Life is absolutely crazy right now. There's not enough time to get anything done, it seems, which is probably why our house looks like it's ready to host several archeological digs. We're all doing fairly well, though, and continuing to slowly adjust to Tylan's arrival. It feels like a tough adjustment to me. It's not that it's hard adjusting to caring for a newborn again, although it's certainly quite time consuming. It's just really hard trying to balance the needs of three other children, especially a two-year-old who definitely has her moments of showing she's having a rather rough time. It's much easier when Cory is at home and there's one of us who can fully devote ourselves to Ella (being able to carry her without a baby in the sling is a big one, it seems). It makes envy those families where both partners are at home!

Since I blogged last Friday, there have been a few things going on. The weekend was kind of a wash with Cory working so much. I guess the highlight would have been the kids and I having another movie night and watching the newest Little Mermaid movie out on dvd. They really enjoyed that.

Cory was home on Monday because of the holiday, and the most I remember from that was doing the grocery shopping. Oh, we also finished watching last season of Prison Break so we could watch this season's premiere on Monday, so that was our big accomplishment.

Tylan had her two-week check up with the pediatrician on Tuesday and is doing great. She weighs 8 lbs. 12 oz. (gained nearly a pound since leaving the hospital) and is 21 inches long (1 inch gain).

Yesterday was Cole's 6th birthday. He wanted to go up to Sioux Falls for the day, so we also got a chance to see how Tylan would travel on a longer trip. She did great, and I hope she does fairly well when we travel to Mankato in a couple weeks. We went to Chuck E. Cheese, and the older kids and Cory had a blast. Then we caught a matinee of Wall*E, which we all really liked. After that, we went to Toy R Us because there was something there that Cole wanted to spend his birthday money on. It was a really nice birthday for Cole, and I think we were all exhausted by the end of it.

Soccer is starting up this week for Accalia and Cole. Accalia had her first practice on Tuesday, and Cole has his tonight. Both kids have games on Saturday morning, but thankfully they're at different times. Accalia also has try outs for the Nutcracker Ballet Saturday afternoon. I was really hoping Cory wouldn't be working yet so he could keep Cole and Ella with him, but that's not going to happen.

Still have to get pictures off the camera. I'll try to do that soon.

Today definitely didn't start off too great, and it ended up taking more than half the day before everyone seemed to be in decent moods. Ella was just miserable for most of the morning, crying about nearly every thing that happened. I battled a near migraine most of the day, too, which definitely didn't enhance any patience I had. We've all survived, though, and are in much better moods.

Cory is working tonight, the kids had about two hours of play with the neighbors, and now everyone is either watching videos (Accalia and Cole), walking around wearing a backpack and tiara (Ella) or sleeping in the sling (Tylan). I've been doing some straightening up since I basically just sat around most of the day.

Monday will be Cory's last day at home, and that makes me sad. It's been so nice having him around so much, and it's not even because of the help he gives around the house or with the kids. We normally don't have very much time at all just to hang out and relax together, so we've been doing things like trying to watch the past season of Prison Break before the new season starts.

So Cory will go back to work on Tuesday, but he'll take Wednesday off since that's Cole's birthday. We're going up to Sioux Falls to Chuck E. Cheese and then to see Wall*E at the cheap theater.

That's about it from here. I'll try to post more pictures soon.

August is a very busy month as far as birthdays and anniversaries go among our friends and family, and with Tylan's arrival in the thick of it all I'm afraid I've neglected to send birthday and anniversary wishes to many people. I should manage to do better next year, though. Cory and I celebrated our 11th anniversary last Saturday, and by celebrating I mean it was good that we even remembered it this year. Yesterday would have been Mary's 62nd birthday.

Things are going fine. It's just busy, busy, busy adjusting to life with four children and trying to function on less sleep and still recover from childbirth. I suppose once you've had four children most people just figure it's rather run of the mill and easy enough to adjust to compared with welcoming your first baby. It is in some ways, I suppose. Actually, caring for newborn Tylan is a breeze. It's making sure the other three have their needs met and don't feel left out or overshadowed by their new sibling that is more difficult.

At nine days old, Tylan is certainly more aware than she was at the start, and the kids appreciate that little bit. They love that she'll turn toward them when she hears their voices and that she'll try to focus on their faces. I explained to them that newborns usually can't focus beyond a foot at the most during the first month or two (and then it still might be rather blurry), so Cole has been carrying around a ruler so he knows how far away a foot is when he's near Tylan. I love that when Tylan wakes up and sees me that she gets this look on her face that comes pretty close to contentment. She's also trying out that voice of hers more with lots of little coos and grunts. Other than a fussy period last night that lasted about an hour, she's been a happy and content baby so far.

Accalia and Cole are always very excited when 3:30 rolls around and the neighbor girls show up. For the most part, they've been getting along well, although I definitely notice that the girls are more tired and less patient with each other after a day at school. Thankfully they go inside at 7:30 to get ready for bed, so they usually go inside before they're too tired and cranky with everyone.

Both Ella and I are worn out today. She's napping right now, so she's definitely tired. She's been up too early two days in a row, and that's left us both dragging. Hopefully tonight will be one that requires very little from me. Thankfully Cory will be home tonight, too.

Just writing this down for the baby book.

- Tylan's cord stump fell off sometime during the night of the 24th/morning of the 25th.
- Had a short baptism ceremony for Tylan on the 25th while my parents were here since we won't get back to Mankato and our church until late September.

You know, it's hard enough getting enough sleep all of the time with a newborn, but last night we had the fun of discovering a bat flying around upstairs. That definitely cut out any extra sleep we may have gotten. We're not actually sure where it went, but Cory thinks it got trapped in the guest room. Our plan last night was to call animal control this morning, but I don't know if that's what we'll still do. I'm putting in a call to the pediatrician about whether we should be checked out or do anything since this bat probably was flying around while the kids were sleeping. No visible marks on the kids and I rather doubt the bat actually landed on anyone, but I'm a little paranoid, especially with a newborn in the house.

My parents arrived yesterday around 5 p.m. and left today around 1 p.m. So, it was a short trip, but it was very nice having them here. The older kids loved it because Grandma and Grandpa took them for walks and to the park and did all of those energetic running around things that I am not quite up to doing yet. Unfortunately Cory worked almost the entire time they were here except for a couple hours this morning.

Things have been going well, although I can tell I've been up and doing too much. I'm really looking forward to this week and having Cory home except for whatever pizza shifts he'll work. Tomorrow I think we're all going to try a short grocery shopping trip. I haven't left the house since we got home from the hospital on Wednesday, and I'm looking forward to getting out. Hopefully shopping with four children won't be too horrible the first time out.

Tylan continues to be most excellent at all of the things newborns do - eating, sleeping, etc. Today she gave one of those involuntary giggles while asleep, which was very cute. The other kids can't get enough of her yet, and Accalia is always asking if it's time to change her diaper. Wonder how long that will last...I can still tell that Ella's having the hardest time, but that only seems to come out when she's tired. All three kids are really tired today since they had to get up early to be awake for Grandma and Grandpa.

As promised, here are more pictures:

So obviously sleep deprivation is making it difficult for me to completely answer simple questions such as name pronounciation. Sorry, Mel. Tylan's name would be said as tie-luhn.

Unfortunately Cory had to work tonight, so the kids and I have been on our own since a little before 6 p.m. The older three are all finally asleep, but of course Tylan is waking up a bit after a pretty sleepy day. Putting Ella to sleep without the ability to completely focus on her continues to be the most difficult part of this transition for both of us, but I'm confident (when I'm less tired) that it will all work itself out.

Thank you all for the congratulations! We've had a couple people ask how Tylan's name is pronounced - something I hadn't even thought about there being multiple pronounciations - and for those wondering it's a long i with Ty (as in tie your shoes).

We're doing fairly well on day three of having a newborn. Tired but good. I can definitely tell the difference in neediness with the second youngest child being 4-5 months younger than we've usually had when a new baby has arrived. It's a bit more challenging at night with Ella since she doesn't want to accept Cory's comforting if she wakes up, but it's usually easy enough to nurse her (that's usually what she wants) as long as Tylan doesn't start crying. Ella usually wants to nurse whenever she sees Tylan nursing, but that's what the other kids did, too, and I'm sure that will die down after a while.

Tylan continues to be a pretty laid back baby other than not always taking to diaper or clothing changes. For the past two nights, I've attempted to go to sleep early - 9:30ish - when it seems that Tylan is falling asleep, but that hasn't worked out very well. She seems to go through a nursing and semi active phase for a couple hours and then falls into a nursing every hour period until 3 or 4 a.m. Then she goes into deeper sleep and that's when I seem to get the most rest. I have no idea how we'll manage when we can't sleep in a bit in the mornings.

It's been great having Cory at home taking care of so many different things. He does have to deliver pizzas this weekend, but he's going to see about getting out of tonight at least. My parents are coming later tomorrow and staying overnight for a quick visit. The kids are extremely excited about that.

I'll post more pictures soon. Our camera battery died so Cory has to run out and get a new one.

