OUT OF MY MIND IN LOVE

I have taken a bit of an unexpected hiatus from posting this week as I have been busy loving this little man to pieces.

My Nathan's first week of life has been quite a busy one. With me taking pictures of him as if I were a member of the paparazzi, and lots of people wanting to hold him, love him and squeeze him every minute of the day, he must be thinking enough already!

Of course I had the pleasure of loving him to pieces for the first few hours of his life....

Then I thought it only fair to let Daddy have some time to get to know his son as well.

After having a whole day just Daddy, Nathan and I, it was time for his brothers and sisters to come to the hospital to meet out new little bundle.

And boy, was it ever love at first sight.

I managed to get some more snuggling in with my sweet baby boy [is there anything better?]

Before Grandma and Papa were able to make it to the hospital to meet their 7th grandbaby. I think it is safe to say that they were not disappointed. They seemed to dive right in, drinking in all of his sweet baby boy goodness.

I have to admit it is not always sunshine and roses. When he gets hungry or wants Mama to hold him, he can tend to get a bit angry. Going from completely calm and peaceful, to an all out screaming fit within seconds.

But no worries, I still love him to bits even in his little fits of rage; as after getting his belly filled, or getting snuggled up next to his Mama's chest, all is fine in the world.

Oh, and did I mention my little man's hands? How big they are? So big that after he came out of my belly and was placed on my chest it was the first thing Daddy and the nurses and I noticed. We laughed as I held out my finger and you were able to wrap your hand all the way around it. So big, yet so very delicate in all their amazing baby boy sweetness.

Is he not the sweetest? I know I am his Momma, but I have to say, yes, he is. Hands down.

NATHAN JAMES SHELTON

Our beautiful baby boy has finally arrived!

Born at 4:08pm,weighing in at 9 lbs 1 oz, and 20 3/4 inches long.

He is simply perfect. We could not have asked for a sweeter, more precious little boy to love.

Welcome to the family Nathan James, we love you to the moon!

ONE OF THOSE KIND OF DAYS. I MEAN WEEKS. OR MAYBE MONTHS.

This is me, right now. Well, not right this second, it was a few minutes ago, but what's the difference, right?

Anyway, this is me, not lookin' so hot, sitting at my computer, just finishing up surfing Facebook to see what my fellow Facebook friends are doing. Wondering if anyone else out there feels as crappy as I do. 'Cause you know you always feel better when there is someone else out there who can relate. But alas, there was no one to be found. I guess I am not too surprised as it would be difficult to find many people in my position - 9 months pregnant while having to take care of 4 rambunctious kids all under the age of 8.

I am tired. So tired you can see the dark circles around my eyes in the picture I have graced you with. So tired that any amount of sleep at this point is not helping me feel bright eyed and bushy tailed. Why so tired? Well, I have not slept all that great for the past week due to the little man that is cooking away in my belly. Due to the fact that he is so big he is kicking me in my ribs or pushing down on my bladder at all times. The pushing down on the bladder thing is a real bummer at night as it causes me to have to roll my large self out of bed to go to the bathroom. After relieving myself, I must then make my way back to bed and attempt to get back to sleep which took me forever to do in the first place. Unfortunately this happens about 3 times each night.

I ache everywhere. All my muscles feel sore, and this baby seems to find every single darn nerve to sit on that will cause shoot pains down my butt or the front of my legs. These shooting pains cause me to have to stop in my tracks and mumble a few curse words to myself until they subside. Not fun, not fun at all.

I feel winded all of the time. I walk up the stairs and it takes me 10 minutes of laying on the bed before I feel like I got my breath back. I walk down the stairs, same thing. I vacuum, same thing. I try and play with the kids outside, same thing. I grocery shop, clean the house, put the kids to bed, same thing. You get the idea, I am so large I can't seem to accomplish the simplest of tasks without feeling as if I ran a marathon. Boy would I hate to be obese. I have never been, but am assuming this is what it feels like.

So take the being tired, and aching everywhere all of the time and being winded after attempting to accomplish the simplest of tasks, and all of the other ever so pleasant ailments of being 9 months pregnant, and you get one cranky Momma.

And I hate being cranky. But I just can't help it.

The poor kids have seemed to become accustomed to my running around the house ranting about them not doing this or that, or about how the house is never clean, or how I am too damn tired to do anything anymore, and I how I feel like I have no help and I am going to lose my mind, pass out, or lie on the floor and just weep. Seriously, it gets that dramatic and is that bad sometimes.

Oh how I want this beautiful, sweet little boy of mine to evacuate my womb. Like now.


