First off, no Ricco today. The only contenders left in my office pool are my boss and Teresa. Apparently he is content to just stay put for some reason. I promise I'm not THAT bad of a mom... I mean I kept Pearl alive for almost three years.
Whew, glad to get that over with so we can avoid a slew of phone calls asking if he's here. It's like our family doesn't think we will call when he finally does decide to start this whole process. Today my uncle Bob, aka the world's greatest photographer, had an awesome deal for kids photos at Temple Square. The tulips and flowers were amazingly stunning, absolutely gorgeous, and picture perfect. So we let Pearl pick out a dress and headed down for a photo shoot. I'm not sure Uncle Bob is looking forward to another one with Pearl because she NEVER looks at the camera but he said we got a few real winners out of the nearly 200 pictures he took. It did make me feel better that it isn't just me that can't get that kid to smile at the camera. We will post pictures as soon as we see them or you can check out Robert Dyer Photography on Facebook (should be up on Tuesday). Pearl loved breaking all sorts of rules on the temple grounds - like picking the flowers and sticking her feet in the fountains. And she was totally mesmerized by all the pretty brides getting their pictures taken. She kept saying "they married?" and asking Jeff and I if we wanted to get married. Hence, the daddy/daughter marriage shot. 
Pearl kept begging us to take her inside the temple. She still remembers the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house we went to where she did get to go inside (I think it's the cookie afterward that really made the impression) and figures she can walk right into any temple. We tried explaining to her that not everyone can go inside but she refused to accept that answer. Mainly because she has decided all temples are her temples, Jesus loves her (a big step for us considering she usually tells us that Jesus isn't her friend), and Jesus lives at the temple, and therefore she should be able to go in. When we got to the doors, Pearl knocked on them, hoping Jesus would answer and let her in. She was quite upset that He didn't answer the doors and couldn't believe that He wasn't there. She kept asking what He was doing and that she wanted to talk to Him. It was pretty cute but at the same time I felt really bad that she couldn't go in. I felt I was damaging her little spirit by not being able to answer her question about why Jesus wouldn't let her inside.
Jeff decided to take her to the visitor's center to see the statue of Jesus in hopes that she would be satisfied. Well, she was excited to see the statue but still upset that she couldn't talk to Him in person. We tried to tell her that she could talk to Jesus anytime she wanted by saying a prayer but she wasn't buying the idea. Luckily the sister missionaries were able to distract her for about 15 seconds with a pass-along card that had a picture of Jesus on it. I sure hope my inability to answer Pearl's questions doesn't do lifelong damage. But seriously, what are you supposed to say when this innocent little face looks up at you in disbelief that Jesus didn't answer the door?
Whoever coined the term "patience is a virtue" must have been a man because any pregnant woman in her right mind would never come up with something so ridiculous! OK, so up until yesterday I was trying really, really hard to take this in stride but no more! Last week at my doctor's appointment, thinking that nothing was happening as usual (which is what it was like with Pearl than WHAM), he surprised me by saying he didn't think I'd make it through the weekend. I was shocked to say the least considering the week before my body was perfectly content to keep cooking Ricco. I never thought I'd write this on a blog, but I was dilated to a 4 and 80% effaced without feeling a single "real" contraction. I kept telling myself that it could be days before he came but deep down was excited to think one, this pregnancy was over and two, I finally get to meet this little guy who can almost knock me to the ground when he kicks and squirms. So now that the weekend has come and gone, I'm getting well I don't know. Discouraged, yes. Sad, yes. Disappointed, yes. Tired, yes. Annoyed, yes. Fearful that if he doesn't come by Friday I'll have to start "nesting" again and clean and do all the laundry!
I knew having a baby last week would really throw a kink in Jeff's schedule at work - it being month end and all. (For all you none financial types, including me, basically this means May doesn't start until Jeff closes out the books for April or in layman terms, Jeff works looooong hours everyday and really can't take time off until it's over.) He had a firm talking to Ricco earlier in the week that he couldn't come until today. Well, it's today and I'm still here! I haven't decided if Ricco is actually that obedient, considering his sister's listening skills some days, or if he is just trying to suck up to his dad. I'm leaning towards the latter idea at this point. Even our Sunday bike ride - well in my case waddling behind Jeff and Pearl on their bikes - didn't get things started. Although I was pretty sure there were a few times Ricco was going to fall out of me!
