Wrapping Things Up

This week has been full of "getting it all done" projects such as:  clean the van, put the carseat in, make sure groceries are stocked, laundry done, etc etc.

Well, my MOST favorite thing I wanted to do this week was to take each of the girls on their very own Mommy-Daughter Date!  Maggie got to go first and she requested that we pick up lunch from McDonald's and eat it down by the river.  Excellent idea!  It was a beautiful afternoon and she just talked my ear right off.  I loved it.  I asked her if she had any concerns about the new baby and she said, "Yeah, I'm afraid she's going to cry too much".  Me too, kid, me too....  We played hide and seek around the trees by the river and then did a little window shopping at ShopKo before ending our lovely afternoon.

Tuesday, Emma and I had our date.  She was deciding between Burger King, McDonald's or Red Robin for lunch.  She eventually decided she wanted a toy doll like Maggie so we picked up McD's and headed to the other side of the river for our picnic.  We walked across the bridge and talked about if she had any concerns about the new baby and she says, "Yeah, that you have a c-section." (She's 4) I asked her what concerned her about me having a csection and she replied, "That you might die".  I had NO idea that she might have such a worry for such a young heart.  We talked it over then spent time reading books at the library and stopped for a snow cone on the way home.  It was fabulous!

I am so grateful to be blessed with such a wonderful set of girls!  They bless my life everyday.

LEMONADE! GET YOUR LEMONADE!

These girls were serious about business!  They were drawing arrows around the cul de sac to indicate where to come for delicious lemonade.  They even mimicked the sign dancers on the corner and sang their little hearts out. (no ipod necessary)  :)  

37 weeks, 4 days

I had my OB appointment this afternoon and the doctor had issues finding the heartbeat thus ushered me over to have an ultrasound.  As I go to the waiting area I start feeling her with hiccups and tell the nurse.  She says, "Oh this will just take 2 minutes", my cheap side says in my head, "...and how many $$'s?".  Oh well, it'll be fun to have another peek at her, right?

I go in and here's a few things I learn:
#1 - She's definitely a "she" (no surprises!)
#2 - She's got a great heartbeat
#3 - She's head UP! & facing backwards
#4 - She's a mover and a shaker, so no new pictures...lil' stinker

So, I suppose I should be glad we're planning a c-section since she's not in the right place anyways.  Breech baby standing on my cervix.  Nice.  Thanks girl.  She could still move in the right spot by next week, but it won't really matter if she does and plus...that just sounds really painful at this point.  Next Thursday is the day, unless I go into labor before, which continues to seem rather unlikely given my previous background and lack of consistent contractions.  Lots to get done now that I'm feeling better.

Well, that wasn't part of the plan..

Yesterday was such a great day.  "Was" being the emphasized word of the day.  It started off so fun, with the family running the Scenic River Classic (see post below) and after we wandered the local Farmer's Market where I found some super cute headbands for the baby for $1!  Sweeet!  Then we went home to yummy chef salads lunch.  Couldn't get better.  Soon after lunch I just started to feel a little yucky in the stomach (not uterus) and was feeling sore from the run so I would do  few things then sit down awhile (hence all the blogposts).  Well, the girls were still interested in having some fun so Israel took them over to the Carnival they have set up just down the road (he's such a great dad) while I continued to rest up a bit.  Around 6:30pm I finally made dinner and was NOT feeling well AT ALL, nausea was in full swing and I had pains in the stomach and back BIG time.  Again, not in the uterus.  I sat down to eat with the family and just couldn't.  The next few hours were spent just trying to find any comfortable position (yeah, not possible).  I had a total of 3 or 4 baths (lost count) and wandered from room to room.  I'm such a baby. Anyway, by 8pm Israel had roasted s'mores with the girls in the meantime, had prayer/scriptures and put them to bed - hence GREAT DAD award while I was hugging something similar to this

for dear life.  I have NEVER vomited during a pregnancy.  Out of control nausea, most certainly yes, but no vomiting.  I have to say that vomiting 9 months pregnant has to be the worst possible thing in the world.  This continued for 3 hours until it became so unbearable that Iz called the doctor (I'd started having contractions by this point but not real labor).  Doc said to come in to the hospital so I could get checked out and make sure labor wasn't starting.  Well, it wasn't but I was definitely dehydrated so they started an IV and added some anti-nausea medication to it.  It made me really, really sleepy and I stopped throwing up, but I still was so uncomfortable because I felt like I needed to vomit and couldn't actually sleep.  So they switched to a different drug and it worked like a charm.  The Dr. said he wanted me to finish off the next fluid bag and then I could stay until morning or leave when I felt up to it.  I'm so glad he gave me the option because those labor beds are retched!  I sure hope my recovery bed will be much better in a couple of weeks or I will be begging to go home earlier than I should.  Anyway, Israel was really great the whole time and made it all very smooth (calling the doctor, calling someone to come watch the girls, and staying with me the whole time).  He even tried to let me sleep in this morning despite it being Father's Day.  He's taken the girls to church, gotten them lunch and even took them on a bike ride all so that I could sleep pretty much all day long.  He is the best husband and father our little family could ask for and I'm soo grateful for him!!  And for THAT he should receive a medal, a great BIG one!

I am feeling better today, though tired and fatigued and not wanting to eat anything.  But, not upchucking!   I'm not sure what brought it all on.  Maybe some flu bug that I didn't realize was going around?  Who knows, I  just pray it doesn't happen again for a very, very long time.  Sorry, this post probably has WAY too much information, but it is what it is and I wanted to pay tribute to what a great guy I married!

Scenic River Classic 2011

This is our favorite family tradition!  Okay...at least one of our favorites anyway.  This is our 3rd year running in the Scenic River Classic.  I say "our" but really I mean "their" because I have yet to actually be a registered runner.  Each year I seem to have an injury of some sort (1st- shin splints, 2nd- IT Band, 3rd- 37 wks preggo).      I still love going and cheering everyone on and hey! there's always next year, right?

Playing leap frog during the down time.

Pretending to "nap" while waiting for the race to begin.

 Maggie was SOOO excited to see her teacher getting ready to run the race, too!

 Mmmm...Great Harvest Bread goodies!

 Practicing to cheer Daddy to the finish!  (We still had a good 1/2 hour to go)

 Filling the time with....none other than ANT SQUASHING!

 Practice, Practice, Practice!!

 Here he comes!!  Where are the girls???....in the bathroom...(head thud)

 My best bud, Valerie, finishing up the 10K!! (these 5K walkers got in the way of a great picture, sorry)

 What ALL the kids were waiting for is finally arriving!!!  The KIDS 1 MILE race.  Here we have Emma and Isaac warming up.   

 Emma is such a trooper!  I opted to run with her because I figured she and I would be best matched in pace (being 37 weeks preggo) but this girl can RUN!  She said she really wanted to beat her friend, Isaac.  Sadly, she didn't but she did smoke her older sister by a few minutes!!  She ran a 10:30 min mile.

Here comes Maggie with her long strides!  She did great!

 It's the whole family!!

These hooligans have run together the past 3 years! 

 And the real star of the show!!  Israel was 2nd place in his age group and 13th overall in the 10K with a time of 47:47!!  HE GOT A MEDAL!!  Wahoo!!  We are so very proud!!

Summer is the BEST!

Well, it'll be the ULTIMATE BEST once we get some consistent warm weather around here but I digress...  So, what have we been up to since school got out?  Let me share via pictures!

Crazy sucker consumption

Face painting at Winger's!  Who knew?

Backyard picnic

Ice cream cones after Science Camp

Grooving with Dad to Just Dance 2

Practicing being good big sisters by learning to change diapers.  haha  How long do you think that will last?  Don't worry, I'm not holding my breath...well I might in the future. (pwew)

Training for the Scenic River Classic 1 Mile race with Mom

Practicing violin....uh, wait...what is that again?  (Maggie started lessons in May and Emma likes to imitate her...with water bottles??)

Block Party with Teton Running Company.  What does a camel have to do with anything?  Got me, but they sure had fun.

Sumo Wrestling your best friend.

and falling down.

BOUNCE HOUSE!!

You know, I really do enjoy my job, but doing all these fun things with my family whenever I want is the BEST!

Coolest Pilot Around

Israel had the..eh hem... opportunity (hehe) to take the FedEx aircraft over to Jackson, WY so the FedEx president's grandchild's Kindergarten class could have a tour of the airplane.  Yeah....be nice, eh?  Anyway, Israel actually turned it into a lot of fun for these kids.  He showed them around the ATR 42 cargo area,

 He even made them these awesome FedEx "Junior Pilot" badges to keep.  (Oh, yes he did)  Yep.  Pretty much awesome.

 I have no idea who this kid is, but I thought it was pretty cute how they got to try out some of the controls with the other Captain (not pictured).

Israel even put together this sweet pilot uniform for them to take pictures in (modeled by the ever lovely, Emma Nichols) but it was kinda yucky out and it wouldn't fit easily over their jackets so they bagged the idea. 

 Though I have to say that the effort he put into it was note worthy.  I'm a pretty lucky gal to have found such a fun guy to spend my life with.

So Much To Do, So Little Time

Hey there!  Guess who's WAY behind in posting on all the great things we've been up to.  Yep, yours truly.  Me. Guess who's still not going to get it done today.  Yep, me again.

I did want to make note that I have 3 WEEKS until we welcome a new little princess to our family. My doctor informed me on Monday that he will be out of state the week of my due date, so my c-section delivery date got bumped up to THURS, JUNE 30th!!  I got to be honest, I'm totally excited to have my baby BEFORE my due date.  That has never happened before!  Though, there's a flip side to this coin....I'M RUNNING OUT OF TIME to get all my projects done, get YW camp prepped (thank goodness for an awesome assistant), and close out the Spring Wellness Challenge before our little beauty arrives.  Also, I'm nervous about surgery.  Yes, yes, I'm quite aware that C-sections have become so routine that it shouldn't be a real concern, but I'm still concerned.  My one surgery I've ever had (aside from wisdom teeth removal) was "supposed" to be quick, easy and relatively painless.  Yeah...not quite the way I remember it...

Anyone else have a BIG gap of time between children?  I really want to meet this little girl, but sheesh it's been 4 1/2 years since I've had a newborn.  I hope I remember what I'm suppose to do!  Poor kid.  I also didn't fair well in the head after Emma's birth and I'm trying to take every precaution possible to avoid another bout with Postpartum Depression.  (not to be confused with Postpartum Psychosis)  Thanks for the tips Sara, totally trying your suggestions.

Upside!  Israel got that Thursday off and with the help of a good friend he'll be able to spend the night with me at the hospital.  He had already requested that 1st week of July so I'll have his help that whole first week!!  That is such a relief to me.  Week 2 might get interesting, but I'm just going to take it day by day and hopefully be humble enough to ask for help when I need it this time.

Willard Bay Triathlon

Israel once again proved he is amazing!  He participated in his first triathlon this summer at Willard Bay.  He has been training HARD all winter for this.

Pep talk from Emma before the start.

Gnat protection.  A necessity!

The only picture of me was actually a picture of Lilly. ;)

The girls wanted to be sure that Israel was prepared for the swim portion of the race.

Ride baby, ride!

Maggie needed some form of entertainment while we waited.

Get ready...

And go screaming past the competition!

for a strong finish!

No, no autographs please. hehe  He did a great job.  We're very proud of him!