The Hormonal Fuse

The hormonal fuse is oh so short these days. My poor kids...really. I hope after this pregnancy I have a more loving approach.  And hopefully this pregnancy doesn't do too much emotional damage that they end up needing counseling because I can't handle them smacking their food, talking all day long, and their need to be fed...every single day...several times a day. Future Owen, Amelia, and Simon...please know I feel as crazy as I appear. I know you are just being kids, but sometimes I react before I think and let's all hope and pray that once Becket is here your mom will be a little less crazy. I do love each of you, dearly.

I feel your pain, Simon.

As you know Chris is leaving the last 2 months of this pregnancy for ALC. And we will begin homeschooling August 4th. I'm excited and nervous. I think this will be great to start while chris is gone. Something to keep us all busy. But the crazy!!! I am worried about this hormonal fuse that seems to be a little bit shorter everyday. It's just kindergarten, Nicole! I know. But I already feel the third trimester drag that makes me want nothing more than to lounge on the couch. I hope to push through. I will be rearranging our schedule since we are no longer moving next month. So, I am going to rethink our approach to each day.  Then I will get everything copied, laminated, and prepped as needed.

Yes, your mom is nuts, Owen!

I have a little mental list of things to get done this weekend with Chris home. Mostly homeschooling prep...some baby prep (washing car seats)...Oh I can't wait for the end of this pregnancy.  I get to snuggle the newest Lockhart. This fall and winter will be the best, yet. More love to go around to keep us warm here in Northern New York. 

Sleep through the pain, Amelia..Simon she's not hungry.

Sorry for all the rambling. I am full of lots of conflicting and quickly changing emotions lately and the best outlet I have is here with you lovely readers.  You're awesome! Anyway. That is all for now.

Say My Name!

You guys!!!! I am still kind of freaking out about the news we got on Thursday!  The kids manage to keep me busy, but I have fleeting thoughts throughout the day that remind me it's happening.  We do not have any dates about when Chris will be classed or when we will PCS, but we will have that information soon enough.

AIT graduation almost 5 years ago. 

He took me flying after he got his private pilot licence 6.5 years ago.

Chris is still going to ALC in Virginia August 3rd-September 30th.  My due date is September 26th which is always a great twist.  I'm blessed with some great friends here so I'm sure I can get to the hospital.  As much as I don't want another October baby, I guess it won't be the end of the world if he waits to show up until Chris is home from ALC.

I'm sure you saw the 30 week pic on FB or IG, but whatev!

Speaking of this baby, I guess it is as good a time as any to announce the name we have chosen.  Waiting until the baby actually arrives to announce some think would be best, but I really like calling the babes by their name evening through social media on the trusty and not so trusty interwebs.  So why wait?

So as you know we had that little online poll.  I just checked 52% for Becket and 48% for Sebastian.  Neck and neck for sure.  The poll wasn't going to sway our decision, but as close as this one was we definitely weren't pushed to reconsider.

Anyway, unless we have a huge change of heart when we see this little guy in real life he will forever be known as.....

Becket Roger Lockhart.

And if he is anything like his siblings he will arrive September 29th or 30th, weighing over 10 pounds, and labor will be fairly quick.  But who knows, maybe he will be early, under 10 pounds, and I will labor for days.  Time will tell.

Little of This, Little of That.

Attempting to to use the app again...let's see how this goes, shall we?

We have several projects going on right now. I still need to unpack our suit cases from our trip to NC. Fill Owen's dresser and remove the shelves currently holding his clothes. Some things need to be hung.  Arranging our patio (seriously that's a project). And the biggest project is assembling our swing set.

It's pretty old but in good condition.  We are painting it with this Rust-Oleum Restore hoping that the cold winters here will not wear out the set. So far it seems like our efforts will be worth it, but it's a slow process.

I had planned to start school next week with the kids, but various things might not make that possible. We will start by the 4th of August at the latest.  I was going to only have 5 weeks of school until we were going to start traveling to AK, but since orders were canceled I have a little bit of flexibility.

