Way to my heart

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So in case you didn't know... I am married to the most amazing man. Not only is he handsome but he is also the best parent partner in the world.

Still pregnant. Still under-the-weather but surviving. Especially, because Kelly informed me at lunch that he was coming home early today.

Sexiest thing he might have ever said to me happened today: "Don't worry about the kids...keep sleeping...I'm here". WAY TO MY HEART... gifting opportunities to sleep. Oh, how kids change things.

Dr. appt today went well. A little more progression 2-3 centimeters and a little more effaced. My doctor seemed fairly confident that I would meet her in L&D next Tuesday morning so I am going to just live like that is the plan and gear up for one last week as a family unit of 4.

This time next week, I will be holding a new tiny little love. Crazy.

Not yet... but almost.

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So, there are no pictures to post. This about-to-burst mama has been a little out of bloggy pocket, recently. It seems that in all truth to this labor being different from the rest of the gangs', I have seem to be progressing towards delivery with some wonderful "flu-like" symptoms to boot. Yay for me, right? It seems that in some cases as your body prepares for delivery you start to feel--- sick. And that has been the past few days.

With Molly and Gabriel, I was doing everything I could to rush the process... but now, I would just like to make it to next Tuesday if possible. It really is such a great scenario. Kids have school, Kelly can finish all his end of month client meetings, my mom can be there for an important appointment for my grandmother and I can attend the beautiful wedding of one Sean and Elizabeth this weekend. I have to say though, my body might have its own timeline and I am really reminding myself to be okay with that. There is some perfect timing to all of this and all. Even if it does come with flu-like symptoms.

Appointment tomorrow morning--- so I will know more then but things are DEFINITELY changing. Send good thoughts!

Our bits of Irish luck

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St. Patrick's Day is a May family favorite--- from the Janick side of living. Typically, we spend the day celebrating with one wonderful Irish grandmother but our traveless, waiting on baby, mid-work week lifestyle changed that this year. So, we decided to embrace the new and took to the streets. Well, more of a jogging trail for a St. Patty's day parade---but new just the same.

I have heard such great things about Katherine Fleischer Park in Wells Branch and was SO excited to hear of the St. Patty's parade happening there. SO - MUCH - FUN. First of all, this park is awesome--- it was all sorts of Irishy fun and green which was just our style.

Throw in some free facepainting

Bagpipes, Irish dancers

And the most AWESOME playhouse

And you have some VERY happy Mays!

Our Irish eyes sure were smiling... even if we were missing some wonderful Patty's day traditions!

May you always walk in sunshine.
May you never want for more.
May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door.

Our Quirky Dog

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I feel like so much of this blog depicts the daily living of the Mays but it seems that one May is consistently left out. Which let's face it... with a new baby almost here, little is going to change in that area.

Except for tonight. Tonight is all about our very own, Rosie George. She just might be the quirkiest dog I know. These few pictures depict a typical day in the life of Rosie George. Maybe you will see what I mean by quirky.

Photo 1: Our in-and-out dog.

Every day, several times a day, Rosie will stand halfway through her doggie door for about 10 minutes at a time. It is very not normal. In this time, she will watch the birds, the squirrels, perhaps feel the wind on her face all the while leaving us to look at her rear end like wall art.

Photo 2: Headless Retriever

My 9-month-preggo body really has come to covet nap time. And Rosie, well--- she goes everywhere I am so that means she covets naps too. The difference is that she prefers TOTAL darkness when she sleeps. She sleeps like this EVERY day. Our headless dog.

Photo 3: Rosie, the papillon?

Rosie truly has no idea how much she weighs. She thinks she is a lap dog.

And a certain member of this family does everything he can to encourage it.

While not a huge presence on the blog---we can't imagine a DAY without the hilarious quirks of our Rosie George.

Dr. Day

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Today was a first "check" to see how I was progressing with labor. I have to say, I knew I had been feeling quite a bit of pressure this past week and so it was nice to have it confirmed that yes, things are starting to advance.

I am currently dilated between a 1-2 and 50% effaced. For some people this means, VERY soon labor. Not so much for me... I tend to dilate early and then just hang out for a bit. This is the first pregnancy that I am OK with that plan. Molly is the flower girl in my friend's wedding on April 2nd and it would be so wonderful to share in that moment with all of them... and to see Molly in her "princess dress". Due to our little duo and traveling family, we do have an induction date set for April 5th. So, at the latest--- our Lucy girl will be here in 21 days. Wow.

