Thursday, January 31, 2008

First snow day of the season!

I think we got a bit of an answered prayer. Meg has been suffering from school burnout and I had actually planned on going there to eat lunch with her today to help her feel better. This morning, the snow was falling heavily, yet no news of school closing at bus pickup time. So, she got on the bus, and not 10 minutes later, her bus driver called and said he was bringing her back because they had just cancelled school.

So, we threw just a few snowballs at each other and daddy as he was leaving, and now we're inside, the girls eating together, watching their newest Yogi Bear movie. I'm glad Meg got a break today. She may even be home tomorrow, depending on how much more we get. Reports say the biggest of it is coming this evening.

Anyway, I'm happy today to have my girls here together today. Now, back to my coffee and Good Morning America.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

What's a mom to do?

When your little kindergartener doesn't want to go to school? Poor Meg actually was crying and just clingy to me last night saying she didn't want to go to school and just wanted to stay home and play with Zoe.

I took her to school this morning, hoping that would help. It did some, but she stopped eating her breakfast and said her tummy hurt and she thought she should stay home. I gave her some Pepto and went through the whole "Everyone has to go to school. It's not optional." speech again.

She teared up again as she was getting her coat on, but I took her anyway. I can't let her start staying home and I can't take her and pick her up each day--not with 2 other little ones here escpecially.

I wish they didn't push them so hard in Kindergarten. The poor kids start school at 7:40 and don't stop til 2:25. They only get about 20 minutes for lunch and they stopped taking naps after Christmas. To add to that, Meg has to get on the bus at 6:45 and doesn't get home until after 3 pm.

I'm just not sure what to do about it. Megan as my first has always been my "guinea pig", so I'm learning as I go with her. She's doing very well in school--a great reader, good behavior, learning math well. I hope she doesn't go downhill because of this. I'm hoping it's just a phase, a normal "burnout".

Things I'm trying: snack and nap or rest after school, helping and encouraging her with reading assignments, hanging up pictures she brings home, heaping praise for good grades and good behavior reports. Other than that, if you moms of slightly older school-age kids have any ideas, I'm all ears!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Ick.


If you haven't tried Smucker's Microwave Toppings Hot Fudge, don't! I just bought a bottle today, and it has a strong chemical/plastic taste to it. I can't even taste the fudge. I was so disappointed. I had been craving some hot fudge and whipped cream to go on my ice cream that I've been eating on. It was just gross. I don't think I'll be eating that again. I've had the kind in the jar, and it's always been fair to good. I hated it so much I sent in a complaint to http://www.smuckers.com/. Ick.

I've finally reached uncomfortable

I held out pretty well for most of this pregnancy. Now, I'm officially uncomfortable.

I think it started with the false labor contractions over the weekend. Zach has decided he likes to wake up about 3:00 AM and kick, roll, and party for an hour or so.

Hormones are making me crazy, so while he's keeping me awake kicking, I'm lying there worrying about all kinds of stuff.

He's really low-lying, so he's putting tons of pressure on my pelvis, actually making my pelvic bones sore, squishing my bladder, often giving me the urge to go---NOW! And restricting my large intestine, so going No. 2 is harder than ever.

I'm 33 weeks now, and I honestly don't feel all that "big", maybe because he's lying so low, but I sure feel it. Still, I'm not in a rush to get this pregnancy over with. It's been great. Now, ask me that in a couple weeks and I might change my mind!

Monday, January 28, 2008

An exciting weekend

We traveled to my in-laws' this past Saturday to celebrate Zoe's third birthday. I was so happy to be able to have my brother's three girls there. Zoe's great uncle and aunt (Garlan and Doris) were there too. Zoe shares a birthday with Garlan. It was great to share that time with family, seeing all 5 girls playing together again. It'll be different with a little boy in the mix.

After the party, my in-laws surpised me with a baby shower. We got some cute little boy clothes, bibs, blankets, and a new diaper bag. I loved it! Not many people think of having a baby shower for a third baby.

