2014 - Week 16

This week started off pretty normal. My new usual morning conversation with Amelia at drop off has become her telling me how she’s not going to get in trouble, she’s not going to hit anybody and she’s not going to the toddler room. Seriously, she is quite a character. Too bad she doesn’t actually follow through with this plan most days. And, can I just say, it cracks me up that her punishment is going to the toddler room…or, according to her, being with the babies. Ha. Speaking of babies, this baby seems to be developing some serious opinions on food these days – I’ve been having some major reactions to different foods all of a sudden…apparently s/he is developing quite the palate suddenly. Outside of that, it was a pretty standard Monday.

Tuesday started of pretty busy. Christian was off to work, the girls were off to school, and I started the day working from home. After a couple hours, I dropped Chuy of at the vet for his 6 month check-up, then I was off to my appointments. First up, a biophysical ultrasound. Baby got a perfect score again, which is great. They took measurements again, and baby is still measuring big, but not AS big, so I’m feeling a little better. The femur bone still measures exactly on point with 36 weeks; his/her head is now only 2 weeks ahead, 66% which is better; but the abdomen is still measuring 3+ weeks ahead, 97%. Baby must just be packing on the pounds in there! They estimated his/her weight to be 7lbs3ozs right now, which is 1-2 pounds over where s/he should be. But, the fact that the measurements are different than the last scan makes me feel a little more comfortable, and makes me trust the scans less and less. Other than that, my fluid levels still look great, baby continues to move down, baby is breathing great and his/her heart rate was around 150. I met with my midwife for my usual appointment after the ultrasound. She is still very supportive of everything, but doesn’t seem overly optimistic, which worries me a little. I’ve seen Ann for all three of my pregnancies, and I really trust her, but I will admit it’s a little disheartening to feel like she’s not 100% on board with everything. She did however reaffirm that regardless of what the scan says, we can’t know for sure how big baby is, until baby gets here. And, that’s what I’m trying to focus on. After my appointment, I was finally off to work for the rest of the day. But, I was met with some more frustration. This weekend is supposed to be the big mini-van purchase weekend, but it’s shaping up to be a very difficult thing to coordinate. My uncle works for Dodge, so we can get a discount through him. He goes through a specific dealership for his discount because he feels like he gets the best deal there, which is quite a drive from our house. On top of that, my stepmom has to co-sign on the purchase because she is the immediate relative. And, of course, Christian has to be there because we’re trading in his truck for the purchase. So, trying to coordinate so many schedules has proved to be pretty stressful. On top of that, loan applications and getting all of the paperwork together – my brain is going to explode! By the time I got home tonight with those crazy girls, I was EXHAUSTED!

First time in 3 pregnancies I resorted to using one of these parking spots! It was lovely...

Well, all of the stress from yesterday somehow turned into the best night of sleep I’ve had in a LONG time. It just made Wednesday come way too fast though. How can you be so tired when you actually get a good nights’ sleep for a change?!? The day went by very slow. The slow day turned into a stressful night. These girls of ours will NOT stop fighting with each other. It’s constant…over everything, and anything. I feel like we already live in a house with teenagers, and they’re only 3 & 5! And, it’s not just arguing and a little slap here and there, they literally beat the crap out of each other if you let them. Honestly, I think “moms of boys” would be pretty shocked to find out what a couple of little girls are really like! Trust me, it’s not all sugar and spice over here!

Thursday was a pretty typical day. I’m still feeling completely overwhelmed by all of the unknowns in our live right now, and all of the planning as these final weeks tick by. Car buying, maternity leave planning, FMLA, Short Term Disability and insurance paperwork, and of course, all of the final preparations before baby gets here. It feels like so much more than with either of the other girls. The planning and to-do lists just keep growing and growing, I don’t feel like I ever actually check anything off of my lists! This is pretty much what consumes me now.

Friday was my Friday off and THANK GOD, it could not have come soon enough. I needed a day to myself, some quiet. I had a list of things I wanted to do today, but I sat around watching my shows instead. Not very productive, but much needed, so whatever. I did get the girls’ latest school pictures, and they were pretty disappointing. Olivia had her first filling done the morning of their pictures, so her mouth was a little numb still. Her pictures still turned out pretty good though. I don’t know what was going on with Amelia, but she was apparently not cooperating AT ALL. She must have just not been in the mood for pictures that day. And, I have a feeling in their sibling photos, Olivia was driving her nuts. Oh well, they do crack me up. The girls and I spent the night inside, watching some movies and hanging out, while Christian cleaned out the last of the truck. I know he’s having a tough time accepting it, but I’m hoping the moping doesn’t last too long!

Always in my face...

Saturday started off pretty normal…Christian was off to work for a while, and the girls and I hung out around the house. I put them down for a nap, Christian arrived home and we both got ready. My mom arrived to watch the girls, and we were finally off for the big event…it was finally mini-van purchasing day. Everything had finally come together, everybody who needed to be there, showed up. We were nervous but very excited (well, I think Christian was holding back tears all day, but I could tell he was still excited.  We chatted with the salesman for a bit, then settled on a van to test drive. We took it around town for a bit and it was pretty dang awesome! We were sold (though, we had pretty much already decided anyway). The van has pretty much everything, except heated seats and an auto start. It’s a light gray/silver with black interior, and it’s their “sports” series. It has two DVD players (which, we don’t actually plan on using, but they’re standard), navigation and electric everything. Seriously, I’m in love. My dad and stepmom surprised us with a little cash gift, to use towards the car or towards baby stuff, which was a pretty amazing surprise. We’re going to save that for some baby clothes! We ended up getting $11,500 for the truck, which was about what we were hoping for, put down our down-payment, and just have to take out a small loan through our credit union for the rest. In the end, we should have the van paid off by the end of 2015, then we’ll be on to getting Christian a new car. It was quite a process, but I’m glad it’s finally done. It started raining on our way home, and my mom was on her way as soon as we arrived. We had a pretty quiet night at home…dinner, some TV and play time. Once the girls were down, Christian was off with a friend to have a couple beers and mourn the loss of his truck. What a day!!

Forced morning cuddles for Rico

The new van!!!

Amelia, listening to baby

Sunday was Easter Day, and we were looking forward to a pretty quiet day. The girls were up pretty early. We didn’t do Easter baskets this year…their ponies from the mall last year were their “Easter gifts”, and there has just been too much going on for me to worry about baskets. Luckily, the girls didn’t even realize they were missing anything. They don’t even remember they usually get baskets. I started laundry and did some cleaning up. We had breakfast and took the girls outside to do their egg hunt. Man do they have a blast with that every year. I think we just may skip the baskets from now on and just focus on the egg hunt, they just love it! Next up, we got ourselves ready and we were off to my in-laws for Easter dinner. The girls played with their cousins for a while, but they left shortly after dinner, and the girls started acting up big time. So, we had to cut our visit pretty short a well and head home. The girls watched some videos and relaxed for a while, while Christian took down the Christmas lights on the house and I finished up laundry. A busy weekend comes to an end!

Easter Pictures

Today also marks 37 Weeks for me…that means I’m officially FULL TERM!!!! I can’t believe it, I seriously feel like I JUST found out I was pregnant, and now here I am, full term and ready to go any time now. I’m definitely reaching that point of being ready to go, especially with all of these threats of a giant baby. Baby’s movements have become much more compact, but boy do they have a lot of power! I get more uncomfortable with each passing day, but nothing too miserable yet. We just getting very anxious to meet this little one and welcome him/her into our crazy little family!

2014 - Week 15

Monday was a pretty typical start to the week. Christian and I were off to work, the girls were off to school. Nothing too exciting planned for the day. I did receive my first message regarding Olivia’s “baseball” and I’m SO excited for her to start. It’s going to be such a hectic time for her to be starting up a new sport, but I can’t wait to watch her play and grow, and I hope she grows to love it. I played from the time I was about 6 years old, up through high school, and loved every bit of it. I’m still not too sure if team sports will be Olivia’s thing as she gets older, but we’ll see. Our evening was pretty standard…I picked up the girls, we played, had some dinner, hung out. It’s so nice, with each passing day it’s light out later and later. So wonderful!

Tuesday was another pretty low key day. I was feeling very uncomfortable at work, so I made my way home to finish up the day from the comfort of my bed. There is just nothing better than working from home, in my jammies, not having to deal with anybody. It’s so relaxing, and quiet. They are working on getting a few of us in the office that “GoToMyPC” program, which will be SUPER awesome, actually being able to access all of my work and do everything from home. Hopefully it happens before I go on leave so I can take advantage of it when I reach the completely miserable stage! Outside of that, it was a pretty low key night. Just resting, trying to get some energy back.

Somebody is not going to be happy when baby comes, and she doesn't get to sleep in his/her bed anymore...

Wednesday I still wasn’t feeling great, but I made my way to work. We did have an ice cream sundae party this afternoon to celebrate the April birthday’s in our office, so that made it worth leaving my bed. I finally connected with my uncle this evening to start discussing the mini-van purchase. He took some information on what we want and all that, and has to call his guy at the dealership to start piecing it all together. So exciting!!! Even though we plan on trading in Christian’s truck, he did suggest we try to tell it ourselves in the meantime, since we’d obviously get a little more selling it. So, I posted it to carsoup before bed, and we’re crossing all of our limbs it catches somebody’s eye!

I don’t have much to report on for Thursday, other than the fact that I worked from home all day. Man was I in pain, ALL DAY LONG. It was just miserable. I did get quite a bit of work done, so at least something good came out of it, but this is going to be a loooooong final stretch if I don’t start feeling a tad better pretty soon. And, it’s official; we seriously need a bigger bathtub. Why don’t bathtubs come in grown adult sizes?? It’s the only thing that slightly relaxes me and (temporarily) makes me feel better, but it would be nice to be able to fit my entire body in it at one time…

My TBT photo this year, first time snuggling each of the girls. Can't believe I'll be doing this again soon!

Realized today was also National Sibling Day, so I posted a 2nd TBT photo....I don't have any (biological) siblings of my own, so I posted one of my favorite siblings. So little!!!

Friday I was back at work, and survived the day. And, as of today, I have 30 days left until my due date. 30 DAYS!!! It’s really the final countdown now. So hard to believe, one month left. Beyond excited!! However, my allergies and/or sinuses seem to be acting up, which is not so great. The weather today was beautiful though, so once I left work, made a quick stop at Target and picked the girls up, we spent some time playing in the backyard. So nice to finally be able to spend some time outside, here and there at least. Until the girls start acting up and driving each other crazy of course. Christian had to work very late tonight, so it was pretty much just me and the girls. We had dinner, watched some movies and relaxed for a bit before bed. I was exhausted, and Christian also works early tomorrow, so it was an early night for everybody. What a Friday night!

Spending time outside!

Whoo Hoo!

On Saturday, Christian not only had to work, but had to drive his supervisor to the airport for a business trip, SERIOUSLY early in the morning, so he was up and out the door long before any of us girls were awake. Talk about a good OT day! There was no sleeping in for the rest of us either though. We were up and at em’ fairly early…I dropped Olivia off across the street with our friends, and took Amelia to finish her early childhood screening. Last time we were in, the nurse called in so we could not do the medical portion of the screening. Amelia did so well when we were there for the developmental portion, but she did not want ANYTHING to do with the hearing and eye tests. She pushed through and finished her eye exam, but she really didn’t cooperate with her hearing very well at all. The nurse “passed” her as far as her screening goes, but suggested that her doctor do a hearing exam at her 4 year check-up this summer. I’m trying not to be concerned about it, and as we were leaving I asked her if she could hear the beeps, and she claims she could, but I’ve always been a little suspicious of her hearing, for a few reasons. For one, she constantly grabs her ears...we’ve just thought maybe it’s just a nervous tick kind of thing. She says they don’t hurt, but will often say she does it because it’s too loud (when, nothing loud is going on). Now, I’m curious if maybe they do hurt, or she’s hearing things differently than the rest of us. Also, she asks “what” after almost everything you say to her. I know, I know, she’s 3. It’s hard to explain, but it’s more than just annoying toddler “what” – it’s not like she’s not listening, or she’s super distracted, it’s like she can’t comprehend that you are talking to her, or she just literally cannot make out what you are saying. So, I’m not completely convinced there isn’t something going on, but we’ll have to see what her doctor says in a few months. All in all, the screening took about 15 minutes. We stopped to visit with our friends…well, the girls watched “Frozen” and played for a bit while Sara and I caught up. We made our way home and it wasn’t long before it was time to get ready and head to swim class. Both of the girls are doing SOOOOOOO well this session. I seriously cannot believe how well Olivia can swim now. Just a year ago she had no idea what to do and couldn’t swim a lick, now she does so well, it’s amazing. Amelia is actually listening and trying really hard this session, I’m so proud of her. She wears her floating devices still, but she actually moves her arms and legs like she’s supposed to, and she’s working on her floating. Very exciting! After class, we grabbed some lunch , and met Christian back at home. He showered and changed, and we were off on our next adventure…dinner and a playdate with some old friends, Kelly and Nixon, we haven’t seen in a few years (they are actually the girls’ godparents). Without going into any intimate details, we had a bit of a falling out with them a few years back, and have slowly had more and more contact over the last year or so. They invited us over to have dinner and hang out…admittedly, Christian and I were a little nervous about it. But, it was a pretty fun night. The kids didn’t skip a beat and got right to playing as soon as we arrived, and seemed to have a pretty good time playing together all evening while we caught up with Kelly and Nixon. We left shortly before bedtime and made our way home to relax for a bit before bed. On our way home, we passed Waterpark of America, and the girls would NOT stop talking about it the rest of the night. They wanted to go there…NOW! We kept telling them it costs money, and we would save up and go there sometime soon. Nope, not good enough. Eventually, they exclaimed “but we do have money”, and disappeared off to the back of the house. They came out with handfuls of pennies, ready to go. It was seriously adorable. I explained that it was not quite enough, and we would work to save up and go there soon. It was a long night of disappointed children, but we all survived. Christian ended up going to a friends to watch a boxing match, but it was an early night for the girls and I. What a busy day!

Early Morning snuggles!

Her new swimsuit came this week! LOVE IT!

Pennies for Waterparks!

Sunday was another pretty busy day. I was up and right on top of my weekend chores, as usual. I started some laundry (and, in the end, didn’t really make much progress on the laundry front today), I cleaned up the bedrooms and bathroom, and got the dishes done (which, is usually the extent of cleaning our kitchen needs). Then, it was time for breakfast and we all got ready for the day. The rest of the day was devoted to Easter fun. First up, we stopped at the Mall of America to visit with the Easter Bunny. Similar to Santa, they had a professional photographer there this year, but they still let us take our own photos, as long as we stayed behind him and out of the way. Works for me, at least we weren’t shoved off to the side like we were with Santa. I hope they aren’t leaning towards not allowing you to take your own photographs – I didn’t realize how rare it is to be able to take your own, but apparently it is (which, seems ridiculous to me). We stopped into Carter’s to get a boy and a girl going home outfit for the baby, and I was pretty excited to mark that off our list of things to do. And, finally, we stopped into Build-a-Bear as an early Easter gift for the girls (they won’t be getting baskets this year). Some new My Little Ponies came out this month, so Olivia got her Rarity, and Amelia picked Scootaloo (one of the cutie crusaders). Amelia didn’t actually get to stuff hers – it comes already stuffed because they are smaller, but she didn’t even want to help Olivia do hers, so apparently she doesn’t care. Olivia wasn’t even very into filling her Rarity – she gets too embarrassed, so I was basically better off just ordering them online like I did with their Christmas gifts! After they gave their new ponies a little bath (and, Olivia talked Christian into letting her get Spike as well – what a pushover), we made our way home. We had a late lunch, Amelia laid down for a bit, and Christian and I popped in a movie to relax for a little while. My mom stopped over to visit and drop off some snacks for us, so the girls got to play with her for a bit. Then, back to Easter fun. We dyed our Easter eggs and baked a cake – YUM!! The girls had so much fun, I love that they that they get more and more into it as they get older. Finally, we relaxed for the rest of the evening. Boy were we all exhausted, that’s for sure!

Easter Festivities

Boy or Girl, which one will it be?!?

Today also marked 36 weeks for me. Welcome to month 9!!! I can’t believe that within the next 4 weeks, we’ll have our new little bundle to love and cuddle, and our family will finally be complete. I’m so over the moon excited, and so anxious to find out if we’re having a boy or a girl. Not much longer now! I’m hoping next Saturday will be mini-van buying time, which will be a HUGE relief (you know, to actually have a vehicle we all fit in when s/he come!). And, it’s stressing me out, so I just want the whole thing OVER! Then, the following weekend is the baby shower my friends are throwing me, which I am super excited for. After the shower, we’ll pick up the last of any necessities we still need, install the infant car seat base in the new van, and we’ll officially be ready. Technically, the baby still does not have a name either, but that’s Christian’s fault, so if he keeps dragging his feet and refusing to either agree, or come up with his own suggestions, I will just have to make the decision! And, I will too…happily! Of course, as with the past couple weeks, each day gets a little tougher, a little more uncomfortable. Nighttime/Sleeping is getting harder, and painful. The baby is definitely running out of room – we’re pretty much past the kicking and flutters stage, and now it’s just massive movements that are super painful. Oh, all the things you forget about! But, of course, it’s still the most amazing feeling. It’s still hard to believe that I’ll never experience all of this again, but I’m honestly OK with that, which is comforting. 28 days to go!!