36 Weeks

I had my 36 week appointment yesterday. I'm dilated to 2 cm and 70% effaced, which is almost exactly what I was with my other two kids at this point. I'm measuring about 2 weeks ahead, but the midwife thinks it's because of extra fluid, not the size of the baby. The baby is still "floating" pretty high but at least she's head down. I was surprised to hear that she's still high up because I have to use the bathroom all the time now, so I thought for sure she had dropped. We set an induction date for the week of my due date just in case she doesn't come on her on by then. I've never had to be induced before, so we'll see if we really need to use that date or not.

I was going to write this post yesterday but was attacked by a bad mood in the evening and didn't feel like it after that. The whole post would've ended up with me whining and complaining about the pains of pregnancy, how much I have to do around the house that never gets done, and how overwhelmed I feel with other obligations and commitments. Lets just say it's been hard. When someone asks how I am these days I answer with, "I'm hanging in there." Really, what else can I do? Truthfully, I'm nervous for labor, recovery, dealing with a newborn again and the changes to our family. But I'm also feeling really frustrated with pregnancy and would love to move past this.

Rough Morning

6:20 Woken up by 2 kids who are waking up earlier and earlier every day! Send them back to bed. So much for the only benefit of Daylight Saving Time.

Lay in bed awake waiting for them to get out again.

6:55 Jossy comes in by the command of Matty and says her diaper is full and needs changed and her nose is bleeding.

Dan gets up to take care of it and let me rest after little sleep the night before (despite taking a half a sleeping pill. Apparently a whole pill is too much and makes me groggy but 1/2 isn't enough. Sleep is just an impossible dream.)

7:36 After just laying there to rest, I'm concerned Dan never came back since he's not dressed and supposed to leave to take Matty to school and go to work in 10 minutes. Go investigate.

7:37 Find Dan rinsing out kid pajamas in the sink. Learn that it was MATTY with a bloody nose only he didn't know it. He got it ALL over his comforter, bed, clothes, and Jossy (hence why he thought she had one.) Dan wanted to let me sleep (which I wasn't) so didn't ask for help cleaning, instead making everyone late.

7:42 Learn that Dan has filled the washer with water and soap ... only now it's too full to put the comforter in. Have to run a cycle to get the water out before anything can be washed.

7:44 Decide to take Matty to school myself since Dan is still not dressed and has had no breakfast.

7:45 Try to have morning prayer with the kids. They're fighting over a stool. I hold Jossy kicking and screaming while trying to pray. Give up and just pray that we survive today.

7:47 Get in car in my pajamas and braless to drive Matty to school.

7:49 Realize Matty wasn't given his antibiotics this morning. Decide we're running too far behind to turn around. He'll have to miss it this morning or take it late.

8:03 Get back home to see Dan is just sitting down to breakfast when he's supposed to be at work by now.

8:05 Shovel down some Cheerios myself

8:10 Send Dan off, trying to remember to thank him for his good intentions of letting me sleep (even though I wished he had gotten me up for help.)

8:11 Put Matty's comforter in the washer. Get Jossy to pick out a movie so I can lay down on the couch.

8:15 Lay down on couch and get comfortable.

8:16 Jossy demands help finding her binky to watch the movie with. I decide if I just get up now and find it, maybe she'll actually let me sleep.

8:17 While trying to find the binky in her room, discover Dan didn't see the blood all over Matty's railing, nightstand, monitor, and sheet. Get cleaner and scrub. Don't look to hard anywhere else for it because right now I don't want to know.

8:30 Head back downstairs to lay on couch, but first sit up to type all this on my phone.

8:46 Finish typing. Heading back upstairs to finish laundry. Then maybe lay back down before having to shower and get ready for my Dr appointment this morning.

Chore Chart 2.0

I know I promised this post like 2 weeks ago, but life got in the way. I still haven't really finished this project exactly the way I wanted to, but the kids were begging to start using it. So I just finished it to be "good enough for now," and hopefully one of these days (yeah, right) I'll get it just the way I want.

I saw the idea for this on the blog Somewhat Simple. (There are some great ideas over there!) It's basically a chore chart made with picture magnets. I wasn't able to recreate it exactly as I would've liked, but oh well. The edges of those metal shingles are pretty sharp, so I really do need to mount them on some wood at some point. Plus, it would be nice to hang this on the wall instead of having to get on the floor to use it.


I even used some of the pictures from that post that the author volunteered for free. Unfortunately, her magnets are square and mine are round, so they don't fit perfectly, but again . . . OH WELL!! The kids love using it, and it's nice that Jossy can just look at the pictures and not have to ask us what all the words say.


