I made it to the Baby Showers

 My girls accompanied me at the shower thrown by my visiting teachers. It was very nice and we played a lot of fun games. Jessica kept winning the games though. I thought that was a little unfair considering I was already taking home all kinds of prizes and gifts. My friends had a lot of fun picking out cute outfits and blankets for Ammon.

 This was the best cake ever! Over 100 diapers went into the making of this gorgeous set up. Cute! Cute!

 Here is an obligatory pic for the baby book. I think it will fit him.

 The ladies at work put on a nice shower for me at Applebees last monday evening. I had the steak with shrimp. First time I've felt full in a long time without overdoing the carbs. It's tough to be on this diet. So far I've lost 4-5 pounds which puts my grand total at about 13 pounds gained since I began. That tells me that I've likely lost about 22 pounds from my original prebirth weight considering that I typically gain a pound a week. Wouldn't it be great if that much came off when the baby came? Experience tells me it will take more than just having this baby, but I'm optimistic that my summer diet and excercise plan will start off strong.

 My first diapers & wipes for Ammon. Yeah! I knew my friends would take care of me.

 This is a cute sweater bear that made in the same material as a matching blanket from the H-O office. Love this bear. The basket it nice too. Oh and the balloons in the background are from my good friend, Nina. So sweet!

More cute clothes. This kid is going to be looking good. I was amazed at the generosity of everyone who came to both showers. I think we are ready for this baby to come now.

Update on my Dr. appointments:
Last thursday marked 35 weeks and 2 days. So this tuesday will be 36 weeks. At my appointment I was dilated to a 1 and 60% effaced, up to 30cm of fluid and baby probably weighs about 6.5 pounds.  I'm pretty sure I've lost my mucous plug.
Mom says within a week. We'll see. I've had days where I think it might happen and then others when it seems further off and will never come. Wednesday of last week was my last day of work. So it's very possible that I could slow down with my contractions that seemed to come off and on every other day.
I've had two days of labor scares where the contractions were coming regularly for a little over an hour. They just didn't get to five minutes apart and didn't get stronger. But apparently they are doing something as I seem to be slowly progressing.
Last Friday morning was the last scare. I woke up at 3am having contractions. I kept thinking, not yet - I have another shower to get through. I counted for almost an hour before waking up Jhonny and telling him something might be happening and hoped he was ready for a sub. He wasn't. He got up and started getting things ready. About an hour and 1/2 later, they stopped. Good thing I didn't call anyone. I was waiting to see if they would get stronger and closer. But I think it was a good trial run to show Jhonny how he needs to be ready at any given moment. Hopefully he has a renewed commitment to getting some emergency sub plans together. It could very well happen this week or at least by the next.
I think I'll start walking after Tuesday. I kind of want a May baby.

Happy Birthday Lily!

 As typical in our family, Lily had a week long celebration of her birthday. Ending with a big night at Chuckecheese where she earned over 2300 tickets and brought home two really nice prizes and gifts from her friends of course.

 Gavin earned very few tickets as he preferred to use all his tokens riding the horse. His only greater desire would be to go ride a real horse.

Jessica had a good time too. She donated all her winnings to Lily to contribute to her prizes. What a good big sis.

 This was Lily's actual birthday. Despite my inability to indulge in the delicious cake, how can you NOT have a cake on your actual birthday? We had more cake than we needed by the time we added the Chuckecheese cake later that friday. Lily was in heaven. Cake heaven that is. It's hard to believe my little girl is growing up.

Happy Easter!

I'm counting down. Although it's two days away, I'm claiming 33 weeks. That's only 3 more to go!! Woohoo!.

Okay now for Easter. Thursday night there was a flashlight Easter egg hunt and movie in the park that we went to. The kids hopefully had a good time. I was a bit miserable. No comfortable seating or relaxation for me and then I swallowed a bug! UGH! Needless to say I was happy to go home. But not before we survived the chilly night air and showing of the "Hop". Jhonny kept trying to get me to go to a couple of other community egg hunts. I refused. I had enough in that one night. Next year, I may feel differently.

Mom and Dad came on Friday to celebrate and give Lily some early B-day attention. Jhonny deep cleaned after my pleading to do it right for once and not rely on the kids with their limited ability. They are helpful in trying to maintain, but every once in a while you just gotta do it yourself to get the results you want. If I could, I WOULD! He was sweet enough to give in to my pleas and do it. The kids helped, but you know how that goes.

When Grandma and Grandpa finally arrived the kids colored their eggs for the easter bunny to hide on Saturday morning. I prefer to do all the fun stuff on Saturday so Sunday we can just concentrate on the real purpose of Easter. So the kids and the grandparents had fun coloring eggs.

Then it was off to the store for SHOPPING with the girls. Lily had a blast picking out clothes and shoes and trying them all on. It was hardest settling on what her money would buy. I was worn out. They really need a motorized cart at that place for me. Walking around using the shopping cart as a walker is not ideal. But Lily was happy.

