40 weeks...maybe

These will be my 40 week pictures if I am still pregnant on Thursday, if not they will be my last pictures before baby.  It would be cheating to call them 40 week pics if I didn't actually make it to my due date!  This whole pregnancy though I have been telling Paul we need one picture together at the end. We have to remember our last moments of being a family of two.  Well he worked at 10am today and we had a midwife appt at 9am, so today the picture happened. We are officially ready for baby now, I have my picture. :) 

I feel my belly has expanded quite a lot in the last two weeks from when I thought I was done then. Oh man, I was wrong!  I just finished my last 4 day work stretch before baby.  I was going to work till the day this munckin entered the world but now my last day is January 3rd and I am just going to take it easy after that. My body is telling me that 4 days of work and being on my feet in a row is a bit too much, I have just a few things to do around the house today but otherwise I am just relaxing.

Today as follows: 

Make chex mix

Do two loads of laundry (second is in the dryer as I type this)

Make the bed (done)

Cut up fruits and veggies to have prepped in fridge

And have a baby ;) 

I love this man with all my heart, and having a baby with him has made me see a whole new side of him I love even more! Can't wait to start our next adventure together. :) 

Happy almost New Years ladies! 

Christmas time has come and gone.

                                        

(I am sure Paul is sad he missed this photo op...)

I had a hard day at work on Tuesday (Christmas Eve) and came home, turned up the heat in the house and took a nap on my bed till my parents and brother arrived at around 6:15.  Apparently I missed them knocking and ringing the doorbell, never thought I was THAT good of a sleeper!  They know our garage code though and came in that way, and oblivious me thought they had just arrived. Oops!  We had a wonderful chill evening, my mom cooked us dinner, and we all lounged around on the couch. 

Christmas morning we all woke up and my momma made rolls and cinnamon rolls, I am so spoiled!  Paul had to work 5am-10am so we waited for him to get home before opening gifts.  We had a slow morning full of sipping coffee, catching up on life, and cuddling under blankets.  Then we opened lots of presents and Baby Fern scored this year!  I'll have to take a picture of the amazing Totoro and blanket my momma made baby. :)  

Later in the day we went on a walk then drove to watch the sunset, it was an amazing and relaxing Christmas.  We made a simple dinner and my mom cleaned and put everything away. 

Today (Thursday) we woke up and undecorated.  So so so thankful to have both of my parents help in doing this.  By 10:30am the tree and all other decorations were down and put away, then my momma spoiled me immensly by cleaning all the bathrooms, vacuuming, and cleaning the kitchen after making me an egg nog latte!  I definitely didn't want them to leave.   The sadness of them leaving wasn't too bad though because I know baby will make an arrival at least in the next 3 weeks (hopefully tomorrow and baby could share a bday with my grandma who passed this year) and I will get to see them again. 

And with that I leave you with my 39 week pictures.  I haven't gained any weight in about a month but I am measuring right on track and baby is moving down the birth canal. We are ready! 

christmas time is...over!

Last night, when we got home from Jeremy's sister's house, we stuck the kids in bed (it was close to 10:45), and found ourselves up until 12:45 am cleaning and putting things away.  Actually, we still have the dishes from brunch yesterday to clean, and a few ornaments we missed to add to our christmas box, but Christmas is over and OUT at our house.  Thankfully, the kids slept in until 9 AM today!!!  I have not been in bed that late in the morning in a loooooong time.

We actually still have one more gift exchange on Sunday, when Jeremy's brother is up from Oregon.  I can't even believe the amount of stuff we have somehow gotten over the past days.  Jeremy's parents are extremely generous for the amount of children and grandchildren they have.

Shea is upstairs with Jeremy building a lego set he got from his Grandma and Papa, and Hailey is milling around playing with things down here.  I love the day after Christmas.  When we can finally just sit and relax and the kids have things to keep themselves busy.

We had a nice Christmas though.

