Still waiting...

(At my friend Jeannie's wedding, July 21st)

Of course I would love for this to be the post where I put pictures up of our lovely little bundle of joy and I talk about how actually the labour really wasn't as bad as I was anticipating and Luke just adores his new sibling and life as 4 is grand. But this is not that post. No, this is the post where I say, yes, I'm STILL waiting, yes, I'm 4 days overdue, yes, I've heard numerous stories of people who go at least 2 weeks overdue (is that supposed to be encouraging somehow?!?) and yes, at church on Sunday I did get 6 or 7 "oh, you're still here!" comments. I figured instead of getting annoyed at them I should just count them and make it a game. It's funny, I'm a games person but it wasn't my favorite game in the end. Oh well. If you're reading this and you told me you went 2 weeks overdue or said "you're still here" at church, don't worry about it, I'm starting to find it all rather amusing. Why do doctors bother giving due dates anyway!?? I was going to be so good this time about not fixating on a due date but that's turned out to be impossible. Probably also because for the last two weeks I've had mini contractions and keep thinking I'm going into labour, but as you can see, no such luck. I'm actually starting to believe that maybe this is just my new look and I should get used to it. I've actually had so many compliments on my pregnant body that I should probably not be so eager to give it up. I mean, truly, when have my abs been tighter?

In other news, I did deal with the kitchen papers. I just feel better about you all knowing as opposed to thinking that my husband is working like a dog and I just sit around eating m&m's all day. I'll have you know that I've varied my diet slightly today and ate an ice cream cone and a half (Luke didn't finish his), an oreo, toast (today surprising without nutella) and some watermelon. I'm a firm believer in a varied diet.

I fear if I continue I'll just be pleading with you all to pray for my uterus to contract and that may just sound a bit desperate or ridiculous (but go for it if you'd like) so I think I'll just post a few pictures and call it a day.

Luke in the Mr. Rooter van...

Self-portrait using our new camera Babysitting my nieces...I answered a phone call and came back to see Alexandra reading a story to Victoria and Luke. Maybe we should look into getting a six-year-old as well as a baby.My beautiful friend Jeannie getting married a little over a week ago. What an absolutely beautiful wedding it was too!!!

Waiting for baby

(Almost 37 weeks here...due date, July 26th!)

So, my life these days consists of the following:

Trying to get as much sleep as possible

Making lists, either mentally or on paper, of things I neither have the ability or the energy to do but feel it absolutely necessary to get done before the baby comes

Lying awake at night wondering how to get sleep and to get the items on my lists done.

Isn't the end of pregnancy grand?

Really we have accomplished a TON in the last month, as now our basement is fully carpeted and even has furniture and toys down there, but it seems like the lists are never-ending. Oh well, in the end all a newborn needs is some clothes, diapers and milk and they are as happy as they are going to be. So I'm telling myself not to worry about my lists. I still think I may go fabric shopping tomorrow and try to make curtains and an easy quilt for Luke's bed though. Is that unrealistic? Probably.

Besides all that, summer so far has been great. We've been to the wading pool, back to the cottage and even had a week of "Pioneer Days" at my mom and dad's place. My parents took care of my two neices for a week and my mother is probably one of the most creative people I know, so she decided it would be fun (and a lot of work) to put together "Pioneer Days" for the kids, every day from 12-2. It happened twice and was amazing both days. She made little bonnets and skirts for the girls, put together a general store with cans stacked in a pyramid and baked goods to be bought, made a well out of a hanger and a bucket and margarine containers, organized a field day with races and high jump, and made up a little school complete with lunch pails and Oh Canada and age appropriate activities. (Luke got his very own slate, boy was he proud). I keep hoping my mom's creative genetics will somehow jump over to me, but I still haven't mastered the art of abounding creativity with limited resources. She is a true pioneer.

