big belly

Just a few of the pictures that Amber took of me the other night.

Some thoughts from that night:

1. I miss my callouses on my feet, the other day I had a pedicure with two of my friends, all my yucky looking callouses were removed. While taking these pictures I was walking around bare foot most of the time and I realized that I quite miss those callouses!



2.Im a wimp! By the end of taking pictures I was so tired! I actually had to sit down after almost each picture once Joel got there.

3. I have no creative eye for pictures! I was amazed at things Amber would say or do, and thought to myself I'd never have thought of that.




4. I think photo editing is so cool! The picture of my laying down with my eyes closed...well I really like that picture and I think its super cool that my sleeve is FAKE! serious when I went to put my arm above my head my sleeve was showing my garments and of course my ever so cute arm pits, and Amber told me not to worry about it. Sure enough when the pictures came back I miraculously had a sleeve that looked a little longer...I consider that up their with magic :-)

my not so informative appointment

So, here is what I know.....I am measuring at 39 weeks. I am dialated to a 3, I am starting to efface, the cervical ring is softening and last Friday I lost my mucous plug...

However, though i feel like Im on my final week, she kept saying things like "well that could mean your with a few days" followed by something else and she'd respond "I think you may be 2 weeks out"...so I guess that means I could have a baby sooner or later....well I could have told you that :-) I feel like I walked away with nothing. I know that no one can predict when a baby is coming, but to hear, with in 48 hours followed by 2 weeks, seemed a little confusing.

She did say that my pubic bone was not in the right place (I knew that), she suggested this resistance stretch and then she suggested something else that she thinks works....she started explaining that what she would do and the red lights were flashing in my head....IT WAS THE CROTCH KICK!!!!! (Im sure many of you remember that one from Parlee) I told her NO WAY! It was funny she looked at me all surprised? I told her she did that to me two times last time and it hurt so bad, she then proceeded to tell me that no one has ever complained about it before (really?). Needless to say there is NO WAY i will ever have the kick to the pubic bone done to me EVER again!!! Anyhow, I guess the position of my pubic bone makes it difficult for the baby to move down and progress (cruddy).

Oh yeah, also when I went to my appointment, I walked in, and she has a wood floor. I stepped on the floor and totally slipped. I caught myself before completely falling on the ground. However, I did pull a groin muscle! Just what I needed :-)

Names

I think after enough stress we have finally narrowed down...or let me re-state that, we have finally decided on some names that we both like.....which is very difficult. It seems like I will love a name and Joel laughs at it, or he suggests a name and I cant stand it. However, we have picked a boy name and 2 possible girl names we both like. We still dont have any middle names picked out, its hard also choosing family names that sound alright with first names. I really think the naming of a baby is quite difficult.

So do you want to hear the names we have thought of? Well guess what Im not telling :-) I've always had a hard time when people make comments and dont like names you've chose, so we usually figure its best to keep things under wraps until baby is born. I remember letting the cat out of the bag to a few people last time, when we had chosen Parlee for a girl name, the response was never favorable :-) Of course even after she was born there was an abundant amount of "Did you say Carly, or Charlie" or "Like Parley P. Pratt? but hes a boy?" Yup, just like Parley P. Pratt, thats who she was named after! I still love her name!!!

Hopefully, soon we will meet our new little baby! I go in later for an appointment and I'll write down what she says.

Later

my predictions

If I had to make a prediction, I'd bet that this is the final week I'll be looking like this. I used to think the 4th of July sounded to early, but now I just don't think I'll be pregnant by then.

Also isn't this picture cute? I'm so un-photogentic, but somehow my friend Amber can make anyone look good in a picture.

another appointment

yesterday I went into my midwife and Im measuring 38 weeks. Which still puts me on track for the 4th of July.

Girls Campity

For those who wondered....I survived girls camp!...and to the second most asked question, No I did not have a baby at camp and scare a whole generation of girls from ever having their own babies :-)

Girls camp went better then I ever thought. It was a GREAT, AWESOME, PRACTICALLY PERFECT IN EVERY WAY, kind of camp, and I did better then I thought I would have (granted, I was like a bump on the log, but I survived)

Shelyce and I decided to head up to camp on Monday, with all the girls' stuff, the tents and of course our families. Im so glad we did this, we got a chance to take our kids out paddle boating, roast marshmellows and have fun. We also got camp all set up for the girls to come up on Tuesday. Another thing we noticed was that there was a million gnats up there (not exaggerating) so we were a able to call some leaders and send word to pack bug spray!!!

