Borderline Nuts

So what do you do when you're 8-1/2 months pregnant, work full time, busy with other stuff evenings and weekends and completely exhausted?

Evidently, the logical answer is to start going back to Story Time on Wednesday nights AND sign your 4 year old (in 11 days) up for Swimming Lessons on Saturday mornings!

Thank goodness I have a very helpful husband/daddy to assist me with this mad schedule or I'd be certified nuts for sure! Right now, it's only borderline. So our weekly schedule now is as follows:

Monday's are generally free in evenings (wonder what I can fill them up with???)

Tuesday's Tony works late, so I'm on my own with Hannah to get dinner ready, clean up and do bath time. Oh, and once a month is Bible Study.

Wednesday nights are now story time at 7:00, so we rush home for a quick dinner and off to the library.

Thursday nights are now gymnastics nights (more on that below). I've also got book club one Thursday a month as well as my monthly NAWIC meetings one other Thursday a month.

Friday's are generally free although this week, we're going on our last "only one child" date. Typically, we either run to the mall or just come home and then I crash on the couch by like 8:00.

Saturday's are my house cleaning and laundry days. Now we have swim lessons at 10 (Tony will be taking her since there will be NO bathing suit wearing for me!) We also usually go out Saturday night for dinner or something.

Sunday's I'm trying to do better about getting to church - still working on that, but I also do my weekly meal planning, grocery list and shopping and try to make a decent dinner for us.

So yeah, with a schedule like this I'm certain that it was wise to add two more things. Wonder where this baby is going to fit in????? One thing for sure is that looking at my planner, this baby needs to just come when it's due. My schedule is pretty full and I just don't have much time to have this baby before I'm expecting it - which is on or around the 19th. I guess this little person better learn now that I like to stick to what's in my planner - disrupting it too much is not a good thing - makes me a little crazy and we can't have any more crazy added to my life - they'll commit me! The good news is that my visit to the doctor today indicates there is no sign that I'll go early. No cervix dialation yet, but baby is still growing and moving ALL THE TIME! The bad news about that is I'm starting to get pretty uncomfortable. Moving around is a real chore, sleeping is tough and I really get annoyed when I drop something because bending over with a basketball in your middle is not so easy. The good news is I haven't been gaining any more weight. I'm definitely doing much better with that this pregnancy. I had lost a pound on my last visit from where I was 2 weeks prior and today I was the same as I was last week. Baby has grown another inch. My midwife ordered an ultrasound in two weeks. I'm not exactly sure why she's doing it. Seems like it's more for fun than really necessary. She mentioned it when I asked if she had any idea about what size I should expect the baby to be. She said I'm measuring normally and right where I should but we'd know better by ultrasound so she wrote me an order. I guess it'll be good to find that out, but we'd better get no indication on the gender of this baby on that visit! I'll be pretty upset if we make it all the way to 37-1/2 weeks not knowing and then have the surprise ruined at an ultrasound!! Even though I'm dying to know, I really want to find out when the baby comes! My latest feelings on the issue is boy, but there isn't a good reason why I say that other than that's what everyone keeps telling me from how I'm carrying this one. We'll see......

So about gymnastics. Hannah was promoted up a level from her mid-year performance evaluations. I was happy to get her out of her old class because of the crazy kids and because I think she was getting a little bored. However, I'm not so sure she was really ready for this level either - it's like real, learning serious skills level gymnastics, not for play so much anymore! She warms up with all the big kids and it was funny watching her last week do things she'd never done before. Like stretching her arms where you grab your elbow from behind your head - she had a tough time figuring that one out or getting into a split. She'd never even seen a split before, but tried to get into all three. The coach had to help her get into these postions, but once she did it, she sort of got the hang of it. Then they went to the high beam and she was all alone on it - no one to hang on to. She quickly figured out she had to pay very careful attention and have full concentration or she'd fall off. I was so proud of her for the effort she put into it. She did really good for her first night. I asked the coach after if she thought she'd be OK and she agreed that she was a bit young yet and that the other girls had the advantage of being in this class all year so far and Hannah was just coming into it, but she thought she'd be fine in a few weeks. She definitely gave a great effort and had fun too! I'll try to remember to take my camera this week.

Sunday was our annual "January Family Birthday Party". We celebrate my grandma's birthday, Hannah's birthday and my mom's cousin Jen's birthday which are all in January as well as my cousin's daughter Carley (Dec. B-day) and my Great Aunt Norma (Feb B-day). It was at my Grandma's retirement center again this year. We had lunch and then cake & ice cream and opened gifts. Hannah had a good time and loved starting her birthday celebrations! I still can't believe she's going to be 4 years old!!! She's such a little girl now and so good! She got some good games and books.

