No baby yet. Sorry if I kept everyone in suspense. I've been sick since Tuesday with that cold and I've been incredibly tired.

Still having funky contractions but nothing "real" I guess. Friday I had them lower and definately burning and painful 5-8 mins apart, but they went away. The weather's hit 100F as well this week and my ankles are so swollen and hurt. I'm really, really frustrated. Trying to keep it all in perspective but really I just want to cry:) Really this has been an easy pg (with the exception of the spotting in the beginning and morning sickness) so I have no reason to REALLY complain, I'm just getting huge (past BIG at this point) and way uncomfortable. I can barely walk due to pelvic displasia, or whatever it's called, and now I'm retaining a ton of water due to heat. Hopefully I *only* have 2 weeks at the most and that my Dr. won't make me go overdue. A girl can hope right? (g)

Ok, let's see.

Friday night was the AWANA derby car races. We didn't do very well for speed but 2 of our 4 cars won for "style" again. We entered a covered wagon (Hannah, an Army tank (Brandon), an old fashioned derby car (Jake), and a bright-colored car with a Polly pocket driving with her god (Matthew/Me). Hannah and Matty/Me won first place in our category. I'll post pics if I'm ever in the place to do it again. Still can't use my computer to get on the internet.

Friday was also Jake's 5th birthday. We took him to dinner at Garcia's and picked up a birthday cake on the way home from the races.

Saturday morning was Hannah's piano recital. She did sooooo good and I was so proud of her. She didn't even LOOK nervous, she told me later she was but you couldn't tell. I think me and hubby were more nervous than here though. Again, I'll post a pic when I can.

After the recital we took Jake to Target to spend his birthday money and to get him his gift from us. We ended up getting him a scooter and helmet/knee pad set. He spent his money on roller skates and a "knight" set. He tried out his skates last night and is already doing very well. I'm afraid Hannah should have gotten regular skates instead of rollerblade for her birthday. He's already doing better than her...

Today was the first Sunday that I've gotten to sit in SS in a long time. They found a replacement for me last week. Since I wasn't teaching, I wore PANTS to church. Ahhh, it felt so good to not have to squish into pantyhose and fight to keep my slip and skirt from sliding up or down my "baby bump" (actually mountain). I filled in fo someone for nursery today but had to leave early because Jake developed a pretty good fever that was discovered in children's church. Poor guy always gets a "high" fever whenever he's sick. He's pretty mellow for me today though:)

Well, that's all the news. Tuesday is my next Dr's appointment. Hopefully there's more progress?! Tuesday is also our AWANA closing/awards ceremony. Then I get to relax and sit back till this little girl decides to join our family, or "wake up" as Matthew says....

Today at my Dr's appointment I was at 3 cm.

###########TMI ALERT:############


The Dr. stetched my cervix a little and I think stripped my membranes the best she could. My cervix is still a little "posterior" (tilted back) so she had a hard time doing anything. I've had a few painful contractions this evening but nothing regular. She's not quite ready to come yet:) These last 2-3 weeks are the hardest though, I feel like I'm "on alert" all the time. It'd be easy for me to just ignore everything, contractions and all, but the Dr. thinks I'm going to go really fast, so I want to be prepared. Don't want a baby born at home or in the car on the way to the hospital.

In other news, I think I've gotten the bug that Matthew had Sunday and Monday. I woke up this morning feeling really crummy. Had a headache most of the day and crud in my sinus'. Hopefully mine will only last 2 days like his did!

Tonight was the last night of AWANA. Yay! Jake loved his "Toy Story" cupcakes that he took to his class. Not sure if I had already posted this, but I put plastic army men on top of them, like the ones in the movie, and he had Buzz Lightyear party hats for him and his friends.

Let's see.

Friday, hubby had to work in Tucson and had a dinner meeting down there that night. We headed down there to stay with him in his hotel and to kindof "get away" for a night.

Saturday, we left to come home around noon. Took a detour on the way home to the Casa Grande ruins. It was an official state park. They are some old adobe type ruins from the Hohokam indians. Fun little spur of the moment detour.

