Yep, I'm still pregnant.

But I promise to post as soon as I'm not!! Thankfully, I don't have far to go from my bedroom to the computer after Baby Fish arrives. :) Unless I do as I've threatened and go to a motel for my "home" birth!!

The pre-labor dance.

I have to admit it. I'm getting anxious for this baby to come. Me, whose always scoffed when women start complaining at the end of pregnancy. "A baby's a lot easier to take care of on the inside than on the outside!" I always say.

But I don't remember feeling this tired at the end of my first two pregnancies. I know Grouper didn't drop this early, so I wasn't feeling the pressure and prodromal labor symptoms. But maybe it's too long ago to remember accurately. Or maybe I'm just getting old.

My friend Carla took the boys' Sunday School class for me this morning. I was really hoping last night would be IT. And I did have a few contractions that woke me up periodically. But nothing that stuck. I didn't even start thinking about doing anything to get things going with Grouper until after my due date. And yet tonight, with 8 days to go, I suggested we take a family walk -- because walking always helps my contractions get stronger. Nevermind the high winds blowing up dust everywhere outside or the dark clouds above.

So, we did. After I made dinner, and went grocery shopping.

I guess I figure I've been too sedentary lately. Lots of naps, lots of knitting. I finished my first diaper soaker on Thursday! Then yesterday I dyed another skein, using coffee this time. I named the colorway it produced "caramel cappuccino." And I started another soaker. It's not that I have nothing to do if Baby Fish does wait another week or two.

Nonetheless, in the car on the way back from the store, I was bouncing him to the beat of my pre-labor theme song... "Do a little dance. Make a little love. Get down tonight. Get down tonight."

'Cause if you hadn't heard -- what gets them in, can get them out.

Ready... or not.

We're two weeks away from my due date. After wigging out a bit last week over everything I had left to do, I'm much closer to ready. I did 13 loads of laundry this weekend. Baby clothes sizes 0 to 9 months, diapers and blankets are washed, sorted, and put away. Towels and sheets for the birth are bagged up and ready to go. Infant car seat is installed between the boys' boosters. The birth kit still hasn't arrived, but I picked up a back-up from my friend Kelley yesterday. I even soaked all my plants really well this morning in case of a couple days of neglect.

Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning I had a few hours of early labor contractions about 10 minutes apart. But I wasn't quite ready. Needed to go grocery shopping yesterday, and had to take the couch cushion cover Grouper puked on to the dry cleaners. Plus, the house was still in some amount of chaos, and I was just plain tired. But I got a second wind after dinner and spent enough time straightening up before bed to feel a little more prepared for a night of labor. Instead I got a solid night's sleep -- no complaining there!

Today the boys played outside with friends for most of the day. I snuck in a nap this afternoon. And then sent them to Target with UberDad for more laundry detergent and new clothespins. While they were out I vacuumed, swept, and got to do my yoga video for the first time in two months!

I am ready for this baby to come whenever he wants. Unfortunately, UberDad's not. He has a job interview scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, and his final credential exam is all day Saturday. I was kind of hoping to get out of teaching Sunday school this weekend. But Baby Fish might have to gestate for another week after all.

Happy Mother's Day!

Have you seen that Sears commercial where the little boy is sitting quietly with his face in his hands, and after a few seconds you see he's perched on the toilet, and then he straightens up and calls out, "MOMMY! I'm DONE!!"

That commercial cracks me up every time. The reality of motherhood. Twice a day. Every day.

This morning I woke up to an unusually hot Grouper curled up next to me. I turned over slowly -- because I can't move any faster than slowly -- and crawled backwards down the middle of the bed to go find the thermometer. I realized he'd been hot and not sleeping well since he'd climbed in bed with me sometime in the night. Sunday seems to be a popular day for fevers. Mother's Day is apparently not exempt.

When Grouper is sick, he doesn't talk. He just looks sad and curls up into the fetal position under my arm if it's available or on the couch with his blanket. I knew he really wasn't feeling well when he didn't want the blueberry pancakes UberDad made for breakfast. We were watching the sign language program on PBS together when he suddenly sat up and puked. I caught most of it with his blanket, then carried him into the bathroom to finish up and fill the bathtub. Meanwhile, UberDad was put in charge of finding out how to get puke off the dry-clean-only fabric on our couch.

After a long soak in the tub, Grouper seemed to be feeling better. He was back to his cheerful, chatty self -- ready to put on some clothes, his cape and his lightsaber. But after getting dressed and eating half a banana, his energy was spent. He soon fell asleep in costume, on a towel , on the couch.

While Grouper was in the bathtub, my mom came over with a Mother's Day gift for me -- an Oi Oi diaper bag in a cute swirly brown/blue/green/yellow pattern. It's totally washable and big enough for cloth diapers! I'd decided my felted bag was going to work for knitting projects, but not as a diaper bag/purse. Thanks, Mom! We're going to take my grandmother out for lunch later. It's her birthday. Hopefully she'll be in a good mood. She was really mean when my mom visited her on Friday, and my mom deserves to have a nice day.

