Keeping Busy

It seems like all I've really been doing for the last week or so is waiting to go into labor and have this baby already. In fact, I've had false labor 4 times in the last 10 days - it's getting seriously obnoxious. For anyone interested (possible TMI coming up), at my doctors appointment yesterday I was between 3 and 4 centimeters dilated and 75% effaced, and my doctor stripped my membranes for me. So he should be coming soon! Actually, my doctor was surprised to see me come in and said she had expected to see me earlier than that - at the hospital having my baby already! Apparently I have a stubborn body and/or baby. I'm due in 2 days... any guesses as to when I actually will give birth? By the way, I have an induction scheduled for Wednesday the 8th if I haven't had him by then. Funny thing is about a month or so ago when Ben and I decided to guess when I'd give birth, I guessed the 8th. :) I hope I'm wrong, I'd really like to go into labor naturally, minus the Pitocin this time.

We actually have been keeping busy while we wait for our next little one to get here. Last week we spent an afternoon at the mall, just walking around and then letting Lily play in the kids area on the third floor (of Bellevue Square). And last Thursday Ben and I went to a Brian Regan Concert in Bellingham. It was really really fun and hilarious. For anyone who hasn't heard of him, he's this awesome comedian that Ben and I have loved for a few years now. One of the reasons he's so good is that he doesn't have dirty/skanky material or swear a lot, which we really appreciate. This was his second concert we've been too. It was great, and his opener was really great too - a guy from Seattle by the name of Kermet Apio. We definitely recommend people listen to some of Brian's stuff if they ever get a chance, it's great.

Also, last week I finished Michael's rag blanket that I started back in February. I got a good start on it when I first bought all the fabric, and then got tired of sewing/cutting real quick and took a long break. I'm glad I was able to finish it before he got here. I suppose I got into a sewing mood, because right after I finished Michael's blanket, I started on an apron for Lily and after only about 4 hours, I had finished that as well. I'm super proud of myself with the apron - I didn't have a pattern and basically winged it, and I think it turned out really good. I'm got pictures of it, but not the blanket yet as it was still in the wash getting all raggedy when I took the apron pictures.

This slide at the play place in Bellevue Square was probably her favorite.

This is the "I can't go until I can hold at least one of your hands" position.

Spin!

Bad lighting here, but I really love her expression. She was having a lot of fun.

Just playing at home. I love doing her hair in a little top ponytail like this - she calls it her "pretty" (she calls lots of things "pretties" actually - fingernails, earrings, hair things, bracelets...) and knows that she's not supposed to touch it. :)

Ben and I at the Brian Regan concert.

The best picture we could get of Brian Regan - he moves around so much that all the others are really blurry!

Lily's new apron! Kind of hard to see, but those are bumblebees all over it. At first she wasn't too thrilled with it, but now she associates it with cooking and thinks it's pretty awesome. By the way, Lily is obsessed with cooking. She asks to cook with Ben or me at least 4 times a day - often it's one of the first things she asks for when she wakes up. She's her Mama's girl!

Side view to see the polka-dot ribbon that I sewed on for the ties. All in all, I think it turned out pretty good, especially since I didn't really know what I was doing.

Real quick before I'm done - I really really love that Lily is such a girly-girl. It's so fun! She loves to dress up, she loves anything that she thinks is pretty, she can be very picky about which clothes or shoes she wants to wear. In fact, the other day she insisted on wearing her brown shoes that are getting too small even though it almost made her cry as I tried to put them on her feet because they are too tight. But she definitely wanted them on and was very happy once they were on. She already likes to cook (granted, that doesn't have to be a girly-girl thing, but it sure seems to be sometimes). She likes to have pretties in her hair, even though she's very likely to pull them right out again so she can look at them in her hands. And lately, she's insisted on wearing one of my necklaces all the time.

The best thing about all this is I don't feel like I've pushed her to be like that. She's had a very strong personality ever since she was born and Ben and I noticed early on that she seemed to have a preference for girly-girl things. Being a bit of a girly-girl myself, I think it's really fun and I love helping her and encouraging her. It's so much fun to be her Mom. :)

Whidbey Island

First, I wanted to thank everyone who commented on my "One of those days" post where I just needed to complain for a moment. It totally made me feel better knowing everyone was thinking about me and sympathized. So thank you very much!! Your comments were much appreciated!!

Last Saturday was almost like a mini vacation, it was such a nice day. I woke up thinking about small towns, just walking around and eating ice cream, and I mentioned to Ben how much fun it would be to find a little touristy coastal town to spend the afternoon in. So after Lily woke up from her nap and had lunch, we headed up to Mulkiteo to catch a ferry over to Whidbey Island. Once there we drove to Langley. It was the perfect place to spend a very lazy day just walking around, looking in the little shops and enjoying the sunshine. We walked along the water too, on this grassy boardwalk-type place, and had dinner at The Edgecliff Restaurant, which was really yummy. Right before we left we got double scoop waffle cones! It really was perfect, and I couldn't have asked for a more relaxing day with my family.

 
On the grassy-ish boardwalk by the ocean.

We saw many of these while we were there. It made Lily really happy. When she tried to get near them, they'd hop right into the bushes and Lily would bend over and crane her neck trying to see where they'd gone.

Like this!

