Fun Week

I should have posted something during the week because this entry is going to have a lot of random pictures. We had a fun and eventful week.

Our house officially went up on the market last Monday. We had an open house this weekend. There seems to be a couple of possible bites. Our Realtor is planning another open house for this upcoming weekend. I will be so happy when our home is sold.

I was finally able to tie up the loose ends of most of the projects I have been working on. I finally feel like I'm ready for child #2 to make his debut (as ready as you can be). This week should be quite open for lots of Daniel and mom time...which is what I was hoping for.

Anyways, here is a recap of some of last weeks happenings in pictures.

This is how we camp in the winter...INDOORS!

Christian got a new computer this week and it came in a really fun box!

The airplane and train expo.
This expo had Daniel's name all over it...as well as all the local scouters!

Does house/yard work ever end?!?!?!?!?!
Will your children always love helping you with the work this much?!?!?!?!?

Girls Night Out

My dear friend Sara wanted to do something special for me before this baby is born. She organized the most wonderful evening out with some of my best friends. We went out to dinner at a fun little Richmond cafe.


I love going to local cafes. After dinner we all went and got pedicures! The conversations were so wonderful and the foot pampering was fun too.

So Fun!

Breaking Point

There comes a point in my pregnancies where I become a little desperate to have a baby. Fortunately, I have a very strong body and my kids aren't in any rush to come out. I'm not to my desperate point yet. I have too much to do before this baby comes (in fact, the other day I had a dream I went into labor and I woke up in a panic thinking this baby can't come until April...I need until April to get everything done!). I'm sure I will hit my breaking point soon though.

When I hit my breaking point last time, I tried almost everything in the book to self induce labor (except drinking castor oil), but nothing worked. Yesterday was a testimony again to me that my body will hold on to a baby for as long as it can. If all the work I did yesterday didn't get anything going, I don't know what will. Let me explain.

• I started the day with a 6.5 mile brisk walk
• I then worked in the yard all day until about 5pm doing things like raking, shoveling, and laying about 1000 pounds of mulch throughout our yard
• Cleaned the house
• Chased a 2.5 year old
  

By the end of the day I was having a little bit of labor pain, but was too sore everywhere else to really notice. And here I am blogging...not in the hospital. So, hard physical labor does nothing to persuade my children to come out. Maybe the physical labor persuades them to stay inside where they get to sleep and eat all day. They must have figured out they are going to be put to work when they come out so they might as well live the good life now.

But the yard work paid off. Our lawn looks so beautiful now. I can't help comparing what our yard looks like now to what it did when we moved in. We have spent a lot of time trying to get things nice.

2005

2006

2008

Back to the labor induction part, I went in for an ultrasound last Monday. Because I had a big baby last time (9 lbs 10.5oz) and I'm measuring ahead this time, my doctor wanted to get some sort of feel for how big this guy is. It turns out the estimate weight for this guy last week is 7.3 lbs (average for 34 weeks is 6lbs). My due date is April 13th, but because of the baby's size, we are looking at an induction date around April 7th. I'm sure I will have hit my breaking point by then!

Easter Weekend

We did several fun things this weekend. This next week is going to be busy with our house going up on the market tomorrow and other appointments so I'm going to do a quick blog to update everyone on our weekend. We hope you all had a nice Easter weekend as well.

Playing with the water rocket

We rented a truck from Lowes and filled it with mulch from the dump.
Daniel was so excited to ride in the truck and dig in the mulch. Disney World would not have been this fun!

Daniel thought the car needed some mulch too. The car got keyed in the process.

Our Easter Pinata

Daniel really got the hang of the Easter egg hunt this year.

In Search of Pirate Booty

The Map

The Sword Fight

The Booty

Mmmmmmm!

Thoughts on Pregnancy

I'm now in the last couple of weeks of my pregnancy. I don't know if any other pregnant woman feels like she can't remember what it is like to not be pregnant anymore, but I have forgotten what it is like to:

• See my toes
• Chase Daniel easily and really wrestle with him
• Not see my belly button poking out through my shirt
  
• Not wear elastic waisted pants
• Sleep on my stomach and back
• Not dread having to bend over to pick something up
• Be able to see if the bottom of my shirt is dirty
• Sleep through the night
• Not be congratulated on proper weight gain every time I go to the doctor (or even not having to step on a scale every week!)
• Deal with greedy insurance companies
• Run (I really miss running)
• Turn sideways to squeeze through a tight area instead of being narrower going through straight on

But, as much as I can complain, I really have easy pregnancies and the little kiddos that come out of it are more than worth it. Hooray for mommyhood!

A Fun Family Getaway

I just had the most wonderful weekend with my family. We went to Gettysburg, saw Antietam, spent the night in a quaint little town, and finished things off at the Air and Space Smithsonian. It was so fun to have my family all to myself for two days!

Daniel likes pretending he is a puppy...anywhere!

We took this picture in honor of my brother whose middle name is Robert
(and because he admires Christian so much!).

The "Bavarian Inn"
Our friends told us this German hotel in West Virginia is on the list of 1000 places to see before you die. It is probably the only thing in WV on the list!

We waited in line 7 times so Daniel could "fly" this airplane.
He was still upset when we said we had to leave.

Police, Pirates, and Parties

This week, Daniel and I are learning about the letter "P". I'm thinking of extending our "P" activities into next week as well (I'd split the week with "Q"). There are so many things to do with "P" and not so many with "Q".

Today we went to the police station and had a picnic. The police officers were great. They gave us a tour of the building and the police car. Daniel got to turn the flashing lights on and off, pretend to drive the care, and speak in the mic. The police officer on bike brought his bike out and showed it off too. We also got to play with the hand cuffs...but not the gun. They even gave us a puppy (another "P") stuffed animal at the end.


Some of our up and coming "P" plans are:

• Pajama/popcorn party
• Pirate Treasure Hunt
• Park Play
• Pinata making

Not to kill the "P" theme, but I'm looking quite pregnant. I have one month left!

A Rainy Saturday Morning

I'm so grateful for stores like Lowes and Home Depot. The staff is well trained and provide great instruction to do your own home improvement projects. I love doing home improvement projects! The other great thing about Lowes and Home Depot is they have fun, free building workshops for kids and a bunch of rider mowers.

Yesterday, we went to Lowes to buy some hardware and a wireless doorbell (you would think that would be a quick trip). Instead, we ended up spending over an hour testing each mower and building a periscope.

Sitting on and driving each mower is one of Daniel's favorite activities.

Daniel and Dad with the periscope they built together. These are great Saturday morning child/parent bonding activities. Christian is going to bring Daniel to them while I get out and do some things on my own. They are free. You even get a cute apron and patch for every project you complete.

The Days of My Life

Yesterday I had a very productive day. I did the following:

• Painted my utility room (2 coats)
• Touch-up painted the cupboards in my kitchen
• Scrubbed my gutters and molding clean on our shed (the part you see not where the rain collects)
• Scrubbed the back length of my house (gutters and molding)
• Power washed our back stairs and porch
• Made a quick batch of cookies for refreshments at our YW activity
• Made it to the church early to set up for YW (6pm instead of 7pm)

I did this throughout the day...a big portion of it during Daniel's nap. I did not make dinner yesterday.

Today I did the following:

• Took Daniel to a singing time
• Had lunch at a friends house so our kids could play and we could talk
• TOOK A 2 HOUR NAP!

I was planning on finishing the gutter scrubbing and power washing. But, I think I'll make dinner tonight.

Ohhhhhhh!

This week we are working on the letter "O". I felt like I hit the jack pot when I read on my friend's blog (thanks for some super ideas Liz) about her "Ocean" preschool plans. I didn't have to plan much for this week because I'm stealing her ideas. So today, we did some flotation experiments (salt vs. fresh).

Daniel's attention span was minimal and the idea was obviously over his head, but he had a great time playing in the water...I even let him taste the salt water...mostly for my entertainment purposes.

Ahh, a refreshing glass of water

Not quite what he was expecting.
Spitting out the water (I wish I had captured this better)

We've had great weather the last couple of days and so playing "Outside" has been a huge part of our "O" week.

Now that I have dug through all my beds, the soil and mulch is loose enough for Daniel to "work" in. Now there are dirt mines scattered all over the back yard.