My poor neighbor!

So, my neighbor had quite a weekend! She watches my kiddos one weekend a month for me while Scott is out of town so I can keep working my job at St. Elizabeth's in Belleville, where this little guy will be born. After we scheduled this weekend, her husband found out he had to go out of town on a work trip, so she'd have all four kids (her 2 and my 2) by herself. Now, she's got two girls, Allie (almost 7) and Madison (4 1/2), and they're very well-behaved. But, combine them with the Palen boys & there is no telling what might happen! Mikki went upstairs yesterday & when she came back down, this is what she found:

From doggie bed

Of course, her girls had to jump right in for a photo-op, too, so here is Allie:

From doggie bed

And, Madison:

From doggie bed

And, just for good measure, one of all four kiddos watching some TV:

From doggie bed

And then to top it off, after she had them all day yesterday, she had them again today, but Sundays are usually very light, so I'm back at her house by noon. Today, we finished up right on schedule, but I was having a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions & thought I might have been leaking a little amniotic fluid, so I went up to Labor & Delivery to have it checked out. SIX HOURS, 2 IV bags of saline, and one shot of a contraction-stopping drug later, I finally got sent home. Nothing to worry about & I kept trying to tell the doctor that I've had contractions throughout my two prior pregnancies, but he took the cautious route (which I guess I should be grateful for!) & kept me there all afternoon. My neighbor was a saint & even managed to get my two kids fed dinner, so all I had to do was put them to bed when I got home. Thank God for great neighbors!!!!