No news

First off, nothing new has happened in regards to Parker. While I've had moments of thinking labor might not be far off, the contractions inevitably go away. So we have used this extra time to get lots of running around done: I bought a crib of craigslist, got pictures developed, returned some items to various stores, harvested tomatoes and tomatillos from the garden, made 1 batch of salsa, packed the overnight bag, filled up the gas tank...and probably more. In other words, we haven't been sitting around waiting for this to happen which is good; otherwise, I think I'd be going crazy about now. Tonight I have to fold laundry, put it away, and work on Madeleine's stocking. I do look forward to hopefully having something new to post soon.

I also want to say thank you for all of the really nice comments that have been put up about our last post! You all are so wonderful and it has boosted my ego :) Thanks so much!!!

While we wait

My contractions from yesterday lessened and we got lots of sleep last night. I woke up today wanting to take advantage of still being pregnant so we went for a short hike up Blue Mountain to take some preggo pictures. This is the same place we took pictures while pregnant with Madeleine. It was a lot of fun and very different from our first time up there.

First of all, it took a lot longer to get to our destination.

But once we got there, we had lots of fun playing, posing, and poking. It's pretty easy to tell that Parker has dropped and is getting into position to come out soon!

When it was all said and done, we still weren't in labor but at least one little pookie was at peace.

Come again?!?

We had a prenatal appointment today. I'm two weeks from the due date but when checked, my midwife said I was 3 cm dilated, 90% effaced, and Parker's at -2 station. The stations go from -5 (top of pelvis) to +5 (crowning). He's not quite halfway but all of this means that he's practically guaranteed to come before his due date. I've been having lots of false labor and feel that this may happen by this weekend. We'll keep you posted.

Based on this latest information, we've turned up the heat on trying to finish a few projects. I purchased a glider and ottoman a few weeks ago off craigslist and have spend the last two weeks gather materials to reupholster it. I finally finished it this afternoon. Here are the old cushions and then the newly redone chair. Not bad for my first time doing it! I even put zippers in the cushion covers so I can clean up the inevitable spit-up stains.

(This is the furniture we've accumulated so far for Parker.)

I've also been working diligently on Madeleine's Christmas stocking (I ordered it back in February maybe). I made a lot of progress the last month and I'm hoping to finish it before December. We'll use a stocking my mom made for me a number of years ago for Parker because she never put my name on it. And I'll get to use the one my grandma made for me almost 30 years ago! Now watch me not finish Madeleine's.

We have at least two batches of salsa waiting to be made and canned. I have everything ready to be chopped up but I haven't had the energy required to stand at the counter and chop, chop, chop. Depending on how I feel tomorrow we may still get it done in time. We'll try to cram as much in as we can before Parker arrives.

Camo time

Many of you are probably not familiar with hunting season so I'll take this opportunity to inform you about it. This is the time they lovingly refer to as the "widow/widower" season. Two weekends ago was the opening of bow hunting season and I, like many other spouses, spent the weekend alone while my warrior husband was out sleeping and hiking in the rain and cold. Justin has become passionate about bow hunting and all of the nuances that come with hunting with a bow versus a rifle. As a matter of fact, whenever Justin now hunts with a rifle we call it "meat hunting" versus "sport hunting" simply because it's usually a lot easier to shoot something with a rifle than a bow (with an arrow you can shoot up to maybe 60 yards if you're really good but with a rifle it can easily be over 100 yards away). We were so blessed last year by the cow (female elk) Justin got during rifle season. A single elk can provide enough meat to last our family a whole year! I'm trying to cook up the rest of the meat now so we'll have enough room to store whatever Justin gets this season.

Because we are getting so close to the due date, we're more hesitant about Justin going out of cell phone range so he drives a few miles to a nearby mountain, hops on his mountain bike, and bikes pulling all of his gear behind him in a Burley. It's a pretty neat setup and he stays within cell phone range the whole time :) Tonight he ventured out after dinner and came home with a grouse. While his goal is to get an elk, he was hoping to fill a need to "get" something so this is what he got.

I've been willing to help butcher elk and deer but I'm leaving the bird all up to him (that's what he's doing in the backyard right now). I've come a long way from my suburban VA days, that's for sure!

Being phony

For some reason I've received a lot of telemarketer phone calls late in the evening the last few weeks. So, instead of humoring them and losing out on precious kid-free time, I've played dumb and pretended to be a babysitter :) Although I can and have said "I'm sorry but I'm not available to talk right now," it's more fun to think back to when I was 15 (almost half a lifetime ago...yikes!). I need to register our phone number at the do-not-call website. I'm also contemplating putting a "no solicitors" sign on our door as I've been interrupted twice this week when trying to put Madeleine to bed by LDS boys and a high schooler selling tickets to something. I value my free time too much to passively let others occupy it. Shoot! The phone just rang again! I'm going to register my phone number right now!!!

Little ninja

You may or may not have noticed that I took down the name nomination list for Junior. I appreciate all of the feedback and suggestions I received but Justin and I finally came around to agree on a name that wasn't included on that list. Are you ready? Brace yourselves...

Parker Joshua Cline

(FYI: He will NOT go by P.J.) It doesn't fit with our more traditional approach to names but we've come to believe it very much fits the personality of this baby, especially because names like Ninja are out of the question even though we believe he is currently practicing for his black belt. Here's why we think he's a master of martial arts (warning: bare belly shots ahead):

This second video is from my perspective. Parker had the hiccups and was doing flips at the same time.

These types of movements happen regularly throughout my day. I'm finally hitting a stage of discomfort that helps with my eagerness to meet him :) As of this evening, I've been having terrible heartburn which is likely Parker's doing. I've had trouble sitting in certain positions because of the discomfort and last night I couldn't sleep on my right side because of a sensation that made me feel sick to my stomach. Fortunately, I won't be pregnant forever. Earlier today I came to the conclusion that based on the way I feel right now, it will be easier to have an infant and toddler and not be pregnant than to be pregnant and only have a toddler. My opinions may change after Parker is born but fortunately I don't have too much longer to wait before I can make a more informed proclamation!

Signs of change

Our family continues to go through lots of changes. For example, Madeleine went over to Justin yesterday, grabbed his hand, and said "pooh-pooh" to tell us she needed her diaper changed! We've been working on trying to help her recognize when she does a twozie simply because she's smart enough to do so. When the time is right we'll move on to potty training but not yet.

Another thing that happened yesterday: Maggie ran into a fence. We've become increasingly aware of Maggie's age now that we live next door to a 2-year old schmuppy. Seeing them together makes it obvious that Maggie is getting lots of gray around her muzzle and her eyesight is deteriorating. I told Justin that I'm ready for our kids to get older but not our dog.

Finally, despite all of the fall-like weather we've been having, I chopped off more hair. And considering I got 5 comments to my one picture and only 1 comment to Madeleine's 4 videos, here are some pictures of me :)

Of course, my belly is constantly changing as well. I've experienced a lot more discomfort internally with this baby than I ever did with Madeleine. I'm sure part of that has to do with the lack of stomach muscles due to having two so close together but I also think Junior is a lot crazier and more active than Madeleine ever was. I also think he's big...maybe not in weight but definitely in length. I've gotten large enough to start raiding Justin's closet for longer t-shirts. I don't like feeling a draft down there!

We're looking forward to posting more information about change in regards to Justin's job situation but we'd rather not drag all of you through the dirt with us on this one so we'll wait until his job situation is secure and then we'll let you know. For now, he'll be spending the weekend hunting as bow season starts Saturday. I've encouraged him to get out while he can because once his job starts and this baby comes out he'll be on full-time dad duty! I think he's actually looking forward to that.