May Baby

Looks like I'm going to get my May baby after all - I honestly never thought I'd get this far, given my activity level, etc.  I thought I'd exercise myself right into an on-time labour!

My NST went fine... smooth as can be, aside from the nurse who could barely speak English.  

Paige, you're one day closer to winning!  *giggle* - although I really hope I don't get quite all the way to May 4th!  But the pressure is intense!!

I added the pocket to my mei-tai today... here's the finished product!

Plus Three

It's only 3 days over.  Not even that big of a deal.

But I'm tired today.  I feel disgusting.  I am nauseous and grumpy.

I'm thankful for the sunshine outside, and the trampoline that the boys can burn their energy off on.  I'm thankful for a plethora of books that I can read to them when Daddy has to be occupied with other things.  I'm thankful that Baby is still moving lots and that Christmas will NOT arrive before this little one shows it's sweet little head.

Thankful...  be thankful in all things... 

Plus Two

I walked into Bible study this morning and a whole roomful of women gave me this collective sympathetic look and questions of "What's up?", "What are you doing here?", "How are you feeling?", "What is the doctor going to do?", and my all-time favorite, "Haven't you had your baby yet?"

Yeah, I did.  I left it at home, and I'm just really fat now.

*giggle*

It's not been a great last 15 hours or so - indigestion from eating a supper at 8:45 consisting of nachos, salsa, cheese, and sour cream (Graeme's suggested meal); the indigestion hit us both around 1:30.  I woke up too early, and have been in a lot of achey discomfort today.  Napped for all of about half an hour until Graeme's sawzall and crowbar and hammer-whacking woke me up (the garage is directly below and to the side of the bedroom).   He was deconstructing part of his work bench to make room for his new tool chest that we got at Canadian Tire yesterday.

So I got up and got myself a snack.  Do I even dare confess what it was?  OK, I will, just so you know that I'm *not* the perfect pregnant woman...it was *gasp* cheezies, half a twix bar that Graeme left me, and a can of diet pepsi.  See?  I DO give in to my cravings sometimes!!  

I've got half a mind to hit the pool later today.  Haven't done that in a while, but then I *could* say that I went and swam 1000m when I was beyond 9 months pg.  I probably won't, though.

My nonstress test is tomorrow afternoon.  I complained (and laughed) to the lady who called me that they scheduled it RIGHT during my naptime!!  She laughed.

My back hurts today.  

Maybe my nap will return later...?

Update

Just got home a few minutes ago after a prenatal appointment and two errands.

I saved $350 at Canadian Tire tonight.  Wahoooo!

OK, so, now for the news that everyone has been waiting for...

There is no new news.  Still 2 cm, no other changes.  He is more than fine letting me 'go' for as long as it takes; he just wants me to go for another NST later this week.  

I really like this doctor - he presented me with my options but totally knew which choice I'd take, and didn't make me feel bad for taking it.  In fact, he basically told me how most women, when given the option, will take the induction, and that the odd woman would wait it out.  "I'm the odd woman, then," I told him.  

He laughed and said, "You know, our society is so full of impatience and convenience when it comes to having babies; it's nicer to just let nature take its course with things like this unless there's danger to the baby."

So... he is on call on Thursday night overnight till Friday morning. That would be perfect to have this baby in the wee hours of Friday morning - that would make it May 1st, which is "my" date in the baby pool.  And I would get my own doctor delivering.  Perfect combination!!

Gotta jet - will chat tomorrow!  (This is my belly pic from just before leaving for my appt today...)

Plus One

My second baby ticker says that I still have one day to go.  Really.  

Prenatal appointment this afternoon, at 5:40.  Not sure what to expect; I hope he doesn't think I need to be induced!

Slept really well last night.  Had a girls' night with Carly & Darcy; we watched a movie and ate popcorn twists and cheezies.  And drank diet cream soda and water.  Kids were up way too early today, but I'm feeling OK, so it's not a big deal.

Baby announcement cards are done as of about 5 minutes ago!  As done as they'll get, anyway... I have giraffes on them, but the question is:  will they have pink or blue spots?

Where's Waldo?

A few weeks ago, I finished going through about 4 baby name books.  Returned 2 of them to the library; the other two were ours from before.  So I sent Graeme to work with one of them, as he said he'd look through it on his lunch breaks and compile a list.

He came home after about day 3 or 4, and presented me with his choices.

At the end of the boys' list was "Waldo".

Pardon me?  Seriously.  Waldo.

