26 days

 Just a few more days (26) to go until baby #4 makes her arrival!

So are we ready?  Nope.

Things that still need to be done: 

Paint the 'nursery' area

Move the futon that is currently there into the garage

Set up the crib

Move dresser into the nursery

Find some magical space in our cramped house to move all the toys/books that currently reside in the nursery (which is the girls' play area right now)

Pack my hospital bag

 I guess that's not TOO much, right?  Oy.

Last week, we had our socks blessed right off by my mother-in-law.  She called us up and asked if she could come up to visit for a night and be my 'Alice' (like from The Brady Bunch).  I said YES very quickly before she could change her mind!

She came up and did probably 8 to 10 loads of laundry.  She babysat the girls so Brooks and I could make a hospital visit and go out to dinner.  The next day, she helped Brooks finish our kitchen remodel--she painted trim, painted on her hands and knees, helped put up crown molding, helped put up a new ceiling fan, and cleaned.  My purple kitchen is looking SO MUCH better now...I'll put up some new pictures soon.

I know she was probably exhausted by the time she got home.  We love you, Shelley!  I know some people don't have the best relationship with their mother-in-laws, but my MIL is awesome.  I won the jackpot by marrying into my hubby's family!  Not only do I have amazing support and love on my side of the family, but I have it on Brooks' side, too.

Now that I'm less than a month away from having the baby, I'm feeling absolutely miserable.  I'm exhausted all the time and I've been having a lot of braxton-hicks contractions.  I think I'm having more than I did with Olivia...they really bother me.

Things that make me have BH contractions: 

going up the stairs and going down the stairs

walking more than 20 feet

lifting anything

standing for more than a few minutes

holding my pee (TMI, sorry)

standing up from laying down

bending over

Basically, anything that I do as a mom, my body hates right now.

I'm not worried about the contractions right now, because they stop immediately as soon as I sit down or lay down.  They are just really annoying.  I've been told that the more pregnancies you have, the more 'irritable' your uterus becomes.  Whatever.  I'm sick of it.  Stop being so stinkin' irritable, uterus!

Up until the baby comes, we are BUSY around here.  This weekend, I'm going to a women's retreat.  It's just for one night and about an hour away.  On Sunday afternoon, our awesome church is throwing us a baby shower.  Who gets a baby shower for their fourth baby?!?  We are feeling so blessed by our church family.  The next two weekends are booked with things going on at church, and then it's baby time.

I'm going to end this blog post with some older pictures I forgot to put on here.  The girls and I made a trip to Anderson & Girls Orchard a few weeks ago.  It's one of our favorite places....tons of animals, ice cream, shopping, and best of all?  It's free to get in.

An arctic fox...it was just about the cutest thing I've ever seen.

This picture cracks me up....can you see my big belly shadow?  Ha!

Little lambs and their mommas!

Ice cream for $1!  Yay!

I was so worried the girls were going to fall and roll down this hill...they were fine.

Ice cream makes Olivia happy! :) She loves ice cream...just like Daddy.