A Pregnant Rant

You know you're nine months pregnant when:

 

-Waking only three or four times a night to nurse a baby sounds restful!  (As opposed to waking every hour to use the bathroom.)

 

-Getting dressed each day becomes optional.

 

-Brushing children's hair becomes optional.

 

-Pants become optional.  (If you're three that is.)

-Housework becomes optional 6 days a week.  On the 7th day (AKA nesting day) it is absolutely necessary to scrub and re-organize every inch of your house.

-On that 7th day you realize that it takes all of your energy just to operate the vacuum cleaner for a little while.  Scrubbing and re-organizing every inch does NOT happen.

-Hot dinners are a thing of the past.  PBJ anyone?

-Mount Never-rest (AKA the clean laundry pile) grows and grows until everyone's drawers and closets are empty.

-You begin to daydream about the many ways you could induce your own labor.

-The thought of going anywhere, even downstairs, invokes a sigh of exhaustion.

-A morning shower uses so much energy that a nap is needed afterward.

I am definitely counting down the days here, and complaining just a little.  It's really only these last few weeks that are so uncomfortable, though.  I've gone through this with every pregnancy, and it's been a little worse with each one.  Mostly I'm just tired because I'm at that point that I can't sleep longer than an hour at a time.  My bladder has way too little room right now, and even my arms and legs ache somehow so I'm never comfortable in bed.  It's amazing how being tired can turn your world upside down!  I don't want to do anything. 

I really have it pretty good, though.  Thanks to homeschooling, I don't have to get the kids dressed every morning (or every day for that matter) and take them somewhere.  We don't have to wake up at any specific time, and I can sleep in if I need to.  The kids are so in love with books that they are spending hours reading even on days that I don't have the energy for school.  We managed to get into such a wonderful chore system during the past year or so that the kids are doing most of the housework right now.  That is an enormous blessing!  They're even doing a lot of my chores for me.  So I'm able to rest and take it slow a lot more than most.

AND...I can count today as one for accomplishments because I actually made it through some tasks!

With the first three kids, I've always felt amazingly improved immediately after each birth, so I'm really crossing my fingers for the same experience this time. 

Alex Turns Three

Today is Alex's third birthday.  I'm even posting about it on the same day...shocking I know!  We're so glad to have this little man in our family.  We had a little party for him on Friday with another family.

 

Here's the handsome birthday boy before his party.

Here are the kids from both our families all ready for cake.

He was all sorts of smiles when we lit the candles and sang to him.

This tractor cake was SO easy.  I may have gone a little overboard by including all of those tractors and cones, but it was fun for Alex.

The inside of the cake was supposed to look like this, but it looked like this instead.  You can see where I borrowed the idea, plus a tutorial here.  I tried, but apparently not hard enough.  My problem was that I didn't cut enough stripes (so they were too fat) and the cake was overly frozen when I made the cuts.  Oh well.  It tasted good and was fun.

Alex knew what to do with those candles this year!

Our ice cream was overly frozen...hmm...that seems to have been a theme.  It took both Jim and Andy to muscle a scoop out for everyone.  :) 

The adults played a game and visited while the kids played for a while.  Then we decided to let Alex open his presents.

Today we aren't really celebrating, but I did give the kids an unusually fun day.  I haven't felt well at all lately, so they were thrilled that I took them to the library today.  Alex was pretty excited to go to the 'new library'.  After the library, Alex requested, "Now we go to my big Pizza Hut!"  That was pretty funny considering we don't often eat out, and I wasn't planning to go anywhere else.  However, he got lucky because Logan had two Book It coupons that we needed to use, so I decided to stop on our way home.  One of the coupons was expired, but I figured I'd ask anyway since Logan had earned them.  Luck struck again!  Not only did they let us use both of Logan's coupons, but they allowed us to use them for two kids' buffets and gave Alex a free buffet since it was his birthday!  Three free kids' buffets was a no brainer.  So Alex got to eat at his 'big Pizza Hut' for his birthday today.  Happy birthday little man!