Sunday, nothing too exciting. Hubby went to evening service with the older 3 kids. Matty develped a fever Sunday afternoon so I stayed home with him. Oh, hubby got most of the garage cleaned up and the front yard mowed before leaving for evening service.

Today, I got our kitchen sink fixed! I love my hubby, but he is sooo not a "fix it" man! The kitchen sink had been clogged since last weekend when we made a huge vat of mashed potatoes for the luncheon at church. The peels clogged the pipes and the only way to unclog is to take them apart. Anyways, hubby is always too gun shy to take things apart, etc so I braved it today and fixed the sink. I was able to get caught up on dishes! Tonight we got all the kids' derby cars cut out and sanded. Hubby is going to spray the primer on them tomorrow morning so we can paint them tomorrow and put the wheels on them. They'll have the track set up tomorrow night at AWANA so we can try them out and make sure they work before the tournament on Friday night.

Tomorrow is my 37-week Dr's appointment. I'm hoping for more progress...I realized today just HOW big I am. Well, my stomach/the baby. I've still not gained any weight for like 2 months or so. No wonder I'm having back problems and pelvic joint pain...

That's all the updates I think! Off to catch up on you all....

Let's see, yesterday was spent "hunting and gathering" things needed for the kids. Bought sandals for those that needed them since Payless was having their BOGO sale. Bought Buzz Lightyear party hats and plates for Jake's b-day next week. We're bringing cupcakes w/army men on them to his AWANA class on Tuesday.

Went to church last night for the quarterly business meeting. It ran long 1 hr 45 mins and the kids were so antsy when we got done.

Today, Hannah had piano. During piano, I headed to Walgreen's to search for Evening Primrose Oil to start taking. It's supposed to make contractions more effective by helping the cervix to dialate easier. We'll see. Just so no one yells at me, this is NOT something to start labor! Just makes for an easier process once it starts.

Tried to find some books at the library on "easier" childbirth, they had nothing. It's so frustrating that the library never seems to have books that I'm looking for.

Hubby is starting a new position next week. It's a good thing but lots of changes here. Please if you all could pray for him as he's got a bit of a challenge ahead of him. He's going to be in charge of getting the Tucson office up and running with certain numbers that he has to hit. He can do it, but it is going to take alot of work. Tucson is also 1 1/2 hours south of us, so he'll be traveling quite alot. He'll stay 2 nights a week down there in a hotel so he's not driving every day, but that highway is not the safest so I'm trying hard to not be anxious. Thanks.

I had my Dr's appointment today. I am at 2 cm! I know nothing "real" big, but at least I know that all these crazy contractions are doing SOMETHING. I asked her when I should go to the hospital after telling her about all of these ctx episodes. She really couldn't answer my question. Right now I am to head to the hospital when they are about 2-4 mins apart for 1-2 hours and I'm in pain. What if I'm NEVER in much pain like with Matty? She couldn't answer that. Second, if she checks me next week and I'm at 4 cm, she doesn't want me to wait that hour, just go when they are 2-4 mins apart. Last night they were at 4 mins apart! I'm still terribly confused and I'm hoping I don't have an unplanned homebirth! I know everything will work out but still for an anxious pg woman it's driving me crazy.

AWANA tonight, only 1 more reg week then the awards ceremony the next week....

That's all folks!

Becky tagged me. Not sure I can do all 5 but I'll try.


My 5 obsessions:

#1 I too, have a routine when I shower. I won't give the order or anything but I just can't seem to stray from my usual routine or I too, forget to do something like wash my hair.

#2 I love crafts and get totally obsessed with my current "craft" or project. Finishing them is another story...

#3 If I'm gonna clean something, I'm gonna CLEAN it, I can't do it halfway. When I clean the kitchen for example, I move the microwave and wipe underneath, and clean the stove, etc...

#4 I HAVE to have my towels folded a certain way. I attribute this quirk to my 6 years at K-Mart where I literally folded thousands of towels during my career there.

#5 If I'm gonna set the alarm clock, it HAS to be an even time (6:15, 6:30, etc). I know other people (won't name names) who can set it for say 6:18 and be fine with that. Drives me CRAZY!