The kids were right beside me when I blurted out "Waldo!?!?!" 

Graeme answered, "Yeah, I thought it would be cool.  You know, we could play 'Where's Waldo?'"

So the name has stuck.  For now.

If this baby is a boy, it will NOT be named Waldo.  Although the nickname might stick for a few years.  

The boys think it's hilarious.  They're always saying, "Oh, I love you, Waldo!", and "I want to give Waldo kisses" while proceeding to maul my belly.

It's pretty sweet.  

Waldo is still not here, though.

I love my little Waldo, and what s/he means to my bigger boys.

BLASTOFF!

Well, not quite.

There are no signs of Baby showing up today.

One of my blog tickers says "0 days to go".  The one on the top says "I'm due!  I'm due!  No time until" and that's it.  You'd think they'd take overdue babies into consideration when making these things.  It's not like this is unusual or anything.

Not the best sleep in the world last night.  Had to pee way too many times.  Lots of thoughts floating around, too.  Today I'll clean the bathrooms and work on baby announcement cards - gender-neutral, of course.  Graeme is taking the boys out for a play date with Charis & Aidan (cousins) in Sherwood Park.  I'll probably nap while they're gone.

So I guess we're just going to go into a waiting/holding pattern... be ready at a moments' notice, keep tackling the rest of the little projects and try to keep the house clean... keep up on sleep... keep the boys played up and happy...

ONE!

One.

The day has been good.  Started out so sweetly - what a contrast to yesterday.  God blessed us with two very happy and loving little boys this morning upon waking at 7:00.  Joshua schemed to bring Mama breakfast in bed, which he did with Daddy's help.  I got cereal with the perfect amount of milk, sliced strawberries on the side, accompanied by a glass of water (my preferred beverage) - all in kids' Ikea dishes and with Joshua's favorite spoon.

The love just has continued through the day.  The good behavior, the grace, the peace... it's been wonderful.

We forgot to do Joshua's memory verse for Sunday school, so we memorized it on the way to church.  That kid is a memorizing machine!!  He memorized John 3:16 in its entirety in 3 minutes.  He understands what it means, and can quote it at a moments' notice, still at this hour of the day.  He can memorize better than most kids I've ever worked with at camp, who are 2-4 times his age, and most kids also forget their memory work unless repeated through the day (or days and days later).  What a gift he has there; may God continue to help Joshua remember His Word!!  We were just so shocked, but pleased and blessed.

Time for an early supper than off to Uncle Curtis' house for birthday cake.  

One.  I would relive this day in a heartbeat, a thousand times over.

TWO!

A friend of mine, who was 4 days overdue, went into labour last night.

Twenty-five minutes after she drove into the parking lot, Brynn was born.

Twenty-five minutes. 

That's fast... I hope I have a little more time than that!

Switching gears...

Do you ever notice how the first five minutes of the day is a good barometer of how the rest of the day will likely go?  It was totally one of *those* days today.  Not a good start.  Lots of attitude, 'entitlement', etc.  Took some good adjustment techniques to get that back on track.

And then we feel like we've been stonewalled at almost every single turn lately.  

Graeme has been trying to finish the basement bathroom renovations.  A friend came to help install the shower door the other night, and there was an entire piece missing from the kit.  

Then there was a defective toilet flushing/float mechanism - twice.  Third time lucky - it's now working.  

This morning we were going to take the van to Bubbles - it's a disaster inside from 4 years of muddy-booted messy children.  And garbage dump runs.  Etc.  We thought we'd splurge a bit and get it properly done.  Graeme was quoted $100 over the phone.  So we moved the carseats into the car (not a small project), all hopped into vehicles (it was going to take 2 hours so we needed to leave the van there and run some errands as a family), and headed into town.

$350.  That's what they told us when we actually got there.

We turned around and left.  What a waste of time!!  So we went to Wal-Mart and bought a little bear for the boys to give to the baby, went to McD's for a mid-morning snack (the apple caramel melts are MMMMMM!!), and then came home.

I then had the most amazing nap of my life.  Three hours of glorious blissful dreamland.

Now it's back to tasks.  Finish the office today...maybe start on baby announcement cards...hmmm....

THREE!

On days like yesterday and today, I totally feel like I'm gonna count this thing all the way down to zero and then start going back up again.  And I feel half-decent OK about that - While I feel physically incapable of a lot of things any more, I do feel better at this stage than I probably ever have, overall.

