Really loving this boy.

Our Carlos!

He's here!

Yes, a HE.

So for all bloggy purposes we'll just keep with Carlos for now :)

He's beautiful.

Huge

and we are all so much in love already!

He was a whopping 9lbs 7.8oz, 20.5in!

Countdown...

Carlos will be here soon.

Everything, good and bad is starting to sink in.

Sometimes it gets overwhelming.

Exciting and

Scary

I have to give birth.

Until about a week or so ago that seemed like no biggie...

I mean, I help girls through it all the time.

Now all of the potential complications start creeping in my brain.

So, while trying to keep my inner freak out at bay,

and attempting to remind my inner control freak to chill,

I've decided it's time to focus on a few of the things going on around here.

First, I have the most amazing parents in the world.

They've seen a LOT of me and the kids lately.

In my advanced stages of bigness and tiredness and Hubs being away for some long stretches, I've hovered towards my mom and dad.

Especially since we reached the time frame of when my water broke with ACE

(37 wks, which I'm sad to report did NOT happen this time, grr!)

I'm thankful that they've just taken us on.

ACE

Cracks me up.

He's been the most involved with Carlos.

Constantly hugging and kissing my belly, talking to it.

The other day, when I got home from work and was standing in the doorway of the living room, he lifted up my shirt, pulled the panel of my pants below my belly, started squeezing on either side, looks up at me and says

"Mom, I'm wreally ready for our baby to be here...

even though I know all it's going to do is cry."

BUG

Informed me the last night that

"If this baby doesn't get here by Monday, I'm out!"

Not really sure what she's out of, but I giggled anyways.

She's done a great job of helping out recently.

I think she's kind of picked up on the fact that I'm tired and just not able to do some of the things I've always done.

Love that girl.

Hubs

Well, I chose to have more kids with him for a reason.

He's great.

Currently, as I type, he's getting the yard mowed and the garage back to where I can park in it.

People that know us IRL know that he gives me a hard time, but he loves his family, and is just as excited and nervous as me about everything that's about to happen.

I'm excited that he's able to take FMLA with me this time

(with ACE he had just started at the fire dept. and didn't have much time off banked)

So, he'll be here with us for over 2 weeks straight before he goes back to work after the baby is born, and has also arranged to take off about a month later on to help get the kids back to school and me back to work.

Names,

believe it or not,

we're still not settled on.

We've thrown a few around, but could potentially see this baby and go totally different directions.

Hubs named BUG the day we found out she was a girl.

He picked a name that wasn't awful, and I jumped on it.

ACE...well, I just won't go into the details, it wasn't pretty.

We did finally name him for sure about 2 weeks before he was born, but decided since we'd gone so long without one, we didn't reveal it to our family and friends until after he was born.

This baby, who knows.

I may even be surprised :)

So, I'll quit being sentimental and teary.

Quit blogging for now, and go finish up the last check boxes on my list of things to get done before Carlos arrives. 

Hubs and Ace are set to install the infant car seat today, and I'm on a clean floor and laundry mission.

Still need to pack the kids an overnight bag and a hospital fun bag.

I'm most looking forward to this experience for them.

They're both so excited.

Please pray for us this next week.

We are hoping for a quick, easy birth, and a healthy baby.

I'm not so silly to think everything will go the way I've got it in my head, but for sure know that everything will work out according to His plan.

So, I'm trying to get caught up on things.

In between begging my body to go into labor,

or wishing my water to break

I've also done massive laundry,

attempting to vacuum the sand out of the van,

packed bags for the hospital.

The batteries in the camera are charged, and I'm still hunting for the video camera.

I'm even trying to catch the blog up.

Gram and Aunt Bec came over 2 weeks ago and helped out in the baby's room.

Gram ironed dust ruffles and curtains,

Bec helped with moving furniture and raised the mattress on the baby bed. 

We went through all of the baby clothes and picked out all of the small sizes (boy and girl).

I even moved the bassinet into our room.

But not before the kids did their part to help out too...

I about fell on the floor laughing when I walked by this scene.

Gram didn't find it funny.

She doesn't think it a good idea for Libby to get too comfortable in Carlos's bed.

Despite all of the work we did, I still haven't taken pictures yet...

it still feels a little cluttered and crowded in there, so I'll keep working on it.

Diva...

As sweet as Bug is,

this pic has me a little worried...

She looks a little comfortable :)

Lake Days!

We're almost to the big D day.

I don't think I could feel any more pregnant.

So, it makes very little sense in my brain why we've just spent 3 solid days at the lake.

Except that Hubs is out of pocket this weekend...

leaving me strict instructions NOT to go into labor until after Tuesday when he's back...and Gram (AKA my MOMMY) and Grandpa hauled their camper out to the lake.

I've found that very pregnant girls hover close to their mothers.

You could probably do a scientific study about it.

So, big, huge, pregnant me has been chillin at the lake under the shade drinking gallons of cold water while the rest of the family swims, builds sand castles and fishes.

It's actually been pretty fun.

Except for the heat.

it's been high 90's.

Oh, and the sand that gets where it ought not to.

Here's a little peek.

These are just a few with my phone...

I'm not brave like Grandpa.

I did not take the new fancy camera to the beach.

One day I may swipe the card from his camera and get super fancy beach pics.

And now, I'll let sweet girl demonstrate how we're all feeling after such a beach filled weekend...

a

Fun Outside...

Hubs surprised me this week with a new camera.

We've talked about it several times lately, but I had no clue we'd pull it off before "Carlos" arrives.

He took it upon himself to scout things out and I think made a good decision!

So, tonight I was able to practice a bit and the kids had a great time giving me things to shoot.

I don't have it all figured out yet, 

and I didn't try any editing for now, 

but I'm super excited to figure it all out.

We ended up going with the Nikon that Grandpa and Aunt C have,

figured the extra resources will help!

Dancing Queen!

Friday brought us through 2 big events I've been looking forward to...

Last day of school

Dance recital DONE.

Bug LOVES to dance.

And she's pretty good at it too!

But jeez Louise recital is stressful.

We are SO proud of our girl though!

She's turned into quite the dancer and it's exciting to see how far she's come!

This year she danced in 3 dances...

tap, ballet and jazz.

Such a beautiful, talented girl!