I can't really tag anyone so I guess this stops here. If you visit and decided to do this for yourself, comment and let me know so I can visit and see:)

Another sign that I'm getting old? Here's my second installment of "You know you're getting old when..."

You see the Staples office supply store and spend a good 5 minutes or so trying to figure out WHAT it was that you needed to buy there. Paper? no. tape? no. pencils? no. photocopy something? no.
What IS it?!?!

It was staples......(vbg)

Does anyone know why my blinkies are not blinking? Do they blink for you?

Came across this and found it amusing....I think baby "H" has been having a good-ole time giving me a hard time this week.

Felt like this today as we were leaving Walmart. The upfront restroom was closed for cleaning and I was not about to waddle back to layaway when we only live 5 mins from there, so we came home.

Hubby made is home safely tonight. Thanks for praying. This last-minute business trip was to re-train the guy in Sacramento for a day-and-a-half. Turns out he had a Deacon's meeting at church tonight, so he had to go straight there from the airport and he didn't get home until 9:30pm.

Tomorrow he's got a golf tournament with the other guys from work. I hope he does good. He really loves golf but just doesn't ever get practice time in.

I have a confession to make. I've been a horribly crabby mommy yesterday and today. I'm just so frustrated with the mess that the kids make. It wouldn't be so bad except I just can't get around very easily and really have a hard time bending over to pick things up. It seems like the only way I can get them to do something is to be snippy with them and keep them busy "cleaning" so that they don't have the time to make MORE of a mess. I feel horrible though, I need to figure out something different.

Matty's decided to start going #1 in the big toilet instead of his little potty. He's still having accidents with the other and I think it's the fear of sitting on the big toilet that's hindering that progress. I need to look into getting one of those little seats that you put on the big seat and do away with the little potty chair. We're still making progess, it's just slower than I was hoping for.

Hannah had piano today. Her recital is in 2 weeks and she's totally calm about it. I think I'm more nervous than she is!

Jake's birthday is in 2 weeks as well. He wants to play put-put golf and I'm going to make him a "golf" cake. I'm thinking a regular round cake with white icing and green-colored coconut on the top and then adding one of hubby's golf tees and golf balls. Got any other/different ideas for me? It seems kindof plain, like it's missing something...

I'll be 36 weeks on Monday. I'm really wanting her to come SOON but at the same time I've got so much going on here at the end of April, I want/need her to wait until the beginning of May. I'm also getting more and more excited to see her, yet overwhelmed because I'm just not ready with the house being unorganized and such. I think I've got a bad case of pg brain right now since I just can't focus on any ONE thing.

Well, that's it!

We got most of school done today. Yikes, it's hard doing 3 different grades. We'll make it though, this is still a better fit for us and the kids are eating it up.

I made dinner again tonight. This makes 6 nights in a row that I cooked dinner. Even made it on AWANA night when it's just so much easier to grab something on the way.

Only two more regular nights of AWANA, then the third is the Closing ceremony. Shew, get a break from that for awhile.

Hubby had a dentist appt today. Part of one of his molars broke off on Saturday. He went in today, and was basically told that the filling in that tooth never should have been put there, and that it should have been crowned. Guess who put that filling there? The Air Force:) They decided when hubby was separating, to drill out all of his porcelain fillings, and put in the more "durable" metal ones. This was after they had just gotten done drilling out the "outdated/toxic" metal ones, to put IN the porcelain ones. Sheesh, not sure WHAT they were thinking! I asked hubby if he couldn't go to the VA and have them fixed since the military didn't do them right, or do what they were supposed to. We'll see if he looks into that or just gets a crown done by a dentist.

