Back to regular life I guess?

So, my due date was very anti-climactic. I had thought that I'd for sure go into labor early this time around since I've been feeling wicked hard contractions (the Braxton Hicks kind, but still) for the last, oh, 6 months! And since Sammy was right on his due date, I thought that at the very least, I'd be "on time" with our third baby. But then it was my due date (June 2) and nothing happened. So, I decided to take the risk of driving out to the suburbs to get my toes done with my friend Julia. Matt kept calling to make sure I wasn't in labor, which, of course, I was not.

And then, the next day, things got a little depressing. We all, (me, Matt, the kids, my family) had thought for sure I'd have a baby by now, so I hadn't really planned anything for the rest of the week. Everyone had been on high alert, but now: nothing. Then the house started to get messy again, as it tends to do when you live there. And laundry was created and had to be washed again.

We started getting sloppy with our rooms and beds every day. The kids were very confused. They had thought for sure that our baby was coming!

So then they did some things to encourage her to come out. They decorated her crib, which was very sweet.

I'm sure this is not a very safe way for a baby to sleep in a crib, but a bunch of blankets and lace tablecloths DO look welcoming if you ask me! ;) I tried not to be upset that I had just put all the clean sheets on and had a sterile little crib prepared. No worries! Put your dust-mite-filled stuffed animals in there kids! She's not coming right now anyway.

Then we planted a tree for her. It's very tiny. It's a Japanese Maple so it's a beautiful red color year-round (I think). I like the idea of planting a tree when a baby is born and then it can be, like, "their tree" as long as you live in that house, you know? The kids were very excited to plant it too. Sammy, of course, wanted to help dig the hole. But still...no baby.

We did some other stuff then and pretty soon, by the weekend, it seemed like we had just gone back to normal. We got this furniture delivered from Menards, so we put it on our balcony with the twinkle lights.

And I bought some flowers to put in the balcony boxes, but you can't really see them here.

We've gone on a million bike rides since last Wednesday, it seems. I just walk behind the rest of the family trying to get something going. But so far, nada.

We also bought flower baskets to go in front of the house. They aren't as huge and cool as I had planned on buying, but they'll do. They were already planted and the colors are pretty (red, yellow, blue) so here they are.

And then Claire and I started working on our knitting again starting Sunday morning, (our whole church was on a retreat that we didn't go on since we were supposed to have a newborn). This is a good little knitting book that I picked up at the library. We've checked it out a few times and worked on stuff.

Sammy is working on finger knitting. It just creates a tiny braided-looking chain, but he made "crowns" for himself and Peter and wanted us to take a picture of them all wearing them.

Claire's working on a washcloth or potholder or something. She's doing really great with it! So, I guess the wait hasn't been all bad. We've gotten a lot done and had some great family time. If I didn't feel like I was waddling around with a bowling ball in my stomach I wouldn't mind so much, but seriously! I'm not on high alert anymore. I think I've started thinking of it as something that may or may not happen. I think I'm actually going to be really shocked when it does!

****By the way: I had a non-stress test at my midwives office this morning and supposedly little baby girl Harris is doing great in there, so I don't have any induction plans as of yet. Matt said "well, at least we can get rid of her 0-3 month clothes! She'll probably be too big for them by the time she gets here!"