June 23, 2007
Swelling!
Well, last night it began. I was just getting the kids dinner and ironing some fabric and all of the sudden I felt a tightness in my legs. I looked down to see the sadly familiar sight of my swollen legs, ankles, and feet. I think this has started a month earlier with each child. All the bones in my lower extremities disappear and don't reappear until after I have given birth. The thing that wasn't so bad with the other kids was, it wasn't shorts season. None of my current maternity clothes cover the monstrosity that was once hidden from the world! And it's really too hot to be wearing long pants for the sake of vanity.

The kids and I spent a week in Oregon with my parents. We came home with two bikes! Which was very exciting. My parents walk their dog on this large four mile loop every day and for two days in a row the kids rode the whole way while I trailed behind. After the second day, I realized that walking that much might make it impossible for me to move if I continued. This baby seems to have parked herself on my sciatic nerve. The more I walk, the more pronounced this condition seems to become and I start to really really waddle! B got a super cute purple bike for her birthday. She really loves it, she is very excited to get out and go whenever we can. And the other bike we brought home was for me! I have wanted a new bike ever since my last one was stolen out of our storage shed nine years ago. This bike is from my mom and Nate for my birthday this year. It is a mom bike, not a slick mountain bike like the last one. This one I can ride around the neighborhood with the kids. I am very excited about it. I can actually ride it now, if I can get all the stuff put together on it I had to take apart to get it into my car on the way home. I had three bikes in the trunk of my Malibu-no mean feat. I had brought J's bike because I knew his sis was getting one and they would like to ride together. So we took off all sorts of handlebars, tires, and peddles to fit them all into the trunk.

I also stopped on the way to Oregon in Nampa to visit my college roomie. She has a new baby girl and I hadn't seen her yet. I had intended on staying a few minutes, but two hours later we were still talking and I realized how much I missed her. We had such fun in college and have kept in decent contact since then, but I had forgotten how well we get along. She is having some of the things I remember having when I had Jack. Feeling like you don't speak to anyone grown-up all day. Shopping for the sake of it, or splitting up trips so you have somewhere to go every day. I remember it was a hard transition from being a full time student and working to being a full time mom. It just takes a while to adjust. And then all of the sudden, you have more activities than can be scheduled and you are wondering where those lazy baby days went.