Where to Begin...

Wow.  Almost a year since my last post.  And it's bugged me on a regular basis that I'm neglecting to document the happenings of our family.  We are so blessed to live in an era of time where journaling is made so easy through technology, and yet life still has a way of racing by and keeping us distracted from that purpose.  So here I sit, a week and a half away from the due date of my fourth baby, realizing that I will need to document her life and milestones just as I have the others (I admittedly have not done as effecient of a job with Ryan, but life with 3 kids is quite busy, so I try to not beat myself up about it).
I will try to do brief updates to catch us up on the past year, but I am starting anew and rededicating myself to this blog.  I figure a goal of a post a week shouldn't be too far fetched, right?  That's what I'm going to shoot for!
So back to baby Hadley #4.  This has been one roller coaster of a pregnancy to say the least.  I'm certain many of you have witnessed my lamenting on Facebook, but I have dealt with some pretty major Sciatica throughout this pregnancy.  I experienced slight Sciatica while pregnant with Allison, but nothing that could even come close to what I dealt with this time around.  It started around the end of November and it became so debilitating at times that I wasn't able to do much more than lay in the bed and cry.  Cry from the pain.  Cry from the inability to care for my own children.  Cry from the sheer overwhelming nature of the situation.  Luckily, I have an amazing support system.  From my wonderful friends and church family providing us with daily meals, to my amazing family who picked up the slack and helped me when I felt too ashamed to ask for assistance, and to my long-suffering, supportive, and completely understanding husband who gave me a constant shoulder to cry on.  After several weeks of Physical Therapy (which helped tremendously) and a Priesthood Blessing, things finally turned a corner at the beginning of April.  And while I haven't been completely pain free, I've felt amazing for the last several weeks.  I have accomplished a great deal of what was being pushed to the back burner for so long, and have been able to let go of some of the anxiety of not being ready for this baby to get here.  Do I still feel like I have a million and one things to do?  Yes.  Do I still feel completely unprepared for a newborn to be joining our family in such a short amount of time?  Yes!  Do I feel overwhelmed to soon be the mother of 4?  Absolutely!  But I am also so anxious to meet this little girl and hold her in my arms.  I am excited to see what she looks like, discover her personality, and see her siblings interact with her.  Now if we could just come up with a name...

Some other noteworthy tidbits:

• The only significant cravings I have had have been orange juice, grape juice, and chocolate milk made with Ovaltine.  Other minor cravings have been short-lived and would go away after I got the thing I just could NOT stop thinking about.  Like the mini powdered donuts I craved for a week and then polished off the entire bag within two days after I finally got them, or the Banana Cream Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory I had dreamed about for months that I finally got last week and practically inhaled.
• This baby will be born in the Spring (just barely), giving us a child in each season.  Tyler was born in the Winter, Allison in the Summer, and Ryan in the Fall.  Now if only she'd come on the 26th, then we'd have Allison and Ryan on July and October 2nd and Tyler and this baby on the 26th of January and May!
• This one is quite obvious, but in keeping with the patterns, we will now have 2 boys and 2 girls born boy, girl, boy, girl.