Wrong again. This girl had both shoes on, ready to rock and roll the next morning.

This whole incident actually frighteningly sums up our Sophie girl. In a nutshell. God love her.

Let's hope I stand my ground a little more if/when she asks to get inappropriate body parts pierced someday...

Ay Carumba.

Pickles + Pregnancy

In the spirit of celebrating the fact that 2 weeks from today I will never be pregnant...ever...again...I think I shall have these...

Cream Cheese Pickle roll ups. Salty, bite-sized deliciousness.

Oh, and Burke, we are super excited to meet you! Even more excited to not have you karate chopping my bladder and ribs 20 + times a day... 

;)

xoxo

Summertime

The girls have definitely been living it up this summer so far. I wish I could say I have wholeheartedly embraced wearing a maternity swimsuit and other skin-baring summer clothes at 9 months pregnant, but quite frankly I have not. Cellulite has managed to form on every limb of my large body making me feel more like a contestant on the biggest loser as opposed to a hot, young 29 year old. However, the girls have loved flaunting their precious little booties in their swimsuits, and more often than not, birthday suits around the pool. My parents recently moved into a new house complete with a pool and awesome backyard (yay!) so the girls are getting majorly spoiled by the pool and fun things to do over there. They still love the water, but we are working on getting them to love their puddle jumpers/life jackets just as much. It's been a slow process, but we are making some headway.

Here's a few pics of my little swimsuit models having some fun in the sun...

Which way's the beach?

We love summer! And Campbell insisted on wearing cousin Crew's water shoes...

Sweet Sophie. I could gobble up her chubby arms and legs in her swimsuit.

Daddy on the dino

My Campbell girl and I cooling off

Sophie and her "sicle" as we call them in our house. Boy oh boy do these girls love their popsicles.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. Less than 3 weeks until we'll be toting a third Nevels to the pool! :)

xoxo

Four Years

It's hard to believe that four years ago on this day, I was a giddy bride-to-be, sipping champagne and feeling butterflies in my stomach knowing I was just hours away from becoming Mrs. Nevels. It certainly has gone by pretty fast. I suppose that's what happens when, in that short amount of time, we are about to welcome our third child!
Marriage has been pretty great. Challenging, yes. Something we have to work on constantly, yes. But, it has also been sweet and awesome in ways I never expected. Although theoretically we both set out to have a marriage that gets better with time, it was tough to think that was a realistic goal given all of the marriages that fail. However, if God has blessed us with anything, it's just that: a marriage that, overall, has thrived and just gotten better with time (and, somehow, babies). Having children undoubtedly changes the dynamic of a marriage. We've had to adapt and change and work even harder to keep "us" a priority. And sometimes that word "priority" means that instead of vegging out on the couch after putting the girls to bed, we actually put forth the effort to have a good conversation and cuddle on the couch instead of zoning out on the computer and iPad. But sometimes we do that, too. ;)
Although we are about to be blessed with our third baby, to any couple, this situation would be a great challenge. Challenging as a parent, challenging as an individual, challenging on a marriage. What we are about to endure will test us undoubtedly, but everyday I'm reminded that I really did pick the right guy for this challenge. Kyle is one of the most loving, honest, loyal, positive, and tough men I've ever known. Not only do I trust him with my whole heart, I know he will always be the love of my life and rock for our family. We will always have things that test us and our marriage, but I have yet to see any obstacle that was too great for us to overcome. And for these things, I thank God everyday.

So, here's to four years with one handsome stud muffin. Bring on the next 50!

Rrrrrrrr.......

P.S. In case you're wondering how we celebrated, Kyle picked up Outback on the way home from work which we scarfed down with two cranky toddlers crawling all over us, and we just chowed down Gigi's cupcakes after we put the girls down. To cap the night off, we are about to watch an On Demand movie (that hopefully he will let me pick). Comical, really. ;)

xoxo

Uncharted Territory

Today I am 35 weeks and 1 day pregnant. What's so special about that you ask? It's exactly one day longer than I have ever been pregnant.  At this point with the girls, I had 2 little premature, one day old newborns in the NICU. It's funny how weird I have been about getting past that 35 week mark with this pregnancy. Is that something all moms who have gone through having a preemie experience? I suppose it's a little sigh of relief for me in knowing I am one step closer to a full term pregnancy and getting to experience having a baby that I get to hold immediately, nurse shortly after giving birth, and sleep in the same room as me the first night of his life. These were all things I missed out on with my girls. My next doctor's appointment is this Thursday, and I will be almost 36 weeks. I don't see me going into labor anytime soon, but I do worry that my blood pressure might spike like it did with the girls and cause my doctor to want to deliver. However, I've been very blessed with a boring, uneventful, healthy pregnancy so far. I've done "excellent" with my weight gain according to my doctor (although the number on the scale is still a frightening one for me) and experienced minimal swelling up to this point and can even still wear my ring (something I had to give up around 32 weeks with the girls)! I'll consider those both victories at this point for me. Although I would love to fast forward to July 1st and be done with lower back aches, peeing every 20 minutes, and exhaustion, I can't help but be excited about the prospect of having a "normal" delivery and hospital experience, followed by bringing my sweet baby home with me.

So until the big day, let's hope my crazy monkeys or an exciting Thunder game don't send me into early labor... ;)

xoxo