Happy Mothers Day

Love this message from Elder Holland

On My Mind Today

Some of my thoughts today include:

Today is my birthday!!

I don't want to be pregnant anymore

It doesn't really matter when I have this baby because either way I will still get to hold her and snuggle her and she will still be cute and smell yummy.  That helps me try and feel a bit more patient when I think about how I will probably be waiting a few more weeks. I'm just being realistic.

Happy birthday to the person with whom I share this birthday - can't believe my age now starts with a 3! Good thing age is relative and doesn't deem how you should think or act or respond to people.  :)

I really wish it was Aftyn's birthday because:

I can't wait to give her all the presents we've had stored up for awhile.  I know she will love them!
I would more than likely be having or have had this baby!

Can't wait for Reed to get off of work - birthdays are meant to be spent with your family!

I'm in somewhat nesting mode, so I have a list of things I want to accomplish today.  None of them written down though which drives me a little crazy because then I'm apt to forget some of them.

Only thing I want for my birthday besides : a baby, tickets to see Wicked, is Adele's latest album.  That girl has some incredible emotion going on in her songs. I love the edginess of her voice.  And since I'm making wishes for things, I'd like to be going to the Oregon Coast this summer.  :)  Thing is, if I got all I ever wanted there would be no fun in life and no enjoyment of finally getting something you've wanted and worked for.

Anyhoo, now you can see how random my thoughts are sometimes!
Lots of wishes for EVERYONE to have a happy Friday!

Measurements From The Midwife

Well, everyone. 
Here's the heads up. 

I'm dilated to a 3, but it funnels down to a 2 and 60% effaced.

 I know, it means nothing other than my body has been working!

But maybe just maybe it means I'll have the baby this week?

The Happs

I feel that there may have been entirely too many bodily functions discussed on this blog lately, and so, I'm putting up a new post!
This week marks my 37th week of pregnancy, in case you hadn't noticed the ticker at the top of our blog.  I actually thought a few days ago that the big event might have been starting. Turns out our little girl just likes to do the limbo and see how low in Mommy's body she can go.  This has created some funny issues.  Such as my belly bumping into entirely NEW things that I could usually go right over before.  Poor Aftyn usually bears the brunt of this as her head is exactly the same height as my belly sometimes, specifically when I'm helping her in the bathroom.  Luckily it's a soft bump and she gets enough bumps anyway with her head that she just shrugs them off.
Our backyard project that we thought would be so easy has turned out like every other backyard project we have ever taken on.  But we really think that by tomorrow Reed will have the grass and fertilizer finally down.  He finished raking the whole thing last night.  Poor guy.  He gets home from a hard day at work only to go outside and work hard for a few hours more. We sure appreciate him and all his hard work in getting us our backyard full of grass!
Yesterday the girls of my family who live in this area got together to celebrate my birthday early at a local restaurant.  It was so much fun! I got a free meal because of my birthday, but part of the package was me standing up, looking 10 months pregnant so the staff at this particular restaurant could sing to me with balloons, an ice cream sundae and a nice long sundae spoon.  They kindly let Aftyn hold the spoon for me while they sang, and also kindly placed the sundae directly in front of her.  In the middle of the song, I looked down only to see Aftyn doing what any other person would have done: she was digging right into all the sprinkles and whipped cream on the top of that sundae with that nice long sundae spoon! She managed to get in a couple of good bites while they finished their song, and my sisters and mom and I all just laughed at her ingenuity.  I would have done the same thing!       :)

I have really got to get my camera fixed! We need pictures on here again, I know.  I'll work on it today!

Floaties In The Bathtub

Today, after almost 2 whole years, Aftyn accidentally pooped in the tub for the first time. 

It all started with her just tooting, making bubbles.  I think that's what kept her going because they sounded funny.

Next thing I hear from the bedroom as I gathered her lotions, combs, and clean clothes was crying. 
Crying is never associated with bath time at our house.  So I knew something was up.

 I went in to her, only to see her holding one leg up in the air, looking afraid of something floating in the water.  Actually, there were 2 somethings floating in the water. Along with all of her bath toys.  Oh well.

 It had to happen sometime, I suppose, and at least now she knows she doesn't like it.

Horses Eat Grass

It all started when  Aftyn and I had a conversation while in the car.  We have horses and cows that live in the fields around our house, so we see them often and hear lots of commentary from the backseat about them.  One day I decided to impart some wisdom about horses to Aftyn.  I asked her what the horses in the field were doing, and told her they were eating grass.  That was probably about a month ago.

Yesterday, as part of her normal play, she told me "horses, eating" and proceeded to lay face down on the carpet and pretended to eat our carpet "grass".  With lots of giggling following, by mommy and Aftyn. What a silly girl. Then since Daddy was home, she showed him too.

 Today, I was telling my mom this story while in the car with Aftyn and Aftyn called out "ew, gross!".  She makes us laugh a lot.

It finally hit Reed today that we're really having another baby, and that Aftyn will not be the only child getting all the attention anymore.  He was sad.  And then I imparted on him the wisdom I gained a few months back when I felt the same feelings. Those of you with children, what would you have me share with Reed about these feelings?

We're Still Alive, I Think

I know you're all relieved to know that we're still alive!

I've been a little caught up in getting through the last few weeks.  My body has gotten a little more uncomfortable to live in, and I didn't want to complain to the lot of you who have been through this before and don't need to re-live pregnancy squished-ness through me.  But just so you know, I'm plenty squished right now.  But I am nearly 36 and a half weeks pregnant, so why shouldn't I be?!?

We had a really fun Easter this year.  Aftyn took part in our ward Easter Egg Hunt, and a neighborhood hunt and has become really good at finding "hidden" eggs in grass.  For our own family time, we dyed a few easter eggs together on Sunday and then Aftyn and I found our newly decorated eggs after Reed had hidden them.  Aftyn loved it! We followed this up with homemade easter treats and a lesson on Jesus/the Resurrection.  All in all, a fun memory and one we can't wait to experience many more years. 

I am excited to announce that after only two and a half years, we are finally putting grass in our backyard ! ! ! Reed has the ground leveled and almost all raked and we are planting this Saturday. I cannot possibly put enough exclamation points in this whole paragraph to tell you how excited we all are to have a backyard we can play in.  Yes, we'll have to wait a few weeks for it to grow, but what's a few weeks after a few years, hmm?  Anytime Reed has gone outside to work on the backyard, Aftyn insists on going out there with him.  What's so comical about it is that she refuses to walk off the cement patio into the dirt, which is good since there's weed killer on the ground.  So she just stands and talks to Reed while he works, exclaiming about the birds, and the dirt and the weeds and freezing her little hands and legs off but LOVING being outside! I get a kick out of watching the whole thing from inside, and I think Reed likes having her company.  :)

Since we're putting in grass, we're also thinking of making garden boxes as well for our garden to grow in this year.  Yay! I love the idea of having a little garden to work in while Aftyn plays outside.  By the way, sorry there are no pictures of any of these events.  Our camera is having issues, it might just need a new memory card, but until we figure it out we have no new pictures to share.  :( 

Reed just went on his last out-of-town trip for work yesterday.  Now he's stuck at home for the next few weeks until our new addition makes her appearance.  I don't think he minds though.  I think we're all pretty excited to get her here. 

This has been your update.  I'll try and do a bit better.  But I'm not making any promises.  ;)