Spirit of Thanksgiving

This year I have so much to be thankful for.  A sweet, healthy, & thriving baby.  My family & friends.  A ward family that went above & beyond to take care of me this past year when I had some hard struggles.  A beautiful home, that I never dreamed possible, in the works.  A healthy body.  And so much more but especially and most importantly my faithful husband and four bright & beautiful children!  Very humbling.

Counting Down

The countdown is on!!  Just wish I knew what day & hour I am counting down to!!

Early Monday morning I had a dream that I was in a large building ... it had an elevator ... each floor of the building had a different type of food.  One floor was Mexican, another floor Italian, etc but the floor I was trying hard to reach was the one that had mashed potatoes, stuffing, and other Thanksgiving type food.  

Early Tuesday morning, I was dreaming that Doc took away a can of Diet Coke from me.  He was teasing me in my dream, but I started crying (which isn't hard to do these days), but I woke up right away and was really crying.  Weird.  Especially since I don't even like Diet Coke.

Yesterday I had contractions all day.  Consistent and getting stronger, but not close enough together or painful enough to make me think it was time to go to the hospital.  Last night they did get closer together for about an hour.  I actually packed-up my sewing project and starting picking-up the house because I feared that sometime soon I'd be calling someone to come sleep at the house.  But by the time I went to bed, contractions for the day seemed to abruptly end.  Boo!

I'm kinda stressing because the baby was measuring large at my appointment about a week ago and I'm supposed to have an ultrasound in the morning to check the size of the baby.  I don't want to hear, "The baby is looking big.  We should induce."  I am very scared of being induced and all the extra risks that come along with not letting the body naturally let things happen.  So ... today or tonight would be a nice time for this baby to make an appearance.

Time to Blossom

Penguin attended an all girls church-type camp called Time to Blossom last week.  It's for girls 11-18 years old and she attended Monday-Friday for 12 hours a day.  The girls are divided-up by age into smaller groups and then there's a fun female counselor over each group of about 8 girls.  Penguin invited one of her best friends from school to attend with her and the two of them had a blast together.

They had lots of outstanding speakers, crafts, a service project, talent show, performers, food, and other fun stuff that teenage girls like to do or want to learn about.  Penguin got together with some of the attendees before the actual camp started and worked on some musical numbers that she was able to perform during the week of camp.  She played a hymn in a violin quartet and sang songs (she had solo parts in both songs) with some of the girls.  She even found some Russian adoptees like herself - I think she can sniff them out.

I'm so thankful that Penguin could go spend a week of her summer being uplifted, growing friendships, and just doing something out-of-the-ordinary.  She's already begging to go back next summer and hoping that I'll let her do the over-night option.

Here is a video with highlights from her week:

Happy 4th of June!!

I have officially been pregnant for 250 DAYS!!!  That sounds so long and sometimes it feels like it's been so long yet sometimes it feels like things are happening too fast & like I'll never be ready enough for this baby.  The kids are home for summer break, my house often feels like a dumpy mess, I haven't sewed or made anything for this baby, and the list goes on.

I went to the Dr yesterday at 35 weeks + 4 days.  I am 50% effaced & dilated to 1cm, which I know means pretty much nothing but it's a lot better than any news I ever got with Turkey.  Everything was closed up pretty tight at 40 weeks with him, so some progress is better than nothing.   And I HATE getting checked.  I've googled this "checking" business and it sounds like there's no rhyme or reason as to why is doesn't bother some women and then can be extremely painful for other women.  For me,  getting checked burns & stings like CrAzY!  I was good & didn't scream or cry but I was definitely breathing hard ... it all kinda seems like a blur a day later. 

I am having a lot of contractions - some days more than others.  Nothing that I can't walk or breathe through, but they are often painful, not just uncomfortable.  The swelling and my feet/ankles are reeee-diculous!  I'm swollen up into my thighs and my feet and ankles are so tight it feels like my skin it going to rip open & start bleeding.  Yesterday I started getting burning heat rash on my feet & lower legs too.  I went & sat in my mom's pool for a little while - I think that was, by far, the best part of my day!

My blood pressure has gone up, but not enough to alarm my Dr.  Towards the end of Turkey's pregnancy, I had to go to the Dr every other day to get my BP & swelling checked, but for now a weekly visit until this baby comes is the plan.  Dr says he's not going to do anything to stop labor at this point but I'm hoping this baby cooks another couple weeks.  Let's see ... oh, I've been gaining a lovely 2lbs/week since about 20 weeks with this baby.  I lost a decent amount of weight during the 1st trimester and then eventually got back to my normal weight & hung out there for a while.  I really don't want to gain another 8-10 lbs with this baby, but I'm hoping a lot of the weight disappears when my body decides it no longer has to hold onto all this extra water & fluid and I'm also counting on the baby being another champion eater and sucking a lot of fat out of me. :)

Yesterday I was feeling the need to buy some things for baby so I dragged my family to Wal-mart and another local store ... Baby Town ... which by the way has very competitive prices ... while in the store I compared prices to Amazon & some other online sights.   I got some personal-after-baby-comes items for myself, the cloth diapers I like to use as changing pads, a few nursing supplies, baby blankets, hooded towels, a cup holder for my new stroller, baby nail clippers, etc.  Babies are expensive.

One other worry ... how big is this baby going to be???  People have been looking at me funny since March.  My stomach just sticks straight out like a bullet or big basketball.  Last Friday, while out running errands,  I was asked twice if I was having twins ... nope & I still  have another month ... thanks for asking!  I really don't want to birth another  8+lb baby ... 7 to 7-1/2 lbs would be good. :)