Yep. They were mistaken.  If their predictions would have been right on, I would have delivered before my due date, July 6th.  Instead, I made it to my appointment where they told me I was pretty much at the same place - not much improvement...but they are SURE I won't make it to my next appointment - July 13th.  Should I believe them?  So, here I am...feeling pretty barge-like, trying to get things done around the house. It's my coping mechanism, really.  If I just lay around and veg, I would likely go batty.  So, I'm making lists of cupboards and closets that need gutted out and reorganized and working my way through them.  It's rather satisfying but in all truth, I'd much rather be holding our little one in my arms right now.

The humorous and sometimes not so humorous aspect of all this has been people's comments.  I am sure they are not intending to be insensitive, but to my overloaded hormone-filled self, they come across that way.  How can someone be standing right in front of my huge belly and say, "No baby yet, eh?"  Or..."When is that baby comin'?"  Hmmmm.  It's all I can do to not strike back with a rather sarcastic response.  In fact, I am trying to stay away from public places right now, because I'm afraid I might not be able to hold up my pastor's wife testimony : )

There are some things I'm able to stay positive about right now - like, we have more time as a family of four, I'm getting more time to get special projects done, and the baby is moving a lot - which is always a good sign.  I know in my heart that this kid will come when God releases him/her to us and I trust Him.  I just need to keep perspective and remind myself that I won't be this huge forever.  Doesn't mean that I don't think about whipping out my bottle of Castor Oil though...

As I was trying to mentally make my to-do lists of things to finish before baby comes, I wanted to make sure I put an update up on Xanga - of all the things we've been up to lately.  Otherwise, it'll just pile up and get lost in the new baby news. 

First off was my birthday celebration (June 15th).  I told Miah that he was completely off the hook and didn't need to make a big deal out of my birthday this year - since he had done so much for our anniversary.  But he still gave me such a sweet, special day. 

It started off with breakfast in bed, as per Olson tradition.  He made strawberry glazed crepes...they were SO good.


I am seriously impressed that my husband knows how to make crepes.....really yummy ones.  One of the best things was their entry into my room. The girls and Miah were singing the happy birthday song and the girls were sooo excited!  They crawled up in bed and gave me tons of hugs.  This breakfast in bed is becoming such a fun tradition - as the girls are getting older and understanding what's going on.  Anyway...it was great. 

We then took the girls to VBS and we went for an appointment at the Joi Bag Company.  It's a new company to Elkhart County that is associated with our church.  Their mission is to take various discontinued fabrics from the RV companies (that have gone under) and make stylish bags and purses.  Fifty percent of the profit goes to the Asia's Hope orphan homes in Cambodia and Thailand and the rest goes to pay for the workers' wages and production costs.  Miah's idea was that I could go in and pick out my favorite fabric and style and design my own bag.  We had a great time there.....


My fabric before it was turned into a purse....

And we got the finished product the very next day. Cool, huh?


We ran some baby errands together and then picked up food before we picked up the kids. Then we had a picnic in our backyard with 'em- Subway sandwiches and Klondike bars : ) 

Kids went down for nap while I went to my OB appointment and when I came back, I got to prop my feet up and look at a couple new magazines in the backyard while everyone played. 

In the evening, Miah and I got to go out to dinner at Applebee's while the kids were watched...and we ran more baby errands.  And when we came home, we had the cake the three of them had made for me.


Oh and he gave me a cd of one of my favorite artists....

It was such a fun day!  Thank you, Miah...for spoiling me! Can't believe I'm 32.

The next big event was Father's Day.  This was quite possibly, my favorite Father's Day since Miah's been a daddy. I actually had a plan....of a great day for him.  It was hard to keep my secrets but we did pull most of them off. 
The first gift was something we gave him early - a large print of his ladies.  Miah's mom made dresses especially for the occasion. They were soooo pretty!  He loved the gift.....
This is the one we picked for the big shot -

And here are some others from the shoot -


If you have girls, you know how important the "spinny factor" of a dress is to a little girl.  This one rated very high on that scale : ) 

As part of our Father's Day festivities at church, they had a mechanical bull available for dads to try after the service. Well, we had one of these a couple years ago and Libby was thrilled to sit on it for a photo with her daddy. Carina would have NOTHING to do with it.  Well, this time we thought it would be the same story....but Cari said she would pose on it with daddy as long as it didn't move. She even made the guy in charge promise that he wouldn't trick them and make the thing move. We got a good picture of the three of them:


Then Miah asked Libby if she wanted to go on it by herself. She wanted to go with her daddy but apparently there is a rule about only one person at a time. So, after thinking about it for a few seconds she said, "Okay...I'll do it." and Miah plopped her up there.  She ended up staying on that thing longer than all the pastors....her determined face is one I'll never forget.  She put on quite a show with her cuteness...


When it started really speeding up, she got this worried look on her face.  Miah asked her if she wanted off and she nodded emphatically.  Here they are, cheering her bravery.


The rest of the day, she made sure to tell us that she was "So brave for riding the bull!" That she was....  Carina leaned over and told me that maybe she'd try it next year : )

Before Libby went, Miah had a try at it. The operator thought it'd be funny to set it at one of the fastest speeds for the pastors, so Miah didn't really stand a chance.



Then we treated him to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, where he could eat his 18 wings and enjoy every bite!


When we came home, we gave him his other gift - a french press travel mug and some gourmet coffee.  He was a happy camper. Plus, he got some sweet little girl kisses:



During nap, he got to lay out in the shade on our hammock with some cold drinks and then in the evening, we gave him a lemon cake (with fruit snacks thrown in as surprise).

He's partly laughing at the cake in this picture.  See the girls did the decorations, but I did the frosting....and I did a terrible job at getting it to look smooth.  I couldn't even blame it on the kids....oh well, it tasted good.

After the kids were in bed, we watched a total guy movie - his choice. 

It honestly, was such a joy, celebrating such a wonderful husband and father.  Our girls adore him and so do I!

Quick update on baby progress:
I am now 38 1/2 weeks along.  The time is just flying by!  At my appointment on Monday, they checked me and said that I am now at where I was 6 days before giving birth to Libby. So, I guess it could be any time now.  BUT because this pregnancy has been so different in other ways, I wouldn't be surprised if baby Olson would just hang out till the end or beyond. I measured 41 weeks on Monday....he/she could be pretty big, too. Yikes.  I have tons of Braxton Hicks contractions, especially when I stand up....so I'll be glad when all this is over and I can look into the face of my sweet little one.  In the meantime, I'm trying to spend lots of time cooling off in our neighbors' in-ground pool and staying in the a/c at our house.

Well, that's all for now!  Have a great rest of your week, friends. 

Yesterday I went to my regularly scheduled appointment with the midwife and I got interesting news.  For the past several weeks they have told me that the baby's head is down and that most likely, it won't change.  Well, little baby Olson has decided to throw some excitement into the mix.  He/she is lying transverse.  Somehow he/she has managed to get out of the head down position and lay sideways.  The head is on my right side, the back is where the head should be and the bottom is on my left side.  For the next couple weeks, my job is to try to get this baby turned around - through special exercises and even some crazy holistic medicine the midwife suggested.  Basically, if it doesn't turn, I will be facing the possibility of a cesarean.  Honestly, that kind of freaks me out - especially since I have never in my life had any kind of surgery (okay, just wisdom teeth removed), stitches, IV, catheter, etc.  But I suppose I'll cross that bridge when/if I come to it and I'll just rely on those of you who have had c-sections to give me wisdom and encouragement.  I know that God has it all under control and I just have to do my part.
Thanks in advance for your prayers!

 Little Olson baby can move if he/she wants to!