We have walls and a door! I can't believe it's starting to look like a house and garage. Next Curtis will be starting on putting up the posts that will hold up beams for the 2nd floor. We'll also be getting the last wall ready - I think we even finally have garage doors decided on - not ordered yet, but at least we finally agreed on what to get.

We also have a date for Max's arrival - July 9. Since he was still laying breech at Friday's doc appointment, we decided to go ahead and set the date. So he will be joining the "family birthday" as the date is shared by Grandma Elaine, cousin Trevor, and Aunt Jane already.

Jack had a new phrase today - "I work." And boy, did he work. We had water leak into our bedroom through the hole knocked out for the addition. Jack decided he had to help Grandma Elaine vacuum up. At first he was satisfied just holding the cord for her, but then he had to actually push the vacuum itself back and forth. He also insisted on carrying the bucket to the bathroom to be emptied and carried the bucket back for more vacuuming.

The creek was also out of its banks and well into our yard today. It was pretty close to the level of a couple weeks ago. We estimated we had about 4 inches of rain so far. More rain is predicted for tonight into tomorrow.

Jack also got his 2nd hair cut today. Yes, we kept the curls, but at least he doesn't look like a girl anymore! He sat much more nicely than last time (thanks to a bribe of Reece's Pieces from Grandma Elaine). And thanks Jenn - my hair is so much better now that you're back!!

Well, we’re back home now from trying the external version (for those who don’t know yet, we found out at the end of last week that Max is breech). To sum up the experience - it sucked. First they gave me medication to relax the uterus. Unfortunately it has a strange side effect – racing heart and jitters that make it difficult to really relax. But I did my best as the doc started pushing on my belly. Max started to rotate and felt like he just might make it all around, but then Max grabbed hold of my spine and ripped it out – or so it seemed. So doc stopped to let me settle down before trying again. Every attempt though Max would get almost there, hit that spot on my spine, and just couldn’t get any further without excruciating pain for me. I was shaking so badly that we all agreed it just wasn’t going to happen today.

What next? I have an appointment Friday afternoon. If he hasn’t flipped on his own by then, we will be picking a date for a c-section.

Where to begin?? It has been quite the week. Well, I guess we start with the good news. We have cement!! The ground was finally dry enough for the trucks to get in without sinking, so the workers arrived Wednesday. We now have a beautiful, smooth garage floor. They also finished the cement pad in front of the double doors so we don't have to walk on sheets of plywood anymore. At last our house isn't looking so trashy! This weekend Curtis plans to finish the new section of roof over the existing house. Trystin has been an excellent helper up there - he has been earning money by removing shingles, pulling out nails, and sweeping. Now if we can just get him to listen that well and help out more inside the house....

And now for the not so good news. The crazy lady's prediction for Max did not come true. What crazy lady? About a month ago, I ran into a lady before my doctor's appointment who told me not to leave town on the Wednesday the 3rd week of June because that would be the day. While I had plenty of Braxton Hicks that day, he's obviously still not here.

And finally the really not so good news (yep, I buried this last cuz I still can't quite believe it). Yesterday we found out Max is in the breech position. So later today I have to call my doctor's office back to schedule a version - a procedure to try to turn him - in hopes of avoiding a c-section. It is an extremely uncomfortable procedure with risks. The version has only a 50/50 chance of working. If it does work, he may flip back on his own and end up with a c-section anyway. The procedure could also put me into labor or cause fetal distress, likely meaning an emergency c-section. But the procedure does give us a chance at natural birth. Considering Jack was born 100% natural (completely drug free), I think I can handle this. I'll be calling the doc this morning, so we'll know later today what the schedule will be for next week. In the meantime , please start praying that Max flips head down safely!

Update: The version is scheduled for 8am Tuesday at Methodist.

What a weekend! Friday started us off great. Alex from TKD came to spend a few hours with Jack. Oh did he have fun! Those two just ran and ran and ran until they couldn't run anymore. They blew bubbles, colored, and finally ran some more. Jack was so exhausted that when I sat him down with his new favorite snack (oreos), he could barely lift the cookie from the bowl to his mouth. Then Grandpa Den and Grandma Elaine arrived to help with mowing and spend the evening. Between grandparents and Alex, Jack was pooped. But I managed to get quite a bit of housework done without feeling like I was in labor! That night Curtis took dad up in the airplane so they could check out the status of the flooding. The picture shows the Saylorville emergency spillway and the road down to the regular spillway completely taken out. For more of Curtis flood pics, check out the KCCI.com slideshows which posted quite a few of his from downtown.

