Hodge-Podge

This post is a bit of a hodge-podge catch up, as I finally downloaded the pictures off of my camera from the past week. Over the weekend, one of Tyler's former co-workers was in town from Ontario, so we spent a bit of time with them, hanging out at the Ship & Anchor on Thursday evening for a delicious burger (while my awesome sister babysat my kids) and then at the zoo on Friday, before they flew home. We had an awesome time. The kids and I took a few minutes to stop in the new Dorothy Harvey gardens that are now complete. It smelt amazing in there and the kids enjoyed looking at all the different flowers. Both commented that the tulips looked pretty but didn't smell very nice.
We had also made a point of getting photos of the kids done on Thursday morning. I was really good at getting photos done of Lucy during her first year of life, and since then, not so much. I'm pretty great at taking pictures with my own camera, but it's nice to have professional photos done to capture them when they're washed and pressed and looking all dapper. I think they turned out pretty well. The best part was, to get Max to make a decent smiling face, we asked him to say something funny, and he kept coming out with lines from his favorite movies. "I think that jello gave me a fake phone number." We've created a wall of fame of sorts in our home now as Tyler has begun his pre-baby nesting phase. I thought I was the one who was supposed to be nesting, but Tyler has been laying in to project after project. It's been pretty nice.
Speaking of projects - our bathroom is now complete. Floor is laid, washer and dryer stacked, cupboard installed (with shelves and doors), and we decided to move our tiny medicine cabinet mirror to the side wall and hang a larger mirror, so there would be less competition in the mornings. I must admit, I love it and spend a lot of time in the bathroom now...tidying, folding laundry...just any excuse I can muster to be in there as it is now the nicest room in the house. It's amazing how a little reno like that can motivate you too. I have no desire to have any sort of junk on the counters and have kept the bathroom surprisingly clean all week. It's been great. I wonder if that feeling will last?
On Sunday we spent the day hanging out at my parent's house and Tyler helped my niece with a school project. She had to create a chair that could support her weight out of only newspaper and duct-tape. Once the project was done, he had a blast creating all different types of chairs and tried to see how much weight it could support. Here's Max in a hammock style chair, hanging between two dinning room chairs. That one didn't last long.
And a pregnancy update: I have been feeling rather uncomfortable these days as we approach the end of this pregnancy. 37 1/2 weeks. Sleeping at night has become difficult as I am so uncomfortable and have to wake up every time I want to change positions. I usually sleep really great from about 11pm - 3am, and then from 3 - 8 I'm tossing and turning (with great difficulty) every hour to hour and a half. My ankles (or cankles, as I have now started to call them) have started to swell and if I'm on my feet too much, by the end of the day my shins are aching. I've noticed some swelling in my fingers and face in the last few days as well. Love it! A swollen face is the best! I feel really anxious and ready to be comfortable again, but at the same time am nervous about having 3 kids, so I'm definitely torn about how quickly I want this baby to come. I know that I feel this way every time, and think to myself "any day now" and my track record is to be right on time or even a few days late...so that could make the next 2 1/2 weeks really long. I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon, where I will be discussing a few other concerns I have with him, so we'll see how that goes.
I guess that's all the updates for now. At least that's all the pictures I have.