Whew, it sure does feel good getting a good session of wallowing in my own self-pity in.

14 DAYS AND COUNTING...

To my little boy presently cooking away in my belly,

I am pretty confident in the fact that you are more than ready to come on out of your comfy little home you have been occupying over the past 9 months and see your Momma, Daddy and siblings.

How do I know this you say?

Well, beyond the fact that I just want to see your sweet little baby face, there is simply no more room in your Momma's belly for you to grow!

Don't get me wrong little man, I have loved every minute of you occupying the good majority of my belly space. Well, most of it. I can admit, I have not much enjoyed the nausea that plagued me in the beginning months, the heartburn, or the needing to go to the bathroom 3-4 times a night. [Momma's just keeping it real here.] But that stuff melts away when I think of all the spectacular things that go along with having been your home, your safe haven for the past 9 months. Watching my belly slowly expand as you have grown is as always, nothing short of amazing. All the little kicks and jabs you have given me - from the ever so soft ones, to the stronger ones as you have grown are as sweet as ever. I like to think of these as your way of communicating with me, your way of saying, "hey Mom, I'm in here!" And your hiccups - those nightly hiccups that seem to come on right as Mama lays in bed to relax, boy how I love those. They have become a sense of comfort for me. A way for me to know you are doing just fine in there, growing and getting ready to make your grand entrance.

So as you know, I have loved every minute of being pregnant with you. But alas, it is time for you to come on out of my belly, the place you have called home for the past 9 months, and show your little face.

I promise, you won't be disappointed.

There are way too many people that are so very anxious to meet you, give you kisses, hugs and love you up in to a million little pieces. Especially your big sister, Miss Liv Grace.

See you soon my sweet little boy....

♥, Momma

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Once again, I have been missing in action from this whole blogging thing. It seems as if the days are getting away from me way too fast. Ever since the kids have been out of school it's as if our lives have been nothing but crazy. Don't get me wrong, it is always a special sort of crazy around the Shelton household, but if you can believe it, it has been worse than normal as of late. All we have been doing is run, run, run, go, go, go.

A little look in to our lives the past month:

The last day of school was celebrated by us [as always] packing what seemed to be the entire house in to our car and making our way to Zumbrota for a fun filled weekend of camping.

The next weekend the Mr. and I were lucky enough to drop the monkeys off with Grandma and Papa for a long weekend so that we could get a nice relaxing weekend away on the North Shore. And relaxing it was - but the packing, organizing, list making, and everything else that is involved in getting away was crazy and stressful.

We arrived home from that glorious trip on Sunday, only to start running like crazy on Monday as Ava and Lucas had art camp in Hudson all week from 1-4pm. Over to Hudson to drop them off, back to Hudson to pick them up, over to Hudson to drop them off, back to Hudson to pick them up... This would not be that big of a deal, but getting to Hudson from our house is no easy feat. Even though it is a mere hop-skip-and-jump from our house, it takes 20 minutes to get there being that there is no real direct route.

Art camp finally ended only to land us on the weekend where we were actually home for once. But it was Miss Liv's birthday and we had a celebration planned for Sunday with family. Which meant cooking, cleaning, organizing, you know - all the getting ready stuff. Not to mention we had to fit in a showing of Toy Story 3 as Anthony had been asking and asking and asking to go see it for months. Now that it was finally out in theaters, we thought it wise to bring him to see it so that we no longer had to listen to "I want to see Toy Story. When can I go see Toy Story? When??"

After the party on Sunday I stayed up packing, grocery shopping and getting ready to leave for Nona and Papa's cabin for the week. Early Monday morning we packed the car and headed to the Minute clinic. Nope, not Nona's cabin quite yet, as Anthony had a raging fever the day before and was now complaining of a sore throat. After spending and hour in Wal Mart [a special sort of hell] we found out he did not have strep and then made our way to the cabin. We spent the week playing with cousins, swimming, making sand castles. The kids were having a great time. Me? I spent the weekend dealing with Anthony being sick, then Olivia being sick, then Lucas being sick. On top of that I spent the weekend listening to my lovely sister chime on and on about eating healthy and how we are poisoning our bodies with all foods that are not organic or hormone free. I listened to her rant about high fructose corn syrup and how it is killing us, how our meat is tainted and there is a big "conspiracy" going on between the farmers, meat producers, and all kinds of other people, Apparently they are all out to get us. I listened as she droned on and on about how all these foods we eat are processed which also kills us as it is not "natural" as it is not "straight from the earth." I listened and listened as she pushed her views on all of us, as she does every time we are together. Oh the fun.

