This week the weather has been glorious!! It got up to a blistering 82 degrees yesterday and I let the boys turn on the cold, COLD sprinkler and have a fun afternoon getting some sun and splashing around. There is nothing more magical than watching two young boys play in the water, mud, and rocks. I watch and am in awe at how they just naturally love exploring nature and getting so dirty, I think Silas even had mud on him when he went to bed last night. I am 41 weeks and 1 day pregnant today and STILL waiting around (increasingly impatient!) to have the home birth of our third son, Samuel. Surely one of these days I will go into labor… hopefully.

I have been looking forward to this day for about 4 months now… when the warm weather would return and my winter depression would vanish… and it did! I felt like happiness just came over me this morning when I saw how warm it would be and that we could be out in the sun and in nature! We packed up and went on a hike to Parkville Nature Sanctuary, a 1 mile loop with a waterfall that is only 5 minutes from our house. The boys ran around and I focused on walking with good posture to get baby Sam to move into the right position after my midwife came last night and told me that he was in the wrong position for an easy home birth. Well it worked, because I feel his back and butt against my abs now instead of his feet and hands! I also decided to ask Josh to take my photo so that I could remember the last few weeks of pregnancy since it may very well be my last baby. I’ve gained my normal 50 pounds and only have a few mismatched pregnancy outfits that still fit, so I’m hoping that I can have him in a week and be done!!!! I hopefully will have a birth photographer at the home birth, so of course you all will get to see and hear all about that experience again. It’s funny how “hippie” I’m seeming, although I really don’t think I’m the typical all natural girl and to even see that I’m about to have my second birth at home… in a birthing pool makes me laugh. Stay tuned for more outdoor adventures and hopefully some green will start popping up in the background soon!

We received a special shipment of diapers at lunch and the boys couldn’t wait to get into the box and play… and pick boogers… and ask me to take a million photos of different things. We are now in the home stretch of my pregnancy and for sure will have this baby within the next 5 weeks. I’m 37+1 today and our midwife is coming tomorrow for the home visit to get ready for the big day! On other amazing news, tomorrow marks the first day of highs in the 50’s in about a month! I’ve made it through another depressing winter in the Midwest where snow comes in waves and the temps are averaging in the teens and twenties most days. The kids have had lots of sickness and we have just been stuck in the house waiting around for Spring! I can’t wait to get out shooting again and to see some green grass and leaves on the trees!