I'm really trying to remain busy. Next week is the board, and I hopeful things will go our way, but I'm not very optimistic that it will.  I have no reason to be pessimistic other than trying to protect myself from disappointment. Our family is currently saying the Sacred Heart Novena for his selection.  The kids are grasping simple concepts of a nine day novena which is pretty cool. Amelia holds this picture of "The Secret Heart of Jesus" for everyone to see as we pray. It's sacred not a secret, Amelia...get it together ;) Their absorption is making me a little hopeful for the school year.

99 cent thrift store find

My friend Ashley just wrote a review on some materials at Holy Learning.  There is a 15% off code, too.  They have some neat material for teaching kids the faith. I'm starting my list now. I have no experience yet with the product, but I think it will be to have whether you are homeschooling or not. It's worth a look. Promise.

Thanks for voting on my little poll. Last I checked it was almost 50/50 with Becket in the lead by a vote or two.  I got to see the babe today, unexpectedly. He has some big ol' cheeks, y'all! The 20 week ultrasound his face always looked like a skull. But clear as day were his chubby cheeks. Can't wait to see him and compare him to our other 3 monsters. I have to go back in 2 weeks to review my blood sugar.  I'm so grateful they are letting me skip the terrible 3 hour glucose test. I almost vomited and or pass out last time. No bueno.

29 weeks today (or yesterday I guess). I was going to do a belly shot but I recently posted a 28 weeks shot on Instagram.  It just seems too soon. Maybe 30 weeks people. If I remember.

Dinosaur Roar!

Sorry for the neglected blog, I'm sure most of you just wait for me to post to Facebook which is all good.  Just a little heads up that this is going to be a bit photo heavy of a post :)

Nothing much has been going on since my last post.  We have narrowed down the baby's name to two names.  I'm going to have to figure out how to post a poll to see the popular vote.  I always think that is fun.  So yea to the meat of this post....taking these three chuckle-heads to an over priced (in my opinion) dinosaur exhibit.

I won't bother you with my complaints about the price and whatnot because in the end the kids did have a really great time.  Owen LOVES dinosaurs but refuses to show much excitement for the camera.  Amelia was panicked when we first arrived but quickly got over her melodrama.  And Simon was TRILLED and has been roaring with toy dinosaurs all evening.

We revisited this dinosaur a few times.  When we first walked in Amelia was in the middle of her melodramatic break down so clearly this the picture of her was our second visit after she composed herself.  And that is about the happiest picture I have of Owen.  He really was thrilled to be there, but clammed up whenever I asked for a picture.

Here was the Dino-Dig.  Have been making plans for our drive to Alaska.  One of our planned stops is a Mammoth Site in South Dakota.  After the fun that had at the little sand table I think they will really enjoy the Mammoth fossils.

Okay Owen, contain all of that excitement please.  We can only take so much...Man that kid is like his father...On the other hand, Amelia is just like her mother.  The picture below is her "afraid" of the dinosaur behind her.

There was some mini golf, a dinosaur ride, and some inflatables.  We also did a scavenger hunt where we the kids left we a few trinkets.  Overall we had a great time.  And if you missed it I'm now 24 week along and here's a belly from today.

Boy or Girl?

Well I'm another year old.  Pretty sure I'm not another year wiser.

Yesterday was my birthday.  Nothing major happened.  Simon was the first kid up at 9:15!  No kids woke up in the middle of the night.  I was quite refreshed.  This morning was the standard wake up time, but no one woke up so I'm feeling pretty good.  Anyway, the kids went to school, my friend helped me sort, organize, and purge all of the kid's clothes.  The only bummer was that Chris had to work late, but it was fine.

