Random Happenings

Things have been busy but pretty much the norm so nothing too exciting to write about. L was giving us a really hard time with peeing daily at DC, soaking herself at night, and generally not caring. She?s so stubborn and the ladies at DC were at a loss. We finally pulled out the chore charts, reward her again in the morning when she?s dry, and bought her a potty watch. Or course as soon as we got the watch she had diarrhea last week that caused different issues but now we seem to be back on track. She had a dry day at DC yesterday, has been dry 3 nights in a row, and seems to be back in the correct mindset. I give her a lot of choices so she can feel like she?s in control and she helps me with dinner a lot of the time. When I was home with her the past week she wanted to bake cookies, good thing I don?t stay home with her or I?d be huge.

B is doing great with school and to curb some of his not-listening/getting in trouble we added following the rules to his chore chart. He tells me a lot about his friend S that always says he?s faster/smarter/stronger/eats more/better and I?m fed up with it. I keep telling B that friends don?t put each other down and that he needs to stand up for himself and tell S that isn?t OK and if he can?t be a good friend he won?t play with him. S is also a lot more physical and B usually is and B was very proud when he did stand up for himself. I guess S came at him to tackle him and B put his arms up and showed me this grab/throw to the ground move. He didn?t get in trouble and it worked, not quite what I was aiming for. DH has taken him skiing twice and he?s done well overall, more time will help him get more confidence and not freak out when he?s going too fast. We had a t-ball meeting on Saturday and we should hear this weekend where he plays and who his coach is. It?s for 2 months Monday and Wednesday nights so the beginning of our week is going to be packed. I?m not sure I?m ready for it. We did point out to him that he was keeping up with if not beating the other kids that he was running around the gym with. I worry his self image/esteem will get hit by S always saying he?s better.

DH is planning a sibling weekend away at some point with just him and the 3 siblings. I feel a little bit shafted but whatever the kids and I will have a fun weekend no matter what we do. None of them are decisive so they can?t figure out when to do it but they have decided to go to J&D?s cabin to help J clean and cut firewood. Sounds like it?s not just siblings to me but whatever? He had a preliminary appointment this afternoon, I?m still waiting to hear how it went, to get a vasectomy so that should be happening soon. Whether this LO takes or not this is it and I?m OK with that.

Speaking of the LO, I had my first midwife appointment and we tried to hear the heartbeat but since I was only 10.5 weeks we knew it wasn?t a guarantee, so no we didn?t hear it. I told her that my temps were off the month I conceived so it could be I ovulated later than expected and that could put my dates later. She gave me the option of an ultrasound, blood tests, or come back in 10 days and I chose come back in 10 days. I?m not feeling too anxious about it all and part of me thinks if it is bad news in the long run the longer I can prolong that the better. On Sunday I noticed my exhaustion was mostly gone, I had energy and felt pretty good so now I need to get back into exercising. I?ve been too lazy for too long. We finally got our taxes back and we don?t owe! I was so happy because I was expecting to have to pay a couple thousand. We?re getting about $800 back in totally so that will be nice. I also got a 4% raise at work, my May check will be nice since they?ll back pay me from February.

FIL had a ?procedure? done yesterday where they stopped his heart then restarted it to take care of an irregular heartbeat. I didn?t even know he had an irregular heartbeat but I guess it either started or they discovered it when he had his blockage a few months ago. DH wanted to be in Blgs when it happened but MIL didn?t give the correct time and he found out they were then when he had just left Bzmn. All went well though they had to paddle him twice, I?m sure he?s sore today. MIL sent an e-mail asking if everyone would be up for Easter and when DH told her that he has to work that Saturday so we likely won?t make it to RL she gave him a guilt trip over it. WTH?!? I just don?t get it. She can?t wait 5 min for us but having jobs that pay bills is unacceptable. I told him since we didn?t get one over Christmas this past year she felt we were due. I know it?s a drain on him and it?s not fair. I did send an e-mail saying we would love to host if that would work but they don?t seem to like staying at our house, not sure why, so I doubt that will happen.

I survived a ridiculously busy weekend, it was out of control. I forced myself to get the house cleaned on Friday and then Saturday it was out the door to be at a birthday party for S at 10:00. DH came with which surprised me but the kids had a fun time and we stopped at Wendy’s for lunch on our way home. After a little bit of down time we then headed to K’s birthday party and by the time we were home we all were exhausted. DH and I watched Our Idiot Brother, really funny show, and poor L must have been over stimulated big time because she kept waking with nightmares. One was about the house flooding. Sunday we were off again to another bday party and I was on burnout at this point, 3 in one weekend is just way too much. We had a little bit of time to play and get things done around the house then my Aunt L and Uncle B showed up. The kids just stared at L because she looks so much like my mom and then said in a confused manner “Mimi?” They were all over L and we had a great chat and dinner together. I was so tired once the kids were in bed I fell asleep on the couch, not much for being productive.

