Down to 12 Days

We are down to less than 2 weeks until Jackson gets here, whether he comes on his own or not.  Jared and I are definitely on labor watch, as I have at least one moment during the day where I have to stop and time contractions because they are not painless and they come every 3-4 minutes. They don't turn into anything, which I am grateful for at this point, but we are definitely well aware I could go into labor at any point.  The baby's movements hurt right now.  Every time he gets hiccups, I feel like little bombs are going off in my uterus.  He has always had such big body movements that involve stretching-those just hurt right now too, and it is admittedly hard for me to enjoy these moments.

I had a moment the other day when I woke up from a cat nap and was struck with the fact that this is my last pregnancy most likely, and I won't get to feel a baby moving in me again.  That was a sobering thought for me, and it made me resolve to enjoy these last few days more than I maybe have been in terms of baby movements.  Regardless, I feel so very connected to Jackson, and that is a huge blessing

As a family we have been trying to maximize our time as a family of 7.  Jared took the kids out last Sunday and they drove up to the Peraulta Trailhead, maybe half an hour away to hike around.  As a whole family, we headed to the Barn Park on a rare day off for Jared on Wednesday of this week; it was probably the most relaxing day I have had in a long time as we were there in the middle of the day for the kids' half day, and no one else was there.  The weather was beautiful, and we really enjoyed hanging out as a family.  James shocked us all with his ability at climbing the entire structure and going down slides that made me nervous...I didn't need to be.  :)  Jared has been taking the kids to the track at Shepherd to ride bikes a lot.  I try to go just to watch, but I usually end up needing to rest by that point.  Regardless, the kids have a blast with it. We will head to church together this week as Jared is speaking on charity, but we will probably stay home the week after to prepare for Jackson's arrival as our last Sunday as a family of 7.  We also have plans to go to dinner at the Lautenschlager's house this Sunday before baby gets here.

This is not pregnancy related, but Jared is working on losing some weight right now-controlling caloric intake, portions, and using a lot of the Atkins shakes to get there.  He does so well when he absolutely puts his mind to it; I am grateful he is taking these steps to be more healthy.

Tonight we have JD's 2nd grade performance, which is patriotic in nature; I'll post about that later.  Overall, everything is going relatively well and we are excited for the next few weeks.