Sunday, we had my family's celebration.  We left early and stopped by my sister and her husband's church for worship, because he is the new worship pastor and we thought it would be fun to see him lead.  We only stayed for the music, then we headed up to my brother Kit's house.  It was fun, but it is always a little rushed feeling.  We had apps, did a white elephant, and my brother even planned a family carol sing along.  We had fun sitting around the piano belting out ridiculous harmonies as we went through a christmas fake book (Amber - this so reminded me of our old days singing phantom of the opera together!!).  Then we went out to the Garden of D'lights at Bellevue Botanical Gardens.  I think this will be our last year doing that, it was super lame this year because the garden was under construction.  Not at all worth the money!

After that, we stopped at my sister Kaitie's house.  This was way more relaxed than being at my brothers.  Hailey went down for bed, and Shea was so super obedient.  He just sat in the living room playing with some toys and different board games while we all talked and visited.  We ended up staying until midnight.  We didn't get home until 1:30, but we had such a nice time visiting.  It is so fun to see my sister married and grown up.  So funny how different our conversations are now.

Christmas Eve we spent the day relaxing, cleaning and baking for the next day.  We went to the evening service at our church (which I spent the entire time trying to keep the kids quiet!), then we came home and the kids (and Jeremy, ha) opened their christmas pjs which I made.

our tree we dug up from our yard and salt dough ornaments - all ready for the kids to wake up!

Christmas morning, we lit our advent wreath

Christmas morning!  Shea was making faces while Jeremy read the Christmas story.

some more ornaments we made with the kids, Shea playing with the dollhouse, and our breakfast brunch!

Here was my big DIY present!  I painted all of these peg people last month, and last week decided I needed to make them a house.  This was a fun project, and Shea thought it was pretty funny.  I didn't get around to finishing "Andy's Room", but Shea is excited to work on some more furniture with me at some point in the future (if the house holds up that long!).  I made batman, a pirate, buzz, woody, a ninja turtle, aang from avatar, mario, and our family + a baby (although, this is not an announcement, I just made a baby for Hailey).

my labor of love

Jeremy's parents came over and we opened presents and had brunch.  Then we got ready to leave and stopped by Jeremy's Grandma's house, then we went to the hospital because she fell and broke her hip and was actually IN the hospital on Christmas.  After that, we stopped at my parent's house for an hour and then headed off to Federal Way to Hanna's house for the Ellis Christmas (which is still not over).  It was a long day, but not as bad as some years as far as chaos.  One of Jeremy's brothers yelled at Shea and that really bothered me, and Jeremy's parents gave out soooo many gifts (especially for our kids) that it was a little overwhelming, but that is nothing new.

Anyway, I am glad for today.  Jeremy is off of work and we are just hanging out, cleaning and resting.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  And that I will get to come out soon and see Angela's baby!!! :)

LOVE!

deep thoughts =P

Okay, so, I've decided if the five stages of grief are real, I am in the acceptance/denial stage (yeah, I know you think they are opposites.)

Acceptance - I spend time crying - really crying - about the things I might not get to have, that I long for.
Denial - And then I spend time planning how I am going to get those things RIGHT NOW and if I just try hard enough, I'll never even know that I have some physical limitations.

Both are supposedly "normal" responses...but neither are really wise to dwell in.  I'm not resting.  I'm not satisfied with just my Lord.  Everyone else is praying for me - I don't pray, not even for me.  I have probably never had this much prayer - even acquaintances are praying for me - but here my heart is so very focused on myself.

Worse, I'm focused on how others perceive my struggle.  I'm trying to be honest, but I do deflect with humor, and I do feel self-conscious.  Sometimes I don't mind the wheelchair and sometimes I really really hate it and feel sub-human.  And I've been really open about this whole process so I feel like people expect some wisdom from me, or at least to be privy to all the things I'm going to.

I feel like more of a sinner now than I was before, probably because I'm forced to be alone with my thoughts.

I hate this house because we have two empty bedrooms and it is so quiet, and I have turned into a leech, practically begging people to come over.  I hate that it is not only not clean, but it is not tidy.  Things are in the wrong places and it's so hard to go around and put everything where it goes.  I don't like using the wheelchair in the house if I can help it, it's bulky - plus we keep it in the garage and obviously I can't bring it in the house by myself.