He is going to be looking for a different dental office though. I guess the one he went to was very upscale and basically spent the whole time trying to get him to approve a "treatment plan" which basically entailed 10-12 separate office visits and would end up costing US, after insurance paid, $1,800 out-of-pocket. That was to only fix 2 of the 5 problem teeth/fillings. The other ones they want to keep and eye on, wink-wink. I say "wink-wink" because he thinks they want to "keep and eye on them" until he gets this work done, then they'll say the others need to be done. The wanted to schedule 4 separate appts just to clean his teeth, doing a different section at a time. My hubby went on a rambling/rant session about how he just wants a "regular" dentist. One where you go in, get your teeth cleaned, get x-rays, and then get your tooth/teeth fixed. I think it has to do with our living in a relatively upscale area, people are just becoming more vain or beauty conscious or whatever. He can't even just go to a $10 barber and get a haircut anymore, he has to go to a place that massages his head, puts a steaming towel on his face, etc. and of course they cost twice as much! Good grief! Ok, my rant is over....

Hubby found out today that he has to fly out tomorrow to Sacramento. He'll be back Thursday night. He's not sure why he's going and not sure if it has to do with San Diego or not or that they just need him to spend 1 1/2 days interviewing for that office. I'm really hoping I don't go into labor tomorrow or Thursday. His boss flew to California back in March, and his wife ended up having their baby without him here. If you think of it, or get a chance, can you pray for safe travel? I *hate* when he has to leave, not matter how long/short it is....

Sorry to keep you all in suspense if I did. I've not had anymore contractions, well other than Braxton Hicks. I think I've stressed my poor hubby out. I guess I'll keep my mouth shut and just annouce "It's time!" when we need to head to the hospital. I've never had so many "false labor" episodes before and I guess it's gotten me on edge because I'm figuring my labor will go fast this time. My labor with the last one was not painful until I hit transition (7-10 cms) so I'm worried about not knowing that I'm in "real labor" until transition hits and I'm in a rush to get to the hospital. I mean Saturday I was having timeable ctx for at least 6 hours, how could you NOT think that that's real? Anyways, I'm taking it easy. Getting done only the necessary things and trying to make sure things are as "ready" as I can. Thanks for the prayers.

Yesterday I thought my water had broken. I didn't have any fluid leaking though but contractions started about 3 hours later. I had contractions from about 3 pm to at least 9:30pm when I went to sleep hoping they'd go away. I guess they did but this morning when I got up I had a horrible cramping type pain that lasted the first minute or two. I've had some contractions off and on today but nothing really timable. Goodness, not sure if I should worry or not. I told hubby that if I was still having painful braxton hicks tomorrow (Sunday) that I'd call the Doc on Monday and try and get in to be checked for dialation etc. I'll be 35 weeks on Monday so I'm not too scared about her coming soon, I'm just not quite prepared yet. Please pray that this is "nothing" or my imagination and that she'll stay cooking a little longer. I've got all the stuff ready for my bag to take to the hospital though. The only stuff not in there is the everyday use stuff (toothbrush, hairdryer, etc).

Speaking of "her", we've FINALLY, OFFICIALLY come up with THE name. I'm gonna keep EVERYONE in suspense though:) I don't want anyone swaying our decision again...I will give you all one little hint though (Dad and Michelle!). She will have the same initials as Hannah.

The kids got a box from their Grammy today for Easter. We're not doing baskets or anything for the kids this year. I think last year all we did was get them each a chocolate "cross" from Walmart. They are like a chocolate bunny, only shaped like a cross. I've been trying to phase out the "Easter" basket for a couple of years now. I really want my kids to focus more on Jesus than all that candy.

I got Mt. Laundry folded today! Now I've got to sort through some of it tomorrow as the kids put it away. Hubby got some stuff moved out of Matt's room so hopefully tomorrow I can get him to put Matt's dresser in there so I can get his clothes in there. Tomorrow I'll also be working on getting my room cleaned and finish rearranging things.

I've been reading "Created to be His Helpmeet" by Debi Pearl. Interesting read so far. I'll save my comments, if I can organize them enough to verbalize them here, for when I'm done with the book.

That's all I can think of! Hope everyone is doing good:)

Ok, I've decided to add a "Funny things said/heard in my house" post as they come along. This is the first....

Yesterday my kids were in the playroom and could be overheard saying, "Flush him, FLUSH HIM!" "He's still in the toilet!" "You've gotta' flush him while he's IN the toilet."

Not sure what they were playing but I think it was some kindof game of "tag" where someone was in the middle (the toilet).

