Tales from Green Table Drive: 37 weeks, 5 days...

Certifiable.

Yep, I'm certifiably crazy. I know this is no surprise to most of you; but it is a sad realization to me. I thought since this is my third pregnancy that I'd be a little more knowledgeable to what my body is telling me. However, I am constantly second-guessing myself. Constantly. I will have strong contractions for hours and will sit and worry about what I should do. I feel nauseous and I wonder if I should eat to see if it goes away, or if I'm in labor. If I'm in labor I can't eat because I have to have surgery. My doctor has been super understanding...thank God. I mean, I'm driving myself nuts, she must hate me! But she's also really confusing. She'll tell me that I only need to call Labor and Delivery if my contractions are strong, 5-7 minutes apart, for a few hours (which they have been multiple times...), and then in the next breath tell me that she doesn't want me to actually go through the tough contractions because I've had two c-sections and it's dangerous. There is a lot more explanation in there, but at the end of the day I still have no idea when to call. She's also said to take Tylenol PM at night and if I can't sleep through the contractions, it's time to call. Well, I can't sleep through the contractions because Tylenol PM doesn't work with me. ARG! So frustrating! With Myah it was cut and dry. My water broke, it was super easy to tell, and we went to the hospital. With Elijah it was really easy because I had a doctor's appointment and she told me to go to the hospital. This pregnancy is just soooooo different. I can only chalk it up to stress. And my craziness. I'm ready for this process to be over. I have a c-section scheduled for March 8th at 1:30pm, so at the very least, she will be here next Thursday. That is awesome...although 9 days still seem like an eternity. Luckily, Brian has been super patient and understanding. I'm ready to meet this little stinker that has caused me all this turmoil :).

Hey, remember when the Jayhawks came back from a 19 point deficit to beat Missouri?! I DO!!! First, let me say that I cannot BELIEVE that I didn't go into labor. The intensity of this game was beyond what should put someone into labor! Even the kids didn't know what to do with Mommy and Daddy yelling at the TV and pacing back and forth! This is, by far, a top 3 game that I have ever seen by KU. The other two (for me)? Championship game in 2008 and KU vs. Georgia Tech in 2005. The only reason the other two rank high is because we were surrounded by other KU fanatics (at a bar in '08 and at Allen Fieldhouse in '05) and it's hard to beat an atomosphere where everyone is high-five-ing and hugging each other! This game was....AMAZING!!!! So incredibly exciting, heart-wrenching, and made me be proud to be a Jayhawk all over again :)! Jayhawk for life!!

Going to the beach on Sunday was WONDERFUL! We are so blessed to live only 45 minutes from virtually EVERYTHING! San Francisco, the mountains, the ocean, Oakland, 2 hours from Napa Valley...the list goes on and it's awesome! The weather has been SOOOOO nice so we had made plans to go to the beach! We wanted to go to a beach we hadn't been to yet so we went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. It's super touristy with an amusement park, restaurants, arcades, and volleyball courts, but we loved it! The beach was really clean, the sand was super soft, and we got there early enough to where it wasn't overcrowded. I had packed a lunch and we settled in for a day at the beach! We only stayed for 2 hours because I apparently forgot I was 9 months pregnant and that I would be uncomfortable sitting on the sand for a couple of hours...duh.

Myah started digging as soon as we found a spot, but Elijah was a bit more reluctant. He's not a big fan of sand between his toes. This isn't a new development. When we lived in Kansas we had a sand pit and he refused to put his feet in the sand...weirdo :). So while Myah was playing, Elijah literally stood in one place refusing to move. We enticed him with a shovel, the football, even food...it only took 10 minutes of him whining to finally move...for cheese :). Hopefully more trips to the beach will get him over his phobia because he had a great time once he decided to play. He and Myah (and Brian) made sand castles and then Elijah decided he wanted to cover his feet in the sand. He was very proud of himself :).

Myah chasing the birds away!

"Fun" fact: I have a deep-seeded fear of seagulls. I hate them. Yes, I used the 'h' word. I think the world would be better off without them. They are gross and ruthless. When I was 5, I was at Acadia National Park at the beach and it was time for lunch. As I was bringing my sandwich to my mouth, a seagull swooped out of the air and snatched it from my fingers and made me bleed. I remember having to find a lifeguard to get a band-aid. I remember EVERYTHING about this incident. It was THAT traumatizing. Then, years later, I was serving tables at a restaurant in Maine and some of my tables were right off the harbor. It was a constant battle between the servers and the seagulls. They would constantly dive bomb the trays of food we brought out...not quite the fun experience. So, yes...I could do without seagulls. Unfortunately, when you are near the ocean, there will ALWAYS be seagulls. Even more unfortunate is that when there is FOOD on the beach, there will be EVEN MORE seagulls than you could ever imagine. Knowing this, I was nervous bringing out the food we had brought, so we only brought out a little at a time. No plates of food, nothing just sitting there. However, we did leave the blanket to walk to the water...and left open a container of cheese and apples, which were promptly swarmed with birds. I saw the whole thing going down but I couldn't move fast enough to stop it from happening. One good thing came of it, though. We learned that the kids like to chase the birds away, screaming like monsters! FANTASTIC! So, every time a bird got too close, I sent Myah to chase them away...love it!

One HUGE beach pet peeve? When people PURPOSEFULLY give the seagulls food. Why do you think they are scavengers and ruthless and never go away? Because people feed them!! Keep them away from me and my food...don't feed them! GRRRRRRRR!

The rest of the week will be spent getting ready for my parents to come! So excited! Next week the Bedores will be here and baby V will be born!