I should be writing thank you notes!

I sat down with the purpose of writing thank you notes, but thought I'd take a minute (or two) to update on the Smith family that is VERY SOON to be a family of four.

Luker-duke: I think we're headed in the right direction with this boy's cough. I couldn't tell you if it was the Azithromycin or time, but his sparkle is coming back a bit. His energy is coming back a bit and blessedly, he didn't cough one time last night. This bug seems to be moving from his chest back to his nose. Yesterday and today, his nose is pretty gunky, but I think we all prefer that over the cough. His voice is still raspy, but it is stronger than it has been. There were a couple of days when I wanted to retract my "oh-his-voice-is-so-sweet" blog comment ... it was like a constant whine. But it has since transitioned back to being cute =)

We are gearing up for Luke's next big cardiology check-up on May 11, and as always, we covet and cherish your prayers for Luke's heart health and for Dr. Stefanelli's wisdom as we await the Fontan.

Baby girl: She is definitely (and literally!) headed in the right direction. At my OB appointment on Wednesday, she was low, head down, at I'm dilated to a 1-2 (I have so often wondered why we women can't dilate all the way to 10 this way!). I am having tons of Braxton-Hicks contractions and getting more uncomfortable by the day. Her movements are so strong and as much as I remember Luke being incredibly active, I don't remember some of his kicks feeling like sucker punches! I'm okay with that as long as sweet girl is happy in there! I can't believe I'm 37 weeks. I can't believe that I need to get my bags packed. I really need to get my bags packed.

Luke definitely can sense this little one is nearing her arrival. For a few weeks now, he has been super clingy and nowhere near as independent as he has been in the past (I'm sure part of this has been him feeling under the weather for so long). He is constantly checking in with me and Rog ("Mom? Dad? Where are you?") and will often bring his activity to whatever room I'm in. He even has balked at going to preschool this past week, which he hasn't done in months. Because he's four, I'm assuming that he understands that big change is upon us, but can't quite verbalize what he's feeling. And as much as everyone around him pumps up how cool it will be to be a big brother, it is still change. And one thing we do know about Luke is that he is not the most laid-back kid when it comes to change. He needs lots of explanation and lots of affirmation. He is also needing a bit more discipline these days. He's not in my favorite phase he's ever been in, but we keep reminding ourselves to extend grace as well as consistent discipline. The thing about kids is that they are so smart. I know he knows I'm not at the top of my game, so he's going to push me more than usual.

Did you moms with older children see this type of behavior BEFORE the baby was born? I didn't expect it until after!

Luke found a picture the other day of his "birth" day. It captured him the moment he came out and of course, there was some blood covering him. He was looking through pictures and brought this one to me. "Is this blood, Mom?" I explained that it wasn't blood from an owie, but that he had just come out of my tummy and they hadn't cleaned him up yet. I then showed him the next series of pictures where he was all clean. He took the "bloody" one back and opened one of our kitchen drawers. "I'm just going to put this one riiight here."

Maybe no med school in his future??

If not, he can always fall back on cute school: