Red Screen Door: The Pumpkin Patch

Diapers are washed and folded. Little pink onesies have a home. I have 12 receiving blankets at the ready. But no baby...

I thought it would be fun and relaxing and novel to have a few days (or even a week!) off before this baby came. But no. I'm ready. Let's get this party started.

I sat around all day yesterday while the kids were at school and tried to relax. When you are used to living your life at full speed, it's kind of hard to just chill out. So today I gave up on that and decided we would have some sort of family adventure that just might bring on this baby.

I am often the cheerleader for these kinds of family excursions and it took some tears and a time out to get us out the door. By the time everyone piled into the car, I was the only one still excited about going to the pumpkin patch.

But once we got there and the boys were able to feed the goats, it suddenly seemed like everything would be just fine.

And I am now convinced that Wednesday mornings are the only time to go to the pumpkin patch. No lines! No hoards of kids! No swarms of paparazzi parents to compete with for the perfect shot!

Jack declined our offer to go on the hayride, but Sawyer was all about it. He was especially excited about holding the tickets. Ah, to be three!

And so off we went! I was secretly hoping the bumpy ride would send the baby her eviction notice, and I could see from faces of my fellow passengers that I was not the only one thinking about my impending labor.

Sawyer kept me company with his running commentary of preschool chatter and we walked hand in hand through the muddy patch to find his perfect pumpkin. I squeezed his little hand in mind and reminded myself that this will be one of the last times that he is still my baby.

At last my little goofball found his perfect pumpkin and we lugged it over toward the wagon until a dad came running over and insisted on carrying it for us. You get special treatment when you are nine months pregnant and carrying a giant pumpkin.