just another day...

i could say i'm at the end of my rope, but i couldn't find any, so i guess i'm hanging on by a thread. (i'm VERY bored, can you tell?).

so here's the deal:

*contractions? all the time...

*emotional/physical state? anxious, impatient, hormonal, exhausted, itchy, near-tears...

*birth plan? to give birth, period. i no longer care what's been written down.

*spouse's emotional state? impatient... and if he comes home and asks if my water broke yet, he'll have a lot more to worry about than being impatient. there will be pain.

in other happenings, this is how cole spent part of his afternoon yesterday- plastered to the window. he LOVES watching daddy plow snow!!!

he waved back, awww! as soon as kelvin started pushing snow the opposite way and was no longer facing cole, our little man started stabbing the window with his little finger and hollering "HEY!! HEY!!" it was funny beyond belief! i was hoping a good bout of laughter would get things moving. not so- maybe the baby has no sense of humor. i don't know... living in your pj's is nice. for a while. then it gets really old because it's out of necessity, not because you have a choice. seriously- i'm down to one maternity shirt and a pair of jeans that actually still fit. it's either than or pajama pants and a baggy sweatshirt, which now is starting to get a bit short, too. we took a chance and i went along to run a few errands with kelvin last night and as long as we were up and walking those contractions were pretty intense. once we got home and i'd been sitting down for awhile, they petered out. again. my wonderfully thoughtful husband suggested that i just keep walking and walking until the baby's actually born... obviously he's never been pregnant. thanks for the thought, though, dear!!

start, stop, start, stop...

day 16 of prodromal labor: today i have a watch with a second hand to use specifically for timing contractions. after the baby's born kelvin will lay complete claim to it, but for now, it's on me at all times. he ran out and got it yesterday afternoon... since my day was once again spent wondering if "this is it". we stayed home last night- just in case. today has been more of the same- contractions averaging 5-6 minutes apart for about an hour, then nothing for awhile... need i even mention that i am frustrated to near-tears?? "our" new watch...

cole's new thing with climbing on furniture has gotten him both some major scolding and some funny photo-worthy moments... this happens to be one of the cute ones. he got ahold of the crocheted sling i made (which is currently getting a face-lift due to some more "aha" moments and tweaking...) and got creative with it. since he's ridden in the prototype i made, he knows what it's for.
he just doesn't know how to put it on right... what a smart little dude! he's getting used to the idea of riding in the sling, which is cool, should i ever need to lug him around in it. he takes to the idea much better if we sit in front of the mirror for a little bit first, so he can see what's going on. he seems to like it for the most part- i wish i had been more aware and open to the idea of slinging when he'd been born! oh well- since he got my undivided attention, maybe he didn't really need the sling- this baby will, though... i hope SHE'S open to the idea! that way i can hold her close and still be free to do other stuff... more and more, i'm seeing the benefits to slinging! i do have a website through weebly.com, but i'm still working on that too. i finally settled on some fabric styles and found a great supplier, so in that respect, i'm ready to go. since i don't have a sewing machine (yet) the going is a bit on the slow side, since hand-stitching takes a tad bit longer. but the more time i spend on my little project, the more i think it's still worth a try... but for now, i'm more focused on getting this baby out!!

just a few photos

while we're still (impatiently) waiting for this little girl to make her debut, i've been playing with the camera a little bit. i have a rather eager subject, so that makes it easy... i love the grin!

my two monkeys last night... we were waiting for my mom, who came over for a little while and brought homemade potpie and apple crisp. it was SO good- thanks again, mom! i felt really spoiled...

wide-eyed wonderment! either that or he's just hamming it up. i'm pretty sure it was the latter, given his record for being cheesy in front of the camera!

this has got to be one of my absolute favorites... i have NO idea how this happened, but it's frame-worthy, in my opinion!


this one was taken seconds after, and there's the normal shadow and lighting from the flash. i'm mystified as to how the first one turned out so different- it looks like he's sitting directly in front of a window, but there's no window that close. even if it were from the window, it was cloudy that day and both myself and part of the shower stall would have been directly in the way of any light... i dunno, but i LOVE it!

anyway, still nothing (in case y'all haven't figured that out)... i have 10 days until my due date. we have officially completed 14 days of prodromal labor and are starting week three of that. yay. maybe i'll get really lucky and have a super-easy labor and delivery after all of this false-alarm nonsense. i sure hope so, because i don't have the energy for a long labor (IF we ever get there, hahaha)!

