Pictures from June/July

Well, since I don't have a new baby to post pictures of (and yes, my due date was two days ago), I figured I may as well get caught up with pics of the other four. Because once this kid finally does decide to come, they may not get their fair share of the spotlight.

Here are some random snapshots from June:

And July (minus Schlitterbahn and the 4th of July, because I already posted all those):

It's okay to drink beer in the 3rd trimester, right?

A funny thing happened to me yesterday that might have given me a questionable reputation in our neighborhood. I had been talking to my sister Marian on the phone about wanting to get some contractions going, and she reminded me about the trick where you do uneven sidewalk-curb walking (I promise this is a real thing) - you walk up and down the street with one foot on the edge of the sidewalk and the other foot in the street. For some reason this makes you have contractions.

Anyway, I decided to try it and headed off down our street. I thought I may as well walk down to the mailbox to check the mail. I knew that I looked a little bit funny, but I decided that even if I passed someone on the street I would keep going, because I didn't want to stop and walk normal and waste the whole stretch of road just because of what some passer-by might think. When I got to the end of our street and was about to turn onto the road where our mailbox is, I noticed an empty beer can sitting in the grass. I decided to pick it up so I could throw it away once I got down to the mailbox.

I hadn't really thought about how me holding a beer can would make it look even funnier as I staggered down the street stepping up and down on the curb until I saw a man walking towards me on the sidewalk. We were walking towards each other for awhile before we passed, and I was trying to decide how to handle it (do I smile and say hi? just smile? avoid eye contact? pretend I'm not walking like this? try to explain?) but hadn't really reached a conclusion when the time came. I think I just gave him a little smile. He stopped and said, "Are you okay, Ma'am?" I said yes and kept walking, but then he asked again, "Ma'am - are you doing all right?" That's when the realization hit me that he thought I was a drunk pregnant lady, and I was trying so hard not to laugh, because for some reason it seemed so silly, and I knew I should have explained, but by then I was already past him, so I just called out that I was doing fine and kept walking to the mailbox with a big grin on my face because it seemed so funny. I just kept imagining what he must have thought when he saw a pregnant lady walking very unsteadily down the street with a beer can in her hand. I'm thinking he could have come up with no logical reason for me to be doing that unless I was drunk.

I feel a little bad that I didn't clear things up. I came home and told Daniel what happened, and he can't believe I didn't try to explain. I guess I really should have, it just happened so fast, and it would have been a complicated two-part explanation at least: look, this isn't really my beer can, I just found it on the street and wanted to keep our neighborhood clean so I picked it up so I could throw it away by the mailbox, and the reason I'm walking this funny way is because I thought it might make me have contractions and I'm trying to go into labor a little early. Got it?

I hope I didn't worry him too badly. This embarrassing situation would at least be worth it if it had actually worked and sent me into labor, because then I could have a fun "the day you were born" story, but although the curb walking did cause some contraction action, here I am the next day and still no baby.

I was thinking that maybe if I try that little trick again, I should carry some little weights in my hand or something, because then it will at least look like some sort of wacky exercise routine and not just drunkenness. And I should probably just leave the beer cans on the ground.

SO, thanks a lot for the suggestion, Marian. See if I listen to you ever again.

Cute pregnant lady exercising. Not what I looked like. Unless you write "Miller Lite" on the label of that water bottle and then imagine her walking down the street in a crazy manner.

Hooray for Kiddie Kandid's free Birthday Club Pictures

I know this is my second post today, but I'm sitting here having lots of contractions and wondering when this baby is going to come (I'm due on Sunday and was dilated to a 3 at the doctor's today) and I just wanted to really quick post these cute pictures of Oliver, Rachel, and Lizza while I have a chance.

Since those three all have summer birthdays (Tristan's the odd man out in December), I usually take them in to Kiddie Kandids all together to get their free birthday 8x10s. These are just the little proofs that they emailed to me.



Oliver (will turn 6 on August 17th)


Rachel (will turn 4 on July 30th)


Elizabeth (turned 2 last month)

I might be posting a lot of pictures in the next few days until the baby comes. I feel like I have to get it done now because I can't picture myself being able to do anything productive for a long time once I have five kids.

Either that, or I'll just sit around and blog all day because I'll have a good excuse.

But Mom, I'm not saying I hate our house. .

I was sitting at the computer in the study the other day, and Rachel came in to have the following discussion with me:

Rachel: I wish we lived in a hotel.

Me: You do? What would you like about living in a hotel?

Rachel: You know. . . . like, it's super-warm and all that stuff.

Me: Well, our house actually seems pretty warm to me right now. (This is true. For example, last night I went upstairs to check on the kids around 11:00 pm, and the A/C was struggling to get it down to 82 degrees up there. That is plenty warm for me.)

