No Baby Yet!

Just a quick update for those of you checking in.... we are hanging in, having lots of contractions and false labor, but no real signs of labor or baby yet! I blame this on a couple of close friends who have been MIA this week and have been hoping the baby would wait on them to get back! (You KNOW who you are!) My mom is here though so we have been keeping busy and the boys have loved having Nana around to give them undivided attention. Caleb asks her every night before he goes to bed if she is going to stay! We'll keep you posted if anything exciting happens....

Baby "Who Are You" Check- up at 38 Weeks

Today I went in for my 38 week check and we are 60% effaced and 2 cm dilated! Now this really doesn't mean too much, except for the fact that I only have 8 more centimeters to go! Hooray! I have really been having alot of Braxton- Hicks contractions over this past week as well. Of course everytime I start having them I start to get that excited feeling but then quickly realize that they're nothing to get excited about! Gotta love how my body tries to get labor started. With both Caleb and Nate I had lots of "false labor" episodes before the real thing. So all along I've been expecting the same thing with this one too. We're getting excited to meet this little one and find out "who" is in there! I keep changing my mind and going back and forth, but I think today I finally decided what my official guess is.... don't get excited I'm not going to share! I'll just let you know after the baby is here if I was right or wrong! Dr. Zimmerman did tell me when we were talking about the baby's size that it definitely did not feel like it was anywhere as big as Natey Nate (who was my biggest at 8lb. 13 oz.). That was very encouraging as Dr. Beatty, who I saw last week, said the same thing. So hopefully #4 will break the trend of weighing more than the one before! I've also been having some stomach issues, which I have never had before my others, but read on the internet can be common before the onset of labor even up to weeks before! WHAT! Weeks before... you have got to be kidding me! We're pretty much ready although I haven't completely packed my bag. It's sitting beside the bed, but how much can you really pack? Pretty much everything you pack you need now... so I just have in my mind what I need to throw in! My mom and dad get here on Monday so we'll see if this baby decides to wait on them or come this weekend. We'll keep you posted......

Then and Now!

So what's the verdict? Definitely carrying more on my sides this time then straight out front! And don't let looks deceive you, I've gained more weight this time around too!

prego with #4 at 36 1/2 weeks

prego with Nate at 39 weeks

Our Little Lion

I figured I'd better do a post all about the baby of our family while he's still the baby for a few more weeks... He gave me lots of photographic moments while he was in his lion costume, although I decided I didn't dare try to put the hood on his head and ruin the peaceful moment. I just love this little costume. I actually did the same thing with Asher when he was this age and took like a bazillion pictures of him as the lion. We even used one for our Christmas card that year. Nate is still so very laid back and is usually so easy going. We'll see if he keeps this up after the baby gets here. He has finally sprouted some more teeth and now has four! Whoo Hoo! I've decided that he is going to be staying in his room and the crib for a couple of months even after the baby gets here. He's just not old enough for a toddler bed yet, and I'm not ready for him to move in with the other two quite yet! He has been our baby that has been the quickest to walk and Blake and I laugh because he's also been our most chunky baby! He loves to be anywhere that his brothers are and I'm so glad that he won't be the baby of the family as he will not stand to be left behind. Natey Nate turns 15 months today and has no idea what is in store for him in the coming weeks.....

gotta love those cheeks!

best shot I could get of the lion's head!

Fall Festival 2008

We had a great time a couple weeks ago at the fall festival our church does. Asher and Caleb, oops I mean Spiderman and Tigger rode ponies, slid down inflatable slides, and played lots of games! Not to mention they also brought home lots of candy which they are still hitting me up for every afternoon for snack time! We loved seeing all our friends in their costumes!

The five Hickmans.... soon to be six!

Daddy with Spiderman and Tigger

ready for fun!

Spiderman lovin' on the lion

(very rarely does this happen!)

let's get this party started!

Ben the gorilla

Owen as THE Daniel Renstrom

Nick with Elijah the zebra

Allison and Hudson the giraffe

Spiderman shootin' some hoops Tigger bowling

bean bag toss

our gigantic pony we rode!

"After all that, all I got was this stinkin' glow stick!"

(more on this little lion in the next post)

Warm Gingerbread!

Last weekend we finally took the plunge into the world of color and painted the inside of our house! We have been wanting to do it for awhile and actually found a weekend that we didn't already have something going on. Blake was able to paint the hallway, living, and dining rooms all on Saturday. Even with three kids in the house! We chose the color "warm gingerbread" and love the way that it turned out. Our next project is to get some curtains up on the front and back windows. I think I was most happy that we finally painted and were able to take down our yucky blinds that we have had on our windows since we moved in FIVE years ago!

finished living room

in the midst of the chaos

warm gingerbread in hallway