July 14

Another day, still no baby.

But that's okay. At church this morning, God reminded me that He knows exactly when this baby will come. Though we have no idea if this child is a boy or girl, what its name will be, or when it will come, God knows all of that.  He created this child, cares intimately for it, and has a plan for its life. Any frustration I feel about waiting for Baby's arrival is my own doing, and so short-sighted. 

And then, just in case I didn't get the message, I saw this when I headed into Target tonight for some last-minute supplies:

A rainbow. You know, while we wait for Baby Rainbow. Even funnier is that it looks like the rainbow ends at Cotton Babies, where I buy my cloth diapers. Ha!

But that was tonight. Today, we planned ahead and took a picnic lunch with us to church. On our way home, we stopped at the park where Chris and I were married nearly 11 years ago for lunch and to feed the fish. 

There were lots of fish, but the turtles (see the one in the bottom left?) were even more fun. This was just a normal sized turtle, but we also saw a GIANT grandaddy turtle and an itty-bitty baby turtle. Chris insisted that the grandaddy turtle looked like it was wearing a diaper, and the baby turtle's head was as big as the chunks of bread we threw. Fun!

Love them!

I filled their cups with hot dog buns left over from Caleb's birthday. Caleb dumped a whole cupful of crumbled bun in at one time. Sure hope those fish aren't gluten-free!

He was pretending to be Curious George. Or Tarzan. Not sure which. Probably Curious George, since he still has a shirt on...

Then my mom and Max joined us, and we explored the waterfall. 

Isn't it funny that all three of these kiddos will have a new sibling in the next month?

Caleb and Max had fun exploring (and giving my mom a heart attack) together. But Mom told me that Max really wanted to see Daisy, even telling her that he was going to see "Daisy. My sweet Daisy!" Too cute!

After our picnic, and after naps, I went grocery shopping. Chris and the kids stayed home, but when I returned, Caleb and Daisy were eager to help me unload the bags. Daisy (who has experienced a major language boom lately!) treated us to a running commentary on everything she found in the bags.

"I see mac and cheese! I see another gluten-free mac and cheese!

Ooh! These tomatoes? Plums. These plums? I eat these plums?"

Then she found the bag protecting a bouquet of flowers, and it became her hat. 

What? It's not okay to let your kids wear plastic bags as hats?

After dinner, we put the kids in their swimsuits and let them play in the water in the back yard.

Daisy just wanted to wear her swimsuit; she didn't actually want to get wet.

Goodness. This girl melts my heart.

(Yes, that is cheese sauce from a box of gluten-free mac and cheese around her mouth; don't judge - I'm nearly 41 weeks pregnant. I need a break!)

"Cheese!"

This is such a typical Daisy face!

Meanwhile, Chris set the sprinkler up to spray on both my garden and Caleb's slide.

Caleb was so happy!

*sigh*

How sweet are they? I'm a lucky woman!

Oh. Another typical Daisy-face. She wanted her cup filled with water, but no one was doing it for her.

For Caleb's last few slides before bath and bedtime, Chris turned the sprinkler off and sprayed the slide himself.

It was faster.

MUCH faster!

It has been such a fun weekend that I almost (*almost*) don't mind that we're still waiting for Baby. Proof that we've had fun? Chris put Caleb to bed tonight, but fifteen minutes later Caleb wandered out of his room. He asked Chris if he had to go to work tomorrow, and Chris said yes. Caleb immediately started crying.

"But I'll miss you, Daddy!"

Maybe that's actually just proof that Chris is an awesome dad. Either way, it melts my heart.