The Waiting Game

So we're still waiting on little Mr. Seth to make his appearance into the world.  I'm actually still 8 days from my due date, but quite honestly I'm getting really tired and feeling pretty miserable!  And the fact that the past 27 days have been over 100 degrees isn't helping!

I have told the doctor that I do not want to be induced, so we have been trying "natural" ways to induce labor on our own... the list I found on the internet of things to try was quite interesting, but desperate times call for desperate measures!

Here's what we've tried thus far:

Laughing hard

I went to watch a comedian last Friday night.  I almost wet my pants from laughing hard, but no labor...

Walking

At the mall...at Walmart at midnight...at the aquarium...

Italian food

Specifically the herbs oregano and basil

Spicy food

Mexican to be specific - it only gave me a bellyache, not labor :-(

Acupressure 

Massaging pressure points on the hands, legs, feet and back... at least that one felt good :-)

Swinging 

Have you ever tried to swing with a watermelon strapped on your belly?!?!?!  Very interesting, I must say!

So, despite all of our efforts, still no baby.  While waiting, however, we've had a lot of fun.  We've been trying to cram in all kinds of fun activities that will cease when little one arrives.  And we're so happy to finally have our Nana back to enjoy some fun with us!

Here are some of the fun things we've been up to:

Purple Glaze field trip with Playgroup

Alli, Zora and Lily painting

 Lily drinking from her mug

 Zora's mug

Gilcrease Museum field trip with Homeschool group

First the kids learned about the Peace Medals that the US Government gave to the Native Americans.  They got to make their own version of the Peace Medal.  Then we got a guided tour of the museum artifacts that dealt with the early days of American history. 

Lily making Peace Medal

 Zora making Peace Medal

 Our little group :-)

Jenks Aquarium with cousins

We had a great time at the aquarium with Nana, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Jamie, and cousins Kerry and Alli! Plus, it was nice and cool inside :-)

Zora, Kerry, Lily and Alli

 Jellyfish - I love watching these creatures!  So beautiful!

 Starfish

 Horseshoe Crabs

 Stonefish

 Shark eating something...that poor thing died a slow miserable death!

 Giant Turtles

 Alligator

 Beautiful lily pads

 Giant Bullfrogs

 Beavers enjoying their meal

 I don't remember the actual name of this fish, but we called it "Big Lips"

We thought it was beautiful :-)

 Stingrays

 Lily and Zora petting the stingrays

 Albino shark

 The shark tank!!!

We've also spent a lot of time in the pool working on our tans :-)  Other than that we've been passing the days indoors watching movies, going bowling, etc.

So for now, we're still just hanging out trying to think of things to do until Seth arrives.  Anybody got any other tricks (that are safe, of course) to try to get this baby here?!?!?!?

Pregnancy Pics

Photos taken by my sister, Gina.  She did a fabulous job in my opinion!  Thanks, sis!  Love you :-)  I will treasure these forever!

Just Mommy & Seth

 Daddy, Mommy & Seth

The Whole Family!!!

There is one more picture to come that I think is going to be my favorite...so stay tuned :-)

We're Still Here!!!

I realize that I haven't posted anything in quite some time, but it's because our past few weeks have been CRAZY!!!!  I'm going to try to sum up what's been going on around here without making the post too terribly long...

We went to the beloved Jasmine Moran Museum with our playgroup friends.  Here are some highlights:

Automotive room

Zora at the grocery store

Lily the cashier

Bubble room

Giant LITE BRITE

Lily and the skeleton riding bikes

Dinosaur bone excavation

Then our Nana came to visit!  She came into town to help us move AGAIN!  So now we've moved twice since March and we should be moving again in September.  Crazy, I know, but such is life for now :-)  I'm so grateful that my mom came in to help.  She not only helped us move, but she also helped me clean the rent house we are living in for now.  There were several friends and family who helped through that process so THANK YOU to all of you!  We couldn't have done it without you!

While Nana was here we had planned on taking some time for fun.  We got to have a little bit of fun, but most of her time here was spent helping me move or dealing with unexpected family circumstances.  She had two cousins pass away while she was here, so that meant two funerals to attend :-(  We also had an ICU visit with my brother who got overheated and almost went into a diabetic coma.  Despite all of the drama we had a good time with Nana and we were very sad when it was time for her to leave.  We can't wait until she comes back on August 1st to welcome little Seth into the family :-)

Here is a pic of some fun Nana time in Aunt Gina's pool!

Lily with Nana and cousin Alli

We also took a field trip recently to the fire station with our playgroup friends.  The firemen were so kind and patient with all of the children.  They allowed the kids to climb all over the firetrucks and take turns spraying the water hose.  Near the end of our visit they demonstrated just how high and far the truck can spray the water!  Here are some highlights from that trip:

Since the arrival of Seth is very near, I signed the girls up to take a "Sibling Class" to prepare them.  Although the information suggested ages 4-8, it was geared for much younger children.  In fact, my girls were the oldest kids in the class.  Despite that, the girls received some helpful information.  They were taught what to do and what not to do when "baby" arrives.  They also got to practice the proper way to hold a baby.  At the end of the class they got a tour of the hospital where we will be and they got to see some newborn babies in the nursery.

Father's Day was another big event that we can't forget about!  On Saturday afternoon we met my dad for some yummy burgers and a nice cold ice cream treat!  The girls had a great time getting messy with Jake :-)

On Sunday we treated Joel's dad to lunch and then the girls had a nice relaxing afternoon with their Daddy. Here's Lily with Daddy in his new shirt. (Big Papa is Joel's nickname.  Thanks, Daniel, for the shirt!)

Another exciting activity that consumed quite a bit of our time in June was swimming lessons.  The girls look forward to this every year.  I am amazed at the progress they both made in just two weeks!  Zora is becoming quite the swimmer!  This year her class focused on learning techniques and developing lung capacity and endurance.  Her teacher made them swim laps for the entire 45 minutes...she was exhausted at the end of each session! Here's a video of Zora doing the back-stroke across the pool:

Lily did great in lessons as well.  Even though she was swimming pretty well at the end of last summer, she reverted back to "dog-paddling" this summer.  But thanks to her teacher, she re-learned some techniques including free-style, underwater swim, back-stroke, etc.  Now when we go to the pool she swims like a little pro! Here's a video of Lily jumping off the high dive and then swimming to the side all by herself :-)

This past week, of course, we celebrated 4th of July!  We had a great time with a group of friends on Saturday evening. We met for an afternoon of friendship, food and fun in the water and sun!  Later that night all the men shot off fireworks for the moms and kids.  It was a great show!  I forgot my good camera that day, but I did get a funny pic with my phone.  This is the car that they chose to drive to get the fireworks.  Obviously the box they bought would not fit, so they just brought it home on the back of the car.  Can we say, "You might be a redneck.....?"

On the evening of July 4th we stuck to our annual tradition of watching the show at Riverparks.  We viewed the show from our church parking lot and had a good time visiting with friends from the church while we watched :-)

And, of course, I can't have a post without mentioning the progress on the house and Baby Seth!

The house is coming along nicely!  We have shingles on the roof and all the windows are in!  Our doors should be in on Tuesday, so it will be completely "in the dry".  All of our wiring is complete and the plumber will be coming soon to finish up.  Then we'll be ready for insulation, sheet rock and brick!  Here are some recent pics:

 The fireplace is in!

And last, but certainly not least... Baby Seth.

We are very excited that his arrival is so near.  I am 35 weeks today, so we will get to meet him in 5 weeks or less!!!  Even though I know that our lives are getting ready to change drastically with his arrival, I find myself aching to hold him and kiss his precious little face.  We don't have a lot for him right now because we are living in a little rent house, but we have enough :-)  Here's his little closet in the hallway just waiting for him to wear all these cute little clothes!

 Are these not the cutest little shoes ever?!?!?!

 These will be his "Sunday-go-to-meetin" shoes :-)

And his bassinet is right by our bed just waiting for his little body.

I am feeling pretty good right now.  I had a rough few weeks in June but I think it was due to over-exertion.  With all of the activities that were going on and moving, etc., I think I just pushed myself a little too hard.  But now that we are settled in we are taking these last few weeks to just enjoy life and wait for our little man to come!

So, that's all for now.  I'll try to be better about updating more often now that things have settled down a bit :-)

Home Is Where The Heart Is

I know this saying is as old as the hills, and probably most think of it as a total cliche, but lately I've realized how incredibly true it really is.

Back in March we moved from our family's first home to my mom's house as a temporary place until our new home is complete.  Then after living here for less than 3 months we found out my mom's house sold and we have to be out by next week.  Our house is still not complete (and may not be for at least 2-4 months), so we are moving to another temporary home.

I've never really been a materialistic person - I'm actually a minimalist - but now more than ever I am realizing that it is not the house, or the things in the house that make a place your home.  I honestly don't care where we live as long as it is safe and clean and our family can be together.  And while it is absolutely exhausting to move again and again, it can also be very refreshing and cleansing because you truly learn what it is important in life.  It's not the stuff.  Stuff doesn't make me happy.  I've actually enjoyed letting most of my stuff go.  My new house may not have much in it, but I know that it will be filled with joy and love and that is what I desire :-)

I think the most challenging part for my Type A personality is living "in the moment" and not having everything perfectly planned out.  Oh, yes, I still try to plan things out, but I've discovered lately that no matter how much I plan, those plans often get thrown out the door because of circumstances.  With my previous two pregnancies I had their rooms set up, the names on the wall, the clothes washed and hung in the closet, the swing, carseat & stroller all in place and a stash of diapers and wipes just waiting for that little bundle of joy.  Because we've been living "in limbo" I haven't done any of that.  I have ONE small package of diapers, a few burp rags, a few outfits, his bedding, and that's it!  I have no bed, changing table, dresser, carseat, stroller, swing...NONE of what I would normally have by now.  But the funny thing is that I'm okay with it.  Obviously I will get a carseat and other necessities, like some more clothes, diapers & wipes before he arrives, but all those other things will just have to wait.  Right now I have to focus on moving again, and the less stuff I have to move the better!  I just want a happy, healthy little boy and that will suffice.  All the other "stuff'" can wait.  Because STUFF is just STUFF, but HOME is truly where the HEART is!!!