The Allusive Due Date

In my experiences of having children, there is a guessing game that accompanies my due date.  With our first one, she actually came early (bless her), the next two hit the due date right on, and the following two came after the due date.

I recently talked to someone who ask when my baby was due.  I said, "Oh, 2-3 weeks."  And she replied, "Oh, so any minute now."  No, I wanted to say, it will be either on time, or late, probably the latter.  I was trying to be polite by not commenting, but I loose my sense of politeness the last month of pregnancy...or the last few months or pregnancy.

Anyway, I've thought about this due date, and here are several things that annoy me.

1.  I don't think anyone tries to make me feel this way, but I do.  I feel incompetent as a women when I can't have a baby on time.  So, they give you this due date, and in your own mind, your always thinking, well I can go to that date.  Then, I don't.  So, the next few days, I'm always wondering, what the heck is wrong with me.  And the feeling is justified when I have good intentioned people who call and ask if anything is happening.  Or, very annoying people, who at social gatherings say, "You still here?!", "Hasn't that baby come yet?"  "You look like you're going to pop!"  Uhhhg.  Yes, I feel like a failure because the baby has not come yet, thank you for letting me know your thoughts also.

2.  Now, I could just be induced, or even if I had C-sections, that would take out this whole guessing game.  I have my reasons for not being induced, which would take up a lot of time.  But, the point is that with a lot of women being induced or having c-sections, more women can have a baby "on time" and accomplish the important task of reaching their due date, which makes me look like something is wrong.  Again, my own lack of promptness comes to hit me in the face.

3.  Women who can have healthy babies up to 3 weeks early are lucky, I'll not deny it.  I have a friend who, for her first 3 children, had them 3 weeks early.  On her fourth, she said she was about to die because the baby came only 1 1/2 weeks early.  Poor woman.   But, it was what she was used to.  That is probably the only comfort with this baby is that I'm fully expecting the baby to come late.

4.  So, my doctor walks in yesterday and says, "Well, you're about there.  Any day now."  No, I remind him of my history and say I'm not expecting anything.  He says, "Well, you should be more optimistic."  I've been optimistic, and it always leaves me anxious, exasperated, then I have an emotional breakdown.  I prefer realistic.  But, even my doctor is convinced I should have a baby on time, which puts more pressure on me...and increases my feelings of incompetence.

This is probably pointless writing this out.  I can only change myself to be a little more pleasant when I am in the last month of pregnancy.  I remind myself, I am very lucky to have pregnancies with few worries that result in healthy babies.  I am always grateful for the miracle of birth and to have a sweet little infant in my arms, there is no comparison.  I am reminding myself that not "everyone" thinks less of me for my babies getting comfortable in me and wanting to be in there as long as possible.  I will be happy to have this baby before Halloween, which gives her a good couple of weeks after the expected date.  Still, I might not answer the phone or choose to go to anything social for those weeks.  I am still pregnant, and the final comforting thought is, people do give you some leeway when you go over your "due date".

Happenings

 Sarah is the only one who wanted to sign up for soccer this year.  She has done really good.  The other girls love to play, but Sarah seems to have some skills. 

 I love watching the kids play sports.  Sarah is fun to watch because she is a good player and scores.  Somehow, that just makes it more fun.

 Labor Day weekend, our family got to go to the Brigham City Temple open house.  My parents have been called to work in the Temple, and it is a special place to our family.  So, David and I felt a need to take the kids and go through before it was dedicated.  It is beautiful.

 The grounds are smaller than most temple grounds, but still beautiful.  Our children were fun to take, and were excited about entering the temple...and the cookies afterward:)

That weekend, we also had my nephew, Ryan get baptized and niece, Quincy Beth, get blessed.  We celebrated my Mom's 60th birthday and so the whole family was together for these occasions.  Here are all the grandchildren with Grandpa and Grandma.  Zoom in and take a look at our two newborns.  Joseph and Jenn's, Quincy Beth.  Dave and Mel's "Benson" (he is 1 week old in the picture).  That makes a total of 16 grandkids in the picture, fun!

First Days of School

 The first day of school was last week.  These three girls were very excited to go.  Back to School night was good for me to meet their teachers and get a feel for what this year is going to be like.  Rachel is starting 4th grade.  Katie is in 2nd grade.  Sarah begins Kindergarten.  I love that they can walk to school and they will be walking together. 

 The First Day of School is always exciting for the kids, and a bit of a fiasco for me.  At least that is how it has been for the last 3 years.  This year I called in the reserves, and it was the best thing for all of us.  Each child is supposed to have a "caring adult" to attend the first couple of hours of school, and I have always divided myself between them, while hauling along my other children.  I didn't think I could do it this year, with 3 in school and two to haul along and being pregnant.  So my mom and my sister Carla were able to come and attend.  Then I had a friend call and ask to take Bekah and Nathan while we were at the school.  It was the slickest first day, and I might have to beg them to help me again next year, it was wonderful.

 So, this is one of the little people who will be staying at home with me this year.  Bekah does her hair like this every time I forget to close the bathroom door.  Headbands.  She loves them.  She usually has all of the hair elastics on her arm also.

Then, here is my boy.  I don't really know why I chose this picture, but he will be my other buddy while we wait for the girls to get home.  Already we have noticed that his sisters kept him running around, and he kind of needs to get out a bit more.  I am excited to have more time with him in the afternoons while Sarah is at Kindergarten.  He is so fun, and is already asking for his own school time, like I did with Sarah the last couple of years. 

Here's to the school year of 2012-2013!  Here we go!

Summer Part 2

 I know I said in the Summer 1 blog that this Pioneer Workshop was a lot of work, and then I put a picture of us in our Hawaiian gear, but we also had a lot of fun.  At a place called Dry Creek, there is a sand river, and if you dig deep enough you can come get water.  So, we were in teams, and the first team to fill their cup of water, won.  This is my winning team!

 Well, while all of that was happening, our children had a great time with Grandpa and Grandma Z.  We have never left our children for a whole week, and I was nervous, but they did such a great job, I think we are going to Will our children to them if David and I die.  Happy thoughts?  Well, our kids were very happy when we picked them up.  Nathan did have to be run to the doctor for a popcorn kernel up his nose, but if things like that didn't happen, where would the excitement be?

 This is what the weather was like when we got back.  Rain, rain, rain.  We were so grateful.  It saved our lawn and garden. 

 I know this is probably silly for some people.  But it is important to me that we work with our kids, and that we remember working together.  There is a lot of value in work.  Rachel and Katie helped me clean all the windows in the house also, and to tell you the truth, I couldn't have done it without them.  I love working with my children. Its exhausting and I'm not a chipper person the whole time, but I do love seeing the kids clean up by themselves, start the dishes without being ask, and when things like making applesauce come around, that they are right there with me, working.

 Grandma Nana came for a visit also.  She is always so kind and loving when she comes.  We love having her over!

And this sums up the rest of our summer.  Random, creative and fun.  Katie has taken tons of pictures of what the days were like, and they were silly.  But, we need our fun, silly summers, and now, we're ready to start another year of school, and get back to business.

Summer - Part 1

 We have had a great summer.  The end of June, we went to Bear Lake for the annual Zollinger Reunion.  David warranted a picture for riding in a boat and kind of enjoying it.  The kids loved it.

 This is the reason I did not ride in a boat.  Here are the Pregos of the Zollinger clan.  Jenn actually just had her baby a couple days ago, I'm due in October, and Melanie is due in the next couple of weeks.  Its funner to be pregnant with company, we can complain to each other and it feels better somehow.

 Our family at the Bear Lake overlook.  I love this place.  We won't be going there next year, and I'll miss it.  We're going to try vacationing at a different spot, but we'll miss Bear Lake a lot.

