timing is everything

I should have written about Dave's birthday weekend before the last post. Happy Birthday to my dear Dave on the 29th! My friend had her baby that day too. We joked about having our baby on Daddy's birthday as well and it almost happened. I started having contractions mid-afternoon. We had planned to go out to an early dinner and movie that night with Jen & Tom, and by the time we were sitting down at Red Robin my contractions were every 8-10 minutes. I really started to panic when we got into the movie though. I leaned over to Dave after the previews and asked to borrow his watch. I was distracted most of the movie because my contractions were every 5 minutes for the entire 2 hours. We talked about how nice it would be to have this baby early but this was too early! I was thinking I can't have this baby tonight! The house isn't ready, I still have to put Christmas decorations away, and I don't even have a bag packed yet. Dave kept looking at me with every deep breath I took to ask if we needed to go yet. I knew he didn't want to leave. As soon as the panic set in that this might really be it the movie was over. We got up to leave and the contractions promptly stopped. It was a heck of a scare.

Daddy with his chillies on his birthday. Kids and I went to the mall right before this to pick up a few gifts for Daddy. The kids were okay, except Coop was tired and should have been sleeping. I was having quiet a few contractions at this point and starting to wonder if this baby was coming 2+ weeks early. As soon as we got home from the mall the kids wanted to wrap their presents. We wrapped them up, sang Happy Birthday and gave gifts to Daddy. Daddy is wearing the shirt that Toby picked out for him in the picture. All the chillies got to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house right after this while Mom and Dad went on a date, so they were excited.

Sunday was the last Sabbath day that I was busy with Christmas stuff. One of the reasons I was panicking about going into labor the night before was that I was scheduled to give a 15 minute talk in church, then sing a duet right after, and then travel to Palo Alto to sing in a concert with Mom and Heidi as a trio. It was such a relief to have all those commitments over with, especially 9 months pregnant and tired. I'm glad I don't have to get dressed up or put on nylons again for a long time!

New Years Eve we planned to party at Dave's parents. We ate dinner with them and some friends and played games and watched movies until midnight. The kids had fun with their friends watching Happy Feet and Ninja Turtles and playing Mancala. Our Jessie is an accomplished Mancala player. She holds her own with the adults and beats her friends soundly. They were still friends afterwards which was a happy thing, especially at 11 PM. I don't think Jessie would have been as gracious at losing. Jessie and Logan made it to midnight, but Toby zonked out on the floor about 10:30. That kids doesn't believe in naps and when he is tired he crashes hard, so it was not surprise.

My Mom works every New Years Eve. She decided to stop by on her way home and walked in the door with 1 minute to spare before the new year. We banged pots and pans outside and had a family toast with our many varieties of sparkling fruit juices. It was then off to home and sleep in until past 9 am which was the best new year's present the kids could give us!

home improvement

So it's a day late but Happy New Year to all! We were busy all day yesterday rearranging our bedroom, purging and cleaning. It seemed to be a theme with all our family in town. Dave went up to help his Dad move furniture and replace a saw blade so he could lay new floor in their living room. We borrowed Arnold from his painting project with Denise so he could help Dave move our heavy desk to the other side of our bedroom. And even though we didn't see them, I know my Dad and brother Tom were busy working on their house remodel.

Mom and I had tentative plans to go to Half Moon Bay to buy crab for our traditional crab feed. We've tried to go get crab 3 times but the fisherman weren't selling it because of the oil spill in the Bay or bad weather. After waking up late in the morning and having lots of projects looming before the baby gets here we didn't go. Jessie wants crab as bad as I do. She would drive there by herself if she could. We could always go buy it from the store, but it's not as fun as bringing home live ones straight off the boat. The kids love everything about the day- except cleaning them. Hopefully we can sneak a day in to go soon.

There is so much on my to-do list before this baby comes. I have an evil battle going in my head that goes something like this.

Clean the house
Reorganize my room, the kids room, the living room
I can't take it any longer- this baby needs to come now
But first I want to take the kids to the zoo, the Jungle, spend time with each one