Still here

Yup. And belly is still large.
I have a doctor appointment in a few minutes here, and then I hope to go immediately into labor :)
I'll give you the details later this afternoon and will take some LAST prego pictures today. (Well that's MY plan.)

UPDATE:
Hubby (Greg) came with me to the doc for the first time this pregnancy and got to meet my new doctor who I totally love, so that was good. I'm sure hoping she'll be around when it's time to deliver.
Not too much has changed. I've officially gained 10kg, I'm between 1-2cm dilated, 25%effaced, soft/med. position. Measuring 38weeks. Anyway...so that can all mean one of two things...
a) I'll be delivering in the next 12 hours.
b) Nothing at all.
Don't you just love the waiting game?!

Mothers Day Wishes

First off, Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there...especially mine.

This is the card I sent to my mom...

Why did the mom cross the road?

No one could tell, really.
She was mumbling to herself about PEACE and QUIET.
She circled the block a couple of times and came back a LOT happier.

:)


This is the card that Riley gave to me this morning...(interview style)


1. What is your mother's job? Moms take care of us. She watches us cross the street, and watches out for me. She cleans the house up, and helps us get healthy. She has a baby in her tummy so sometimes I help her do the dishes.
2. What does your mom look like? My mom has a brown sweater. She looks like she has a big ball in her tummy. My mom's eyes are blue and her hair is brown. When she gets up in the morning her eyes look foggy because she doesn't have her glasses on.
3. How old is your mother? My mom is 30 years old.
4. Tell what you like to do with your Mom and why she is special. I like to do crafts and painting with my mom. I like playing with her too. We play cars and computer games. My mom is special because I love her.

Love Riley

Something New

We're having a busy Saturday of cleaning up and getting rid of things. Greg is just on his way to the dump with our second load. I have done a bit more packing and boxed up our winter gear (yippee!) and a few more things for moving day. We're totally going to need that 26 footer we have reserved!

This morning for breakfast we had this...



Any guesses? It's dragon fruit. It was actually quite yummy. It sort of has a similar taste and consistency of kiwis or the inside of grapes. Pretty funky fruit, if you ask me.

And this is what you may look like after you eat it...

Any action??

Is that what you're asking?? And do you keep checking my blog for baby news??

Well I got NOTHIN.

And you know what? I'm ok! I actually am calm right now. I've come to realize that I'm just destined to have large babies and my body doesn't want to deliver until they are nice and plump. Sure I have these reoccurring flash-backs of the 6 hours I've spent in the past pushing them out (that doesn't include the labor part of things). Not something that one can easily forget. So every now and then I get that butterfly freaked out nervous feeling of what is to come. Yet I'm still a little too stubborn and nervous to consider an epidural too though...so I don't know what will happen. I personally think I handle labor pretty well. I do start to lose it a little at the end when you just don't understand how in the world the baby is going to come out. You've just gone through hours of pain and then you're expected to push like you mean it?? Hello?
Sorry, not trying to freak out those of you who haven't had babies yet. It can't be all that bad if I was willing to sign up again, right? That, or somehow I had some serious memory loss during the time I was trying to conceive again.
But ya, anyway, who knows what's going to happen this time around...I guess we'll all find out soon.
Very soon.
:)

Practicing

Yesterday I had fun taking photos for another friends newborn. He wouldn't sleep for me, unfortunately. When they won't sleep, it's pretty much impossible to keep them in those cute little Anne Geddes type positions. I tried my best. Good to get practice for my new one...





The weather has been great so we've been outside a lot.




I got the boys hair cut yesterday, so they are looking a little less scruffy. They also look so much older when their hair is shorter. Like big brothers.

Happy Birthday Callie Jean!

Angel baby...just missing the wings
Originally uploaded by Sarah Dzines.

It has been a whole year since Callie joined our family...my cutie little niece.
She's going to be our tall blonde blue eyed cousin. My boys will have to be her bodyguards!
Hugs and smoochies from auntie Sarah, uncle Greggy and your cousins.
Looking forward to spending ALL summer with you, and every year afterwards.

Hard Wooden Benches

...that would be, pews.
We had the old-school church pews in our church when I was a teenager. We loved them. It ensured that you could snuggle up extra close with all your buddies and secret crushes. There was no one able to kick your back, and you never had to worry about your crack showing. Sure they were hard to sit on, but when you were young, stuff like that never crossed your mind.

Last night we got to do something very "adult" and go to a concert!! Without kids! Yay for us! It was held in the Knox United church in downtown Calgary...



Isn't it beautiful? We came to this same church to see Sarah Harmer in concert, and the sound in there is so amazing. I wish you could see more of the high arched ceiling and the side balconies...but you get the idea. We were seated (in the hard wooden benches) to the left in the upper balcony...third/back row.
We were there to see Shawn Colvin.If you can't think of who she is, most people will know of her song, Sunny Come Home. She's does mostly folk-style music, and it was just her on her guitar last night. It was not an upbeat concert by any means...more relaxing, perfect before-bed music. We were there with Lisa and Andrew.
It was a nice break to not have to put the kids to bed, and they enjoyed their time at Faith's anyway...thanks Faith!!