Since we will be moving this fall, we have a baby on the way, and it is finally starting to warm up I felt like it was a good time to change out the kids' clothes. We made a tote that included all the clothes I have manged to snag on clearance for next season.  I also made a tote with the clothes for Lucky Lockhart #4 since we did find out what we are having.  More on that later.  Organized the winter gear, left over boy and girl clothes.  I have hoarder tendencies, but my friend Nicole helped me keep it to a minimum.  I feel so blessed though.  My kids have clothes for this summer and next fall between what has been given to me and the few good buys that I have gotten along the way.  God does provide.

So anyway, let's get to why you clicked on this link.  Boy or girl?

The day before my birthday Chris happened to be off and I had my ultra sound for baby number #4.  I LOVE watching the babes move and squirm on the computer screen.  This one was the least cooperative.  It took a while for them to get an image of the babe's profile.  But they got it.

Not that I can really tell on these things, but I think this looks a lot like Simon's profile sonogram.  In Amelia's sonogram you could CLEARLY see the girl's big ol' cheeks.  We didn't see any on Monday at the appointment.  We will know for sure late September I guess :).  

I was considering not finding out, but my curiosity got the best of me.  Not that I'm blaming Chris, but if he was eager for a surprise I probably could have held out.  My original instinct was I was having a boy.  With each of them I had a gut feeling and have been right.  This time I changed my stance because this pregnancy is just like Amelia's.  From the babe's heart rate to my crack like addiction to Diet Pepsi.  

I really don't care what we have, but since Simon shifted the balance a girl would be nice.  Plus Owen and Amelia had been saying the whole pregnancy thus far that they wanted a sister.  So part of me wanted a girl for them, but really I didn't care what the ultra sound would reveal.

So, we are really excited to announce that we are having a....

BOY! We are STOKED!  I'm telling you having #4 is just as exciting as #1.  Well for me at least!   If we are blessed with any future Lockharts I will stick with my gut feeling.  We are floating some names around.  You have any good boy names to share? Please do!

Here are a few out takes because I had a hard time choosing.

Photo bombed by Simon

7QT - #17: Winging it

--- 1 ---

I just realized that it's Friday and it's been a while since I linked up for a 7QT.  I'm completely winging it and unsure what I should discuss in the next six takes, but I guess we'll figure it out together.

--- 2 ---

Four weeks ago I felt completely different than I do now.  The level of exhaustion is really hard to explain.  I manged to get through things I absolutely had to, and that was about it.  My house should have been condemned, I'm sure.  Staying awake took everything I had.  I seem to have my energy back and I have started getting our house in shape.  My last three pregnancies I never experienced "nesting".  I'm not sure if it's nesting or I'm just excited to have some energy, but the front half of our house is getting there.  Admittedly, the last couple of days have had some set backs with Simon screaming all night and the next day being anything but pleasant.

--- 3 ---

Speaking of Simon, I love that babe but I'm not sure what to do with him.  He has been our toughest.  A scream like no other's.  He hits.  He hits his siblings and us when he plays and when he's mad.  Simon is persistent. He likes to repeatedly turn of the television if anyone is watching it.  I don't know.  Maybe it's my hormones.

--- 4 ---

So did you catch our big news?  It's starting to sink in a little bit.  Chris and I were talking yesterday and I mentioned that a year from now Fort Drum will no longer be our home.  Since right now Alaska is going to happen if Alabama doesn't we have been looking into the area a little bit.  Cold and isolated...kinda like Fort Drum, but a little worse.  I'm not sure how I will cope without a Target.  I am thankful that there's a Sam's Club, but I frequent the Target at least once a week.  Oh, geez.  This year's winter here at the Drum gave me a little taste of what cold is.  But, pictures are beautiful.  I'm not sure we would get to experience it without the Army so I'm sure we will enjoy ourselves.  Of course we want Alabama.

--- 5 ---

Our entire relationship Chris as been trying to become a pilot.  Not always in the Army, but flying in some way.  Location only, I think Chris and I would chose Alaska over Alabama.  But since the dream is to fly and Alabama is the only option we want Alabama over Alaska.  Did that make any sense?  Still needs one letter, his medical (it's done he needs the paperwork), and a PT test.  This week all of those things are in the works.  Right now it looks like he will meet the May deadline for the July board.  We hope it stays that way.