My friend Heather (I know Angela and Becca know her; not sure about you, Candice) has really been helping, since she has gone through all of this, and then some.  I even snapped at her last night when she encouraged me that I might start feeling better or have a remission soon and I was like "You don't know that!"  Real Christian of me.  I do have fears, fears I'm not even sharing yet because they might be paranoia, fears that maybe things are getting worse.  And it's normal to have them but I must take them to the cross.  I don't want to spend time with God.  I have the time, my Bible is right here, the fire is going and it's cozy and I have tea and I have the next six hours alone, and I only want to sleep even though I'm not sleepy because that will block out the world for a few hours, and after that I'll eat junk food, and then I'll play computer games.

Sometimes I feel really thankful that I have use of my arms and my eyes and my brain and that I have so much help, and sometimes I'm just so freaking ANGRY and frustrated...seriously sometimes I think I have never felt such rage before, and I can't even kick something.  I don't know what to do with  myself.  I know I have a spiritual problem but I'm being stubborn and don't want to fix it.

38 weeks preggo

I wore blue and pink this week- boy or girl- boy or girl, I can't wait to find out! 

Today was suppposed to be a chill day but I couldn't sit still.  Everything takes me 3x as long to get done but today I picked up the house, put away the last of the Christmas presents from our Fernandez Family Christmas we had yesterday, went to Victorias Secret to return a bra I ordered (good ol pregnancy is changing up my sizes) and I got 95cent body wash because of some coupons I had. VS body wash is my favorite, but I would never pay 10.95 for a little bottle!  Then I went to Safeway and Costco.  Last night Paul and I went to a little Asian grocery store close to home, goodwill, and target.  When I got home from shopping today I vacuumed the house and cleaned the bathroom as well as put a tonnnnn of groceries away and prepped fruits and veggies and packed lunches for tomorrow.  Little one, I will never be more prepped for you to come than today, I'm just saying ;). 

The tub was delivered last thursday and we set it up on Saturday to make sure the hoses would reach and that it fit where I wanted it.  Everything worked out perfectly so we shimmied it into the guest room until show time. :) 

My cats have not left my side for days. They follow me around the house while I do stuff and the second I lay down they cuddle.  They totally know something is up. 

As I mentioned above we had Fernandez Family Christmas yesterday and it was so fun! I made belgium waffles with this recipe,  and I made a double batch so I would have some for the freezer.  I almost over flowed my mixer making that much!  Amber made an amazing casserole that her family has nicknamed cholesterol casserole, probably why I loved it, and Kathy brought over fresh cut fruit.  It was the perfect brunch.  Nana and Grandpa have never been to our house even though we have lived here nearly 3 years (we moved mid Jan. ) so it was a special treat to have them over! 

My parents arrive on Christmas eve and I hope I have a munckin instead of a belly.  But I know God has the perfect timing and I am at peace whenever baby comes. A girls gotta wish tho! 

life

So, I already talked to Amber, but we heard back about the job!  I know my post on my blog wasn't totally clear about what had happened - Amber, you weren't the only one who didn't understand!  Of course, it was only the family and friends we had told who were eagerly asking us what had happened, all awaiting an announcement.

We weren't given the position.  Apparently, there were 4 candidates in the running.  They reassured us that if they had not been seriously considering us, they would not have made us wait so long to hear back.  The one pastor really wanted to pick us, but in the end, they decided to go with someone who had more experience.  Lloyd told Jeremy that they have another slightly different project coming up in 6 months or so, and he is encouraging us to apply for that.  I'm not sure what that is or what it will be, but we will find out when its time.  He also mentioned that basically, if we went and were part of one of the missional communities for a year, we would at that point have the experience to be sent out to begin a plan of our own.  So we will see.  That could mean moving to the South Seattle area or to Yakima for a year and working with them.  It's an option we are thinking about, but we will have to see how it works out.  It wouldn't be for at least 6 months (when our lease is up), and it would depend on how much it seems like it would really be beneficial for us to do or not.

So, in the meantime, we are starting up the youth group at Jeremy's parent's church again.  His brother in law was doing it before, but they moved in September, so no one has been doing the youth.  It's nice that there was that break though, because we are planning on doing things very differently from the way it was before.  We have a white elephant party after Christmas, and then we will see how it goes from there.  At the very least, I am glad for something for Jeremy to keep himself busy and for us to not just be sitting around doing nothing.