I'm so happy to report that I am no longer pregnant and we are now a family of six! Poor Cole remains the only son now that our third daughter, Tylan Addison, has arrived. She was born yesterday (my due date of August 19!) at 4:55 a.m. weighing 7 lbs. 15 oz. and is 20 inches long. Right now she looks so much like Cole did as a newborn.

Labor was quick and intense. I woke at 2 a.m. with contractions and decided to try to go back to sleep or at least rest as much as possible in case this was the real deal. I didn't really sleep over the next couple hours, and around 4 a.m. could tell that the contractions had gotten more intense. I woke Cory at 4:19, told him he had to get up and call the doctor, doula and our friend who was watching the kids. Our friend was over within minutes and we headed out the door because I had to really concentrate through the contractions. We made it to the hospital, got up to the labor and delivery room, changed into a gown and then my water broke. I headed over to the bed to squat since that's the only way I could make it through contractions this time around, felt like pushing with that first contraction at the bed and suddenly felt the head. The doctor and doula weren't here yet and the two nurses started scrambling to help deliver the baby. I was on hands and knees on the bed and delivered Tylan with the next push or two (can't recall). One of the nurses exclaimed that she'd never done this before, so I was able to be the talk of the hospital.

We made it back home this morning around 10:30 a.m. and were so happy to be out of the hospital. For the most part the staff was terrific, although they had Tylan at the nursery for longer than I preferred a few times. The kids and Cory all slept over in the room last night. All of the kids were so excited to meet their sister and can't stop running over to her and kissing her, patting her head, holding her, etc. Ella has turned out to be the most protective, which really surprises me. She's pushed Cole away a couple times when she feels he's getting too close. It was hard for her to not have Tylan and myself come along when Cory would take the kids away from the hospital, but it was even harder the few times the nurses took Tylan out of the room. She sobbed and sobbed.

Thankfully we're all home and together now. Ella is taking a much needed nap, and Cole and Accalia have been playing with the youngest neighbor girl on and off. Tylan is asleep in the sling right now. She loves the sling and already seems to prefer being put in it to nurse and go to sleep. She's had a lot of alert and awake periods where she just takes in all of the voices around her, and the kids love that.

Tylan's name was chosen because Tylan is the name of one of the members of the band Girlyman, which Cory and I love. Addison is a tribute to Wrigley Field, as it's one of the streets that intersects at the Cubs' stadium.

Here's Tylan mid yawn.


An ecstatic big brother.


A very happy biggest sister.


The first time big sister.

Okay, here is the video of Accalia's gymnastics performance. I apologized to Accalia because I apparently didn't get her hat fastened firmly enough so that it wouldn't come loose. She handled it very well, though. I can't get her tap video to upload and haven't yet attempted the ballet performance.

We made it through the weekend! What a relief! I think we're all happy to have everything done and be able to move into a quieter time of year. Well, I guess it will be quieter until this baby arrives. I have a feeling it will be in the next few days, too. I had a little bit of bloody show this morning and have had a little more discharge throughout the day (sorry if that's TMI for anyone) and have had a few more contractions. If this labor goes like Ella's did, it will probably be in the next couple days. Of course, this baby may be completely different and leave us hanging for a week or more. My doula is out of town until later tomorrow - went with her family to the air show in Omaha (about 2 1/2 hours away) - so it would be nice not to rush her home, too.

Cory had been scheduled to work from 10:30 until 3 and then take a break to see Accalia's ballet performance and be back to work from 5:30-8:30. He came home around 2 p.m., though, since it was so dead and got a call a bit later that he didn't have to come back in because they would be pretty well covered. That was so nice. Accalia had a great performance and was glad to be finished with all of the dancing. She's pretty tired tonight. Ella was thrilled, too, because now that Accalia has no more performances with those costumes, they're now available for dress up. Ella has been waiting a few months to have access to those!

Tomorrow I'm scheduled to have a prenatal appointment in the afternoon. I'm assuming I'll make it there, although I wouldn't be too upset if I didn't. At this point, I'm really ready just to be past the labor and hospital stay and have this baby at home with us. I'm just not looking forward to dealing with all of the necessary parts of being a patient, but hopefully it'll be a decent nursing staff during our hopefully brief stay.

I'll try to get videos of Accalia's performances up tomorrow.

Another day of this weekend nearly finished and I think I may get through it without going into labor. Woo hoo! I'm so tired today, though. We all are. That's the tough part of this weekend. There are lots of early mornings and late nights. At least tomorrow morning the kids should be able to sleep in as late as they want since Accalia's dance performance isn't until later in the afternoon.

Last night was a late night since we watched the fireworks display (costing $1000 per minute and going for 20 minutes) from our backyard and alley, and then Accalia and Cole ended up staying up later because they had a new computer game they were trying to conquer. We were up early this morning to get to the parade route for a good spot, although we ended up being on the side of the street where the sun was shining directly on us. That made for some hot and cranky kids by the time the parade had been going for about an hour. The parade usually goes for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, so it does get long anyway. We ended up leaving early since the kids were restless and uncomfortable and headed down to the park for lunch. Then the kids did some things they had wanted to do and we wandered around a bit. We were all ready to head back home in the early afternoon, though, and Cory had to get ready to go to work.

I was really hoping we'd be able to rest and nap this afternoon, but the older neighbor girl was back from her dad's (the younger is now at her dad's), so Accalia and Cole were running around with her. Unfortunately, as always, she's usually not in the greatest mood when she returns home and that usually comes through in how she treats Cole. So, it hasn't ended up being very relaxing.

Poor Cory is probably going to be more exhausted than any of us by the end of this weekend, though. He's closing tonight and then goes in to work tomorrow morning and into the evening with a break to go and see Accalia perform.

Cory took videos of both of Accalia's performances from last night, but I can't seem to upload them to Blogger right now. I'll try again tomorrow if I have time.

No baby yet. Sorry folks. I'm just happy to have made it past the last two days with everything that is going on.

On Thursday, we had about 2 1/2 hours of dance rehearsal. For the most part, Cole and Ella were pretty content. Cole was busy climbing nearby trees and collecting sticks and rocks and berries. Ella has insisted on wearing leotards and skirts to all dance functions lately, and she was happy sitting up near the stage with the other girls. I was also glad to make it to my hair appointment so that could be taken care of before the baby arrives. Cole accompanied me to that.

Cory took today off from work at the prison, which he usually does on the Friday of Riverboat Days. He does that in part so he can take Accalia to whatever dance practice she has in the morning, and it was very nice to have him take Accalia for the hour run through for Sunday's performance. Since Accalia didn't perform until nearly 7 p.m. today, we had most of the afternoon to relax or do something that wasn't dance related. At one point, I was upstairs wrapping Cole's birthday gifts so I can have that taken care of before the baby arrives, too. His gifts were in the closet in our spare room, and when I took those out I noticed a box of books. They must have been books I bought at Goodwill or other places at some point and just never found a place for on one of our bookshelves. Then I saw a big tote that was filled with all sizes of Accalia's old clothes and another box with some bigger sizes of her clothes. It was nice to find them because some of the outfits I had wondered about while getting out clothes for Ella in the spring. I was disappointed, too, because now they're too small and Ella missed out on wearing them. I have no idea why those boxes of clothes were in that closet, but it's possible that we put them up there when we moved back in (nearly 6 years ago) and just never took them back out. Most of that closet is filled with boxes of Cory's comics, so it's entirely possible that I've just ignored them.

Back to dance. We decided to go early to the amphitheater to try to get seats. Usually we don't show up until right when Accalia's supposed to be there since it's hard enough to keep the kids entertained for the length of the performances, but we decided that this year would be our best shot of being able to do it. So we showed up about a half hour before the opening ceremonies of Riverboat Days and close to an hour before the dance performances began. We found a spot, and the kids did fairly well during the three hours we were there. I was so uncomfortable by the end, though! Accalia had a great time doing her tap and gymnastics routines. I think Cory was taking pictures and/or video, so I'll try to post those this weekend. Don't worry, Diana, I also have a recent belly shot, so I'll try to post that, too.

Tomorrow, unfortunately, Cory goes in to deliver pizza at 3 p.m., so we're not going to have a lot of time to take in the festivities. We'll get up early tomorrow for the parade and head to the park right after to get our lunch. There are a few things the kids want to see and do, too, so we'll try to do all of that before Cory has to get home. Depending on how things go, the kids and I may head back there if they don't get their fill. Then Sunday will be Accalia's ballet performance and that will be the end of another Riverboat Days for us. Then this baby can come!

My LLL friend and her youngest did stop by yesterday afternoon and brought along a loaf of homemade bread, peaches from her sister's peach tree and a few tomatoes from her garden. Very yummy!

I, however, have been feeling not so great since yesterday evening. I threw up last night, too. I still feel nauseated today. So, I'm wondering if it's a sign of early labor (nothing else to accompany it like increasing contractions) or if I have the awesome timing of getting some sort of stomach virus. I've never experienced nausea during any part of late pregnancy or labor, so who knows?

I'm just happy with each day of this week that we make it through. This afternoon Accalia has run throughs for all three of her performances, so we'll be spending close to three hours (hopefully more like 2-2 1/2) down at the park amphitheater. Then I have a hair appointment tonight.

