37 weeks, 21 days to go

Wednesday.

A VERY anticipated day. I get to see good ol Dr. C! I gave him some of our homemade raspberry jam and a fresh loaf of homemade bread last week. He had to leave to deliver a baby right before he saw me, so I couldn't give it to him personally, but I am hoping to use such an extravagant gift as leverage...

Yeah. You know, while your feet are planted in the stirrups (and you are hoping that the shoes you wore didn't make em smell) and the good doctor is seated close enough to tell that you shaved way to quickly that morning....but seriously, who can shave at 9 months pregnant when there is a mountain in the way? Anyhoo...leverage...you think, hey doc, I SLAVED away picking those ripe luscious berries, then mashing, stirring, pouring, steaming....and my feet swelled to twice their size kneading the bread dough....so, hey, while you are down there, couldn't you help things along, eh? You know, accidentally strip those membranes? Something....try anything!!!

I don't know...on Wednesday I have got to bargain with Dr. C somehow...as long as my serious case of gassiness passes....cuz honestly, it is just wrong to try to plea bargain with the doc when you are in "stirrup" position and your intestines are loaded with gas...totally wrong.

Hmmm, I am not even sure how a woman is supposed to warn a doctor about something like that!

"Uh...whoopsiedaisy....sorry about that Dr. C!"

Yeah. Not cool.

These spider cookies, were, however, very cool, and yummy to munch on.

So. Friday night we watched the new Karate Kid movie. It was awesome. There are a rare amount of movies these days that please me, but this one succeeded. During the last half of the movie, I started having contractions. Yes! They were in my lower abdomen, you know, the cramping, aching, tightening contractions? They were coming every few minutes, lasting 30 seconds to a minute. Gradually, they intensified. Yes! This continued all the way up to the end of the movie. Even as I got up from the couch and did a few things before I went to bed, they were still coming. Yes!

Then I went to bed.
And....nothing!
Go figure.

But...it's getting close, people, really close!

As for news on the rest of my family and life, this is what's been going down:

Russ got sick a few weeks ago. To make a long story short, Friday, he had an ultrasound of his liver and gall bladder, and Wednesday he finds out the results. We are thinking right now that he has Gall stones...which most likely means surgery. Great timing huh? I will be recovering from labor and birth and he will be recovering from the absence of an organ....while he is suppsed to travel to Rexburg and continue in school this semester. (yeah...trying not to think too much about that) But, hopefully it is his gall bladder and he can return back to good health...he has had such health issues over the past 5 years and it would be nice to be done with all of that!

Anna has successfully mastered getting on the school bus in the mornings, after we bribed her with money.

I know, that sounds bad. Let me explain...
We told her that each time she got on the bus in the morning all by herself without crying or locking up her legs, thus making big prego mom carry/drag her onto the bus...then she would earn points. Once she got on the bus successfully, according to the rules we made, so many times, then she would receive a dollar.

Bribing is not recommended...

But in this case, it worked for us. Anna suffers from anxiety when presented with something new. Her anxiety combined with her shyness makes it difficult for her to do new things, especially when it involves other groups of people she doesn't know. She could get on the bus just fine after school. They load the kindergarten kids first. But in the mornings, there are other kids on the bus already, and her main problem was not wanting to get on because all the kids were "watching" her. (Same issues we faced with the primary program) But, she is improving greatly and becoming much more confidant, and it is GREAT to see. Even on Sunday, she said the prayer in primary, with her teacher's help, and even sang the songs during singing time, which is VERY rare for her to do! We all made sure to express to her our happiness we felt to know she participated in primary, and she was very happy too! She has faced some rough obstacles, but in return, we have seen her grow so much, and that is the most rewarding part of parenting.

Carter rides the bus to preschool, and he loves it! For him, he hasn't had any problems. He is doing great in preschool and learning so much. He loves to tease and joke. This can be a good thing, and also a very bad thing. It seems, lately, that his teasing and joking and being silly is happening at all the wrong times! And he seems to think that listening does not apply to him most recently. He is spending more time in timeout because of it. He also likes to torment Anna. He is learning she has buttons that can be pushed and the results of pushing those buttons are quite entertaining....to him. Most times she retaliates and fights or argues back with him, resulting in both of them spending lots of time in timeout! It can be an exhausting process. I am trying to teach them appropriate ways to settle disputes, but half of the time they just do things their own way. If I give them a warning like, "If you two don't stop fighting and arguing, you will have to sit in timeout" then Carter usually tells me, oh so innocently, "Mom, we not fightin, we just playin!" uh huh...sure. Carter says the darndest things, though at the moment I cannot think of anything, but he sure makes us laugh!

Carter, tired because he refused to take a nap this afternoon, says to Anna, "Stop talkin to me!"

Miss Boss replies, "Tarter...I'm not gonna stop talking to ya until you say the magic word."

Carter, "Anna...will you please stop talkin to me???"

Hey...at least the kid has manners!

Seriously, the kid is getting too smart for his own good, and for my own sanity!

That's all for now. Maybe my next post will be of a very cute pink bundle of baby! Cuz seriously folks, I can barely walk, the pressure of this baby is making it very difficult to go to the bathroom, yes, #1 and #2, I can't sleep, or sit in church with my knees together! And if I have to bend over...which I do...like 137 times a day...it feels like my belly is going to tear open! Need I say more?