Tuesday everyone else came up as our families headed back home. Tuesday we had the oppertunity to go sailing (which I have always wanted to do, but felt that perhaps I was a little to prego to be trying sailing out, so I watched from the shore of New Castle resevoir). That night we had the Goochs come up and talk to us about 'Enduring to the End' Chantra Gooch grew up in Cambodia and lived on the killing fields for 4 years. Her story made everyone crying (expept some 1st years who were a little to young to really get it). We then stayed up late to do those 'color personality' tests. I was surprised to see how much I had changed from when I was a teenager. As a teen I was always VERY red, with yellow 2nd and pretty much no white or blue. Now I am still red first but surprisingly blue was almost tied with my red. I only had a few yellow and 2 (could have been no) white. I guess Im not as fun or spontanious (yellow), and Im still not a peacemaker (white)....didnt surprise me :-)


Wednesday: Joel and Will showed up to take the girls pn their hike, the leaders (except Natalie) all stayed behind. We latter met them at the end of their hike at the lake with paddle boats. I think everyone had such a blast on the paddle boats! For me a 'memorable' (I say that very loosly) moment was when Joel and Will decided to take the paddle out. Now as a rule, they fit 4 people, the 2 heaviest up front. SO i figured if they were going out, I jump in the back. We got in and the boys started paddling and we were going no where fast! I weighed too much! I laughed so much, I know Im pregnant, but come on! So I had to climb up and sit between the two of them so that we could move. I know the girls got a huge kick out of that....as many moms have already told me that this was one of the first stories they heard.
Later we did our skits, which turned out so funny...all of them!

Thursday: We (not me on this one) made a volleyball court for the Gublers (the property we were staying at) Now granted this was a project I thought up, I went up to the property, took pictures, we planned it out, and yet I NEVER imagined it would have turned out as fabulous as it did. The girls cleared the ground, removed bushes, trees and anything in the way. the court was marked with 2x4's along the perimeter which were dug into the ground then painted white. The whole thing just looked super!

Then the Bishopric came up, we played a fun game called Faith Factor, which was intense and fun, we had dinner and then went on our Faith Walk which had different leaders talking to the girls at different locations. It ended with a blind folded ropes course. We concluded back at the pavilion where the Bishopric could talk to us. During the time that the Bishop started to talk, the winds came up, tents began to collapse (one was totaled beyond repair). Needless to say their was quick decisions being made as it was 9:30 a night and it was concluded to take down camp and get off the mountain. I was told to call Joel and get him up there right now. I called him, he was on a walk with the kids, he quickly got home, changed the kids into their PJs, drove them to his parents house in town, fueled up and drove up to us. In the meantime we completely torn down camp in about an hour, the wind was crazy it rained a few times, and we did this mostly all by lantern and flashlight! We got most the leaders and girls off the mountain with only a few of us remaining to clean up, pack the trailer and wrap things up. This was the only time that I seriously over exerted myself and I paid for it the next day....but their really wasnt anything else that could be done. I knew I was going to hurt, but I also knew that camp had to come down NOW! It was cute Rhonda our Bishops wife came up to me and said you know this probably wont put you into labor, but it will put you into a lot of pain. Prophetic words! However I would have done it the same if I did it again, and by Saturday I felt fine again.

We did miss our testimony meeting with all the chaos, but we rescheduled that for this Wednesday.

All in all. It was a great camp. Im am seriously sad to think that I may not be able to be at camp next year!!! I wonder if I could sneek inside Joelys bags next year, because it will be her first year....dont 'greenies' bring their moms? I'll have to look into that :-)

Todays midwife update....

Joel have been feeling for awhile now that the due date if off, In Joel decided to put an exact date on it, he was thinking we were two weeks off, making the due date July 4th. I couldnt agree more, and not because I wan tthe baby to come sooner (which I do). But because everything just felt wrong, when you get to the end, their are just signs that happen at certain points in your pregnancy, and everything was pointing to the date being wrong....truth be told weve been concerned about the date from the very beginning, but we never had an ultrasound to confirm anything....

So today I had an appointment and Joel said I had to let Liz know of our concern. So I went in and told her. She measured me and sure enough I measured at 36 weeks (I never measure ahead)...thats make the date July 4th!

Also my Iron levels were awesome...and 11.5. But I really have worked hard to keep those levels up!

And last but not least...I lost weight (thanks to throwing up) and weigh less then Joel again. Phew!

