Let's pencil ya in, shall we?

This, my fellow bloggers, is what happens when one has access to a computer on waaay too little sleep thanks to too much caffeine, an aching pregnant body, and a sick kiddo who still perversely gets up at 7:00am...

Dear Baby,

Please don't come anytime soon. While I know you wouldn't usually hear many *very* pregnant mommies say this to your comrade fetuses (or is it feti...wait, isn't that a party or something? Nope, that's fete, I checked.), I really, really don't want you to come anytime soon. Or really anytime within the next 3 weeks. See, things are just crazy-busy around here for the next bit.

Your dad and I just bought a used dresser for $10 at a garage sale (yay! for good deals) which we promptly spent another $30 on for pink paint and new knobs (not so thrifty, but still yay! for fabulous refurbished furniture). So...we have that to quickly try to finish.

Your Aunt Heather is coming to visit on the 15th (next Wednesday) and she'll be here until the 21st. We have loads to do while she's here, like the OSU Homecoming, and going shopping, and visiting the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial, and going shopping. I don't think either Heather or I would be very pleased if you arrived in the middle of all that and ruined the plans. Although I suspect Grandma (that would be Dad's mom) would probably be insanely jealous of Heather's good luck in coming out when she did.

Immediately following Heather's departure on the 21st, Daddy and I have the loooong-awaited Neil Diamond concert to go to. I spent a fair amount of money on the tickets last May for Dad's birthday and we really don't want to miss it. Plus...who would we give the tickets to? Nobody who'd cherish them like we would, that's for sure. I suspect they're all a bunch of Brother Neil Unappreciaters out here.

The 23rd is Ezra's 3rd birthday and while HE might think you'd be a super-cool birthday gift, how would I possibly find the time to bake, frost, and arrange 2 dozen allergy-friendly cupcakes while in labor (I'm supposed to relax and concentrate on my breathing, remember)? Not to mention I have to go to the Harvest Festival at his preschool on the same day.

On the 24th is the uber-fabulous Affair of the Heart (I know you're not familiar with the ginormous craft fair in OKC, but give it a while, you will be ;). It's the last chance Mommy will get for a completely baby-free day for a very. long. time. Sooo, it'd appear that week is completely out of commission. Which, really, is probably a good thing because my doctor is going to be out of town anyway.

That leaves the next week, during which I will probably be running around getting costumes ready for Trunk or Treat on the 30th and Halloween on the 31st, since I can never seem to just *buy* a costume like any other normal, sane, 9 months pregnant woman (normal...sane...pregnant woman, huh? I dare you to find even one). I suppose it might not be the end of the world if you came that week, but Halloween is my 2nd favorite holiday and I'd be really bummed if I missed out on the kids' trick or treating because I was in labor in the hospital. Heck, I wouldn't even get any candy 'cause all I'd have to eat is stupid ice chips. Who wants ice chips when there's gobs of chocolate to protect your allergic children from? Not me, that's who.

So, dear little one, that leaves us the following week. Since I've hit that not-so-fun, uber-uncomfortable stage (ya know the one-where every smile is really a hidden grimace), I'm thinkin' there's no need to go very far into it at all. How's November 1st looking for you? It's sure looking good from this angle, so why don't I pencil you in? I figure all that trekkin' around the night before can put me into labor and we can pop you out by the morning of the 2nd at the latest. While Mimi (my mom, remember?) just cackled when she heard I was 1.5cm dilated and 50% effaced at yesterday's doctor visit and Daddy just groaned as he still has so much to do before you get here, I have complete faith in you to make the right decision and come when you're told to, as any good obedient baby would.

With all the love in my heart and the aches in my over-burdened joints,

Your Mommy

PS-don't worry, I told Daddy that being minorally dilated isn't unusual at all and doesn't indicate much when it comes to delivery dates. He's just being a guy (which I realize might not mean much to you at this point in time, but don't worry, it will ;).

Post-Craft Blitz Catch-Up

Sorry for the hiatus. We had our Relief Society Craft Blitz (or Super Saturday for you Utahns) on September 20th. Being the RS 2nd Counselor, this was a HUGE deal to me and had been looming over my head for months. Let's just say that getting ready for the upcoming birth (and early life) of the new baby has been 20 times less stressful than planning for Craft Blitz. So, the last month has been spent in getting ready for Craft Blitz, attending Craft Blitz and recovering in a near comatose-state post-Craft Blitz. My apologies for my shoddy blogging.

First off, Spencer recently competed in a sprint triathlon. It was a half-mile swim, a 5k run, and a 21 mile bike ride. He came in at just under 2 hours. Spence even talked my little brother, Mackenzie, into doing it with him and they trained together leading up to the Tri. Mack did really well too, especially considering it was his first triathlon. We're really proud of both of them! Sorry we didn't get any pictures of Mack. Our camera was on the fritz (as usual) and wasn't taking pictures as well as I had hoped.

Spence post-Tri (gotta love the sweaty helmet hair)-he wanted me to note that he was wheeling his bike right then, so he doesn't normally hunch funny ;)

Ezra loved watching from the sidelines. It didn't matter who it was coming through the finish line, he was there cheering for them every step of the way.

Georgia, on the other hand, spent most of her time running around, looking mowgli-ish. It was all we could do to keep her off the road where all the bikers were :P

Also, as I alluded previously, our camera finally died...well, it still *kinda* worked, but only actually took pictures half the time. With the new baby arriving sometime within the next month, we figured that a brand-spankin' new camera was ripe for the pickin'. Introducing...our new Sony Cyber-shot W150. It comes with all these fancy features...but I'm just glad it's pretty quick on the draw. With two (almost three) very little ones running around, I need a camera that actually takes the picture when I want it to.




With the weather FINALLY cooling off a bit (we were in the mid-80s all last week, but I'm hoping that some storms due for the next couple of days will have us in the 70s), we decided it was time to head to the pumpkin patch. For all ya'll locals, it's a place out in Perkins called Grider Farm. My mom, my sister Stephanie, and her kids came along for the ride. It was beautiful weather and we had loads of fun picking out five pumpkins (of varying sizes) for only $15! I organized them on our porch with a few other cute fall/Halloween crafts. I'll have to post a picture soon.

I just can't resist posting pictures of Ezra's idea of "smiling for the camera." I know they look a little ridiculous...indulge me

It hasn't rained for a while, so the dust was an inch thick. Georgia, who is particularly low to the ground, got the worst of it.

My sister Stephanie and her oh-so-beautiful daughter, Ella

As I'm nearly to the end of my pregnancy, I figured I'd post at least one more belly picture. I'm exactly 35 weeks and 2 days. It's not the cutest as I took it at like 9:15 tonight, but I knew if I didn't do it now, it just wouldn't happen. To my sisters who'll know what I'm talking about, please excuse the belly/butt issue-by this point in time in my pregnancy, it's the least of my body image issues. I'm carrying quite a bit lower this time than I did with my last two pregnancies (I partially dropped at about 32 weeks). I'm also little wider than I was with Georgia, but more compact than I was with Ezra. We'll see if the baby comes on the same schedule as the other two did (about a week early) or if she continues to do her own thing.

Hope you enjoyed the update. Have a fabulous day and thanks for sticking with me!