No more room means NO MORE ROOM! (Jeni, I hope writing this post puts me into labor like it did for you) Seriously, there is just no more room in my body for this child. Take a look for yourself...T-minus 7 days until my due date. Let's all pray that I don't make it!

On the plus side, my mom is coming to town tomorrow! YAY!!!!!! I love when my mom comes to take care of me and the baby! It's the best pampering in the world to know that someone who loves you unconditionally will come and clean your bathrooms AND get up with you in the middle of the night so you're not all by yourself! (Okay, Chase does these things, too...) But the BEST is that she takes care of the umbilical cord. I've actually informed my mom that I refuse to have any babies that she can't come for because I can't stomach taking care of the cord stump. I have made her the official cord stump cleaner! I figure after 8 kids (plus my two that she's already taken care of), she's an expert! So I'm really glad that she's getting here soon!!

The other pictures are of Family Home Evening last night. I decided to talk about how important families are and how we need to take care of each other. We read a little from the proclamation - you can see how well the boys listened to the lesson. Then we gave them each a stuffed animal and let them "practice" taking care of Sophie. Cameron passed with flying colors - he's very excited for sister to come. Miles...well, let's just say we won't be leaving Miles and Sophie alone together for at least the next 12-18 months. He's sweet, but, uh, shall we say, agressive in his expressions of affection...Miles DID enjoy the bath demonstration, though...

I want to give a quick shout-out to my fabulous husband! I am so proud of him! He has taken all four sections of the CPA exam! But the shout-out is mostly to announce that he has PASSED three of those sections. We just found out about the third one today. He has been very worried since he took it October 6. It was one of the hardest sections and he wasn't sure he passed. But he did. SO, now we just have to wait to hear about the Regulation section that he took on Saturday. He doesn't think he did so well on that one...cross your fingers!
And here's an update on me: I'm still pregnant. SO, SO pregnant! On Saturday I actually had contractions start at 3:30 pm. By 8:30 when they hadn't stopped and were getting closer together, I called the doc and he said to come in. They hooked me up to the monitors and we could see the contractions on the screen every 5 or 6 minutes (they were closer together when I was up and walking). So they checked me and...I AM STILL AT 1 CM DILATION! STILL! So they let me get up and walk and had me on the monitors for a few more hours and I was still having regular, hard contractions, so they checked me again at 12:30...and no change. None. I was so worn out from having contractions all day that they gave me some Ambien. I could totally get addicted to that stuff! It's fantastic! But, when I woke up at 5:30 my contractions had stopped completely. I got up and walked some more but they never picked back up. When the doc came in at 7 am and checked me I was still just a 1. So I got sent home with no baby. It was depressing to say the least. All that pain for NOTHING! I was pretty upset when we got home. I was really worried that I'm going to keep going through this and then end up with another c-section! I want to avoid that if at all possible. It took a ton of pitocin to get me to dilate when I had Cam (you remember my 29 hour, completely pitocin induced labor, right?), and they try not to give VBAC moms pitocin unless absolutely necessary. But, I still have 9 days until my due date so there's still time for things to change. And I've actually been feeling pretty great since I got home Sunday morning. So much so that I mopped my floors, did laundry, and cleaned my house this morning!
Anyway, that's it for us!

