Keeping myself busy

I hate "due dates."  Seriously. Technically I have a due date for when this baby is expected to arrive, but did you know that only 4% of babies are born on their due date?  So, really, it's silly for me to even mention my actual due date (which I won't, don't worry.) But, for the sake of my midwives, and my ability to have a homebirth, I do, in fact, have a due date.  That being said, even though I'm not there yet, I'd really like to meet this little one sooner than later. Eli came at 35 weeks and 5 days, and Silas made his triumphant arrival at 40 weeks and 1 day.  I have nothing to go on to hope that this one will come soon, but I'm hoping, let me tell you.  On the other hand, I know that babies come on their birthdays, not on their due dates, not when doctors, or mothers, or midwives think they should.  I know that my body knows how to birth babies at the right time.  I just need to be patient and wait, wait, wait!

And what do I do while I wait?  Well, I get my toes painted:

 Won't it be nice to look down at my feet while in labour and see them painted so nicely? Honestly, if I had exuberant amounts of money, I would get monthly pedicures.  I love pedicures.  At this point, however, I have justified a pedicure before I have babies, and that's it.  This time I didn't even have to justify anything, because my dear friend Mindy treated me to my pre-baby pedi! 

I've also gone horseback riding... or horseback sitting. Let's be honest, with a belly as big as mine, galloping along would not be very smart.  Maybe in a week...

I've also done every errand I can think of - returning things that need returning, buying anything I think I might need in the next two months, walking around the mall thinking of things I might need when I don't have the energy or the money for any of it. 

Last night Jared and I set up the birth pool.  We put the cover on our mattress and the "puddle pad" under my side.  I was hoping having all this ready would assure the baby that he or she could come any time!  Don't tell the boys, but the pool is presently blown up and hiding in a corner down stairs, ready to be brought up at a moments notice. 

And now I've run out of things to do.  My house is actually relatively clean, my laundry is inexplicably caught up, baby clothes and diapers are washed, and all I need is a baby in my arms (and a name... if anyone has any suggestions on that...)  Don't worry, I'll keep you all posted, but, don't hold your breath - I'm surely not.

I've Run Out of Yarn, Thank Goodness

I've been knitting. Actually, I haven't stopped knitting.  But, being as close as I am to having this baby, I am happy to report that but for a few small, non-essential projects I'm working on, I've run out of things to knit and yarn to knit it with.  And that's a good thing.  So, here's what I've knit the last little bit:

This darling baby sweater.  I did this as a test knit, so the pattern isn't available yet.  I really love it!  And, with the leftovers I made one of my favourite hats to match.  Its a 12 month size, so hopefully it will fit my baby in the winter. If this baby is anything like my boys, they will be monsters, so that shouldn't be a problem.

I did take an action shot of my favourite (at the moment - I'm reserving that spot for another baby soon enough) baby.  Here's Sam, modelling the sweater.

And Silas wanted in on the action.  A little small, but he sure is cute!

And then, using elements of the sweater above and this one, I knit up this one, which I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! 

And, Eli.  What more can I say.

And, coming soon to a blog near you, this is a sweater I designed all by myself!  It is currently in testing, and I am so excited for it.  I love ruffles.  Thankfully, if I don't have a girl, my sister-in-law Laura is having one, so it will be worn.  Feel free to ooh and aah and wait with baited breath until I release the pattern. Yeah!

So, now I just have to finish the quilt I've made (just needs 3/4 of the binding sewn on), the birth bin gone through, the house kept clean, and I'll be ready for this baby. Oh, and I would love to magically wake up to a freezer full of meals. That would be magical.

Baby Stat Poll!

So, apparently I'm going to have a baby soon.  Very soon.  Eek.  I'm excited to meet this little on inside my body.  Is it a boy or a girl?  Will it have dark hair like Silas did, or no hair, like Eli.  Will it look like me or Jared (since we can only come up with one or the other, no blending at all.)  I am really getting eager to know just who it is inside of me.

So....  what do you think?  Comment here with your guesses, and I will put them in the baby book that I will probably never get around to making (that's promising, eh?) 

Here's what I'm looking for:

Birthday -
Gender -
Weight -

Just so you know, my completely unofficial due date is "the middle of April."  Sorry, that's all you get.  I don't believe in due dates, I believe that babies decide their birthdays.  It really is "the middle of April" though.

And, for the record, Eli was born at 35 +5 weeks, and weighed in at 6lbs 4 oz.  Silas was born at 40 +1 weeks and was 8lbs 4 oz.  

And Meg, make sure Sam guesses!

I love to See the Temple

Yesterday we went to the Cardston Temple.  It has honestly been ages, and it was so good to go. I'm so glad we decided to do it before this baby comes, because I know it will be another long while before I get to go again.  My mom and dad went earlier in the day, so we drove down to Cardston, spent a few minutes walking around taking pictures, then traded the boys off with them and went in ourselves.  Afterward we just met up with mom and dad to get the boys back.  It was a perfect plan!

 Look how large I look in that dress.  I love it!

 Renee came along. I love Renee.

 First I'm going to cut my belly out of the side of this picture, and then I'm going to frame it and hang it in Eli's room.  He's so cute.

Silas is crying because he was convinced that he was going to fall off that 1 foot ledge.  Poor boy.

And, when we got out of the session it looked a little different.  I love the snow.  I love the temple.  I love Jared. 

Victorious of Patrick

Happy St. Patrick's Day, all.  Today we drove through down town Calgary, twice, and were - or maybe weren't - surprised to see the bar line-ups starting in the AM, and ridiculously long by 7 PM.  I'm so glad I'm not part of that scene. 


