Tired

I'm now 30 weeks along and the tiredness is coming back. We've had some unexpected things come up and I think the emotional stress adds to the fatigue. They are still wanting to monitor the baby's kidneys which are both still enlarged. The cutoff for normal is 4 and his are at 6. If they reach 10, they will have to do a test where they insert a needle into his bladder to test the concentration of his urine. If that comes back abnormal, it means that the kidney has reached the point where it is not functioning properly. If that were the case, they would deliver him then. My next u/s is in 4 weeks so I would be 34 weeks along. The idea of the test makes my sick to my stomach since I know that he would feel the procedure. Add that to having to deliver him early and it's pretty stressful. I just want my baby to be okay.
On top of that, I noticed a small black mole on my shoulder about a month ago. I went to my doctor to have it looked at and he recommended it be removed. That was done a couple of weeks ago. T"he pathology report came back that although they were holding back on calling it melanoma, that they were recommending it be treated as one and that more of the surround tissue be removed. The surgeon said that if left alone, the mole would have developed into a melanoma. So, yesterday I went and had an area of skin about the size of a ping pong ball removed. He ended up having to give me 5 stitches. It's VERY sore today. I wasn't expecting it since the first procedure didn't really hurt. I saw my OB this morning and she was surprised they didn't give me anything for pain so she gave me a prescription for stadol. I'm trying to hold off on it though. Now I have an appt with a dermatologist in 2 weeks. I'm really nervous they'll find more spots. I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed right now.
Anyway, I'm trying to focus on the positive right now. Baby boy looks great other than the kidney issue. He moves constantly and I love it. My OB asked if I was tired of being pregnant yet and I can honestly say no. I'm enjoying it, esp since this is probably our last. It has been a smooth pregnancy all things considered. The boys are doing great and we are looking forward to spring. So, I know I'm blessed and I'm just praying that God takes care of the things I can't control.

Cat Hotel

The boys are FINALLY back at school after school being canceled for a week and a half. This was immediately following Christmas break so they were out for almost 4 weeks. They were so ready to go back and I was ready for them to go as well! They honestly were pretty good all things considered but they were getting cabin fever. One afternoon Connor and Landon spent nearly 2 hours building a "cat hotel" for Daisy and Jackson. They used laundry baskets, toy bins, blankets, and other misc items to create and elaborate hideaway for the cats. It even had separate eating and sleeping areas. They were so proud and I was proud of their imaginations. Now if they could only play like that every day!

First Pics

Realized today that I never posted our new baby boy's u/s pics. So, here they are :) In the third one, he's got one fist in front of his nose and the other is rubbing his eye.

Let it snow!

We got the most snowfall we've had since we moved here yesterday. We ended up with about 6 inches. It was/is beautiful...as long as you weren't out driving in it. It's crazy that 6 inches of snow could shut down an entire NE part of the state. The interstates were shut down due to overturned tractor trailers and the side roads didn't get cleared. It took Mike almost 7 hours to get home from work last night. He left early at 5:30 and walked in the door at 12:30. Dad left the shop at 4:30 and after only making it 2 miles in 2 hours, he gave up and walked the mile to our house where he spent the night. Unfortunately he didn't have his anti rejection meds with him so he missed his 7pm dose and was 2 hours late on the 7am one. It took mom 5.5 hours to go from Johnson City to within a mile of their house. At that point, the van was stuck and she walked the rest of the way. What a mess! On a good note, the boys have had a blast today. The have been outside pretty much all day sledding and playing in the snow. Even Noah was anxious to get out there. He brought me his jacket and hat first thing this am. Unfortunately Mike had to head back to work this morning for a 24. It's so pretty out though. Just wish it would stay for Christmas!

So Sweet

This evening, Liam came up and rubbed my belly. He asked where the baby was exactly. I showed him and told him I had felt the baby moving a few minutes earlier. He grinned, rubbed my belly again and then said, "Mommy, I love the baby!". My heart melted!