As for me, I just hope Grouper feels better quickly. In the meantime, I'm going to knit, read my new cookbook by Giada that UberDad and the boys gave me this morning, and avoid doing any dishes.

Hope you have a beautiful Mother's Day!

37 weeks and counting.

There's nothing like a deadline to motivate me to go shopping!

Yesterday was the official beginning of my 38th week of pregnancy. Today I had a doctor's appointment, even though I just saw my midwife on Friday, and everything's fine. The boys and I waited for nearly an hour and a half before we finally got called in. They were amazingly patient, but getting miserable by the end of the wait.

Baby Fish kindly put his head in place just in time for the doctor to check him today. Last visit he was still breech, and the doctor mentioned the possibility of doing an external version. No, thanks. Fortunately, in the last two days baby's been wiggling into position, and is at -1 station, for those of you interested in the technicalities of labor. I'm also dilated to just under one centimeter, and 70 percent effaced. Woohoo! This means nothing in terms of when he'll arrive, of course, but the doctor was pleased to note that we've begun the process.

I've gained 31 pounds total this pregnancy. So, of course, we went out and had Coldstone ice cream tonight after hitting Babies R Us and Target for an infant car seat, diaper pail, nursing stool, changing pad, and thank you notes. A few of my dearest friends threw us a baby shower on Sunday. I could hardly sleep that night. Gift bags holding baby toiletries, cloth diapers, books, blankets, and the most adorable baby clothes covered my dining room table, and all I wanted to do was admire and sort and wash and organize everything. I'm going to be doing a lot of laundry in the next week!

But today I just wanted to get the rest of the necessities purchased. If he decides to come early, we don't even have our birth kit yet! Ordered that today, finally. Also ordered miscellaneous diaper laundering accessories. So, according to shipping calculations, he can come any time after next Tuesday. No sooner than two weeks before my due date!

Obviously I'm counting on my history of reasonably accurate due dates. Puffer was born one day before his, Grouper only four days after his. So, an arrival date of sometime between May 29 and June 3 would just fine with Baby Fish's mommy.

Catching up.

It's hot. Not middle-of-summer hot. Just hot enough that you want to use the A/C but can't yet justify it. Hot because I'm 8 months pregnant and ACTUALLY huge, not just feeling that way. Hot because my firstborn has had a fever spiking and leaving again for nearly three days, and he wants me to sit by him on the couch all day. He's shivering, I'm sweating.

So, no, the third little fish has not arrived yet. I've just been so busy that blogging has fallen to the bottom of the list. My apologies if anyone has been checking frequently only to find the Easter post still up top. We celebrated Puffer's fifth birthday last weekend. Maybe that's why he's sick -- getting ready for another growth spurt. In case you were wondering, he is the sweetest five-year-old you'll ever meet, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his mother. :) Though he hates being sick.

And I think he's also sick of Grouper's Star Wars addiction. I think we've watched Episode I close to 10 times this week. Grouper now has four light sabers, three of them purchased with his allowance over the last two months. Maybe we're giving him too much money...

On Puffer's birthday, UberDad set a national rifle shooting record. In heavy rain. He was soaked but proud when he arrived home. Check him out here, and scroll down to Highpower Prone.

Between the rain, and the ensuing heat, I managed to finish all my planting for the season. Now I just have to water every day until the baby arrives and hope everything survives my neglect after that. I picked lettuce and cilantro fresh for our tacos tonight -- yum!


I also finished knitting my bag finally! Still have to sew the straps on so I can actually use it. And I dyed my first batch of yarn, and have started my first soaker for the baby! Here's a photo of the yarn.




My friends Megan and Jerry and their two boys came to visit on Friday and Saturday. They moved back to Seattle from the Bay area last summer, so we hadn't seen them since last April. Their boys are 3 and 5, and it's always so fun to see how they've grown and watch all the boys together! They were on their way up north after three days in Disneyland. Turns out the most popular toys at our house were the ones we got in Disneyland in October -- Jedi guns and light sabers, of course.

Besides socializing, knitting and watching Star Wars nonstop this week, I've finally gotten started on organizing my bedroom in preparation for Baby Fish. I packed up all the winter maternity clothes I don't need, and dug up some warm weather ones. UberDad got the second dresser from my parents' house so I can put postpartum stuff in there, and fill my other dresser with baby things. Mostly diapers. I have a TON of diapers, both from my old stash and on loan from friends I've converted over the last five years. Though that's not keeping me from spending too much time online looking for more! I bought two adorable WAHM-made soakers on eBay. I'll have to post diaper stash photos on Flickr.

But first, I have to figure out what to make for dinner this week that doesn't require use of the oven.