I'm not in charge

Remember how I'm not in charge of everything?  Yeah, so our sweet baby girl is still comfortable as can be in my tummy, so it looks like we're getting induced tomorrow.  On Thursday, I was 3.5cm and Dr. Huish stripped my membranes, but this time it didn't do the trick.  It's been a long couple days waiting/anticipating, but I can't complain too much since I'm just 39 weeks.

Crossing our fingers that the hospital won't be so busy that they have to push us back; otherwise, we'll be getting things going at 9am (crossing my fingers really tight!).

As ready as we're going to be

We're as ready as we're going to be for this new baby.  Today marks 38.5 weeks, and tomorrow is my next doctor appointment and we'll see if Dr. Huish can put me into labor (by stripping my membranes) like he did with Andrew at 38 weeks.  Last week I was dilated 3 cm and 80% effaced, so I wouldn't be surprised if I am close to 4 cm by now.  Grandma Nancy gets here early in the afternoon, so tomorrow would be perfect or we'll even take Friday.  If not, then I have an induction scheduled for Sunday at 9am.  Here goes nothing!  The anticipation is very nerve wracking for me and leading up to the labor I get very nervous and quite frankly, terrified.  I'm kind of a baby about the whole thing.  I just pray that I get there in time to get an epidural - and I'm totally not kidding.  Once they arrive safely, my nerves calm and I can finally relax a little bit.

The baby carseat is in the car.  My bag is packed.  Camera ready to go.  I'm shaving my legs daily (ha!).  My house is as clean as it's going to get.  Everyone is healthy (knock on wood).  These last two are only guaranteed to last for about 24 hours if that, so she better come fast!  :)

We've been getting done lots of things before she gets here, so that hopefully we can just relax a little bit and snuggle a sweet newborn.  Here's a few things that got checked off the list this month:

- overseeded lawn (huge Saturday project - thank you, honey!)

- girl's afternoon/overnight with college roommates (so dang fun!)

- go to the temple (Kasey saved the day and babysat for me this week so that I could go)

- organized all closets, drawers, etc. (our pantry and master bedroom closet still need a little attention)

- got everyone settled in their new rooms

- baby supplies all purchased and clean baby clothes all put away in drawers

- shampooed car carpets

- lots of trips to the park and museums with the kids to get in our fill before staying inside for awhile

- been spending lots of time editing family home videos and I doubt I'll ever be completely caught up (still working on 2011)

- organize my recipe book (still a work in progress)

- freeze dinners for future hectic days (I have 10+ meals in the freezer ready to go)

- assembled boxes for Rachel and Andrew with baby trinkets and mementos to save for them

- we got Brandon a 2008 Nissan Sentra (42K miles) and traded in his 2004 VW Jetta (quite the process for us!)

Welcome to our family, baby girl!  We're so excited to meet you.

35 weeks

38 weeks - nice basketball shorts :)

Andrew turns 2!

Andrew turned 2 on September 30th and it was fun to watch him anticipate his birthday.  He told everyone he was turning "2" and he'd say, "Happy Birthday, Bubby!"  

We had a jam packed weekend!  On Saturday we celebrated his birthday although we were super busy with lots of things to do:

- Brandon helping with a move

- Whitney helping sort items at a RS event

- Rachel's soccer team pictures

- Wendy's for lunch (kids meals and frosties are special treats to the kids)

- Rachel to primary program practice while Whitney cleaned the nursery toys

- Rachel off to a birthday party for a friend while Andrew took a birthday nap

- Cake & presents for Andrew (got to skype with Grandma so she could see)

- Whitney off to the RS broadcast

- Brandon taking the kids to look at a train table from craigslist (30 min away); he ended up buying it with the intention of taking off the sides and making it so the legs fold under so that it can be stored under Andrew's bed (genius!).  Rachel left one of Andrew's brand new toys at the person's house - they were at least 10 minutes away by the time they realized it and Rachel got in big trouble because Brandon had specifically asked her not to play with any of their toys, but she did anyway and ended up leaving one of her toys there.  Brandon drove back and got the Superman dog toy they had left.  They watched the entire movie, "Dispicable Me" while in the car for that little jaunt.  

- Switch places - Whitney home from RS event and Brandon back to the Stake Center to help with the clean up

- Off to bed.  WHEW!

Brandon made Andrew's superman cake, and he did a great job as always.  Andrew LOVED it and was only slightly disappointed that he didn't get a "Backyardigans" cake too.  He was in a little phase and really liked that show, but we knew it was short lived (not like the Superman obsession he has had) and plus, Brandon and I can't stand the little songs and voices on "Backyardigans".  

He received many wonderful gifts:  football, over-the-door basketball hoop, car ramp, superhero action figures (spiderman, superman, batman), Brown Bear book series, superman cape, BYU shirt, Spiderman backpack, and train table.   

Rachel's Latest

I usually try to save all the sappy kid details for their journals that I keep for them, but I wanted to put a few things about Rachel's latest and greatest.

There's so much to love about my little (yet big) four year old girl.  Age 4 has been much better than 3 in my opinion, and she is going to be such a good big sister to the new baby.  She talks about her multiple times everyday, and how much fun they are going to have together and all the things they'll share.

Rachel is also full of life and personality, and is a natural-born performer.  She loves to talk and has a lot to say!  She is smart and has an ability to memorize and recite poems and songs easily (she got this from her father).  She loves preschool, and any extra curricular activities she's in (right now it's soccer & a dance/singing class, but she informed me that in January she wants to try tumbling again and ballet).  She is fairly helpful (not everytime I ask, but mostly) and she is doing better at not complaining while doing chores (a work in progress). She plays very well with Andrew and includes him in everything she's doing (unless she has a friend over).

