The moment we've all been waiting for.

Behold, some preggo meg-o pics. Ready to pop. Enjoy, they're pretty pregalicious.

I asked Aaron to take some pics of this belly since it's about to be gone and I haven't really taken any belly shots since about 20 weeks. 

He was lying on the carpet when I handed him the camera, so he thought this angle was hilarious. I wasn't really amused and made him get up and take a more typical belly photo, like this next one, with a very wrinkly skirt that I obviously could not see at the time or I would have ironed. (that's a lie. I would have wadded it back up and just put on a different skirt.)

 aaaaand then he laughed again as he took my pic while I whined about a particularly bad contraction.

This week has craaaaawled by and I've had a lot of time to think about how lucky I am.  After waiting for so long and at some points wondering if there ever would be another baby in our home, it seems surreal that the time has finally come and he's actually almost here.  I spent the entire first trimester trying not to get my hopes up again, and now I am finally able to just enjoy that a huge blessing has fallen upon us.

Forgive me if I seem impatient and whine about still being pregnant.
I just want my baby.
It's been a long and not-so-easy wait.

Belly henna and afternoon kayaking

Yep. Still pregnant. I don't even think my doctor can explain how it is possible, but here I am, 2 days later, contracting every 30 minutes and in a lot of pain.  

This afternoon I went a little crazy. I couldn't be a slave to the labor clock any longer. 

Corbin and I picked up the girls from school and went over to Jocelyn's house for a late afternoon of kayaking, shell collecting, swimming, and playing in the lake.  

It was sort of a magical afternoon.  

Even though school has started, I just couldn't deny the children of a little summer fun on such a perfect day.  We squeezed in what we could into 2 hours, then went home, raced through showers and shoveled down some frozen pizza and fresh peaches and all three children were asleep by 7pm.  

A simple change of scenery, but it was just what my kids and I needed. They had a really great time.  

Corbin and I sunk our kayak. 

Jocelyn's beautiful daughters came out to visit and we sat on the shore eating chocolate covered pomegranates and talking while the kids played and Elyssa did a giant henna tree on my belly. 

Here it is all inked up.  The ink dries like piped frosting and brushes off, leaving a skin colored design stained on the skin for about a week. The skin on my belly is stretched so thin that the dye hardly took and the design is barely visible without the perfect lighting, but here is a picture with the henna still on, right as some of the dry sections were starting to flake off.  Pretty awesome, right?  I told Elyssa I wanted a tree and maybe a nest with 4 eggs in it. (can you spot them? The henna is brushed off on part of the nest already in the pic...it looked SO much better in real life and I wish we'd taken more pics before it started to dry) She also included some flowers (for good luck) and two little birds to watch over the nest. 

 It was pretty fun to get covered in stinky herby dye, be pampered by the beautiful Peterson women, and have the giant canvas I grew covered in paisley and henna swirls.  The baby kept moving and every now and then a foot or knee would stick out an inch or so and the tree would just look freaky (because having a painted up belly isn't freaky looking enough. haha!).  It will look super gross for a couple days once I have the baby before it washes/wears off and it's all shrunk down and disfigured...but really, with all the stretch marks and blue veins and general preggo belly fuzziness, it already looks pretty freaky, so whatever. It was a fun afternoon, a perfect distraction, and a lovely way to celebrate the beautiful habitat I grew for my baby. 

I can't wait to welcome him to our family tree.  

Come out when you are ready, baby brother. Our nest is waiting for you.

baby update

Well I'm almost 4cm and after my appointment today we're thinking baby will arrive anytime in the next 48-72 hours. Considering how painful my contractions were last night, I'm thinking closer to 48 hours.  I was reeeeeealllly hoping my doctor would just send me on over to the hospital, but since my contractions aren't regular enough, I'm labroing at home until they are closer together.  We are thinking this baby might be another posterior baby because most of my pain is in my back. I guess my body prefers babies sunny side up. ;)
Based on how I am measuring we still think the baby is under 8 lbs, so that is good news. An 8 pounder could literally break me, and I really prefer not to end up with an emergency c-section.

The house is clean and fresh and almost ready for a newborn (I still need to set up a bed or crib or something) and makes me feel happy and relaxed...and a little impatient.  Can't wait to meet you, little baby! Feel free to join us, anytime! (please don't break me.)