Wish me luck...

An old LLL friend and fellow Leader might be stopping by this afternoon, so it would probably make sense for me to get off of the computer and continue taking care of dishes or laundry or something while the kids are all happily occupied.

Ella has decided she wants to wear her hair in pig tails all of the time. It's pretty amazing that she actually wants me to do something with her hair because usually she just barely tolerates it. The only way I can actually brush her hair and get it out of her face is if she's sitting at the computer playing a game or watching a video. Otherwise, she'll just run away.

Cole is playing with clay and a variety of toy animals and Pokemon figures. Lately he's been going through a phase of wanting to be sure we write things down so we remember it all. Today he told me to write down that we're watching A Baby Story on TLC and that there are lots of people coming over to visit the family.

Accalia is hiding upstairs in one of the bedrooms because Ella wouldn't stop pulling off the blanket she was covered up with and Accalia wanted to be left alone. She wants the neighbors to come over and ring our doorbell - haven't seen them today - and I told her she and Cole could go over to see if they're around. She doesn't want to do that, though. She just wants them to appear at our door.

This morning we ran to the store to pick up a few groceries - I hope to avoid doing that during the busy and hectic weekend ahead - but that's about all we've done outside of the house. Cory's delivering pizzas tonight, so it'll be just the kids and I hanging around.

Last night I told Cory that I think this baby is not positioned correctly. I think the baby is still head down, but I'm starting to wonder if the little one is posterior (back facing my back) rather than anterior (back against my abdomen). The back pain and sciatica I've had this time around is so much more intense than any of the other pregnancies. I've also noticed things that usually point to a posterior presentation like not feeling the kicks into the ribs and rather feeling them more in the stomach. That's a big one because usually in later pregnancy I can't get comfortable because of the feet sticking into the ribs. So I've been focusing on doing exercises and making sure I sit in ways that promote an anterior presentation and are recommended by the optimal foetal positioning folks. I've had a hard time telling this pregnancy exactly what parts of the baby are where, and even though I sometimes feel what I'm sure is the back/spine against my abdomen, I'm not always sure. I just know that I don't want to go through back labor and spend that first stage of labor having the baby working hard to turn around to a better position rather than having my cervix open. At any rate, the exercises that I've been doing have helped relieve a lot of the pain and uncomfortableness, so we'll see how things go.

Because of the late stage of pregnancy and the fact that Cory will be working and not always able to be with me and the kids down at Riverboat Days this year, we're doing something a little different. We're paying for a parking spot ($25 for the weekend) at a lot that is right across the street from the park and the amphitheater where Accalia will be dancing. We only live 4-5 blocks from the park, but at this point there's no way I'll be able to traipse all over with the three kids (probably carrying Ella for part of the time) and lugging around all of the dance stuff. Definitely looking forward to that!

The construction workers are hard at work right outside of our house this morning. I think they're busy with the new water main, which means there will probably be no water for parts of the day. That's been happening a lot where the water will be turned off for an hour or so, and it always seems to come right at the times where I'm preparing food or washing laundry. Cory filled up a bunch of containers so we'll have extra water on hand just in case.

Yesterday we didn't see the neighbor girls until middle of the afternoon. They were at the beach swimming, and Accalia had her tap dress rehearsal. But when we did see them, the first thing they wanted to do was to come inside the house and play. Ella was sleeping on the couch, though, so I nixed that idea. Well, when they want to come inside but aren't able to, they're constantly asking Accalia or Cole to go get all sorts of things, and this probably ends up almost noisier then all of them being inside because there are screen doors slamming and kids yelling from the door and so on. Finally I told them they would have to just stay outside and not come in and out because Ella was starting to stir. They held off until after Ella was awake, but then Accalia and Cole came in for a while to eat and rest and watch a show I taped. They had been doing that for less than five minutes when the oldest was knocking at the back door and calling for Accalia.

Neighbor: Accalia!
Cole: We're watching a show and don't want to play right now!
N: Accalia!
Accalia: Just wait!
N: Come out and play!
A: Just wait!
N: What are you doing?
A: Watching something. We'll be out soon.
C: We're watching a show Mom taped!
N: So it's on tape and you can pause it?
A: Just wait! I'm coming out!

One more week until schools start. One more week. Today Cole told me he would be so happy when school started so the neighbors wouldn't ring the doorbell all of the time. Cory always tells me to just tell them that the kids can't play from such and such a time, but that really makes no difference. They'll go back home for a little bit but come back as soon as they're bored. I'm not sure if that's because neither tells time very well yet and they don't have or ask whichever adult is there to help them. At any rate, my hopes of quietly snuggling in with my family during the last week or so of pregnancy don't seem to be happening.

Today is the one day of the week where there's nothing going on - no dress rehearsals, doctors appointments, etc. I imagine the neighbors will be over early and often.

Ella completely ran out of steam around 2 p.m. after her 4 a.m. waking. Here's the photographic evidence:


She hadn't been sitting at the computer very long at all watching different videos on Youtube when I walked in the room and found her asleep.

Here's a little video:


Since Ella fell asleep right before I needed to leave for my prenatal appointment, Cory stayed home so she could keep sleeping. She slept for about three hours. Accalia wanted to stay home, too, so she and Cory could play their Gameboys together. So it was just Cole and myself. We had to wait more than a half hour to go back to a room, and we passed the time by watching a Little House on the Prairie episode that was on the tv in the waiting room. Then we ended up waiting 10 or 15 minutes longer before Dr. M actually came in to the room. After all of that waiting, it didn't take much time to determine that the baby and I are both just fine and getting closer to delivery. I could tell over the weekend that the baby dropped, and my measurements confirmed that. I've also lost a couple pounds since last week. I don't think that's ever happened before.

It's been storming most of the evening, so we've all just been hanging out inside. Made it through the last art class, a very welcome chiropractic appointment, and the first day of dance rehearsals. Tomorrow is dress rehearsal for tap.

Ella and I have been up way, way too long already this morning, and it's only 7:30 a.m. Ella was so restless and just not falling back to sleep, so I got up with her at 4:30 a.m. Ugh. Cory got up a few minutes later because he was awake, too, and decided to get into work early rather than use time off so he can come back this afternoon to come to my prenatal appointment.

I've actually been somewhat productive in the three hours since waking up. I cleaned out the fridge and balanced the checkbook. I even took a shower. Now if only someone had magically cleaned our house, too.

I have to wake up the kids in about a half hour because Accalia is going to her last summer art class this morning. Usually she goes on Fridays, but it won't work this Friday because of dance rehearsal for Riverboat Days. Then, in the middle of the afternoon, I have my prenatal appointment. After that Accalia has practice for her gymnastics and ballet performances.

Every day this week that we can get everything accomplished that is scheduled - without me going into labor - will be a very, very good thing.

This isn't ending up to be the quiet weekend I was hoping for on Friday. Usually one or both of the neighbor girls are gone at their dad's on the weekends, but they've both been here this weekend. They've even sat outside in their yard waiting for us to get back if we're gone. Apparently their mom isn't doing anything with them. Well, she's gone today so they have a babysitter. They're playing inside our house right now after begging all day yesterday to come inside and play. I felt horrible yesterday (more on that in a sec) and the girls were in such awful moods (Cole was crying within a minute of them coming over to play), so I said no. There's just no way I could deal positively with them yesterday, and I'm barely even doing that today. Can you tell I'm in the last days or weeks of a pregnancy?

For lunch yesterday we decided to actually go to a "sit down" restaurant since our chances of doing that and having it be more relaxing with a newborn are pretty slim. The kids all enjoyed it. That, and a couple trips to different stores took up our outside the house time yesterday.

That, along with being up and about all day Friday, really took its toll on me yesterday. The sciatica wasn't any better yesterday, and I was hobbling all over the place. By evening, I was having contractions - some a bit painful - and starting to wonder if I might actually go into labor before my due date. I told Cory I was going to bed early (ended up being around 11, so not much earlier) so I could lie down and either get some sleep if I was indeed going into labor or just have the chance to be still and see if the contractions would stop. The latter happened and I'm doing okay today. I still don't feel the best, and I really hope I can get in to the chiropractor tomorrow. That will make a huge difference, I think, especially with all of the running around this next week. Gosh, I'm hoping that once this baby arrives I'll be in a better mood, too! I haven't looked back over my blog entries, but I just get the feeling that I've been really negative lately. That, and having public schools back in session in 1 1/2 weeks.

Cory's working until 5 or 5:30 today, although if it's slow he may get off earlier. That would be fabulous. We don't have anything planned for tonight, but it'll just be good to have him home. I should try to tackle a LLL letter I have to get sent out, and then I'll be up to date with all of my LLL correspondence.

Most likely this will be our last fairly quiet weekend as a family of five. Next weekend is Riverboat Days, which will be packed with dance performances, other activities, and Cory unfortunately delivering pizzas. Well, I suppose I could go into labor or have the baby already, but I'm going with the assumption that I'll make it to my due date and beyond.