Last night was the children's play at church.  Shea did so well!  The last two years, we have left part way into it, because he didn't last.  The first year, he was a drummer boy.  He went up for his part, but then we couldn't keep him in his seat without him screaming, because he wanted to be up on stage for the whole thing, so we went home.  And last year, he was a star and a sheep, but when it came time to be a sheep, he no longer wanted to be in the play and was too wiggly watching, so we went home again.

This year, we amazingly sat in the front the entire time.  He came over to sit by us a few times, but he did a really good job following instructions and didn't throw any fits when he was told not to go up.  I think he was a little sad a few times, because the other kids all had special reading parts, but not him.  He was fine though. He had two funny moments.  Near the beginning of the play, the kids were all up front, and there was a pause in the music when someone was supposed to talk.  Of course, the kids misses his cue, and instead we all hear Shea suddenly exclaim, "OH! I have to go pee-pee!!!"  Then he just stood there.  My mother in law went up and asked him, but he just stood there.  He didn't want to leave!  So Jeremy went up and grabbed him, because usually when he says that, he really has to go!  ha ha.  It was so funny. I was so glad that we heard him though, because he probably would've peed himself not wanting to get off stage.
Then at the end of the very end, he was a sheep.  He was getting very tired at this point.  We have had late, late nights and he hasn't fallen asleep during his rest time during the day.  It was an hour after his regular bed time at this point, so he was beat.  All the kids were standing and singing, and he just laid down on the stage and closed his eyes, totally exhausted.

Hailey did pretty well.  She was a little squirmy, but every time she saw her brother, she pointed to the stage with a big smile and said, "Shea-Shea!!"

Last Friday, I had my friend Sondra and her kids over.  We haven't gotten together in a few months - she just had a baby girl at the beginning of November.  Her older son and Shea fought almost the entire time. They got a long really well at Preschool on Wednesday, which is why we decided to have a playdate, but once that kid is on Shea's home turf, they are awful!  Donavon purposefully does things to make Shea angry, and Shea gets very controlling and wants him to do things a certain way with his toys.  So, it was nice to chat and catch up with Sondra, but it was exhausting working with the boys.  And it is fine.  It is a big and important part of parenting helping teach out children to work out disputes on their own and get along with others.  Playdates are challenging, in some ways, because most moms just want the kids to go play quietly together so we can chat.  Sometimes it works out that way (and it's awesome), but most times, I find that it doesn't work to expect to get a normal adult conversation.  There will be lots of interruptions and unfinished sentences and that has to be OK.

That evening, we went to a christmas party at a friends house.  It was fun, because all of they're friends (some of which we have met) are completely outside of our circle of friends.  The kids had a blast - Shea was off with the older kids playing games upstairs, and Hailey found some baby dolls, so she was in heaven.  The older girls adored her and Hailey was eating up the attention and getting to be one of the big kids with them.  We had a fantastic and relaxed dinner, chatted, and played a round of Dominion before going home around 10.

I can't believe it is only just over a week until Christmas!  I am finally feeling ready.  We finished our gifts for extended family last week, except for a few DIY gifts I am working on for some of my siblings.  We have my side of the family on Sunday afternoon/evening, and then Jeremy's family will be on Christmas and the following weekend.  I am so excited for our own family Christmas this year, though.  The kids are at SUCH a fun age for this.  Hailey is getting a play kitchen I picked up for free from my buy nothing group, and the only thing Shea has asked for (only like a hundred times) for Christmas is the slinky dog from Toy Story...I just happened to find one in like-new condition at a buy nothing group swap!  I am excited that we were able to stay away from the big stores, build connections with neighbors, and spend less this Christmas.  I finally got the kids pajamas sewn for their Christmas Eve gift, and now I am getting super antsy to start working on stuff for my store.  I am hoping to have some new things finished by next weekend.  Its been warmer out too, so our office is an ok temperature for working in.

- becca

Hoping this is my last "work weekend"

37 weeks this week! I have officially hit "safe dates" for delivering at home and the tub has been delivered.  Baby is at 0 station and braxton hicks have been steadily increasing. I hope this  means baby will come sooner rather than later, but my hopes won't be up till labor starts.  Oh how I am willing labor to start though! 

