Waiting at a 4 and 75% effaced since last Wed. appt.

I have been having lots of contractions and I get so falsely excited because nothing happened like this with Gracie. I am so excited to have her here.

This is what I have been doing in the mean time and working a little on my e-books for Home-Speech-Home.com. We might get featured in the ASHA Leader. I have K, G, S, and almost Z totally done. Here are my projects:

Gracie's Curtains:
7 rows of gathering on top, idea from Make-It-And-Love-It Blog
Doll Clothes for the Dirty Baby:
Wouldn't come clean so Gracie helped me make new clothes and headband for her baby that she takes everywhere. Gracie really sewed them with the presser foot and back stitch button under her command. It took forever. Gracie didn't go take a nap till around 4:00 because we were finishing her baby.
Curls in Gracie's Hair:
This is the first trial with the curling iron. So cute but she was really scared as was I. Today though, I was doing a pony tail and she said, "No mom. Girls (i.e. curls)." She was so good today and loves talking about her curls. I love them too.
Front Room Curtains:
I found this fabric for $6.00/yd at Home Fabrics. You seriously have to go there cause we all know how home decor fabric is usually $20-$30 yard on sale at Jo-Anns. And not much variety.
Covered Couch Pillows:
Also found this fabric at Home Fabrics for $6.00 and $3.00/yd. I can't believe it!
Blessing Dress for Baby #2:
I want to make each of my children their own to have and use on their children if they want. This is fabric I already had and worked up so fast. The skirt is sheer and shimmery. Now I am going to make a fleece shrug to match. Add some pearly trim to waist and hem and flowers with pearls on the skirt. Show you when it is finished.

Our Gracie Girl...

EARRINGS:
Gracie took her earrings out during the last 3 nap times.
Yesterday I could not find one of them. I gave up looking, very frustrated with Gracie Girl.
About 5 minutes later I was washing her face from her "Trick or Treat" and noticed a big nasty "booger" in her nostril.
I went to pull it out and...
TADA!
It was her long last earring.
GROSS!
(And the funny part is when I had asked her earlier where it was, she did say her nose. But I thought she was trying to be funny. ooooh, gracie! Needless to say, I put her studs back in for now.)
Where did she get this from?
OLIVES:
Gracie's Olive Eating Rules:
1. Olives have to go on your fingers before you eat them.
2. You have to make noise when you snatch them off.
3. And you have to have the WHOLE CAN in one sitting!
4. You have to count all the way to 10. (This also applies for underdogs on the swings!)
MARKERS:
Gracie loves markers. You only color on paper... and now rocks. This is a fun and easy art project if you are looking for something fun to do. Get out your markers, (permanent if you want them to stay on in the rain) and find some cool rocks. We went on a long walk and filled up the bottom of our stroller with these perfect rocks. They were so perfect, in fact, that our neighbor kids broke a few before we colored them and we have found them moved around in many places since. We love seeing our rocks every time we go outside and now they look great with our pumpkins.
TRACTORS, TRUCKS, TRAINS, MOTORCYCLES, AIRPLANES:
You would think she was a boy because she loves "things that go" so much. We can imitate the sounds of each one pretty well.
I think Gracie is mostly over her PTSD from the car accident which is a huge relief. That is not to say that mom and dad are. Both of us have had several vividly real dreams about dying... car accidents, drowning, etc. Some tears and screams have been heard in the middle of the night and not just from Gracie's bedroom. PTSD is real and we only had a small taste. I can't imagine being in a war or something else. For now we will just keep walking, avoiding the freeway as much as possible, and talking about everything that goes.

BOOK OF MORMON:
We walked into church today "late" and the Bishopric was talking about our new challenge to read the Book of Mormon by March Stake Conference. We sit down and Gracie says, "Mom, BOOK OF MORMON!!" I couldn't believe my ears. She said it a couple more times after he said it, through the rest of the meeting. Even though she was playing, she was listening.

We couldn't believe it, but it makes sense. We have been singing "Book of Mormon Stories" and reading scriptures with Gracie for a week now. We have her repeat the words we say. Children are never too young!! I never knew! And it is awesome compared to my experience with children learning speech and language skills. THE SPIRIT is definitely a language and learning ENHANCER!
Too bad...many people would want to pay big bucks for this learning enhancement. The General Primary President who spoke in conference is definitely right... Teach your children now, what you want them to know and do in FIVE YEARS>>>>AWESOME!
We love our Gracie Girl.

I am a 3 this week with 3 weeks to go!

I have been having lots of random contractions so I thought labor was going to happen, but we are still here. (Apparently you can walk around for weeks even dilated to a 4.) I guess I am falsely excited because nothing ever happened to my body with Gracie. This is different! Here are my "beautiful" final weeks photo shoot pics so we can remember how big and uncomfortable I was.
(Apparently Luke says I "don't complain", I just talk alot about how "uncomfortable I am and how we've got to get this baby out soon." But it is justified and he doesn't blame me. He would do the same thing. But he wants the baby out soon so we can stop talking about it all the time. I am going to try hard this week not to complain! And I wrote it down now, so it is going to happen.)

Any words of advice to get labor started and any GIRL baby names you've liked lately? Please send 'em our way. We haven't decided yet but here are a few we are thinking about:

Sadie
Stella
Maryka
Cici

with Lenna as the middle name

I am dialated to a TWO almost a THREE!

That is what the doctor said even though my due date is still 5 weeks out. He said I would probably not be making it to my due date. Which is good with me!

I promise to take a picture of my belly soon because people asked and... I guess I should have at least one photo of me pregnant with our second little girl. I don't want her to feel left out.

He said I was pretty thinned out too. Isn't that exciting?