During the shower, I began having some uncomfortable contractions, so I had to go lie down on the couch for a while. I think I overdid it that day and didn't have enough water, so I just relaxed and drank a lot of water. Eventually it calmed down. Then yesterday on the way home, it started again, so I had to lie down when we got back.

Today, just taking it easy mostly. Getting new baby things washed, putting stuff away and just sitting down a lot in between. I'm frustrated though, because there's still so much I want to get done. I just lack the energy to get much done and I'm afraid to overdo it. I'm trying not to freak out and just take things slowly, trusting that we'll get done what's necessary in time. Darn nesting instinct!

Friday, January 25, 2008

Three years ago today...

I woke up with some small contractions, and about 8:00 am, as I was talking to my sister-in-law over the phone, my water broke. Zoe was on her way! My youngest girl is now a three year old. I miss having a two year old girl. I will go through a mourning period, missing her babyhood, but looking forward to her preschool years.
It's been so wonderful to watch her grow and develop each day. She learns new things all the time. She can sing her ABC's now. She gets dressed by herself (although everything gets put on backwards often!). Life with my Zo-Zo has been a hoot! Happy birthday, my little "monkey clown"!

And just for kicks and giggles, here's a picture of me when I was three (thanks to cousin Nuiel for sending). See any resemblance?

Monday, January 21, 2008

And there's still the nesting

Kicked in full force. Problem is I'm big and awkward and I tire easily after an hour or so of physical labor. And I have two little kids to work around. My brain is just completely in "nesting mode" and it's so hard to focus on anything else. Just want to apologize to my blog friends for the past couple weeks. I've been lurking here and there, but I just can't keep up and comment as much when I'm in the "mode".

Today, I've been working on the closets in the girls' room and the bathroom. Oh, the bathroom--it was a mess. I got a big garbage bag full of junk out of there to throw away, a box full of stuff for our yard sale pile and swept out a ton of dust/hair. I just didn't realize how messy it was in there. But now it looks good and I finally have the girls' bath towels in there instead of their rooms. I'm thinking of adding a few shelves for extra storage in there.

We got the girls' closet organizer system in their closet on Saturday and I'm slowly getting their things in there in an organized fashion. Hubby has been so good about helping me get all this stuff together, even when I get tired and have to sit down and watch (or supervise). I'm so glad I have a man who is handy around the house and anything mechanical. Saves us a lot of money too.

As far as our sicknesses, we're all doing better. Megan's was only a 24 hour thing. None of the rest of us got that. My cold is nearing it's end. Still a little snotty, but dealing well with it. I hope we can manage to stay relatively germ free until after Zachary is born.

The dishes I've neglected today are waiting for me and I guess I'll have to feed these people I live with too so better run :)

Nothin better

Well, not much anyway, than spending a really cold morning sleeping in, then fixing pancakes for me and my girls. I let them watch me prepare the batter, instructing them in my best "Food Network mom" tone, and gave them the first ones off the griddle. Zoe ate 3 and Megan had 4. I think I had 5. I made them a bit smaller than usual though :)

Highlight of the morning: Megan was reading the recipe to me and I asked her, "Do you know what 2 eggs, separarated means?" She said, "You put them in different bowls." I had to laugh at that one.

I wonder how nice mornings off like this one will change when Zach is here. I hope he'll enjoy pancakes as much as the girls do. Of course, if he's anything like his daddy, he'll have to have bacon to go along with it :)

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

I'm sick of sick

This house is a germ-infested zone right now. My cold has now switched to my sinuses, particularly my right sinus and it's aching. I'm producing more mucus than anyone should ever produce.

I took 2 Tylenol PM's last night instead of my usual 1 just to ease the aching and get better sleep. However, my sleep was disrupted by my oldest daughter emerging from her room, standing in the hallway at 3 am. I looked at her, and knew she had gotten sick. I said, "Did you puke?" She nodded and headed for the bathroom. And there it was, on the bed, down the side of the bed, in the rail, on the floor and rug.