On Tuesday I had my second midwife appointment and as I walked to my car the nerves set in and I realized it felt like D-day. This was it. We cut to the chase once we got there and listened for a heartbeat and there was nothing so she asked to do an internal exam and then try. I remember to inform her that my uterus is tilted and she said that could definitely keep us from hearing a heartbeat. So she pushed my uterus into a better spot and we found the heartbeat, I almost started crying I was so stunned but it was great to hear. She told me that I’m measuring at 16 weeks not 12 so I’m going in on Monday to do a dating ultrasound. It’s very possible that I conceived a month earlier because I never did get the proper temps to show I ovulated the month I thought I conceived. If it’s not that, and it’s not twins she let me know that for sure, then it could be I have fibroids in my uterus that are making it bigger than it should be. We’ll find out come Monday.

I got the call from B’s t-ball coach and she’s T’s mom so we know her from our first day care and his Kindergarten class. Such a small town!

I'm so thrilled about your LO and the HB :)

I have a few months to try to catch up on so I’ll try to hit the main things I want to remember and update on what’s going on with us. The ultrasound I had in April went well, the baby was only 1 week ahead so my new due date is October 8^th. It was a relief to see our little pumpkin growing so well. In June we had our regular ultrasound and had the kids come along. They were excited and then just wanted to look at the machine since that was more fascinating to them. All of my appointments have been great, no swelling and I feel fantastic so no complaints. The heartbeat has been in the 140’s and I’m carrying high again. Lots of kicks and punches with this one, it’s much more active than the other two were. Both kids are really excited and kiss and hug my belly regularly, I even got the comment from B as we were leaving to get fireworks “yeah the baby is coming with” when I decided to join them. Little stinker! One night he also came back to me saying “I just can’t help it. I just can’t help it.” And started hugging my belly again, he’s so darn sweet. Since I’m now in my 38^th week this is the most pregnant I have ever been and the past couple weeks I’ve started to experience muscle cramps in my legs and that’s a bit unpleasant but it will be over soon. I’m hoping L is right and the baby comes on 9/29, she said it would a couple months ago so we’ll see. At the home visit I was 1-2 cm at 36 weeks and the baby’s head was at a 0 station so she’s been waiting for me to call at anytime. We did find out at my 37 week appointment that the baby is posterior so I’ve been trying to get a better position in the hopes that it may help move things along, I know there has been some shifting but not quite to anterior.

DH went in for the big V and it would have gone well except his body reacted poorly to the stitches. He was so miserable with itches and I felt terrible for him. His doc even commented that in 20 years of doing this he’s never seen this before, not reassuring. Now that he’s all healed things are OK and I sure do appreciate him having it done. He was all sorts of looped on the drugs as we left the doctor and I told the kids he was loopy so L asked him (when she first saw him) where his loops were.

We finally had the flooring replaced from the flood damage last fall. It was so much work packing and moving everything out of the main floor plus demoing it all ourselves. We sent the kids to my parents for the week it was going on and worked hard removing subfloor and linoleum. We got a lot done and had time to get out for dinner and a movie. Our week alone was spent away from the house most of the time, it was just depressing to be in an empty house and so quiet. 3 days and the tile was done then a day and half to do the carpet and it’s beautiful. They did a great job and I couldn’t be happier. That doesn’t mean poor DH didn’t have to get on them about a couple things I wasn’t happy with but they took care of us. I have most everything back where it belongs but I still need to bring a few knick knacks up. I really enjoyed the decluttering with it and got rid of some stuff at our garage sale and took what didn’t sell to the second hand store. The only downfall from it is that our dishwasher stopped working correctly, we thought maybe it was a level issue or a hose that was kinked but nothing we tried worked so we had an appliance repair place come check it out. They said the hose was cracked and when their guy came to fix it a few problems developed. First off the new hose didn’t fix it and he said it looked like a washer also needed to be replaced, he tracked mud on the floor that he didn’t clean up, moved the dishwasher on our new tile without putting anything under the feet to protect the tile, and chipped our counter top in three places. I was livid and especially mad when DH didn’t bother to let me know about the damage to the counter top and let me find it for myself. Needless to say I rode his arse about getting compensation for the damage and they ignored us for awhile then flat out called us liars about it. That was my last straw and it was time for the b*tch to step in but they must have felt the storm coming because they replied (after DH said we would be there at a certain time) saying they will refund us. We decided to just ditch that crappy machine and finally got a new one after 3 months. At least I’m really happy with the new one.

