no news

I haven't anything new to report. I'm all ready to go, so we're just waiting for Baby to drop. He's taking his sweet time. I will be 40 weeks tomorrow. My mom has been here for nearly a week, as we all await the blessed event. Dean was supposed to go to Fort Eustis yesterday and get back late tonight, but he was excused by his commander because of my situation. He is supposed to go to Roanoke Rapids, NC tomorrow, but again is excused.

I took my mom and the boys to Wilmington, NC the other day, and stopped by the aquarium. Here I am looking thrilled with life and "big as a barrel", as a door-to-door meat salesman blurted recently as I opened the door. No, I didn't buy any meat from him.



This is an albino alligator, which apparently wouldn't survive in the wild because he has no protection from the sun.

Here's my mom...

Kyler is never at a loss for entertainment and trying potential new styles and trends, such as dishwashing gloves on the feet.

The magnolia trees here have been blooming and they are glorious. Those are white flowers dispersed throughout the tree. I wish it was a better picture.

I hate false alarms

I was a little stir crazy yesterday by the time Dean got home from work. I did take the boys to play group in the morning, which is always fun for them to play with other kids, and for me to visit with the other ladies - so many interesting topics of conversation! So, Dean let me go run around for a few hours late in the evening. I hit some sales at Michaels and Staples, stocked up on baby wipes at Sams Club (the last baby item on the list), and not wanting to walk for miles at Walmart just for extra virgin olive oil, went to the Food Lion. It was the last stop and I was pretty thirsty, so I went down the soda aisle to satisfy one of my guilty pleasures - diet soda. I had never tried Sun Drop before, and just assumed it would be caffeine free and gave it a whirl. It wasn't, though, so having a big glass of it at 10pm kept me from sleeping until about midnight, or I assume that's what it was.

I was awake again at 3am; with the carpal tunnel problem, if I don't find just the right position, my arm is exquisitely uncomfortable/painful/tingly, and there's no possibility of sleep. Then I proceeded to count about 5 contractions in 20 minutes or so, and then less frequently after that until I finally got up around 5 am. I just have no inclination to do anything in the middle of the night, so I picked a book from the bookcase (one of James Herriot's - always a pleaser) and sat on the couch reading and monitoring contractions until Dean woke. I told him I thought it was time, as the contractions were still coming, though not regularly. They ranged from 2-10 minutes apart, and were not painful. I did a whirlwind tour through the downstairs and finished packing my bag, and straightened things up - more nesting I guess, and who wants to come home to a mess anyway. I fixed oatmeal, and the boys were down and showered by about 7am. I called Penny and woke her up (sorry!), to let her know that I thought it was time and we'd have the boys over by 8am. I had a conversation with Kyler about being on good behavior at Miss Penny's, so unbeknownst to us, after eating his oatmeal, he trotted right over at about 7:10. We just assumed he was upstairs with Hunter, but should have known better since there was no noise... Dean was putting baby's carseat in the car and noticed Kyler's bike across the street at her home, but assumed he must have left it there last night. That's our boy!

So, we got to the hospital soon after 8am, and the contractions were still irregular, coming 3-10 minutes apart, and I was dilated to between 3 and 4. The nurse said it should be between 4 and 5, so sent us out to walk around for a couple of hours then come back in for a recheck if I was still contracting. I was, but still not regularly, so a recheck 3 hours later showed no progression, and alas, it's not time for baby! So disappointing! We were so excited that maybe it was finally time! I feel awfully silly for getting it wrong. They do say that the contractions should be regular, and progressively closer together and more painful... I should have known better. It just seemed like such a convenient day; Dean somehow didn't have anything scheduled at work. So we came home dejected mid afternoon. He picked up the boys and went fishing while I took it easy. They actually caught a couple of croakers.

Hopefully soon!

