So, I was at church last Sunday when...

...my water broke. But I didn't realize it for it was no big gush of water like everyone talks about. I know, looking back, really stupid of me. I called my doctor when we got home and he told me to head to the hospital to get checked out. Naively, at this point, I still thought I'd be coming home. I did throw some things in a bag "just in case" but I certainly didn't do a thorough packing job. The girls went across the street to Beth's and we headed to Marymount.

Here's what turned out to be my last picture pregnant with Ryan, taken in the hospital parking lot around 2:30 pm.


I soon found out that yes, my water broke and yes, I was going to be having a c-section that day. This was totally a surprise to me. Emma was 9 days late and Mackenzie made it to her scheduled c-section date 6 days before her due date. I thought there was no way I'd ever go early. I'd thought I had the whole next week to get the last few things done on my to-do list, to have a special day out with the girls, to get some errands done, to just rest. But Ryan didn't want to wait any more and he was coming 11 days early, 9 days before his scheduled c-section. Finding out he was going to be born this day was exciting. Not so exciting was the fact that because I had eaten lunch - since I didn't really think my water had broke - I had to wait 8 hours from when I ate to have the c-section. Which was 9:30 that night. Which meant I got to hang out in that hospital bed for 7 hours.

About 9:30 I walked down to the operating room, got my spinal and shortly after Ryan Michael was born. September 19th, 2010. 10:02 pm. 6lbs, 12.3 oz and 19 inches long. Absolutely beautiful.





Holding him for the first time in recovery, around 11:45 that night.

Monday Michael brought the girls up to meet their brother. Love at first sight for sure. They were fascinated. We took our first picture as a family of five. This, for the record, was not easy.

I stayed until Wednesday night and the girls were so excited to have us home. I've had great help from my mom and mother-in-law both with entertaining the girls and taking Emma to school and other errands since I can't drive yet. Hoping I get the all-clear for that on Friday at my check-up. And now it's time for more snuggling with my cute little ten-day-old. :)

Oh the power

Marie Taylor here-Erin has given me permission to hack her blog to give you some very, very exciting news. Erin's water broke unexpectedly yesterday (despite the fact that she did not have everything done on her list ;) and she had the baby!

Ryan Michael Sweeney
6 lbs. 12 ounces
19 inches

I am SURE she will have tons of pictures for you soon but as I can't leave without leaving you one (showing just how excited I am) Yup-that's what friends are for. CONGRATULATIONS Sweeney family!!

Code Yellow

Did you know Target has something called a Code Yellow? Apparently, it's what happens when a almost 9-month pregnant woman walks up with her 4 1/2 year old and asks for help finding her almost 3-year-old who decided to run away. Oh yes. This is what happened today.

Today we were in Target with my mom. We were in the shoe department, Emma and Mac standing by the cart with Grandma while I was looking. I heard, "Mackenzie, come here. Mackenzie!" Then Emma saying, "She went that way Grandma!" and I see my mom go down the aisle after Mackenzie. But then she comes back without her. See, she's fast. Faster than Grandma and faster than me at this point. So off we go looking and when we don't see her immediately I realize the best thing to do is ask for help before she decides to just walk out of the store. Because she would do that. She has no fear. She would just walk out, with purpose, and with my luck no one would stop her.

I headed to the toy department and when she wasn't there I walked up to the Target security guy and an employee standing in the music department. The conversation went a bit like this:

Me: Hi. Could you help me find my almost three-year-old who decided to run away? She's short. Blonde. Wearing a pink Minnie Mouse shirt and she's fast. Faster than me.

Them: (Concerned look on their faces) Sure, we can help. Where was she last?

Me: (With a crazy smile on my face) In the shoe department. But no one took her. She's okay. She just decided to run away. She's fast. And fearless.

Them: What was she wearing again? Okay, you stay here, we'll go look.

Now I wasn't afraid. I think my mom probably was, but I wasn't. I really wasn't concerned anyone had taken her. I was just annoyed (and yes, amused, hence the crazy smile - a cross between Ican'tbelivethisishappening and ohsheissogoingtobeintroubleforthis and thisisalittlebitembarrassing) that I actually had to ask for help to find her.

I think if she wasn't found quickly then I would start to get nervous and start to panic. And I'm sure the Target employees would do the same, because inevitably, you'd think someone actually did take her. But it wasn't more than a minute before I heard the crackling of the walkie talkie and someone saying they had her in diapers. I walked over and there she comes, walking toward the diaper aisle from the baby clothing, holding the hand of a female employee, and SMILING! Yes, smiling. She saw me, yelled Mommy and jumped in my arms. She then squeezed me as tightly as possible and hid her head in my shoulder. Embarrassed? Aware she was in trouble? Happy to see me? Who knows. All I know is what Code Yellow means at Target, thanks to my very cute and very mischievous almost 3-year-old.

And because every post needs a photo, here are the girls during a better time, AKA, at the mall before Mac ran away in Target.

37 Weeks

37 weeks along = 20 days to go until the boy is here. I'm so ready for September 28th and the c-section. Everything is pretty much ready for the boy to arrive, meaning all I've got is one more load of his clothes to wash and the valance to hang when it arrives. Therefore were he to arrive early, I wouldn't panic. Well, I wouldn't panic that we weren't ready. I would be panicking because I do not want to go in to labor, thankyouverymuch. I want to go to the hospital at 5:30 on a Tuesday, sit in a bed for two hours, then get up and walk in to the operating room and magically have a baby a few minutes later. The going in to labor thing would be an entirely new experience, and one I'm good with never having experienced at this point!

