A Trip to the Park

On Saturday, I took the kids to Yongsan Family Park during Eric's baseball game. We actually just took the kids here a couple of weeks ago for a picnic. I had planned on this particular park because there isn't a lot of walking involved, but by the time we arrived, the parking lot was full, so we had to park down the road. We ended up with what I consider a long walk these days. I had Braxton Hicks contractions walking both directions, so I guess that's good. But, that was weeks ago, and I'm still not feeling any closer to labor.

We arrived early on Saturday, though, so there was plenty of parking. And no contractions even though by then I was 37 weeks...almost 38. Come on, baby!

I wanted to check out the light and take some pictures of the kids because on Monday morning, I was going to have my first shoot of someone else's kids. I was a little nervous!

I have a friend who is also a mom with a camera (actually her gear is a lot better than mine having benefited when our HS photography teacher made the switch from Nikon to Canon!), so we agreed to trade services this fall.

I'm hoping to have our pictures done before the end of November because soon after, all of the leaves will disappear and it will be too cold to be outside for any length of time. I'm not really sure how feasible it's going to be with everyone's schedules, though.

I didn't want her to have to wait through my postpartum recovery, so we just decided to do hers now, even without the fall colors.

She has 3 boys, ages 3 and under, so shooting my own kids isn't exactly great practice for shooting hers. Mine can do things like stand on fences and sit still and look at the camera (when bribed with lunch afterwards!).

Nonetheless, it was a good exercise for me in finding the light I wanted, and I was able to show up to the park yesterday with a pretty good idea of where I wanted to be and how I wanted to set things up, so I was happy about that.

After getting the pictures done (and then letting them play for awhile), we headed home and then walked into Itaewon for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. It was a tediously slow walk for the kids, since I'm not moving too quickly these days. I had done the same walk the night before, so I was even slower than normal. Now that it's cooled off, I'm trying to walk as much as I can, though.

We have all had colds for the past week, which is bearable, but not much fun, of course. Secretly, I'd prayed that we would all get sick now, rather than in a few weeks with a newborn around. We've never made it through a fall in Korea without at least one of us getting pretty sick, and it seemed unlikely this year. I just wanted to get it over with.

Saturday morning, I had actually woken up thinking that I couldn't believe how quickly this cold had passed for me. I'd had a stuffy nose and a slight sore throat for a few days, but I could tell I was on the upswing already. Until that evening. Suddenly, a sore throat hit hard. I was also developing a cough.

I won't provide you with all of the hairy details, but suffice it to say that a sore throat and a cough were not mixing well with my 37 week pregnant body. The heartburn that had disappeared the week before came back with a vengeance when I started coughing, bringing up acid that had no business being brought up. I spent Saturday night trying not to cough or throw up. Obviously, I didn't have a lot of control over that.

Sunday, I skipped out on church, having slept very little the night before. Cade offered to stay home and take care of me, but not surprisingly when I threw up all over the living room floor (I was determined not to throw up!), he went running into his room and closed the door. After showering, I had to figure out a way to get down there and clean it all up without throwing up again! Eesh. Thankfully, after sleeping semi-upright Sunday night, my sore throat was gone Monday morning, and I am feeling much better at the beginning of week 38!