1. One. Uno. Un. Ein. Um. Doesn't matter how you say it, it was the number I DID NOT want to hear today. After 20 weeks of braxton hicks contractions that have now reached the point of being both annoying AND painful, I have only reached 1 centimeter of dilation and 50% effacement. ONE! How is that even possible? This is my THIRD baby! I was 1 cm and 50% at 38 weeks with my FIRST pregnancy. How can I be the same the third time around? It's like a giant baby-and-cervix conspiracy! They're working together to plot against me. The baby is like, "Hey, cervix, here's the deal. I'm going to painfully grind my head against you at least once an hour causing mommy to feel like, a., she's dying, b., she has to pee, c., I'm about to fall out, or d., all three combined. Your job, cervix, is to stay closed for as long as possible. Won't that be hilarious?!" And the cervix is like, "Yeah, great idea! Let's see if we can get the uterus to have MORE contractions, too! Mwah, ha, ha!!!!"
I just want this baby out of me. And can I tell you how annoying it is to hear people say, "Oh, just enjoy this time! Go on a date, see a movie, get some sleep! You won't be able to do any of those things after the baby comes!" Uh huh, right. First of all, I can't sleep now. AND I can't breathe, eat, sit, stand or walk. So....um....yeah, I just want this child to get out. Soon.
I hope all of you enjoy Thanksgiving tomorrow. Think of me when you're having seconds because I can't (my stomach is too squashed to even get firsts in). Think of me when you lay down for that post-meal nap, because I can't (that would give me heartburn, plus it takes at least 8 pillows strategically placed around my body for me to even START to get comfortable, and then 15 minutes later I need to change positions...). Think of me when you're outside playing football, because I can't (does this require an explanation?). Think of me when you take that early evening stroll to make room for pie (walking makes me feel like my pelvis is fractured in six places...not to mention there's the whole issue of getting SHOES on...). And lastly, think of me when you're watching the parades of TV tomorrow because I WON'T (seeing those balloons makes me self-conscious because they remind me of myself).
Happy holidays!

Hello people! My sister-in-law has given me a good reminder that I need to remind Y'ALL of the Christmas sweater challenge! You know you want to do it, so just give in to the urge. I actually know of one relative (not naming names) who will be having a PROFESSIONAL do their family picture in the sweaters...so obviously a lot of you are taking this seriously - just as you should.
Anyway, here are the rules:
Get yourself and everyone in your family the ugliest possible Christmas sweater you can find. After combing the racks at a thrift store last week this is much harder than it sounds. So get started if you haven't already! Next, put your sweaters on and go someplace PUBLIC (Note: Your back yard doesn't count as PUBLIC - you have to be at risk of other people seeing you!) and have a STRANGER take your family picture. Then email said picture to me at annarawlins@yahoo.com no later than December 24 at 6 p.m. central time (remember, I'll have a newborn and will need to go to bed early...). Chase and I will be the judges and we will reveal the winner and all other entries on December 25. What a great Christmas it will be!
Get crackin' people!

Last post today and then I'll be officially caught up. Jeni tagged me on her blog so now I have to do this: Here are six things about me.

1. I hate babysitting children I don't know well. I love to have kids I know come over. They're like little extensions of my kids. But I always hesitate when I have to watch random people's children. I usually do it because I want to provide some service, but it's always awkward - especially if I don't know the parent and their parenting style. And I REALLY hate changing diapers/taking the kids potty if I don't know them. YUCK.

2. I secretly like it if Chase has to work late one night here and there. It's like a night off. I feed the kids cereal for dinner, let the toys collect and the dishes pile up, put the kids to bed early and put in a chick flick. If he's coming home at a regular time I usually like to stay in the normal routine, but for some reason I abandon it if he's not around for one evening. It's weird, I know.

3. I'm a library junkie. Well, really I'm a book junkie and I can get them free at the library. The problem with this is two-fold. First, I am terrible at bringing books back on time. As I type I have three overdue books sitting on my nightstand and over $30 of library fines. I know, that's insane. I might as well just buy the books because my fines are constantly accumulating. For all of my budgeting you would think I would want to get the books back on time...This is a VERY dirty little secret of mine. The second problem is that Chase hates that I read so much. Well, not that I read, but WHEN and HOW I read. My favorite thing to do in the evening is put the kids to bed, chill with Chase for an hour and then read in bed until I fall asleep. Chase would prefer that I spend more time with him (and I should), and that I not keep the light on all night while reading...I'm so obnoxious.

4. I have a love/hate relationship with the sound of my children's laughter. On one hand it's such a delightful sound. What could make a person smile more easily than hearing a child laughing? On the OTHER hand, laughter often means naughty behavior. No, laughter almost ALWAYS means naughty behavior.

5. I have a friend that I met online. For some reason it seems weird to me that I met someone online and now we're friends in real life...she knows who she is and she's laughing as she reads this.

6. Lastly, and perhaps the most ugly...I'm a terrible thank-you note writer. Some of you are probably sitting there nodding your heads right now thinking of all of the thank-you notes I never wrote to you. In fact, I never finished sending out the thank-you cards for my WEDDING!!!!!!! We received thousands of dollars worth of gifts/money/gift cards and I sent thank-you notes out to about half of the people who deserved them. Ugh. It still makes me nauseous just to think how rude that is...Of course, I don't do it to be rude, I'm really trying to be good about it, but I'm just so bad! I'm also horrendous at remembering special days for people, like anniversaries and birthdays. I have relatives who are so on top of things (Christy) and it always makes me feel badly when I forget their birthdays, etc. because they always remember mine.

So there you have it. 6 ugly little truths about me. Feel better, Jeni? I'm not tagging anyone because I'm too tired to think of anyone to tag. Plus, I should be in bed reading right now.

So I guess that just brings us up to today. I'm 37 weeks pregnant today and feeling every minute of it. If I were Sara I'd be having the baby right now, but alas, I am not. I will more than likely be pregnant for another year or so before this baby decides to leave the safety of my ribs. However, just for kicks, I have been having more and more contractions every day. That's pleasant. Not to mention I'm huge and clumsy. I remember reading in my preggo books the first time around how women at this point need to be extra careful because we're prone to falling (due to the fact that our center of gravity is now precariously hanging three feet AWAY from our body). But I never felt clumsy and I always laughed at the idea. Well, I didn't have two kids and thousands of action figures back then. Since I can't see my feet (and since I refuse to pick up anything off the floor) I have found myself tripping and bobbling multiple times a day, nearly wiping out each time. NOW I get it. The authors of those books obviously already had children! I've even had several experiences of tripping OVER my children because I could not see them standing right underneath my belly! That is a sure sign that I'm far too pregnant for my own good (and the safety of all those around me less than belly-button height...remember I teach in Primary). Sigh...

Anyway, my mom is scheduled to get here on the 28th at which point I will beg, plead and grovel at the feet of my doctor to induce me and put me out of my misery. He's a merciful man, I think he'll listen. As far as whether or not I am dilated or effaced, I have no idea. We'll check next Wednesday. I didn't have the strength to even ask him to check this morning, as it would have required me getting half-undressed and then RE-dressed - a monumental and time consuming task.

So I'm posting a picture of me at 37 weeks.

This past weekend we had the Grant Thornton "Fall Family Festival." Usually they have a big adults-only Christmas dance AND a family Christmas party, but they probably realized that was a lot of parties in one month so they moved the family part up a month. Good idea, GT.

So there was food, games, a petting zoo and mini-golf. It was a good time and the boys got MORE candy. Yay...

Next we have Halloween! The boys used their outfits from last year. Since we didn't have to put snow suits underneath them, they fit perfectly again! They went as Nemo and Squirt, the turtle. Miles would NOT put up his hood but other than that it was fine.

The Saturday before we had Trunk or Treat and it was so FUN! We've never been in a ward that did this, though I've heard of them before. Anyway, it was fun to just sit and hand out candy in the parking lot. I made Chase do the walking-car-to-car thing with the boys.

The Monday before Halloween we made a trip to the Pumpkin Patch with Jeni, Brian and cousin Natalie. It's so fun there and the kids had a blast. They have live animals, hayrides and those big blow-up slides and bounce houses, not to mention pumpkins galore. What a good time! Afterward we went back to our house for a meal in a pumpkin (SUPER yum!) and Family Home Evening with Brian and Jeni (this mainly consisted of me and Jeni eating all of Cam's candy from Trunk or Treat and Chase and Brian looking through old boxes of stuff from their growing-up years. Fun night.