I had the day off for MLK Jr. day yesterday. It's the last holiday unitl Memorial Day for us, but luckily, I'll get my leave in February and March and into April (that's what the planner says anyway), so I'll get a nice break. I'm keeping up with the 4-day weeks probably until I have the baby so it's making work really easy and weeks go fast.

I've got stuff for Hannah's birthday party just about all set. I just have to clean the day before, take the cake topper to Giant Eagle and get last minute stuff. I hope she and the girls have a good time and like her Cinderella party! I think it'll be fun!

Perfect 4-day weekend

As I mentioned in my last post, I had taken a vacation day last Friday and also today. It made a nice long, 4-day weekend that was much needed! And the best part, I didn't do (much) work-work. I never checked work email both Friday or today. I did sign on last night for a little bit to clear out my inbox to avoid it from getting closed, but I only did a few things and then shut it down. I was very proud of myself for actually tuning out of work for 2 days!

I did my shopping around for insurance last Friday. I think I've managed to save ourselves just under $500/year by switching. Definitely well worth the effort. I've still got to finalize everything, but I think I've made my mind up on what to do.

Then we took Hannah to Disney on Ice last Friday night. She has never been to a show like that before and we kept it a surprise until we got there. She was thrilled to pieces when she walked in and saw the ice and the Disney stuff....she knew exactly what we were there for!!! Here's her ear to ear grin when we first walked in.

Then she was in complete awe during the show. It was priceless to see her joy....it even made the $22 spinny light thing well worth the money!!! The show was pretty good too....lots of princesses and lots of Mickey & Minnie. We had a great time!

Saturday, Tony went into work for the morning and Hannah and I snuggled on the couch after making bananna pancakes for breakfast. She was so lovable and cuddly! Then we went out to my mom's for her to spend the night. I did some running around and then we left to play poker. I finally had a better night. No money, but I finally placed in our tournament, which was good for my "poker self-confidence". I had been wondering what I was doing so wrong so it was nice to have a better night.

Sunday was a great "me day". I never got out of my jammies and sewed all day long! I fixed one of our throw pillows, finally made Hannah's bedroom curtain, and then made 7 tote bags for the girls for Hannah's birthday party. Tony went to get Hannah from my moms and made dinner, cleaned up and gave Hannah a bath, so I relaxed all day! It was terrific! We got the last of the baby stuff down from the attic and put all the Christmas stuff back up.

Here's Hannah's curtain. It goes great in her room. I've still got to make a seat cushion for her desk chair out of the same fabric.

Then today, I got up early and started cleaning the house. I got that all done, showered and left to run a bunch of errands. I got a lot done and realized I'm VERY pregnant now!!!! My legs were killing me from shopping for 3 hours and I become out of breath fairly easily. I wonder if I'll make it another 5 weeks? I'm contracting at least once or twice an hour most hours. Nothing hard, just what I think is normal. I have an appt with my midwife tomorrow, so I'll double check that all is normal for now. I feel pretty huge.....here's my big ol' belly at 34-1/2 weeks.

I picked Hannah up from daycare and came home, made dinner and ate. Tony cleaned up and I'm on the computer doing a few more things (duh) and Tony and Hannah are playing upstairs very loudly!! They sound like they're having a lot of fun....lots of laughing and screaming and they're driving the dog NUTS!!!

So I'm back to work tomorrow, but only have a 4 day week and another 3-day weekend since next Monday is a company paid holiday.

A Saturday "Sew" needed!

The New Year's weekend was much more relaxing than Christmas. It was so long overdue!

We went to Jerry & Shelly's on New Years Eve. We had a big dinner out at Bob Evans (are we getting old or is this how it gets being married with children???). Then we just hung out at their place so the girls could play and we ended up playing 90's Trivial Persuit and poker. We all actually made it to midnight, including Hannah and Maci, and we left just shortly after that.

New Year's Day was equally as simple. I got a few things from the store and we mostly hung around our house all day. Around 5, our neigbors came over to watch the Rose Bowl (YAY OSU!!!) and we made a bunch of appetizer snacks and had our last junk-food meal. They all stayed over until like 10:30 and then we watched a movie and went to bed.

Saturday was a day I've needed for a while. I got up with Hannah, got her breakfast and then headed to my craft room and sewed all day long!!! I had a few projects that I wanted to get done. My church Bible Study has decided to make bags of quiet toys/books for the kids to use during church service and I had volunteered to make the bags. Since this project was on a timeline, I did these first. I had purchased the fabric a few weeks ago and found a really easy pattern to make a tote bag online. I made 10 bags, 2 of each type of fabric I got. I love them!!! They were really pretty easy to make and they are so cute - and very practical. They will be perfect for the church bags and I like them so much, I'll be getting some more fabric to make a few for our use as well.

I don't really remember what we did Sunday, but I don't think it was very eventful. I remember going grocery shopping and making dinner, but that's about it.

It was back to work Monday. I had to go to Columbus Tuesday for work. Thank goodness the weather wasn't that bad on Tuesday. My drive down and back was pretty much fine except for my windshield kept freezing up. I had to drive with my defrost on high heat, high fan and my window cracked the whole time! It was fine - a little noisy, but it worked. Bible study was cancelled on Tuesday night, buy Hannah and I went over to Laura's anyway so the girls could play. Wednesday and Thursday were normal work days and I took a vacation day today!

Tony started his diet this week and I'm not eating everything in sight either. I figure the baby is gaining enough weight for the two of us for the next 6 weeks, so my goal is to only gain a few more pounds before I deliver. Today marks my 34 week point, so 6 more weeks to go! The baby is getting so much bigger and I get kneed (or a foot) jabbed into my side quite often.....it doesn't feel good!!! I have to push back on it and it goes back inside easily, but boy, it's not fun! Sleeping is getting difficult and we laugh at the way I stand at the kitchen sink (like 2 feet away because I can't reach it with my belly in the way)!! I think most of my pregnancy weight has been belly, (and my legs). I definitely haven't gained as big of a butt or hips and sides as I did with Hannah. So far, I've avoided the "kankles" - all the swelling like I had with Hannah. I'm getting really anxious to be done being pregnant and have this baby - and find out who this person is! Although, I've decided, I don't want it to come early at all....I'm too busy in January!!!!

I've finally got Hannah's birthday party partially planned. We're having an all things Cinderella party for her. I'm only having 5 of her friends over and we'll have them dress up in Cinderella dresses, do a few activities - make crowns, Cinderella Bingo, Pin the slipper on Cinderella and then watch the movie. I've got all Cinderella party supplies (got really cheap online!) and make rigatoni & salad and order a pizza and have a Cinderella cake and open presents. I'm thinking I'll make the tote bags for the girls for their party favors to take home and then they can reuse their bags. I'm hoping to find Cinderella fabric, or just girly fabric at least. I sort of can't beleive I'm doing a party at our house since I'll be 9 months pregnant, but it should be fairly easy and low key so I should be able to handle it.

As I mentioned before, I'm off today. I'm shopping for new insurance - what fun! I want to try to go out later to Joann's and the party store. We'll see if the weather and my ambition allows for that or not!!! I also took Monday off, so I can do it later this weekend or Monday too. I still want to make Hannah's curtain for her room (that fabric has been sitting in my room for several months now!) Tonight, I'm so excited to take Hannah to see Disney on Ice! She doesn't know where we're going yet, but she knows she has a surprise tonight. I can't wait to see her face seeing the princesses out there on the ice! I think she'll have a blast. This is her first show like this to go to, so I'm really excited for her!

Here's a picture of her from this morning. I can't believe how big she is now! I can't believe she's going to be 4 in a couple more weeks. She's such a good kid and I just think we're the luckiest parents in the whole world to have her as a daughter!

It came....and it went

The month of December that is!

While we had a really nice Christmas this year, I'm pretty much glad it's over. I'm so exhausted and it's been such a busy month, it's sort of nice that the holidays are just about finished so we can get back to normal (whatever that may be!)

So I just realized how lacking the blog has been - yikes it's been 20 days since the last post. I seriously had something going on just about every one of those days. I came down with a terrible chest cold the day after my last post. Well, it started as a really bad sore throat - like intolerable. That lasted for 3 days and then finally on the night of day 3, I started feeling the cold symptoms. Then the bug went directly to my chest - full blown coughing fits and chest congestion....not good. I had an appt with my midwife who took one look at me and perscribed me a z-pack and told me I could take sudafed & robitussin....thank goodness for the robitussin. Went through 2 bottles of it in less than a week. It was the only thing that kept me from dying of coughing fits. By the end of my z-pack, I was sort of feeling better, but then I'd have a day of regressing and then a day of feeling a little better. 2-1/2 weeks later, I've still got this annoying cough hanging on and occassional nasal congestion, but overall, finally getting better.