Instead, I spent the morning with two elves of my own, devising all sorts of ways to catch leprechauns. We were leaving for Cardston for the afternoon, and wanted to make sure if one stopped by our house, we would know about it.  This is what we came up with:

Leprechauns love gold... and green... right?  Well, we were pretty sure they did.  So, we lured them in with gold, and left the house feeling pretty confident that when we got home a few hours later we would have a leprechaun of our very own. 

But... when we got home those tricky little elves had not fallen for our trap.  They must have, however, appreciated our golden offering because they didn't trash our house, instead they left us some replacement goodies and some footprints to prove themselves there.

 Apparently they are no respecters of chocolate coins, because they were happy to leave us with Canadian ones, not Irish! 

The boys could only have been more excited if we had been able to catch the two little elves, but the chocolate certainly abated their disappointment. 

It was a perfect day to celebrate green, and we did it up well!

Faith from Afar

If you've read any of my posts about my past births, you will know that I have a few regrets.  For both Eli and Silas's births I planned home births (or a hotel birth, in Silas's case, if you are being specific).  In both cases I ended up in the hospital, drugged, assisted and disappointed. 

Well, I am doing a few things different this time (not traveling across an international border while in labour, for one...) I am going again for a homebirth, and can't wait to experience birth the way my body was meant to do it.

Last week I received a gift in the mail.  It was a gift from someone I don't even know, in real life anyway.  I am part of a Due Date Club on Mothering.com.  Several of the women who frequent the board got together to do a gift exchange.  The momma who sent me a gift is from Brooklyn.  She was so thoughtful and her gift so powerful.  This is what she sent:

Would it be admitting too much if I said I cried?  I did.  Just a little.  She wrote the nicest note, saying that she just knew I would get my homebirth this time, and that my baby would be able to proudly wear this sweet little onesie.  And the crochet cowboy boots???  Well, need I even say anything about those.  You all know I LOVE them!  I don't know why, but her sending me her faith all the way from Brooklyn just means so much.  It's not just me that thinks I can do this: my online friend from Brooklyn believes in me too.  This little onesie is staying out until my baby is here as a reminder of the faith in me all around.  And I can't wait to send her a picture of my baby wearing it!!!

And, for my giftee, Laura in Toronto, I knit her this little sweater and hat:

The sweater is Mossy.  I knit it on a tighter gauge so that it would fit a brand new newborn, and wouldn't have to be grown into.  The hat is a favourite pattern of mine: Aviatrix.

The Things that I love about Silas

I love both of my boys so much, and narrowing down the reasons why is an impossible task, but I'm going to try.  I'm going to start with my dear, sweet Silas. He is just at that stage right now where I can't get enough of him.  He can be a total rotter, and I still just want to scoop him up and love him.

He is so different from Eli, in looks and personality.  Jared and I always go back and forth about where he gets what from (although there can be no denying where he gets his good looks from, can there?)   He is just so independent, and while he thinks his big brother is about the greatest thing on earth, he has no problem telling Eli what's up if he's been short handed in anything.  Unlike Eli, he is completely happy to play on his own, talking to himself and making a mess.  If he wants something, he quietly goes about getting it all by himself. 

Yesterday I hadn't heard him for a while, so I wandered the house (doesn't take long) and found him up on the kitchen counter (he pulled a stool from the table in to get up) with a banana peel next to him, a half eaten apple between his legs, a handful of raisins and a huge grin on his face.  I may not win mother of the year for not caring that he was sitting next to the oven and toaster (neither were on), but man, he wins something.  He will eat anything and can honestly out eat every one of us (he gets that from Jared.)  We made peanut butter cookies the other night and when they were cooled we sat down to eat them. I gave each boy one cookie and a small glass of milk. I served myself two cookies and milk.  Eli asked why I got two, and I answered that I was eating for me and the baby.  Silas said, "Me no cookie for my baby?!" with a sly grin. 

While Silas has been talking for a long while now, just in the last week or two he has really started to converse.  He tells stories, demands attention, and when he doesn't know the words, he uses sound effects.  This is possibly my favourite thing about him right now.  While he's talking you will catch a "whoosh" or a "bing" and sometimes even a "kapow!"  He will yell "no way, jose" if he doesn't want to do something, or just completely ignore you (which Jared says he gets from me.) The other morning he woke me up a few minutes earlier than usual saying "Baby kickin', baby kickin'."  He had been cuddling up against me, so I assumed he had felt the baby moving inside of me.  "NO!  My baby kickin'!"  Then he grabbed my hand and put it against his chest, where I could feel his little heart beating hard.  "My baby kickin'!"

Silas is officially potty trained (well, almost...)  The task took and unexpectedly long time, seeing as it took three days to train Eli at 22 months.  But, he's done it, and just in time. I really didn't want to be changing two kids' diapers.  He just doesn't have that drive to please that his brother has.  If he didn't want to go in the potty, then he dang well wasn't going to.  He is his own man in every way. 

Silas is not easily shaken.  He can fall, roll, bump into, or crash, and will get up and keep on going without much complaint.  He usually doesn't notice, and more often doesn't care what others are doing around him.  Although, in the moments when he does, he is sure to express his indignation if he is not being involved.

My boy loves to cuddle, with me anyway.  When he crawls into bed with me, which he does every night still, he likes to fall asleep facing my face with one arm under my neck and the other around my head.

I could really go on and on and on, but you get the point.  This kid is the best!