Baby Shower, Trafalga, and 7 Peaks

Another busy couple of weeks for us, and in case you are wondering . . .that little floating baby on the side bar is still floating away. I don't think she has near as much room as the computer baby though and only 13 days to go (C-section at 39 weeks). So, with that out of the way I'll back up to the Saturday before last when I had my baby shower! :) My mom and sisters threw it for me (okay, I did a lot of it too) and we did a meal assembly shower with a website I found. Basically I had the recipes and all the ingredients prepped and everyone came and assembled it for me. It was a little crazy, but yea for this freezer:

That's 30 frozen meals with basic re-heating directions. So for a whole month after Claire comes (longer if you count times we eat out or with the family) there will be meals I don't have to plan or even necessarily cook. Ahh, dinner bliss! Thanks to everyone who helped and if anyone reading wants the details, let me know. I think it is a nice way to do a baby shower for 2nd and beyond babies. I still got some really fun pink stuff for Claire too--check out this one from my cousins:
Isn't it amazing? I was so impressed, I didn't even want to open it. There were diapers, onesies, baby lotion, ribbons, receiving blankets, and a toy in there! Yes, I am totally spoiled, you gals are too too sweet. We had good food and visiting too, thanks again to everyone who came.

We did make it over to the Legacy Center to fulfill my promise that we would after swimming lessons and after they opened again. We had a good time and I could tell marked improvement in their swimming skills, so yes, the lessons were worth it. Not that they are swimming laps or anything but I think if they accidentally fell in they would be able to get themselves back to the side and out again (not that I would EVER leave them alone near water still). They also seem to have picked up a healthier fear of the water, not that they aren't still total fish and adore being in the water, but they seem more timid about being in alone which is a good thing in my book. Especially for my little risk takers. Did I mention they learned how to light the grill themselves this week? Thrill.

We also had a play date with our best buds A&A and I loved the time visiting with Reva. Good friends are hard to find in this world, having one is a huge blessing. Having one with twin boys the same age who love to play with each other is just amazing!

And I bought a new pass . . .yes I know we have passes everywhere but ours to the zoo, aquarium, and children's museum have all expired and I was looking into renewing a couple of those when a great deal came along. I may still renew some of those later, but this new one is keeping us entertained for the time being. On citydeals.com I picked up passes for our 4 for Seven Peaks, Trafalga Lehi (formerly Legacy Land), Trafalga Orem and a couple local sports teams for $35 each for the year. Seven Peaks (large water park) alone is much more than that and we have frequented both Trafalgas in the past spending $20-$30/time (for non-locals they have little kid rides, mini-golf, race track type activities) so to get unlimited to all of it for that price was great. You can also get the passes at those locations for $40/each right now. So of course with new passes in hand I had to abuse them! First we went to 7 peaks as it was about to close for the season. We went on Weds evening and the boys loved it. I was surprised just how much they had to do and the water was heated and nice. They were chilled as we left (the sun was going down) but happy and I enjoyed the time with the weight off my hips.

Then Friday we went to Trafalga Lehi. I was disappointed that they did not have enough staff for all the rides (same complaint I had when it was Liberty Land) but we managed to still do most of what we wanted and had to drag the kids away. Having an unlimited pass was so nice, the boys rode the little roller coaster 7 times in a row without getting off. They were loving it!

Lowell also took the boys on the go-karts.
And we all played on the bumper boats.
You can just tell that Carter is wet, I was drenched! It was a really good time. I've been wanting to squeeze some last fun activities in before school starts/the weather really turns/the baby comes, so this was perfect!

Sunday we had family over to celebrate Labor Day with a hot dog BBQ and it was a lovely evening with the kids having such a great time with their cousins and Lowell and I enjoying chatting away. We are so blessed to have family close.

Then Labor Day we lived it up for our "last day of summer". Here summer will be around for a while yet, but it is true that it changes after labor day. The kids are in school, the days are getting shorter, the leaves are changing on the mountain, BYU is playing every weekend . . .times are changing. I do like fall though, I hope the temps stick around a while, this week is all 70s and 80s. So for Labor Day we went to 7 Peaks again to get our last chance in and Lowell's brother and his family came too, so that was an added bonus (they picked up the pass too, so they can be our playmates, A&A too--we're going to be partying it up!). Unfortunately it was cooler outside, 75 or so but we thought with the warm water it would be fine. Except this time the water was cold. I'm not sure what made the 2 days different, but that was a real bummer. We still played for a couple of hours, had fun in the wave pool, and Lowell took the boys on the "big" slides (no pregnant women--I was so jealous, next summer) but they were just too cold to stay all day. They kept laying on the warm cement next to each other and shivering in unison. Strangely cute actually. We did splurge a little and go to the mall food court for lunch (when did that get so expensive?) and to Sub Zero to get fun ice cream made by freezing cream and mix-ins with liquid nitrogen (I did have a discount, but it was still more than we would normally pay for a treat). The boys did think it was really cool though and I quite liked the ice cream I had. Davis was asleep before we even got home, such a full day!