I took a couple of vacation days in the past few weeks, mostly to get ready for Christmas. I spent the one day baking - something I sort of swore I wasn't going to do this (pregnant) year. But I did the usual - over the top, way too many cookies deal. And from the number on the scale today at the doctor, it appears that I had just a few too many cookies!!!! Especially when 2 weeks ago, I had actually lost weight from my previous visit. Now granted, baby grew a lot these past two weeks (I measured 3 inches more this week than 2 weeks ago), but I have to say, I did overindulge over the holidays and now am paying for it! Too bad I can't diet for new years, just more work I'll have after baby comes. I'm still doing better than my first pregnancy, but I've got 7-1/2 weeks to go and with the baby growing like it is now, I'd better start watching what I put down the hatch!

Tony and I went out on a date a couple weeks ago. We went to a nice dinner to a place we hadn't been before and then to go see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. We haven't gone in the past two years, so it was nice to go again. Unfortunatly, the show wasn't as good as it has been for us in the past. We got cheap seats, which may be the reason, or it could have been the disgusting nose-ear-scalp picker/eater we sat next to (that's a long story - and gross). It was nice to go out together though.

I was off on Christmas Eve, but busy doing last minute stuff and then we went to church at 4:00. After church, we went to my sister-in-laws house. Santa (my BIL) came for Hannah, and I'd love to share the picture of her priceless face, but I managed to delete all the pictures on my memory card late Christmas Eve night - I'm a bit more than irritated about that!!!! Luckily, my SIL copied my pics before we left, so the only pictures I really am missing is Hannah writing her letter to Santa with his cookies & milk. Still, not happy about that!!!!!

Hannah slept until 8:30 Christmas moring, but was so excited to come down to see what Santa had brought. We had a great time watching her open her gifts. Her favorite things were her music box, Hungry Hungry Hippos and her nightgown. She likes sitting in her bean bag chair too.

Later that evening, we went to my mom's for dinner. We ate and open gifts there and then hung out for a while. Hannah burned her fingers on the glass of their fireplace. Good news is, we iced and iced all night so she's fine. Bad news is - it HURT!!! But I guess that's one way for her to really know and understand why she shouldn't touch something hot, espeically after we tell her not to. She had a great time over there though.

Saturday morning, we packed back up and headed to my dad's. We opened gifts there and had dinner. It was a good day, but long and after day 3 of Christmas, we were all getting pretty tired! My dad made Tony a cornhole game - KISS (of course). It's really cool and Tony loves it, although he's having a hard time digesting the fact we will actually USE it!!!! Can't wait to play this summer!

We got home around 7:30 that night and all pretty much crashed. Hannah was in bed by around 8 and slept until 9 the next morning! We all took it easy pretty much on Sunday. You know I was tired since I didn't really even clean the house this weekend. It finally was killing me by 8:00 Sunday night, so I had to run the vaccuum!!! Then it was back to work Monday. As I mentioned before, I had another prenatal checkup today - all is well, baby is growing and is back head down again (it was sideways last time).

And that's about it! We have simple plans for New Years - I plan on doing some sewing over the weekend and relaxing. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and have a safe, happy New Year!!!

Now I've got to plan Hannah's 4th birthday party and continue to anxiously await the baby's arrival!!!

Just busy again

I'm not really surprised that I haven't posted in over 2-1/2 weeks since they have been jam-packed busy!

I was supposed to have my first appt with my new midwife on 11/24, but after getting there and starting my visit, she had to leave to deliver a baby before she came in to see me. It was sort of disappointing on one hand, but reassuring to know she drops what she's doing to deliver babies. I had to get my glucose test done anyway, so it was no big deal and we rescheduled for the following week.

Then it was Thanksgiving Thursday. We went down to my Dad & Julia's for dinner. It was just us and them, so it was very low-key and simple....just right! After that, we went to Tony's sister's house for a little while.

Friday, Black Friday, we awoke to our first snowfall of the season. I wasn't too happy, but Hannah was thrilled. The good thing is that most of it was gone by mid-day.

Then I went shopping. It's sort of a tradition to meet my friend Erin and her mom & sister out, so that's what I did. I hadn't really intended on doing much shopping but after about 5 hours, I had enough! My feet hurt so bad and I swore I never wanted to walk again!!!

The next day, I cleaned the house top to bottom. We had a poker tournament at our house, so it was a long day. Tony finished 4th (I think) which was good. At least he's doing OK this season...I can't catch a break at all! I wonder what I'm doing wrong or different, but I can't seem to make the right moves to win these tournaments!

Sunday I was busy with errands and realized I had over done it a bit because I was having contractions - like a handful an hour and that went on for a couple of days. Monday night 11/30, I had a meeting after work.

Tuesday morning, we had our 1st appt with the midwife (again). It went really well. Other than we had to wait to get in for what was supposed to be her first appt of the day. But anyway, we really liked her and she even asked me how I was feeling and talked about the baby!!! What a concept! She was able to feel the baby and said it was positioned head down already and everything seems great. She's guestimating that the baby will probably be about the same size, maybe a few ounces bigger than Hannah was. Anyway I was so glad to have switched providers and am looking forward to the rest of the pregnancy with Mary Jo. I had Bible Study Tuesday night after work. It was a late night - we got home around 10 and crashed!

Wednesday last week was the only night I didnt' have anything planned and I ended up working a little bit late doing our monthly forecast and then had to get back on the computer after dinner to finish. So much for a "do nothing" night.

Thursday night was my NAWIC holiday social. I left work around 1:30 to run a few errands for the social and then went over to the hotel we had it at to set up. It was a good night. I ran the canned food drive and we collected a ton of food! It was a good dinner and a decent night out, but another late one.

Last Friday, we put up our Christmas tree after work. Hannah loved it and was so super eager to do it all this year. She enjoyed putting all the decorations on the tree. It was a bit bottom heavy, so I had to do a little adjusting of her work, but it looks nice!

Saturday morning, we all got up and dressed to go get pictures taken. I had to get Hannah's Christmas pictures taken so I also roped Tony into doing family pics again too. He just loves it!! I also combined this trip with pregnancy photos as well. They all turned out pretty good.

After pictures, Hannah had a birthday party to go to at the mall. They had lunch at the food court and then went to Build-A-Bear.

I hung out at the mall and did a little shopping, but mostly hung out with all the old men who sleep on the couches around the mall!!! It was funny, I hadn't really noticed it that much before, but every resting area I stopped at to sit had an old sleeping guy there! Too funny! Tony did his shopping and Hannah's party was done around 4:00 and then we went home to rest a while. Then we headed out to dinner and then back home.

Sunday, we got up and took Hannah to see Santa. She was excited again this year. She was a bit crabby in the morning and I told her that she'd better be good since Santa is watching. On the way there, she asked me to play "Happy Girl" in the car so she could stop being cranky. After she saw Santa, she said, "Mommy, Santa didn't know I was being cranky this morning" I told her thank goodness we listened to Happy Girl to help her be happy before we got there!!!!

This past Monday was gymnastics and then when we got home, I realized Hannah had a fever. She looked like she was really tired when I picked her up from daycare, but then I saw that it was her eyes that said she didn't feel well. She had a 101 fever so I gave her some motrin and put her to bed. I had a vacation day planned for Tuesday to try to get some things done, so I decided to keep her home with me. She woke up with a 99.5 temp and I took her out shopping with me since there was a ton of stuff I wanted to get done and she didn't seem to be really sick. I did a bunch of running around and we got back home around 12:30. Hannah took a nap and I had a conference call for work. Then I started on a project. I had decided to make "gift jars" for my administrators at work this year for Christmas gifts. I have 9 direct reports now, so Christmas gets either super generic or really expensive fast for all of them. I had to find a handmade option that didn't cost a ton of money. I decided on these jars. It was a good idea, I think. I hope they like them! They are all of the dry ingredients layered to a cookie recipie and then you add a tag with the rest of the recipie for them to make the cookies. I hung the new blind I ordered for the baby's room, but there's something wrong with it. The slats don't turn and the blind doesn't stay all the way down. It's a cordless blind so it has tension that holds it up and down and there's something wrong. I'm sort of annoyed since it's a $100 blind so I guess I'll be taking it back this weekend for them to order me a new one. I had my Christmas dinner Tuesday night for Bible Study group.

I finished these up decorating the jars last night after work. I like them and I hope the girls do too! I'll have to think of these homemade things for next year too - it's so much more affordable! I made 9 of these for probably around $35-40.

Hannah seems to just have another cold. The mornings seem to be the roughest part of the day, but other than that, it seems to be just another annoying cold.

Today was our Christmas party at work. I am so glad tomorrow is Friday! I'll be 30 weeks tomorrow so I'm down to my last 10!! I'm feeling very pregnant these days. The contractions have stopped since I have slowed things down a bit. I can definitely feel the 25 pounds I've put on. Sleeping is getting harder and I'm winded after doing pretty much anything. This baby is still pretty active and moves alot still, much stronger too lately.

So there you have it....my reason for not blogging for a while! the next couple of weeks aren't quite as busy, but still pretty full. Before I know it, Christmas will be here and then New Years and then I'll have like 6 weeks to go until the baby comes!!! We're getting anxious!