The pictures this week aren't my favorite as I took them all in a 3 minute time span because my friend Sara had come over and we were going to get a mani/pedi together. I look tired (I was) and the poses are similar. Oh well, it's true to life that's for sure. 

The baby/guest bathroom now has two drawers that make me smile big when I open them.  The previous owners of the house spilled a ton of stuff in these drawers and I had never gotten around to putting the non slip liners in to cover everything up until I put baby stuff in the drawers. Now I love opening those drawers!  

I am in love with my solly wrap! I have wanted one since well before I was pregnant with little one (like a moby but softer and less extra material, and awesome pattern) but they were just too expensive to justify.  Well, they went on sale on cyber monday and I couldn't pass it up!  Now I just need a baby and it will all be perfect. (and yes wraps look ridiculous with nothing in them!)

We set up our drop cams and I finally moved it to the place we will bee keeping it in the babys room.  It is so weird to be able to look back at pictures from when I walked in and out of the room, organizing and taking pictures of cats. We got these on a killer cyber monday sale as well. 

And my sling! I ordered this from etsy and I couldn't love how it turned out more. I had considered making one myself but seeing as I love supporting small momma businesses and that I would be too critical if I made it myself I decided to order it. So happy I did. :) 

Paul talked me into walking to subway for their $2 sandwich special for dinner one night.  Walks are good for getting baby out and man did I not feel like cooking!  My coat from HS still zips up even over my super preggo belly! 

My cats' never leave my side these days. Cuddle me for hours.  Eric was having a hard time staying awake the other day and his squishy face was too cute not to take a million pictures of. 

Baby's room is officially complete until little one makes its arrival, and then I will probably constantly be adding and changing things, but it is good to know we have a good starting point. :) 

The birth kit is all put together and stacked in the closet, the moses basket is set up in our bedroom with blankets, outfits and hats all ready for delivery day. It makes me so excited every time I see it! 

I have wanted to do this series of pictures since long before Paul and I were pregnant.  Now there is only one missing, the most exciting one of all! 

I had been looking forward to this mani/pedi for months. I knew I was going to get one before baby came and my toes were horrendous, I haven't been able to reach them in months!  Every day since the mani/pedi I tell Paul "have I told you how good my toes feel".  He said "you sure are easy to please aren't you"  :).  I think it helps that it is such a special occasion for me to go spend money so other people can pamper me.  They spent over an hour with the massage of my arms and legs and trimming and clipping and painting everything.  Best 17.50 spent this last month for sure. 

This is my "the tub is delivered and you are now safe to come face and photo".  Bring on the baby. 

The end. This was a super quick post because I am in the middle of my work weekend and usually just come home and lay in bed.  Work exhausts me these days, especially now that it is nearly impossible to lean over and braxton hicks come every time I try to do anything strenuous.  Weekends are my favorite to work though because they are the easiest in general and there are so many less people around.  It's lovely really. 

a post

hi!  I thought I would just do a quick post.  I had a long draft of random stuff written up, but none of it seemed very interesting/important anymore, so I am starting over.  This last week, we were sick for a few days, I got my first period since before I was pregnant with Hailey (oh the joys of not breastfeeding anymore), and we ended up getting away for a night to the condos at Discovery Bay with some of Jeremy's family.  I have been mostly tired this week from being sick, taking care of sick children, and lack of sleep.  I have been feeling a little overwhelmed with housework for some reason.  I think part of this is just because we are still in such a state of limbo that I even feel disconnected with keeping our house tidy.  Kind of weird for me.  Thankfully, wanting to decorate for Christmas with Shea got me to do some cleaning, and I'm feeling a bit more energetic and motivated for the coming week.

My fabric and corn kernals came in the mail the other day, so I can finally get started making my warming pillows.  Although, as much as I want to start working them, I am trying to decide if I should hold off until January to really get going on it and promote it.  I have so many other loose-end projects and christmas stuff to finish, so we will see!  My friend is letting me borrow her sewing machine too - she doesn't need it until summer, at the least - so now I don't have to worry about borrowing my mom's and I don't need to buy one right away.

Shea had a major, major melt down tonight.  It is so crazy.  He was so, so good today, and then he just gets crazy.  He wanted to use this thing of his that Hailey happened to be walking around with, and he went up and grabbed it out of her hand.  Jeremy wanted him to try getting it from her nicely, by either giving her something else or asking her, so he gave it back to Hailey so he could try again.  Shea went into the other room, grabbed a block and instead of offering it to her pulled it back to throw it at her and said, "NO, I will just KILL you instead!".  Yeah, so it was close enough to bed time that I said, "no way - you are going straight to bed" which turned into 20 minutes of him yelling like an insane person and throwing blankets and dolls everywhere.  He would not calm down!  I had to hold him, because I was sure he was going to hurt himself.  He finally calmed down and sat in his bed talking... then he went over and apologized to Hailey and he was mr. sweetie Shea again.

Yikes, these are the hardest parenting moments and I never feel like I am doing everything right!  He gets so stubborn and fixated on these things that it is really hard to snap him out of it and get him to listen.  But, once he finally relaxes and listens, he usually understands and is remorseful.  It doesn't help that he was up until 11PM at the condo on Friday night (after swimming for 2.5 hours) and had a late night last night too.  He was definitely over-tired, and I think he just hit his limit.  The hardest part for me is that I want to be demonstrating patience and gentleness toward him and it is a challenge to physically restrain someone gently.

Well, enough of that.  We are probably off to bed here soon.  Jeremy and I were watching Elf while I crocheted most of a bunny doll I am making for Hailey for Christmas.

so I'll just finish up with my pictures.

Here are some of our simple christmas decorations!  We have gotten two Christmas cards so far (one is Angela's - I was laughing, because you had pictures of your baby instead of your cats this year!), I don't know if we will get that many, since our address is different, but I'm hoping I can stretch them across the wall ha ha.  And I finally made some simple felt ornaments for the kids to decorate their felt tree with.  Most of the time, they are just all over the floor, because Hailey pulls them down.

And yes ,a little bit of cheer in the bathroom.  I had a christmas towel up the other day, and Shea walked in the bathroom and said, "WOW Mom!!!  I can't believe you even put some Christmas in the bathroom!!" That comment made me want to get a silly christmas soap dispenser.  Maybe next year.

This is our make-shift advent wreath.  I don't have any candlesticks, so I just put our tapers in this jars and put the words around them.  We lit the second (peace) candle tonight with dinner, and read part of Matthew.

Shea's village is back this year.  I put it on a tray so he can take it down and play with it when Hailey isn't up.  He got a couple of new little village people and a snowman as an advent surprise one morning.  But, most days there are lots of other strange animals in the town.

Here are the kids coloring.  Hailey looooves to color and will sit and work on it for a long time.

And here are a few pictures from our trip.  Hailey didn't really like the pool at all, but Shea started "swimming" around on his own for the first time.  Someone gave us these great life jackets that are suits with the floats around the middle.  He basically just bobbed around treading water, but it was a great step!  And he was so proud of himself.  It was so funny - he wanted me to make a video of him going across the pool - it took FOREVER, because he is moving so slowly ha.

We were up there with Jeremy's brother, Tim, his family, and Jeremy's parents.  Tim's family went for the weekend to celebrate their son, John's birthday (Shea's best friend).  It was a little hectic at times though, because when you have all the kids together in one condo unit and a newborn is sleeping so everyone has to be quiet and its below freezing out so no one wants to go outside, you have to do SOMETHING to keep them busy.  Jeremy just kept teaching them new games to play.  I am so thankful he did, or I think we would have all lost our minds!  Shea was did really well all weekend - he was just so thankful and excited to be there.  I am so thankful our kids have become such good travelers.

36 weeks and a few days.

Ladies in less than a week I hit "safe dates" to deliver at home. My excitement can't be contained, the end is in sight!!!

Baby continues to take up more than its fair share of room in my abdominal cavity. Ribs are sore (back still feels great tho!), can't breathe too well, and leaning over to take care of my patients is proving quite difficult these days.  My 80 year old patient told me yesterday when I winced while leaning over (and  I think I had a braxton hick contraction) "Don't go into labor sweetie, I don't think we can handle that right now" :) 

36 week pictures just a few days late.  We were out of town on Wednesday and then I worked Thursday, Friday.  It is dark when I leave and dark when I get home these days so pictures must be done on a day off! 