Christmas in June

So I tagged along with some friends who were going to an estate sale for a child care center on base yesterday. It is closing so they are getting rid of everything - all the toys, baby items, desks, furniture, appliances, etc. My dad has said before that a good yard sale is as good as Christmas, and that can be true! I found a number of things, for great yard-sale prices, to use for the baby and for the boys. Then we hit a yard sale on the base and I found more treasures for the boys. Hunter has probably spent 10 hours over this weekend playing with this contraption that he assembles, then sends marbles circling through. Kyler likes the idea of playing with it, but mostly takes it apart or otherwise demolishes it while Hunter is working on it, which is upsetting to Hunter - but oh, well, he needs to learn patience and to get along!

Speaking of Kyler, with the new summer schedule, or lack of one with Hunter being out of school, he has been staying up hours past his bedtime, and not taking naps. So by the evening he is usually not much fun to be around. I told him at about 5pm today to go put on his jammies, expecting that it would soon be time for bed. He never came back - went right to sleep on his own. Woohoo! But it was short lived - he came back around at 7, and is now finally in bed at 9:30.

mmm, Steak

So maybe this isn't blog worthy, but I really don't know if I've ever bought T-bones in our 9 years of marriage. Dean thinks maybe I did once. They are just so pricey! But, they are on sale this week, so I bought two for us - no sense in wasting good food on the boys. They actually did have a few bites of mine. It turned out pretty good, or at least Mr. Food Connoisseur (Dean) thought it was good, and we don't even have a grill. I used Montreal steak seasoning and olive oil like I do with most all cuts of meat, and our "grilling pan", which has raised grooves to give the appearance of having been on the grill. And, I picked up some fresh corn on the cob today, which is one of my all-time favorite foods. The boys love it too, although these days Hunter insists on having his cut off the cob for him because he always has loose/missing teeth (lost another this week).

I also took the boys swimming at a nice outdoor pool on the base today, with some friends. We were there about three hours. They had a ball, of course. I was looking for carpal tunnel relief. I've read that being in the water is somewhat like an all-over compression stocking and might help relieve the agony. It helps. It would really help if Tristan decided it was time to head on out!

Where's Tristan?

I went in for a routine appointment yesterday (June 9) and was checked out a bit. I am dilated to two, having contractions about 10 minutes apart, baby seems to be head down, etc., but the doc said it would probably be a couple of weeks... Dean was able to go to the appointment with me, and was hoping it was time. Alas, we still have time to get more ready at home. He put the cosleeper together over the weekend, and the swing before that. The other day Kyler mistakenly thought he heard us say that the baby was out, and he wanted to see. I was lounging in bed, so he ripped the blanket off me to have a look at my belly for himself. It was pretty funny. He still likes to hug baby (aka my belly).

What's in a name?

We may finally have a name for "baby", and it's not even on the babynames.com website list that we created. We both like Tristan at the moment - which is how we settled on "Kyler". The middle name would be Rush. I knew that that was going to be inevitable at some point, and I'm fine with it. Tomorrow (June 5) I'll officially be 37 weeks, which is full term, and means baby (Tristan - it's time to start calling him that I guess) is welcome to come any time. That also means I'm finally starting to "nest", or at least realize that I'd better get the house in order, as it is certainly not at the moment! My only real problem is some horrific carpal tunnel syndrome, which always accompanies me late in pregnancy. It's causing me to lose some sleep at night, but if that's my only issue, I can't much complain.

Some dear friends threw a shower for me last week, and it was a lot of fun, and we were given some really wonderful things. I feel blessed! The theme was "The Coming Attraction", and was complete with movie theater treats (nachos, popcorn, candy, etc., and some sweet cupcakes). In the first picture you can see the "Red Carpet" behind me. I haven't ever learned to properly scrapbook, so I specifically asked for ready made scrapbook pages, and the ladies came through! Now at least one child will have a respectable scrapbook, and all I have to do is slap the pictures in as he grows. Thank you Haylee, Liz, and all the others!!!

By the way, I've been told that my baby bump definitely looks lower, so I'm guessing that means baby has "dropped" into position. That doesn't mean anything about when he will come, though, if you're wondering. He did feel like he was rolling around in there on a few occasions recently, so perhaps that's what he was up to.