Saturday Curtis decided to start working on the roof. So after runs to Menards and Lowes, he was gung ho. By Sunday afternoon, he was pretty much finished (with help from his dad). Unfortunately in the meantime, Jack came down with a nasty bug. His poor bum is still recovering.

Max count down is just under a month now!

Here's a fun little video from yesterday....




Tim starts over in his yard and then crosses the creek at the 20 second mark into our yard.

We finally have our moat! The garden is completely washed away. And now we're starting to wonder if our bridge will get washed away too. Plus it is STILL raining....

During a pause in the rain, Tim brought over the airboat for a little fun. At least we're making the most of this mess!

But with the looming threat of Saylorville going over its dam within the next few days (if not later today), Curtis made the executive decision to head over to Morningstar and fly the plane over to Ankeny. The next pic shows how close Morningstar's grassy runway is to being under water already.

While headed over to Ankeny airport, Curtis cruised by the Saylorville spillway and got another perspective on the flooding. They haven't raised the emergency gates yet, but the water is getting close to Flood of 93 levels.

The plane is now safely tied down at the Ankeny airfield. And our creek has started to recede so the yard is no longer underwater at the moment. But yep, it's raining again....

Happy Birthday to me! And what a great day I had with my family. After a slow (yet nice) start to the morning, we headed downtown for the farmer's market. Of course, several of the booths were starting to close by the time we got there, but we still enjoyed strawberry smoothies, kettle korn, and dutch letters. With the boys getting hungry for more than snack food, they took me to one of my favorite restaurants - Carlos O'Kelley's. If our waiter happens to come across this site - thank you for the great service.

Next was the home show in Ankeny. We checked out the pricey homes for ideas for our addition. Unfortunately, we stayed past both boys' tired limits. Trystin stopped listening, and Jack got clutsy and took a couple tumbles. Jack fell asleep before we left the parking lot. So when Curtis needed to run into Home Depot, I stayed with Jack in the car so he could get his rest in before our next stop.

And what was our next stop? Saylorville Dam

to check out the spillway. As you can see from the pics, Trystin got a cold blast!

On the way home, we passed by Camp Dodge and couldn't resist one more photo opportunity with the boys. Trystin loved pretending to fire the tank cannons. And Jack loved checking out the tracks.

Well, Max is going to be a fiesty guy. He was moving around so much (and visibly so) that doc had a horrible time getting his heartbeats counted at today's appointment. My belly is measuring a tad small (32cm instead of the expected 34 cm), but doc thought it was probably because Max has dropped. Hemoglobin was perfect. So, 5 1/2 weeks till due date. And 2 weeks until next appointment. However Curtis is convinced Max will come Saturday (my birthday). I told him we'll have to walk around Lowes and Menards all day if he wants that to happen (which is how I went into labor with Jack).

Trystin has turned into a mud puppy! Overall he had quite a good day. Although he got out of school last week, today was our first day of "summer routine" where I made him do a little school work before he got other privileges. Boy am I glad I found the book "The Explosive Child" when I did. The information in that book has been really helpful in managing Trystin's daily frustrations. For instance today, he got really upset because the math problems in his work book were written horizontally. I rewrote the first few vertically, and then I told him I would show him how the problems were the same so he didn't have to do the extra step of rewriting the problem. But he absolutely refused to try any horizontal problem. So with Plan B in mind (Basket B for those reading the 1st addition of the book), I got him back on track doing his school work but gave up on trying to show him how to do the problem horizontally - he did fabulous vertically.

We met my friend Jenn and her 2 little boys (Grant - almost 3 - and Landon - 2 months) for lunch. Trystin was very good at keeping Grant entertained without going overboard like he sometimes does. And Jack thought those 2 were just hilarious. When Trystin and Grant took off for the play area, Jack did his best to keep up and laughed the whole way through the mall.

And still no more work done on the house - at least on the foundation. Darn rain! And darn contractors for not getting this finished during the weeks of nice weather before all the rain started! This weekend we plan on doing a little work on the roof to prepare for the next step. So, anyone in the area willing to help, we could use you!

....6 weeks or less (we're betting on less) until Max arrives.