I have been saving crazy amounts at Safeway these days and I am loving it! 

I have a friend getting married on the 21st of December and I hope to be at the wedding super pregnant or with a baby ( I would prefer with a baby).  I just got this gold foil vinyl for my machine and love how it looks!  I made her card as well as my brothers (whose birthday is Jan 30th) with my fun new vinyl. 

Monday when I got home from work Paul and I headed over to Leavenworth.  We stayed at our friends cabin. No electricity, no internet, no running water, no heat.  It was 12 degrees outside in the morning and everyone was too lazy to keep the fire stoked overnight so it was so frigid every morning when we woke up!  We had the most amazing sleeping bags though and I was hot while laying in bed even tho it was 12 degrees!  Paul and I stayed up in the loft.  Do you know how hard it is to climb vertical stairs in the middle of the night to walk out to an outhouse through a foot of snow to go to the bathroom?  Well, its definitely not easy while 36 weeks pregnant!  It was so so so fun being in Leavenworth tho!  I told Paul I didn't think I could go if we had to walk the quarter mile uphill through 1-1.5 feet of snow to get to the cabin but it wasn't that bad, I did it many times while there.  

On Tuesday morning the boys went hunting while I hung out at Starbucks and enjoyed warmth and wifi.  They didn't catch anything so we went to Pizza for lunch. 

We went back into town to watch Catching Fire but I misread the theatre and it was actually closed.  I was looking at the Wenatchee times.  So we ended up walking the town, taking awesome pictures of the lights and eating Mexican for dinner. 

Wednesday morning we woke up and the boys started a fire while I made oatmeal (they have a propane stove and fridge) and hot cocoa to warm us up.  We played Catan and Monopoly.  Its amazing how fun long games can be when there are no distractions and nothing else to do!  I seriously loved being away from it all.  We don't have cell service at the cabin so everyone was praying I didn't go into labor.  Cell service was only a few minutes away though...well after we hiked down to the cars that is. 

We set up the baby monitor and it detects motion and sound.  These are screen caps from my phone of what Eric does while Paul and I are working.  Silly boy, baby might have company in the crib. 

Friday I had to work till 3:30, then I went to Gabes house to take a nap for an hour ( I ended up fiddling on my phone for half an hour and sleeping for half an hour) before heading over to a coworkers house for our triple baby shower.  It is so fun being pregnant with friends!  They are both having girls and as you know ours is unknown.  

I spent this morning eating baby shower cake, drinking coffee, and going through the millions of presents baby and I got.  My coworkers are amazingly generous and even though no one bought off my list (amazon is confusing to most people I guess- especially because I didn't register under the baby registry) I ended up getting the last of all I really wanted/needed before baby came.  Some sleepers, bath towels, wash cloths, blankets, toys, baby wash and lotion, and butt paste.  

After sorting everything, folding the tissue paper (yes I re-use it, I can't help myself) and putting all the bags away I undertook the process of detaching all the little plastic pieces from the toys/clothes/blankets.  This took probably half an hour.  Its crazy how they package that stuff!   Then I washed/dried/folded everything and had a big smile on my face because that basket holds my favorite kind of laundry! 

We took the carseat out of the car because we should actually need it in the house, not the car since we are delivering at home but every time I see the base and mirror it makes me happy.  Little one will be there so so soon! 

Only one more row of belly pictures till the end (and hopefully less than a row and not more....).  I am so so happy I kept up with belly pictures this whole pregnancy and I hope I do it for all future ones to come, it's so fun to look back at the progression. And to look back and see when I thought I was big, and then now.

I am off to lay in bed and write thank you notes and watch netflix now ladies.  I had to skip out on an MS conference at Virginia mason today because I have been so so tired lately and sitting makes my ribs hurt like you wouldn't believe.  Even riding in the car makes my ribs hurt and I decided that sitting for a 6 hour conference, as much as I wanted to hear the information, probably wasn't the best idea because I would have been thinking about how uncomfortable I was the whole time and also thinking about napping.  My in laws are going to fill me in and also bring me back any paperwork they got there.  Amber and Joe went as well so I can't wait to hear about it!