It's sort of funny too I suppose that he didn't come this weekend as we anticipated because ALL the family was in town for various things and hoping to visit us in the hospital. Oh well. We ended up having an impromptu bar-b-que with my family on Saturday to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday and try to induce my labor with the "labor inducer" pizza from Cafe Trios (guess I didn't eat enough of it... but with garlic cloves the size of my eyeballs all over it, I was a little scared of the consequences if it didn't work). Then Sunday Jeff's parents came down to spend a few days at a hotel for his mom's birthday. Pearl got to spend two days at the "hotel, motel, Holiday Inn" as she says, or rather sings, with grandma and grandpa. Jeff was such a good dad to take her swimming both days she was there, despite the "heated" pool that must have been filled with hose water. 
So here we are. I was going to blog about this last night about 4 a.m. when I couldn't sleep but figured I better get it over with just in case. I know it's not even my official due date yet but Pearl spoiled me by coming two weeks early and I let myself become one of "those women" who actually got their hopes up after their doctor's visit. All I know is I'm sick of going to work with no projects to work on - finished those up last week - and can't wait to meet this little guy. I wonder who he will look like, if he will be a good baby, how big he will be (and how fast he will get here once things start rockin' and rollin'), and if Pearl will like him as much as she says she does now. It's super cute because she is always kissing and hugging my tummy and talking to Ricco, telling him "he's so cute" in this little high-pitched voice. Pearl has all sorts of plans for the two of them. Like eating popcorn (how do you explain to a two-year-old that babies don't have teeth?), giving him a bath, taking him on a bike ride, going to the park, reading him stories, and my personal favorite playing mermaids with him (Jeff has already kaboshed that idea). She keeps asking if it's his birthday today and eventually I'll get to tell her YES, it's finally Ricco's birthday today!
And for sentimental reasons, here are some pictures of the flowers Pearl gave me for Mother's Day. I opened the door to a cute little voice saying, "Happy Mother's Day" followed by a big hug. It was "so cute" as Pearl says.
Whew, glad to get that over with so we can avoid a slew of phone calls asking if he's here. It's like our family doesn't think we will call when he finally does decide to start this whole process. Today my uncle Bob, aka the world's greatest photographer, had an awesome deal for kids photos at Temple Square. The tulips and flowers were amazingly stunning, absolutely gorgeous, and picture perfect. So we let Pearl pick out a dress and headed down for a photo shoot. I'm not sure Uncle Bob is looking forward to another one with Pearl because she NEVER looks at the camera but he said we got a few real winners out of the nearly 200 pictures he took. It did make me feel better that it isn't just me that can't get that kid to smile at the camera. We will post pictures as soon as we see them or you can check out Robert Dyer Photography on Facebook (should be up on Tuesday). Pearl loved breaking all sorts of rules on the temple grounds - like picking the flowers and sticking her feet in the fountains. And she was totally mesmerized by all the pretty brides getting their pictures taken. She kept saying "they married?" and asking Jeff and I if we wanted to get married. Hence, the daddy/daughter marriage shot. 
Pearl kept begging us to take her inside the temple. She still remembers the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house we went to where she did get to go inside (I think it's the cookie afterward that really made the impression) and figures she can walk right into any temple. We tried explaining to her that not everyone can go inside but she refused to accept that answer. Mainly because she has decided all temples are her temples, Jesus loves her (a big step for us considering she usually tells us that Jesus isn't her friend), and Jesus lives at the temple, and therefore she should be able to go in. When we got to the doors, Pearl knocked on them, hoping Jesus would answer and let her in. She was quite upset that He didn't answer the doors and couldn't believe that He wasn't there. She kept asking what He was doing and that she wanted to talk to Him. It was pretty cute but at the same time I felt really bad that she couldn't go in. I felt I was damaging her little spirit by not being able to answer her question about why Jesus wouldn't let her inside.
Jeff decided to take her to the visitor's center to see the statue of Jesus in hopes that she would be satisfied. Well, she was excited to see the statue but still upset that she couldn't talk to Him in person. We tried to tell her that she could talk to Jesus anytime she wanted by saying a prayer but she wasn't buying the idea. Luckily the sister missionaries were able to distract her for about 15 seconds with a pass-along card that had a picture of Jesus on it. I sure hope my inability to answer Pearl's questions doesn't do lifelong damage. But seriously, what are you supposed to say when this innocent little face looks up at you in disbelief that Jesus didn't answer the door?
