37 weeks 3 days

We are trying to wait patiently for the newest member of Team Larsen but man it's hard! The kids are super excited. They ask every day if tomorrow is the day that the baby will be here. My doctors appt was a little more encouraging this week. I am making some progress but no where near where I usually am at this point. It's so interesting to see how this pregnancy has been different! If I would have predicted how this would have gone, it definitely wouldn't be a slower progression toward labor. But, that's why childbirth is one of those unpredictable things in life. : )I am enjoying time with the kids. We have been swimming quite a bit (since Arkansas is hotter than any place on earth) and enjoying all of the space to run and play in our new house. It has definitely been a blessing to have the added room! This time is always when I'm torn between wanting to relish the last days with my other kids and longing for the chance to meet our newest. I guess it's part of the lifelong lesson of living in the moment!

It has been really sweet to see the kids spending time together before bed at night. They have shared a room for so long that I think they kind of miss having that time together before they go to sleep. Kate as been reading to Luke before bed and I love to see them cuddled up under that canopy.

Part of the way that Kate has been showing excitement for the baby's arrival is by wrapping up random things in our house as "gifts" for the baby. It's usually something that she has come across in the playroom that she thinks he might like and that she doesn't want anymore. She also made a sign with his name on it for the pack n play in our room. She had it decorated with a leopard print scarf and some pink blankets but after explaining the suffocation risks she decided that it might be best to remove those. She's such a loving big sister!

Just my luck...

FYI: After taking this picture, my husband informed me that black is slimming. I'm going to take that as a compliment. : )


I reached the 36 week mark yesterday. Yeah! I also had my OB appt. with my first dilation check. Now understand, I am fully aware that these checks have absolutely no real insight into when the baby will actually arrive but it still has always helped me make it through the last few challenging weeks. That being said, I went to the doctor with high hopes of some action.


The Dr. checked and actually said "Do you normally dilate later?" I was crushed! No, I don't dilate later! I have dilated early with every pregnancy. By 36 weeks I'm usually at a 2 if not almost a 3. What in the world! Not only is it discouraging, considering that I've been working like a mule for the last month and walking the stairs 17 times a day, but unless I am dilating we can't even talk about induction (and you all know that I'm a big fan of that!)


That was some of the worst news that I've heard. I'm sure that God is trying to teach me patience and to trust his timing. What a fun lesson to learn! : ) I go again next week and hopefully I'll have better news to share. Even though I am more than ready for this baby to come out, it would probably be best for him to come in August. It so hard to wait!!

We did get out on thurs to go to the peach orchard. The kids had tons of fun and we had a yummy peach crisp to show for it!

5 weeks and counting...

So, here it is...the 35 week pregnancy pic. It's the first time that I have seen a picture of myself in probably a month. Of course, I see myself everyday in the mirror but it's just not the same. It's an overwhelming consensus of shock and horror when people see me and find out that I still have 5 weeks to go. Personally, I feel like I look a lot smaller in this picture than I do in person. I definitely look a lot smaller than I feel! It's been interesting to hear the comments that people here have felt free to make. The most common comment among male strangers here has been "You're having a boy? It's gonna be a big 'ol boy!" I mean really, what kind of comment is that anyway. First, why are these men even taking the time to make a comment on my pregnancy size and did they think that having a "big 'ol boy" would be a compliment?? Hmmm...

I have been too lazy to take any house pictures yet but I'm hoping that I will get my motivation up in the next couple of days. Shouldn't there be some sort of nesting thing coming on soon??? Anyway, here's a picture of what the kids have been doing while we have been trying to order the house. Apparently packers get paid extra for every piece of paper that they can get into your boxes and deposit in your new home. I think our packers set some sort of all time record because I have NEVER seen anything like it. This picture was the paper that came out of 2 or 3 boxes. We could have filled the sunroom up to the ceiling with all of the paper that they used to wrap our stuff. At least nothing was broken. : )

Sorry to all of you in LR who I have not caught up with yet. I'm hoping that I will get a chance to connect with more of you before our newest addition arrives!!

Quick Update

I know that I haven't updated in awhile so I thought that I would fill everyone in on how the transition to Arkansas has gone.

The moving process was quite an experience. The movers showed up an hour late and took 10 hours to load our stuff while we tried to keep three tired and restless kids out of the way. I actually had the house all clean before they were finished loading the truck and we waited patiently to be able to drive off. Our hope was to be able to drive at least two hours and knock some time off our trip. Unfortunately, the kids were so tired that we only made it out of the city and then we stopped for the night. It did help even being able to take one hour off of the trip though.