Another thing I've decided to take on (because as you can see I'm obviously not busy enough) is to start selling Norwex products. Actually, now that my first two parties are done I think it'll be quite do-able and I'm really excited about it. The products are amazing (great for the environment and health, easy to use, much cheaper in the long run) and after my first fairly successful go at selling the stuff, I have made no money but will have a lot of great cleaning products which will, of course, make my life easier and save me time and money. I truly do believe this, all sarcasm aside, which is why I wanted to get a bunch of stuff BEFORE the baby comes. So tomorrow I get my mop and toilet bowl brush and that's why, if you come over tonight, you will be quite unimpressed by the state of my bathroom and floors. Actually, my floors aren't bad as long as you don't look under the couch. I haven't been that keen in a while. I wish they had an environmentally friendly way of organizing kitchen papers because I'm sure I'd spend through the nose for it, but I have this funny feeling that that particular chore might require a human brain. I'm wishing it wasn't mine. The way I like to deal with all the paperasse (French for paper crap) that comes into my life is to put them in various piles throughout the house and hope that sometime I go back to it. I even got so keen one time as to organize the junk into a little filing system, but I suppose the only useful thing about that would be to go back and look through it once in a while. Instead, I now have a bunch of papers beside my little filing system, to be filed, as well as the more pertinent junk sitting in another pile in my kitchen. Julio will probably groan severely or wonder why I'm writing about this instead of dealing with it, but somehow this is much easier. Julio is an amazing organizer, I feel that spouses should compliment each other in giftings and I'm more than happy to let him have this one. The only problem is he's also the furniture mover, the kitchenette for the basement installer, the electrician, the plumber, the swing set putter-together-er, and, oh right, family provider. I'm feeling convicted, I think tomorrow is my day to deal with paper. Surely that isn't an evening job, right?!?

Okay, this is a babble post. Sorry about that. On to more exciting things. Here are a few pictures of our recent lives.

Pioneer Days:

Luke peeking out from the horse-drawn carriage (my mom was the horse, she's probably glad she's not in the picture). Note lunch pails (aka yogurt containers with handles). Luke walked around with his proudly for a long time.

School. Luke is very intent on his work, I'm so proud.

Alexandra and the one-room school house woodstove. She was the oldest so it was her responsibility to stoke the fire once in a while.

More cousin fun, not during Pioneer Days. Luke loves Auntie Marcia because he gets pedialyte freezies from her. I love Auntie Marcia because this was taken while I was out fabric shopping, sans Luke.

Another reason to love Auntie Marcia and her stuff. They have a kid's golf set which he requests when we go over there. Papa Ron would be proud of this pose I should think!More cottage fun. We do the same things every time we're there (walking, beaching, hanging out inside) so there isn't much variety from the last post, except for the shirtless beach shots this time. Don't worry, I didn't participate.

We saw these two baby foxes on the road by our cottage. If I had Robyn and Kevin's paparazzi abilities you'd be truly impressed.I went out for about half an hour and came back, only to find out that Luke and dad had a major photo shoot with all the forts they made. Julio is more fun in half an hour than I am in a week!
Luke was "tucking Bear in" here. Bear is suffocating at the bottom of the pile somewhere.Don't worry, Bear made it.

And now for some Luke stories. Current favorite Luke phrases:

"I show you works" (translation: I'll show you how this works)

"Be back!" (spoken like a tough guy with his index finger in the air, as in, I'll be right back).

"Big truck" or "Big tractor" or "Big van"...again, spoken in a lower, more masculine tone.

Any number of random comments, followed by, "hey mom?".

He has also decided that men need vehicle/power tool associations. For example, "daddy...van". Or "Papa Ron...big truck!". Or "Stan...lawn-mower" (he's never even seen Stan's lawnmower but he says this almost daily). Or "Uncle Nino (Dino)...big truck!". Those are the most common. Once in a while Papa Ron gets a table saw or Nannie or Gramma Anne get a car, but the afore-mentioned are the most common. His other new favorite thing is a little song I made up to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus". It goes "daddy in the van says I'll fix it, I'll fix it, I'll fix it...". I'll often hear him singing when we're in the car, "daddy, fick it, fick it". It's way too cute. Sadly he almost never sings the mommy verse. He more often requests the "bear" verse which goes, "Bear in the van says What is plumbing?" because I figure Bear doesn't have a whole lot upstairs. So I'll often hear "Bear...plumbing, bear...plumbing". Oh well, I've given up being jealous of a Bear. I have too many lists to think up.