MILK!!

sorry, no photo to post with this one, but it's pretty exciting for us... cole finally signed "milk"!! i've been trying to remember to use the sign several times during each meal, and now after months of thinking that it's probably just entertainment to him ("mom's so silly...") he finally caught on! he now can do "more" and "milk". i know, slow going, but we started late and i haven't been very consistent (or persistent); maybe once he realizes how excited we get every time he uses a sign, he'll be more apt to pick up other signs quickly. and speaking of milk, my dear husband asked me the strangest question on the way home from the clinic last night: "do you have milk yet?" uh, sure- there's, like, a bag and a half in the fridge yet- should we stop and get more? oh... you mean the human variety.

men!

ARGHHHH!

so- no real change since the last visit. really? i mean, isn't pre-labor supposed to change things just a little?? anyway, dr h was kind of hoping that we'd have had this baby by now... that makes three of us, buddy. we have an evening appointment scheduled for next week monday, but we're REALLY crossing our fingers that we don't have to keep it. when your doctor is kind of let down that there's no baby yet, you know things should really start happening. anyway, he did try to "stretch" things out a little, so maybe that will prompt a little action. i've tried just about everything else (that's safe or that i feel comfortable with), so hopefully that will do the trick. i think dr h's main concern is that she's already "good sized", so the longer we go the bigger she gets. of course, that's just a guess on his part... who knows- maybe she'll be really petite after all. whatever the case, i think we might be in for it if we show up for our appointment next week, hahaha.

a new spin...

... on an old saying. in this case, curiosity left the cat alone and killed my self-esteem instead. just for kicks i decided to measure the distance around my belly. i was sort of wondering just how big around i was, especially after yesterday. the story goes, we went to half nelson's for lunch with mom, dad and sarah after union meeting, and on the way out the door, there was a middle-aged gentleman by the door to the sports bar area... he was watching us leave and when his eyes settled on my mid-section i could see and hear him say "oh my...". at least MINE is temporary, sir! which is what prompted the whole belly-measuring thing in the first place. the magic number? 49 inches. for those who aren't mathemeticians (like me- kelvin informed me of this), that equates to 4 feet, one inch. i'm bigger around than my son is tall. he's barely 30 inches. meaning i am only one foot, three inches taller than i am round right now. interesting!! i have to say, i don't really feel pregnant and beautiful- just huge and irritable. i say this with resignation as we enter day 13 of "false labor"... although apparently, there's nothing false about it, since in reality, it's more like pre-labor. your body is actually doing something, just not enough to be considered true labor. at any rate, it's exhausting after this long- it's tiring enough for anyone who's nearing the big event... your body has to work extra hard to haul around all that extra weight and keep that little person healthy. throw in even more work with almost 2 weeks of pre-labor and yeah, one can get pretty tired and discouraged. oh well- the end is near, and tonight we'll see what dr h says. our appointment is at 6.35 (pm), so we'll have an official update after that. unless something actually happens before that, but i'm not counting on it. hey- on the bright side, it's one more day that i have every excuse to spend the entire day in my pj's!! now THAT'S a perk, if i ever heard one! :)

ho hummmmm

yup. still waiting. i keep thinking "maybe today. or tonight"... constantly timing contractions and then being let down, day after day for almost 2 weeks is getting emotionally exhausting. i remember telling my dear sister that nobody stays pregnant forever, but i see where one would get other ideas from. and i still have 13 days to go... i guess we got really lucky with cole, being that my water broke and THEN the contractions started. there was only one day where we thought "this might be it" (at rick's funeral)... so this whole extended prodromal labor thing is pretty new to me. kind of reminds me of the story of the boy who cried "wolf".... are we sure we'll know when it's really time? ha... of course we'll know. this little girl ought to be super sweet, for all the false alarms she's putting mommy through!
on the other hand, i've had a little extra time to get stuff for her... yesterday sarah, kelvin, cole and i went to oshkosh. a little further than i wanted to travel at this point in time, but then i figured that the walking would be good and hey- new london's on the way home, just in case anything happened while we were out (which it obviously didn't, otherwise this post would be completely different). i found a CUTE outfit for my wonderful little nephew and a cute jumper set for the baby at the children's place, and then at old navy i couldn't resist the teeny little denim jumper and long-sleeved pink onesie... oh goodness. why are denim things so irrisistable when they're very small?? like the pair of newborn-sized grunge/carpenter jeans we got for cole when he was born from old navy- i came across them a few weeks ago and just about busted a gut laughing because they were impossibly cute, then started crying because he was once so tiny he could actually wear them. gotta love the hormones... !