We have had a little bit of a whirlwind since we've been here. We closed the day after arriving in Little Rock and my in-laws graciously watched our kids for many days as we tried to paint and unpack to a point where the kids could be here with us. We have been in the house a full week now and we are starting to get settled in. We have most of the boxes unpacked, painting/portraits are up as of last night, and I am beginning to get everyone in a routine. We are really enjoying the house. It's nice to have so much space! It's much more than we need (which I never thought I would say) but I am thankful to not all be on top of each other anymore. The biggest blessing for me is moving from 1 bathroom to 3. I never thought that something so simple could make so much difference! : )

As far as Cuatro is concerned, I am 34 1/2 weeks and I am trying not to wish the time away. I am ready to be done being pregnant. I feel okay but not great and I can tell that I'm getting tired really easily. The downside of not being pregnant anymore is that means summer will be over. Kate will be in 1st grade and free time will be cut down drastically. Plus, having a newborn changes your level of freedom for quite a while (at least for us). I want to enjoy these last few weeks with the kids. I want them to enjoy some fun summer activities despite the fact that I'm uncomfortable and we have a ton of stuff to do around the house. It is definitely going to be a challenge though.

I'm hoping to have some house pics and a new pregnancy pic soon. I have gotten to the stage when everyone wants to make a comment on how big I am or how big the baby is. Nothing like 6 weeks of those type of comments to really boost your self-esteem. lol! : )

The final countdown

Today has been an emotional day. The kids have been hard the last few days and I'm pretty tired which is usually a pretty bad combination, but what has really thrown me into an emotional tailspin is the countdown to the move. It's funny...I haven't really been emotional at all during the last few weeks. Like I've said 100 times, this will be a bittersweet move for us but I have been mostly excited and ready to start this next stage in our lives. I feel like I've had a lot of closure over the last few months so it hasn't been as overwhelming as it could have been. That is until today. I was emailing my friend Lynda about scheduling some time for our families to spend together over the next few weeks and took a moment to count the days. 17 of them to be exact. Now, every time I think of that I start crying. 17 days is nothing. It will go in the blink of an eye and we will drive away from what has been our life for the last 3 years. We will drive away from Luke's first best friends. We will drive away from the only place that Caleb has ever lived. We will drive away from the kids that Kate has been in class with for two years now and who we will most likely never see again. We will drive away from the Adamsons who have been our family over the last 3 years while both of our extended families have been so far away. We will drive away from a place that we have grown to love deeply.

I am so excited to be close to my family and Chris' family again. I'm excited to be able to drive over and hang out with my closest friends anytime I want. I'm excited about having a house with more space and about the chance to come home to the place where Chris and I started our life together. But, I have a feeling that the next 17 days will be much harder than I have anticipated. I have definitely begun the mourning process and I'm not really looking forward to how my crazy pregnancy hormones are going to magnify that. It should be an interesting journey to say the least...

Summer's here!

Even though the kids have been out of school for a week and a half, I feel like we are only on day two of summer vacation. My sister and nephew came to visit last week so we didn't adjust to a normal summer schedule. We had lots of fun and the kids really enjoyed time with Jonte' and Wilson. Here are a few pictures of the cousins. The boys pretty much stayed in superhero gear the whole six days regardless of how hot it was (they even have their regular clothes on underneath the naturally steamy outfits).

Bless Kate's heart, she is surrounded by boys in all areas of family life! But Aunt Jonte' did take her for a special "girls' day" to get their nails done and have lunch. One of the many advantages of being the only girl in the family.

Yesterday was kind of a crazy day. I was terribly tired and the kids were really energetic and excited to do all of the summer things there are to do. It's both a blessing and a curse that we can walk out our back gate to the swimming pool. It's great if you want to go but it's torture if your baby brother is taking a 2 1/2 hour nap and your stuck in the back yard listening to everyone else splashing their hearts out. So I broke down and got the slip n slide out for Kate and Luke. They had tons of fun...even though much of the fun was unconventional slip n slide fun.

And Caleb was very excited about the idea of getting wet without having to sneak around and do it when mommy wasn't looking.

Three weeks from today the movers come. Like I've said many times, it's excited and sad at the same time. I have started the process of "tearing down camp" and getting us ready to be packed up. One of the things we did this morning was empty out all of the flower pots and spread the dirt around in the flower beds. Who would have known that this could be so entertaining!? There was added excitement because apparently a nation of roly polies had made their home in the bottom of one of the pots so there was a lot of action when that one was dumped. Endless wonders!

We also went swimming with our friends the Adamsons this afternoon. They were some of our first friends when we moved here and they have become like family to us. We have celebrated many holidays with them over the last three years and their kids are our kids best friends. So, needless to say, we're trying to squeeze in as much time with them as we can over the next few weeks!

And we're super thankful that we can mooch off of their pool!!

28 weeks

Well, here it is...my 28 week picture from last week. I'm still feeling pretty good and I'm trying to remember that as much as I would like for this baby to go ahead and make it's way out, ultimately a few more weeks without a newborn is what's needed most right now.




We're down to 3 weeks until the move and 11 weeks until cuatro's arrival! Exciting times!!!

This is a picture of Chris and the big kids being silly. It's really just here for your enjoyment! : )