Biking, biking. ALL DAY LONG

My boys would LIVE on their wheels if I let them. Liam wasn't much into biking until he caught onto his two wheeler with the training wheels and can now skid and go almost as fast as the big boys.
We got our back lane paved last summer, and we didn't realize how much we'd make use of it. The kids want to go out as soon as they are done breakfast and then before and after school and then after supper yet again. It's quite a juggle as I'm not confident enough to let Liam out there alone, so if I have dinner on the go, I'm in and out the back door to check on him. Usually I set up my lawnchair and watch them go back and forth!! It's amazing how much fun they can have just riding in that stretch of alley. There are neighbor kids out there most days and they all just "hang". Today they asked to bike to a big park a few minutes away. I can't run behind them on their bikes very well, so I made a compromise and drove them to the park with bikes in the back of the van! and then let them bike at the park to their hearts content.

Here's Riley after a big wipe out...with tears and dirt streaming down his face.



Here's Liam on his BIG boy bike in our alley, and you can just barely see my Canada lawn chair there where I sit.

We're all going to miss this alley!! We're going to have to find some new hobbies once we move.

Sleepy time

Such an Angel
Originally uploaded by Sarah Dzines.

I don't know how I lucked out...but Liam, who totally wasn't into napping for the past good 5 months, is suddenly into them again. I guess he must be growing, or he's getting plenty of fresh air...but whatever it is...
IT SUITS ME JUST FINE.

Isn't he so sweet.

Friday night

Oh...I really love Friday nights...well, actually right at 6pm my spirit is lifted when "daddy" walks through the door and the weekend has officially begun.
It hasn't been easy to keep up with my two gaffers while being humungo preggo. Being boys, they have a lot of physical energy, and I have been trying to avoid saying every two seconds...GET AWAY from my nasty sore tummy! QUIT jumping on my back...my balance is just not quite perfect these days. NO I CAN'T PICK YOU UP! Instead I'm trying to remind them that the baby is almost ready to come out and THEN I can be back to my ol' self. Focus on the positive, right. It didn't help that it poured like mad this week, so we didn't get to do our usual 2 hour biking/park times after school.
Yes...the basketball belly is still fully intact. I'm ok with him in there...it's the SIZE thing I worry about. That by the day he is putting on a few more ounces...and every day that goes by, he's just getting bigger. Maybe this weekend something will happen as I generally "deliver on weekends" like a good ol' dependable pizza shop.
If I don't get that wish...there are no big plans for the weekend. I should probably do some more packing while I have the time and get shopping for a few essential baby things I've been forgetting about. I haven't been in the baby stage for over 3 years...kinda exciting.

A pinch and a punch

...first day of the month!!
YAY! It's MAY!
You know what that means! Warmer weather, flowers, gardening, it's that much closer to summer!
Oh ya...and ITS BABY MONTH!
HOORAY!
I have a doctor appointment today where I'm hoping she'll inform me that I'm already 3cm dilated and have a bulging bag of waters or something ;)
I'll keep you posted.

***UPDATE***
So I took Liam with me to the doctor, and he really was such an angel child. Honestly, he sat on the chair the whole time and I was so impressed that I took him to 7-11 afterwards to celebrate.
I had to undergo the whole nice strep B swab test thing, so while she was down there anyway, and I was in one of those nasty gowns, I asked her to check where things were at.
I'm at a whole 1 centimeter dilated!! Whoopee! She also said I'm "soft", so once the head gets lower and applies some pressure, it should be fast. Oh I certainly hope so.
I have big plans to bounce on the yoga ball tonight, so I'll catch you later.

Almost 37 weeks

Some good things to eat

Today I thought I'd try out some new recipes in our church cookbook.

This is what we had for lunch and boy was it ever YUMMY...

Curried Chicken Pitas

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. curry powder
1 cup halved grapes
4 green onions, chopped
8 lettuce leaves
1 tbsp. honey
2 cups chicken, cooked and chopped
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
4 pitas, halved and warmed

In a bowl, combine the mayo, honey and curry powder. Stir in chicken, grapes, pecans and onions. Line pita halves with lettuce; spoon 1/2 cup chicken mixture into each pita.
(Thanks to Faith Siebert for this yummy recipe!!)
I must add that Greg bbq's the best chicken ever...so that is how we prepared ours...on the bbq just with some garlic salt and pepper. And to the family...we'll make it for you when you come join us on our deck in SA this summer! Yippee!!

Now I've also got Pineapple and Coconut Muffins in the oven as we speak. I love pineapple and coconut, so this should be good. I'll let you know and share later...
am I making you drool??