Halloween night was AWESOME! The boys were so excited all day it was crazy! We had dinner at Nana's house before taking off for Trick-or-treating with Jeni, Brian, Natalie and Kathleen and Eric (side note: Eric was Wolverine and Cameron now has a new hero in his life. He frequently reminds us that "Uncle Eric is Wolverine"). As we were getting ready to leave Cam had a bit of an identity crisis and ended up wearing his Nemo costume OVER his Spiderman outift. I think this is in part because he truly believe he is Spiderman. Sigh... Miles made it to a few houses before losing it completely and needing to be taken home. Chase stayed out with Cam who had a rather scary incident. There was a house that had one of those light things that casts a picture up onto the house. In this case it was a large skull that would strobe. Cam thought it was pretty creepy, but went up to the house anyway. Well, the woman who lived there opened the door in some crazy skeleton get-up and yelled BOO! Cam lost it and took off running, totally scared for his life. Thankfully that house was near the end of the route so Chase just brought him right back. Poor kid!

I am feeling decent and the boys are preoccupied at the moment, so now's a good time to catch up on my posts!

I'll start with the baby shower. It was October 23 and me and Sophia were spoiled rotten! Tori, Kathleen and Jeni really know how to put together a great party. My good friend Stephanie jumped in on the action, too, with a perfectly pink punch that was tres yummy! We got tons of clothes, diapers and other sundry items. Everyone was totally generous. Mom had a delicious array of goodies to eat, too! The pettis fores (How the heck do you spell that, Chrysta?) were INSANE. I was good and only ate one, though... After food and chatting we had the "Guess Anna's size" game. Apparently I look enormous because people were guessing pretty big. Then we played this cool game that Kathleen came up with. They had paper bags and each had a letter of Sophia's name on it and a baby item inside that started with that letter. Then the bags were passed around and we had to feel them to guess what was in them. It was fun!

The absolute highlight of the evening, however, was when I got to open the BIG BOX! I had seen it when I walked in and couldn't figure out what it was because I couldn't think of anything I needed that was that big. BUT IT WAS MY DREAM STROLLER! The Joovy Groove 2. Of course it was orchestrated by the stroller master, my sister Chrysta. And she got all of my sisters and sisters-in-law in on it, too. This was a BIG purchase and deserves a BIG BIG shout out to all who joined in on it! THANK YOU ALL! (side note: I asked Chrysta to give me the list of everyone who contributed so I can send thank you notes and she has yet to get back to me due to her recent trans-Atlantic move...so to those who contributed, stay tuned for thank you notes...).

All in all it was a fabulous evening.

I know. Shame on me. It's been a LONG time with no blog. And I have so much to catch up on! My baby shower, Halloween! But, man, I'm tired. I thought I was tired last week, but no, I get more tired every day. It didn't help that I had the flu (along with Cam and Miles) over the weekend so I got nice and dehydrated and even MORE worn out. The doc says I'm still recovering and that's why I feel like a wrung-out dishrag...
I just want to say this one thing: Why isn't there some rule that pregnant women (at least the huge, enormous, beastly ones like myself) are immune from getting sick. ESPECIALLY the nauseous kind of sicknesses. Can I just tell you how MISERABLE it is to be nauseous and then have your body be some kind of playpen? Seriously, the whole time I was sick Sophie was in there doing tribal dances - lots of stomping, clapping and high kicks. What's up with that? Not cool, Sophie, not cool. And then there's the dehydration-induced contractions. Saturday morning I had contractions every 5 minutes for almost five hours. Again, not cool...
Anyway, that should explain my recent absence on the blog-o-sphere. Give me a couple more days to get back to a semi-normal state and I'll post about the shower, Halloween and more!
p.s. I hope you're all out shopping for your ugly sweaters....

So do you wanna hear my new obsession? You'll laugh when you read this, but it's true. My newest obessesion is BUDGETING! Perhaps it's because stuff keeps breaking and we have to keep paying through the nose to fix it, or perhaps it's the idea of having 2 in diapers. I like to think it's just me following the counsel of Marvin J. Ashton...but one way or the other I started budgeting a couple of months ago and I love it.
It started small. I just wanted to know where all my money was going! I kept track of everything in excel. Then the next month I decided I was going to actually put better LIMITS on myself, now that I knew where the money was going. Now, one thing to know about us is that we aren't big spenders. We don't go shopping unless we actually need something, and even then we try to find the cheapest available thing. So we've always been relatively wise about our spending. But a budget can REALLY reveal what's going on with your pocket-book. I never counted all the quick trips I was making to the grocery store, or the trips through the drive-thru when I was too tired to cook. I really was shocked to see all of those little purchases add up over the course of 30 days! They put a big dent in the budget!
So, I have to say that I was actually having a harder time than I thought this month when I was trying to stay within the parameters of my new budget! At first I was feeling slightly constricted (as I had chosen to give myself VERY conservative limits). But something funny has happened. It's now become some wierd competition that I have with myself. Seriously! It's like, "How much can I save on my grocery budget this month?" Or, "Where can I get the cheapest and cutest baby clothes?" I don't want to feed my poor family spaghetti every other day. Everyone knows Chase needs more variety in his diet than that. The good thing, is that I've found lots of other people out there with the same obsession! I found some "online friends" who are super-crazy about coupon clipping and know where to find the best "deals and steals." And I've found some cool websites to help with dinner planning (my first lesson in grocery budgeting is to have a good meal plan every week). I signed up for the local paper and I'm going to start clipping coupons more!
Anyway, I encourage everyone to join me on the budgeting bandwagon!
Oh, and here's a fun website I'm currently loving...it does all the work for you! Hooray!
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/EverydayDinner/ShoppingListSplashPage&sa_campaign=internalad/EverydayHomePage/ShoppingListSplash

I actually am cringing as I post this. But, alas, I can't actually do anything to hide my huge-ness, so why not share it on the world-wide-web? Since it's not going away anytime soon I'm better off just embracing it, right?

So here's me at 33 weeks preggers. Big and HIGH! I didn't even realize I was carrying that high! I carried really low with the boys, so it's kinda funny to see it. This may explain why I can't breathe at night. Also, I've officially reached the point where I'm pretty ready for this whole business to be over with. I'm just too big and the boys are just too busy and require too much chasing!! Granted, when this little diva comes out she'll still be attached to me in a carrier for another 4 months, but they're so much more flexible than actually having the baby INSIDE! Ugh. So for all of you who are enjoying your mid-section, your sleep, your breathing, your eating without heartburn...just think of me and pray that little Sophie decides to make her grand entrance in a reasonable amout of time. 7 weeks is SO LOOOOOOOONNNG!

The other pics are from a week or two ago when we went to the Frisco Sculpture Park (or something like that...). We went with Miss Stephanie (as the boys call her) and Preston, our good buddies. Technically you weren't supposed to climb or play on the artwork...oh well.

I just had to throw this picture on here. Cameron has been taking a "super singers" music class that my friend teaches. Each week there is a theme and then music and activities to go along. Last week was "Farm" and this is Cameron being a white, wooly sheep. Allison says he's enjoying himself during the class, but he obviously wasn't at this moment...

I was reminded today that it's been awhile since I've blogged. So I'm returning. But I'm not returning empty-handed. No, no. I'm returning with a challenge. In case you haven't noticed, the Christmas season will soon be upon us. And you know what that means. Christmas parties, snow (for those not in Texas), Christmas trees and decorations, visiting friends and loved ones and general good will and Christmas cheer all around. And Christmas sweaters. You know what I'm talking about. Those beautiful garments adorned in bright greens and reds, often with pictures of old Frosty himself.
So, the challenge: Or maybe it's more of a contest...Find the ugliest, most fanciful, overly decorated sweaters you can find for your family. Thrift stores are replete with these things so don't tell me you can't find some. If you're really having trouble you can contact my mom and see if she will allow you to raid her stash.
Once you've found a gem for each family member you need to go somewhere PUBLIC and have a STRANGER take your FAMILY PICTURE, at which point you will submit it to me via email. The deadline is - of course - December 24, with the winning family to be unveiled on Christmas Day.
I would also encourage you to each post your submissions on your own blogs - that way we can all have fun!
Happy Holidays and happy hunting!