 Bekah found her new love.  Corn on the cob.  She'll eat 3 cobs of corn and ask for more.  So cute.

 David's dad came for a visit.  We went to St. George to be with David's brother Michael's family.  Its always fun to get together, and since David's dad lives in Michigan, the visits are few and far between.  We're so grateful he could come!

 Cox Reunion.  We haven't been to a Cox reunion since we moved to Parowan.  We miss seeing Grandma Cox, she is a special part of our lives, and our family thinks she's great.  We got to see a lot of cousins, uncles and aunts, but this lady is the main reason we go.  We love you, Grandma!

 The next few pictures is a Pioneer Workshop we did with David's work.  It was a good experience for David and I.  We spent a week visiting church history sites along the Pioneer/Oregon Trail.  We took a lot of notes, a lot of pictures, and made a lot of friends.

David is at the top of Independence Rock.  We had to wake up at 5:00 each morning, and would rush from one site to the other trying to cover as much terrain as possible.  This was a good break in the middle of the trip to take some time and hike this rock.  Names are still visible and it was a good reminder of Jesus Christ as the Rock on which we should build.

Father's Day

 David comes home from work in a suit each day, and usually doesn't change because of other meetings.  So, he ask for an apron for Father's Day.  We think he looks pretty great!  Here are a few things that we love about David.

 This may not make much sense.  But, David has been concerned about swimsuits for the girls and I agree.  Swimming is a sport, but our girls are not swimming for any sport, they swim because they love it and its fun.  So, David gave me an unlimited budget to find swimming suits for the girls that they liked.  Rachel got online with me, and picked this swim shirt and shorts.  They are so cute, they protect their bodies, and they don't get sunburned.  This is not unusual for David, clothes are something that he doesn't care the price, just make them modest and not sloppy.  We were really excited to find these, and the girls love them.

David has been working on these bunk beds for the past few weeks.  He finished them on Saturday, and I was thrilled.  About 7 years ago, we owned a candy business, and our office was next to a business that would receive large packages, and the wood used to carry the inventory was usually junked.  David ask if he could salvage the wood, and this is what he made with it.  The side boards we bought, but the rest David put together with junk wood.  They look amazing.

 More scrap wood.  The girls saw a Wishing well and wanted me to buy it.  I showed it to David and he told the girls if they could wait until the summer, he would make them a Wishing Well.  They have loved it.  I still need to paint it, but everyone was very happy.

Katie was eating breakfast Saturday morning, and couldn't eat her cold cereal because her tooth was so loose, it bothered her.  We told her to go wiggle it, she came back in, and her tooth was sideways with the bottom sticking out across her top lip.  She said it wouldn't come.  David told her to just give it a tug since it was hanging on buy a thread, and now we have our toothless Katie.

Katie's tooth doesn't have much to do with David, but it was part of a great weekend we had with a wonderful Dad.  We love you David! 

The Receiver

Your heard of "The Giver".  Well, if there was a book called "The Receiver", I should have wrote it.  We are blessed to have people give us things all the time.  Our friends, gave us this kid jeep.  They camouflaged it for their son, but it has remnants of the Barbie original colors.  It is really in great condition.  One of those things that I would never buy my children, but won't turn down.  They have had a blast.

 The same friends, gave us this mini four wheeler.  Nathan and Sarah are the only ones small enough, but again, they just gave it to us.

My brother and sister in law gave us this wonderful crib.  Bekah loves it, and it sure makes the room look plain.  Katie tried to decorate and put her art pictures up, but we'll have to add to Katie's improvements.

We have been given clothes in abundance.  I am always so grateful for what people bring over.  I had one friends tell me she feels bad, but I told her we love it.  It saves us so much money on keeping up with clothes.  My sister just brought over two cute new bed spreads, and matching sheets that will look so cute in the girls' room. 

Again, we should be called the Receivers, but we love it.