New hair x two

Today was a fun day. Joely woke up bright and early to go down to our neighbors house for a fun haircut and color. She got a super cute a-line and had her died blonde. She came home and then later I went to the lady who does my hair and got my hair cut, died blonde, and had a bright orange feather added to my hair. I knew Joely would be jealous, so I purchased two and dropped Joely off later to have a feather added to her hair too. It was so fun to both get our hair done, and seeing how excited Joely has been with her hair all day has made my day! She has brushed and styled it so many different time today, its way cute! I feel like we are a bunch of rebels with our feathers :-) They sure are fun though.

a pictureless update

My camera is still not loading pictures onto my computer! Really frustrating...okay so I havent taken it in to get looked at, I just keep hoping it will magically start working...not working so far, I guess I need to take a different approach :-)

So Im doing a what we have been up to without pictures and maybe cooler posts will come later thing :-)

May 5-9: The first week of May brought a very surprising a last minute trip to Disneyland. It started like this, Monday night the kids were in bed and I told Joel that Kyler loves to tell me stories of when we went to Disneyland, only he really has never been there. Last time we went he stayed at my friends house. Tuesday morning, I was watching Playhouse Disney with Kyler and Parlee, Kyler tells me another story of when he went to Disneyland, I laughed and sent Joel a text telling him. Next thing I know Joel calls me up and says "Well then lets go" just like that. We knew we had to go in May as I am getting way to pregnant, so I looked at my planner and realized the ONLY weekend I could go was that weekend. I called some hotels, found one suite available that could accomadate our large family and booked it. Quickly made a banner (which is cute, darn pictures not loading) to surprise the other kids with when they got home from school, and a day a half later we were in Disneyland! Hows that for fast. We left bright and early Thursday and came home Monday. It was wonderful, fun, and oh so tiring for this big momma! Yes we spent mothers day at the Magic Kingdom!

May 13-14: Fathers and Sons campout. Always a fun time in our house! I love Father and Sons! I however did not feel up to doing anything grand with Joely and Parlee, but then a friend in the ward called us and we went out to eat and watched a movie with them...turned out to be a blast!

May 20-21: 4th and 5th year girls camp hike.

All of May: Various school performances and fun stuff. I have to say I LOVE being back at Red Mountain Elementary!

May 25: Last day of school and Joelys elementary graduation

May 25th-June 2nd: Right afters school go out, I loaded the kids up and we headed to Bryce Canyon for my cousin Chelsea's graduation (only 18 kids in her graduating class!!!). We drove over Cedar Mountain, which was still covered in snow, even though it was dirty snow and the kids were wearing shorts and sandals, we had to stop and run around in it. Spent a few days relaxing in Bryce, and relax we did! Then I packed the kids up again and we headed to SLC, where Joel was working. My uncle gave me directions for a VERY back route to SLC, so we could enjoy some scenery. It was fun. I love that there are so many places in my own state that I have never seen. I was glad I didnt break down though, because by back route road, I mean their was no cell phone service and the only towns we drove through Im sure had populations of less the 100 people. We ended up in SLC and stayed with Joels sister Juli. She lives in an OLD OLD OLD house in Draper. It was fantastic! The yard was like a forest, you'd never have guessed we were in a city. In fact their were so many trees, that they cant get internet and my cell phone wasnt receiving half of the calls! We were supposed to leave Monday or Tuesday morning to come home, but it was just so nice to be away that we stayed longer. In fact Id probably still be there, but I started to feel guilty that I was there and girls camp is so soon, so I came home to help wrap up girls camp preparations.

As for pregnancy: Im fat, Im tired, and I cant wait to be done....I think that sums that up :-) But I do think that feeling a baby kick from inside of you has got to be the coolest feeling ever! Crappy thing is, Ive always had a goal to weigh less then Joel even when Im pregnant, first 4 kids that worked...bummer thing is it didnt work this time! I've passed him up and I still have a month to go! Im not looking forward to getting this baby weight off, I think its going to be a lot harder!

So as usual, we are here and there and everywhere and enjoying the journey too!

house stuff

I cant believe I never documented all the house stuff we did a few months ago (Okay so we still are slowly working on some stuff)

But we did all new carpet and flooring throughout the whole house, which of course, due to water leaks made us have to replace a lot of the sub floor (so glad I dont do that stuff) Of course Parlee and Kyler were wanting to help with everything.

We also repainted the whole house...okay so this is where we are slacking, what is it about loosing momentum and not finishing a project. We joked that all the painting needed to be done before the baby came, which seemed far away, and now Im seriously wondering if we will make our deadline.

Joel also added baseboards throughout our house (we didnt have them before)

I must say, I am still so happy with all the changes! There is always more to be done, but Im happy with what has already been done!