This has got to be the longest year of my life! I got an unconfirmed case of the swine flu in August which turned into pneumonia by October (after my whole brood went through the same illness). Then I got pregnant. In the middle of pneumonia. Some things you may try for comfort may have long term consequences (ha ha ha). Anyway, this pregnancy has been at least as difficult as my last 2. I have been on modified bed rest for the last 11 weeks. I have started calling my son (yeppers, we are having a boy!) our warden cause we have all become a prisoner to my pregnancy!

My house is a disaster, of course, but I am almost done. Ironically, my VERY irritable uterus has calmed down now that I am considered full term (37 weeks). I am ok with this as I have reached that "I will just stay pregnant and pretend I will not be going through labor" phase. I have had some tricky blood sugar problems. My blood sugars have been decent, but my glucose tests were borderline so I get to eat low carb and prick myself regularly just to be sure. I don't blame my OB, I have ginormous babies without blood sugar issues. We have been keeping track of his size and he has been consistently been measuring about 4 weeks ahead. I had to reassure one of my OB's fellows that I was completely confident in my ability to push out a big baby as I have had 2 nine pounders already. She told me that after 4 hours of pushing she would give me a c section. DUh. I just laughed and told her that I pushed out my last in less than 15 minutes!Good grief, People push out bigger babies than me all the time.

I realized today that I had been physically incapacitated for the entire school year. As a homeschooling mom I worried that my kiddo would fall behind. Emma had a great year. Our school year, perhaps, lacked some of the creativity that we usually have, but we managed to stay on top of stuff. Because we can't do much else Emma has become not just an excellent reader but a reading phenom! She has been reading everything in sight. She read all of the harry Potter books in 5 weeks (pretty good for a 9 year old), the entire Little house series, and an assortment of other books. She is finishing up the Lightning thief and will be starting the Narnia series. I think all of the time not doing anything has been a tremendous blessing in this way. Rachael learned to read this year as well so I will be doing assessments to try and figure out what reading level she will be at for kindergarten. The girls are so looking forward to swim team this next year and I am excited to be able to get them out of the house and moving again!

I have been released from my callings right now cause I can't do anything. It is a strange feeling. I know it won't last, so I am enjoying the break. The ward has been helping where they can and bringing meals a couple times a week and we are so grateful. I have always loved being able to serve my ward members by making a meal or doing an errand for people in need and now feel even more passionate about it. Heavenly Father has many ways to teach us how to serve better, doesn't He?

My mom and sister are coming in a week to help. I can't tell you how grateful I am. I am just ready to be done. This is our last baby. It took us a long time to come to this decision and many many hours on our knees but since we made the final decision we have been nothing but happy and satisfied. 37 feels like 87 for me in gestational years so I am more than ready to be past this part of my life. I am actually looking forward to the middle of the night feedings so I can get some better sleep! Waking up every 45 minutes to use the toi toi is getting old, HE HE HE!!!