--- 6 ---

Owen was signed up for soccer yesterday.  It took us foreva to find the sign up tables. They were in a pretty obvious spot that we completely ignored since that's how we role, apparently.  But he's signed up and ready to go.  Just waiting on the phone call to know what team he's on.

--- 7 ---

Amelia had her dance pictures taken.  I'm not super girly.  I don't gravitate to all the frills.  And winterguard has shape my style preference when it comes to pageantry attire.  But seriously, how cute is this???

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Word vomit.

Long time, no bloggage.  No reason for the small hiatius, other than I can't get my thoughts together.  Blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda.  I will give you a quick run down of what has taken place here in The Land and maybe some other stuff.  Come join the ride and see where this post takes us.  I'm sure it will end about where we started.  But hey, it's about the journey right? Or not...

Anyway, the kids and I traveled to Ohio for a surprise birthday party for my Aunt Bridgit.  She was completely surprised.  It was a quick trip, but it was wonderful to see my family.  The years really do pass quickly.

We have purchased the curricula that we plan to use next year.  I have started getting it organized...ish, and laminating for preservation.  Hopefully, we have chosen material that will last us for all of our kids.  Of course we will reevaluate this time next year.   I can't wait for the school year to be over.  Here in northern New York the last day of school is June 27th.  So a little less than 3 months of driving around everyday.  It isn't a whole lot of driving, but loading and unloading all of the kids for the past for the past 7 months is starting to take its toll.  The pregnancy isn't helping.  I loved all the snow and canceled school just because I didn't have to go anywhere.  Now, we will see how this translates next year. I'm an extrovert so once the exhaustion from running around has worn off I may find myself itching to leave the home.

Chris and I are trying to make some spring/summer plans for this year.  We want to go to West Virginia and New Jersey to visit our grandmothers and extended family.  Also, in July there is a family reunion in Illinois.  We want to do it all and we hope we can.  Funds and the Army are always key players in everything we do.

Chris was not able to complete his flight packet for the May board.  His medical wasn't back yet and he is still waiting on a letter of recommendation.  We are hopeful that it will be completed for the July board.

I had tests done to see if I had gestational diabetes.  I don't.  They think it is glucose intolerance.  I was pretty sure I didn't have it.  I still have to take the test again at 28 weeks.  So yeah...

Speaking of weeks of pregnancy.  I am having the hardest time knowing how far along I am...like, I can't tell you with any type of certainty where I'm in this pregnancy.  Maybe 16 or 17 weeks.  But really I could be way off.  I know I'm in my second trimester, but that's it.  I guess I could download one of those apps to help me keep up with it...

Also, I am still on the fence about finding out the sex of the babe.  I love the speculation of it all.  For a while I have thought it was a boy.  No reason just did, but over the past couple of weeks I'm thinking differently.  Though all of my pregnancies are relatively the same there are some differences and this one is more like Amelia's.  I have no desire to look at girl names.  I did the same thing with Simon, only I had no desire to look at boy names when I was pregnant with him.  So, now I'm not sure what I think.  At the moment, I'm on the fence leaning to finding out because I am not sure I want to wait another 20 weeks.  Plus a few friends said they thought it would be fun to have a gender reveal party.  How I would go about that? I don't know.  Pinterest I guess :).  But I'm just leaning that way right now...we will see which way I lean tomorrow.  Go ahead tell you me your stories.  Especially if you have experienced both finding out and not finding out.

So, until other day dear friends!

Amelia Rose Lockhart: The Birth

I know I am writing this three and a half years later...and I still have one to write for Simon, but really want to type out all of my birth stories.  Detail may have already been lost and ten years from now even more may be lost.  So, I will try to do it now before I forget more details.

