those are NOT sticks!

So this morning around 7:30, Mike calls to me from the living room, "Martha, come here." I was in the middle of changing Will's diaper (yeah, he STILL wears diapers.... one major life change at a time, please) so I said I would be there in a minute. And his response was, "uh, no. You need to come see this right now."

As I get to the living room, he tells me to look out on the back porch and his only other comment is, "those are NOT sticks!"



Those are earthworms!!!! And this picture does not do it justice - they are COVERING the back patio!!! The only thing I can figure out is that the ground is so saturated from all the recent rain we have had (past weeks, plus ALL last night) that their earthworm holes/colonies/whatever got flooded and they were forced to seek higher ground.



And that is not even the worst "eeewwww" factor.
We are blessed with an original-to-our-25-yr-old-house sliding glass door off the back patio, so you KNOW it doesn't seal the way it should. And of course, some of those suckers had wriggled their slimy, nasty little bodies INTO OUR HOUSE. My only consolation is that as soon as they get in the house out of the rain, they dry up and shrivel and DIE! Of course, Mike did the worm clean-up.

And the best part of this post... Mike calls me from work to take a picture of them because no one at his work believes him!

There - proof that once again, only the super-weird, crazy house stuff happens to us! We have officially been invaded by earthworms!

happy pictures!

We had a friend from high school, Zoe, take some pictures of William a couple of weeks ago. She is just starting her own photography business and if I may say so, is absolutely fabulous!!!! take a peek! thanks, Zoe!

(and she also convinced me to do some belly pics - more on that to come soon!)

still here... barely!

Well, we are still here! The due date is 15 days away and CANNOT come soon enough. On a serious note, I will not be completely at ease until we have a screaming baby in the delivery room. However, I am definitely over this whole "pregnant" bit.

We are 0 for 2 as far as our triage visits at the hospital go. I went in at 34 weeks with some very consistent, pretty strong contractions. But apparently, there were no match for modern medicine and a shot of something-or-other stopped it all and we went home.

Then this past week, I woke up Tuesday night with horrible, make-you-want-to-cry, piercing contractions. They continued regularly for an hour, so following WHAT THE DOCTOR TOLD ME TO DO, I called and they said go to triage. The contractions continued, I was at 2 cm, and just assumed that Ryan would be arriving that night or early the next morning. Well, I was checked again and was still at 2 cm. The triage nurse came back in and started, "Well, the doctor feels comfortable..." and I was all excited to hear "... admit you and get this party started!". Instead it finished like this, "... sending you home." You know that movie music where it goes, "wah, wah, wah". Yeah, that is what I heard in my head. I was still contracting and could not believe it. 37 weeks, come on! Close enough, right? The nurse told us we would probably be back later that day or the next for full-on labor. That was a little better and so we went home.

And of course, as soon as we got home, everything stopped and here we are - 2 weeks to go and sooooooo ready to be finished!

There is LOTS of waddling, LOTS of swelling, and LOTS of crabbiness. However, I try not to get too whiny about it and just remember it is all in preparation to meet those 10 tiny toes and 10 tiny fingers and sweet, sweet face.
It is very different, the second time around. I have an idea of what I might feel and the anticipation is overwhelming! Can't wait to meet the beautiful boy I am already so in love with!

William has been great! He is really excited about meeting Ryan and talks about all the things he will do. He talks about being the big brother and changing all the poopy diapers by himself - and I PROMISE I did not coach him to say that! We have been trying to include him in all the baby preparations including all the clothes washing, furniture arranging, and decoration making - he is excited!

In the meantime, here is what we have been up to:

We met one of my good friends from A&M, Megan, for lunch a while back when she was passing through town with her husband, Jon, and their sweet little girl, Emma.


Then, a few weeks ago, this guy:


opened this thing for preseason:


and we were there! (thanks Dad!)


we saw this crazy thing:


and this guy:


and this guy (Gig 'em!)


And of course, William and Lucy continue to bond over Sesame Street books.




Everyone say prayers for a healthy baby arriving very soon! Love to all!

determined to spend more time learning Photoshop...

... using the "guided edit" and then b&w conversion

Hello, sweet boy!

updates

Well, I guess I should update on me! 30 weeks today - going to the doctor every 2 weeks now - next appt. is Thursday - have already passed my total weight and size I had the entire time with William - big and fat and exactly how I want to be!!!

I have had a few thoughts lately on what this baby will be like once he arrives and here are my best guesses based on current conditions:



or maybe this:


we are looking for an infant dojo to keep up with his training and a baby Gi to keep him looking the part...

seriously though, this kid is a kicker! all the time! the other day I was holding the remote loosely in my hand and resting it on my belly - he kicked so hard, it knocked the remote out of my hand and that is NOT an exaggeration!
so Dr. Thurston better watch out... this kiddo has the potential to go Chuck Norris-like when he arrives!

ducks?

So we went to go feed the ducks at Breckinridge Park on Friday. So pretty! And we got there early enough it wasn't super-hot yet! Cimberly and her sweet son, Caiden, met us and we had a fun time!





look closely! this poor duck had a "special" leg - it had to hop around the whole time and I made sure it received its' own special share of the bread!



and then, it was like a scene from a movie, these huge things came flying overhead from somewhere behind us and landed in the pond. I thought to myself, "wow! those are some big ducks!" and then I realized, "no, stupid! those are NOT ducks!"
they came waltzing up the bank of the pond like they owned the place and disrupted our perfect little scene we had going on - big bullies!



yeah, those are geese! and yes, they really do honk!

poor Caiden even tried to chase them at one point and they HISSED at him! who knew a goose could HISS!

moving on, the boys were so sweet about sharing:



and when all the bread was gone, those jokers (all 8 of them!) just settled down at the edge of the pond for a nice drink



finally, what trip to the park would be complete without a good playground picture? sweet boy! he is getting so big!!

hangin' out

Anyone see anything wrong with this picture?



How about this one?

"by myself" has become a super-important phrase in our house lately. there are lots of re-dos, but at least he is trying!


Will informed us he was going to work. I think he had put Mike's keys in the box and besides that, what else do you really need besides a stuffed dog and a "papa hat"?