First Day of School

Today was the first day of 2nd Grade for Miss Reese! 

I am SO proud of her. Not only were there no tears, this year, but she spent the morning and recess time comforting a sad friend and helping her stop crying.

 Her teacher is Mrs. Snieski and we adore her already.  Reese was VERY happy to discover that her bff Madi AND her friend Bryn from church are in her class, this year.
I have a feeling she is going to love 2nd grade.

Little Miss Quincy Bee started Kindergarten this year.  I can't believe the day is finally here and managed to keep it together and not cry when I dropped her off.  (probably because I cried all day yesterday and the well is officially dry.) My baby girl is in Kindergarten! 

 Quincy marched into her classroom like she owned the place.  Really.  She spotted her friends and forgot about us.  I actually had to call her back over to the door to take a photo of her with her teacher.

 We are very happy to have Mrs. Rogers again. We love her personality and teaching style and I know Quincy will thrive in her class.

When the time came for us to leave her, she went to her desk and suddenly seemed a bit nervous, but gave us permission to go since she had work to do.  I'm so glad you had a great day, Quincy!  This morning, she woke up at 5:45 and came bounding into my room and clapped her hands together excitedly in front of her face like a fat kid that's just been handed a free cake.

"Mom! It's morning! I am so excited to go to school today!"  she squealed, and then she was off to get herself dressed.  She was so excited she literally could not sit still at breakfast, and was shaking with joy until it was time to go.  I think there was milk, oatmeal, and toothpaste on her dress by the time we got to school.

The children were welcomed back by their wonderful principal, Mr. Young. This guy deserves a medal.  He is an incredible educator and makes Cooper Elementary an excellent school.  One of the best principals I've ever seen.

Corbin insisted on wearing his backpack to the school. It was super cute, and everyone kept stopping him and asking him if he was excited for kindergarten.  Haha!  2 more years, buddy!  He was really sad when we got back in the car expecting to go to his school next.  I explained that he doesn't start preschool until next week and he ccried and wanted to go back to Cooper and get his girls.

All sadness was forgotten once we pulled up to Paradise.  I've made it a tradition to take younger children out for donuts after the big kids go to school.

We had a lovely date and shared donuts and a strawberry milk.

After school, the girls told me every detail of their day that they could remember. They only had good things to say!  It is going to be a great year for them.

I don't think it is as funny as you think it is.

Two more people asked me today if I am having twins.

Updates and thoughts on upcoming events.

1) Baby- well all that bed rest did baby some good. Aside from the contractions (which have eased up but never really go away), labor has basically stopped.  At my appointment this week, I was 2.5cm and 80% effaced. Baby is loooow and my doctor said, "wow, he is waaay down there, I bet you're getting pretty uncomfortable"  (Uh, ya think?!).  I look and feel like I'm about to fall forward when I stand up straight...which I don't do often because it kills my back.

 2) Preparation -we're nearly ready. I'm busy nesting this week and spend an hour during nap time, every day, organizing cabinets and drawers and getting the surfaces of my house ready for a good deep cleaning.  Baby's blessing outfit arrived. It is totally casual but we like it and it looks comfortable, so whatever. I'm not into the shiny satin baby tuxedo thing. Can't do it.
Aaron vetoed cloth diapers for now, so I dropped a small fortune at Walmart on disposable diapers and wipes and baby shampoo and lotion and diaper cream and nursing products and all the millions of things we haven't needed in our house for a while. Confession: It felt super lame to buy disposable diapers when I'd already gotten myself psyched up to be green and earthy and go all hippie mom and save a ton of cash doing cloth. 

But when I got home and opened the first box of Pampers Swaddlers, that familiar delicious smell of newborn diapers escaped from the package and it made me downright drunk with baby fever.  Sudddenly, I was a brand new mother again, totally intoxicated by the elixer of baby product fragrances and anticipation.  I have waited so long for this baby and he is finally almost here.  It's really happening.  I immediately surrendered to the schmoopie lovey captivating  excitement of knowing we'll have a baby in our home again, very soon. Who's losing sleep over cloth diapers, now? Not me, anymore.  I relaxed.  Those disposables I just bought will last no longer than 30 days, so soon enough, I'll be able to reassess my energy level and frugal desires and can always switch to cloth, then. There's no time limit on this stuff.  I chilled out and had the time of my life stacking teeny tiny diapers into the changing table baskets.  Reese humored my giddiness and came in and oohed and gushed "awww they're SO CUTE" over their tiny-ness with me.  Cobin's rump and size 6 diapers just seem ginormous, now, and it is one more reminder of how long it's been since he was our little cupcake scented baby.