I returned home from that crazy week, managed to fit in a play date for Ava with her friend Emily, packed again and headed out on the boat for the weekend with friends. Right now, as I am typing this, we are home resting a bit before heading out to the boat for more fun in the sun and another night of sleeping away from home.

And it does not even end there.

Tomorrow we return home only to pack up again and head to our friends Jimmy and Tara's house with our camper to spend the night celebrating the 4th of July.

I think I can safely say, that after Monday morning I am not going to go anywhere or do anything. That is until Wednesday when I have Olivia's 2 year check up, followed by Anthony's appointment at the oral surgeon's office [more on that later], followed by my 36 week check, and my nieces birthday on Thursday, followed by Anthony's appointment Friday morning to have his tooth pulled [again, more on that later.] Did I mention the Mr. will be out of town all week? Oh, and we will be leaving on Thursday June 16th to go camping for the weekend.

Seriously, it is never ending around here. Me being exhausted does not even begin to describe how I am feeling.

Maybe when this little peanut that is cooking away in my belly decides to make his grand entrance, things will slow down.

Maybe not.

I am thinking not.

Speaking of this baby - 5 more weeks to go [hopefully a little bit less] before that grand entrance I was talking about will be made. The brothers can't wait -

another boy in the house to join in their wrestling, fighting and mayhem!

Oh, and there really was a point to my title as I wanted to say - Happy 4th of July! [A day early.] I guess I just got caught up in my little run down of how summer has been unfolding thus far. Have a great weekend!

HOLY BELLY!

9 more weeks to go before this little man makes his grand entrance into the world.

[Picture courtesy of my Anthony Thomas.]

Can't wait to meet you my little peanut.

WAITING FOR BABY

We have a few very excited little monkeys around here. What are they so excited about you ask?

Well, that would be the upcoming arrival of their baby brother.

Anthony and Liv seemed more than happy to love him to pieces yesterday. They jabbered away to him through my belly button [Anthony insists that he can hear every word he says]; asking him when he was going to come out.

When tired of chatting to him and getting nothing in return, they decided to turn on the affection by giving my belly plenty of kisses and hugs.

I love that they love their baby brother so very much; I have a feeling he is going to fit right in to our nice, big, crazy family. 17 weeks to go!

BABY

We had our ultrasound yesterday which is always such an exciting time during my pregnancies for me. I never seem to tire of getting a glimpse of my babies before they make their way into this world. Being able to see arms, legs, itty bitty fingers and toes. All those tiny, beautiful features that makes that baby mine is so unbelievable. The kicking and rolling around in my belly, it is all just so sweet; and quite frankly, amazing.

Here is a picture of our little peanut; our sweet little....

Baby boy!

I just love this picture of him - all snuggled up inside his temporary home; nice and cozy. Take a look at his little hand, his ear, eyes, nose and mouth. Is there anything better? Nothing but sweet baby boy goodness.

Gosh, I love him so much and I have not even met him yet.

LOAFING AROUND

Let's just say I have been nothing short of lazy as of late. I like to blame it on this pregnancy as it makes me feel a little less lazy. Really, things have been getting a bit out of control around here. Some examples of my pregnancy induced laziness? Getting the kids on the bus and planting my butt on the couch (remote in hand) and proceeding to watch Tivo'ed shows all day long. Being tired all the time and lacking any sort of ambition to get anything productive done around here. Not wanting to cook a decent meal and resorting to chicken tenders, frozen pizza, PB&J's and grilled cheese every night of the week. Yes, it has been that bad - and this is just a sampling of examples - sadly, there are many, many more.

But for some reason this morning I got a bug up my butt to get some cleaning done. I vacuumed, emptied the dishwasher, did a few loads of laundry, and even cleaned the toilet. Now I realize this is nothing over the top, or anything that would really get my house truly clean. But it appears to be clean, and for me, at this point in my life, that is good enough.

As I was finishing up my vacuuming, cleaning and feeling good about having my butt unglued from the couch (at least for the time being), I found this:

Yes, that is Olivia, my 20 month old, laying on the couch, remote in hand....

Channel surfing in an attempt to find Dora.

Like Mother like Daughter I guess - and in this instance, I can say I am not very proud. No, not proud at all. I am thinking I may have to give up this lazy life I have been leading lately and get back to the daily grind.

COMING SOON TO THE SHELTON HOUSEHOLD....

a new baby to love, August 13th 2010.

We are just thrilled to be adding another baby to our family; a baby boy possibly?? The Ultrasound Tech seems to be pretty confident that it is. Look closely at the picture below....

Mom, Dad, brothers and sisters are all anxiously awaiting babies arrival!