Rachel (changing the subject slightly): Yeah. . but a hotel has more beds in each room. Ya get it? I'm not, like, saying I hate our house. I'm not like saying that!! I just wish I lived in a hotel. That's all.

During this whole conversation she was very worried that I was going to be offended by the fact that she'd prefer to live in a hotel, so she made sure to keep clarifying how much she does NOT hate our house.

Me: What made you even think of this?

Rachel: I don't know. I was just thinking, and. . . you know . . . hotels are just so neat. They even have waterfalls (our hotel in Corpus Christi had a little waterfall in the lobby). And you can eat there.

Me: Don't we eat here?

Rachel (rolling her eyes): Except you can get yummy food there.

Me: (silence)

Rachel (trying to get back on my good side): But I'm not saying I hate this house. Okay?

Me: Is there anything that is better about this house than a hotel?

Rachel: Oh, yeah, sure . . . . Umm. . . .Oh, yeah - like the study. I guess hotels don't have studies.

She then left the room to go draw a picture of a hotel, but came back in after about 5 minutes to finish up the conversation.

Rachel: I guess the best thing is for me to live in this house AND a hotel - like maybe there should be a hotel hooked on. Then you could just go straight in whenever you want. You would have to help us open the door, though.


The thing is, despite the fact that I was laughing the whole time she was telling me all this, I actually do "get it", as Rachel would say. I can remember hotels seeming so magical as a kid. We didn't stay in hotels often, but I remember every spring our family would drive down to St. George and stay at the Holiday Inn while my Dad attended a city attorney conference there. We loved everything about that place - there was just something about the way it smelled and how the carpet felt on our bare feet as we ran up and down the halls playing tag and the indoor/outdoor pool with the little flaps to swim back and forth under and how the lights looked in the pool at night when our parents let us go swimming after bedtime. I'm pretty sure I wished I lived there. And it didn't even have continental breakfasts - I don't think I knew about those yet. That would have sealed the deal for sure.

I guess I still like hotels. It's still fun for me. I love getting the room all organized and finding a place for everything and then getting all set up and not having any responsibilities and taking the kids down to the pool. But then it does always feel good to get back home, so maybe Rachel's idea is best - to have some sort of house/hotel combo. I'm picturing our current house, but with room service and an indoor/outdoor pool. And continental breakfast.

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July this year. We spent most of the day with our friends the Bates, starting with a barbeque and root-beer floats, then driving outside the city limits to blow some things up, and ending by watching one of the city's firework shows.




Root beer floats with the Bates



Daniel surprising us all with his "arts and crafts" side, as he builds various structures to blow up



The kids getting ready for some firework fun



An innocent little house, unaware of what is about to hit it



Everyone crowding around to "help"



Ready to light



Investigating the damage. There were several army guys who did not survive, much to the delight of everyone investigating.



Rachel wearing her favorite patriotic vest. She looks forward to the 4th of July every year, just so she can wear it. It's going to be a sad day next year when it gets passed down to Lizzy.



Oliver and Tristan trying to set things on fire with their sparklers



Four happy sparkler kids

Schlitterbahn Waterpark

Last week we drove down to New Braunfels to go to Schlitterbahn Waterpark (we had to make up for not going during our Corpus Christi/South Padre Island trip).

I love Schlitterbahn. It seriously is the best family waterpark. Even at 8 months pregnant, I was able to enjoy myself the whole day, which is saying something. Tristan and Oliver were able to go on all the big rides/slides that Daniel wanted to do, and I hung out with the girls at all the different kid play areas - Schlitterbahn definitely knows how to put together good kid-friendly slides. They have so many different areas that were perfect for both Lizzy (2 years old) and Tristan (7 years old) and everyone in between. (I tried going down one of the kid slides to see if they were also perfect for a 27-year old pregnant mom, but it was a little faster than I expected and made me start having contractions, so I decided that was enough sliding for me).

The only thing that was less than ideal was the weather. Despite the forecast for a high of 97 and sunny skies, it ended up being pretty rainy and cold the whole day. At one point the rain started coming down super hard and I was worried we'd have to leave, but after awhile it slowed to an on-again/off-again drizzle, and we were able to continue playing and sliding. The kids didn't complain, and still had a lot of fun, but it was annoying to keep thinking about how much MORE fun we would be having if the sun was shining and the water didn't feel so icy cold. When I started to get too depressed about it I reminded myself that at least nobody was getting sunburned. Luckily we discovered some huge hot tub pools, so whenever the kids' lips were getting too blue we would go swim around in the hot tubs and warm up. It felt heavenly.

We stayed until closing time and then headed over to a nearby Rudy's BBQ for dinner before driving back home. Everybody was pretty worn out from having so much fun. Rachel is already asking when we're going to go back to Schlitterbahn and "can we please go on her birthday because she just loves it so much." I told her maybe next year, because we can only afford so much fun per summer.

Only 3 Weeks Left!

Here's a picture of the belly, for those of you who have asked: