Just a picture

Jessie on Tuesday?

I just got back from the doctor, and for all of those who care, I am 2 cm dilated (whoop-dee-do!) and if I don't have this baby by Tuesday, the Dr. said to call the hospital and see if they have a room available so I can be induced. Yea! I have a date! He knows I've been in Bakersfield for two weeks now, and I said I just want to go home (and not be pregnant...) and that I would like Ryan to be at the birth. So, Tuesday at the latest unless they have no beds available.

lulu.com

I finally got my bugs worked out with lulu (thanks Jill for the "cute pdf" suggestion- it worked so well) and have ordered my blog-book. i designed the cover last night and uploaded it this morning, and have placed my order. I am getting it in 10 to 15 days (counting on the 15 days part) and I am excited! I will post pictures of it when it comes. Now I am wondering what else I can publish? I love blank books, and I love pretty books. Pretty blank books are awesome! (I have been known to but a blank book just because it is pretty. I always think I'll fill it with grand ideas, doodles, writings- it never happens.) Still no baby, Kacy is so excited she thinks the baby is coming tomorrow.

Today and LULU

Today I ate spicy food(at Chipotle with Amy) in hopes of starting labor. So far, it has done nothing, which just reminds me that I have no control over this whole thing. That might be good though, because I still haven't packed a bag all the way. I threw some things in a bag, but it's incomplete. Maybe I should finish that. Kacy has her own countdown. Every day at lunch she looks at my mom's calendar that is on the wall next to her and says "Mom! Only ____ more days until Jessie is born!" and I asked her what date she thought she would come, and she answers "On the 29th!" every time. That would be weird if she really did know. The kids got up WAY too early this morning, and made sure I was up, too. I was not happy. We had a rough morning, as I no longer sleep at night. The afternoon/evening has been much better. Now we just need to do bath time and bedtime, and I will be happy.
I am TRYING to publish my blog on lulu.com as a book, and I am having formatting problems. Their live chat help is worthless. I'm not completely computer illiterate, so I am frustrated that I should know how to do this but that it is not working for me. I hope to get the bugs out soon!

Random Update

Nothing new to report (NO BABY) except that Ryan is going crazy being up in the mountains all by himself. I thought he might enjoy a little time away from the family in the trailer- being able to sleep longer/better because it would be quieter, being able to watch a show on TV without Ed turning it off (he loves those buttons) or all three kids running back and forth, back and forth, while making as much noise as possible. Turns out that it's one of those things where you say "It's quiet. A little too quiet". We miss him too, and George, but hopefully I'll have this baby soon and it will be done with! My mom has been very helpful in giving the kids a bath at night when I am at my least able to move well. She also bought a lot of snacks for my kids and is surprised that they don't eat them. Her comment: "What am I going to do with all this food?" Our kids are great eaters at meal times, unless they had too many snacks. So at home I try to limit their grazing, and when they do have a snack, it usually involves a fruit or cheese and maybe a cracker. I have happily come to the conclusion that me going crazy with my kids that last few months is NOT due to TRAILER LIFE. It is due to my kids! They drive me crazy here in my parents 3000 sq. feet house. And, they like to be around me. I should feel honored and flattered that they bring toys out of the toy room and into the room where I stay just to be close to me. So, my 300 sf trailer still isn't so bad after all. It's been a solid 2 1/2 years of trailer life, and there are a couple of things that bug me a little, all having to do with the storage of clothing, but it really isn't so bad. I told Ryan today that he has a great wife because every other woman I talk to says something like "never!" would they do it. I also get a lot of sympathy, which I don't like, because I don't want it. I chose this path, and if you catch me on a bad day I might complain, but our house is showing progress, we no longer live in that campground (THAT WAS A HARD 14 MONTHS FOR ME) and in the end we will have a super-duper house. I really can't complain, except that I would like not to be pregnant anymore. I think this baby is a little too cozy and just doesn't care about coming out early like the rest of them. It is out of my hands, as I refuse to do anything to induce myself besides giving piggy back rides to the kids, walking... although I heard dehydration might work. Hmmm... Oh, and yea spell checker is working again!

