June 29

We are filling up these pre-Baby days with all kinds of fun things. 

Today: blueberry picking! 

It was a perfect day for it, too - sunny and surprisingly cool for this time of year, with so little humidity that Daisy's hair didn't even curl. Thanks to Facebook, I found a cute little U-pick blueberry farm that grows berries without pesticides or chemicals. We had to drive almost an hour to get there, but the blueberries were so delicious and so inexpensive that it was totally worth it. 

Daisy absolutely put more blueberries in her mouth than in her bucket. Her diapers will be interesting tomorrow! (Also, those sunglasses make even blueberry-picking look glamorous!)

Caleb LOVED picking the berries. He was very focused and serious about his work, but he definitely enjoyed every moment of it.

Sweet girl.

We were told that each bucket would hold five pounds of blueberries. We filled up a bucket and a half.

I confess: Chris did most of the work. Caleb filled his bucket about three inches deep, Daisy put all of her berries in her mouth, and I just wandered around with my camera, occasionally munching on some blueberries of my own.

For some reason, I think she looks like Sophia Loren here. Though I admit that it's hard to take her seriously in the aquatically-themed onesie...

Or when she does this. Blueberries... yum...

But Caleb worked the whole time!

We talked quite a bit about only picking the dark blue berries, but Caleb informed me that he liked the pink ones, too. Apparently their tartness appeals to him. 

Then, Daisy met a friend. Caleb ran over to pet the kitty, too, and after a brief break from berry-picking, told me, "I wish we had a friendly cat like this!" and then ran off to work some more. Poor kid. Our Tigerlily will never be a friendly cat like that.

There were so many blueberries, and a blue pond and a blue sky. 

Perfect.

Can you see how happy he is? I love it!

Daisy is an excellent berry-picking supervisor.

Oh, look. She's helping! Or maybe just picking another one to eat...

Eventually, Daisy worked so hard that she needed to rest for a bit. What better place to rest than Daddy's back?

Then we headed home. The children slept for about thirty minutes in the car, then refused to nap the rest of the day. It was miserable. But in non-miserable news, a family friend gave us an old deep freezer! Hooray! More room for all of the food I've been cooking and freezing for after Baby comes!

And then I made a blueberry pie.

I've never made a blueberry pie before, let alone a grain-free, honey-sweetened blueberry pie. I ended up using this recipe for a faux graham cracker crust, and combined the ingredients of this recipe with the gelatin and preparation methods from this recipe to make my pie.

The verdict? Still a little bit runny, but definitely a winner. Especially when topped with homemade whipped cream...

Yay for blueberries!

June 28

And now, I will make up for my blog-slacking this week with a barrage of photographs that will leave you speechless with wonderment that a woman who is 11 months pregnant can accomplish so much in one day.

(OK, the last part may be a slight exaggeration. But I was out way past bedtime last night, and Chris left right as the kids woke up at 6 this morning, drove five hours for a meeting, drove five hours back, and returned at 7 pm. So I'm pretty proud that I was able to entertain my children so well, for so long, especially because at this point in my pregnancy and the summer, my patience begins to wear thin by naptime.)

First, we did nothing. I lured the children back to bed with the promise of Berenstein Bears on PBS, and I slept.

Then we ate breakfast.

Then we read.

Then we played outside.

Then we washed all of the windows in the living area. I gave Caleb his own spray bottle of cleaning solution, and he handled it like the grave responsibility that it was.  Daisy was peeved that all she got was a measly rag, but she helped nonetheless.

Then lunch.

Then naps. 

Then I almost got to nap, but Daisy woke up and needed to be re-settled.

Then Caleb woke up after not quite two hours, and padded down the hall with the apology, "Sorry I didn't nap very long, Mommy!" I told him that his options were to play by himself in the front rooms, go back to his room and do whatever he wanted, or grab some books and climb into my bed. He chose option #3, and "read" to me while I dozed until Daisy woke up for real.

Then, we played in the pool.

That whistle. Oh, how they love that whistle. 

Isn't she funny? She was so happy to be playing outside!

She's just a sweet little bug.

Daisy was happy just to pose for my endless photos. That never happens!

Then, she got her hands on  that treasured whistle. Can you see the joy in her eyes?

Caleb was not so willing to cooperate with my picture-taking. He was cold and wet.

 I told him to lay in the sunshine to warm up, so he did this:

He was pretending he was Prince Eric, from The Little Mermaid. Because apparently Prince Eric plays a flute at one point?

Then I got them dried off and in new clothes, and I began making dinner. I came out to check on them, and found that Daisy had pulled all of the jars of paint out from the easel storage area and arranged them into a rainbow.

She happily counted them, over and over.

 Then she counted them again.

Once more, from a different perspective. Funny girl.

Then we ate dinner, and when the kids were finished, Daisy asked, "We go you big bed?"

I saw no reason why we couldn't all roll around in bed for a while, so I said yes. But then the kids wanted to play the game they call "tent", where they pull the covers over their heads. And of course, they wanted me to hide under the covers, too. But it's hard to breathe under the covers, so I decided we should have a real tent, instead.

I used some rubber bands to secure the sheet to the posts of our bed, and they thought it was the best. Thing. Ever.

They played like this for close to an hour. Finally, Chris came home and it was bedtime. 

Caleb has a new book from the library called Meet the Super Heroes, and he is obsessed with it. It features Wonder Woman, who is new to him. He loves her.