B had t-ball in the spring and he seemed to really enjoy it. My only annoyance with it was the lack of participation from the other parents when we were required to work in the concessions stand. It wound up only being me and that really put me in a sour mood with the rest of them. The start of 1^st grade went great for B, he’s enjoying his teacher and seems to not have any big struggles. We did have one note come back about him missing recess since he didn’t get his work done but I’ve talked with him and have him taking a homeopathic “focus” pill and it seems to be helping. He’s taking swim again and is in soccer this Fall. He enjoys soccer but there are a lot of tears. He cries hysterically over every push, fall, and when he gets frustrated over the other team scoring and them not so much. The first game they were destroyed (not that scores are recorded) and most of it was from the boys being so timid and not going after the ball. They’ve really improved the past couple weeks but he still cries a lot. It’s so hard for me to watch and we’re trying to help him get over this before he hits the point of embarrassment from it. He’s growing up so much and still such a kind hearted boy. We moved him to his bedroom in the basement and did great with the transition. He loves having his own space and it’s so much better at keeping toys organized. He has asked me to carry him like a baby upstairs in the mornings when I wake him for the day, I’m such a sucker I still do it at this point in my pregnancy.

L has really blossomed into such a sweet little girl, she’s full of singing, kisses, loves, and attitude. When we took her to Brave for her birthday she was up dancing when the Katy Perry trailer was on and seemed to put off when it was over. We girled up B’s bike for her birthday and she is so proud of it, she just struts around the street feeling cool as can be. One morning DH told L she has cute cheeks like her mom and she responded with “I have a round face like mommy, you have a hot dog face”. I about died when I heard that. A few weeks ago she was sitting next to me and tooted, when I asked her if it was her she said “it was the baby”. We had to help her deal with some issues she had over a boy at DC telling her she has chubby cheeks, she was so upset and I told her it’s a compliment and that she got them from me and I got mine from Mimi. A week later she was in the bath playing with her Barbie and Tinkerbell and Barbie (the big sister) told Tink that her chubby cheeks are beautiful just like hers. Barbie also told Tink that no one has a bigger head than her because she has a lot of brains (another image issue she was upset about when her shirt neck was too tight to go around her head) and that she shouldn’t be jealous of the baby because everything will be fine. I was honored I got to hear her therapy session.

For the kids’ birthday parties we did a join party and had 18 kids in our back yard. I had to split them up by age and it worked out great. We had a huge bounce house/slide, two pi?atas, and tiaras for the girls to decorate. L had a princess theme and B had a dinosaur theme, it was really fun and made things easy on me with planning it all for one day rather than two separate days. We got out camping a couple times this summer - to our favorite spot in the Paradise Valley and then to Crystal Park. We wanted to do more but it’s been such a dry summer the forests have been burning everywhere. We did our yearly trip to Fsyth for the fair, initially I wasn’t going to but the kids brought up they wanted to go so we did. We were then back two weeks later for my grandma’s 90^th birthday party and we had a great time catching up with family I haven’t seen in 15-20 years and B couldn’t believe he had so many new friends that were his relatives. We made it a long weekend and drove to Devil’s Tower with my mom, thank God she came along because it’s a LONG drive and she read a lot of stories to the kids. We got a little delirious and silly after awhile but it was worth it, B loved seeing it. I also got spoiled for my birthday, DH took me to a Wilco concert in Msla and it was so much fun having a night away with him and enjoying a great concert.

We utilized this past weekend to take the kids to the pumpkin patch and corn maze and had a great time. I figured it would be easier to do them while I don’t have an infant but we may go back later on if we’re up to it. I quite running the play group I started 5 years ago, it had been months since I had had time to plan something and I figured it wasn’t worth paying for if I wasn’t going to use it. We are so busy with family stuff, friend stuff, and sports that I just don’t have the time anymore. Of course no one else stepped up to the plate to take over so it went away, a little sad to see but I’m OK with my decision. I have a prenatal massage scheduled for Friday so I hope to keep this baby in for that then Friday night I will be working on jump starting labor. DH is going to a Pearl Jam concert, I told him to do it months ago, and I don’t want to have the baby while he’s gone.