Our center shingle is where we keep all the "extra" jobs that no one is assigned that day. Each night I move their magnets back to the top "To Do" section and switch out whatever jobs they had for the ones I want the next day. It's working well for us as long as I remember to do that at night. Every Saturday the kids get several extra jobs and we work as a family for about 2 hours in the morning to get them done. Then as a reward for their hard work all week, we either let them go to the dollar store to buy something, pick out a movie at Redbox, or last week we went and saw a movie in the theater with some free passes Matty got at school. Any kind of family fun time together is what we're trying to reward them with.

We're pretty new to this whole chore chart thing, but I can definitely see a difference in my kids' willingness to help around the house. Matty often wants to try out new magnets we haven't done yet, but I keep telling him washing the car and pulling out weeds have to wait til it's warmer outside. :) I love that they're helping out more!! I'm thinking this will be an especially great blessing when the new baby arrives next month and I can't do everything alone.

Bubbles For a Haircut

Matty's never been crazy about getting a haircut, so since he was just tiny we've always had to find a special reward to make it worth it to him. (For the record, I'm not crazy about giving him a haircut either, but it saves us money. Wish I got a cool reward!) He obviously got a little big to be on the counter to draw on the mirror, so when we moved into this house we changed the reward to being able to take a bath right after his haircut in our jetted tub. It's the ONLY time we let the kids in there for bath, so that it stays a special treat to them.

They LOVE all those bubbles!!

Jossy's Turn

When I took that first set of maternity photos a few weeks ago, Jossy was my little helper. But she wasn't happy having the pictures all be of Mommy. So here's just a few focused on her that day.




And of course after watching me lift up my shirt to show off my baby belly, she had to show off hers as well. She tells everyone all the time that there's a baby in her tummy, too. When she asks me how her baby is going to get out I tell her the truth: I have no idea.

Stowaways

I found these 2 little guys in my dryer tonight as I was unloading. After taking the picture, I found 2 more in there. My first thought upon finding the yellow one was "Oh good! Matty's been looking for this one." Upon finding the other 3, I wasn't as happy.

I guess finding lizards in my dryer officially makes me a mom. Until now I wasn't sure, but lizards seem to be a definite confirmation. ;)

Bird Watching

Earlier this week I was trying to get Jossy out of my way for a minute, so I gave her the toy binoculars and sent her outside on the porch to look for birds. It didn't take long for Matty to decide he wanted to join in the search. That first day they saw a magpie and a seagull which Matty then decided he had to draw. They've been out every day since and haven't seen a single bird. I feel so bad for them. Really, they are out there searching every afternoon, and poor Matty is getting so sad and frustrated that there has been nothing out there for him to draw to add to his picture of the seagull. I tried telling him it's just a little too cold or windy most days, but it doesn't stop that sad look.

Just a lot of waiting . . .

. . . holding onto a drawing pad with one picture . . .

. . . and waiting around some more.

Come on, Spring!! My kids need the birds back!!!

Unloading

Just some random thoughts/complaints overloading my brain right now. Hope no one minds a little venting.


- Matty and Jossy have been sharing a room for over a week now. It's going okay, but I could do without the fights at 6:30 in the morning. Thankfully those fights got bumped to 7:30 with the time change.

- I hate changing my clocks and the kids' schedule, but at least they're sleeping in til 7:30 now.

- Today was one of those days where I found myself wondering why I was a mother. (We all have those hard days. It doesn't mean I don't love my kids.)

- Matty's been sick for a week and a half. I took him to the doctor yesterday and found out he has a bad cold and a sinus infection. I just want him to get better so we can enjoy the nice weather we've had lately . . . and so he stops whining so much.

- He's a pill when he's sick.

- I hate it when Dan and I have bad days on the same day. Totally sucks.

- After several nights of almost no sleep, I gave in a tried an over-the-counter sleeping pill. The first brand did NOTHING for me. The second worked well last night, but then today I was super groggy and couldn't get moving for the life of me! Which is worse: no sleep or being groggy all day the next day??? Either way, I'm not very patient with my kids.

- I wanted to go rent a movie at Redbox tonight, but I'm too lazy to go.

- I feel like a beached whale all the time. I thought that subsequent babies weren't supposed to "drop" until right before labor, but it totally feels like she has already. It hurts to walk from the pressure I feel down low and my back is killing me.

-5 more weeks. 5 more weeks. 5 more weeks. I can do this. Anything is better than kidney stones.