26 weeks with Amelia

Amelia was due October 19th 2010 and October 11th (ish) 2010 began deployment of Chris's unit to Afghanistan.  The kids and I would going to NC to wait out most of the deployment which meant we were also in the process of moving out of our home.  Most of our furniture was either in NC or in storage by the end of September.   Chris and I were sleeping on and air mattress in the living room while Owen was in a pack n play in his room until he figured out how to climb out of it.  All while I was nine months pregnant with baby likely to be over ten pounds.

The boys rubbing my feet. Livin' on an air mattress for a month.

Most of September and October was filled with Braxton Hicks contractions.  Almost every night I would time them, but they were never closer than 10 minutes apart.  Our focus was trying to get this baby out so she could meet her dad before he deployed.  On October 22nd, Chris came home from work saying that his unit was talking about putting him and rear-detachment.  Long story short, he would stay behind until the baby arrived.  As appealing as that sounds, there are lots of reasons why we didn't want him to stay.  One reason being that we had to clear housing October 25th and we wouldn't have a home.  When Chris came home he said I HAVE to have the baby this weekend.  No pressure or anything right?

39 weeks with Amelia

We Googled every wives tale we could find and took a trip to Walmart.  I bought some castor oil and pineapple juice to chase it, and I had already been using evening primrose oil for two weeks.  The castor oil was labeled odorless and tasteless.  Pineapple is another one of those wives tales so I gave it a try. We came home and the bottle sat there.  Eventually I took the castor oil.  Side note: not nearly as terrible as I thought it was going to be, but definitely not something I enjoyed. I took a dose around 7 pm and by 11 pm there and been no changes.  Everything was the same.  Around midnight before going to sleep I took one more dose.

At 3 am I woke up to relieve the bladder and I noticed the air mattress had deflated some.  There was a hole that was leaking slowly.  Around 5 am I woke up again needing to use the bathroom again and this time the mattress was flat.  I woke Chris up, asked him to fill it up because I was sore from sleeping on the floor.  We got ourselves comfortable, I closed my eyes and felt a small gush of liquid.  I nudged Chris saying I think my water broke.  It was about 5:30 am.  I wasn't completely sure because it wasn't tons of fluid, but within a few minutes the contractions began quite strong.

We made all the the calls, dropped Owen at a friend's house, and headed to the hospital.  Chris was not at Owen's birth so he was in a bit of a hurry and I assured him we had time.  I figured we would have the baby around 4 pm.  We don't need to have to run around like a bat out of hell.  The hospital is about 20-30 minutes away and my contractions we a bit intense.  They were coming steady and we weren't timing them.  I would guess about every two minutes.  We parked in the parking deck.  I told Chris I didn't mind walking that will help move the labor along.  The contractions were coming and caused me to stop a few times walking to the hospital.

6:20 am we were checking in and I was rolled up to Labor and Delivery.  As we approach what I assume was the nursing station to sign some papers I stood up, a contraction began, and I had the sudden need to push.   They quickly moved me to a room, got me undressed, and check me.  The clock said 6:45 am so I was starting to guess that maybe the baby would be here between 12 and 3.

Once I was checked they informed me that I was already 9 cm dilated.  I was told I could push if I wanted and I did.   The midwife suggested getting on my hands and knees because Amelia was sunny side up.  She eventually flipped.  I remember being hot and feeling like I might pass out.  They gave me some O2.  It helped but I was still hot.  The midwife was great, pretty much letting me labor however I felt comfortable.  Her only request was for me to straighten out on the bed so Amelia wouldn't hit the floor when she was pushed out.

I probably started pushing around 7:00am and she was here at 7:31 am.  So, all of my estimations were completely wrong.  Amelia did not waste any time.  And after 2 quick hours she was here.

Unlike Owen, I was pretty well rested, but just like Owen I was hyped up on adrenaline. My camera was left at home so all we had were our cell phones.  We did our best.  Amelia was cleaned up and brought back to me very quickly. More quickly that Owen was.  They also left her in the room with me even if I was sleeping, which they did not let me do with Owen.  Both of which I preferred.