Seven Pounds

Today I had another ultrasound at the doctor because they are keeping an eye on the baby's kidney.  It's looking like she isn't going to have a problem.  She's head down now, too.  Those inversion exercises I did a few weeks ago did the trick.  Yay!  It also appears that she is competing to be our biggest newborn.  As of today they say she weighs 6 pounds, 13 ounces.  So 7 pounds already!  No wonder my back hurts!  I don't envy women who have bigger babies.  She's gained 2 1/2 pounds in the last four weeks, and we have four weeks to go.  We just might have our first 9 pound baby.  Maybe this will increase my chance of going into labor this time???  Everyone keep your fingers crossed.  :)

Big Kids

Annie and Alex are about to have their birthdays, and I'm always amazed at how quickly time flies with these kids. 

 

Alex is mostly potty trained.  The exception is that I've gone back to diapers for bedtime.  We had him in underwear at night for a week, but only once did he make it even half the night dry.  I'm not willing to change sheets that often right now.  We'll try again after the baby is born.  I can't believe he's about to be three.  It's funny how three seemed so old when it was Logan, but Alex still seems like a baby.  Perspective sure makes a difference.  Alex is starting to join the bigger kids, though.  He's finally sitting still for reading time, and he mimicks everything we do during school time.  He's an incredibly independent, stubborn, know-it-all, and turns very bossy sometimes.  What a funny kid!  He's helping with chores more and more; he even requests 'extra chores' which is a sign he's still a baby because 'extra chores' in our house are negative consequences.  Nevertheless, he wants to do his part.  Last week he made his own bed for the first time.  I took a picture.

 

Annie has noticeably matured recently too.  She physically looks older, and she acts more mature.  She's become a hard and happy worker when it comes to chore and school time.  She wants to learn and she is trying so hard.  Today she received some surprised notice from different people because she was reading out loud at the doctor's office.  I'm surprised too folks! 

 

In preparation for the kids' birthdays, Annie and Logan spent some time one day making birthday cards.  They made quite a few, but I only took pictures of these three. 

 

"happee Berthday Annie I am glad that yuo are terning 5...I love you...Logan"

"Alex...Happe Bertdeay"  This one is from Annie.

And...no drawing time would be complete right now without a picture of the Titanic.  This is Logan's favorite topic right now.

Kids Say

I've been terrible at recording these lately, and unfortunately have lost quite a few of them...

Logan, "Mom you're looking really pregnant.  Your tummy is sticking out more than your chest is."

Annie was twirling around in a play dress and Alex really liked it. His encouragement was, "Awesome Annie!  Awesome Annie!" and then he gave her a big hug.

As we were driving one day Alex had a cookie, but the other kids didn't.  Annie wasn't happy about that.  "Mom when we get home can you make a treat?  Because Alex's cookie is BOTHERING me!"

Nesting

This week I am suddenly finding my house to be disgusting and unorganized.  I'm feeling stressed to have everything ready for the baby too.  I've even made myself a to-do list of everything I want to make perfect before her arrival.  The funny part is that I know my house isn't disgusting or unorganized, and I really don't have much to do to prepare for the baby.  Logic isn't lining up with instinct here.  :)  I'm pretty sure I haven't had the nesting urge this bad before.  (I was past my due date before I set up a nursery for Logan!)  Maybe it's a sign that I'll actually go into labor this time...I'm certainly crossing my fingers on that one.

 

Anyway, rather than catching up my laundry or doing any dishes today (maybe that's why my house feels dirty) I pulled out the baby things and organized them.  I washed the baby clothes last night so I even put those away.  I can't wait to use these cute things again!  (Now if only I could get some old stains out a little better...that's the next step I guess.) 

 

I moved Alex's bed and clothing into the kids' room because this time I really want to put the baby in her own room right away.  I've never been able to sleep with a baby in my room.  Annie will share a room with the baby after we're on a schedule, but it's easier for me this way for now.  Maybe I'm weird.  Alex really feels like a big boy now that he's moved into the big kids' room.  If only he would stop pestering them and go to sleep!  I'm glad he has a few weeks to learn. 

 

The kids were super excited to help me rearrange things.  They even re-located a whole shelf of books for me so I could put some baby books in the nursery.  Annie was thrilled to help with the clothes.  She is such a girl!  I even pulled out the baby toys.  The kids played with those until bedtime; I'm hoping they'll get that out of their system quickly because those toys are noisy!

 

I've hit the point with this pregnancy that I am SO ready to be done.  My energy is GONE, my back hurts, my belly hurts, and I don't even want to move around.  The only thing keeping me from wanting the baby NOW is my silly to-do list.  Maybe I should just make it last for a few more weeks.  Maybe not...  :) 

Snow Story

Since we've had a LOT of snow (almost every day for 1.5 weeks) the kids have had a lot of play time in it.  That's great in and of itself, but I really want to share the funny results of all this snow.

Last week while they were out playing, Logan came in telling me, "Alex fell off the wall!"  I was puzzled so I questioned him until I learned that Alex fell off of the retaining wall into our neighbor's yard.  On one end of our yard, there is a six foot drop into the neighbor's yard.  The kids have never taken any risks with this so I've never worried.  I was still puzzled when Logan told me this, though, because I didn't hear any crying.  Logan assured me that Alex was crying and went further to tell me that "his legs are probably broken".  So of course I put on my boots to investigate.

Upon reaching the backyard I saw BOTH Alex and Annie in the neighbor's yard.  No one was crying, though; they were playing on the neighbor's swing.  Obviously Alex hadn't been hurt by the fall.  (Hooray for deep snow!)  I then questioned Annie because I hadn't expected her to be over there.  Her explanation was, "Me and Alex fell off the wall!"  Further questioning brought this explanation, "It was because Logan pushed us!"  What?!!  When I finally had all the information it turned out that they were on the sled together, Logan gave them a push (our backyard is slightly sloped), and they had enough momentum that they went over together.

Fast forward to today.  Again the kids were playing in the yard, and again they were playing on the sled.  I warned them to be careful about going over the wall again, and Logan assured me they would be.  "Don't worry Mom, I'm putting out my legs!"  I was watching them rather closely from the window as they went up and down our slope over and over.  I looked down at one point and the next thing I knew the kids had disappeared.  Sure enough, they'd gone over the edge again!  Thankfully no one was hurt, but I'm thinking sledding is off limits in our backyard from now on.  It's funny now, but it probably wouldn't be if we were going to the ER for a broken leg.

To Flush or Not To Flush

We had quite the fiasco over the course of last week all resulting in one flush (of a toilet that is).  Feel free to laugh; we're laughing now, though it's entirely possible I cried once or twice during the ordeal. 

 

It started last Saturday night.  We arrived home from a long, but good day, and immediately set to work preparing the house for a showing.  The showing was to be in 30 min. so we were in quite a rush.  I ran into the bathroom (because that's what pregnant women do every half hour) to discover some paper towels in the toilet.  The thought briefly flashed through my mind to get some tongs and take them out of the toilet, but I was in a hurry and thought I could get away with it.  The toilet started to overflow, so Jim rushed in to rescue me (I have yet to learn how to plunge).  He being in a hurry as well thought he could get away with plunging so he went for it.  That's when we BOTH realized our mistake.  This was totally our fault.  We knew it was risky, but threw caution to the wind because we 'didn't have time to deal with it'.  Ha!

 

A fiasco ensued.  The plunge was so forceful, and the paper towels so plentiful (we hadn't taken time to notice that minor major detail) that they burst the wax ring on the bottom of the toilet.  This flooded the bathroom AND waterfalled into the downstairs bathroom directly below.  My first thought was to cancel the fast approaching showing, so I called our realtor's cell phone and her office only to hear voicemail.  It was after business hours.  :(  The showing was still happening!  We frantically dried and cleaned what we could before the potential buyers showed up.  We then made a hasty exit as they approached our door, and gave a quick explanation of why our house was damp, smelly, and not quite clean.

 

After the showing Jim started to remove the toilet so he could replace the wax ring, but discovered that he was going to break the toilet in the process.  I won't go into why, but the short version is that we ended up buying a new toilet, had more delays, and finally installed the new toilet at 1:30am.  Jim actually spent less than an hour doing the repair.  It was getting everything he needed that took so long.  We went to bed exhausted and relieved!  (Well, I had already gone to bed, but hadn't been sleeping.) 

 

This story is only half finished, but before I continue I think this post needs at least one picture.  Here's the new toilet.  :)

After church on Sunday, I set to work cleaning up the previous night's mess.  Our house was smelly and there were floors that needed to be mopped in a major way.  After two hours of thorough scrubbing I started the washing machine (full of the toilet water towels) and we all took a nap.

It was a really good thing we had that nap because when we woke up I went downstairs to discover that our sewer had backed up!  Jim had attempted to auger out the paper towels in both the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms, but hadn't succeeded.  They had made it into our main sewer line and stopped!  The positive to the sewer backup is that it happened in the garage, so we had no sewage in the house, but the negative is that it affected all of our plumbing.  This was the point that it is entirely possible I cried.

We considered our options.  We have a home warranty attached to the sale of our house, so the repair would only cost $60 if we used it.  We sent in that request immediately.  However, that meant days of waiting.  Considering I'm eight months pregnant and Alex is VERY newly potty trained, it was absolutely necessary that we had the ability to use a toilet every hour of the day.  So we next considered if we could even stay in our own home.  Jim thought it would be great if we just stayed in a hotel near work (so he wouldn't have to commute) until it was fixed.  On the one hand that would have been nice and fun in some ways.  On the other hand that would have been expensive enough that we may as well have just called Roto-Rooter to come right away!  After worrying and experimenting with a flush or two I determined that we could get away with staying at home as long as we didn't flush every time.  Gross I know, but it was the best option.

So over the course of the next few days several friends offered to let us use their plumbing for laundry and showers, we drained as little water as possible, and our dog-diarrhea fiasco began (I'm wondering if he somehow consumed sewage...maybe it was just a coincidence).  I actually spent the whole day on Monday washing laundry at a friend's house.  We are so grateful!  By Tuesday I had figured out how to take a 'two gallon shower' at home, so I was even at a point that I could make that work without going anywhere.  Strange as it sounds, I was glad to realize how well we were able to adapt.  The dog issue wasn't any fun, but a couple of shots at the vet (on Thursday) set him right again.

On Wednesday the plumber came.  He wasn't able to remove the block, but he managed to break it up so that water was again flowing.  He indicated that it might back up again since he couldn't clear it, but he would come back for no charge if it backed up again.  That night was when the dog had several accidents all over the bed (we thought that if he slept with Jim, Jim would be able to let him out when he needed it...bad idea).  We had a showing scheduled for Thursday afternoon, and since we had some worry that the sewer might back up again we hadn't wanted to run the washing machine until after the showing.  We risked it, though, and thankfully the risk was worth it that time.  We haven't had any problems since.  Yesterday we replaced the water damaged ceiling tiles in the downstairs bathroom (hooray for tiles vs. sheetrock!) and called the whole ordeal done.  

So now choosing to look at the positive side:

1. Our bathrooms are slightly improved: one has a new toilet, and the other has new ceiling tiles (the old ones were already somewhat stained).
2. We've learned a valuable lesson and our children witnessed it (so hopefully they've learned it too).  I guarantee we will never risk flushing anything besides toilet paper again!
3. We have a great story to tell.
4. The home warranty we'll be paying for (as an incentive for the buyer) has served us well!
5. We have lots of wonderful friends.
6. We learned that we can adapt in less than ideal circumstances.
7. We now own a toilet auger and a Dremel tool kit which Jim wanted anyway (because Jim needed it to remove the old toilet...long story on why that is the tool he bought).
8. It's OVER!

The moral of the story: Do NOT flush/ plunge paper towels!  :)