LOVES her.

As he got his jammies on tonight, inspiration struck him. He decided he would dress up as Wonder Woman.

This was his costume: 

Jammie shirt.

Blue underwear.

Firefighter rain boots, on the wrong feet.

Hands on hips.

A fierce, crime-fighting stare.

He looks just like Wonder Woman, doesn't he?

June 26

That little plastic swimming pool may have been the best summertime purchase we've ever made.

This morning, Caleb and Daisy and I rocked a shopping excursion, and my reward for them was a visit to a local park that features a splash pad. They were all for it - until we got there. Daisy eagerly changed into her swim clothes, then refused to get wet. Caleb played long enough to get soaking wet, and then decided he was done. Meanwhile, I had to stand in the hot sun because the two shady benches were taken up by people's towels and a pair of grouchy old men who actually asked one young mom and her 18-month-old daughter to move so they could sit in the shade.

That was a bust.

Luckily, I was able to lure my children to the car by promising them some time in our very own pool. Worked like a charm, and this tired, grumpy, absurdly pregnant mama was able to relax in the shade while Caleb and Daisy entertained themselves.

Well, actually, I did arrange the little plastic slide so that it could be a water slide for them. But otherwise, I did nothing.

Dear Grace, that Saxoflute is absolutely the best and worst toy ever. They love it. I hide the whistle for it unless we're outside and I'm willing to deal with the noise.

But boy do they love it.

And then this boy figured out that if he puts the whistle in the water, it makes a bird noise.

That was actually pretty entertaining.

June 23

Chris and the kids decided to wash the cars today.

Daisy put together this bathing suit combination, which I thought was particularly spectacular.

Chris reports that Caleb and Daisy were quite helpful at first, and then they discovered this puddle in a sunken portion of the driveway.

This is Caleb's "preparing to splash in the puddle" face.

Caleb and Daisy were great helpers when it came to drying the car, though!

Then a storm front rolled in, and the skies turned gray, the winds blew, and it dropped at least 15 degrees. I came out to check on them, and I found this: 

It may look innocent, but please note the boys' mischievous smiles. Chris was teaching Caleb to sing the intro to AC/DC's "Thunderstruck". Really, Chris was singing the guitar part, and Caleb was shouting, "THUNDER!"

Meanwhile, Daisy was putting her finger to her mouth and shushing the boys. (Or was she shushing the thunder? Perhaps both?)

It was highly entertaining.

June 22

Did you know that we'll have three children in a few weeks?

And now we have three car seats in our car.

There's no way we can afford a minivan anytime soon, so we're going to rock the three-seats-across for as long as possible, thanks to the Diono Radian, which is the slimmest car seat on the market. Caleb and Daisy each have one, and it should be the only car seat/booster they'll ever need. (Really. Thing has a 10-year expiration date and holds up to 120 pounds.)

Meanwhile, Baby Rainbow will go where Cookie Monster currently is, in an Evenflo Symphony 65. We decided to put Baby straight into a convertible car seat, and skip the pumpkin seat altogether. There's no way I'd be lugging around a car seat and corralling Caleb and Daisy at the same time, so we're doing this instead.

 So far, it's a bit awkward getting Daisy out of her seat, but we'll manage. The kids are content, and we have a few weeks to get used to the situation before Baby comes. Hopefully it works out, because I don't think we have any other options...

June 21

Another week, another prenatal appointment. We're closing in on 38 weeks pregnant, which is crazy! Everything looks good, though, and my midwife and I are confident that this baby is not coming before the 40-week mark.

In other news, Chris wins "Daddy of the Year" for coming home from work yesterday with this:

Yep. No more need for that tiny bucket pool - Caleb and Daisy have their own "real" swimming pool now!

The hose wasn't fast enough for them, so they helped fill it with their little cups.

This boy couldn't be happier!

June 20

After yesterday's fervid organizing blast, we were content to hang  and do nothing today. Caleb and Daisy spent at least two hours playing happily in the water table and water bucket, while I propped up my feet, sipped some iced tea with mint, and played all of the word games in the newspaper. It was a good morning.

Caleb happily arranged the sprinkler to create his water slide again.

He loves this! 

Poor kid. His bucket pool is getting a little bit small!

Mmmm... that looks like a good idea! Perhaps I'll rest my weary feet in there at the end of the day!

I promise, Daisy had a swim suit on at some point. She's getting remarkably adept at removing her own clothes, though, and then she's so proud of herself that I can't bring myself to put the clothes back on her.

Or maybe I'm just too lazy to do it?

Regardless. The girl is happy when she's naked, and I'm happy when she's happy.

Daisy woke up from her nap with a dry diaper, so I thought we'd play at pottying for a while. She sat on the potty in her room, and we read books and sang songs for twenty or thirty minutes.

Nothing.

Then I needed to start dinner, so I left her in her room and went into the kitchen.

That mischievous little monkey picked up her potty and followed me into the kitchen. Thirty more minutes, and still nothing. She had to go, but she refused to do it on the potty - or anywhere else, for that matter. Eventually, she had to go badly enough that she insisted for a diaper. 

It would appear that she's just too stubborn to potty train right now. Oh well. I have other things to worry about right now!

Later, my mom came over, bearing plants for my garden, homebirth supplies, and toy monkeys that my sister got for the kiddos.

I'm not sure whether Caleb was more excited about Grandma, the monkey (hooked around his neck), or Grandma's glasses.