Bonus Time

Yesterday was another milestone around here. I've now officially made it farther along in this pregnancy than I ever have before. We're in uncharted waters.

I'm still doing fine. I just started going in for fetal monitoring twice a week. When you add weekly appointments to that I think that any problems I may have will at least be caught quickly. They didn't give me a date for the c-section yet like I thought they would at my last appointment. Tuesday will be the day we set the date. At my last appointment they surprised me by saying that we might not schedule it until 38 or 39 weeks. I have been planning on 37 this whole pregnancy since that is what I've always been told. I never thought I would go beyond like Sept. 10th. So, it was a little disconcerting to hear that. Maybe I'm being selfish. OK, I know I'm being selfish. Obviously we want to for sure avoid a NICU stay for this baby if at all possible. Just the thought of being able to keep the baby with me in my room and actually take him home with us when we leave gets me so excited. Not to mention avoiding the health concerns, endless trips back and forth from the hospital, endless pumping, emotional stress and all of the other NICU-associated difficulties. Maybe I'm just taking it for granted that all 37-weekers do fine when I really shouldn't assume that. Anyway, we will be talking to the doctor on Tuesday about all of this and I'm sure the right decision will be made.

In the meantime, I am getting very excited which results in occasion bursts of productivity. Still no name decided on. I am sure it will wait until the baby is here.

I had a dream the other night that the baby was here and I was feeding him. It was one of those times when I was surprised to realize that it wasn't real and that I am still pregnant. Anyway, he was really fair with pink skin and light hair in my dream. We'll see if that's the case or not. Watch he'll be dark with tons of black hair. That would be funny.

OK, that's it for now. Just consider no updates as good news for awhile and wish us luck. :)

Growing up

Elizabeth started soccer this week. It seems like a big milestone to me. Maybe just because I remember playing soccer at her age. Plus she looks so big in her (albeit tiny) shin guards and cleats. It was so fun to watch her.

I love this picture because it shows her laughing.
She was really having fun:

During one of her water breaks, she ran back to us and said "I love soccer practice!" Hopefully the love will continue. It has been unbearably hot. It's funny to see her get all red and sweaty because she would never push herself that much if she were just playing outside. This will definitely be good exercise for her.

Our little soccer girl

Someone else is growing up, too. Or at least older :). We celebrated Joe's birthday last week. It was really low-key and of course I didn't remember to take any pictures. I did surprise him with tickets to go see the play Into the Woods. We had fun going to that. Neither of us had seen it before but we love the music. He got a very ugly-looking but tasty lemon cake on his birthday. He also got about 10 homemade cards from his daughters with various heartfelt sentiments expressed inside them (One of Elizabeth's said: "I love you Dady. I really love Dady.").

I am certainly glad that Joe came into this world on that fateful, hot and humid day in Indiana 28 years ago (Sidenote: For once I can somewhat sympathize with Marsha--being pregnant in the summer is no fun. I am looking forward to someday being cool again. Or at least not covered in sweat. Still, I have no room to complain. California is no Indiana). What would I do without Joe? I wouldn't have someone to patiently fulfill my random pregnancy wishes. To get me laughing after an exhausting day with the kids. To talk to about anything and everything. I had no idea how good I would have it when, as he would say, I roped him into marrying me (not true :).

I love you, Joe.

Baby Shower, Bike Rides and other stuff

My friend Amy threw me a baby shower not too long ago. She did such a great job and we had a lot of fun. I don't have very many pictures but I thought I'd post a couple.

Here's the babies we molded out of bubble gum:

My friend Chelsey surprised us all with her abilities. That pink one in the middle is hers.

Here's me opening a present:

Here's a bear my mom gave me purchased at the store named on the bag. We had to get a picture. :)

Thanks to Amy, especially, for the great shower and to everyone that came for the cute stuff. I got a lot of really cute clothes for this little boy and I can't wait to put them on him.

The other night we let the kids ride their bikes over to the park and then played soccer together. It was a fun night and Joe took some cute pictures:

The other night I was reading on the couch and Natalie came in with a doll stuffed under her shirt to "rest" with me.

Our big bellies

Of course Elizabeth insisted on being in some pictures, too:

I love this picture because she is making such a classic Joe face:

I also wanted to post some more funny sayings from the kids:

-I was asking Natalie to help clean up something and she said, "Sure, my majesty." Now she says this all the time because she likes the reaction she gets.

-One of my favorite things Natalie says that I haven't ever recorded is "Frosted Wini-Meats". That is one of her favorite cereals.

-One Sunday night we were playing this scripture stories charades type of game with the kids. They were loving it. Daddy and Natalie were getting ready to act out a story and Elizabeth turned to me and said, "I know, maybe it's Gone With the Wind!" I guess it made quite an impression on her when I was reading that book a couple of months ago. :)

-Last night for Family Home Evening we were talking about the importance of work and Joe was telling the story of the grasshopper and the ant. He actually ended the story with the grasshopper dying because he didn't have any food to eat for the winter. I was thinking, "Wow, kind of harsh, but I guess he wants to drive the point home" (he told me later he actually couldn't remember how it was supposed to end). Well, after telling the story he and Elizabeth had a conversation that went something like this:

Daddy: So, who was working hard?
Elizabeth: The ant.
D: What work was he doing?
E: Collecting food for the winter.
D: Who do we want to be like?
E: The ant!
D: What will happen if we don't work?
E: We'll die.

Oops :).

-Somehow we got talking about Elizabeth's future husband the other day. She said that he would definitely be nice and funny like Daddy and he "won't have a beard or a mustache." I think she developed this preference as a result of our Guess Who game which features some of the handsome guys with facial hair below:

Here's the crazy kids once again pretending to sleep (still one of their favorite games):

I thought it was cute how they were all cuddled up together