- If I choose to induce I could make that 4 more weeks. Tempting.

- I love hearing the rain outside my window right now. Best part of my day.

- My house is a wreck. It's driving me crazy, but I'm too fat and exhausted to do much about it. It's a successful day if the kids get fed right now. That makes me sad.

- I've gotten some flack from people who think I'm silly to keep the baby's name a secret. Others think that makes it so much more fun. I swear, I just can't win.

- I'm so scared to go through the newborn phase again. The sleepless nights, the toddler to care for at the same time, the slow recovery I go through. I try not to think about it too much so I can just take things one day at a time.

- Jossy makes me laugh, but she also makes me want to rip my hair out. She is so stubborn about simply saying "I'm sorry" that she ends up in timeout for up to an hour because she refuses to say those words! Drives me crazy!

- We're not really trying to potty train her, but she's gone twice in the potty this week. Of course, that's twice out of 20 times she's sat there and tried . . . but I'll take any success.

- I have too much on my to-do list but nothing I want to do.

- These sweet baby kicks are not so "sweet" anymore. OUCH!!

- I love tax returns. I hate doing taxes.

- I've had 3 car seats in my living room for over a week now. 2 are new ones for Jossy that I need to decide between but I just can't make up my mind about, and the other is the infant seat because we keep putting it in and out of the car to test out space for Jossy's new seat. Having 3 car seats in that room to trip over every day is driving me a little crazy, but I'm no closer to making a decision.

- I wish we could just buy a minivan and not worry about fitting 3 car seats in our sedan, but I really don't want a car payment right now. Nor do I feel the LEAST bit up to going out and buying a car. Next year maybe.

- We took down our Christmas lights last week. I guess March is better than April, right?

- My tulips are starting to come up. Around here that means it's time to lay down something to keep the deer from eating them. So far, just one little nibble.

- I think I could go on and on with this random list, but this hard dining chair isn't exactly the most comfortable thing to sit on while typing. An office chair has been on my "to buy" list for years, but it's never happened. That's how we roll around here.

The Singing Missionary

Jossy lately has taken to randomly singing whenever she and I are out shopping, and her two favorite songs to sing over and over and over in the stores are "I Am a Child of God" and "I Love to See the Temple." I love that kids don't care who hears them, and she definitely gets heard. :)

Maternity Portraits

Dan and I FINALLY got around to taking the rest of my maternity pictures last night. I thought to myself, "This won't take long, there's not much more I want." Turns out we had too much fun and spent 2 hours taking them! I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Once again it was hard not being able to be behind the camera, but Dan was so sweet and patient listening to all my directions (read as "ordering him around.")

So here are the pics from a couple weeks ago that Jossy and I took together (minus the 2 I already showed) as well as more from last night. I have never had maternity pictures taken before, but I think it will be really fun to have these to show this little girl someday!













As always there are so many more fun ones I could share but I'm sure this is enough!

Car Seat Canopy

Last week when I was working on the baby's quilt, I decided to make a car seat canopy (also known as a car seat tent or car seat cover) at the same time since I already had the sewing machine out. I've seen them around the last year or so and have been so impressed. I just threw a blanket over my other 2 kids' infant seat, but I was always chasing it down in parking lots when they'd pull it off or a strong wind would catch it. With these car seat covers, the material is fastened to the handle so Baby can't pull it off. Love it.

Lucky me there was some cute flannel fabrics on sale at a great price, so I picked some up and put this together following a couple different free tutorials online and adjusting them for my car seat. It was sooooo much cheaper than buying one!

The polka-dot handles match the inside fabric

Then I decided to make one for a friend of mine having a baby shower for her first little girl. I got a more fancy this time and made it reversible and added a stripe. I also made it a bit bigger than my first one because I didn't know the size of her car seat and wanted to make sure it would be large enough.

For those 3 people who will be impressed,
let me show you how simple they really are all laid out.

Now on to the next baby prep project!

The Big Move

With just a few weeks til Baby Sister joins our family, we've been working on preparing the best we can. One of those preparations involved moving Jossy out of her crib and into a twin bed in Matty's room. Even though the baby will be in our room for a while at night, I still need the dresser and closet in Jossy's room for all the baby stuff so we might as well move Jossy into Matty's room now. We've had the bed set up for months but couldn't find a railing that worked with it since it's an unusual bed apparently. So she was stuck in her crib for longer. This weekend I finally found a railing that works good enough (though I'm furious it's 3 times the price of anything else out there!!) So last night we let her sleep in her new bed for the first time.