Too long

It has been way too long since I've updated. This will be a hodge podge of things
I've been meaning to write. Life is good here. The boys finished up their fall sports. Connor's team tried hard but unfortunately never did win a game. The problem was that they had to combine the JV and varsity this year so they had kindergartners who had never played on the same team as 3rd graders with 2 or 3 years experience. Connor's team had mainly new players. Connor was quarterback and his coaches were really impressed with him. He takes it seriously and gives it his all. He scored a touchdown at almost every game and was always a leader in the flag grabbing department :) Landon did awesome at soccer. His coach called him their star player :) Soccer just seems to come naturally to him. During one game, he scored 7 goals. Landon will start basketball in January. The boys got their report cards last week. Connor got straight A's and Landon did great too. He brought one C up to an A and another B up to an A. All in all 3 A's, 2 B's and a C in handwriting. He takes after his dad in that department! We are very proud of both of them.
Liam is doing great. He is so smart! He writes his first name and is working on his last name. He loves to draw and practice his letters. He is always "reading" to Noah. He is always the first to volunteer and answer during circle time at the preschool. He is still very shy though and pretty much refuses to talk to people. He LOVES music and is always singing.
Noah is growing fast. He is very strong willed and independent. He can through a major fit when he doesn't get his way. He loves to make people laugh though. His favorite word is "look". He'll put a basket over his head and run through the house yelling "mommy, look!". He also LOVES to eat and is always getting into the cabinets. He uses the step stool to get up on the counters and get food. I'm always catching him with a slice of bread out of the bag. He'll eat just about anything!
Mike is doing good. School is going well. He only has a few more weeks in this semester. He has started working part time at Indian Path in the ER. It's a blessing because since it's still for Mountain States (same as WINGS), the time he puts in there is overtime. He still wants to keep working at leats one day a month at Bristol as well.
I'm feeling good. Tired but good. I started feeling the baby move this week. It's so neat! After some lab mix ups, all my tests have come back good. I failed the one hour glucose test but passed the 3 hour. I had cut down on my cards a few days before the one hour and then flound out later that you shouldn't do that. It can cause a false positive. At least I know for the next test! Landon told me the other day that we'll know if the baby is a girl if at the ultrasound, it has a lot of hair. According to him, girls have a lot more than boys. We'll see if his theory holds true :) Still working at the preschool. Unfortunately, our old boss moved and we have a new one. It is just not the same and the atmosphere has changed. They have also changed the policy as to when babies can start so instead of me starting back in October, I will now have to take the full year off. It will be wonderful to home with the kids full time but it will be a struggle financially. I do still have my part time job with Chad so that's good. I'm also going to get back into candle making. We are just trusting that God will provide as He always has. Mike getting in at Indian Path is evidence of that! So, all is well at the Burton's! Crazy but good :)
I'm really going to try and do better about posting. I know I'm going to forget things if I don't do better.

Here We Grow Again!

I am so excited to officially announce baby #5 is on the way! It has been a hard secret to keep but we wanted to wait until we had the utrasound. Well, we went last Friday and we saw a a heartbeat! The heart rate was 150 and baby measured right on target at 7 weeks 1 day. I was so nervous that morning, I was sick to my stomach. When I saw that tiny heart beating, I just started crying. I was so relived! Liam and Noah were with us and Liam thought it was so neat to see the baby. When the boys got home from school, we showed them the pictures and told Landon( we had told Connor a few days before). He was excited and immediately said, "I hope it's a girl baby!". We explained that that was up to God and we would be happy with whatever God gave us. He said he's going to pray and ask for it to be a girl. It's hard for me to imagine having a girl although it would be great. I don't think I would believe it even if they could tell on ultrasound. Not until I was holding the baby and could see for myself! I am just excited to be adding to our family! It's been a rough couple of weeks though. I have been non stop nauseous. Our poor house is a wreck. I just keep telling myself it will get better and as yucky as I feel, I'm okay because I know the baby is okay!