My Stats at 37 weeks

Last Monday when I went to the Dr. he told me that I was dialated to a 2 and 30% effaced. This morning he said that nothing had really changed that much. Other than having numb arms and no nerve endings in my hands or any of my 10 fingers and the slight swelling that's bothering my ankles, I'm doing great. This pregnancy has been wonderful. I'm carrying completely different this time compared to the last 2. Both other times I just felt big everywhere! This time, I feel like I'm just totally carrying that little ball right out front. I had a baby shower on Friday night the 19th and everyone was joking about how not fair it was that the pregnant lady still had a waist from behind. You can't even tell from behind me that I'm pregnant but boy when I turn around is it hilarious. People in church keep saying that I'm the cutest pregnant lady they've ever seen and that I do pregnant well. I'm telling you what, this pregnancy I needed those comments. I'm not sure if they're being nice or what but frankly I do not care. You need those comments when you feel ugly and huge. I've finally hit being uncomfortable with only a mere 3 weeks left which is pretty impressive in my opinion. At 9 months pregnant I've gained 18.5 lbs which I also thing is pretty swell. People keep wanting to know if I'm tired of it and ready to be done. For those of you who don't live close and can't hear my answer, it is this...I'm not an anxious pregnancy person. Once they're here they're here and you can't send them back. I enjoy my time alone in the evenings with my husband and that will go by the wayside for a little while once the baby is here. So, no I'm never wishing a due date on myself, the baby will come when the baby will come and I'm good with that. If there is ANY change from this Monday to next Monday, the Dr. will schedule me to be induced. I asked why he's offering and being so nice without me fighting him and he said I have history and numbers that allow induction. Most people that want to be induced are people who are just sick and tired of being pregnant which is not reason enough to do it. So, we'll find out on Monday if we'll be scheduling or waiting another week. Since I haven't hardly written anything about being pregnant, I just filled you in on ALL of the details. Sorry for the novel. When Rich gets home from work I'll include some pictures of me so that everyone can see.

Vain People - Gheesh - If I was a boy...I wouldn't care

Okay really, I'm guessing that I would, so that's probably why I'm blogging about this.

Okay for my dads sake I'm going to take a few minutes to make a correction to something I posted about a month ago. When we went to Utah to visit, my dad had a booth at the fair for his insurance company. So that is where we spent most of our time. When talking to my dad about the pictures I posted of our visits with him at the fair he was very dissatisfied with my picture selections. So to my dads dismay, I'm letting everyone in the world know that reads my blog, that my dad DOES NOT WEAR BONNETS. He in the picture below is perfectly situated in front of a oscilating fan which makes him look like he is...BUT HE'S NOT! Your thoughts of the way my father dresses may now return to normal. Sorry Dad but it IS funny! If you think my dad would look great in a bonnet, leave me a message - I'll let him know. LOL

You may click to enlarge.

Fall Soccer

This summer I was voted onto the Oregon City Soccer Club Board as the Secretary. My duties are to take minutes at each monthly meeting, attend executive soccer board meetings when necessary and checking the Oregon City Soccer Club Voicemail. In doing so, I'm allowing all my children the opportunity to ref soccer games at 15 bucks an hour when they turn 11 and also allowing them to play in the soccer organization throughout their childhood at zero expense to me. I feel privledged to be a part of something my children love and know what is going on at all levels. I'm grateful for having the opportunity to give to our community in such a way while allowing my kids to create wonderful childhood memories. Being on the board however has it's downfalls, like knowing we still needs coaches. So...I'm sure you can all guess, there is a new coach for the U4-5 year old co ed soccer team. His name is Coach Turner. He's has also volunteered his time as well to coach this young group of kids for their first ever experience in soccer. We've had many compliments from parents of our team who think we're (meaning me) super organized and doing a fabulous job coaching their children (meaning Rich). It's fun to be involved. Both the kids have had a game and several practices so far. So until the middle of November you probably wont catch us home alot in the evening as we're at the soccer field! Redden has a really good set of coaches for him this year who will be able to teach him a lot. He's come so far in just 1 year. He's not so timid anymore and has shown an interest in being a goalie as well. I think the coaches like that he's pretty versatile. Their team name is the Green Dragons and Austin team name is the Tigers. Austin thinks he's pretty hot to trot because he made 3 goals his first game and 1 in the 2nd game. We all love it and enjoy spending time getting some exercise not to mention that they sleep really really good and by they yes my husband is included.

