visitors & a camp afternoon & the pregnancy

my dad & stepmom came to visit before they head off on their Alaskan cruise.

so being true to my "get moving" plan, we walked to the park. diedre discovered that she could climb in & out of the swing by herself. such a big girl!

so poppa & grandma took turns pushing the kids in the swing.

posing with a whale

practicing balance beam walking (like his sister)

here she comes again

there they are walking

good pic of poppa & grandma mellenger

on sunday, our church had its "Come Together" service and then we headed up to camp for the afternoon.

ezekiel was totally mezmerized by the guys playing basketball but they had the only one that would bounce (the others were flat) so we waited patiently until they were done. he tried out several other sports in the meantime.

my mom came along for the afternoon to visit and help out with the kids because derek was doing the climbing wall for an hour and a half. thats when we were playing in the gym too. after that, derek and my mom took the kids swimming. i would have loved to swim too but none of my swimsuits fit because of the way my belly sticks out.

more pictures from our church's "Come Together" sunday at Camp Squeah

ya, the belly. i'm getting pretty sick and tired of all the comments...its been a long pregnancy and this belly got weird looking pretty quick, so being asked if you're having twins or triplets OR are already DUE for 3 or 4 months gets a little old. i kind of snapped at this food server (she was in her early 20s) at the camp yesterday (at the end of the day) who was like "i just have to ask: there's only ONE in there???" and i rolled my eyes, turned away from her, then turned back and said "i'm at the end of my pregnancy, i've been asked that like a THOUSAND times. no. there's only one. WAIT UNTIL YOU'RE PREGNANT! i just have a really weird belly." then her and her friends/coworkers were all like "oh its awesome. so awesome." blah de blah blah. not impressed. it makes me feel like crying sometimes...i guess b/c i HATE the way i look right now, its so ackward and goose-like and my belly button is majorly deformed.

there are certain pictures that i dont mind or even like of myself, but obviously i look like a freak show walking around by all the people who HAVE to stop and tell me how odd my belly is. it gets a little draining. when i'm not pregnant, i dont get any attention normally, so its gets to be a lot when its such a barrage of comments. even tho its only 2 more weeks (well less now) its hard to tell people that because they still make the same "REallY?????" comment because that seems so long.

before my last doctor's appointment, i was struggling to find rest and to take it easy. i overdid it on monday (by going up and down stairs) and it sent me into some good labour tuesday night. i hurt so bad all day tuesday too. my body was just so susceptible to pain (especially in the lower belly and tendons across my pelvis).

now, i was told by my doctor on friday to go ahead and get active to bring on labour and have found a strange thing happened: i have more energy and hurt less! my pelvis/hips hurt while i'm walking, but when i'm back at home and just moving around the house, i'm fine. whereas before it KILLED to walk to the kitchen etc. so for weeks i've been getting diedre to do simple things for herself (get the cereal box and a bowl and i'll pour it for you, get water from the bathroom, etc.) and so today, i told her "no, mommy really needs to walk around, so i'll do it!" ha ha

i'm also feeling better about the possibility of the baby being born into October, so be it! of course, this week would be a great week to have the baby (if he/she is ready) since my doctor will be here. next week he's away, so that would be sad :( but doable of course. today would be a great day since my mom is off work and could easily come by to watch the kids...

i did have some decent/regular contractions this morning for an hour, but they have since stopped/spread out. i wish i was the type who just BOOM went into labour, but i know by previous experience that i have lots of starts and stops. i have some really good/strong/painful contractions but they just dont get into a pattern until its really "go" time i guess. i remember the day before being induced with ezekiel, i had regular labour all day, but just not strong enough, but i always thought that if i'd gone into the hospital THAT day, it would have turned out really different than going the next day when there was NO labour at all happening. strange stuff.


i also feel pretty scared about going into labour sometimes. like 8pm, after an active day. or just that the kids aren't quite ready...so its kind of cool with this new energy, since i got most of my nesting stuff done last week (there's still cleaning and laundry of course!) i can devote more time to playing with the kids or giving them attention.

so today's plan is to go to the bank. go walk around superstore. come home for a nap. then go for a walk to the park after that. we'll see what actually end up doing!

so baby, either come today or by thursday, OR wait until my due date or later :)