I think I'm going to have to make an extra trip to the chiropractor this month - hopefully Monday - because I have been in such pain from sciatica. It hasn't been a huge issue this pregnancy, but I've been hobbling around for the past few days because it's been so painful to walk. It's hard enough just doing the basics, but it's even more difficult to get motivated to do extras toward preparing the house for the baby when each step hurts.

Yesterday we were up in Sioux Falls for most of the day for Myron's shoulder surgery. Once again he's had the rotator cuff repaired. I think this may be the third surgery on that shoulder. Now he needs to have the other shoulder repaired because he blew out both shoulders at the same time trying to remove a blade from a riding lawn mower. Cory and I both hope Myron's more cautious with physical activity from now on because it seems pretty obvious that his shoulders aren't strong enough to handle certain levels of push and pull.

Cory's brother, Mark, and sister-in-law Shannon also came up for the surgery, so we were able to spend most of the day talking with them. None of their three kids were along, though, so the kids missed out on seeing their cousins. In a bit of a coincidence, Cory's uncle Rich (married to Mary's sister Pat) was in the same hospital having heart stents put in due to blockage. We haven't seen either of them for about three years since the funerals of Mary, Mary's step-father and Mary's mother. They hadn't ever met Ella either, but Pat has always said from seeing pictures that Ella looks just like Mary did as a child. When Pat saw Ella yesterday, she told Cory that Ella was the spitting image of Mary. I wish we had pictures of Mary as a child, but their family was so poor that having a camera was a luxury they couldn't afford. Anyway, Pat and Rich had three of their daughters (Cory's cousins) along, so we were also able to see them for a while. That was really nice.

We're going to have to make a point to head up north to visit Pat and Rich after the new baby arrives since we don't know how much time Pat has left. I mentioned a few months ago that she was diagnosed with amyloidosis. Along with that, Pat also has multiple myeloma, which is a cancer that often goes hand in hand with amyloidosis. Unfortunately, multiple myeloma, affects the bones, making them very brittle, and Pat recently broke her ankle. She's supposed to keep her leg elevated at heart level or higher but isn't doing a very good job according to her daughters.

We made it back from Sioux Falls just in time for Cory to rush inside and change to go off and deliver pizzas. The kids and I spent a fairly quiet evening hanging out at home, with quick trips to the store and a short visit from the neighbors. Everyone was tired.

Today Cory does work for a few hours in the evening, but I'm not sure what we'll end up doing during the day. Right now I'm just making sure Cory gets to sleep in since he hasn't been able to do that in a long, long time.

Cole's asking to play a computer game now, so I'm going to turn over the computer to the little guy.

Today was a pretty good day other than being completely annoyed by our neighbors this evening. Cory was working, and the kids and I had gone out to pick up marshmallows for Accalia. When we returned home, our neighbor and her sister were sitting in their backyard and the three kids between the two of them were playing in our yard. They were swinging on our swingset, riding in our wagon, etc. Earlier this summer, I had told the neighbor girls that we didn't want them playing in our yard when we weren't there. As far as I knew, they'd been respecting our wishes. I just don't understand how, as parents, you let your kids go ahead and play on someone's property and with their things when they aren't around and you have no prior agreement to do that. That doesn't make sense. I've always told the kids that we shouldn't be on someone's property or use their things unless they've said it's okay. That just seems like commonsense and respect to me. I guess not everyone thinks like that. As soon as I parked, Cole jumped out of the van, ran to the kids (who were near the moms) and said, "You shouldn't be playing with our things when we're not here." Who knows if that will actually be enforced? I was just amazed that there were parents outside watching the kids.

Anyway, minor annoyances aside, the kids and I had a good time on our little trip to Vermillion. We headed out right away in the morning and went to the park that they really enjoy. Since it was early and still a bit overcast, there weren't very many kids around. Most were at the nearby community pool for swimming lessons, I guess. After playing there until they were worn out and hungry, we grabbed lunch and then headed over to the W.H. Over Museum. Cole had been requesting going there. It's not a very big museum, and the kids weren't all that interested in many of the exhibits, so it was a pretty quick trip in and out. Then we went to the library because they had all of these interactive bug activities in the children's section (bugs was the theme for this year's summer reading program). I think Accalia and Cole's favorite was the huge honeycomb where they could arrange bee eggs, larva, pupa, babies, etc. in the cells.

So we were over there for part of the day until we had to get back in time for Accalia's tap class. Miss Judi, the studio owner and teacher of the tap class, pulled me aside and told me how surprised she was that Accalia had decided not to continue with tap this year. Registration for the fall semester is this week, and Accalia had decided she wanted to take ballet and gymnastics this year. She told me (and then Accalia) how wonderful Accalia is with tap, how she catches on so quickly and knows the steps so well. She told me she thought Accalia would stop with ballet before tap, and I told her I was surprised, too. After the class, I made sure to tell Accalia that she didn't need to feel pressured into taking tap just because of Miss Judi's praise, but that's not a problem with Accalia. For whatever reason, she's had enough and is ready to move on.

So that's pretty much been our day. I'm now falling way behind on emails, which I had been hoping to keep up with so I don't just go into labor and leave people waiting for my response even longer, especially with LLL stuff. Anyway, hopefully that catching up happens tomorrow since we'll be in town all day.

I imagine that I must be doing my version of nesting right now. I'd love to say I'm cleaning the house from top to bottom and perfectly organizing everything, but no. Instead, I'm attempting to keep up with more routine cleaning to make sure the house will at least be presentable if my friend K. is over here with the kids while the baby's being born and/or for anyone that may be over soon after the we come home from the hospital.

I did manage to take care of a few things on my to do list, including wrapping up the gifts that the baby has miraculously picked out for the older three, started packing a suitcase for the hospital and a backpack with some basics (clothes, etc.) for the kids. I thought there was more that I did today, but I guess not. Oh, I also got to the hospital to turn in my pre-admission form, so there's that, too.

Otherwise, it was a day mostly filled with the kids playing with the neighbors, most of the time outside but some of the time inside. I think the real indication of me trying to nest is how much I've been dreading the thought of the doorbell ringing all week, and it's only Tuesday! I just want us to be able to hole up and be done with the rest of the world for a while.

Oddly enough - based on those feelings - we're going to be out of the house for at least part of the day tomorrow. We're heading about 30 miles away to the town of Vermillion to do a few things the kids like to do and that we haven't done yet this summer. Hopefully it does end up being a fun time. I guess I can still enjoy not listening to that doorbell ring, huh?

I think I'm going to get ready for bed now.

Another week, another prenatal appointment. Today's appointment was just fine. Everything's good - blood pressure, urine, baby's heartbeat. The baby is head down, so no worries about a breach at this point. I'm measuring at 37 weeks and will be 38 weeks tomorrow. I continue to think that this baby is going to be smaller than Ella (9 lbs. 3 oz.) Part of that is because, even though I'm only two weeks from full term and feel huge often throughout the day, I still don't feel big enough to be almost ready to have a baby. No signs of impending labor, which is a good thing in my book. I want to make it at least two more weeks. I have had a few more contractions today, but I think that's just a combination of being on my feet most of the day and just being exhausted. Last night was just not a good night of sleep for any of us.

This morning the kids and I went to have two new tires put on the van and what was apparently a slow leak repaired on another one. At least now we'll have good traction for any upcoming car trips. Other than that and the prenatal appointment, most of the day consisted of playing with the neighbor girls - both inside and outside. I sat on our front steps with the younger girl, and she told me all about how she and her sister share a room, and Nick has "that" room and now another guy has moved in and "sleeps upstairs with Mama." She didn't sound exactly pleased about the whole thing.

Cole and I are the only two awake, and I'm going to be ready for bed very soon. I'm exhausted just thinking about this being the beginning of the week!

Ugh. It's 99 degrees outside and feels like 107. Not my idea of fun! Accalia and Cole just went outside with the older neighbor girl to play in the pool. After lunch I was out with the kids for a while, but other than that we've been inside. With Cory working the majority of the weekend, it's been pretty quiet. I've been lonely, too, even though I'm never alone. We even had an extra child most of the day yesterday with the older neighbor girl here most of the day.

I can't say I've really accomplished a lot of my baby preparation stuff I had hoped to, although I did find my list of things I hoped to accomplish before baby arrives. I was even able to cross off a few things. I started straightening up the guest room, too, thinking we might want that ready in case somebody stays with us for a night or two after baby is here. That would probably be my mom and/or dad, although that completely depends on when the baby is born since my mom isn't just able to take off work at a moment's notice.

This week is the last week of Accalia's regular dance classes. Then it's on to rehearsals for the Riverboat Days performances. I have a prenatal appointment tomorrow, too. Cory's dad will be having shoulder surgery on Friday, so we may all head up there to see him depending on if he'll even tell us when the surgery is scheduled. He's had procedures done before and just told us afterwards because he says he doesn't want to be a bother. It drives Cory nuts.

I think I'll continue trying to pick up a few things upstairs. Hopefully Cory will be home in a couple hours.

Right now I'm listening to the most recent Girlyman album - their live "Somewhere Different Now" - and really wish they were playing near us so I could actually see them perform again. Each of the three have such exquisitely different voices from each other. Love them.