I know I've said this already, but I just love this dress on Lily! Even cooler, we got it at a garage sale for about 10 cents. Score!

Pointing out the boats she could see.

I admit, I told her to go over and smell them so I could get a picture. Still cute!

Because I always put so many pictures of Lily up, and because it reminds me of all the pictures of ourselves we took while we were in college. It makes me smile. :) My husband is so sweet.

This is her "You told me to smile" smile.

This is her real smile. I guess Daddy has the magic touch.

I just really really love this picture. The background captures how I felt the whole day - happy, peaceful, relaxed, with beauty all around me. Like I said, it was a great day.

I love it when I catch these moments of them playing together.

An actual belly picture! Here I am at 38 weeks 2 days, and more than willing to have a baby already! :)

Another picture of my two favorite people.

Beautiful day.

 
We were at the restaurant and Lily was so well behaved the whole time, it was great. This is her fake smile again. :) It kind of reminds me of a duck!

Lily enjoying our ice cream cones with us. And yeah, that's a little bit of a black eye. Funny how it's not really noticeable in any of the other pictures.

Messy messy!

Leaving Whidbey Island on our way home. I really love going on ferries for some reason, I think it's lots of fun even when they're only 20 minutes long. Lily seemed to like it too, only not so much being outside on the deck because it was so windy.

 
Bye!

Minute

Lately Lily has picked up on my habit of saying "Just a minute!" or "It'll take a minute, ok?" with one finger held in the air. It is so cute when she imitates me!  The other day when Ben asker her if she wanted toast, she replies, "Shesh (yes), minute!" with her finger up in the air just like I do when I tell her she has to wait a minute for the toast to cook. Ben hadn't seen her do it before and couldn't get over it. And just now, we're playing a game where she gets all her blankets out one by one and puts them over my lap. Well after each blanket she'd look at me and say "Blanket, more? Back minute!" :) She keeps us very entertained!!

A Long Walk

Last Saturday was a beautiful day, and after lunch Ben, Lily, and I decided to go to the park. We hadn't really thought very hard about what we would do there, we figured just let Lily play outside and on the toys for awhile. But we started walking on the Sammamish River Trail, and after about 20 minutes realized it connected to another park we liked in Woodinville. We had Lily in the stroller and were enjoying just walking, so we decided to go for as long as we could. Well, we made it to the other park and back, and the whole trip was 6 miles. 6 miles. And I was in flip flops. And 37 weeks pregnant. :) It was a lot of fun, actually, and I was really proud of myself that I was able to walk that much in basically one sitting (with a break for playing at the Woodinville park). I wasn't speed walking or anything, but I made it, and I wasn't even that sore afterwards (though I did do something to my foot that's still making me walk with a slight limp, but I think that was aggravated by the 1.5 mile walk I took the very next day - I probably would have been ok if I'd just stayed mostly off it instead of another walk the next day). Anyway, it was a great day - beautiful, leisurely, and I was really proud of myself afterwards. :)

This goose was really hoping that Lily had some food for it. It left disappointed.

After Lily saw me put a flower behind my ear, she decided that her flowers were hats. It was pretty cute.

Showing off her collection of rocks.

You're still watching, right Mommy?

I didn't think to get a picture of Ben and I, though I should have. I blame it on pregnancy brain.

Some more pictures from the last week or so:

Look, her hair is in a pony-tail! I love it like this, and only just realized it's long enough to do it like this. On Sunday we went to church with my parents, and she actually kept it in (with much prompting) for 4 hours. It was so cute.

What she does every time we ask her where her dimples are.

 
Over a month ago I made a bird feeder out of a pine cone and peanut butter with bird seed on it, and then was disappointed for weeks when not a single bird seemed to care that I was trying to feed them. And then a few days ago, I heard a bird land on it and start pecking at it, and it made me so happy! This was the only picture I could get, but if you look closely you can differentiate the bird from the pine cone. It's come a couple times now, and it makes me proud.

One of those Days...

Today is a hide-under-the-blankets-and-watch-too-many-movies-while-eating-ice-cream day. Unfortunately I'd probably get too hot for the blankets, we don't have any ice cream, and I actually have a lot of cleaning/grocery shopping/cooking of dinner to do before we have some family over tonight - not to mention a 17-month old that I actually have to take care of or something. So... I guess I'll just have to be an adult and deal with life.

Have I mentioned I'm pretty much done with being pregnant? Only 17 more days until my due date! I can make it, right?

Zoo

Ben, Lily and I went to the Woodland Park Zoo a little over a week ago. It was a Friday, and Ben's office was moving locations, so he didn't have to go into work or even work from home. It was great, and it was a beautiful day, so we went to the Zoo! Here are the best pictures from the day.

Both of us making the bird sign right after we saw this:

Pretty good side shot of my belly while we checked out the flamingos. I'm getting huge, people. Lily liked that the flamingos were pink.

How adorable are my two favorite people?!

 
Lily was a big fan of pushing her own stroller.

The penguins would swim by really fast, and after they were gone Lily would sign more. This trip to the zoo was one of the most fun ones we've done with her, because she recognized a lot of the animals and could look for them better than she has in the past. She really enjoyed herself, and we did too.

Isn't this guy cute?

Looking at the "du-du-du", which is how Lily says Elephant.

 

That's all, folks!