After that we hooked back up with the boys and went to a buffet all you can eat place where I knew I could eat all the meat and veggies I could cram on a plate without the necessity of cooking it myself and the kids could fill up on sweets that I refuse to make. Do you blame me? If I can't eat it, I'm not cooking it. The kids were in dessert heaven. And I felt pretty full myself. It's been a while since I could say that without my sugar skyrocketing. Mom was impressed that I managed to avoid the sugar and carbs. Well, it's not hard when it reminds me of being poisoned. The pain afterwards is not worth it. But soon, very soon. . .

When we got back ready to hit the hay, we discovered the transformer that is connected to our street blew and we were not only without power, but no way to get in the house. We were relying on the garage door opener and Jhonny had never put a house key on his set of keys. Even if he had, he bolted the part of the door that you can't open with a key. So Mom and Lily and I decided to take the hospital route tour to show mom where to go when the baby comes. We drove around Round Rock in the dark and came home just as Jhonny was able to break into the house. Still no power, but at least we got in. He fixed the broken lock on the window though- so no hopes of anyone out there having any ideas. I did manage to get a spare key on that set of car keys so this won't happen again.

Saturday morning, the kids got to hunt for eggs that the Easter Bunny aka Grandpa hid in the back yard. The kids and I enjoyed the fact that there was NOT a crowd and little competition to steal all the eggs. I could also limit the number they could find so it was fair. Then candy and boiled eggs for breakfast! For them anyway. After that we went on the hospital tour again, in the daylight to make sure Mom got it.

With the tour over, we made a trip to IKEA. We had some furniture needs with the baby coming and after searching on Craigslist and all the stores I could think of online, I found what I needed for the price I liked at IKEA. So off we went. What was even better is that this weekend they had an eat for free deal if you spent more than $100. What I was buying was at least that, so we all had lunch on IKEA!Which basically meant that they subtracted our meal ticket from the price of our purchase! Yippee! And they had a wheel chair that I got pushed around in, so no painful episodes like the day before.

After returning home, my uncle Rob stopped in for a visit. He was here in Austin on business and was getting a ride with my parents to Houston. I'm glad he stopped by. He said he didn't want to impose on my parent's visit. I kept telling mom he wasn't and it would be very rude of him NOT to come over when we haven't seen him in 4 years!! I was glad he came and got to visit for a bit. It was sad to say good bye and send my parents back to Houston. I enjoyed having them over. There's no one quite like Mom to complain to and get empathy from when I feel like this.

This morning was more laid back. I had Jhonny dig up the old VHS "He is Risen" video still packed in the garage and the kids watched the cartoon before church. I enjoyed their little comments and questions about what was happening. When the disciples and Mary were running in the tomb and thinking someone stole Jesus's body, Gavin kept yelling at the show, "HE'S ALIVE! HE'S NOT THERE! HE'S RESURRECTED! DON'T YOU KNOW?" It was so cute. Lily of course loves this holiday as it's so close to her birthday and everyone has Lilies around. At church someone had a lily plant on the podium. She pointed at it and said, "Look, Mom! Someone brought lilies! Someone brought ME today!" I was happy that even with all the sugar and easter bunny stuff going on this weekend, that my kids could grasp the meaning of Easter and the resurrection. Gavin learned about how Jesus was crucified and then lived again. He's having quite the time wrapping his tongue around the word, "resurrected", but he hasn't stopped trying to say it.

I'm curious as to what he will say tomorrow at school about it. His teacher's aunt passed away this weekend and her funeral was supposed to happen yesterday or today. She knew it was coming and my only comment other than how sorry I was, was that at least if you are going to have a funeral, this would be a good weekend for it. Fortunately she agreed. I wouldn't mind having my funeral on Easter weekend. I would hope that everyone present would be reminded that my death is a temporary seperation and that we will meet again!

Easter has to be one of my favorite holidays. Sugar aside. I love the colors and the flowers and easter egg hunts, and I especially love the reminder of our Savior and the hope and peace that it brings. Here's hoping all of you had a superb Easter Holiday!

Ammon at 32 weeks

 He's got his daddy's feet.

A head full of hair.

Last week, I was so miserable I just wanted it all to be over and at the same time I kept thinking - no, I need to get through at least four more weeks and then. . . But the pain was so unbearable that I was scared into packing a bag for the hospital. I really do hope I can survive the next month at least, but I thought I'd better be prepared for the worst.

I turned in my notice for maternity leave on the 25th of this month. It's getting closer and more of a reality. The benefits department gave me my disability papers to fill out and fax in. I can't believe it is almost here and yet I can hardly stand the thought of getting through one more month. Seeing these pictures gives me a sense of relief that if he were born now, he'd be okay and then I think - just a little longer. He needs just a little more time. I can do this.

Today I watched all three kids getting along and playing together. They were in a little row and I imagined one more at the tail end of that line. . . I'm looking forward to a couple of months of just baby and family and no work. I hope it goes slowly. I love my job, but there's nothing quite like being a mom and taking care of a new little baby. This is the last time. Such mixed emotions come with that.

I'm dealing with my diabetes diet. I even lost a pound today since last week. It's been easier than I imagined. I know my husband's prayers have helped. Today was a good day. Not too much pain and my fluid was down a cm. If I can just enjoy a little relief like this, I can make it another 4 weeks. Just four fingers. That's less than one hand. It'll be over before I know it.