The majority of today has been spent with the kids in the water. Accalia went to art class this morning, but after lunch the kids hopped into our pool for a while. The neighbor girls weren't around until close to 3 p.m., and at that point they came over to play for a while. The younger one then left to spend the weekend with her dad, and the older one eventually left to do some shopping with her mom. After supper, I took the kids to the kiddie pool at a local park and we were there for a couple hours until Ella fell backwards, struggled to get up and was pretty freaked out about the whole incident. When we came home, the older girl was out in her pool, so Cole and Accalia have spent another hour or so out with her. They're inside now, though, and hanging out and watching some toons. Ella's in here with me playing computer games and applauding the Girlyman songs.

Amy, I agree with you about the impact we can often have on people who enter our lives and just seem to do nothing except cause stress or other negative emotions. I think about that whenever I seem to have a lot of contact with someone who seems to cause me more stress than anything. I do hope that one day our neighbor girls can look back and remember living next door to a family who wasn't always talking down to each other or trying to control whatever was happening. Honestly, I'm very, very eager for the first day of public school - August 20th - because I know we'll at least have our sanctuary during those school hours without the on and off (or sometimes constant) presence of these girls. I know it may be difficult enough to maintain harmony as we all adjust to a new baby, so I'll need all of the help I can get in that respect.

There's nothing else too notable happening today. Cory, unfortunately, will be spending the majority of this weekend working for the pizza man. I'm not quite sure what the kids and I will be doing tomorrow or Sunday. I think I'll be trying to take advantage of one of the few remaining weekends before baby arrives to keep trying to accomplish things. LLL work seems to be picking up again, too, which is fine since that means I may be able to tie up a bunch of loose ends there before the baby arrives, too.

Speaking of pregnancy, I've noticed over the past few days that my sense of smell is returning. It's very odd after being mostly without for at least six months or longer. So I'm walking around the house smelling different smells and thinking, "How long has this smelled like that? Why didn't anyone tell me?" Not that there's anything that would completely repulse visitors, but it would still have been nice to know.

Okay, I'm going to try to tackle a few LLL emails while all of the kids are happily occupied.

For the past week, the older neighbor girl has been at her dad's, so it's just been the younger one hanging around here. Earlier this week, they got a new pool. It's not huge, but it's big enough for the kids to float in and stay cool. When the older neighbor girl is gone, the younger one becomes quite bossy, trying to control everything being done during play. I'm not sure if she's trying to recreate the dynamic between the two sisters or what, but it drives me nuts.

Anyway, Accalia and Cole have been eagerly looking forward to each day because they really like hanging out in the neighbor's pool. I think the younger one realizes this and is making sure she keeps the pool as her upper hand so she can get what she wants during play. She's turned into a little pool dictator and will tell the kids: "This is just a wading pool. It's not a fun pool! You can't splash around. You can only sit here." It goes on and on. The kicker is when Accalia and Cole aren't too eager to follow her exact instructions and she says, "I'm going to go inside and you won't be able to play in my pool ever again." I've tried gently suggesting that everyone might have a lot more fun playing if it's not just one person trying to be the boss, but that doesn't have an effect.

Well, this started happening again yesterday afternoon. We have a tiny pool that's pretty much good for some fun splashing but no floating around, and I had gotten that out because the kids were so eager to play in the neighbor's pool but the neighbor said they couldn't. I guess she changed her mind, but her mom wanted to freshen up the pool water and had the younger girl filling up the pool more. She was walking around in it holding the hose, and when Cole asked if he could do that, too, she said, "No! You're dirty. You can't be in here. I'm going to fill it up and then go inside." (For the record, Cole wasn't dirty). I was so sick of this by now, so I suggested to the kids that if they wouldn't be able to play in the pool that we should head to the pet store, which is something they'd been wanting to do for a while. As soon as the neighbor girl said this, she said, "Wait! I'll go ask my mom about the pool! No, wait! I'm going to ask her if we can go to the pet store, too!" Sigh. Isn't it sad when there's so much competition and attempt to control coming from a 5-year-old? I'm sure this is what she's used to at home, and that's even worse thinking that she'll probably bring this type of behavior to another generation if/when she becomes a parent.

We left and along the way decided that we were going to look for our own bigger pool so the kids wouldn't be at the mercy of the neighbors as far as being able to run out the door and jump in the water. Well, we discovered that there are virtually no pools left on the shelves except for the huge above ground pools. We saw the pool that the neighbors have, but I thought it might be a bit too creepy to buy the exact same pool they did less than a week later. We found another one that's not quite as big but should still give the kids more room to float around when the desire hits. We just happened to run into the neighbor girl while we were at the store. When Cole told her we were buying a pool, a desperate look came on her face as she asked why. When she saw it in our yard, though, you could see the relief as she said, "Oh, that's not so big." Cole told her that we had gotten a pool and that in this pool they could play however they wanted and not have to do just what she said. Her reply was, "Well, you can't play in my pool ever, ever again." I interjected at that point and told her we hadn't gotten a pool so the kids wouldn't want to play with her or in her pool but so they could have something when she wasn't around or able to play in her pool. "Oh," was the reply.

Well, the older girl returned last night and everyone ended up playing happily together in the neighbor's pool. Accalia told me they were waiting until tomorrow to use our pool so the water could warm up. Who knew there could be such drama surrounding little backyard pools? I think tonight I may just take the kids to the little pool at one of the parks tonight and take a break from it all.

Oh my gosh. I just received the most hate-filled email from an LLL Applicant I've been working with for about a year. She's quitting her application and wanted me to know it's basically all because of me. Ouch! Seriously, I have never known anyone to have had such negative feelings towards me (and if there is anyone else out there please don't tell me). I won't go into details because of confidentiality, but let's just say I'm fairly assured that I'm the target of misplaced blame and can safely say I'm in a healthier place both mentally and emotionally than this mother. I just hope she's able to get to a place where things are better for her. At this point, I think it's a very good thing that she isn't trying to help and support other mothers.

Last night I had several subjects I wanted to rant about, and I tried three separate times to actually complete a blog post with that ranting. There was a different reason each time, though, that it just didn't happen. Probably a good thing in the end.

This morning was the last summer story time. It seems odd that summer activities are starting to wind up, but I guess around here there are only 20 more days until public schools begin. The younger neighbor girl is over, she's kind of just playing by herself with our toys. I guess no one wants to play together. Cole is exhausted. He was up really late last night and too early this morning. So was Ella. At least everyone is fairly personable right now.

I've officially discovered that I don't do well at this point in pregnancy (37 weeks today) when extreme heat and/or humidity is involved. It was in the 90s yesterday with dewpoints in the 70s, one of those days where you start sweating as soon as you step outside. In the afternoon, we took Accalia to gymnastics and ballet. Ella had fallen asleep shortly before we had to leave, so I carried her outside to the van without her even waking up. Then she slept through dropping Accalia off and me getting her out of the van and bringing her back inside. I don't know if it was a combination of the heat, humidity and carrying around 40 plus pounds of dead weight, but I promptly threw up once I had set Ella back down to sleep. Maybe I was a little bit dehydrated and didn't realize it. At any rate, today is supposed to feel a bit better outside.

Accalia and Cole played out in the sprinkler while Cory watered the garden and plants last night. A lot of things are blooming later this year simply because we didn't get around to planting until late May or early June. We'll see what we get out of the garden. We have pumpkin plants galore (with one huge sunflower plant in the middle of the pumpkin patch by the shed), tomatoes, peppers, turnips (purple tops just like Cole's beloved Grandma Lena's Big Old Turnip), carrots and a couple scraggly swiss chard plants. I don't know what will happen with the carrots because they were planted too closely to the turnips and probably don't have enough room or sun. The swiss chard has been a favorite of the rabbits, so I'm not sure if we'll be able to keep those all safe. Other than that, though, we should have some good veggies ready to go next month.

Accalia has her last day of the Buggin' Around program at the library, a program focusing on the insect world and geared for grades 1-4. She opted out of going last week. The last few sessions have consisted mainly of doing things like looking through books or watching movies on the topic, and it started out with a lot of hands on activities like searching through mud from the creek or making your own worm farm. I think Accalia's been turned off by the change in the direction, but I think she wants to go for the last session. Then we all go to the chiropractor and are very happy about that.

I should try to pick up in the living room before the kids are awake. It's filled with legos and action figures and Pokemon cards.

Last night before bed it hit me that tomorrow - TOMORROW! - will make it exactly three weeks until my due date. Eek! If this baby goes according to the path of one sister and one brother, though, it will most likely be closer to four weeks. And, if it's Accalia's path to follow, it will only be about a week. Let's hope for the former. While I'm not freaking out in a bad way, it's made me realize I need to get my butt in gear and take care of some things. Alas, I don't think my ultimate goal of organizing the entire house will be realized (and I can't find the notebook where I made my to-do list for before baby's arrival), but I'll survive and we'll all be prepared for a new baby. Accalia and Cole are extremely eager to meet this little one. When we last talked about it a couple days ago, it seems as if they're leaning towards hanging out with friends while I have the baby rather than being at the hospital.