Our day was sortof whirlwind. We got all of our school done again today, and in *only* 3 hours today. I think Brandon is still gonna have a little bit of trouble learning to read purely due to how God programmed him. I'm just gonna have to do the best that I know how and leave the rest to God. Sending him to school would not fix his problems and I truly think he'd just be left behind. At least this way I can spend more attention on him and let him work at his pace. Jake doesn't have much of an attention span for listening to stories and such. He's really very much a "worksheet" kid. Just give him his worksheets to do and when he's done, he's done. I'm not going to drop reading time though as he still needs the comprehension skills that accompany it. Hannah is doing fabulous. She's very much a give me my worksheets kid too but she enjoys reading and the other stuff as well. I think the worksheets give her a sense of accomplishment that was harder to measure with Sonlight. *Pssst* that was my problem too with SL.

After school I hurried and got ready for my Dr's appointment. It went well. I haven't gained any weight in the last 2 weeks. My next appt will be in 2 weeks, then they'll be every week till she's born. I'm starting to get excited. I can't believe she's almost here! Oh, Oh, Oh, the Dr. said that she thought the baby was head down. I've been so worried about that for some reason. Funny, I don't remember even thinking about it with the others. I guess that's my big *pregnancy* obsession this time around. Well, besides naming her...

Tomorrow I'm going to spend a good part of the day doing housework. Ugh, the house has gotten so messy, too messy, I just can't stand it anymore!

We survived our first day of school. It took us about 4 hours 15 mins from start to finish. I was expecting it to take 6 hours so I'm happy about that. More time will be cut off as we get going and I get more familiar with the materials and we get into our groove. Jake is so excited to be a real Kindergartener. He loves math just like Brandon and I think he'll be flying through that soon enough. I'm glad I bit the bullet and went with BJU. This is going to work much better for us, at least during this season in our lives.

I got the M&M "It's a girl!" packages done tonight for Hubby and Mom to hand out at work after baby girl is born. I'll try and take a pic tomorrow for ya'. I was only able to make 22 of them. While hubby was in Vegas he had gotten me 4 lbs each of the pink and purple M&M's but the bag of pink ones got spilled and I only had about 1 lb of those left. So, I probably would have been able to get 6-8 more which would have gone to the Dr and nurses at the hospital. Oh well, maybe I'll get a batch of soap or bath salts or something made and use that.

Hubby had jury duty today. He said it so incredibly boring. He was there at 7 am left around 2 pm and never got called in. They said he wasn't needed and sent him home. The did have some movies playing in the waiting room but hubby found it ironic that 2 of the movies were about people breaking the law by stealing or robbing banks.

I asked hubby tonight what the "patting" my leg was last night after reading my baby name list. He said that he's going to let me name this one. He said that he pretty much got his way in naming the others so he'll let me have this one. Hmm, not sure I agree with him as I was thinking *I* had gotten my way with the naming the others, but I guess I'm not gonna argue since we just can't both agree on one name.

As for the baby name issue. No, we haven't settled on a name. I really thought Abigail would stick but it hasn't. Everyone's back pedaled out of this one, not just me this time:) I don't remember the others being so hard to name. Really the only names we can agree on are 3 boy's names. Alexander, Aaron, or Andrew William. I hope that's not a sign! I've got all pink clothes. ...anyways, here's my "short" list. Hubby looked it over tonight but had no comment....He just patted my leg and went to sleep (g). Not sure what that meant.

Allison Grace or Marie (not my fave at all but DH and Hannah like it alot so I included it)
Anna-Belle (I'd only call her by both when I'm calling for her so Hannah doesn't come running)
Emily Rose, Grace, or Joy (LOVE but everyone nixed it back when and I'm still grieving)
Hailey Marie (LOVE, but not sure if Hailey/Hannah is too sing-songy)
Heather (LIKE the name but there's a Hannah/Heather combo at church, maybe sing-songy?)
Laura Grace (LOVE, very feminine)
Sarah Grace (LOVE, but hubby doesn't like Sarah *sigh*)

This girl HAS to have a very feminine name LOL. No McKenzie's or Alexis' allowed! That's really where our conflict is, I like feminine and hubby likes the others. I'm not sure how we ever got Hannah named! Anyways, this is the list coming to the hospital with us. There's a 99.9% chance that it will be one of these names...unless it's a boy, then it'll be one of the "A" names listed above. I'm not going to post anymore about baby names until she gets here. I'm sure you're ALL just about as sick of it as I am. Well, maybe not Dad and Michelle. I think they keep checking on here to see what her name will be. You're gonna have to wait and see! *I* don't even know yet.