We sometimes struggle with helping her understand the concept needing to complete a task before being able to move on to the next thing ~ "Rachel, when you do/complete _________, then you will get to do/have ________."  Not sure what the disconnect is here, but we might need to help her be a bit more patient.  She does have her HIGHLY emotional moments occasionally, and we have our fair share of some NASTY, irrational tantrums every once in awhile.  (One of them happened early one evening at dinner with lots of warnings, and so by the time we were done with her, she had lost her privilege of a promised snowcone and then was grounded to her room for the rest of the night because of her behavior after having been put in timeout.  Yikes, it was a doozy!)  I have to laugh at Andrew's commentary, "A Rachie in timeout, Mom. Timeout in Rachie's room."

She makes us laugh everyday, and I should really be better about writing them down, but it's hard to remember them in her cute, clever words.  Here's a few funny ones:
- To one of our babysitter's, Gaby (Andrew calls her Aggy everytime without fail), "Gaby, you have to come see what my daddy made - it's a new bed for Andrew, but my dad didn't make it with his priesthood, he made it with his tools."  (referencing the fact that God created the earth using his Prieshood power)
- Everyday, I hear a longer than necessary explanation for what is going on in the bathroom and it's always in the same tone (I can hear it as I'm typing), "Mom!  Come wipe my bum because I went poopy!"  Which reminds me that she's probably old enough to take care of that herself and I should teach her.  Oh, and I am happy to report that Rachel has kept dry panties and has been accident free (pretty close) since June!  Hallelujah!   

Pictures of Rachel taken in August - 4 years old.

Girl's Night

Thanks to Natalie, we all got together for a real girls night.  We did some shopping at Last Chance, then dinner at the Grand Luxe and stayed in a hotel.  Earlier that week, we also got all the kids together at Peter Piper Pizza.  I wish I would have written down some of the fun things we talked about - it was like nothing had changed - I LOVE THESE WOMEN!

Suzi, me, Sarah, Natalie, Kasey

Ivy, Grace, Polly, Abigail, Andrew (picking his nose!), Tyler, Cole & Rachel

Nesting & Projects

In all my efforts to organize, sort, catch up, declutter, clean, etc., my list of "things I want to accomplish before baby comes" still feels a mile long!

We shuffled all the rooms around to make the best use of our space - the nursery stayed as is, but now it's filled with everything pink.  That means Andrew got "kicked out" and is now rocking a big boy bed in Rachel's old room.  We moved Rachel's room to the toy room/office, which meant the toys got split between the kid's rooms and the office moved to our master bedroom.  We technically could have kids sharing rooms, but while they are young, I'd prefer they not wake each other up or keep each other up.

While decluttering, we sold the love sac that I bought Brandon as a wedding/birthday gift for $270.  I think I bought it for $275 seven years ago, so that was pretty good.  We have debated on selling it for a long time - just because it's huge and we don't have the room to store it.  We'd love to have one when we have a basement family room when our kids our teenagers - which is a long ways away - so adios, love sac.  It went to a loving new home and now belongs to a man who lives in a trailer and legally grows marijuana.  :)  And shockingly he was worried about how it smelt when Brandon delivered it to him!  Gotta love craigslist.  

And since Brandon bought me a new camera body for my birthday, I sold my old one for $150.  This one was sold to a hard working father who bought it for his irresponsible teenage daughter who broke hers and needed a new one for a photography class.  They brought her old one with her lens to make sure everything would fit right, and the body was exposed with no cover and so was the lens - no wonder why the first one broke.  Yikes!  After this sale, I called my parents to tell them how grateful I am for all the things that they paid for while I was a teenager (I'm fairly certain I was not as irresponsible as this young girl, but still, they paid for all my extra curricular activities, which was not cheap).

In September, my mom came for a visit and the kids and I enjoyed her company.  She did pedicures with Rachel and she teased Andrew and they called each other "dookie-bye" names all week.  The kids showered her with lots of hugs and love her and think she's a very special Nana.  She also bought a little something for our home.  She insisted we needed a recliner, so she found one on craigslist and before I knew it, there was a new piece of furniture in our home.  We're still not sure about this new addition, although we'll store it for awhile in our front living room (we're just not recliner people).  My mom and dad have matching his and her recliners in their living room - so did my grandma & grandpa Thompson and my great-grandma and grandpa Wittwer.  Maybe it runs in the family?  Brandon's not sold on the idea of matching recliners yet, but only time will tell.  :)

Brandon has been "nesting" too, but I think it's also just his personality to get super focused on projects and work on them until they are done (just like his dad).  And he knows that there's a lot I want to get done, so he's helping out wherever he can.  Brandon finished building Andrew's bed, and it turned out amazing (here's the link to the one I told him I liked, and I think it did a phenomenal job replicating it).  Then I told him it would be nice to have a matching shelf, and just like magic, it was done in just a few nights.  Perhaps I was pushing my luck when I asked for one more shelf for baby's room, but he was happy to do it and made it in one night.  It's such a fantastic hobby that he loves, but he's getting so good at it that I think it more qualifies as a talent than just a hobby.  And as a special bonus, I happen to be a terrible painter, so I am not allowed to help with the painting projects in the house - he does them all.  Not a bad deal if I do say so myself.

Nana visits sunny Arizona!  Only sorry I didn't take more pictures!

Brandon's recent wood working creations!!