41 weeks

two days later and still no baby. one of my girlfriends handed me a great comment earlier today, so great i must share, "she's still being perfected." i guess if there's anyway to flip how i'm feeling, that comment made it possible. ben and my mother thought today might be the day. (i told them no way). their thought was that i would be in labor, thus missing my favorite show on tv. but, when i checked my phone this morning for all the daily updates, i quickly jumped on their wagon of wanting to go today: i found out it was vincent van gogh's birthday. always loved his paintings but more than that - here's a little known fact - jack was born on picasso's birthday. how fun to have both babies share such incredibly talented birthdays with our history's most talented artists. but here i am, typing and proofreading at 8 pm. this girl would really have to get on it - not that i'd mind!

i continue to get phone calls (thank you) and emails (thank you), and i've been pretty good about answering individually but let me do an overall recap:

- yes, i'm still pregnant.

- no, i have not had the baby.

- yes, i'm hanging in there.

- yes, i will call you and you will know before i post anything on facebook. promise.

-yes, the baby is ok and no, i am not being induced.

i am passed the point of being frustrated or sad or any of the other emotions i was feeling a week ago. i have moved onto being excited and overwhelmed to practically tearing up, thinking of holding her precious baby body in my arms. i'm excited to nurse her, kiss her heels and even change her poopy diapers. i want to see ben smooch her nose and swaddle her and call her a "burrito!" like he did with jackie. i flip through magazines and show him pictures of babies and all he wants to do is kiss them. so yes, i'm even ready for big brother to meet little sister. he even calls my belly "seeees" when asked where his sister is, followed by a smooch and little love tap.

so again, if you don't hear from us, please don't get nervous. we will make calls or have our people call your people. promise.

"the last"

i seem to be saying this a lot. this will be our last trip to anchorage with only one baby; the last date night before baby comes; the last time seeing family before baby... if only all this had proved to be correct. i'm beginning to think she may never come. people keep telling me you can't be pregnant forever, but i don't believe them. i had a few dates in mind that i was thinking she may arrive. those have come and gone. i liked the idea of both babies being born on the 25th - easy for all to remember. i also thought how cool would that be to have both babies on their due date? and then, even my dad's birthday on the 22nd. oh well. so now, the next date in mind is april 1st. april fools. that's a fun day although i'd have to assure people, no really, i'm not joking!

ben and i were woke up this morning at 5 and then again at 7 with calls from the midwifery. i was obviously in a deep enough sleep that when i finally answered the phone at the 7 o'clock hour, i was excited they were calling me - like, they were calling me to come have the baby. i was then confused for a second and realized, no, i'm the one that is suppose to call them when i'm ready. boo. their answering machine was not working, so i was given a mobile number to call, just in case. oh, how i wish i were able to have utilized that number!

i had an appointment last friday but nothing new to report. all the cramping, pressure and braxton hicks contractions are preparing my body for her arrival. all good things, just a matter of time. i know the average pregnancy is 38-42 weeks, but it's hard to be patient! 9/10 months is a LONG time to wait for somebody's arrival. my next appointment is on april 2nd, and i am really hoping that i get to cancel it.

on saturday, we went on (here i go again) our last date before baby. we went out for sushi rolls and a movie. momma diane snapped a few pictures before we left.

and this is the cape that i made for jackie.

40.2 weeks = ten months pregnant

well, the due date has come and gone; i'm now ten months pregnant. i can honestly say i didn't think i would make it this far. based on how i've been feeling for the last two weeks, i really thought my baby girl would be here by now. i was pretty confident my mother would make it to town, but i thought i would go into labor once i could relax with her here. i am only 2 days overdue (and some of you i know have been pushing the 42 week mark) but having jack on his due date... has me spoiled and in a bit of a funk. i'm not nearly as uncomfortable as i was last time, partly because i didn't gain even close to the amount of weight as i did with jack, and of course no two pregnancies are similar, i've learned. but. i am to the point where i just want to meet her - like all of you! it weighs on me (literally) to wake up each morning, especially after some of the rough nights of oooh, this could be it thinking. but it makes it even harder when i pick up the phone and the first words out of everyone's mouth is "are you in labor?" or "is the baby here?" like my status says on facebook: no news is... no news. you will know when the baby is here. promise.

