OK, ok, ok I know...a month between blogs is bad blog etiquette. So sue me. I find myself having a hard time finding the energy to take a nap many of these days...blogging is not the first thing on my list. Cleaning my house, taking care of my off-the-walls one year old, or ya know feeding my family often end up coming first these days. I had really forgotten how tired the last trimester can make you. I seriously take a 2-3 hour nap most days and Nora wakes me up at the end of it. Yeah, I sleep about as much as a one year old baby. She's almost 17 months now, and HOLY COW has the separation anxiety phase gotten bad...It's all about mama these days. I have started to go to a mothers' meeting at my neighbor's church twice a month where they watch your kid for you, and last time I could hear her for a full hour screaming MAMA! MAMA! down the hall. NOT relaxing. Made me want to tear my fingernails off and eat them. eww. What did I just say?

We are all gearing up now for the newest Mayer to come along within the next 5 weeks (hopefully). We have had our shower, which was quite beautiful. Thanks to everyone who came and helped. I am having contractions ALL THE TIME now, and many of them are beginning to hurt. We will have an ultrasound next friday which will tell us if she's hangin out in there the wrong way or if she's another baby elephant like her older sister. Judging by my lack of self control lately when it comes to carbs and sugar, I'm gonna say she's probably HUGE. Those are the two things my OB said to limit to help keep her a bit smaller...yeah, it's pretty much all I want. mmm, cinnamon chip muffins......I'm digging my own grave. Yet I am still feeling very hopeful about this birth. I am planning, yet again, to try and do it as naturally as possible. And If I have a medical need to be induced like last time, I'm taking the epidural hand in hand with the pitocin. That stuff is EVIL. EVIL, I TELL YOU. I want to know what it's like to go into labor on my own. Apparently the contractions aren't anything like the mind-numbing pitocin contractions. So I'm gonna give it a shot. And maybe, since Nora is working me so hard, I'll go into labor early...and not have a 10 pound baby! Nora was 9lbs 4oz. I had to push for a LONG time with her. I'm hoping for a quicker pushing experience this time. Anything 9lbs or less sounds like a breeze.

Speaking of breeze, life is really looking up around here as the AZ fall weather has set in. It's about 2pm here and I have doors and windows open! I LOVE that. Nora and I can go for a walk to the park pretty much any time of day aside from like 3-430pm just because the sun is so hot. And let me tell you, she is a much happier kiddo this time of year. She was driving me crazy asking to go outside just before October hit. Now the highs are in the 80s and the dry air really feels cool all the time. It's a whole different world now. Good time to have a baby, I'd say. Just a couple weeks ago, Mark and I drove up to Payson and did a bit of hiking up there. That was gorgeous. A great way to kick off fall. I know the highs will probably fly up into the 100s again sometime soon for the last time, and I'll want to kill people again, but for now, I'm content. I can almost imagine the leaves changing color when I close my eyes (when they're open, the cactus-covered desert landscape throws me off). Man do I miss the southeast. Oh well. Maybe we'll be back to the land of FOUR seasons someday soon. Until then, I'm gonna try and enjoy the loveliness here and work this little rib-boxing-champ out of me. Nora's up and making some bizarre sounds in there...I'll try to add some shower, preggo, and payson pics...