Willow's birthday / 37 weeks!

I know, I've been slacking off on the blog. Things have been just a *little* hectic around here lately. I guess once the baby is born, who knows what will happen to the blog...maybe I'll have time to update it while I am on maternity leave? Or maybe I'm completely delusional in thinking that. In the meantime, every spare minute of the past month has been occupied, basically. This weekend we finally had a second to breathe, sort of. I actually feel OK enough about work now that I didn't feel the need to work this weekend, and at home we are getting closer to being ready. Josh has brought Willow to a "bouncy house" fundraiser at the SDC. I just paid bills and am trying to squeeze in a blog post before they return.

First off, yes, I am still pregnant. I'm 37 weeks today. The baby could come now and it wouldn't even have to go to the NICU. I just took our big stash of preemie books and put them in the box for St. Vinny's! I am so thankful and still can't believe I did it. Here's a picture of me from last weekend at 36 weeks. It was on Facebook too, but for those of you who are not on Facebook, I wanted to post it here as well.

 

My last appointment in Wausau was February 11, and everything was fine - so good that he said I did not have to come back for the final appointment. Right now I'm focusing on preparing for the birth; I've been reading a ton, and have a doula ready to go. Yesterday we took a childbirth class too. I am so excited to actually experience birth! :)

But enough about me. Someone had a birthday recently. Willow turned 4 on February 19. The weekend before, we had a sledding birthday party at the Nara chalet and sledding hill. The party was a smashing success, if I do say so myself. The weather cooperated for sledding, Grandma made an amazing cake, and everyone seemed to have a good time. There were no meltdowns or crying by anyone! Here are a bunch of photos:

Margot, the youngest attendee:

 Cameron and Jess:

Willow and Papa:

Anna and Maisa:

Aspen:

DaveO and Amelia:

Scott and Garrison:

Andi and Cat:

Willow and Maisa:

Here's Garrison taking his turn at pin-the-tail on the pony. The party had sort of a horse/pony/unicorn theme. Willow is very into these lately.

Here's a shot of everyone eating. Somehow, I didn't really get a photo of Lewis or Jacob. I wish I would've taken a group shot of all the kids together!

And finally, here is a video of the Happy Birthday song, plus you can see the pony cake my mom made. It was a huge hit.

By my next post, we may have some baby photos!