Cement Work

We had cement work done today- the trucks showed up with a hired pumping guy, and Ryan and his dad were there to do the work. Here are the pictures that Ryan's dad took of the scene. I wasn't there, since I am staying with my mom in Bakersfield until this kid is born.

This is a shot of our well. It is missing the pressure tank, which was moved so we could pour new cement. Ryan wants to build a well house- a structure to enclose the well and all the operating stuff that goes with it. It will make it look neater, and keep things clean and out of the heat and snow a little. The plywood sign looking thing is the board that has our meters mounted to it for our electricity. The white pipe sticking out of the ground is the actual part of the well that hold the pump that draws the water out of the ground. Our well stats: I think it's around 265 feet deep, and our water table starts at around 25 to 30 feet. This is all optional, nothing to get the house done, but to make life nice.
A shot of Ryan and the pumper guy. And of course, a shot of the house.
A different angle of the house. Next week we hope to have a baby. I mean, next week we hope to have the rest of the footings completed by having the block work done. (A baby wouldn't be bad either...)

A new swear word

Ed has his own new swear word. He says it when he is mad at someone, or upset with someone (usually me or Will) What is it? E-I-E-I-O! Sometimes said with anger, sometimes said with sadness. Always funny for me. This started yesterday, and has been going on all day today.

Belly shot

This is my self portrait of my belly at 37 weeks. Not a great picture, but I thought I'd post it anyway. Most people who see me don't think I'm very big, but if you will note the back part of me kind of compensates for the front part of me. I grow in BOTH directions, lucky me. Actually, it might be lucky because I still don't have any stretch marks. (Might they come next week??? I might be that unlucky, but I don't think so.) This baby, like Ed, sits extremely low in my pelvis. Apparently, I have birthing hips after all. This causes some intense pain sometimes when I can feel her head rubbing on my spine. I'm grateful it only happens a few times a day, because it hurts! I am thinking this Sunday, the 24th would be a great day to have a baby. I like the way it sounds. I am going GOOGLE Jedi powers and see what I can do to help my dream come true. I will not do anything to induce my labor really, except walk a lot on my mom's treadmill. I have a feeling I'll walk and walk, and I'll be tired, but no baby. Oh well, she will come when she's ready, and that is fine with me. As long as it's not this Thursday when Ryan is busy with the cement work on our house. That would be highly inconveinent.

Construction Pictures

A shot of the whole house and the septic- I tried to use Ryan for scale, but I'm not sure it came across. He is 6'5". The white thing is George. We get to bury the tank now- yea!
A picture of just part of a form. Lots of wood, rebar, and tying. Sand is the enemy. Honestly, we've lost count how many times we've dug this out. (I use the term "we" very loosely here, it was really Ryan.)
A big ol' trench for three inch conduit. That's what you do when your soil is as sandy as ours is. The trench is four feet wide. FOR THREE INCH CONDUIT. It is also 400 feet long from the spools of wire to the boxes/meter by the well. This too gets buried tomorrow.
Our leach lines of Infiltrators. The county required two lines at 50 feet each. Again, so happy to cover this stuff up and have flat land in parts again. Not that it bothers us- we have so much acrage that it isn't in the way. But burying it means one less thing to look at and one step closer to having a house. We both cannot wait to fill in around the forms of the house. That should be by the end of the month. The cement trucks and pumper are coming on the 21st, and the masonry wall people we want to hire will come the week after. Then Ryan will start the framing part of the house. We are considering hiring a framing crew to put up the walls and roof. They can get it done in a week, whereas we could get it done in a year. Hmmm... my vote? Framing crew! Then Ryan can get busy with the slow part of it- all the inside finish work- electricity, plumbling, insulation, blah, blah, blah- so much!

An update

It's been a while, mostly due to lack of conveinent Internet. We now have high speed via Hughesnet satellite service, and fast is nice! I can see videos and pictures, and we can now read PDF files. We've had AOL for about a decade though, and not having that is going to be a change. Some things that have happened since my last post that I remember:

*Baby shower for Jessie and me. I got lots of cute clothes and approximately 910 diapers, give or take a package. Love those diaper raffles! I have since been trying to organize all the stuff and get her crib ready. She at least needs a place to sleep.

*While in the car one day on the way to the doctor, Kacy was talking NON-STOP. It was so annoying because she would shift from pretend stories and ideas (Mom, can I get a purple horse? With spots?) to real thinking questions (Mom, what is a fig tree? Mom, what is 28 plus 14?) so I finally said "Kacy! You are talking too much right now. Please stop and let mom drive." Her reply: "Mom, it's what I do. So, blah blah blah..." Today Kacy had a math morning. She spent some time adding numbers. Ryan and I gave each other "the look". I'm a little worried about what she is going to do in school. She doesn't know how to read yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if she did this summer. "Mom! 2+2=4 and 3+3=6 and 8+4 is 12!" The girl remembers everything I tell her. EVERYTHING. I told her once (in the car, of course) that when you have big numbers to add to put the biggest one in your head and then use your fingers. So she does... And she is so excited for Valentine's Day. She told me it was her favorite because it has hearts, and it's about loving your friends and family, and you get chocolate.

*Will's speech is getting better and better all the time. Today he fell off the slide upon landing and had a dirty, dirty face. He was crying (of course) and I asked him if he was hurt. He said, "No, I'm not hurt, I'm dirty!" I cleaned his face and under all the dirt he has mild road rash. He is learning to rhyme and keeps rubbing my belly and asking about baby Jessie.

*Ed is still the devil. He runs and runs away from me while laughing the whole time. He is very loving, but a pain in the neck (or belly/back) right now. Maybe if I was in good shape it wouldn't be so bad.

*Ryan is ready for the first inspection for our house. Many people seem to think it is taking forever, and to a point it seems like it sometimes. But with all the work and the little details, and a one and two man show (the second man would be Ryan's dad who has come up several times to help)- it is a lot of work. We are now so thankful to a family friend/contractor who worked up a materials list and a few bids for lumber and came in at half the price of the first one- 22,000 to 27,000 bucks. Let us dance a happy jig. We MAY hire a framing crew to frame the house now. Ryan could do it solo in 6 months to a year, but a framing crew could do it in a week. Four kids in our trailer makes a week sound positively enticing.

Another day full of...

*little kids and all their glory!
*Cocoa Pebbles for dessert.
*sweeping up the floor at least three times (I refuse to do it anymore than that!)
*wondering exactly what we are going to have for dinner that everyone will be happy with.
*wishing I had another closet to put clothes in.
*training the puppy, and training the kids, on proper house behavior.
*training the kids on the proper use of glue (our mantra: "dot, dot, not a lot")
*housework-AGAIN- that I do EVERYDAY, and cartoons that turn my brain into mush.
*wondering what my little stock market account is going to do, and if I should sell everything and wait it out so I don't lose any money.
*wet snot kisses from Ed-he insists on kissing me on the lips-I try to turn my head at the last minute so he gets my cheek, but he turns my head back and the next thing I know, I have a snot kiss on my face.

30 more days?

My lilypie.com counter says only 30 more days until my due date- I love that little thing. I'm glad I found the very simple way of moving it to the top of my blog instead of the bottom. I was one of those girls that used to make paper chains for anything I was excited about counting down. In fact, my sister Kendra had a paper chain hanging in her house and I said "What's the countdown for?" and her Michael said "How do you know that's a countdown?" DUH! He OBVIOUSLY never made a paper chain countdown when he was younger. (It was for their trip to Disneyland...) I have never made it to my due date, so maybe I'll have LESS than 30 days.
In other news, when we woke up this morning there was some snow on the ground, but since it had started raining again, it was more like a slurpee. It was exactly like a slurpee. Nasty stuff to walk in. The canyon has been closed all day, and it is currently snowing again. Perfect weather for staying indoors and being warm.

And for dessert

... I'll take two Tums, please. Preferably the same color.