A day with no plans

Today was a day with no plans. I almost don't know what to do with myself when my day planner has nothing on it. I quickly figured out that it would be a good morning to sleep in. Lora called and woke me up around 11 AM. The girls were happily entertaining themselves with television. I quickly got up and dressed as Lora was walking in the front door. After her visit we came up with lunch and then decided to do something.

The something we came up with was not that fun, but had to be done. We tackled Nora Beth's room. I am not sure how she does it, but she can turn a perfectly clean room into war zone in a matter of moments. We got it all put back together and it looks really good now.

As a treat for finishing the room project, the girls had a tea party. Nora Beth was so excited that I let her use some of my pretty dishes. Shianne played along with Nora Beth.



After the tea party, the girls wanted to go outside and play in the Slip N Slide. The weather was not nearly as warm today as it has been in the past week. I have not let them play outside with the 100+ degree weather, so the low 90's were a great relief and they had lots of fun sliding down the hill.
Tomorrow, we are going to head back to the cabin for a day of family fun. Lamar has not made it up there yet this summer, so this may be his only chance. I am going to assume that baby is not going to make his appearance tonight. Next week we are expecting some thunderstorms and a full moon - one of those events had better send me into labor!

More Pregnancy Photos

Today turned out to be a great day. I felt so pampered by my friends. Amy came over and brought me lunch and some yummy chai tea. She also used the rebozo on me to help get the baby into a better position. It felt so good to have it done to me. Lora then arrived to take more maternity pictures of me. These are just a sampling. It was also a great way for her to experiment with the light in our house for taking birth and baby pictures. Later in the afternoon, Eryca showed up to help me with a computer program. It was so great to chat with everyone.

I now have nothing on my schedule for the next two months. It feels so weird to have such free time. I know that my days will be completely occupied soon, so I am going to try to enjoy this.

Still Pregnant

From the title that is all the baby information that I have for you. I am STILL pregnant. I feel very done. We are expecting him to make his appearance any day now, but we know that I could still be pregnant in two weeks - although we really doubt it. We thought that baby was going to make his appearance on Monday night, but he changed his mind. He did work his way farther down into my pelvis. I know that every day he stays in me he is growing bigger and stronger, so I don't want to rush his arrival.

Lamar has been great through all this. I know that I have been tired and cranky lately. The 100+ degree weather we are having right now does not help. Lamar has made it very clear that I am to just take it easy and enjoy these last few days. I am trying to do that.

Everything is ready for his arrival. We are still planning the home birth. My doula checks in with me every day to let me know where she is. That makes me smile. I know that Lora has her photography bag packed and is ready to run out the door when I call. My midwife is also only a phone call away.

We have been talking to the girls about how things will change when their brother arrives. Shianne remembers Nora Beth being born, so this is just a refresher for her. I am not sure that Nora Beth really understands how her world is about to change. I am worried on how she will react when he arrives. We will just have to wait and see how things are.

Cabin Fun

Shianne, Nora Beth and I decided to go to the cabin over the weekend to hang out with Lora and her family. Lamar had to stay behind and do inventory at work. The weather was hot, so the river sounded like a great place to be.

The water was so inviting. The girls made it into their swimsuits in record time and spent as much time as possible in the water. I stayed on the deck and relaxed.

Nora Beth was so excited to be in the water with the big kids this year.

The kids borrowed the floating island from the neighbors and had a great time. They even made friends with the neighbor kids.

The kids wore all the adults out in the water so we had to come up with an activity to keep them happy out of the water. Lora had brought up some special powder used for pedicures that gels up water. The kids found this fascinating and this kept them occupied while we got some rest.

Nora Beth had a great time with our friend Scott. He was happy to take her from one side of the river to the other.

Shianne had a great time floating. She got out the snorkeling gear later and spent hours looking at all the creatures in the water. Unfortunately she got a little red on her back side and is paying the price today!

While I have been napping...

I know that I have been quiet on here in the past few weeks. As I mentioned before, my motivation to do anything is at about zero. I am so tired. I just want to sleep. Family life has continued to go on. Here is just a bit of what has happened in the past week.

We do have a garden this year, but it is in no where near the condition it was in last year. The weather has been so weird. We got a late start planting and the temperatures have been rather cool. Things finally started to look good, just in time for the hot weather to wither everything away. The girls have been picking peas every few days. They are also getting enough blueberries and raspberries for morning breakfasts. The rhubarb has been over abundant and I have a bunch of squash that will need to be picked this week. Other than this, I do not hold high hopes for anything else coming from the garden.


Shianne has been at camps the past two weeks. She went to 4-H camp for a week. This was an overnight camp. She had so much fun. We will definitely be sending her back to this camp next year. She also did a day camp this past week that she also enjoyed. This day camp took her to several State Parks in the area where she learned about native animals and plants and participated in an ecological project each day.


Lamar bought a new ball and bat for Nora Beth. Her last one was left out in Zara territory and therefore became a snack! Nora Beth just loves to play sports. She has gotten really good at hitting any ball that is pitched to her. Of course, she has to do it her style, meaning cute shoes and a twirly dress!

Lamar has gotten in several rounds of golf. He knows that his ability to golf will be non existent in August because of helping me out with the new baby. I did get a great pedicure last week and the house cleaners come today to get the house ready for the baby to arrive.