Carol - to answer your comment - my goal was to have mostly gender-neutral receiving blankets.  I know purple can be kind of a girlie color, but there wasn't a lot of truly gender-neutral bolts on the shelf.  So I made do with what I had.  After all, they're mostly going to be used at home.  But if this baby is another boy, I do a have a couple of big blankies from Dustin that I can use if we're out and Baby is going to be napping

Jen - your chocolate chip cookie post on facebook yesterday made me crave...  so Dustin and I made a double batch while Joshua was at preschool.  That kid loves to help make cookies!!  He ate more dough than I did!  My favorite part is when they like to try ALL the ingredients as you're putting them in - such as baking soda.  Oh, that's a fun one!  Anyway, we took some cookies to Daddy at work.  It's his last day at work for a few weeks.  Yahoo!  

(For the record, I only ate a small spoonful of dough, and had two small cookies about 2 hours after I made them.  I seem to be defaulting to apples these days.  Apples and lemon water.)

Paige - thank you for your encouragement.  You made me feel like you reached right through that computer screen and gave me the biggest hug ever.  Very timely...thank you!

So yes, three days left.  

THREE DAYS!!!  

It still seems so surreal.  But my wiggly belly tells me that this is really happening... it's real, all right.

Receiving blankets

I'm so confused.

I started a post on receiving blankets...and then I had troubles with the pictures...and then I saved it as a draft...and then it disappeared!!

Anyway...

I finished my big stack of oversized receiving blankets today!!  It took me a little while longer than I'd hoped, but they are all hemmed up nicely and are just monstrous - Baby will fit in them for a long time!!

Here is the stack, and all the different materials that I used... notice the pink ones!!  I bought the material maybe "hoping" that this would be a girl, or having faith that it might be a girl, or something to that effect... but at the same time, keeping in mind that if this is not a wee girlie, that a friend of mine just had a baby girl and I'll give them to her instead.  But I couldn't resist the cute pink bears!!

FOUR!

Grandma & Grandpa offered to take the boys overnight last night, and they'll stay until after naps today - Graeme will bring them home on his way home from work.

I actually slept last night.

Graeme took me on a little date, despite the ever-mounting pressure of the last-minute details.  Like moving stuff and vacuuming the carpets so the carpet-cleaning guy could come this morning.  Anyway, we went to a little Italian place and had sandwiches and salads.  Healthy, right?  Well, then we went to Marble Slab.  Then came home and watched Fireproof.  Kind of cheesy acting, but a good movie as far as marriage encouragement goes.  I can see how it would appeal to some people, but not others.  

Today - 

• Carpet cleaning.  Graeme will put the house back together later.
  
• Write thank-you notes for Dustin's birthday party - if I could ever find the list of gifts that I JUST SAW yesterday!!
  
• Run a few quick errands.
  
• Finish sewing up the rest of my receiving blankets.
  
• Repack our labour bag.
  
• Nap.
  
• And...maybe even go for a light swim.  I feel good enough that I could actually do it today and feel good afterwards - not totally dragged out.  If I don't get the swimming done, I'm certainly not going to feel badly.
  

The rest of my 'to-do' list is getting there... I probably won't get it all done, but I'm feeling very good about how close I've gotten.  The exercise goals certainly weren't met, but I am still happy with my efforts - that was the biggest accomplishment in the exercise department that I've made in a long time.  

I see people out biking, and I want to BE one of them.

I see people jogging, and I am looking forward to that being me.

I think about swimming without the weight of my belly sinking me, and I wonder how much smoother & faster I'll be in the pool.

As much as I can't wait to do some of these things again, I'm also not entirely ready to not be pregnant any more!  (Helps that I'm not in total pain today, hey?)

FIVE!

I wish I could remember how it felt when I got down to the last few days with the boys; I think it must've felt something like this.  The back pain has changed more to a constant all-around dull ache, and my legs hurt down to my knees.  I'm officially waddling, I think.  Every time I cough, I feel like I'm going to pop the baby out.  Every time I go to the bathroom, I'm waiting for a gush or something...

Anyway.  

I made another sling last night.  It took me WAY less time, and I am MUCH happier with it.  I actually bought another 2 kinds of material, so I can technically make 2 more slings...and I had also ordered more sets of sling rings.  So I guess this is my experimenting phase; I have enough friends having new babies that I can give them a sling as a gift, or maybe, if I get good enough, I can sell them...?  