so i've been making lists and making more lists. all the things that i wanted to get done, are and have been done for weeks. all the things that were not priorities, are also done. all the things that were not even issues, are too done. i had pizza on tuesday night, hoping that it would put me into labor as that was my last meal before jack. i got my hair done yesterday as i did that before i ate the pizza. no such luck. i went for an hour walk (outside, i might add!) and my belly was a rock the entire time. got home to experience even more contractions, pretty intense ones at that, lasting a few hours. but again, i wake up this morning to my big belly.

ben brought me flowers yesterday. what a guy. i think he's just as anxious to meet this little girl as i am.

st. patrick's day

perfect t-shirt for him

this is always a special day for us (or previous) o'flanagan's :) it has usually been the one day of the year that i choose to indulge in an adult beverage, but of course this year, i had to indulge in chocolates and cookies instead. not a bad swap, really. we had friends come over for dinner tonight. fixed golden king crab, strip steaks, twice baked potatoes, salad and garlic bread. mmm, i don't think anyone left but extremely full. everyone was wearing green too, which just makes me very happy. here are a few of the shots from tonight's fun patty's din-din.

snapped a few after company left...

here's me in all 39 weeks of my glory

hug for his sister

smooch for his mama

my little lucky charm

jackie and his dada, typical wrestling in the evening.

loves to have his blankie tied around him.

i'm currently in the middle of a cape-making project

TGIM

today is monday, and i can honestly say, thank goodness! i usually dread the monday. i get sad on sunday nights thinking of not having benji home the next day. but this monday - not that i was happy to see (or rather hear) him go to work, but i was so relieved to have a day where i can just lounge, be a slug, be one with the sofa cushions. we had quite the busy weekend.

got up and out of the house by 1030 on saturday morning. dropped off jackie with his nana and auntie for what could possibly our last date before baby girl comes. we strolled through over the rainbow toys (which is really like shopping for all the cool toys we didn't get as kids) and found jack a super-cool race track for his cars. we have been on the hunt for a small trampoline and this is the third store to tell us they have them on back order. hmmm. so we are now on 3 waiting lists for this trampoline.

after that, we caught the latest leonardo dicaprio movie shutter island. now, i'm all about leo movies and all about twist endings, but i would not recommend this movie - at least not if you have children. or know someone with children. or just plain like children. yep, that's all i'm gonna say about that. after the flick, we grabbed some rolls at sushi & sushi. mmmm. a few more stops, and we arrived at nana lynn's just in time to see jackie snoozing on her bed. arms above his head, lips pouted, so cute. why are babies so fun to watch sleep?! we got back to our house around 730 with just enough time to give jackie a bath and read some bedtime stories.

sunday afternoon, ben and his friends spent reloading in the garage. i stayed in with jackie, cleaned here and there, finished up baby girl's birth announcements, baked some fudge brownies and prepped dinner for our friends coming at 5. i made two kinds of manicotti, some fresh garlic french bread and our friends brought the salad. a full house with friends and their kids, can't really think of a better way to spend a sunday evening. oh, and what a nice surprise to see the sun still up at practically 8 pm! this may be the first year that i haven't complained about day light saving! (and yes, there is no "s" on the end of the sentence on purpose, just as there is no "s" on the end of nordstrom... so why is it always pronounced that way?!)

so that brings me to monday. maybe it doesn't seem as if our weekend was filled, but i imagine being 38 weeks and 6 days pregnant also has something to do with it. grandma diane gets here on thursday. i have my 39 week check up that morning. sooo looking forward to hearing her heartbeat and perhaps they'll check for more progress?

happy monday to you all. xo

iditarod restart

went out to willow for the iditarod restart. man, it was COLD. we managed to have fun despite the elements. jackie and ben rode the snowmachines around, played a game of chase in the snow and we all devoured our share of hot dogs to keep warm.

