18 quarts and 12 ounces

The first is the amount of spagetti sauce that we canned yesterday (not to mention the 12 we had done at the beginning of the month.) We have been blessed with tomatoes from our garden as well as from Father Jeremy's garden and were also able to make salsa & soup. We have a tabletop full of green and orange tomatoes that will hopefully ripen so we can do it one more time.

The second amount is how much aloe vera spray gel that Ian sprayed in our bedroom. He happened to discover the bottle when we moved a couch upstairs and he was able to stand on it and found it sitting on the bookshelf. Yes, not the proper place for it, but I think I used it to soothe someone's sunburn this summer & just left it on the shelf in case I needed it again. My bad! So needless to say I spent a good 10 minutes cleaning up green slime all around our bedroom. It covered the walls, the door, the bed, and some clothes set aside for Goodwill. Let's just say that we also had to change his clothes. At least the stuff smelled good!

Here's a quick picture of the kids and me with my belly before I "pop". Not a word I really enjoy to use for my condition considering that all of the other things I can think of that we "pop" that are round and full are things like zits and woodticks. (Thank you to the person who commented about me in that manner.) So, I am 36 weeks today and with 1 week to go until baby is considered full-term, I find myself really anticipating a new baby, but not looking forward to the hard and painful part. Please pray for us and that all goes well!

Happy Birthday, Laney!

Eight years ago, we found ourselves living down in Texas and had only lived in our new apartment for 2 weeks when our daughter, Laney Beth Charlotte, arrived. She actually arrived before any of our furniture and belongings from Minnesota did and so for her first few weeks of life, she slept in the little changing "table", that comes with pack-n-plays, right next to our air mattress on the living room floor. We were actually just glad to be in our own apartment and not living in the hotel anymore as we had been for the past few weeks. Maybe that's why she came when she did...she knew we were finally settled into a place we could call our own.

Not only did she come early, she came in a hurry. I awoke from a dream that night from a contraction like none other. When I realized that it was the beginning of labor, I took my time getting ready and packing some things thinking that I had plenty of time before we would have to get to the hospital. After 45 minutes of putzing around, I finally decided it was time to wake up Jason & head in. We dropped AJ off at a friends' and headed to the hospital.

Once there, I think it finally kicked in how far along my labor was when the man wheeling me up to labor and delivery noticed how quickly my contractions were coming along. "Another one?" he exclaimed as we were riding up the elevator. It was then that I realized that if someone who doesn't even work in the OB department recognized the end stages of labor, then maybe there's more going on here.

When I got to the room, the nurse hurried to get me on the bed and into hospital attire and to check where I actually was as far as labor progressing goes. I was dilated to 8. If you're not sure what that means, it means that at that point it's too late for pain meds and at 10 the baby is ready to deliver. I started to panic and fret for the mere fact that I couldn't have anything for the pain & Jason was down parking the truck. Soon after he got into the room, they put the drape over me and said, "It's time to push!" We looked at each other appalled at how quickly this was all going. After 3 very painful but productive pushes, our little baby girl was born. Head full of dark hair and perfect in every way. I cried with tears of joy for the blessing of her and Jason was just glad that he didn't miss it parking the truck!

So, happy birthday to our Laney Beth who loves to draw and do all the things that little girls love to do and for bringing the world of pink into mine. (If you know me, it's not a favorite color of mine...for me anyways, but it suits her perfectly well and that I love.)

You know the saying...

..."barefoot & pregnant", but do you know why there's such a saying? I'm pretty sure that it's because none of your shoes feel good on your feet when they swell up from the added fluids in your body and pressure from baby bearing down on your vessels. Although with this pregnancy I have also had to remove my wedding ring for the first time for fear that I may have to get it cut off if I try to keep it on any longer. That's a weird feeling of not having it on after wearing it constantly for over 13 years. I don't think there's a saying for that though..."barefoot & pregnant & accessory-less"? Just doesn't roll off the tongue well.

Gross!

I love my cat, but there are just some things about having a pet that remind me of what I don't miss about being a veterinary technician. Just as I sat down today to each my lunch, I hear the cat making the familiar "here comes a hairball" noise. (At least she does it on the hardwood floor & not the carpet most of the time.) I didn't enjoy the thought of it, especially since I was eating leftover shepherd's pie, which can tend to resemble a mess of soft food. Add to that the fact that Ian was taking care of his business in the other room & now it also smelled bad...I had to distract my pregnant weak, but empty stomach from the nastiness of the moment to finish my lunch without doing the same as the cat.

The good news is that the cat cleaned up her own mess. Well, the thought of how is gross, but the fact that I didn't have to clean up a slimy mess of undigested cat food makes me feel a little better. There's nothing worse than cleaning up puke on a full stomach. I've said too much...