waiting

Okay, so my due date was friday. And this is my third baby. This was not supposed to happen. I have tried so hard prepare myself for going late, but the truth is I don't any woman is emotionally prepared to handle the comments, the waiting, the false labor, sporadic contractions, and the feeling of being in limbo. I had to restrain myself from making rude comebacks to the sweet old ladies from church who exclaimed for the 3 sunday in a row "wow, you're still here! Don't have the baby in the sanctuary!"

Right now it's 11:00 pm on sunday night, and I'm on night 2 of random annoying sporadic, semi-painful but not really contractions. I was convinced this morning at around 6:00 am that I would be heading to the hospital soon.... and then the contractions stopped. I was convinced that contractions would start again around 1:00 pm, like they did with Eli, but they didn't. I was convinced that by the time I got ready for bed, they would be long, strong, and regular (that's what she said) but they aren't. Now I am semi-convinced that I will never birth this baby. Now I know that this is not possible. I'm pretty sure that every pregnant woman in the history of the world has, eventually, one way or another, gotten the baby out of her. I have full confidence that my OB's and midwives will not let me go on being pregnant forever. But at this point, I'm having a hard time believing it.

I keep telling myself to trust God, to trust his timing, to realize that his plans are always better than mine. But it's difficult when all I want is to hold this baby outside of my body.

So anyways, here's a cute picture of Elias in his little hat :)

and this gorgeous one of Leah:

Happy Birthday Leah

Yesterday was Leah's birthday. It was also my due date for this third child. I am glad that they will not have the same birthday, but I am beyond ready to have this baby. But that's not the point. This post is about Leah :)

This scarf I made her was the first birthday present she got. I think she liked it.

It really is crazy how old she is getting. She's definitely not my "little baby" anymore.

So on thursday afternoon I decided that I would do a little impromptu get together for Leah, because I was pretty sure I would not be in labor any time soon. I called a few friends, and friday afternoon we had a very small, very informal party for her. The food was literally stuff that I happened to have in my fridge, and I made her half of a rainbow cake.

Not very spectacular, but what's a super pregnant chick to do?

The kids pretty much just played in the backyard. They are all great friends, so it worked out well.

My friend Leigh Anne's older boys were a big help. They were so sweet playing with all the little kids.

We sang happy birthday, ate the half rainbow cake

and opened presents

Like I said, a simple affair. But Leah had fun. At one point she came up to me and said "Mommy, all my friends are here! I'm sooooo happy!!!!"

Lane's Fall Festival

I love fall. I love October.... so many fun things to do down here in middle Georgia (you know, now that it's not 100 degrees outside). We went out to Lane's fall festival on saturday morning and enjoyed some of the festivities.

They had a bouncy house area:

With slides

I think Leah must have slid down about 20 times. We got there right as they opened, so it wasn't too crowded. By the time we left it was ridiculous.

It's crazy how independent she has gotten when it comes to doing things by herself. She's so grown up!

So in the distance you can see the big corn maze. We decided not to do the maze this year, because it was super muddy and the stroller would not have worked, and we would have ended up carrying Elias the whole time. So we did the little haybale maze.

The kids probably had more fun chasing each other around through the little one anyways.

Leah got to paint some pumpkins

And Elias got to ride a baby tractor.

We topped off the morning with a hayride. I was hoping the hayride would help get labor going, but no such luck :)

A good time was had by all. This will probably be one of the last family outings we have for a while :)

Mossy Creek Festival

We went to the Mossy Creek Barnyard Festival on Saturday. It's kind of like a huge flea market in the middle of the woods. Most of the stuff being sold is homemade, and it's usually pretty neat. There is also good food, live music, hayrides, a little petting zoo and a lot more randomness to be found. We went with our friends the Anders, and we had a great time.


This was the first time that Leah has actually gone into the petting zoo part. I really really wish I was not in these pictures, but she would not leave my side :)

This is Jameson and Mae, with the biggest, creepiest and ugliest turkey I have ever seen in my life. Leah wouldn't go near it. I don't blame her.

Speaking of huge turkeys, they really shouldn't make pregnancy shirts with a bunch of giant polka dots on them. After seeing these pics I realized that I looked like the giant turkey.

Elias didn't want to go into the petting zoo, but he loved walking around and listening to the live music.

Jameson's aunt Caitlyn got the privilege of riding in the tiny hay wagon. Danielle and I were way too pregnant, and the men were too big :)

Ravioli

Ahhhhhhh..... I love ravioli for lunch!

So does Eli.

Georgia National fair

"The Fair, is a place, full of smorgush board, smorgush board....." Yeah, I'm not sure if those are the right words, but the song that the rat from Charlotte's Web sings always runs through my head as we navigate the awesomeness that is Georgia national fair.

This year we made the smart decision of going on a weekday early afternoon, and not on opening saturday like we did last year. It was soooooooooo much less crowded and more manageable, and we actually got to do a few things that we didn't get to last time.

Such as.....

Holding a baby chick (easy there, Lenny)

Riding ponies

Riding on daddy's shoulders

Riding on the "really high swing"

And eating lots and lots of fair food. 

Sharks

Oh, sweet Leah.

Such an innocent, sweet face. So funny, delightful, kind, and full of life. She makes me laugh all day long, an is a huge huge joy....... Most of the time.

Other times, she is like a shark. Stalking her prey, circling it, and then, when she smells blood in the water she pounces on the defenseless wounded seal.

Yes, I am that seal. I'm almost 37 weeks pregnant, and Tony is out of town this week. I am a wounded seal, operating at only half capacity. I really really think she can sense my weakness, and she takes advantage of it. And this week, I let it continue far too long.

It happens slowly, and I don't notice it at first. She becomes a little more demanding, a little more whiny, a little more difficult, and pretty soon I am just doing whatever I can to appease her and to get through the day. Well, history has proven that you can't appease a Tyrant.

This morning, after telling me "Don't wear your hair in a ponytail", and freaking out because I didn't pick up a book the "right way", I finally realized what was going on. She had almost taken over the house. And now it stops.

All day today we have been going round for round, and I have won every single one of them. And it's getting better. I will take back my house :)

Flower Girl

Leah had her Flower girl debut the other day.

I was really worried about how she would do. She would totally be capable of bursting into tears and running away at the exact wrong moment, but thankfully, she did great!

Her cousin Daniel was the ring bearer, and he was a big help!

Elias looked pretty handsome too :)