I haven’t had the baby yet, thank goodness. My date is this Wednesday in 5 days. I cannot believe the time is getting this close. Now I am just hoping that I don’t go early. We have it all worked out to a T. B works tomorrow so it would not be a good day to go. He is also having a Christmas party with his 4 assistants. It sounds like a lot of fun and I don’t want to mess things up. I am contracting tonight but I am really just trying to ignore it. I’m sure it is just false labor again.

It has been fun having the kids and B home for the past 4 days. We have been ice/snowed in. We actually ran a few errands this evening but couldn’t pull back in our garage because of the steep incline of our driveway. It was pretty scary. We just parked on the front curb and walked up. B salted it better so now it is pretty much melted. I hope it finishes melting tomorrow so we can go to church on Sunday morning. I am not one to drive on icy roads at all. It scares the jeepers out of me!!

I am so excited because I have got so much scrapbooking done this week. I am up to the beginning of the school year. I’m only a few months behind. My goal is to get caught up before Wednesday AND have a good start on the new baby’s album. So then I just need to add the pictures to the pages. It is an amazing feeling to be working on current pictures. I have been about 2-4 years behind for 6 years now. I’m glad to be getting caught up. I will be able to get more creative with my picture taking again.

Okay, really weird but I keep feeling like my water is going to break at any minute. That baby is sooo active right now and VERY low in my pelvic area. I’m just waiting to hear a big “POP”. I hope I don’t because we are not prepared for this!!

Anyway, I hope I have not offended anyone lately. I feel like I have been so quick to voice my opinions and “stand up for what I believe in” that I have been offending people in the process. I’m going to start just keeping my mouth shut unless it is something that needs to be said. I also am going to spend less time on some of my internet boards. They are just big time wasters and my family needs most of my attention right now and so do my stamps!!

I don’t know if it is because the baby will be here in 9 days or because the bug guy will be here at noon but I have been cleaning like a mad woman today. I’ve already cleaned out my walk in closet, my bathroom, my bedroom, and I’ve vacuumed that room, too. All I need to do now is finish up in the living room and vacuum. I want to scrapbook today but I’m not going to let myself until I get my chores done.

I forgot to add to my blog that a Young Woman babysat for me on Wednesday while I was at my dr apt and she totallly cleaned my house. She had all my kids sweeping and scrubbing my kitchen. The place sparkled when I returned. We will be getting her again! What a wonderful day that turned out to be.

I want to do a really fun FHE tonight because it might be the last one we have with just the 4 kids. We always have the normal one with our normal agenda, including conducting sheet. I’ll have to brainstorm today to think of something that the kids will remember for a long time.

Wow, I have not written in so long. I just have not really felt like it. On Wednesday morning one of the Young Women in my ward threw a surprise baby shower. It was really fun & I was totally surprised! There were about 4 adults there and 4 youth plus my kids. I think a lot of people forgot because it was the first day of a holiday break. We still had a blast. I am just honored that they would do two of these for me. I am so new in this ward and just getting to know the adults.

On Thanksgiving we just had a family day at home. B cooked the turkey and I made everything else. I made my mom’s famous fruit salad and everything else was out of boxes or cans. I think as the kids get older we will start cooking from scratch more. Doesn’t make sense to me know to spend all day in the kitchen when the kids don’t really even know the difference.

Friday I got up at 3:45 am to go Black Friday shopping. Yes, I am one of those. It doesn’t mean that I am into the whole commercial thing but it does help us to save money and that is the smartest thing for our growing family. I saved $300 just by going to Walmart and Target that early. I am completely done with all my shopping and I have everything wrapped and ready to be put under the tree. It is a great load off my shoulders because we have so many other things to prepare for in the next 2 weeks. I made a few gifts for family this year and they are all packaged up and ready to be sent as well.

I have my scheduled c-section a week from this Wednesday. My doctor told me that he could do it anytime before then as well because of the pain and contractions I have been having. He asked me if I wanted a Thanksgiving baby and I told him “NO!” I am just not emotionally ready even though I’d better get there soon. We are going to try to hold off until next Wednesday. My dr said that this coming Friday would also be a good date because I will be officially 38 weeks. It just seems too soon!! I’m just going to hang in there.