October 23rd 2010 at 7:31am 10 lbs 11 oz 22 in

Chris spent a good deal of time working since he was the armor and he had to finish cleaning our house since we were clearing housing in two days.  Actually Chris cleared housing Monday the 25th and then came to the hospital to pick me up.  I had been so focused on the on the pregnancy I had not had the chance to really dwell on the deployment.  Chris left on November 3rd for a year long deployment and the next day we headed to NC to wait it out.  Our lives have been forever changed because of Amelia Rose Lockhart.

Owen's birth story.

Simon's birth story.

Becket's birth story.

7QT - #16

{one}

The baby kinda looks like a Sour Patch Kid.

I mentioned in my last post that I was 10 weeks along in my pregnancy, well the next day I went to the doctor and the baby was measuring about a week ahead.  So my due date is now moved to September 26th and as of today I am 12 weeks along!  AND I just might have a September baby as opposed to my 3rd October baby in a row.  Owen and  Amelia were 4 days late and Simon was 3 days late.  So if this due date is accurate and we continue the trend, #4 will be here September 30th if he/she is 4 days late.  Of course all of that really doesn't matter, but I love speculating. 

{two}

Like speculating if we are having a boy or a girl.  I am still very much on the fence as to whether or not if we will find out.  We have been talking about names a little bit, and one of the Facebook groups I'm in made two threads with one boy one girl of Catholic names.  Chris and I are not oppose to straying from the a "Catholic" name, but we figured it was a good place to start our search.  I have 5 boy names that I really, REALLY like.  Which is weird, because I usually have a harder time finding boy names I really love.  I feel like they are a little trendy like Jayden or a little common like Joseph.  I do not have problem with either name.  They are nice names.  I just don't LOVE them.  Now this is MY short list and I'm still looking.  Chris isn't fond of all the names and he's still mulling some of them over.  So if Little Lockhart #4 is a boy there is a chance that none of these will be his name.  Here it is

Theodore, Fulton, Becket, Jude, and Kolbe (and I'm thinking about Kolbe for a girl too).

I am still searching we aren't narrowing down yet.  But I'm having so much fun looking at boy names this pregnancy.  Very different than Simon's pregnancy.  

{three}

The kids and I (and Chris if he doesn't have to work) are signed up for a MDA Muscle Walk.  We are just $40 shy our our personal goal.  Our team is a little over half way to its goal.  The kids and I are talking about ways we can help others by raising money and awareness.  I think Owen is starting to grasp that he can make a difference.  We are walking for our friend 3 year old Zachary.  If you could help us out please donate here.  We understand there are wonderful, important causes and that you can't contribute to all of them.  Prayers are always welcome :)

{four}

The CWOC is hosting a soup supper after Stations of the Cross every Friday during Lent.  Today I had to go without Chris.  It wasn't terrible.  Only 3 potty breaks, two spills, and some listening kinda happened.  I was proud of Owen.  He followed around, knelt some of the time, and used his picture sheet to keep up.  It felt like a small success. Chris and I might be doing something right, maybe.  The company is always wonderful, too. 

{five}

You probably know I'm on Instagram.  It's becoming a new fave as far as social media is concern.  Maybe it's because it take very little energy to look at people pictures. But some people can take some amazing pictures with their camera phones. It's impressive.  Not really a talent I have, but I like to participate anyway.  Abbey at Surviving Our Blessings is hosting a #holylens during Lent, by providing prompts for a picture.  Here is mine from yesterday

Told you the talent is bleak.

Yesterday the prompt was #answer.  My caption was:

#holylens Starting to accumulate resources/literature for our #homeschool next year. I pray to have the#answer or can find the answer for our kids as we jump into the endeavor. #catholic

These were some of Owen's birthday presents!  Anyway, you can join too!. 

{six}

If you could please pray for this family.  They are a Fort Drum family.  I don't know them, but they could use some prayers.  Hinman Family (the link takes you to their story).

{seven}
Now head over to Jen for more Quick Takers that are way better than this, I'm sure!