Sunday my sister-in-law Abby took some pictures for me. I took a couple the beginning of last week, but other than that it'd been 4 or 5 weeks since I'd had a belly shot. I've gotten much larger in that time, which I'm reminded of because people tell me when they haven't seen me in a couple weeks. Memo to self regarding pregnant woman - don't tell them how much bigger they've gotten.

36 weeks, 4 days:

Nothing too exciting going on pregnancy -wise though. Check-ups have been fine. Baby looked good at my ultrasound last week -he was about 6lbs 3 oz and not cooperative. He is still moving around like crazy. I'm still feeling pretty good, but definitely getting slower. Still working out, although at this point I could go without the exercising and be fine with it. But I've made it this far so I refuse to stop. My plan is work out through the Friday before my c-section.

The dumb Restless Leg Syndrome is getting worse as it's now bothering me during the day. Back pain. Hip pain. Same old stuff. Nothing serious. Nothing I should really be complaining about, just normal pregnancy stuff. As I've said before, compared to the girls' pregnancy, this has been a piece of cake. I thought I was going to miss out on the cool dark line down the middle of my belly but in the last week it's started to show up. Faintly, but it's there.

I've been cleaning and organizing like crazy, trying to get through my massive to-do list. Most of it is nothing that has to be done before he comes, just stuff that would be nice to have done. But if I don't get to it, I'm not worried. Today I checked off spray-painting picture frames, cleaning out the bathroom drawers and the silverware drawer.

And with that, I'm heading back to the floor (my least favorite place to sit at this point) to continue sorting through boxes of crap in my scrapbook area. Cards, keepsakes and junk. Lots of throwing away going on and it feels good. And looks much cleaner, too.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Soccer practice was cancelled tonight because of a storm that came through. Emma was very sad. And when the storm was over, she asked if she could go to practice since it wasn't raining anymore. I had to explain again what practice being cancelled meant.

2. This picture is from the game Saturday when Emma scored a goal. Love that I actually captured her kicking it in.


3. All the girls' fall clothes are washed and put away in their closet. Very glad that's done.

4. Our fitness center has added a new fitness class - T-Bow. It's great. Versatile. Fun. The only downside is I can't do everything with it at this point. I'm still going, but doing a modified workout with it. Can't wait until I can do it full-strength.

5. Emma has mentioned trying to ride her bike without training wheels a few times this summer, so Sunday when we were at Michael's parents we gave it a try. They have a huge, flat yard so it was perfect. She used Mackenzie's bike so if she fell, it wasn't quite as far. She lost interest in it in about ten minutes, but she actually rode a few feet during that time. Please excuse my really dumb cheer at the end. Am I the only one who hates how I sound on video?

Emma's attempt to ride without training wheels from Erin Sweeney on Vimeo.

6. I've got this giant to-do list I'm working on (which I might have mentioned before) and now have 3 weeks to get it all done. Today I was able to cross some things off it. One of them being the mess of cords under the computer desk. Now why it seemed like a good idea to sit under said desk three weeks before having a baby, I don't know. But having the cords all neat and wrapped up makes me happy.

7. I hate doing laundry. And each time I do it now, I think about how I will have even more with a fifth person in our family.

8. My girls are going to think this is the best week ever because they're having play dates three days this week. Yesterday and today here and Friday at Kelly's. This week is orientation at the preschool and so we're swapping childcare for those not going to orientation. I love my friends.

9. Last week I got my hair cut and colored and brows waxed and it's amazing how much better that makes one feel.

10. My scrapbook area is all cleaned and organized (check that off my list!) and now I'm feeling crafty.

Food, rides, food, rides...

...that pretty much sums up our day at the Canfield Fair Saturday. Well, I guess it actually went like this:

Food (fries, pulled pork)
Rides
Food (funnel cake)
Rides
Food (giant cinnamon rolls)
Animals
Food (shaved ice)

Yes, we Sweeney's were eating healthy that day.

But back to the rides. Of course the all-day ride bracelets are way overpriced. But worth it. The girls had so much fun. The swings were Emma's first pick. Mackenzie too. Until it was time to get on, then she changed her mind. Which made me a tad bit nervous about the $20 bracelet on her wrist.


Thankfully that was a fluke. She was more than ready to ride when Emma got off. The funniest thing had to be the dragon roller coaster. Mackenzie had this look of fear half the time...



And a big smile the rest.

More rides followed:

Including the Carousel and slide with Daddy.

We had a bit of a meltdown when Mackenzie wasn't big enough to ride a different swing ride with Emma. She was an inch too short and none too happy about it. I was heading there way from the previous ride they were on when I heard Mackenzie crying. Loudly. She was so sad to not ride it with Emma.

Of course we had to bribe the girls with seeing the animals (which we were going to do anyway but they didn't know this) in order for this picture to be taken. Check out Mackenzie's face.

There was one before that in which she was smiling. Then she decided to do make the pouty face. Then it was back to smiling.

By the time we'd seen cows, horses and chickens, then watched a line dancing demo (the girls are always ready to dance when they hear music) we were ready to go. Especially Mackenzie. I believe her exact words were, "Mommy, I'm ready to go home." She was asleep in the car rather quickly, which was no surprise considering we'd been walking around for nearly five hours.

We couldn't have asked for better weather - 60's, partly cloudy, a bit on the windy side but compared to the 90 degree heat we'd had, I was loving it!