Well, that’s all that has been going on.

For your right………… to PARTY!!! Okay, that’s not what I really want to say but at least the first few words are. Something interesting happened to me today. I was on one of my pregnancy boards on the internet and I noticed that a lot of the girls on there were typing out swear words differently. So even though they weren’t spelled the same you could sound them out and they would sound just as bad. Frankly I am just tired of it! I don’t want to have to read it and I don’t want my children seeing it either. I posted a thread about how I would appreciate it if people would watch what they say. I said it VERY politely. I mentioned that I should be able to have a warning if there is a post that contains profanity just like I would on TV with the rating system. I received some support from a few moms but it got really ugly. I was accused of censorship, etc. I felt really disappointed about it this morning and decided that if that is the way it was going to be on that board then I would just not go there anymore. This afternoon I received an e-mail from the moderator of the entire list (over 10,000 people on the list), and she told me that profanity was against the TOS of this board and that I was well within my rights to voice my opinion. She then told me how sorry she was and that she agreed with me. She is looking into it further and will take action if necessary.

Okay, my whole point is that I stood up for what I believed in but then I felt bad about it by the response I received. Now I know that I did do the right thing. We are asked to stand up for what we believe in even if it is not the popular opinion. I hope that I am able to teach my children this principle in life. I hope they will be the one that leaves the room when that time arises.

Another example…… After I had gone through the temple and when I was first married I worked at a large hardware store. I worked in the back with the truckers & receiving department. I actually LOVED that job. I had so much fun there and I learned so much. Well, my boss would swear A LOT and it would really bother me. I was having a review with the General Store Manager and it came up. I was not tattling but I thought that it needed to be discussed. The next day my boss came up to me and apologized. He said that he was in the wrong and should never have been speaking that way around anyone, especially a lady. Working conditions were so much better after that. I know a lot of my friends who work in places where this type of profanity is normal and they just get used to it. WE DO NOT HAVE to get used to anything that is wrong. That is my thought for the day!

The ordinances of the gospel. I was just watching A Baby Story where the little girl was given a blessing and a Hebrew name. After the ceremony the Priest went up to the pulpit and whipped out a shirt for the baby that said “I got my Hebrew name at ……….. Church”. Can you imagine the Bishop of your ward doing that after a baby blessing? “Oh, by the way, we like to give our babies a t-shirt that says ‘I received my blessing in _____ 1st Ward”. I am so grateful of the sacredness of the ordinances that happen in our church.

Not a moments rest for me! I spent the morning in Labor & Delivery because I was having contractions all night long. I couldn’t even sleep through them! The good thing is that there is no change in me. I am still dilated to a 1 and 50% effaced. The baby is only at a -1 station. When I was at the hospital my contractions were showing up but only 10 minutes apart. They were pretty painful. I was discharged at 12:00 this afternoon and I am sooo glad. I am not ready to have my baby. There is still sooo much to do. They told me that if I was in labor or if I go into labor they are not going to stop them because I am 36 weeks along. I guess I will just have to deal with all these contractions for a while. The contractions have slowed down a lot since I’ve been home and I am sooo glad. I feel so much better!! I hope they stay this way.

Last night I went to Supperthyme and made 13 dinners that are all sitting in my freezer ready to cook. I am so excited to eat them all. They look really yummy and will feed my entire family with some leftovers for lunch the next day. I am going to try to go one more time before the baby comes so I can have a month’s supply of dinners. I think it will help to have food ready to go after the baby is born.

I am back in the scrapbooking mode and I want to get caught up. Do you think I can get July-November 2006 all done by next week??? July has our family reunion on it so it has many, many pictures to scrap. I know I will be keeping those ones very simple. I will upload a page I made last night later today. It is sooo cute! I love the paper I used. It is not Stampin’ Up! (SHOCKER) but a Close to my Heart kit. They have nice stuff for scrapbooking. I can say that now without any guilt!! Anyway, I am going to try to scrap today since I want to take it easy. What a fun and relaxing thing to do, right?? Do you want to come over??