Austin getting ready for a corner kick This is Austin closest to the camera with the really good form!!

Rich congratulating his team on a well deserved goal!!!

2008 Canning Season

Well, it's actually begun. I've been picking strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, apples, peaches, pears, nectarines, carrots, peas, beans, zuchinni, summer squash and coming up on grapes. My canning season has actually begun. Although, my friend has finally forbid me from climbing the orchard ladders. She's such a bossy friend. She thinks that maybe I shouldn't (for some dumb reason! lol) I've given into her request so last week I officially became the "box holder". I taught Rich's boss's wife how to make and can sweet pickles (which she called and said she absoutely loved). So far this year I have made 8 freezer pies, 2 raspberry, 2 strawberry, 2 blackberry, & 2 peach. I have canned 25 quarts of pears, 15 pints of sweet pickles, 12 pints of dilly beans and lots and lots of jam. My peaches will be ready probably next week and I'll be sure to get those done, because that's what we eat the most of. Spaghetti sauce is this week! And grape juice and applesauce proabably next. Rich keeps telling me I'm going to have to start to take it easy but I'm not sure that's going to happen, because last time I checked...I'm the only one around here that would do it, so swollen ankles and all, here we come! Okay so I do have to give my husband a little kudos here. He came home from work at 3:00 the day I was doing pears and I'd only been going for about 30 minutes. He actually helped me until I was finished which was 9:00 pm. He peeled all 50 lbs of pears for me. Bless his stinking little heart. I appreciated that more than he knows.

September 2nd was Back to School!!!

We got ready for back to school and boy did Redden's bus come 25 minutes earlier than last year. They were trying to conserve gas so they changed the bus routes drastically. You can tell as well as I can, that I don't think he was quite awake. We've had him start showering again before school so that's seeming to help slap him around a little more in the morning. It really helps with waking him up and also with his attitude. He was so grumpy if he didn't shower before school, so that's what we do! He's adjusting well, didn't have a hard time, didn't care that I left or anything. This was my first non-tear year! Yeah for me. It's coming again next year though. This teacher is going to be fabulous for him. She's super structured (which he loves) and is very loving at the same time. She's an older lady and is going to work well for Redden. He's been talking about a boy at school named Dean that he really likes and is his "new" best friend. We'll have to see! So far this year he's seeming to be a very good speller and still has great penmanship and an interest in reading books that are WAY to big for him to read, he'll learn right? I've had lots of parents that he's been playing with tell me how glad they are to have their kids have someone to play with that has manners and is kind and loving and sets a good example for their children. I'm so proud of him that he knows what's right and when to stand up for something that is wrong. Hopefully those will be characterists that stick with him throughout his life as you can tell people are already noticing this great quality about him. I miss having him around home, Austin says he just misses his dad (lol) but he's an intelligent boy and strives for doing what's right. So I'm happy to have him somewhere where he's safe and can keep learning and growing and set a great example to those around him.

End of Summer Celebration

As our summer was winding down, Rich and I decided that it would be fun to do one last fun event before we dug into school again. I forgot to put new batteries in my camera before we got out of the car so there are no pictures and I apologize. We decided that we would suprise the kids and take them to something they've never ever been too. We took them to the Rose Garden and went to opening night of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. We had a yummy dinner and headed out to the circus. They loved watching 9 motorcycles race around inside this little tiny metal sphere. It was absolutely amazing that they could fit that many riders inside. They loved the dancing elephants and all that other good stuff. On our way home we stopped and got ice cream and put them to bed. We had a good time and really enjoyed spending time together to wind down our summer of 2008.