Lazy last week

It's been a pretty lazy last week for me. It became apparent to me on Monday that my back pain was severe enough that I was going to need some help with the kids. Luckily, my Mom had offered to come help and although it is SO HARD for me to accept help - I took  her up on it. Steve was out of town this week and my sister was single parenting so it was especially nice to have her here so she could help us both  (thanks Mom!) Thank heavens she came because I have been kind of immobilized for the most part. Unless I'm sitting - I'm hurting. I've now seen both my midwife, a chiropractor and a physical therapist and they are all saying the same thing: "once you have the baby this is going to go away". Truthfully, although they are experts - I'm really questioning that because it seems sooo very muscular and it is SO VERY painful! I hope they are right because I can imagine nothing worse than bringing home a newborn in this condition. The way I understand it, the pregnancy has caused an increase in the release of a hormone called relaxin and that increase has caused shifting of things that shouldn't be shifting yet..said shifting is causing pain in areas which is then leading to muscle guarding which is creating tightness and soreness in places that there shouldn't be. So...basically all I can do is rest and see PT for massage therapy and stretching to relieve some pain but up to this point NOTHING has taken it away so it's the understatement of the century when I say I'm ready to meet my son soon! Thankfully, having my Mom here enabled me to start the baby preparation process. I'm happy to report my bag is mostly packed and the clothes, blankets, burp rags are all washed and the moses basket is ready and the car seat is ready to be installed so we would survive if he came sooner rather than later and that's allowed me to feel much less stressed. Mom took Kennedy to her swim lessons this week and took them to the library for story time one day and I basically rested as best I could. I am really hoping that all the rest from this past week and this weekend will set me up for success this week but we'll see.

Each night Melissa skyped with Steve and the kids were really into it..here are some cute pictures:

I kept trying to tell my girls to give Declan space so he and Melissa could spend that time with him, but my girls LOVE their Uncle Steve and Melissa didn't seem to mind so it was the scene from above repeated during most Skype chats.

Chelsea came through on Thursday and it was so nice to get some time with her on her birthday! My Mom made her a cake and some yummy sub sandwiches and she and her sister and cousin had supper with us before they got back on the road to complete their journey back to PA from a fun summer trip to FL. She brought the kiddos a sweet surprise:

I can't wait to take this picture again once Greyson has arrived - it will be SO very cute. Thanks for the sweet T's Chelsea!

Yesterday we spent our morning at the pool (one of Melissa's co-workers graciously invited us to join them). Tim kept Avery because I knew it would be too much for me with my back to take them both and since Kennedy's a big swimmer now I figured it would be pretty relaxing. It was really nice to get out and enjoy the outdoors but the pool had a diving board and my big girl was ALL OVER the place. At first she was afraid to try the diving board but once convinced she tried it and as soon as her head bobbed back above the water she said "Now that I've done it once, I feel comfortable". Ha!

When I called Tim from the pool to tell him she was jumping off the diving board he was all nuh-uh!?!?!? He told me to shoot some video, so for your viewing pleasure:

It's hard for me to believe she's big enough for all this, but clearly she is!

She finishes up her second week of swim classes this week and then we'll be done with class for the summer. I'd say those Y classes paid off big time!