Birthdays and Bed Rest

Yesterday, June 8, 2011 was Mason's 3rd birthday.  3 years ago yesterday we celebrated the end of my bed rest, the birth of our much anticipated second child and the beginning of a beautiful journey.  Yesterday, I was placed on bed rest for the duration of our pregnancy with our third child.  Ironic?  Life is just one big circle it seems.

First, let's focus on the positives.  Mason is three!!  We are so proud of all our little boy has accomplished in his 3 years.  He is thriving at home and at school.  A little defiant and stubborn at times, but he's my kid so what do you expect?  At three, Mason loves most of all to play with his older brother.  They play Star Wars, Superheroes, wrestling, and more.  We can even get them to agree on what TV show or movie to watch every once in a while!  We had a small party over the weekend, but Mason didn't seem like enjoy the invasion of other children on his home turf and was not too keen on the birthday celebration.  But, we did a small family birthday last night with a simple piece of cake and three candles and he loved it.  Happy happy birthday to our beautiful big boy ... as I've said before, I never dreamed three years ago that our little boy would teach ME so much about living life to its fullest, persevering through things that come difficult, and accepting what God has given you and making the most of it each day.  We are truly blessed.   

Now onto the not so fun stuff. Basically I've been put on bed rest due to contractions and results of certain predictive tests that increase my "odds" of giving birth in the next 2 weeks up to 40% coupled with my prior pre term labor experience with Mason. The baby has been given steroid shots to speed up lung development and I am on medication to try and calm the contractions. I am 30 1/2 weeks and really need to get to 34 - 36 weeks to be in any kind of "safe" zone.  Brian is being a trooper and picking up all slack when it comes to the kids.  I know this is as hard on him as it is for me to lay on the couch and not lift a finger.  But together we will get through this.  Because that's what we do.  And this is what we have to look forward to:

Isn't our little girl adorable?   As excited as we are for her to join our family out here, please pray that she stays put for a few more weeks!