ONE WEEK!!

This last week has been REALLY. LONG.  But I survived it and today was FINALLY able to schedule my inducement date!!!!!

It feels so so so so good to be done with doctor's appointments and differing opinions and non-stress tests and know that the next time I go to the hospital, it will be to have my baby!!

Only one week left.  I am scheduled to be induced on Thursday, September 13th!  I am very happy about this day.  Ethan's birthday is also the 13th, so it will be fun to have both my boys have their birthdays on the 13th.  And Thursdays are really the most convenient day for Todd and time off work too, so that's also really great.

I'll be 38 weeks, 2 days.  Not a day too early in my book!  I was so worried my doctor wouldn't let me be induced until 39 weeks, but I think he decided to have mercy on me.  He said he realizes how emotionally stressful a pregnancy like this can be and that also had to be taken into account.  Thank you!

But overall, what a blessing this pregnancy has turned out to be.  All the scariest things never happened, and my baby seems as healthy as can be.  Thank you to those who have had us in your prayers.

I'll be so glad when he's here.  So glad to see he's healthy.  I can totally make it one more week!

. . . unless he decides on his own to come sooner . . . with the number of contractions I'm having, it's probably not too crazy a thought, and really, I don't think I'd mind.  :)

Ethan's Dinosaur

A mom cannot sew a toy for one of her children without sewing one for the other too.  I mean, I'm not sure what I was thinking when I made Madeline that doll.  So when Ethan searched through the same book and found this dino, I kinda had to sew it for him.  He's pretty pudgy and cute, standing at about 9 inches tall.  I would have liked to have made him green with spots or something, but this is the fabric Ethan picked out and since I didn't actually have any green with spots anyway, I was glad he was happy with what he found in my drawers.  Easier and free that way.

 Both kids have their hearts set on more things in that book they want me to sew for them, but I told them I was done sewing toys for a time.

August's Ten Things

August is almost over people!  Do you realize what that means?!!?  It means I'm going to have a baby really really soon!  But I'm jumping ahead a little on that one because that is just one of my ten things to smile about this month!

1.  I'm STILL pregnant.  Under normal circumstances, a women as pregnant as me might not smile about that, but for me it means no preterm delivery.  No complications with a pregnancy that could have had lots!

 2.  I won't be pregnant for long.  Only two weeks left.  And in two days, I'll know for sure what day he is coming!!

3.  Ethan LOVES school.  He loves going.  He loves being there.  He loves homework.  And look at his latest spelling PREtest.  He writes them in pencil for the pretest and then the teachers spells the words for the class and they write them correctly in blue. . . yep, that's 100% on his pretest.

 4.  I finished all my baby projects this month and the nursery is ready.

5.  I even had time to do some projects for my kiddos, including the doll I made for Madeline and a dino in the works for Ethan.  I couldn't leave him out!

6.  We got to celebrate my Dad's birthday by enjoying his company at breakfast and dinner.

7.  Todd's brother Mike returned home from an honorable mission in Paraguay and we were able to meet him at the airport as well as enjoy a weekend with family.  It was so good to see him and so fun to see the three brothers together again.

 8.  Todd is on his LAST business trip.  He's only been home 19 of the last 44 days.  And the trips are almost over!

9.  I made a batch of strawberry jam, a batch of raspberry jam, two batches of peaches, and two batches of applesauce all while contracting!  It kinda made me laugh each contraction I had, but hey, I got it done!!!!

10.  I get to go to choir tonight!  I might be crazy, but I'm attempting to be in my beloved Christmas Choir again this year.  I know I'll have to take a few weeks off, and take the babe to rehearsals, but I'm hoping to make it work.  Singing in a huge group of people who can and love to sing always makes me smile.

Whew!  I'm tired!

Daisy

Thursday morning after Ethan left for school, Madeline turned to me and said, "Mommy, I want you to sew me a new dolly today.  Come on Mom, let's go look at the book and I'll pick the one I want, okay?"  I was laughing at this and figured that looking through my Wee Wonderfuls Doll book sounded more appealing than playing Strawberry Shortcake anyway, so down we went.  I was trying to convince her that I probably couldn't make a doll TODAY because I might not have the right fabric and such, but she was pretty set on it.  

We looked through the book, she picked her favorite doll, and then we started going through fabric.  Turns out I had all the fabrics to make it and so I had no excuse.  She sat with me and picked it all out, helped trace the pattern pieces, handed me pins, and helped stuff the doll.  And there you go, meet Daisy (also named by Madeline):

 I think she turned out pretty cute.  It's totally not my style to sew something so spur of the moment, especially when I have all these self-made plans of things I think I need to do before the baby comes.  But it was really fun, and it made Miss Madeline oh so happy.

Baby Update

I went to the doctor again yesterday.  Things are going really well.  I have one more ultrasound on Tuesday and using the results from that, I am going to schedule my inducement on Thursday.  It's looking more and more like 38 weeks.  Of course, it could always be sooner, but 38 weeks is most likely.  But I'll have it scheduled by Thursday and then I'll know for sure!!!  Either way, that's only 2 1/2 weeks away!

I'm measuring 2 weeks big, not surprised . . . I feel huge and have big babies.  It's causing me a lot of grief in the hips and lower back region and I feel like I can barely walk at times, but with the end in sight, I'm really okay with it.  And I'm already almost 3 cm dilated!  That's kind of a lot for 35 weeks.  My doctor said, "Hey, maybe you'll just go into labor and then we won't have to worry about when to schedule anything."  Very funny . . . unless it's when Todd is out of town for his last business trip next week.  :)

My Kids Crack Me Up

Apparently Ethan and his best friend have been getting chased by girls as recess.  This alone had me chuckling.  Ethan claims he doesn't like it, but I'm not entirely sure.  I told him that the girls are just chasing him and his friend because the girls like them.  Ethan responded by saying, "Oh Emery definitely likes Michael!"  He made no such guarantees about the girl who chases him.  But this he did say, "Mom, you'll never guess what her name is, the girl that chases me . . . it's RACHEL!  Rachel like you.  Well, now I know two Rachel's.  The one who chases me and the one that's my mom.  And the one that's my mom is WAY more better behaved!"

Madeline is excited for her Preschool Open House tonight.  She was so excited in fact, that she forgot what it was called and at breakfast this morning declared, "Ethan!!!  Tonight we get to go to my Preschool Out House!!!"

Following breakfast, Madeline started playing with ponies quietly on the floor.  Suddenly, she burst up and exclaimed in her loudest voice, "10-9-8-6-3-2-1 BLAST OFF!"  When she saw me looking at her, she got this deer in the headlights look, shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well, the ponies ARE on a rocket."

While the Boys Work . . .

the girls play: