Survived!

Well, we all survived the weekend.
I had a good time out with my girls. My husband had a great time with babyboy - apparently babyboy is a very patient, sleepy child with his daddy. Of course! Of course he had a good night for daddy. Although my dh did say it was hard to accomplish much because babyboy does indeed need to be held often when awake.
But, back to my time away: arrived at the hotel around lunchtime. Went swimming with the kids. Then to the room around 4ish to rest - and both kids actually wanted a break. Then we went to see a movie. This was not a part of the original plan. I really didn't want to go, but there were 13 people total, so we went and saw Ice Age II. Great movie - but not for a 3 and 6 year old. I am so mad. I didn't know the movie was PG, I assumed it was G and didn't check since a movie wasn't part of the original game plan. I know, I'm probably an up-tight mom, but I disliked the language in the movie and 3 year old was very upset/scared with some parts. Ugh. I wish my girls and I had stayed at the hotel and played in the pool. We had a lot of fun in the pool earlier.
Then after the movie time for dinner. We had fun, but we were there for a long time! Then back to the hotel. Tried to swim again ... the pool my 3 year old could be in without someone having to hold her to keep her from going under water was closed. So she didn't really want in. My 6 year old played with the other kids and 3 year old and I cuddled and I painted her nails! Then 6 year old came out (yes, this was like 11:30 pm at night! Yikes!) And we painted her nails, and they fell asleep watching a movie.
I stayed up with the otehr adults until about 1:30, that would be the time prior to the time change! Spent some time pumping and off to bed.
Okay, my 3 year old talks and moans and laughs and grunts and does all sorts of noises in her sleep. Holy cow - she woke me up twice! Well, needless to say, sleep was not an easy thing to find. And then the time change ... forgot it was coming! Oh vey!
Anyway, woke up, dressed, check-out and off to breakfast. And then at noon it was on the road back to home.
It was fun. I'm glad we did it. I wish I could go back and tweak it a bit, but you know, like I said I had a good time. My girls had a lot of fun too. And really, wasn't that the point of this mini-trip? Yep. So all's good!

Friday:

To Do List

• Sleep in late


• Pick up spilled sewing basket


• Vaccuum


• Sweep/mop


• Dust front room


• Reorganize dining room


• Pump two times


• Pack for overnight tomorrow


• Cut out pattern for needle bag


• Learn to make border on cardigan


• Begin baby cardi


• Read


• Relax


• Laundry


• Clean out girls room


• Stay sane

Update:
Despite not finishing everything I wanted to do, I did get farther today than I had anticipated I would! Of those I did not accompish: the reorganizing I did get about halfway through. Babyboy was not content hanging out in that area of the house though. And I needed to get that room organized to get the dusting done.
The pattern for the bag is 75% cut out.
The reading and knitting were purely for fun, and well, no time for that today! LOL!
I did manage to do a lot though, and for that I am happy. Woo-hoo!! And I am hoping to start knitting up that baby cardigan for a little bit here tonight before heading to bed.

And tomorrow morning, I will be going away until Sunday. I'm so sad about leaving my babyboy :-( I just don't know if I can survive with. Ugh. I'm just so sad, but I also know my girls and I will have fun too.

So until Sunday .. bye!

Random Updates

So just some random updates.

So we went and saw the asthma/allergy doctor today.
Doc is putting us back on pulimocort and will babyboy on it until at least the end of May. He did check babyboy for some food allergies. It all came back negative though so we don't have to worry about that right now. He does think babyboy has reflux and he said there is a slight chance that reflux can cause wheezing. He said we'll keep an eye on it for now. The doc also said he feels that babyboy will probably outgrow it but obviously, that's really just an educated guess.
I left feeling better about where to go from here for my little one and I am glad we went.

Now the bad part of our visit, is this particular group of doctors has several offices. We showed up at the wrong one :X Oops. So we had to drive to the other office, which made us 40 minutes late. But they were very kind about it all and still had atime to see us (thankfully).

My girls are at my moms - left yesterday around 7ish. My plan for tomorrow is to sleep as long as babyboy will let me (which hopefully will be sometime between 9 and noon). Woo-hoo. Then I will clean as much as I can - we had last night for dinner: 7 adults, 2 teens, 4 middle kids (between 5 and 9), 3 toddlers and 1 babyboy. We did basic clean-up last night and I was out most of today, so I need to vacuum/sweep/mop/etc. And the kids, bless their little hearts, knocked over my sewing basket. So my dining room has pins all over the place and I need to clean all that up. I'm not looking forward to it.

Since Tuesday night I have pumped 24 ounces of milk. There is 28 in the freezer which right now puts us at 52 ounces. That should tide babyboy over while I am away on Saturday and part of Sunday, and I will add some more tomorrow adn maybe pump one time before leaving Saturday too. So no worries there. And of course I will have to pump when I am away (that or my boobs might just explode) so when I come home we will have milk to put in the freezer so hopefully we won't be at zero stashed away come Sunday night.

We were given bunk beds from relatives - they are a nice, sturdy set, came with a few dressers and best of all, were free! So dh put the bunk beds up tonight. We need to figure out the dresser arrangements. I think they gave us two? And then we have one in there. Right now my 3 year old has all her clothes on shelves int he closet - the ones above the hanging rack so she can't reach them. If we can get two more dressers in their room, her clothes can go in one and we can put babyboy's in the other. The bunk beds are standard twin size - and will replace my 6 year old's full size bed and my 3 year old toddler bed, so we have freed up a lot of floor space in their room. For fun we bought them Dora sheets and Tinkerbell sheets. So when they come home Sunday they will be happy to see that! If we do buy this house, I have other plans to further rearrange their room, but it requires taking out built-in desk/shelves so we can't do that just yet.

Speaking of the house, the gp's will be coming home at the end of April ... so we need to start "ready"ing the house for their arrival. Should be okay - last year we struggled to do it because on April 1 I discovered I was pregnant and not long after began puking all the time. Which of course ... just think, one year ago today I did NOT know I was pregnant. I knew we had a year of change heading our way, but didn't know quite how much change there would be. I discovered I was pregnant on April 1, but did't really even think that I was until that morning. Kind of wild! But I couldn't be more thrilled with my little arrival and we are all just in love with him. I'm so glad that he is here now ;-)

For fun ...

Pure Nerd 78 % Nerd, 21% Geek, 43% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd. The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful. Congratulations! Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in any of the following: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Professional Wrestling Love & Sexuality America/Politics Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 89% on nerdiness You scored higher than 19% on geekosity You scored higher than 77% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Moo!

I joke and moo at myself when I have to pull out my handy dandy breastpump. Hooking myself up to a machine to squeeze out some milk in order to leave baby alone for a while, but still providing breastmilk for him is a bit comical to me, but also something I am grateful that I can do.
And in Milk Me by Emily Bazelon, she states a breastpump is like a Blackberry for nursing moms. It gives mom some freedom, but still allows child to have nature's perfect baby food. I agree. Don't get me wrong, I love my children, but sometimes it's nice to go out without them - either by myself or with my husband. And it's nice to not have to watch the clock ... as in okay, I have 20 minutes left before darling baby will probably want to nurse again so I better hurry up and get home.
As a matter of fact I am leaving darling babyboy for about 36 hours this weekend to take my darling daughters away for some fun with mom. I partly feel sad about this - I mean, he's only 3 months old. I've never left a baby overnight that young before. But on the other hand, my daughters will get some mom time without me having to stop to nurse or change diapers or juggle a baby in one arm while trying to help them with the other. And my dh will be staying home with babyboy so it will give them lots and lots of bonding time. So the girls will go away to play and the boys will stay home to hang out.
And all this is possible becuase of my handy dandy breastpump. And the price of the pump (300 which I bought when my second one was born) is worth the bonding and fun I will have with my girls and yes, I admit it, although I'll cry on the drive to leave my husband and babyboy, Saturday night when I don't have to wake up 3-4 times to nurse the baby, well, I will be smiling inside!
So hook me up! Call me Bessie! Shout moo! But I have to admit, despite being hooked up to a machine isn't exactly glamorous, this momma at least is thankful for the option.

::sigh::

Today just needed one big sigh. I sighed more today than any day recently.
First of all, my child had an awful night.
A terrible terrible cough. And not only did this child cough, after he finished coughing, he wouldn't breath. Okay, so the lapse probably lasted a few seconds in reality, but when you are the mother and the child is your child, a few seconds feels like a lifetime. One time I actually reached over to his bassinette and poked him. Of course the big gasp for air came. As I sat in bed trying to not have a heart attack. ::sigh::
Tonight I started to work on a skirt I want to make for myself. And when I bought the pattern I planned on making it one size bigger than I normally would. I mean, afterall, I just had a baby 3 months ago, so a little extra room is in order. Just on a whim I decided to measure my waist/hip to be sure. One size bigger is not going to work. 2 sizes bigger is not going to work, 3 sizes bigger is not going to work. Oh no ... 4 freaking sizes bigger than where I was a year ago. ::sigh::
In an amazing stroke of luck, all three of our children fell asleep at the same time tonight. That has never happened before. In order to celebrate (and dh was trying to make me feel better about being a few sizes to big) we attempted to have sex. Nope. Babyboy decided he didn't want to be asleep afterall. Not that our sex life is generally exciting, but that makes us 0/2 on the last two attempts. Our efforts being thwarted by the children. ::sigh::
A day full of lots of sighs.
On the upside, my friend came over to visit today. That was nice and of course we just talk talk talk ;-) And I have a sitter tomorrow. I get to go to a yarn store alone. And my 2 dd's will go to my mom's from Wednesday afternoon to Friday morning. (Granted it's becuase we meet with the specialist for babyboy Thursday and they said plan on a 3 hour appointment).
Yeah, I think this will turn out to be a good week afterall. And hopefully, Thursday's appointment with the specialist will help us out with dealing with babyboy's problems. I can't take many more of these no breathing spells LOL!

If only ...

I get stuck in this "if only" thinking. Like right now I am thinking, I would be in a VERY good mood each day if only I could sleep at night, if only I could get rid of these awful headaches, if only I could find a way to make some money ....
and the if only's go on and on.
Someday I will learn that instead of thinking about the if only's I should just think about the here and now.
And I am trying so hard to do that. I am, I mean it.
When I feel rested and when my head is not ready to explode on me I am actually quite pleasant to be around. I actually feel happier with life in general than I have been in a while. Like I have accepted somethings and stopped freaking out so much over every little itty bitty thing. And wow, this is the way life should be all the time.
But then wham. I get hit with these headaches that seriously make me want to cut my head off. Sometimes tylenol helps, sometimes it doesn't. I had my eyes checked, I visited my doctor. I don't know - maybe the headaches are tied to the lack of sleep that I've been feeling. Maybe it is stress. Things are stressful, despite me coming to terms with a lot of it, it is stressful. I just want the headaches to stop.
And I want to get sleep! Babyboy is a great baby, except for the fact that he has no sleep pattern and generally is up until 1,2 maybe 3 am in the morning. I admit, often times I like just being able to cuddle with him and just chill out with him ... he is becoming quite the talker these days. And he loves to have his toes tickled, and we play and we talk and we cuddle. But then the fatigue catches up to me and well, it's not quite as cute as is would be if I could sleep! LOL!! Not to mention, well, my daughters like me to be awake during the day. He can't stay awake all his life. Someday I'll sleep ...
If only that were tonight! LOL!!

Bummer ...

I'm home. I've been home all night. That means I didn't get to go visit the new baby :-(
Baby's mom called and said they had a long day and really wasn't in the mood for company. Well, I've btdt so I said we could meet another day when she was feeling better. I do hope all is well though and maybe baby just didn't let htem sleep much over the last few days.

On another sad note, my child is off the meds now. Has been for 24 hours now and already congestion is back and we are noticing the breathing is starting to get that labored feeling to it. :-( This stinks. So tomorrow I will be calling the ped and I'm guessing she will say to put him back on the meds. I feel bad for him. Poor kid just can't catch a break it feels like. On the good side, he's still (mostly) his happy go lucky self, although we noticed here tonight he won't let us set him down again. He wants to be held and cuddled and loved. So probably it's a good thing that I ended up staying home. Well we see the specialist in exactly one week from now so that's good. I just want to make him better and make all these issues go away.

Just another manic ...

Thursday.
It's a crazy Thursday around here.
It's one in the afternoon. Since the start of the day today (meaning midnight), I have: attempted to put babyboy to bed 3 times (finally got it right at 1:30 am), attempted to have sex with my husband (I say attempted becuase apparently at 2 am my 6 year old decided to go potty and heard us talking so she opened the door - thankfully saw nothing, but did a GREAT job of killing the mood), nursed babyboy 5 times, gotten dressed three times, been pooped on once and I don't mean a little bit, apparently it all flew out of the diaper and onto me and the couch, completed one load of laundry, cleaned the kitchen twice, boxed up clothes that babyboy has grown out of, unpacked a box of clothes an angel sent me.
Ugh. I'm tired already. Although that probably has more to do with the fact that I didn't get much sleep last night as opposed to what I have actually done so far today.
But the rest of the day will be hectic as well. And part of me jsut wants to curl up in my bed and pray that babyboy takes a huge nap and that the other kids play nice.
Oh well! Welcome to the real world!!
But tonight I get to go visit the newest member of my family - my cousin's little boy who is just shy of 2 weeks old. So that will be fun nad I can't wait!!

Yippy Skippy!

Today I got contacts. I know, I know, just contacts you are probably thinking. Lots of people have them, they are available pretty much anywhere.
But you see I have had glasses for I want to say 7 or 8 years now. I never have worn contacts before.
One time I tried out contacts. It was at a Lenscrafters. Let me tell you, don't use lenscrafters for anything other than buying glasses.
They had the secretary help me with the contacts. Her qualifications: she wore contacts. I tried them on. I could hardly see. The world was a blurry whirl of colors. The woman helping me couldn't figure out why. She swore up and down she had the contacts that matched my prescription. Well, probably she didn't. But I had already been there for 3 hours, I was frustrated and I said forget it, paid and left and vowed to NEVER use lenscrafters for anything other than getting glasses again honestly. (and yes, I get that htey are independently owned I probably visited the one sucky location and the rest are not like that, but you know what, oh well!)
Anyway, today when getting my eyes checked I decided to try it again. And someone who knew what they were doing helped me out. And I got one contact in - and I could see! And I got the second one in - and I could still see!!! Yippee!!! I'm so excited.
And so now, over the course of the next few days I will start to wear my contacts and hopefully get used to them and fall in love with them!
But my poor babyboy ... he wil have nothing to grab off of my face anymore!

My new blogging friend ...

is Bloglines
I like it because I can add the blogs I like to read to my feeds. When those blogs are updated, then it lets me know. That means I don't have to check the blog daily for updates. When it gets updated - whether it be hourly or monthly, I can see it in my blogline feeds.
Anyway, I recommend it to anyone who likes to visit several blogs often.
The other nice thing is blog clippings. Now I read a lot of knitting blogs and get ideas of future projects from other bloggers. Well it gives you the option to save one blog entry - which I am using to save, all those great knitting ideas!
So, ther you go, there's my plug for Bloglines

Babyboy Update ...

Ped said he sounds all clear today! YEAH!!!
We'll keep him on meds for 3 more days, then stop them and see what happens.
She thinks the sleeping is just a fluke OR he wasn't sleeping before becuase the illness was interferring with it - He slept like 8 hours last night? And it's noon right now ... from 6:00 to now, he has only been awake for about 45 minutes. Usually he's only been asleep for about 45 minutes.
We were also advised to keep him out of public places and crowds for an indefinite amount of time. It won't be that hard to do, but yet, it will be. My 6 year old takes classes on Monday. I'm supposed to stay with her, but that is definitely one place we should avoid with him at all costs - we are in a gym with anywhere from 30-100 people in it (most being other children who are running around and want to see the baby and all that jazz). That will be hard. Tonight I will have to be making phone calls to see if one of the other parents can be her responsible adult if I just drop her off and then pick her up. I have a few people in mind, but they aren't there for all 3 of her classes, only 2 of them, so I we may have to pull her out of one class. We'll see - I don't want to do that to her, but at the same time, one child's medical issues have to trump one child's fun things, kwim?
But I am thrilled to hear he's all clear. And for now I will enjoy all his sleeping - until he starts sleeping through meals and not peeing enough which I'm praying doesn't happen - and yes, I will attempt to keep him in a plastic bubble for a little while. If it means he won't be sick again and on a bunch of medicines and that he's healthy and happy, I'm doing it!

My poor baby ...

He's still pretty ill. :-( He's been sleeping a ton over the last few days too. however, he is doing this be awake for a while, eat, and then sleep for a little while, etc, etc, etc ....
His cough is picking up too. And now he does this lovely choking thing which scares the crud out of me. I think I might have a heart attack from this darling child of mine. And of course, all i want is for him to be better and healthy.
Crud .. he just choked again. Hold on while I remind my heart to beat and my diaphram to work ....
Okay, so, I feel badly for this little guy. :-(

On a more positive note, we went out to celebrate my dh's birthday last night. He turns the big 30 on Thursday. So last night we headed on over to a place called Medieval Times. I actually parted from my child and left him with a babysitter. The place was great - but not for infants. We all had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves. My dh liked the GameCube I bought for him (yeah) and well, he got another VERY nice gift from someone else and that's all I'll say about that (think $$$$$ which we were surprised, shocked and totally not expecting).

Okay, well babyboy is starting to fuss so I need to go get him now ...

Ugh.

So we went to the doctor today.
Today was the day we were supposed to take babyboy in and he would sound clear and the doctor would tell us to stop the medicine and bring him back next week to see how he was sounding.
Except he wasn't clear today. He also developed a runny nose and an awful cough. And he's still retracting. He's not wheezing thankfully, but you know what, we have to continue to treat him. He's still breathing fast and hard and his heart rate is still high.
So our peditrician looked at me and said that there is something going on with my little guy, but she doesn't know what it is. And she is sending us to a specialist because she doesn't like what is happening. And she wants in to see the specialist sooner rather than later that SHE is calling to make his appointment. Because she doesn't want us to have to wait to get in to see him. It's an allergy/asthma specialist. On one hand I feel like, that is great - she's not going to just try stuff to make it look like she is saving the day, she is being honest, upfront, isn't going to let this go on without doing something and sending us to someone who should be able to help us. On the other hand, I'm freaking out on the inside! What is going on that she can't tell us what it is and why can't we fix it right now and why do we have to go see a specialist? And what if they find something really wrong with my baby? Why is he retracting? Why is he breathing so hard? Why is heart rate up? Why is all of this happening? I just want to sit and cry and I want to give my baby a kiss and make it all better. :-(

I also want to say I paid 90 for a physical for the doctor to tell me the only thing wrong with me is lack of sleep. Which I knew, but at the same time, I wanted to be sure.
Oh, and just to top it off, they were letting the girls do the eye exam. Great? Right. Wrong. My 3 year old apparently couldn't see past the 3rd line (normal vision is the 6th or 7th line) so the nurse suggested we get that checked out. Oh sure. Let me add it to my list. I guess better to find out sooner rather than later. But dude, I feel so overwhelmed right now.
Well I have an appointment myself Wednesday so I guess I'll just call nad see if I can get her looked at at the same time.
::sigh:: I'm ready for bed!

It's a miracle!!!

I think my brain tumor has shrunk in size! ROFL!! I woke up today without a headache! It was a wonderful feeling. Of course, last night I had the best night's sleep in over a week now ... I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. ;-)
I am still feeling a ton of stress. Although, my dh put the carpets back down in the basement (we had the hole patched today so :::crossing fingers::: no more water). Most of my fabric has been washed and the icky smell is gone. I have some cross stitch things I need to wash.
The biggest blow this week, however, is not the water issue. We had planned on buying the house we are in right now (dh's gp's house). We can not afford to buy it on our own. Dh had a plan, we talked about this plan, we talked to the people who would help us with this plan (basically it was to take the bank loan for what they would approve us for and borrow the rest from someone else). Well, the people who we thought were going to be able to help us, are not able to help us. Apparently there is no money for them to help us (that or they just don't want to help us and don't want to tell us that.)
So, basically that means we are leaving this house this summer. And I'm sad. I love this house - I love the location, I love the size, I love the history. I'm so bummed we can't afford it and that we can't stay here. On the other hand, staying here would have severely put a damper on the financial situation. We would have literally had to have watched every single penny. That would have been hard. But I hate to have to move again.
And of course, our plan now is to buy hte most house for the least amount of money and then move up in a few years. Which means not only do I have to move this summer, but I will be probably moving in a few years as well. I so am not looking forward to that at all. But financially, it's a smart move for us and will put us in the best financial situation.
So that will be a bummer.
And I know my 2 girls will hate it. They will just hate it when we tell them and when we have to move. And it will be sad for everyone. The gp's wanted to keep the house in the family and we wanted to buy the house. It seemed like a win-win situation for everyone ... but it was not meant to be.
:::sigh::: But, i guess I get to start looking on-line for prospective houses. That can be fun ... although I always fall in love wit the ones that are twice what we can afford ROFL!!!

I think ...

I have a brain tumor. @@ (Yes, I'm rolling my eyes at myself LOL!)
Two, or three days ago now, I just got this killer headache. I still have it. Tylenol isn't really helping and I'm not supposed to do advil with the nursing.
Not only that but I've been feeling naseous - not overwhelming so, just liek that slight naseous feeling. Enough to be annoying, if that makes sense?
I'm sure it's a combo of a bunch of things - the no sleep, I know I need ot get my eyeglass prescription changed, my jaw problems spark headaches for me.
I just don't remember having one that has lasted to long and been unresponsive to meds.
To top it off, my moods have been crazy the last few days. Like, I don't feel like me. I also feel like I'm not me - if that makes sense at all.
But that coul dalso be from lack of sleep and having a killer headache.
Both dh and I have noticed that for a few weeks now I'll be talking and just all of a sudden have no freaking clue what I am talking about. Or I'll try to say a word and I can NOT for the life me remember the word and I do the whole umm, umm, umm, and give the definition - and I feel like an idiot. We keep saying it's becuase I have the kids all day and I'm not sleeping so of course I'm bound to do those things. But now I have this headache and I'm sure it's a brain tumor.
Dh thinks it's stress, lack of sleep, the eye issue, the jaw issue, etc, etc. Of course, he's not a paranoid, anxiety ridden person so he's probably got the more accurate description.
That said, tomorrow I am making an appointment with the orthodontist for my jaw, optometrist for my eyes, my therapist for my anxiety. Friday when I take babyboy to the doctor for a check-up, I am also going to have her give me one too.
I dont know .. maybe the dx will by hypochondriach (no, I can't spell that word) and I can get some sugar pills and feel better LOL!

One tired momma

I'm tired. I'm just plain tired.
Between everything going on here - there is no time to sleep.
I feel like I'm going to just pass out from sleep exhaustion.
Hardly any sleep this weekend trying to deal with baby being sick. Dh was busy painting a room, so he was little help in the childcare area.
Monday we woke up to water all over the basement. Ugh. I cried. I literally cried. We worked very hard Monday night to get things out of there and get the water out.
My child isn't sleeping. He is up all the time at night.
I've been telling dh for over a week now that I was sooooo tired and just plain exhausted. Saturday morning he let me sleep in for 2 hours ... so he asked me Saturday night "But you're all caught up from this morning, right? I mean you aren't really that tired are you?"
Ummm .. hello? I haven't slept more than a few hours at a time in like 3 weeks he thinks 2 hours are going to fix it all? Did he not listen to me each time I told him how just pure exhausted I feel? Apparently not. @@
I hate to complain because overall he's a doll .. I love him. However, he has been pulling tons of hours at work the last 2 weeks. He was doing so much to help me out around here - laundry, cooking, helping with the kids when he got home ot give me a break. That hasn't happened. He barely comes home in time to say good night to the girls and then he has a million other things he needs to get done.
I don't doubt his intentions are good, but he's not here for me and honestly, he's not really here for the kids either. And I'm so freaking exhausted.
Today my babyboy cried - no screamed - for like 2 hours. I held him, rocked him, tried to feed him, tried to give him a pacifier ... nothing helped until he cried himself to sleep.
I seriously wanted to cry with him. I am just so tired. The house is falling apart around us, there are still things to fix from the flood, I have tons of laundry to do, kids to school ... and I am feel like I'm drowning in it all.
The good thing is that somehow, despite feeling this way, I am actually able to cope with it all without going completely nuts. This may not seem like a big feat to most people, but for me it is. I have worked a long time to not completely go nuts and to learn to deal with feelign like this.
Now I just need to get sleep again and things will be peachy-keen.

My poor baby ...

My babyboy is sick again :-( He is getting nebulizer treatments again. I just feel bad for him. The thing that just makes me most nervous is that 2 days ago, he was fine, yesterday he was congested and today he was wheezing and retracting. It just seems to happen so fast. Our ped said if we didn't have the nebulizer at home already she probably would have sent us to the hospital today to get him some treatments. Well, I'm glad we have it here! We came home and started the treatments up (after digging it out of storage). I guess we won't store it away so quickly this time. She also told me that we need to watch him for asthma as this point if this happens again.
Yikes! I don't know what to do. 50% of me wants to keep him in a bubble. The other half of me doesn't want to over-react and keep him home if it's not needed. Not to mention the other 2 kids who have things they want to do and places they want to go. :::sigh::: I mean, health issues will trump the fun things, but I am praying it's not asthma. That he just picked up another virus and it's close to the last one he had just by pure coincedence. Well, I guess we'll see what happens with him in the future. I guess I shouldn't start worrying about it yet.
The good news is that he is actually pretty happy overall. Just smiling and laughing, although he wants to be held pretty closely. Which is nice. He has no fever so that's good too. And despite being on albuterol, he hasn't been overly-hyper (which I guess happens to some kids).
I just feel bad and I hope he does get better ... I'm keeping a close eye on him though just in case.

3rd time's the charm ...

My third child is by far getting my best parenting ever. I hate to say it - but it's true.
It's not that I didn't try with my first two. On the contrary, with my first I think I tried too hard. I wanted to be perfect. I hemmed and hawed over her every move. I was anxious and nervous. I constantly wondered if I was doing things "right" or "wrong" and if I was being the perfect parent. So much energy went into that, that I don't think I enjoyed her babyhood as much as I could have if I decided to relax and just take it as things came.
With my second, I was in a high stress situation and just felt overwhelmed until she was almost a year old. I had so much going on, I felt like my head would explode most days and, again, I missed out just enjoying her.
This time, I don't have that anxiety or worry about what is normal or not. And I don't have the stress in my life I had with my second. And it's so much more enjoyable this time around for those reasons. I really wish I could rewind time and go back to when my other two were little and find this sense of enjoyment. I feel like they were cheated somehow with their babyhood years.
Like today, my oldest was taking a bath, my middle was in her room dancing and singing, and babyboy and I were just hanging out in our room. Laying on the bed, talking to each other - okay cooing at each other. And I just realized that it was so fun and I loved having that moment with him. And I remember having moments like that with the other two, but I have these moments with him several times a day. I love it. I just absolutely love it. I can't get enough of him or these little moments.
Andnow of course, I'm not sure I want to stop at three kids anymore. Yes, you can imagine how wonderfully excited my dh was to hear that from me. I know he will be my last one, of course unless something happens like an oops moment at the exact right moment that conception could take place, but I doubt that might happen again.
But I love this. I am finally in a place in life where I am able to enjoy life a little more. Things aren't so overwhelming, I'm not so anxious, I'm not getting so caught up in the details and how-to's of life to miss what is actually happening around me. And it's a good place to be.
I'm getting all these moments with my baby that I can't get enough of.
I'm connecting with my 6 year old, despite it being hard to watch her grow up, and I'm loving my 3 year old.
Life is good over here. I'm still tired and pretty worn out, but I'm feeling all of that physically and not emotionally - and that is such a difference for me.

My Children

My 6 year old has her first "crush"
My 3 year old told her first blatant lie today
My 3 month old is apparently into nonfiction books.
Oh dear.

Today my 6 year old asked me if I was ever to shy to talk to other kids when I was growing up. We chatted about being shy, things to say, but I was in my head thinking "since when is she shy?" Then we get to where her classes are and she says "There he is mom. I don't know his name yet though. I'm nervous to talk to him." He? He? There he is! Yes, that's when it hit me. In between her classes she spotted where he was, asked someone else his name, etc. I'm guessing he's about 10/11 years old. She is 6. Then it was time to leave. She sighed "I never got to say hi to him." Oh boy. When we got to the car, I just asked her (not in a laughing tone or mocking tone) "Dear, do you have a little crush on this boy?" She turned red, giggled a little and said yes. Okay, when did she learn the word crush? She is 6. So we chatted for awhile. I've discovered she's at that age where friends are girls, and boys aren't really friends unless you like like them. But she doesn't really know what that means either. I think we've hit a point where boys and girls no longer look the same in her eyes. But she is 6. I am so not ready for even that to happen. What will I do when she has a real crush? My dh at first didn't like that I asked her that question to begin with though. I am. If we can't talk about things with her at 6, what will happen when she is 14? And she understood the question ... so it's good to talk about it and not freak out and to just chat and figure out what she's thinking. Right? He agreed with me then, but I hope I did the right thing.

My 3 year old got one of those fuzzy posters that you color. She asked me to open it tonight, very close to bedtime so I said no, we would do it tomorrow - too close to bed, blah blah. So she walks maybe 5 feet to my husband and says "Mommy said you can open this for me." Umm. Nope. So my dh asked her if she was sure. And she said yes, she was. I said "Emma that is not what I said." And she turned around, pointed her finger at me and said "No mom. We open it now." I think my jaw hit the floor. I believe that is the first tine she has been quite so defiant and she was blatantly lying. So off to time out she went ... with tears in her eyes and promises to never do it again.

My baby is really into nonfiction these days. I was reading Krakatoa : The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 out loud to him because he wanted to have someone pay attention to him and I wanted to read. He liked it! He was smiling, kicking, cooing. Tonight we repeated this with The Colony : The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai .
He's brilliant ... definitely will grow up to be a genius LOL! ;-)
Oh yeah, he also pooped through 2 outfits today too. Yep. Future genius on my hands!

More walking ...

Well, I kind of felt like crud today due to almost no sleep in the last 24 hours (mostly because of babyboy but partly because I spent some time reading when I could have been sleeping!) but I went walking anyway. Tonight I managed to get 2 miles in the same time it took me to get 1.5 miles last week. I even ran a few laps in the middle of all my walking. This is quite impressive for me. I don't generally like to be active or moving honestly so I was very happy with myself.
I have to admit, it does feel good when I'm done. I get an energy rush. I should figure out a way to do this more in the middle/earlier part of the day, but for now, I do it when dh gets home from work. My 3 year old has a park district class, so we have to be there anyway, why sit when I can walk?
And I have to admit, dh bought me a coke from McDonalds today. I didn't finish it. After walking, I just wanted water. And, tonight when getting a dessert, I originally picked up a Hershey bar, but then I set it back down for a granola bar. This is serious! I would like to lose ten pounds, I would like to firm up muscles, and I want to be healthier ... apparently I'm starting to actually do something about it as opposed to just thinking about what to do about it! This is a big deal for me!! Now if I start back up with some Pilates DVDs ... well, I don't know ... pigs may just start flying! LOL!

Deal or No Deal?

My family is in love with this show.
We watched it last time they ran it for a week. And tonight, they started airing it for another week.
All 5 of us sit around and watch it (well, okay, babyboy is only there because we are holding him, but you get it). And we all sit around and yell "Deal Deal Deal!!" or "No deal! No deal! No Deal!" and we get excited when they pick a case with a low number and we all sigh when it's a case with a big number. Dh and I talk about if we would deal or not and if we won, what we would do with the money ... okay, that's easy. We want to buy a house. So by default, depending on the amount 75-100% of our winnings would go to a house!
But it's fun. And yes, it's TV. We have family time by watching TV. I know some who would read that and think, you can't have family time by watching TV. But we do. We don't generally watch TV together often, so I don't feel bad about it.
And thanks to me reading Freakonomics today, I now know that TV viewign time is not correlated to good grades so I feel even less guilty watching it for this week than I did watching it the last week it was on! LOL!

Now, as if watching it wasn't enough, we can now play the game ourselves at Deal or No Deal. Tonight I would have won 192,000 and my dh would have walked away with 300,000. I only wish it were real LOL!!! Although I have been encouraging dh to apply for the show. He's good looking, he's got a good personality ... and he's smart about deals or no deals!!!

Fun Weekend!

We just had a blast of a weekend!
My husband's mom came to visit us from NH. Now, she is not a typical MIL you read about. I LOVE her! We get along very well and I just adore her. She's not that you-stole-my-son-from-me-and-now-we-need-to-compete-with-each-other sort. Nor is she the you-are-doing-everything-with-my-grandkids-wrong-so-I-need-to-tell-you-how-to-do-it-better-than-you-are type either. So we really enjoy it when we get to see her. And to top it all off, this is the first time she has seen babyboy! So that was so much fun. She came in Thursday. And we chatted and chatted adn chatted. Friday woke up, hung out, and after lunch drove up to the dells to play at an indoor water park. So we spent the weekend swimming and chatting and just having a blast.
Unfotunately the trip was a short one - she left already :-( I'll miss her. The kids will miss her. But I have to admit I am freaking tired right now.
We ran around a lot, babyboy still isn't sleeping wonderfully and there was really no down time to nap during the day and get breaks. So it was go all day, stau up late, wake up with babyboy to eat every 2-3 hours, and then run around some more!
And now, my dh has a cold, my 3 year old has a runny nose since yesterday and my 6 year is complaining of it today. I don't feel all that hot either (although I'm thinking it's from lack of sleep).
I'm terrified we are going to have a bad week around here full of crabby, tired, people. But I have to say, I'm glad it will all happen after mil went back home. I would have felt so bad had she flown out here to deal with sick crabbies! She got to see everyone happy and running around and having fun! So that is good!

Walking ...

So I think I mentioned when getting blood work done for life insurance, we discovered dh has a high cholesterol number and mine is within normal, but it's almost the highest normal number you can get.
So dh and I are on a mission to change how we eat and to start exercising.
Well, that day to start exercising came yesterday. We both signed up for the www.walkacrossillinois.org program in an effort to get motivation.
Yesterday I walked 1.5 miles at the community center indoor track. Tonight I walked too.
Dh walked 1 mile with me yesterday. He didn't come today. He was busy - he needed to do work. I'm kind of bummed. I am worried about him. I know he will always be busy and I'm worried he'll keep pushing the exercise to the back burner. I do not want my husband having a heart attack in a few years because he was too busy to do anything to prevent it. Plus, it's nice having someone to walk with, ya know?
I told him that. That I don't want him to be too busy for this. I do not want my husband to work himself to death.
I have to say I like the walking. I feel energized after doing it ... which is a rare feeling these days! I think I will go over tomorrow and get another 1.5 miles in if I can. Dh's mom is coming into town around 2ish so I have to do a lot to get ready for that. But I figure I can spare a half an hour (okay so it would really be like an hour to get all the kids bundled up, get over there, walk, get bundled up again, and get home) for my health. So I can see my grandkids! Plus, maybe it will give me energy to do the last minute housecleaning I want to get done before she walks in. although, I'm sure she will be so busy looking at the kids, she won't notice the state of the house! But I still have to try!
and I can't wait until it gets warmer out. The indoor track is 14 laps for a mile. Yeah, 21 is 1.5 miles - it gets a bit boring by about lap, 4! But it's still too cold to be out with the kids (I think it's supposed to be like 20 with windchill tomorrow).
But when it does get warm out ... I found this site which I htink is pretty neat ... Gmap Pedometer!
Anyway, I have made it 2 days now! I'm kind of proud of myself!! LOL!

Ha ha ...

Don't ask why, just do it .. click the link. Gizoogle
It at least made me smile ;-)

I jinxed myself ...

I should have never posted before that things were starting to feel normal around here. Because I lied.
Well, anyway, things here have just been crazy.
Needless to say, as I mentioned in the last post, we took babyboy to urgent care and were sent home. The next morning we went to our doc becuase he still looked like he had labored breathing. Well, our ped basically sent us right to the ER right there. She was upset they didn't just do that the previous night at urgent care.
So baby boy was in the hospital from Thursday to Saturday night. It just sucked.
I felt so bad. When we originally got to the hospital he was dehydrated, retracting badly, his heart rate was very high and his oxygen levels were low. I felt so bad for him (and really kind of pissed at the urgent care doc from the night before).
The good news is that we are home now and he is doing a lot better. Still getting meds at home, still stuffy and needing mommy and daddy to suck out some boogers. Which, as you can only imagine, he HATES! LOL!
I'm glad we are home, but it's been a crazy last week around here.
And I feel like I'm losing my mind again. Everytime I think I finally have things figured out around here, I don't. I feel like I'm losing it. Will I ever feel like things are normal again? Will I ever sleep again? Will I ever have more than just a few minutes to myself? It seriously does not feel like it.
Going from 2 to 3 kids has been VERY hard for me. The kids things are now just overwhelming. And then with everything else that needs to be done ... it's just not all getting done,and if things do get done around here, chances are dh did it and not me. I feel like all I do is nurse and try to sleep if I can. Between those two things are some crazy awake periods where I'm trying to school theoldest, keep the house semi-clean, get some laundry done, get kids to ballet, awana, art, drama, choir, and other classes. I can't wait for summer. No classes, no school, just kicking back and getting outside to play!

I have a ...

friend! A real live friend!
I know this may seem like a silly thing to some people. we all have friends, right? Well, I feel like in my life I basically have a bunch of aquaintances. But since early college, I've never really felt like I had a good friend, the one you cna always call or bare your soul to. My relationships with other people were more on a superficial level. And then along came the internet, and I do have tons of friends on-line and they are woman I love and adore, but they are not here. Most are in other states and as great as e-mail, chat rooms, and message boards are, well, there is a gap there when you can't pick up the phone and say "hey, let's meet for lunch."
But I have that now. I finally have that now.
Someone about my age, with a little boy almost a year old, and is into crafty things like me and is very nice. They've been over here twice now. We went out to lunch once. And next week hopefully the kids and I will be going out to a little party she invited us to. We have talked about getting a sitter this summer nad taking a quilting class together. We are sharing baby things, ideas and all that stuff.
I know it may seem silly, but it's so exciting! I feel like I have someone I can pick up the phone and blab about nothing to or I can call and complain about the sleepless nights and wild children and the messy hosue and the laundry I've been avoiding all week. And it's so exciting.

And today for the first time since early fall I went to one of the mom's club activities. It was nice to reconnect with some old faces and meet some new. So who knows, maybe soon I'll even have two friends hehehee ;-)

I guess the point of all this rambling is that I'm starting to feel normal again. We're not on any kind of schedule yet. I'm still barely getting any sleep. I feel like the jump between two and three has been HUGE for me and I'm still learning how to deal with it all. I still feel very stressed honestly. But at the same time, it's not so new and the learning curve is starting to feel more manageable. Now I just would like to sleep. But babyboy is sick. Very stuffy, a little cough, and just overall miserable, which has translated into very little sleep for him and me. We actually went to urgent care tongiht because dh and I felt his breathing was starting to look a little labored. They checked and his lungs were clear (they even took an x-ray becuase of his shallow breathing) and it all came back okay. It was quite traumatic ... they put him in this thing to get the x-ray. I thought I was going to cry :-( Poor guy. the only down side is that the urgent care facility could not check for RSV. So basically they said watch him tonight. If he remains the same, to his ped tomorrow and if he starts to look worse or the breathing gets more labored, off to the ER we should go. I'm glad his lungs were clear though, but I worry about his breathing and his heart rate was on the higher side too. We'll go to his doc tomorrow and see what she says (provided he doesn't get worse which I'm crossing my fingers he doesn't).

Anyway, there is all my babbling. And its point is that things are starting to feel better around here. I'm starting to feel better. And it's a good place to be. I haven't been in this spot for too long now and I'm glad to finally start getting back to it ....

Just when ....

my day is not going well ... when baby didn't sleep the night before, when my other two dds were being loud and rambunctious and crazy all day, just when I was about to snap, I get a cold hard reality check. I get news that just breaks my heart and puts it all into perspective.
A friend of mine passed away basically suddenly and unexpectedly today.
A little over 3 years ago she was dx'd with leukemia ... she was 8 months pregnant. Basically they induced her and rushed her right away for treatment. Then she needed a donor. Amazingly they found one that was almost a perfect match. She went into remission. It was amazing. It was a long road though - not nearly that simple. To really tell the storyI would need a lot more time. But through it all,s he was amazing - up-beat, happy, full of love for God and so hopeful. I know if it were me, I would have entered some deep depression feeling doomed and constantly asking why me God, why me?
But not her .... not her.
In mid-December she went for a check-up ... still in remission and things were looking good. She was excited she would see her 30th birthday in January.
Well she did, but recently she had a few complication come up. But I guess I didn't realize how serious they were until today. Today when I found out my sweet friend had passed away. In a horrific twist of fate, it is also her oldest dd's birthday. She leaves behind 2 daughters, one son, and a husband.
I can't believe it. And I'm sitting here thinging why her God? Why her? Of all the people in this world, you had to take her? It's moments like this that I wish to hell life were fair. That bad things didn't happen to good people, that someone didn't make it three years, get a clean bill of healthy a few months ago and then have this happen. So suddenly.
I don't understand it. I don't think I ever will understand it. I know, I know ... there's a big picture out there, blah, blah, blah, we can't see it now, blah, blah, blah, it doesn't make sense now, but someday ti will, blah blah blah ....
I don't buy it right now. I just don't buy it. This sucks. I'm so sad and mad and just full of sadness and anger I just might burst.
But I know I can't. She was better than that and so I must try to be better than that. So I will try to just pray for her family and for her precious little babies.
I will try to not let the sadness out and let the anger go and to remember her sweet smile and her cute southern accent and to keep her spirit alive.

Momma and baby ... my girls never really slept on my like this, so when babyboy fell asleep like that today I just felt like I was in heaven!

Life updates ...

So we are doing pretty well with good nights here. Last night was rough, but all of yesterday was rough (maybe babyboy was feeling under the weather or I ate something that upset him or whatever). I'm just glad we are doing more good nights than bad nights. Although, a good night here just means that babyboy goes back to sleep after eating without too much trouble. I'm still waiting for those 4 hours stretches to start happening more than just once in a while! But for the moment I will take what I can get!
My oldest finished her math book yesterday. She was so proud of herself. It's rated prek-k. So we started the next book, which is rated 1st - 3rd grade. She's so excited to be in "first grade" math! It cracks me up!! She also only has 6 more reading lessons to go. And sh eis looking forward to finishing that as well. We are going to make cookies, cupcakes or cake to celebrate her finishing her math this weekend. And I told her next weekend we will do it again to celebrate finishing reading!
My middle child gave me a picture today she colored. She also wrote her name on it. First of all, I didn't teach her that! Second of all, I didn't know she could write letters, much less put the correct letters together to make her name! It totally blew me away and I was pretty darn impressed. She is kind of spacey a lot of the time, but she must really be absorbing things even if I don't see it! LOL!

Dh adn I had blood tests drawn a few weeks ago for life insurance reasons. The results came back today.
They were overall pretty good. However, (there is always a however), my cholesterol level was 196. His was 240! 240! (normal range is something - 200). I was worried about me being so close to the top of normal range, but he is over. Ugh. So now we have decided that we need to eat better and neither of us exercise, so we'll have to start doing that as well. He is going to schedule an appointment with the our PCP to see if she has any comments/advice to offer him and find out when he should be retested (to hopefully show lower numbers).
So now I'm afraid I'm almost a heart attack waiting to happen, that dh is a heart attack waiting to happen, and then the other day I watched the Oprah show abotu bird flu. Yeah, so much for my anxiety being under control LOL!! I gotta get it back under control again and fast. I had a mini panic attack tonight :-( Not good.
But aside from that, things are going well. I think we are finally starting to get into a groove as a family of five around here. I am feeling less stressed and less tired and less cranky and more ready to deal with things as they come up (except for anxiety).
And that, is life in a nutshell around here!

Better days ahead?

I think things here on the up and up ... at least I hope so.
This weekend I was able to get sleep - real sleep. At one point I got 6 hours of sleep! 6 hours ... that's more than I've had in a while and it felt good.
My dh took babyboy Friday night right after I nursed him. Babyboy stayed awake for dh for about an hour, then slept for 4 hours. It was so nice.
Dh and I talked and decided we needed to do something to encourage him to sleep if we could. We decided I would come back to our bed, with babyboy and we would co-sleep. We weren't going to originally co-sleep becuase our bed is not big enough for dh, me and baby. But I need to do something to get sleep. So dh moved into his grandparents bed. This will work well until babyboy is doing better at night or when the grandparents come back from Florida.
Regardless, aside from babyboy waking to eat, he pretty much went back to sleep each time. He did want to wake up pretty early but that's when I woke dh and went back to sleep myself ;-)
I also got out this weekend to do errands for a few hours sans babyboy. Didn't have to worry about nursing, didn't have to worry about what to do if he pooped while out, or started cry, or all those things. It was kind of nice.
Basically, I had the kind of weekend that I think I needed to have to start to feel better.
And it seems to me that babyboy might be picking up on this night/day thing. Although co-sleeping is helping out too. We did it again last night and it went pretty well too. It's nice becuase he falls asleep while nursing and this way I don't need to move him when he's done (which usually wakes him up).
I am still feeling tired, but I don't feel just sheer exhaustion anymore, and that is going a long way.

I am also working on things over there are exciting to me (mainly playing with my Christmas present) and it's nice to have something to do.
So, right now I'm just crossing my fingers that we have another good night and that we are through the worst of the bad nights.

Sleepless in Chicago ...

Well last time I wrote, I was excited becuase my babyboy had had two good nights in a row. And I was excited because I thought that we were on the road to good night number 3.
Nope.
No such luck.
Babyboy said sorry mom, not ready to sleep at night on a regular basis for you right now.
It's a good thing this baby boy is so darn cute I tell you!!
I admit though, I'm so freaking tired it hurts right now. My dh is trying to help out as he can. I hate to wake him during the week though - his days are spent at work. If babyboy goes for a nap at 2 pm, dh can't nap with him. I can. So I'm trying not to wake him as well. But I don't know how much longer I can go like this. It was so nice this weekend when dh took babyboy at night. And of course on Wednesday he told me that he still felt tired from the weekend. I looked at him and told him I still felt tired from the last month. I didn't mean to snap back and I know he's tired too, but I'm really tired. Like really really really really tired! But, every day he gets a little bigger and a little older and I can only hope that soon he will start to realize there is a nighttime and a daytime.
On other news, my 3 year old is feeling better now - yeah! My 6 year old is still being sweet and helpful and wonderful. My girls still both love their brother, even though he needs so much of mommy's time. So that is good.
I did, however, today tell dh to go and schedule a vasectemy whenever he wanted to. I had originally told him I wasn't ready to make that decision. But I decided I was. I realize I'm very tired these days and that is affecting my thoughts, but I just decided today I don't want to go through this again. I am barely holding it together right now. I feel like I'm teetering in the edge of post partum depression. I'm tired. I'm crabby. (And yes, I will be speaking to someone about this - I want to get a handle on it before things get worse).
But more importantly, I feel fulfilled with my life. I have 3 wonderful, beautiful children. I love my husband. I enjoy my life overall. I am extremely thankful for all that I have and all that I've been blessed with in life.
I enjoy having babyboy in our life right now - but you know, I'm ready to move onto the next phase for our family.
We'll see - dh was ready to get a vasectemy done the day we found out we were expecting! He knew then three was his limit. I've been fighting it for awhile, but I'm ready now.
And now my babyboy is calling me so off I go.

I forgot ....

I forgot about the realities of life with a newborn. I forgot how it feels to function on minimal sleep, how it feels to never sleep for more than a few hours at a time, how tired you start to feel after the high of having a baby comes down!
My first never slept. It was hell honestly. And not only did she not sleep, but she cried. And cried. And cried. And cried. And if she wasn't crying, she was eating. And I didn't sleep much and neither did she. Funnily enough, at the age of 6 she still doens't sleep that much or that well. I think it's just her and she will be one of those adults that sleeps 6 hours a night and feels great (my dh's dad is the same way - I think it's genetic).
It was hard to have a baby that didn't sleep. I can remember holding her in the rocking chair and she would be crying and I would be crying. But, she was our only one, nad my dh and I lived with my parents so when I was feeling really desperate all I had to do was walk up a flight of stairs and call for my mom!
Then 3 years later I had number 2. I was nervous about it. How would I deal with an infant and a 3 year old and not sleep a lot. My second daughter was her sisters complete opposite. She loved sleep - hey, she still does at the ripe old age of 3! She was sleeping like 8-10 hour stretches by 3 months old. Even before then she just basically slept, woke, ate, fell back asleep. She was one of those babies that you could forget was in the room. She did like to be cuddled, so she lived in a sling a lot, but she slept, and at night she even slept in a pack and play until she was about 9 months old and transitioned to the crib, no problem - if it was a place she could lay, she was happy. Heck, she wouldn't have minded if we put her on the floor honestly LOL! I think she was also about 3 months old when she stayed awake for more than 20/30 minutes!
And now to baby number 3. The entire time I was pregnant with him I wished he would be the perfect mix of his big sisters ... sleeping at night, but having some awake periods during the day. Well, I did get what I asked for, just not the way I wanted it. He is a mix of his sisters. The problem is he stays awake a lot like my first, but he's pretty content like my second as long as he is close and cuddled. Which, it's nice to not have a screaming child, but it gets hard to stay awake until 2, 3, 4 am or sometimes not even getting to sleep at night. And the first night it's okay. It's even okay the second night, but then it starts to add up. I had about 12 of those nights in a row with him. And I thought I was going to snap honestly. Don't get me wrong, I love the little guy, but I needed some sleep. So this weekend dh had him at night. I pumped milk for them and let them have fun.
The first night was not fun for dh! Little man stayed awake until 2ish, was fussy (becuase dh did not want to cuddle him, he wanted him to sleep LOL!) and then he woke up lots of times to eat. I almost felt bad on Saturday for them, but not quite! And so again, Saturday night was dh's turn to take darling boy. And at 10pm, he went to sleep. Then a few hours later he woke to eat, but fell back asleep and he proceeded to do that until about 8:30. Oh sure, decide to sleep when it's daddy's turn to take you! LOL!
But then he did it again last night for me (although 3 year old was sick so I still didn't get a lot of sleep!). And I'm crossing my fingers for a repeat performance tonight. I will be so thrilled if we can get sleep tonight! The joy of 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep ... it's more precious than gold these days!!

On another note, my boy had his one month check-up last week on wednesday. The little piggy was 11 pounds 4 ounces. I can't beleive it! So yes, he's eating quite well right now! =)
Okay, off to try to get some sleep as long as he will let me! LOL!

Happy New Year ...

Here it is ... 2006.
I can't believe this year has passed, but yet I can!
2005, although a great year, has also been a long year for me. I think I spent at least half of it just sick. It was worth it in the end when baby arrived, but the pregnancy was long and I would be lying if I said I miss being pregnant honestly!
But now it's time to look ahead to 2006 ....
2006 will be a very important year for my family.
By August we would like to be in our own home. My dh would like to have a house we can stay for, well, like the next 20 years. I would like that too ... I'm just not sure our budget allows for that. Dh may also be getting a vasectemy sometime this year. Of course that means I really just had my last pregnancy. I have mixed feelings ... half of me is saying yes, do it! The other half is screaming no, I'm not ready to make it so final!
Back to the house - it's exciting, but it will be stressful. It will mean finances are tapped. It will mean packing things up again, possibly finding new places for the kids activities, all the things that come with a change of address.
And I am thrilled at the thought of being in our own house, our own space, being able to decorate how I want to, paint if I want to, deciding where to put what, etc, etc. But it is also stressful too. And to be honest, I love the house we are living in and I love the location. We are trying to maybe just buy this house, but I'm not sure it will actually happen. So it will be sad t leave this house.
So I look at the coming year with a lot of excitment, but also with a little bit of trepidation, fear and worry! LOL!!!
And then I look at my kids ... where will they be in a year? I can't even imagine! My oldest will probably be smarter than me in a year. My middle is currently developing her personality. It will be interesting to see where she ends up in a year. And my baby ... this little 9 pound baby who pretty much needs someone to do everything for him, well in a year he will be able to move himself, say a few words, play, smile, laugh, eat foods! What an incredible change for one little person in such a short time! I can't even believe he's 3 weeks old right now ... 3 weeks has flown by (well, except for the few times when he has wanted to stay awake for like 4 hoursin the middle of the night ROFL!!).
Amazing. Completely amazing.
With all that said ... happy new year to everyone out there!!! =) Hope it's filled with fun, happiness, love and good health!

A little break ....

My darling daughters went to my mom's house Tuesday. They were to spend the night and come home Wednesday but called Wednesday and asked to stay there one more night. Dh and I said sure.
Now, don't get me wrong, I miss them terribly!! And the house seems a bit empty without them running around and no barbies or dolls to step over. And I love seeing them with the baby.
But in my mind I thought Yes! I am getting a little break! And then in my mind I thought of all the fun things I would do with my break. I have a new sewing machine to play with, a new MP3 player to put music on, books to read, things to knit, a new computer game to play .... oh, how much fun I was going to have!
Well, let me tell you what I've actually done. I did one load of laundry, vaccuumed, managed to feed myself during the day, took a shower yesterday, and have pretty much slept whenever the baby slept!!
They will be returning home in about 2 hours, and well, I haven't really done a lot of fun stuff!!
But that's okay with me ... I was tired. I needed sleep. And there will be plenty of time to play later!

Merry Christmas!

Well, we survived Christmas! Things were pretty hectic around here for the last few days. Trying to get ready, take care of an infant and take care of the other two kiddos. And when it was all said and done, we didn't just survive Christmas, we actually truly enjoyed Christmas!
On Christmas eve we had all of my dh's family over at the house. I want to say roughly 20 adults and 10 kids (including the 5 people from my family). But it was fabulous, and dh's aunt brought a chocolate fountain! Oh my goodness ... let's just say YUMMY! LOL!!! Oh, I was in heaven with that here =)
The kids had fun playing with all the other kids, and of course, the presents helped make the night a blast too hehehe! We did learn one thing. Our darling baby apparently does not like crowds and being in groups of people. He pretty much cried and nursed the entire time. It was a little frustrating because it's hard when you can't get your baby to relax, and it was kind of sad because of course, everyone wanted to hold him. But I don't blame him - we've led a pretty low key existence in his two weeks of life so to have all that commotion all of a sudden, I can get why he was not too happy!
Christmas day was a lot of fun too, if not a little overwhelming. We usually try to keep Christmas low key, not too many presents because dh and I don't want the kids to think it's all about the toys and gifts. This year, however, things got out of hand. The number of presents was, well, it was a lot!!! LOL! And of course, it's all pretty much opened, and thankfully, almost all of it has been put away. I can't believe how much stuff we all got - including dh and I.
I actually got something I have wanted for a while: an embroidery machine! It's a Singer XL-6000 and so far it looks good. I know need to go out and buy a few things before I begin to use it and figure out all the embroidery options on it. It was a present from my mom and so she said I have to make her grandma sweatshirt with the kids names on it! =)
Well, overall our Christmas was a great deal of fun and everyone enjoyed it.
And to think ... in a week it will be a new year. And I look around and I can't believe how incredibly blessed that my family and I are. And I can't believe how much life has changed in the last year (most notable the newest member!) and to think ... a year ago I would have never guessed I'd be sitting here today, a mother of five, enjoying life and in a much better place than I was a year ago!

11 days old ...

Well, my darling son is 11 days old. And so far, we've survived! LOL!
I had forgotten some of the fun an infant brings. We have created so many sweet memories all ready ... the girls just dote on their brother. They can't stand when he cries and they instantly run over to try to comfort him anyway that they can. If he's in his swing, they will puch him. If he's in the bassinette, they have figured out the buttons to make it vibrate, make music. Today my 6 year old sang him a lullabye when he started to cry. He stopped crying and fell asleep. She felt so proud of herself for helping her little brother out!
My 3 year old stands and watches him and announces his every movement to us ... "Mom, he opened his mouth. Mom he moved his hand. Mom he looked at me. Mom, he sneezed." It's actually pretty darn cute.
I forgot how special nursing a baby can be. And how peaceful a baby looks as he lays in my arms sleeping. How awesome it is to see big siblings trying to take care of the new baby. How much more wonderful my husband seems when he tries to calm the baby down. How everything can seem so sweet and rosey and perfect and wonderful and loving and how everything can just seem so right in the world.

I also forgot how tired you can feel after a night of waking every 2 hours to nurse a baby. I forgot how sad I feel when my child is crying and I can't figure out how to calm him down. I forgot how it is hard to juggle the needs of the other 2 kids when baby kept me awake for 4 hours straight in the middle of the night. I forgot how scared I felt when dh left that first morning to go to work and it dawned on me that I was going to be alone that day! I forgot how sometimes it feels like the baby has been attached to me nursing nonstop for the whole day. Or that sometimes it feels like the fastest way to wake a sleeping baby is to try to lay down yourself!

But the sweet moments out number (and outweigh) the rough ones. And I have to say we have had 11 very sweet days so far with our newest little addition.

We're all adjusting to the new rhythm for the family. I am adjusting to the sleep for a bit, nurse for a bit, sleep for a bit, change diaper, nurse schedule! And so far he mostly sleeps between feedings during the night, but not all the time! And we've already had thrush (but it seems to have cleared up with some help from gentian violet). Right now we are trying to take care of a raging diaper rash he has that nothing seems to be helping with :-( The girls just love him and dote on him and are quite understanding of mom wanting to take a nap during the day. So, we've hit a few rough spots, but so far they have been few and far between. And we are all just enthralled with this new person in our house. He pretty much has all of us wrapped around his little finger ;-)

I am officially ...

a mother of three now!!
My precious baby boy was born on December 11 at 12:01 pm.
He was kind and I was only in labor for 2 hours! Yes, 2 hours! And for about the first hour I didn't even believe I was really in labor! Good thing my dh picked up on it faster than I did because we were only at the hospital for 45 minutes before he was born. If it were up to me, we probably wouldn't have even called the midwife until I was ready to push ROFL!!!
He also came one day before his due date. The little stinker ... I said I wanted the baby to come early and he did, but barely! He is a big boy - 8 pounds 9 ounces (my second largest baby was 7 pounds 8 ounces) so he beat out his sister by over a pound!
I still just look at him and feel in awe of his arrival. I can't believe it.
We had a beautiful birth ... my husband was able to catch him when he came out and then he lifted him up and we both looked and saw he was a he at the same time! It was just amazing. I still just can't believe it honestly!
He is a great little guy too. He sleeps pretty well. He is nursing well. We hit a bump before my milk came in (he was dehydrated) but now things are going very well. His sisters absolutely adore him (phew on that point!).
My 3 year old just looks at him and watches him. She also announces all his movements to us!! My 6 year old is so eager to help us with him and is just so thrilled she now has a brother!
I think everyone in the family is just tickled pink with his arrival =)

We are adjusting pretty well, although my dh has been home this entire week. Monday he goes back to work and admittedly, I'm nervous about that. I'm pretty tired myself honestly. But at least he is a good baby and I'm getting sleep at night. But of course, we have that cycle of sleep for a 1.5-2 hours, nurse/change diaper for 1/2 to an hour. Most times he does eat and go back to sleep, but a few times he has stayed awake for a while. It's great during the day, but last night he was awake from midnight to 2:30! But, honestly, he is such a good baby so far, that a few times he does that, it's not really that bothersome. He's just my little man! And I am so wrapped up in him right now!

I'm so ready ....

Despite having 20 days until my due date (oh, no, I'm not keeping track or anything at all LOL!) I am ready to have a baby.
I am emotionally ready and we are physically ready ... we have all the baby stuff, my bag is packed, we have plans and back-up plans for when it happens.
Now from this site: The Final 6 Weeks of Pregnancy: Taking Care of Yourself, and Preparing for Labor
it says:

Signs that Labor May Begin Soon / Has Begun.
Possible Signs that labor may begin in the next few days or weeks.
· Backache: Not the type of backache you have in late pregnancy that changes when you shift position, but an on-going dull ache that makes you restless and irritable. <- I am experiencing this · Cramps. Cramping in your belly that is mild to moderate in discomfort. <- I am experiencing this
· PMS symptoms: crabby, irritable. <- I am experiencing this ·
· Nesting Urge. A sudden irresistible urge to clean, or do projects to prepare for baby. <- I am experiencing this ·
· Frequent, soft bowel movements or diarrhea. Flu-like symptoms. <- I am experiencing this ·
If you have these symptoms, it doesn’t necessarily mean labor is going to start right away. It may be days or weeks before labor begins. These symptoms are just a good reminder to make sure you have everything prepared for labor and birth, and to make sure you know what other signs to be watching for. Don’t get overly excited, just continue your normal routine, get lots of rest, eat and drink well, and take care of yourself.

Preliminary Signs that labor may be about to begin.
· Bloody show. During pregnancy, cervix contains mucus, which may be released in late pregnancy. May be a thick ‘plug’ of pinkish mucus, which might come out when you use the toilet. May be thin, mucousy discharge on toilet paper. If there is more blood than mucus, call caregiver. (Note, it’s common to have a brownish, bloody discharge within 24 hours of a vaginal exam, or intercourse. Don’t mistake this for bloody show.) <- Pretty sure this happened already ·
· Water breaks:
o Trickle or a gush. If it’s just a little mucousy fluid, it may be mucous plug.
o Pay attention to what time it breaks, write down its color, odor, etc.
o Call your doctor. Usually (80% of the time), you will go into labor on your own in the next 24 hours.
· Braxton-Hicks Contractions. Also called “pre-labor” or “false labor” contractions. <- I am experiencing this ·
o Some women never experience these, some women may have them for weeks before labor begins.
o Pre-labor contractions don’t progress: they may be irregular, or may stay same length, strength, and frequency. May last for a short time, or for several hours. Some women even start to develop a pattern: with contractions every 6-7 minutes for 2-3 hours, which then stop again. <- I am experiencing this ·
o Discomfort is mostly felt in the front of the abdomen, as muscles tighten up. May feel like your belly is a basketball. <- I am experiencing this ·
o Contractions may stop if you walk, change position or change activity, eat, drink, or empty bladder.
o ‘False Labor’ doesn’t mean they don’t hurt, and it also doesn’t mean that they’re not doing anything. Although the contractions aren’t dilating your cervix yet, they are helping you to progress in other ways: moving the cervix to an anterior position, ripening and effacing the cervix.

Positive Signs of Labor. Labor has begun.
· Gush of amniotic fluid from vagina.
· Progressing contractions: Get longer, stronger, and/or closer together with time. Are usually described as ‘very strong’ or ‘painful’, felt in the abdomen, back, or both. May start in the back, and radiate around to front. Usually increase if you walk.
· Dilation of cervix seen in vaginal exam.

Okay, I get that having that happen doens't mean labor will start imminently or that labor is even close. But I really really really wish it did LOL!! I know my body is getting ready. Okay, so baby is still sitting high, but not as high as my others were at this point. Baby is head down. Stuff is happening. And no labor.

My dh of course, keeps saying that we will have a Thanksgiving baby (which I have to admit he has said almost since the day we found out I was expecting) so he is sticking to his version of labor. I guess I will just have to laugh if the baby does indeed appear on Thanksgiving. But at the same time, I'm trying ot tell myself the baby will be late, like the other two, and my body is getting ready now because it already knows what to do so it will happen sooner.
But I'm ready now. I've hit that wall ... I'm uncomfortable, I'm tired, I'm crabby, I keep getting all this false labor (which I think if I could just eliminate that I'd be fine becuase when it hits I keep wondering if it will turn into real labor).

Never fear, I won't be doing anything silly to try to get this baby out myself early. In fact, I won't be doing anything to try to get this baby out myself. I may be feeling ready, but I want the baby to be ready. That is more important than my comfort level ... well, at least that's what I say a million and one times a day to get me through the rough spots! Eh, it works sometimes, okay, most of the time it doens't, but I still keep saying it because I do believe it!

And who knows ... maybe my husband is correct. Maybe we will be having a thanksgiving baby afterall ... I suppose though, that means we should pick out names or something soon! LOL!

Good news!!!

The baby is NOT breech!
The midwife who originally said it was wrong ... and I stand by that, because I have been feeling this baby like crazy to try to figure it out for sure on my own.
I'm still upset about the midwife who said something to begin with about it (and yes, it has been marked in my chart and they know I'm not happy with that particular midwife).

I also gained a few pounds ... my bp was high for me (130/something that I now can't remember), but I know I was nervous about the u/s tonight becuase I was scared the baby would be breech, so we will chalk it up to that unless it's high again next time. My iron was borderline ... 10.1 (they don't want it below 10.0 they said) and 2 weeks ago it was 10.5. We have decided even though I am above 10.0, I'll start iron pills anyway. If nothing else since I have had trouble with losing too much blood with the previous two births, it can't help to bump up my levels now in case history repeats itself!

We went over my birth plan .. and they said everything I had in there was completely reasonable, in line with their philosophy and would not be a problem at this point! Yeah! And if the midwife I saw today is the person who delivers me, she said she is totally open to allowing my dh to get the baby when s/he is born! Dh said he wouldn't mind doing it, but will decide on the spot becuase he wants to be doing what I need him to be doing at the time of birth, but if all goes well he will more than likely catch the baby! I think that is so neat so I really hope it can happen!

So, overall a great appointment and I'm so happy the baby isn't breech. And I swear, if that one midwife is on-call when I start labor I'm crossing my legs ROFL!!!!

We also talked about some other things ... the midwife said that if she had to bet, she doens't think I'll make 40 weeks. She also said in the scheme of things, that means nothing, because obviously we can't see the future, but that's her feeling about me. Of course, dh has been saying that for like a month or 2 months now so he told her he thought they were both right about it ROFL!

We also discussed maybe inducing right at 40 weeks, instead of waiting until 42 (assuming no labor has started at that point). We will not make any formal decisions until my 40 week appointment because 1)their policy is no inductions prior to 40 without a medical necessity (and thankfully I don't have one) and 2)there is no point to plan inducement now if baby comes on his/her own OR I got into labor on my own anyway.
I feel torn. 50% of me says don't induce until 42 weeks because I want to go into labor on my own. But I admit, the other half says, if I'm 40 weeks, I'm looking ready, baby is looking ready, etc, maybe we should induce. My longest labor was 2 hours 45 minutes. My second labor was about 2.5 hours ... but that was from when they artificially broke my membranes until delivery. The catch is that when they broke my water, nothing actually started for about 30-45 minutes? Which means from the first contraction to delivery probably wasn't even a full 2 hours. Now, one fast birth, well, that wouldn't concern me so much, but 2 fast births? I admit I'm nervous I will be delivering on the side of the road. The other upside of the inducement is that way I get to pick who delivers me. Now, there are 8 midwives in the practice who could be on call. 3 I know, recognize and remember their names, 1 I have met for one appointment, but I honestly can't picture her face anymore. 1 is the one I don't like (and although I only saw her for one appointment as well, I certainly remember her and for all the wrong reasons), The rest work very part time and it would be unlikely that they would deliver me, but I haven't yet met them - not even once. So on the small chance that they are on call, well, I will basically have a complete stranger deliver me.
I will really have to think about this over the next month though. She said, even if we decide to induce ... it won't even be talked about until my 40 week appointment. I will really have to weight the pros and cons in my head about what to do now. OR maybe my dh is right, baby will come early, labor will start by itself and no decision will need to be made ROFL!!!! =)

Christmas cards ....

Okay, why are these comments being left with links to christmas cards? I have yet to actually click a link ... but is someone actually inserting it in the comments themselves, or is soem program that has infested the blogger site?

A good day!

Today was a good day for us!
We went and did the baby shopping we needed to (which really, wasn't that much, but we did get the basinette, which was the big thing I wanted). Okay. I am in love with my basinette. I just love it! LOL! Of course, it is all set-up and in our room, just waiting for a baby to be put in it! =)
I also hit the fabric store .. I have a few things I want to make.
And we went to Best Buy to get something and dh bought my Christmas present ... of course I have to wait until Christmas to get it and now, there is no surprise, but you know what, it's something I really wanted, and well, he can surprise me next year.

The bad news we heard today is that the gp's are probably not going to Florida this winter. First of all, I worry about their mobility once snow comes. Second, grandpa is prone to flu and pneumonia. And third, I'm selfish adn was looking forward to the house to ourselves. With a new baby coming and trying to figure out how the family will work with the new little one, it was just going to be nice to have our own space, our own house, our own room and all that jazz. Not to mention I didn't want to stress about the baby waking them in the middle of the night, or getting dressed for the first few weeks. I will be sleep deprived, not at my best, and just feeling tired I'm sure, and now they will be here to see it all. Not that they are looking over my shoulder to scrutinize me, but they will be here, looking over my shoulder none-the-less. I really hope that something happens and they do end up going, even if they leave late (which they already are since they usually go in mid-October to now) and we know they will be here at least through Thanksgiving.
On the good news, dh did some more work with his new business today and he is ready to take off with it. I have been doing what I can to help out (I even approached someone about it directly, which I was sooooo nervous about and good thing it was just through e-mail otehrwise I might have had a panic attack thinking about it!). LOL! But I did it, and even if that "lead" (I hate referring to a person as a lead -it's so impersonal :-( ) doens't work out, that's fine! I did try. Of course I want this to be successful because one - it means I get my new seewing machine (ROFL!), two - money won't be so tight around here and three - in the next 12 months we HAVE to either buy this house or buy another house. And frankly, I want some extra money to save towards the purchase of a house (and hopefully this house). So I am doing what I can to try to help this be successful. And we know several people now who have been successful with doing it so far, so that is exciting! I just hope and pray it works because it will go a long way for us, even with just a small income amount each month. So, here's hoping it works for us like it has for those we know! LOL!

Long week ...

This has been a long week for me. I don't know if I have a cold or if it's the pregnancy or what, but I feel like crud. I have been throwing up again :-( When I'm not throwing up, I just feel naseous anyway. No food tastes good, nothing settles my stomach. I have huge hot flashes and then all of a sudden I'll be freezing and then back to feeling like I'm standing in a fire.
I talked to my pcp, she said she is a bit worried because when I was there last week my blood sugar was quite low so she told me to modify my diet to raise it and keep it more steady. And hopefully that will help the way I am feeling. So I guess starting today I will be watching what I eat a lot more carefully - not that any food sounds good to me anymore right now though.
Tomorrow dh and I are supposed to go shopping for baby things that we need, so that will be done. Hard to imagine that on Monday I will be 35 weeks along! That's pretty darn close ... 5-7 weeks to go. Yikes! Next Friday I will get my ultrasound to see babies position since they aren't quite sure and one thinks baby is breech (I don't think so though!) But if baby is breech, then we will schedule the version which means baby could theoretically be here in 2-3 weeks. That's really soon. I don't know if I'm ready ....
Other than that, we are just plugging along each day. My oldest completely finished her Awana book for the year and is so proud of herself. I'm proud of her too ... lots of things she memorized and she can say about 95% of them still (which I was worried that she would memorize them for the one night and then forget them, but that seems to not be the case).
My youngest started a park district class this week and is so proud of herself and loving it. I think it's cute =) And I'm glad she is enjoying it.

And here is my dh's new website: http://www.xoomaworldwide.com/EBLCreative
We have spoken to a few people who are actually making money now too so that is good news. We have both tried the X2O now and it doesn't taste bad or gross or yucky! I use one sachet a day myself ... I figure if anything it's worth it to me for the calcium alone. Since I don't drink milk, I gotta get it in other places! LOL!
Anyway, like I said, we'll see what happens with this ... of course I want it to work because then I get a big toy that I want ;-) Teheheeh!

I survived!

Yes, I survived! The party was a success, although the birthday girl showed up an hour late ::sigh::
But it was still a success none-the-less and I survived! The clean-up was not so bad. A few people helped and what was left was quite manageable. Although admittedly, I did not vacuum until this morning and just skipped it yesterday.
It was a nice party, she was quite surprised, and I think everyone had a good time. But I am glad it is over. It really did wear me out. And the morning on Sunday had a few snags (I was fighting back tears at least 3 times). Once the party started and things were going, I sat in a room where I could be almost isolated. A few people came in and and chatted with me for a bit, but basically I just wanted to sit and unwind and honestly, I was not in the mood for socialization! LOL! But overall it was a good party.

Yesterday was another long day of course with trick or treating. We were out for about an hour getting candy and then came home and had pizza. We walked with an aunt and 3 of her kids and the neighbors with their 2 kids. So everyone had fun getting candy and dressing up and all that jazz!
But by the time we got home I was glad because the baby was starting to feel pretty darn heavy by that time.

Then my husband was so cute. He worked late last night (Mondays he works 12-8 instead of a 9-5 shift). So he called to say good-night to the girls and after he talked with them he chatted with me. Our conversation:
Him: "How are you feeling tonight? I'm sure you're glad that it's bedtime after the last few days but how are you doing?"
Me: "I'm good, just tired is all."
Him: "So, you don't think you're going to go into labor or anything like that with all you've been doing for the last week?"
Me: "No! I'm pretty sure there will be no labor coming in the next few weeks but thanks for asking!"
I got a chuckle out of it all and I thought it was pretty cute and sweet of him. I think he's really worried about when this baby is coming. This weekend we are heading to Babies-R-Us to get as many of the things for baby as we can get. I'm kind of glad because I'm ready to get things ready for this baby. And I think it's cute he's so worried about it and just wants to get everything ready now just in case. It's why I love him so much though =)

And on the good side, one of his part-time jobs has ended completely and the other part-time job he is done with 95% of what he needs to do. So now we should have more time ... although his Xooma water mix came yesterday so he'll start to work on that, but I don't anticipate that taking too much time honestly. Maybe initially, but I'm not worried about it. I think the key is to get a good base of customers that will re-order. It is interesting. We have our samples we will be trying later today to see how it tastes. I'm curious ... it has calcium, magnesium and a bunch of other stuff in it, and if it tastes good, I think I might start to drink it! It looks interesting and so we'll see how it goes!