What I really need to do is write down a few important phone numbers and fill out the hospital pre-registration and take care of that. That would be very helpful.

In the meantime, I guess we'll just continue to find things to do in the next few weeks of hot, humid weather. It's hard to believe that public schools start here in just about three weeks, too. To be honest, though, I think we're all kind of happy about the neighbor girls being in school during the day because we know we'll be able to do our thing until late afternoon and not be woken up by the doorbell. Oh wait, I'm sure I'll already be awake much earlier thanks to the little one.

Okay, I need to continue on with the things I wanted to accomplish before Accalia has gymnastics and dance.

Another weekend is almost done and we're already heading into the final week of July. Wow! July has always been one of my least favorite months (even when I was younger) and I'm not sure why, but I'm not sorry to see August right around the corner. We had at least three rainy days this past week - pretty unusual for mid-summer in South Dakota these past few years - and it continues to be hot and humid. If we could just get rid of the humidity for a while, that would be wonderful.

Cory worked only a couple hours on Friday, and has worked Saturday and Sunday during the day. He's really liked having his nights free, of course, and wouldn't mind continuing like this as long as the tips are good. Daytime tips never seem to be quite as good as the night. Since Cory's been home both Friday and Saturday evenings, we've actually been able to watch a couple movies. We watched I Am Legend on Friday and The Bourne Ultimatum on Saturday. Both were entertaining enough.

Other than that, it's been a pretty typical weekend of the kids playing with the neighbor girls who, unfortunately, have been in fairly cranky moods much of the weekend, grocery shopping, and so on. Nothing too exciting. The kids have been playing with clay and playdough, too, although right now it sounds as if we just don't have enough to go around.

Okay, Ella has decided to do something else. Guess she was ready to move on. This morning I slammed my right knee into the computer desk and have been limping around ever since. I have been so clumsy the past couple weeks. Thankfully we're going to the chiropractor on Tuesday!

Thanks for all of the good thoughts about my grandpa. Rachel, I guess that's true that we aren't sure whether the cancer has spread to the esophagus. It's spread to the lymph nodes, which is usually a sign that it has or is spreading throughout the body. So, as my mom told me, the surgeon has said that whether or not the cancer is in the esophagus is a moot point. I guess he's feeling fine right now other than being a little sore from the procedure.

This morning I had a prenatal appointment. Everything continues to be very normal and boring. I'll definitely take that over any pregnancy drama. Or any labor/birth drama. Definitely.

Yesterday we finally had the broken passenger sliding door on the van fixed. It's amazing what a competent mechanic can do. Had the van in on Tuesday to be looked at and parts were ordered that day. Got a call yesterday just before 3 p.m. that the parts were in and I could bring it down, and the door was repaired in less than two hours.

Me thinks we'll be heading to the store sometime soon. Should get motivated to do that!

The news about my grandpa is not good. The cancer has spread into his esophagus (that doesn't look like it's spelled right), so the next step is for him to see an oncologist. My mom's not sure if he'll actually do any treatment, so we shall see. Everyone seems to be doing okay, my mom said, although my experience with cancer diagnoses says otherwise. Of course, I guess there's a bit of a difference between an 83-year-old who has said for years he's ready to go then there is with a 57-year-old who retired not so long ago and just started to enjoy the freedom of not having a 9-5 schedule.

On the brighter side of things today, Cory saw The Dark Knight after today's meeting finished and really enjoyed it.

Also, the new mechanic checked out the van, ordered the part already and should have it within the next few days. We may actually have two working sliding passenger doors before this baby arrives.

We did have a nice visit with my parents. Cole, continuing in his highly emotional stage of late, sobbed and sobbed when they left. He said he just kept thinking of all of the fun things they did: swimming at the motel pool, looking over our garden, planting corn, playing briefly in a pile of dirt left by the construction crew, eating at a restaurant we rarely go to, etc.

Sunday was another hard day for him because he had so much fun playing with our friends' kids when we went to their house for supper. I reassured him that our friends weren't moving away and that we could see them again - at their house or at our house. That didn't help a lot at the time. It just seems that he has a big crying jag at least once a day lately, and I'm not sure why that is. Is it a developmental phase he's going through? Or is it all of the impending changes coming with the baby and that even though he's excited about all of it, he's still a little unsure about changes in general? Or is it something completely different? Cole's always worn his emotions on his sleeve, but usually those have been anger over play not going his way or excitement about something.

My grandpa (maternal) was diagnosed with lung cancer late last week. To get to nearly his mid-80s without a cancer diagnosis is pretty rare, but that doesn't make it much easier. He's had a small spot on his lungs for the past few years, but doctors didn't know what it was and didn't think it was cancer. The spot has barely grown during that time, so I take that as promising news. Yesterday he and my grandma, my parents, and my aunt went down to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester so he could meet with a surgeon. The spot is close to his esophogus, so that needed to be looked at. Today he's having surgery (or is already in surgery) to determine if the spot has spread at all. If it has, then I guess the next step will be trying radiation or chemo. If it hasn't spread, then they'll remove a lobe of his lung in the hopes of removing all of the cancer. Either way, it's going to be hard on him.

Today Cory left for Sioux Falls to attend a couple meetings. He'll be gone overnight. This afternoon I'm dropping off the van at a different mechanic who may actually not just put me off from doing the work but actually fix the things that need fixing. The priority at this point is fixing the passenger door so we'll have in and out access on both sides. That will be so much more convenient, especially when the baby arrives.

Speaking of baby, I'm at 36 weeks today and really wish our chiropractic appointment were this week rather than next week. I really banged my foot last week, and I can tell it shifted around some things higher up. When I'm not very well aligned, that's when I notice my feet start swelling more easily. Yesterday the kids and I went through newborn clothes and picked out all of the gender neutral stuff to wash and put in the dresser. Soon I'll get out some baby blankets and the newborn diapers so we'll have that all set out and ready. I'm sure I'll get all of that done before I even think about packing a bag for the hospital.

I guess I should get ready for the day or at least make an attempt before the kids wake up.

I need to tackle the mess in the kitchen, but other than that I think we're ready for my parents to stop by. They're going to be here sometime after lunch. Cory's going to get off work a bit earlier this afternoon, and we'll see what happens. The kids, of course, will probably be most excited about swimming in the motel pool. Tonight also happens to be the Yankton County Relay for Life. We've gone to that every year since Mary was diagnosed with cancer. We've never been part of a team, but we always buy those paper luminaries that are set up along the track, and the kids decorate the ones we buy. It's always bittersweet to see all of the tributes to those who didn't survive, but it's also inspiring to see all of the survivors.

Yesterday was a rather odd mood day for Cole and Accalia. There were chunks of the day where they both were so weepy about some things and the rest of the day they were their usual selves. Not sure what was going on. It's been a busy week with every day needing to get up and go in the morning, so maybe that's part of it. Today Accalia does have art, but that doesn't start until 10:45 a.m., so everyone gets a chance to sleep in.

I took off the two rings I normally wear - my wedding ring and a ring Cory gave me a couple years ago. I noticed that, while I'm not having swelling problems with my hands at the moment, my fingers have gotten a bit bigger through this pregnancy and it's rather tough to get those rings off. I didn't want something to happen - a sudden swelling - and not be able to get the rings off or have them cut off my circulation, so I took them off and will wait until after the baby is born to put them back on. Definitely feels strange.

Okay, I need to get into the kitchen to start cleaning up or I'll run out of time once the kids are awake.

I started to write an entry yesterday, but I erased it because it sounded like I was just complaining a lot. It was early in the day - before all of the kids were up - and the doorbell was already ringing because of the younger neighbor girl. I guess I should have started out the day with some caffeine!

Anyway, today has been an okay day. During the morning, Accalia was at the second day of her two-day cooking/fitness class. On Monday, she and six other kids had made pizza and fruit kabobs and spent time in the gymnastics room of the activity center. Today they learned about bike safety and went on a bike ride. Accalia said she had a lot of fun both days. So today, while Accalia was at the class, Ella, Cole and I ran a couple errands and just hung out at home. On Monday we went to a couple different places around Yankton to climb around, but today I don't think any of us were feeling that energetic.

This afternoon, the neighbor girls were inside the house from after lunch until Accalia went to tap in the later afternoon. I'm not sure if the girls have a computer at their house or are able to play on it often if they do, but that seems to be what they mostly wanted to do today. Accalia and Cole had fun with that for a while but then wanted to go outside to play. The past few days have been rather interesting with the neighbors and especially Cole. The younger girl, 5, has started trying to take charge of playing (when her older sister, 7, hasn't been there) and has been telling mostly Cole (once Accalia) that they couldn't play with the other two. That resulted in a lot of hurt feelings on Cole's part. I did tell the neighbor girl that she couldn't exclude one person from playing because 1) there were only three of them, and 2) she was at our house playing with the excluded child's toys. I thought under those circumstances it made sense to tell her no one could be excluded, but at the same time I also know that it's not fair to force them to play with someone. But when they're at that person's house playing with that person's things? Yeah, I felt okay saying that. What have others of you done? This is really the first time we've every been in a play situation where one of the kids doesn't want to include everyone.

So Accalia had tap, then we had an early supper and Cory went off to deliver pizzas. Ella fell asleep early tonight, so we'll see if she wakes up later or wakes up early in the morning. Cole and Accalia are playing outside with the neighbor girls again and all seems to be going well.

The street in front of our house is all torn up, so the kids have been having a lot of fun watching the construction today while the workers installed new water pipes. I have a feeling the novelty will wear off before the street is finished. I'm not sure how many blocks of our street will be torn up, but the letter we received from the City stated that the roads would probably be open by mid to late October. Ugh. I don't know if our street will be earlier, though, since we're one of the first blocks to be torn up.

Tomorrow will be storytime, but that's about it. I need to clean the two bathrooms. I also need to catch up on LLL work. Maybe I'll work on that tonight while I have the chance.

We have what looks to be a pretty fun weekend coming up. My parents are on a little vacation through South Dakota right now and are coming to Yankton on Friday. They'll spend the night at a motel so the kids can make use of the pool there. Cory was able to get that night off, so that will be extra nice. We probably won't see my parents again before the baby arrives. On Sunday, we're having supper over at a friend's house (she also happens to be my doula). That should be fun since our kids rarely play together.

I should sign off and try to do a few things now. Accalia and Cole are back inside and happily playing a computer game that disappeared a few months ago but mysteriously reappeared tonight.

This is the first year that the kids and I are participating in The Great Sunflower Project and the first year we've ever tried to grow sunflowers. We planted the packet of seeds we received for the project - the wild sunflower - along with the three sunflower plants we already had growing thanks to a storytime session. Other than the rabbits chewing up one of the library sunflower plants, everything has been growing just fine. Well, except for one thing. The seeds that we received for the project are growing into what look suspiciously like pumpkin plants. We're also growing pumpkins in our garden and have done that for the past few years, so we're familiar with what they look like. There's not a chance any seeds were mixed up because they were kept separate and weren't even planted on the same day, so I started to wonder if there might be a type of sunflower that grows differently than other "typical" sunflowers. Haven't been able to find any, though, so I thought I'd throw it out to any of you who might be more knowledgeable or experienced.

One of my contacts ripped this morning and I don't have any extras. Poop. Both Cory and I do have new supplies of contacts waiting to be picked up at the eye doctor, though, so that's a good thing. Another good thing is that I started feeling much better from this cold yesterday, and today is even better.

The weekend has been very exciting for the kids, especially Accalia and Cole, because Cory picked up their bunk bed yesterday and put it together before going to work last night. They were very excited to go to sleep last night, although it took a couple tries before they actually fell asleep because they decided to go to bed so early at first. Now we have their room painted and the beds in, so we're slowly getting that room ready before the baby's born. Maybe today I'll even have the energy to haul up an old dresser from the basement and put that in their room for Cole. He and Ella have been sharing a dresser in our bedroom, but I think we'll switch that so that Ella and the baby are keeping their clothes in that big old thing.

I had a prenatal appointment Friday, and everything is pretty much normal yet. Blood pressure, baby's heartbeat, swelling, etc. are all just fine. I did gain two pounds over the last two weeks - 40 1/2 pounds total - and I hope that's not going to be the trend for the remaining 5-6 weeks. In two weeks I have another appointment and will be tested for Group B strep and have a quick ultrasound right there just to be sure the baby's head down.

No, the real fun on that trip to the doctor's was the ride home. Each year an organization for people with antique tractors has a ride along area roads. These tractors go about 13 or 14 mph at the highest, and wouldn't you know that we got stuck in the middle of this ride on our way home. So, we spent a lot of time driving very slowly and waiting for oncoming traffic to pass so we could go around a few tractors at a time. It's less than 30 miles from Yankton to the doctor's, but by the time we reached the Meridian Bridge spanning the Missouri River just outside of Yankton, Cole started yelling, "Let's go faster! There are starving kids in this vehicle!"

I was trying to upload pictures or videos since it's been so long, but right now Blogger just isn't letting me do it. I'll try again later. Right now I need to get busy with laundry and dishes and possibly hauling up that dresser.

Oh, this is really not the way to start out the day. Tomorrow I was supposed to have our local La Leche League meeting, which has always been held at the meeting room of our local library. Each December I reserve that room for the dates of the entire coming year. Well, this morning I saw advertised in the paper that there is going to be an annual flower show taking place in that same room during our meeting time. To make matters worse, I had received a call a couple weeks ago from someone at the library telling me that there's a conflict with the August meeting time and that I basically have to give up my reservation because this other group is bigger and needs the space. So, that's two months in a row where my reservation has not been honored. After I drop Accalia off at art this morning I'm heading to the library to talk with someone about what's going on. I've been making these reservations and holding meetings at this same spot for about five years now, but I'm not sure if I'll continue with that next year if this is going to happen.

I think I forgot to mention this in my last post, but it must have been Tuesday (the day we went to the drive in) that I came down with a bad cold. I still feel horrible, and both Cole and Accalia seem to have a cold, too. Having colds during the summer seems to be even less fun than having them during the winter. Combine that with being 34 weeks pregnant, and it's hard to feel comfortable for long.

Since the day doesn't seem to be getting off to a good start, I really hope it will get better as it goes along. I have a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, but that's really about it. Cory does work this weekend, but it's not a horrible schedule. We're planning to pick up the bunk beds tomorrow, so today we should work on clearing out that room a little. It will be nice to be able to get one thing done on my "before baby arrives to do list."

Wow, are we ever an exhausted family this evening! And poor Cory is off delivering pizzas and didn't even get in the nap he wanted to take after we got home from Mitchell. We discovered two things from our 1 1/2 hour trip each way to Mitchell to see a double feature at the drive in theater:

1) Our kids definitely get along better when they ride in our more spacious van compared with all three sitting next to each other in Cory's car. We took the car this time, though, because we thought it would actually work better for everyone having a better view of the screen while sitting inside. It really didn't. It's a great view from the front seat, which is where Accalia and Cole sat during the first feature, Kung Fu Panda. You have to twist your neck to see, though, if you're in the back. It would have worked great to bring along lawn chairs to sit outside, but we didn't have room to do that with the car.

and

2) No more double features. After Kung Fu Panda, the kids were definitely ready to head back to the motel since it was past 11 p.m. We had planned to stay for Hulk, though, and Cole and Ella both fell peacefully asleep - Cole in the backseat and Ella in my arms. Accalia, however, was not going to be happy unless she was lying down in a bed. Once Ella was fast asleep, I set her down in the backseat and took Accalia in my lap. She finally fell asleep for a while, which is good since we didn't get back to the motel until 2 a.m. So, we'll just plan to do the first feature the next time.

We left for Mitchell yesterday a little after 5 p.m. once Cory was home from work. We checked into the motel and decided we'd do a few things around town before the movies rather than hitting the pool. We had to drive by our old house, of course, which looks pretty much the same from the outside. Cole talked about how much he misses Mitchell despite his being only about three weeks old when we moved. Then then kids wanted to stop to see the Corn Palace, and we ended up going inside and taking the short tour at Accalia's request. We made a quick shopping stop to see if there were any pool toys on clearance (nope), and then we headed over to Cory's brother's house to see the progress they've made on their home addition. Mark was working, but he took a break and showed us around. The kids had a blast jumping on their trampoline and almost didn't want to leave for the movie. We did, though, and they played on the playground at the theater for a few minutes before the movie started.

The kids really seemed to like Kung Fu Panda, and Cory and I both thought Hulk was okay. We were all in bed and asleep right around 2 a.m. Cory and I got up a little before 9 a.m. and woke the kids up shortly so we could go swimming before we had to check out. That made waking up much less painful for them, and we had fun in the pool for about an hour. Then we had brunch at the nearby Perkins, which Cole declared a "fancy" restaurant. I told him about how Grandma Greve took us there when he was about two weeks old and how he spit up all over me. After brunch, we made another quick shopping stop and then went back over to Mark's house for a bit. Two of the cousins were home this time, so the kids had fun on the trampoline and the zip line.

Our plan had been to get back in time for Accalia's tap class, but Accalia said she just wanted to skip it today, so that's what we did. Unfortunately, tired, cranky kids and parents aren't a great combination to have the neighbors run right over and play. We're all surviving, though, and will be very happy to go to sleep.

I think we are at the start of the hot, sticky days of summer that will probably last through this month and beyond. Truly, I wish these were my favorite days of the year. I wish that I looked forward to nothing more than jumping in the lake to cool off. I don't, though. All I want is to be able to walk out of the house without breaking into a sweat. Granted, I think the pregnancy has a little something to do with more easily sweating.

We have our van back, but absolutely nothing has been done on it. I called this morning and was told they were still waiting for a part. Hmm. Why would he have called more than a week ago to say the parts were in if they weren't? Why would our van sit at his shop for a week if he wasn't ready to work on it? So I told them I was coming down to pick up the van until they actually have the part in they need. I really didn't want to have to walk about a mile in this humid weather, but I also didn't want to go another day without any transportation. I ended up carrying Ella almost the entire way (the stroller was absolutely soaked from being left outside and it storming during the night), but I didn't feel too worn out from that.