We are just in waiting mode until baby decides to make his appearance!

Baby BBQ

On Saturday, our friends threw a big BBQ for us to celebrate the baby. I did not want a traditional baby shower and I had an amazing Blessingway with Nora Beth that I did not want anything that would compete with that. So, a big BBQ with friends was just what we needed. Lora did a great job of pulling everything together. I am so grateful to her for so many things. It was great to see so many people come and celebrate with us. We had friends from all facets of our lives - work, social, kids, his and hers - an eclectic mix.

Here I am with my friend Karinda. We are "due" at the same time, both having baby #3.


Lamar even had a moment of paying homage to the belly!

No party at the Lindsay house is complete unless Lamar blows something up! The fireworks came out and he is now missing some hair on his left arm and the neighbors have a small black spot in their lawn. Someday he will learn.

A Week With Mommy

On Tuesday, Lamar, Nora Beth and I dropped Shianne off at 4-H camp. She was so excited for this camp. She is not that far away from home, only 4 miles, but it was to be a week with friends and fun activities. This is the first time she has gone to this camp.

After we dropped her off, the three of us headed to Portland. We wanted to spend the day doing my errand "to do" list. Nothing was overly important, but it was all things I wanted to get done before the little one arrives and I would not have a chance to do them for a couple of months. It was a great day. Nora Beth did perfect and earned some ice cream. I was even able to fit in a much needed haircut.

Lamar had to go back to work on Wednesday, so this has left Nora Beth and I home together. On Thursday morning I surprised Nora Beth with a trip to a local park that has a new water pad for the kids to play on. She had so much fun splashing in the water and chasing the ever moving water. We then went out for lunch together.


We have spent the rest of the week playing around the house. Nora has splashed quite a bit in her pool, we have played games, read lots of stories and cuddled for some great naps. Shianne comes home tomorrow, just in time for the big "Baby BBQ" that our friends are throwing for us. Should be a great time and our last big social event before the little one arrives.

Lamar Cooks, Take 2

Lamar was determined to not be beaten by a chicken. He decided to try his luck at making another Beer Can Chicken tonight. I got everything ready and he manned the grill. I am happy to say that he won the war tonight! The chicken turned out perfect. Paired with some corn on the cob and baked beans, plus a bottle of wine all to himself, it was a great meal.

Nesting?

It is said that women feel this urge to "nest" when they are about to have a baby. This urge has completely skipped me so far. The only nest I feel like building is the one in my bed. I could spend the whole day in bed right now. I just need sleep. I get up at about 6 AM, go back to sleep at about 7:30 AM, wake up again around 10, attempt to get something done, nap from 1 to 4 and then go back to bed around 8 or 9. Growing a baby is exhausting! I am not getting much done!

I might feel more motivated if this baby was in a better position. He just does not want to stay in a position that is comfortable. There is really no comfortable position for me. Standing, sitting or lying down - nothing is good. He is still very active, but definitely running out of room. He is also getting much stronger.

When I was pregnant with Nora Beth I was getting massages every week and I also had a house cleaner. This time it is different. I do have the house cleaner coming in about 10 days to do a deep clean for me and I do have 2 pedicures scheduled in the next 3 weeks, but that is about all the pampering I am getting this time. I am not complaining, but I definitely feel the difference in not getting the massages this time!

I do have his room all put together. Not much of anything that we really need, except I do need to order cloth diapers still. I will do that next week. There are other projects around the house that need to get done, but I have no desire to do them. I really just want to hire someone to nest for me!

Take me out to the ball game...

We had intended on spending the day doing projects around the house. Lamar and I tackled replanting the bamboo. That turned out to be more of a project than we had intended, but we did win the battle. Instead of doing anything else, we all rested for a bit and then headed to go see a Volcano's game. The weather was perfect, very small crowd and we were able to get great seats to keep the pregnant one among us comfortable.


Nora Beth did a culinary tour of the stadium. She had a hot dog, chips, soda, red rope, nuts, cheesy fries and ice cream. How is it that the smallest among us eats the most. She even left the stadium stating that she was hungry. She was trying her luck for some cotton candy, but we did not cave!

By the way, the Volcano's ended up winning 6-5 in the 10th inning. We had a great time. Probably the only game we will be able to see this year due to the arrival of the newest member of our team.

4th of July Fun!

Today was a day full of activities. It started off with a trip to Saturday Market then we headed home to get a few projects done. While I worked on stuff in the house, Lamar and the girls washed the vehicles.
We went to a BBQ at a friends house. This was more than your traditional BBQ, it even had a live band. The girls had so much fun dancing with their father.

Lamar felt the calling to get up on "stage" and sing a bit of karaoke.

Finally, a picture with me in it!


After the sun went down, Lamar's inner pyromaniac came out! We all know that he likes to blow things up. Since we were not in our neighborhood, he had a much more subdued "show" this year. The girls had a great time watching all the fireworks. They even got to play with sparklers with all the other kids. I was happy that I did not have to worry about our yard catching on fire this year!


As the evening went on, Lamar got more into his musical groove and I found him with the drums!

It was a great evening with friends. We were out really late, so I hope this translates to sleeping in on Sunday!