I am really loving that I have had the blog so long because I am able to go back and remember things from the last few weeks with Gabriel that I can't with Molly. You read about that final month here.

It is all soooooo exciting!

Spring forward greatness

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So, I have to say that I have been reading all of these facebook posts lamenting over the rottenness of spring forward and I have to say that I am left feeling very confused. And while, confusion is not a new emotion for me, I still can't get it. Spring forward? I think it is awesome. What am I missing? Granted. I may not be very representative of the norm population...

In fact as I write, I have Kelly's bass headphones on my enormous belly. Yes, I am that mom. Lucy can rock out to The Wailin' Jennys while I blog. Everyone wins.

But Spring forward. This amazing event in my life now is about a MILLION times better than fall back. What other time of year can I actually trick my children in to thinking it is still early so that we can sleep in until 9:30 on a Sunday morning. Bliss. Like almost-better-than-Christmas bliss. At 9 months pregnant, this lady is going to take all the extra sleep I can get. The icing on the cake though? It is still light outside at the end of the day which means that we can go on a family walk after dinner... if you have been following this blog for any amount of time than you know how I feel about family walks.

Now, this sleeping in is VERY short lived. Like tomorrow we are back to normal wake up times... But for a few days---- it is heaven.

What am I missing about the lost hour? I even worked the hospital the Sunday morning after and still... today was glorious.

Mommy night out!

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Trips to Dallas are always so much fun because we get to visit all of our favorites about Dallas. We are finding though that it is difficult to cram all of our favorites into just one little weekend. Hmmm... perhaps a week trip this summer?

This trip was extra special because thanks to my friend, Tiffany, I was treated to a Mommy night out with some much loved Dallas girlfriends. I NEEDED IT. We had dinner at my favorite restaurant and the celebrated with pretty feet/manicures in Northpark. My kind of night with friends! It was a very heart happy night... which let's face it--- is about the best feeling ever.

Aside from family, 7 perfect reasons to love Dallas right here.


Allison took over picture duty for the evening and it was great. I especially love this one because if you look on the veeeerrrryyyyy end next to Maxey, you will notice a nice businessman man enjoying his little Friday feet treat too. And thanks to Allison, his secret is out!

You know, it had an almost-book-club-feeling about it.

Can you believe that two of these ladies have a newborns?! AMAZING. If I could bottle up that energy.
So now, I have some pretty toes which is one more thing checked off the Lucy list. We are definitely in the home stretch now....

It is so wonderful to be surrounded by such joy in these last few weeks before Lucy.

A look at Lucy

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It has been an exciting couple of Lucy days recently.

I can't remember if I had mentioned it or not but I was recently able to participate in a special casting call maternity session with Libby Ann Photography here in Austin. My ever-in-the-know friend, Ticia, clued me in to this and I was SOOOOOOO excited that I was chosen to participate. It is funny, we have about a million pictures of the kids, some with us with the kids but rarely any pictures of just Kelly and me together. This was such a special time for us to escape for a "mini photo date" on Sunday. We are still waiting to see all the pictures. But here is our sneak peek! I will say that I LOVED working with this photographer and she finds such cool little photo ops in places I would never even think of! If you live in the area than you should check out her website for sure!!!

Today was another opportunity for some Lucy pictures also! My doctor likes to do one final sonogram just to see how our little nugget is growing. Let me tell you that I am now going to stop saying "little". Lucy, is anything but little. In fact, according to ultrasound measurements she already weighs about 5lbs 11oz. EEEK! I still have a good 4.5 weeks to go... I am giving in to all things green and leafy and saying so long to my beloved carbs for a while. We will see if this helps!

It was really fun to see little bits of our other two in the sono session. Lucy has GIANT face cheeks just like Molly and Gabriel---she definitely has the biggest of the bunch though. She has what looks like Gabriel's hand and Molly's feet so we will see what that combo becomes. I am sort of afraid to find out. She, like her siblings, definitely has Daddy's forehead. Will she have hair/no hair? Curly or straight? Be calm natured or refluxy like Molly was? Oh, I can't wait to finally hold her and find out! It is all starting to feel so real now... I can't believe that we are in March.

I would love to say that we have awesome pictures from the sono today but alas, we do not. She seems squished and the picture quality on the paper looks squished with little blobs of elbows and tummy. But she was on target and our doctor said everything looked great--- and that is better news than any picture print out!

I have my first "check" at my next appointment so stay tuned on Lucy progress!