So I probably wasn't in the greatest mood from that when the younger neighbor girl came over to play, and all of the kids were in our little kiddie pool and she was being incredibly bossy. Please, don't bring out toys to play with if you're just going to stand there and yell at my three kids not to touch because it's yours. So I finally just said we were going to the store (we had planned to do that), and so we left. We went to Wal-Mart because I knew they were starting to advertise college buys (bedding, cheap furniture, etc.), and I figured we could get good prices on new sheets for Accalia and Cole's bunk beds that we'll be picking up this weekend. We did, and we also saw that they have out all of their school supplies and so we stocked up on glue and markers and crayons and all of that fun stuff. It's truly one of the most exciting parts of the summer for us to load up on all of that stuff that is used constantly throughout the year. I'm sure the neighbor girl thought Cole was a bit nuts when he ran to the door and yelled to her, "We just got school supplies!!!"

Accalia was very excited to be back at gymnastics and ballet today. Now she and Cole are out with Cory doing a few things.

Our week will be even more exciting than today. Can you imagine? Tomorrow, after Cory comes home from work, we're heading up to Mitchell to go to the drive in to see the double feature of Kung Fu Panda and Hulk. Since Hulk won't be over until around 1:30 a.m. we're staying overnight at a motel. With a pool. We'll return some time on Wednesday before Accalia has tap.

Hope everyone who celebrated had a happy 4th! Cory had the entire day off, so we did a lot of stuff around the house. Cory mowed the lawn right away in the morning before our kids and the neighbor girls were up and spreading things all over the lawn. The neighbors both left around lunchtime to go with their respective dads for the weekend, so it might be a rather quiet time around here over the next couple days.

Cory finally had a chance to fix Cole's bike. At one point last year, some older girls who hung out a little more when we had a different next door neighbor borrowed Cole's bike to ride somewhere (unfortunately I was inside when they asked to do that) and came back with a bike whose rear tire was basically stripped and training wheels that were uneven. Cole's ridden it a little since then, but it's been too wobbly for his taste, and today we finally picked up a new tire and training wheels. He and Accalia were riding their bikes all over. Cory also got Accalia's very first bike out and put the training wheels back on that so that Ella would have her own bike. It's the perfect size for Ella, but she isn't interested in trying to pedal. Instead, I push her back and forth on the sidewalk. She loves that, but it's getting harder on my back to do that. Cory also fixed the tricycle, which had a wheel that had fallen off. So, we've got quite a few working vehicles again!

A huge area of argument with our kids and the neighbor girls is that there are never enough swings on our swing set for all four to be on there at once. I had switched it a bit ago so there would be three swings and Ella's swing, but that still left one unable to swing. So, since Ella seems to have lost interest in being pushed on the swing and is starting to want to sit in a "big kids" swing and be pushed a little, we took down her swing and now have four regular swings. Hopefully that keeps everyone happy.

As is our tradition, we walked down to the river and sat with thousands of others to watch the almost 20 minute fireworks show. I think this is the first year that all three kids have simply sat and watched the fireworks. Usually they're busy running up and down the small hill near where we sit. We all enjoyed it, and all three kids were asleep within an hour of us returning home.

Cory works for a bit later on today delivering pizzas, and I'm not sure what else we'll do. We still have no van, and I'm not even sure how soon next week we'll get it back. It's an extremely frustrating situation, and we're definitely never going back to this mechanic. We really liked the work (and customer service) he did when he installed the hitch on our van, but this has just been so disappointing. We were supposed to get a loaner vehicle Thursday, but that never happened either. Sigh.

I should get ready for the day while everyone is still sleeping. Enjoy your weekend!

I need to call the repair shop soon to see what's going on with our van. We were told it would take a day, and I dropped it off Monday morning. This week is probably the best week we have for going without a vehicle, but I'm not particularly interested in going an entire week without having access to a vehicle during the day while Cory's away. Our sweet, elderly neighbor came over to check on the car situation and offered to take us wherever we need to go. Today we don't need to go anywhere. It's a day free of all commitments.

Yesterday we had a couple places to go, but both were within walking distance. The first was the library (takes about 15 minutes to walk) and the second was the chiropractor (about 5 minutes). Ella was quite unhappy at the library for some reason and eventually nodded off on the couch right around supper time for a nap. When we went to the chiropractor, it was Cole's turn to be unhappy because Accalia was adjusted first and he wanted to be the first one. Five is proving to be a very emotionally turbulent age for Cole, just as it was for Accalia. It seems all of his emotions are riding right on the surface, and if conditions aren't right (tired, hungry, disappointed), he'll go from calm to storm in seconds. I guess it's a good chance for me to continue practicing patience during less than ideal parenting moments since there's really nothing you can do other than ride out the storm. Cole raged while Accalia, Ella and Cory were adjusted, but by the time Cory was done I had talked quietly in his ear long enough that he found something funny to think about and take his mind off of not being first up on the table. Then he was in a jolly old mood. I thought it didn't bode well for continuing to play with the neighbor girls after supper, but he did fine until the younger one started hitting him on the arm and face with plastic cones. She must have also been tired because I saw her rounding the corner of the house sucking her thumb. I can just imagine how hard it is to not be able to see your mom from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. most days. It's really sad that we actually spend more time with them than she does.

I have no idea what we'll do today, but I may have a chance to tackles some of the messes around the house if we have no where to go. I wouldn't mind walking to the repair shop to pick up the van, though!

This morning I had the chance to sleep in a bit for the first time in a few days, and I end up waking up and getting up earlier than any of the other days of late. At least the kids are all still snoozing. They've had a lot going on lately.

We had a so-so weekend in Lake Wilson. The weather didn't cooperate with us doing as much outdoor stuff as we were hoping to do at Lake Wilson's 125th celebration. It was extremely windy and rained for much of Saturday. The kids did get some time down at the park where Cory also ran into a couple high school classmates that he'd been hoping to see. And, even though it rained for most of it, we did watch the parade that traveled down main street. Cory's dad was dressed as a clown for that and, of course, made a point to stop where his grandchildren were and dump a bunch of candy in front of them. The kids had really been looking forward to playing on all of the inflatable toys that were supposed to be set up in the afternoon, but that never happened because it never stopped raining long enough for things to be set up. We were also supposed to watch fireworks that night, but they were cancelled because of the strong winds. We saw very little of Myron, too, because he was running all over the place participating in everything going on around town.

We made it back to Yankton later in the afternoon on Sunday, and Accalia and Cole spent most of the rest of the day playing with the neighbor girls. No one was in especially good or patient moods - the oldest girl never is after spending a few days at her dad's - but for the most part they got along better yesterday. That was good since they played together almost all day yesterday. At one point in the evening, Cole was getting very upset with something going on outside (and he was tired and ready for a break but was having a very hard time being willing to move away from the action), and I suggested that Accalia and Cole go inside and that the neighbors head home so they could see their mom since she was finally home from work and they hadn't seen her all day. It nearly broke my heart when the oldest said, with a hitch in her voice, that her mom had friends over and didn't like the girls to be around when her friends were over. At that point I wanted to go over to their house and tell their mom she might want to actually spend time with them rather than just buying them McDonald's and clearance toys at Wal-Mart, but I didn't. Now that it seems that the girls have a babysitter coming to their house each day rather than going to a babysitter's, I think I need to just accept that I'll have two extra kids on hand most of the time for the rest of the summer. At least they can come someplace where they're actually wanted and interacted with by both the kids and adults in the house.

Yesterday didn't get off to the greatest start. Cory and I both had eye appointments right away in the morning. Cory's was first and he came home to tell me that the doctor said he has a degenerative eye disease affecting the cornea in his left eye. It's called keratoconus and is a thinning of the cornea. If you go to the link, you'll see that blurred picture, which is basically what Cory sees out of his left eye most of the time. The doctor tweaked his prescription for that eye, though, so he should have better vision when his new contacts come in. Cory's vision has been that way for a few years, but we've always thought it was astigmatism, which is often the diagnosis. The good news is that his vision has been stable and hasn't been steadily going downhill. We have no idea if or when it will get worse or how bad it could get. Treatment ranges from trying different contact lens combinations (for example, a soft lens and then a hard lens on top to help keep the shape of the cornea) to a cornea transplant (did you know those are now same day surgery)? Anyway, it definitely wasn't the best news to receive, but thankfully it's not an extremely dire diagnosis either. It could even be decades down the road before anything changes.

We finally were able to drop off the van yesterday for exhaust and door repairs, and it will hopefully be done today. In the meantime, we'll be walking to the library for Accalia's program this afternoon. Even though it's supposed to get pretty warm today, it's not that far that my pregnant 33 week self should be able to handle. Other than a few actual contractions last night and the night before, things continue as normal. My appointment last Friday was fine. All looks good, and amazingly enough, my weight gain over the past month was only 1/2 pound! Wow!

I guess I should get off the computer and start doing a few things before the kids wake up. My plan to shower before they were awake probably won't happen. Happy July to everyone!