 I got the receiving blankets and burp cloths out of storage and laundered them and they were quickly claimed with "thank you for my new blankies" by Corbin.  I made new bedding for Corbin's captain's bed.  It is pretty dang cute (pictures, soon) but as of right now, he still prefers to sleep with 100 baby blankets piled up around him in a messy sweaty headed little boy stink of a blanket nest. Every few days I grab the entire stack and throw them all in the washer. Boys are smelly and kinda gross.   We found a pack n play we like online but it's currently out of stock, so I check back every day and hope they'll get more in, soon because still need to buy a pack n play with a bassinet height or a  mini crib or co sleeper basket or something for the baby to sleep in, since even with the big boy bed set up in his bedroom, Corbin has no interest of sleeping outside of the crib, and we don't plan on making him move.  His world is about to be rocked enough. We see no point in taking away the comfort of his bed, too.  Why disturb a good thing?  I don't feel pressure to force my youngest to grow up simply because a new youngest will be here soon.

3) School: the girls found out who their teachers are,  yesterday.  Quincy has Mrs. Rogers (Reese's Kindergarten teacher) and she's VERY excited.  Reese has 2 girlfriends from church in her class this year and I've heard good things about her teacher so we are grateful that they both lucked out and got what they'd wished for.  Back to School open house is tomorrow.

4) Super Saturday is this weekend!  I'm on the Relief Society activity committee and I am SO glad we were inspired to bag the craft thing this year and focus on food storage.  We started advertising back in March that we'd be placing a food storage order this summer, so the sisters would have time to prepare, assess their families food storage goals and needs, and have time to save money.  Every month at our RS meeting, our ward food storage rep gave tips and handouts to help sisters know what they could make in an emergency if they only had certain ingredients available.   Now that the orders have been placed, for our Super Saturday activity this year, instead of making cute holiday crafts, we are focusing on food storage and providing the stake canner and means to dry pack can everything at the activity.  21 sisters ordered food from the ward order, several are bringing their own food from wherever they chose to purchase it, and other sisters are just coming to watch.  We are also having sisters give free live demos on how to water bath can and pressure can, and there will be a room with tables set up and the mylar bag and sealer available for sisters to bring their supplies and update their 72 hours kits and seal the food in mylar bags for water protection and longer shelf life. 

Last year, we worked our booties off gathering and ordering craft supplies, collecting money for craft orders, assembling kits, and setting up display tables each week in the halls to advertise, and when the day came, only 13 sisters (including the 6 committee members) showed up for super saturday to make their crafts, and a few of those sisters were only there to watch the free dutch oven cooking and bread making demos. 

When I dry pack canned my own food storage at home, a few years ago, I could only find three people in our ward who even knew how to use the stake canner.  Three.  I'm not saying you have to can your own food, because often times, you can find it cheaper already canned for you.  A few friends of mine and I have scored a ton of wheat and rice and oats in #10 cans at the associate's store lately for $2 a can. Can't beat that.  But deals like that might not be around every time I need to replenish our food storage supply, so I'm still really glad that I know how to do it myself, even if I don't need to or have to right now.  That's kind of our purpose this weekend: to educate and provide means to do it, so that next time someone wants to can their own popcorn and powdered milk, there will be more than 3 people who actually know how to do it.  I'm especially happy for the sisters who are building a food storage supply for the first time, because of this activity.  I felt so much peace of mind (that I didn't even know what missing) when I finally started to store food and I am excited for others to feel it too.  It is a wonderful feeling.

This year, classes aside, we expect there to be at least 30 sisters coming just to dry pack food  on saturday.  That means 30 homes will be blessed for fulfilling a commandment to be self reliant. 30 homes will be prepared for an emergency.  30 sisters will leave having learned something new.  I know that cute crafts can absolutely bless homes and bring happiness to the sisters who create them, but they won't sustain life an emergency.  We felt really strongly to make food storage, teaching, and giving everyone an opportunity to participate a priority over crafts this year.  It makes me really happy to see it coming to fruition and know that I helped organize an event that will help so many families be better prepared.  Help ourselves, help each other, help our neighbors, help the world.