But that wasn't it, then Lowell and I went to the Thanksgiving Point Labor Day Luau. My sister Hillary got us discount tickets and Dinda was kind enough to sit with the monkeys and get them to bed. I remember going to a similar event almost as big with the boys, so it was nostalgic to me to go again, except it ended up being totally different. I started contracting strongly and regularly pretty much as soon as we got there. I changed positions and they kept coming so Lowell started timing them for me. They were less than 5 minutes apart so I worked on eating my dinner in between and waiting out an hour to see if this was the real thing. Here's us in between contractions (the boys set the camera to sepia and I hadn't gotten it set back yet):

Yes, I look huge, I am 37 weeks pregnant after all. The food was quite good but I couldn't finish it with the contractions. Hillary left to sit with the kids so I could go to the hospital and get checked out (thanks Hill) but I wanted to make sure they wouldn't just send me home. We walked a little and they kept coming, but then we sat to watch the show for a bit and they slowed down. We stopped at WalMart and they slowed even more so we just went home. We were both pretty disappointed. It's really not time yet, we just thought that was it you know? Oh well, sooner or later. And it was a lovely evening still, one I'll remember anyway. And thanks to my attentive hubby who rubbed my back and played stop watch. This is different for both of us as last time my water just broke at 34 weeks without much laboring. We're both pretty anxious to meet this little girl.

So today was the boys' first day of preschool:
Don't they look grown up? It kills me!
Carter
C and his All about me poster
D and his poster (they were really excited about it and insisted on me taking their pic with it)
Handsome Davis

It was harder on me than I would have thought. I have been counting down to this day for a while but they are my play mates and little buddies, it's hard to send them off 2 hours/day, 4 days/week and to see them heading off on their own little lives. They were very excited to go though and went right in and sat down on the circle like they are supposed to (same preschool as last year, so they remember). If it wasn't that I know the teachers genuinely love and care about them it would have been harder, but they do. I celebrated my time by going to a doctor appt (ha! getting sick of that, only 1 more to go, maybe) and then going out to Kneaders for breakfast, yum! I even still had time to clean out one closet and pack up some old clothes and of course the boys were happy when I picked them up. They are just growing up too fast darn it! The teachers agreed that they changed a lot over the summer and are growing up. Well, at least with October birthdays I get to hold onto them an extra year before public school, not that preschool is that different (just more expensive. :)). Sigh, I miss my buddies.

So, this may or may not be my last post before the "big event" so I thought I would record a few memories of this pregnancy for Claire while they are fresh. I think I can safely say that while this has been an uneventful pregnancy, it has not been an easy one. I am still Zofran dependent if I don't want to feel sick all day. I cut back to half-dose a couple months ago (relieved some of the constipation issues Zofran causes) but I still have to take the 1 dose every day. And Prilosec every other day if I don't want to be spitting acid. I've had a fairly common issue among pregnant women involving the pubic bone that causes a lot of pain when standing up or rolling over. I've also had intermittent problems with sciatica. I have significant trouble sleeping now and have also had issues with headaches earlier on. I have also had consistent Braxton-Hicks contractions since 17 weeks, growing in intensity and frequency. I have a hard time digesting (so just avoid) salad, raw vegs, yogurt, and peanuts. I have an aversion to and generally avoid all types of chicken, but chicken breast most of all. My most major craving has been fruit in all its varieties and applications, most of all oranges, apples, watermelon, and out of the blue dried apricots. I also dig salty things and occasionally chocolate. Easily my favorite part of this pregnancy is fetal movement. I have adored feeling little sister move since around 15 weeks. She seems to have her preferences as well based on this movement. She likes music and especially to be sung to (I oblige as often as possible, but only in the car!). She doesn't like Lowell's harder rock music but seems to prefer him personally a lot, snuggles up and refuses to kick when he touches her/me. Everyone else gets booted, she doesn't like anyone to be in her "space" from the dogs to the kids. She falls asleep when I rock the boys and is most active in the late evening. She's been head down most of my later pregnancy and though slower moving now was quite an active little thing from the time I could feel her. Now she mostly wiggles but also sometimes tries to push her way out of the top of me. She is quite strong. We all adore her--the boys are very interested in everything to do with the baby and will tell anyone who will listen that their mommy has a baby in her tummy and that she is their little sister and that we are going to name her Claire.

We'll keep you posted with anything new on the baby front . . .I will be taking 8 weeks off after she arrives and we do not have internet at home. I have plenty of time to kill and fast internet at work, so I usually only use it here. I'm away from my bubbas enough that I like this set up, no distractions from them when I am home. Except without being at work I will be less accessible. Lowell does have internet on his phone and at work, plus the grandparents have it-so I will be around just not as much. Be patient with me. Thanks!

I almost forgot to mention my pamper myself day if I make it to 38 weeks coming up Saturday. I am getting a massage, pedicure, and going to a Super Saturday event with the twin club. Woot! Almost makes me want to make it to Saturday (almost . . .why am I so impatient?!)