Ok, decided to start trying to breakup my long posts into smaller ones so that they're not so overwhelming.

Today we went to church of course. I had nursery today. I talked with the SS Superintendent about me taking a leave of absense. He totally understood and wondered why I hadn't brought it up earlier. By absense, I'm talking like 6 months, not 6 weeks or anything. I'll be nursing a baby and there's no way I can do that and SS at the same time and nursing isn't as easily scheduled as a bottle is so it only makes sense. I do feel bad since there's a shortage of volunteers for SS and AWANA but my family is more important and God will provide. I'll be taking a 2 month leave from nursery as well. I only do it once a month so it's really no big deal there.

We went to lunch after church with Mom and got caught up on the last 2-3 weeks. She is doing AWESOME at her job and just got 2 raises, 1 for her 90-day review and 1 because they need her to work so many hours. That is awesome as well since she was stressing about having to get a p/t job to supplement after tax season was over but with her raises and the overtime God is providing for her needs. Yippee!!!

We took naps when we got home and chilled the rest of the night. I had contractions again tonight. They started off at 5 mins apart for 1 1/2 hours then tapered off to 10 mins for an hour and finally went away. I've really got to get my bag packed. Friday is payday so I think I'll buy the stuff I need then, so I'm all set to go when the time comes. I decided that this time I'm not going to stay in that hospital gown for 2 days. I bought some "yoga" pants and loose t-shirts to wear while I'm there. I'm also going to get some good-smelling hygiene stuff like body wash and lotion to use so I won't feel so icky while there. I don't know why, but it never occured to me the other times that I didn't have to wear the gown the whole time and use the soap and shampoo that they provide. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and get the epidural this time. 4 times of natural childbirth, I figure I put in my time, I deserve to have a relatively pain free one this time right? I told you last week that I have "crazy pregnant woman brain" on right now, so please bear with these ramblings for a just few more weeks.....

We're starting our new schoolyear tomorrow so I've got to get to sleep at a decent hour tonight. The kids are excited to start! Hopefully our day with run relatively smoothly.

Yesterday we had hubby's company picnic. It was fun. Me and Hannah only got to stay about 1 1/2 hours but Hannah made a new friend. Jacob also made a friends with a set of twin boys that are his age. From what hubby says, he was very upset to leave and is bugging us to have them over for dinner. This is big for Jake as he tends to play by himself or be so bossy and strong-willed that no one wants to really play with him. This is a huge breakthrough for us/him:) He was also VERY well behaved yesterday, both during our early morning errands as well as at the park. He asked me the whole time whether he was "behaving" or not, of course I told him yes. He did the same thing for part of today as well. I think he's finally growing up to the next stage, or just becoming more aware of how he needs to act, or maybe just has started really caring, I don't know but this is an answer to prayer! There IS hope for this child:)

Took Hannah to her tea party. She had a good time. I actually stayed there and visited with one of the other mothers. I really didn't know her very well before, but do now. It was nice. I guess I made a new friend also, yesterday:)

Last night we started working on our derby cars for AWANA at the end of April. We bought a dremel tool and started cutting them out. Boy, it's going to take alot of work to get these 5 cars done! Mine I'm actually "carving" with the dremel tool instead of rough cutting and then sanding. I have a huge pile of sawdust on the kitchen table right now:) These are the cars that we are going to try and accomplish:

Hannah: Covered wagon from The Little House books
Brandon: Race car w/flames
Jacob: Old derby car style (think "Our gang") complete with a little flag on the back
Matthew: Fire engine
Me: "57 Firebird convertible painted "pink cadillac" pink