Matty was asleep around 7:30, but Jossy didn't fall asleep until 10:30! The good news is she never got out of bed, just whispered for us a few times. She woke up super early (as is her new habit,) but Matty taught her that they needed to stay in bed til 7 AM (he's always awake early, too.) So he invited her over to his bed and read books to her until they could get out at 7. Then he took her downstairs and made them both oatmeal and yogurt for breakfast. We're used to Matty getting his own breakfast, but I was so impressed that he got her some as well. When I came down at 7:30, they were both playing quietly in the living room and watching cartoons with the volume barely on. Wow.

Nap time today was Jossy's first chance to nap in her bed. I think being so tired from little sleep last night helped because she fell right to sleep and slept for hours.


Tonight's bedtime didn't go nearly as smoothly because neither kid was tired and Matty was ON ONE! Once we finally got him to calm down, stop crying and go to sleep, things got better. She's still wide awake and I think she will be for another hour, but she's being good and staying in bed. Here's hoping that continues!! I think our key will be getting him to fall asleep before Dan or I leave the room. Otherwise the kids just talk. But if he's asleep, she seems to respect that and is at least quiet.

Small and Simple Improvements

In the past two weeks we've made 2 minor changes that have definitely made life easier for Dan and I.

1. Using the alarm on Dan's phone at bath time


It has always been a HUGE fight to get the kids out of the tub at night. Typically there are tears and tantrums involved. With a little divine inspiration, Dan decided to set the timer on his phone one night to let the kids know when their "5 more minutes" was up, and I turned it into a game by telling the kids, "Let's see who remembers what to do when the alarm goes off!" Surprise surprise, it worked!! They don't like listening to the alarm for long, so they get themselves out of the tub, grab their towels and turn it off. They love to show us that they remember what the alarm means and we make a big deal out of praising them for it. It's been 2 weeks and there are almost NO FIGHTS getting out of the tub any more!!

2. Using a chore chart


I've wanted to have some kind of chart for them for more than a year, but I never could decide how I wanted to do it exaclty. Matty had actually been asking for me to make one frequently. (What kid does that??? I think it's because he knows if he doesn't get chores done, he doesn't get computer time, and it's hard to get those jobs done when you don't have a list of them and your mom is too tired to think of anything.)

Anyway, our FHE lesson a couple weeks ago was on work. We read the Little Red Hen and talked about why working together is so important. I figured it was the perfect time to give them a chore chart. I made this one in 2 minutes because I figured anything was better than nothing at this point. There's no reward other than getting to put a sticker on the chart. Why a sticker is enough motivation for them, I have no idea. But they've been SOOO much better at helping keep the house clean and toys picked up. They're even excited for Saturdays when they get extra jobs, and I'm excited to no longer feel like I'm doing all the work alone!

I'm working on a new and improved chore chart right now involving pictures and magnets that I'll be sure to post about later this week when I'm done. I'm hoping they stay as motivated even though stickers won't be involved this time. They both seem excited for the new one, so we'll see.

A Ladder to the Stars

Yesterday Jossy and I ran a bunch of errands while Matty was in school. At the craft store the lady gave Jossy a pink balloon which she left on her wrist for the next several stores. Unfortunately, when we got outside Walmart the balloon became loose and floated away. I knew she was about to get really upset, so I told her how fun that the balloon was going to visit the clouds and the stars. She seemed okay with that for a while, but then she kept saying she needed her pink balloon back. I reminded her it was gone to see the stars and she'd have to get a new one another time. She told me when Daddy got home he could get it. I told her that no he couldn't because it was too high. She said, "But Daddy has a ladder." How could I not think of that? Of course our ladder is tall enough to get the balloon back.

Baby Quilt

This baby has so many blankets including one made by my aunt, one made by Matty (a fleece tied one,) and 3 given by my mom. That's all in ADDITION to all the blankets I already had leftover from my other kids. Still, I really wanted to make her a quilt. I have so many blankets and quilts that were made just for me as a baby, that I'd really like to have something similar for my kids to take with them as keepsakes someday. And I REALLY want them to each have one made just for them by their mother.

I decided to try making a personalized baby quilt like the ones in this tutorial. (Thanks Amber H. for posting the link on your blog!) I really thought they looked cute and easy enough for me to pull off.




You may have noticed mine doesn't have her name put on there yet. I'm doing that next (Yes, she seems to finally have a name!!!), but since we've decided to keep her name a secret until she arrives I can't very well show the finished quilt with her name on it. Once I put it on there, I just have to hope we don't change our minds because I can't undo it! I'll be sure to show a finished picture after she's born.