the flanagan's

"airplane"

watching the doggies

TMI? just let me know...

i had my 37 week check up today. 37 weeks?! i still can't believe i'm this close! i have been dealing with a lot of pressure below the equator, and it's a tad unnerving because i just don't remember feeling like this with jack. (i'm sure the last part of that sentence is going to be said a lot in the coming weeks.) and like everyone has told me, every pregnancy is different. i have not had the feeling like she is going to fall out, more like she is trying to push her way out. i have been experiencing an obscene amount of contractions, to the point of one right after another, taking my breath away and sending some numbness down the front of my legs. always nice when you have to stop mid-aisle in the grocery store to catch your breath. but, like the midwives have stressed this whole time; if you experience anything out of the norm, change positions, drink a glass of water, or lessen your activity to see if that makes a difference. and you know what, it does :)

based on everything i described to them this morning, they wanted to check me, to see what was happening with my, well, you know... baby girl's head is at zero station (woah.), 60% effaced and dilated to 1 cm. of course, none of this gets my hopes up because i have had girlfriends walking around at 5 cm for weeks! and with jackie, i had a check up on a monday, was not effaced at all and yet went into labor 3 days later. it gives me great comfort knowing that everything i'm experiencing is preparing my body for the arrival of sweet baby girl miebs.

the only person to be alarmed in all this is my mother, naturally. she is planning to arrive on march 18 and now she's not quite sure whether me and two babies will be picking her up from ted stevens int'l or just me and mr. jack. time can only tell...

i've never loved the month of march more.

so many reasons to enjoy this month... jam-packed with birthdays, anniversaries and now the birth of our daughter - i hope. there is always that chance of going past the due date, but i am not really getting that feeling lately. i am fairly confident she will be right on track.

36 weeks

we had our 36 week check up last tuesday. went over lots of info; when to call the midwifery, what to bring, who can come, and of course all the possible complications. it can be a little unnerving but the chances of "those" things happening are just so slim. single digit percents, i mean. i feel like my safety and my daughter's safety will definitely be in good hands. and more importantly, ben feels very confident too. i know he was apprehensive about me delivery out of hospital for our first baby, but he has gained a lot of confidence by witnessing jack's birth - that i can do this and that with jackie there were no complications, no need for intervention, no drugs, nothing and likely this will be the same... just hopeful that it's a lot (and i mean A LOT) shorter.

this time around should be much more peaceful for all of us too. in the hospital, they want to check your vitals every hour. this meant that i was being woke up every hour, in addition to when jack needed to eat. ben was great about doing the diaper changes so he was being woke up as well. but the difference now, after the birth of this baby, we will be home likely within 4 hours of her arrival. i cannot express how excited i am for that. laboring for however long, then being in the comfort of my own home, surrounded by both my babies... couldn't ask for much more. the thought of being in the hospital for days, without jack, i cannot imagine. no, thank you. never left him overnight, not going to start this month!

so baby girl's room is at like 98% percent completion!!! thank you benji and thank you burst of energy! the curtain is hung, the uppercase living (wall stickers) are up and the only 2% remaining is moving the lay-z-boy from the living into her room.

guess just how much fun i had organizing and reorganizing her closet?

the print is a norman rockwell... "a day in the life of a girl"

and naturally, jack has the boy version

on sunday, we traveled into anchorage for the fur rondy "running of the reindeer." there was also a carnival and all the people-watching your heart could handle. jack was very interested in the sled dogs; he kept asking for more... asking a toddler to "wait and be patient" is like asking them to not touch the blinking sparkly button! we had a blast regardless. weather was high 20s and we got plenty of walking in.

celebrating 75 years!

pony rides!

ferris wheel

view from the top - hey, i think i see our house!

running of the reindeer... all those people and only like 6-7 reindeer...

back in the WARM truck. lipstick? nah, just a few red vines

special flowers from my dear momma ~ thank you!!!