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!