Ever notice how receiving blankets you buy from the store are SOOOO small?  They're not big enough to swaddle a cat in, never mind a baby!!  With Joshua, I gave up swaddling because, well, it was the heat of summer and the poor kid was sweltering, and because I didn't have any blankets big enough.  With Dustin, I was fortunate to find some larger ones at garage sales.  But my boys grew so fast that even those blankets didn't last long.  

So this time, I went to the fabric store and picked out a bunch of material, and I'm making my own gargantuan receiving/swaddling blankets - I think they're probably around 38" square.  Because I don't have a serging feature on my sewing machine (that I know about), I have to actually press and hem the edges of the blankets.  So it's taking longer than just serging would, but I can get through about 4 or 5 blankets in an hour, including interruptions from the boys.

I am sure looking forward to using those big-baby blankets to burrito my newest little one in!!

Going to rest now...

Maybe not six??

After today's appointment, I might not have six days left after all...  I am already 1-2 cm dilated... let's just say that in both of my previous births, I had to go through 4-5 hours of really strong & regular contractions before I even got that far.

Granted, 1-2 really isn't significant for most people...some people stay at 2-3 for days or even weeks... but to me, progress before labour begins is a big surprise and could mean just about anything happening at any time.

My doc still thinks I'll hold out for another week or more.  I'm hoping for a few more days, but things are also getting really uncomfortable so I think I'll be fine either way. I'm feeling a lot better cold-wise - still a lingering sniffle and congestion and cough, but steady improvement over last night, for sure.  

I guess we'd better figure out what to finalize in our bag-packing, just in case tonight is the night!

SIX!!

EEK!!

I have another prenatal appointment this afternoon, so we'll see what he says.  I feel closer these days...more contractions, more awareness of what my body is doing...but I still think I'm at least a week away.  We'll see!!

I finished my mei-tai this morning!!  Well, almost... I have a touch of hand-stitching to do to tuck in a couple teeny pieces that escaped my machine (on corners), but that'll only take about 5-10 minutes.  At this point, I've decided not to go with a pocket...I just found it was really difficult to figure out how to attach it without making it look all bunchy with the elastic at the top.  If I decide later to put it on, I can just stitch it over the top.  Those of you with mei-tai pockets...do you use them?  Do you love them?  Could you do without the pocket?

Anyway, here are a couple of shots - I know it looks really crooked, but it's just the angle of the picture!!  

Full view and close-up view - this would be the side facing out, and the side where I would put the pocket if I want to; with straps folded funny to get them in the picture:

Inside view.  If I put the pocket on the other side, it's kinda girlie-looking; this way Graeme could reverse it and still feel like it's not girlie.  :)

Here is my sling... I tried taking a few pictures of me wearing it this morning, but none of them worked out, so I'm settling for one picture of the sling hanging on a chair.  Boring!!  But it's proof that it's done...

And here are my drapes...these are the ones in the boys' room.  I lined them with blackout lining and then pleated them - this is what took ALL the time!!  I enjoyed doing these things, but they were a lot more work than I expected.  Six panels all told for 3 bedrooms.  They really do help keep the light out...however, the boys' internal alarm clocks, along with their spidey senses about when Daddy is awake, still wake them up a little too early.  At least they generally sleep until there is other stirring in the house.  

Onto the rest of my day!

Irony of the night

I can't sleep tonight.  Restless legs, lots of contractions (though likely not the kind that mean anything), coughing...

So I came downstairs to check e-mail before setting up on the sofa (sleeping upright helps the coughing and I can't get upright enough in bed).

In my inbox was a Babyfit e-mail titled "Fall Asleep Fast".

I kid you not.

Good night.

S-E-V-E-N... (39 weeks)

Today...

Sick.

In pain.

Exhausted.

Unmotivated.

Wanting to check out for a few hours.

Just a few.

EIGHT!

...and what a busy "eighth day" it was!

I had a tough time sleeping last night for being sick again, but at least I got a little more than the night before.  Graeme had a campout in the boys' room, so I didn't have to worry about keeping him up.

And then I woke around 5:15, worried that my alarm wasn't going to go off, and envisioning how to finish off my mei-tai...dozed a bit before 7:00, but then gave up and showered so I could be at the church by 8:00.

Had a tough time singing in rehearsal... but... was SOOOOO incredibly blessed during the services.  The people I was working with today made it so *easy* to worship.  Distractions were not there...no, it wasn't perfect, but that's OK.  I thoroughly enjoyed leading in worship today.  It was a long morning, but incredibly refreshing and tiring all at the same time.  God used today to water my soul, just as He did on Wednesday night at rehearsal.  I was happy to 'go out' this way today.  So blessed!!