5) Meditation: I've spent several hours studying scriptures and pondering and praying about our back to school family theme this year, and I think I've finally got it right.   I think we're having our special theme family night this weekend, and though it will be much less... spectacular than last year (posts here and here), I think the message and theme will really help my children have a successful and happy school year.  Stay tuned for that bit of awesomeness.

6) Outside: It finally cooled off and we actually got some rain.  What a blessing.  The children and I planted our fall garden on monday afternoon.  We're a few weeks behind because of the heat/my pregnant condition, but we did it anyway.  We planted seeds for everything we had with less than a 60 day germination to harvest time frame.  I have no idea what will sprout or if anything will, but hopefully, the fall frosts will hold off long enough for us to enjoy a 2nd season out of our little garden.  Those 7 raised beds are a therapeutic place and it just felt GOOD to sit out there on my little stool with my little shovel and watch my little kids with their little garden gloves fill little buckets of dirt and pull weeds and run away screaming from little grasshoppers.  I know these moments will not last forever, but I do take a great joy in the refuge of the garden I grew with the little people I made. Fingers crossed for carrots, beets, lettuce galore, a variety of squash, onions, cucumbers, beans, dill, cilantro, kale, spinach, and peas.  Our tomatoes, peppers, basil, oregano, mint, thyme, broccoli, and sweet potatoes are all hanging on for dear life right now, so hopefully they'll bounce back and bear a fall harvest as well. I really wanted to plant potatoes for fall, but the garden centers in all of the stores are no longer carrying seed potatoes and it would take too many weeks to sprout my own before it was too late to get them in the ground.  If anyone has a bag of seed potatoes chilling in their garden stash, give this girl a hollah and I'll buy them from you.

July Entertainment

Catching up on a few things we did in July:

#1) Dress Like a Cow Day at Chick-fil-A.
We love Chick-fil-A and make it a point not to miss this event every summer.  The kids helped make cow costumes (you'll notice Corbin is wearing Quincy's old cow shirt, hence the puffy sleeves and puckered collar. whatever, it fit. kind of.) and even the baby belly sported a giant udder.

Some might say this is a strange tradition, but I'll tell you, 90% of the restaurant was filled with people dressed as cows, so it didn't feel weird when we got there. And it didn't feel weird to eat $37 worth of Chick-fil-A food for free, either. We heart Chick-fil-A!

#2) Grandma Lynda gave Corbin a fat stash of Chuck E Cheese coins for his birthday, and we finally got around to using them.  What a great day.  It has been like 5,000 degrees outside every day this month, so a trip to Chuck E Cheese with friends was a perfect way to release some pent up energy out of the children.  Their favorite parts were the "photo card maker" and the little nerf pop dart guns they bought with their tickets.

#3) Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Another great way to escape the heat...that place is an ice box!  Perfect for this hot and tired mama.  A copy of the Declaration of Independence was on display for the month of July, so I took the kids to see the exhibit and play in the children's area.  They discovered washi tape and pastel crayons in the art room and made some pretty cool projects with it.

 #4) This girl got her ears pierced! 
What a big, brave, beautiful lady.  It's been a few weeks and she never forgets to clean her ears and twist her earrings.  She's taking such good care of them that we will definitely take her back to Claire's to pick out an additional pair of earrings when her 8 weeks of wearing the stud posts are up. Lookin' good Miss Reese!

 #5) We caught a lizard in our house.  Yes. INSIDE of our house. It ran across the living room on a sunday morning and I nearly peed my pants.  Nasty!!!!  The bugs, snakes, lizards, grashoppers and all creepy things in general have been really bad this year.  Ick.  Anyway, we caught the lizard and kept her (it was decided that the lizard was a "she" by Reese and Quincy) in a (closed) tupperware on our countertop for the day as a pet.  The kids named her and enjoyed watching her scurry away when we let her go on the front lawn in the afternoon. Now, every time they see a lizard in the front yard, they say it is their lizard coming back for a visit.