Just trust me. You need to see this. Thanks Sara for sending it my way!

So today was quite a day...We started the day by getting a new garage door. It has been a LONG time coming since the thing has never worked properly and we've never had a garage door opener the whole time we've lived here. So it is with joy that I announce the arrival of our newest baby: A 16'X20' almond colored steel garage door and 1/2 HP Chamberlain opener. We are truly in love with this new addition to our house and we all literally cheered when we arrived home tonight and pushed a button to open the garage. It was fabulous. Just amazing. Seriously, people, I'm 7 months pregnant and opening the garage door manually was getting OLD!

Tonight we had tickets to the MLS US Open Cup finals. One of the things I love about Chase working for a big firm is that we get free tickets to events all the time! This was our first soccer game, though, and we were unaware of just what it would be like! The crowds were pretty sparse but they made up for it in the level of pure insanity! Soccer fans LOVE to shout at the refs and players - often insulting them on a very personal level. How lovely. AND, to our delight we discovered that soccer fans love to imbibe! Everyone of age was carrying the requisite giant plastic cup 'o beer. And for those too dizzy to make it up the steps for some MORE beer, there are the beer vendors who come around every 30 seconds or so with buckets of beer! So we weren't surprised (but we WERE horrified) that Miles learned to say "Beer" tonight. Fantastic. I can't wait to put that into the baby book.

For his part Cameron learned to say "shutup" from a kind gentleman with bulging forehead veins and very flushed cheeks sitting to our right. Thanks, dude.

All told, though, we had a great time! I love living in a city that has every sport available. We've been to Mav's games, Rangers, FC Dallas, Arena football and we still have so many more to see! The boys are going to love growing up here.

Enjoy the pics! I'm starting to see why everyone asks if my boys are twins! They even pose the same!

So the boys had a play date today and I had a doc appointment so I dropped them off at our friend's house. When I arrived this is how I found Miles. My girlfriends were all standing around laughing and getting a big kick out of it! My first thought was that his diaper had exploded or something but my friend assured me that they had just had a water fight in the backyard. Of course she has a little girl around the same age as Miles, so instead of putting him in her older son's clothes she just found something of Madeline's for him to wear. SWEET! So here's my little Violet boy! The best part is that on the chest it says "Girl" with a little cheerleader bullhorn. Just in case anyone thought that lavender and dark purple were boy colors the graphic sets them straight. Double sweet. Let's just say that our ensuing trip to the library was short and we decided to go through the drive-thru rather than stay at Playland for dinner!
So the week is going quickly and remarkably well! The first night I couldn't fall asleep until 1:30 but I've been getting better! And I haven't been too stressed with the kids. Here's to hoping the next few days go as smoothly...

So...do you ever notice that your house never makes any sounds except when you're sitting alone in it? I hate being alone! Yuck! Chase is in Chicago for training all week and I just know it's going to be a LONG week! I can't complain too loudly as Christy and Jeni are currently husbandless and Chrysta will have to deal with it soon, too. But DANG it! Why does the house have to make creepy sounds!? The ice-maker in the fridge, the wind, Cam's coughing...it all does it to me. Oh well! I have everything locked up tight (seriously, there's a PADLOCK on the garage door at the moment) so unless someone REALLY wants to get in here we're safe and sound. And you know, it's Carrollton, not Compton.

So this is me. 29 weeks and I'm E-NOR-MOUS! I've only gained 10 pounds! (Okay, I was a few pounds over my normal weight when I got pregnant...) But what is frustrating me is that my butt is growing equally with my belly! SO ANNOYING! And while I feel good most of the time I am already starting to get short of breath. This baby LOVES to stretch and get comfy. Fantastic! I didn't need my lungs anyway, right?!
Okay, but I can't really complain...I just do for fun.
So I've started having appointments every 2 weeks! One reason I love this? Getting to leave the kids for at least an hour and go read People magazine in the doc's waiting room. It's a great de-stresser. And then I get to hear the heartbeat! So much fun.