After we led worship for the second service, I went outside to catch some air (we're not expected to sit in and listen to the sermon again; we just have to be available to close the service).  Then I came back inside and another guy came to talk to me - he plays on another team but helped us out this morning.  It's just so neat to see people sincerely talk to others...not just for what we can do for them, but simply because they care.  What a change for us!

Stuffed myself silly at the Sawmill this afternoon - buffet lunch/celebration for Graeme's grandpa's 85th birthday.  The food was really good, but I totally overate.  Whoops!  Hopefully this doesn't reflect on my weigh-in next on Tuesday!!  Oh well...whatever.  When's the last time I ate at a buffet...?  It's been forever.  For sure.  I'm glad we don't do it all the time!

By the time we picked up the kids and came home, I was ready for a nap.  I don't generally lay down for naps at 5:00, but today I did.  And I slept like a ROCK!  It felt really good - Graeme had the boys outside on the trampoline that he set up last night.  It really enabled me to catch up on some rest a bit and refuel my energy to a degree.  Now Graeme has gone out with his brothers; I am making supper and then the boys will go to bed early-ish.  I will likely work on my mei-tai a bit before an early bedtime tonight.

Baby is coming soon!!  

My Mei-Tai

Nope, I'm not done yet... 

But I have ALL the pieces cut...

And I've made two of the straps so far.

I know it doesn't seem like much, but it's amazing how much time the seam-pressing (inside and out), all the pinning, etc, takes!!!  The sewing is the easy and fast part - it's all the other stuff that takes up so much time!

So far, I'm really pleased.  I might get the 3rd strap done tonight, but probably not... I still have a kitchen to clean up after making cinnamon twists (thanks for the recipe, Jess!).

NINE!!

Last night was a horrid sleep... I'm getting a humdinger of a cold!  :(  I thought yesterday, when it hadn't gotten any worse, that I would be OK.  But I'm supposed to sort of lead worship tomorrow for two services, and things are not looking good.  This is, I suppose, where I need to rely on God for every single note.  Not in my strength, but His...

It's a very grey day outside.  

But I shall venture out anyway.  Today is a used baby item sale at our old church; I'm going to head over just for fun.  Then the trade fair is at Millennium Place today as well; our current church has a "family fun zone" booth set up.  Let's see what kind of fun they have in store!

Last night I helped Graeme lay some linoleum in the basement bathroom.  Must've been a funny sight!

I started cutting my fabric for my mei-tai this morning!  I only have the straps cut, but need to get the body and pocket cut now, too.  I'm excited!!!  I might even get some sewing done on it today!

Graeme is at the Men's Breakfast this morning.  I'm so thankful that he feels like he belongs at this church.  It's been too long for him.  He's made some neat friends of all ages!

Time to find some food; I might even feel human if I eat something!

Outdoor Easter Egg Hunt

The Easter Bunny was - ahem - tired after the birthday party on Saturday, so s/he didn't get a chance to hide the Easter eggs.  We told the boys that we'd talked to EB, and that EB had arranged to hide the eggs while we were gone to church.  Well, EB actually came while the boys were in the tub, but the boys didn't know that!!  I had the boys in the bath while Graeme ran outside and planted all kinds of Easter eggs all over the yard.  

After church, the boys got home to find that EB had been there, and had even left them a note!!  Essentially, EB had reminded the boys that God gave us a gift of new life, so EB had planted the eggs all over the yard - spring means new life in nature!  Anyway...a Christian Easter Bunny?  Who knew!!

So, here are some pics...the boys thought this was the greatest thing ever!!  We hid a few things in the eggs - some were saltwater taffy, some had chocolate foil covered eggs, some had teddy graham crackers in them...you get the idea.

Enjoy!

Purple Party People

Here are some pictures from Dustin's 3rd birthday "purple" party!

The happy brothers:

A terribly unflattering picture of me with baby Skyler - one of the happiest babies I've seen in a while!

Le gateau:

Blowing out his candles - I even got the little wisp of smoke!

Me and an almost-smiling birthday boy:

Curious Joshua:

Dustin and one of his favorite people!

Graeme and his little guy:

Joshua and his sunglasses and finger trap!

One big happy purple family!!  Finding child-sized purple t-shirts was not an easy task, so I bought all of our shirts at Michael's - they were on sale for $3.99 each, and I shrunk the boys' shirts as much as possible before the party - 95 degree water and hottest dryer cycle... and Dustin was STILL swimming in his shirt!