So here go hubby and I cleaning it up, which wasn't easy in my Tylenol PM induced daze. Poor hubby almost gagged himself. I shampooed the mattress, rug, and carpet. We changed Meg and got her down on the couch, and we were back in bed around 3:30ish. Zach kicked me in the side for quite some time after that (I must have disturbed him) and my sinuses started draining again. Not a great night of sleep at all, and poor Bryan had to get up early to head to Louisville for a day trip.

Needless to say, I kept Meg home today. The good news: I got my new washing machine last night and I"m making good use of it already today :) It's nice and quiet too. I love it. I've got minestrone soup in the crock pot for supper and I'll make some chicken salad with some pre-baked chicken I bought at Kroger. Keeping Zoe away from Meg is a challenge in itself, and she's being a typical almost-3 year old, so it's a tiring day. At least I've got my crock pot and new washing machine to help me out :)

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Where have I been?

Well, my baby (my Dell laptop that is) has a bad video card, so I've been forced to come downstairs into our dusty basement to use our standby PC. I've no games on this one now, so I'm in withdrawal. We've found a few cheaper used cards on Ebay so we'll be getting one of those soon. I just feel lost without my baby, err, laptop.

Plus, I've had a terrible cold that started in my nose and went down into my throat and chest. I completely lost my voice on Sunday and felt lousy over the weekend, so I stayed home from church and rested while hubby was nice enough to take the girls with him and on to a birthday party for one of Meg's school buddies afterward. My blog-friend and local mom friend, Melissa, took Megan to another birthday party for a schoolmate that happened to be just after the first one, so I had a nice quiet day to rest. Thanks to hubby and Melissa for that.

Also, my washing machine broke--so that kinda puts life on hold here as the laundry monster looms. We went to Sears Saturday night to purchase a new one. I did a little research and found one with decent reviews for a reasonable price. It's a bigger capacity too, so that will come in handy as #3 appears and I have yet MORE laundry to do. It will be ready for pickup today, so hubby will be on his way after work to pick it up. Pray for it's safe arrival here :) We haven't had the best of luck with driving large appliances home (ask me about the dryer sometime).

I've been doing more nesting as well. Saturday night we visited Lowe's and bought a closet organizer system and some nice bins for storage for the girls' room. Yesterday, I went through a few boxes of baby clothes to find things that Zach could wear. I had a whole cycle of emotions going on. First I was happy to look through the little baby clothes again. Then I was sad that some of my favorite outfits that the girls wore wouldn't be worn by another daughter of mine. Then I felt lucky to have seen two daughters wear the outfits. Finally, I felt hopeful that one of my sisters-in-law would have a little girl and I would see them worn again ;) Pregnancy moods--lovely

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Woot!

I've reached 10,000 visits to my little ole blog. Thanks to all of you who read my ramblings! I'll continue to read yours too ;)

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Prayer Request

**UPDATE--Joey just called and little Austin Scott was born about 9 am EST. He weighed in at 7 lbs, 10 oz and was 19 1/4 inches long. He has lots of dark hair too. Mom and baby doing fine!
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My friend Jamie in Versailles, KY is scheduled to have a c-section tomorrow to deliver her second baby, a little boy they're naming Austin. If you would, lift up a little prayer that all would go smoothly in the delivery. Her husband is Joey and they have a 4 year old daughter Kaitlyn as well. I'm excited for them and can't wait to see some pics!

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Back to Nesting

Since the holiday season is finally over (where did it go??), I'm back into nesting mode. I took down the tree over the weekend and got the rest of the decor down yesterday. I cleaned the living room really well, even vaccuuming around the baseboards. Got some more laundry caught up.

Today, I'm alternating between laundry, cleaning up bedrooms, and shampooing the living room. I was way behind on carpet shampooing. And now I'm almost out of detergent, but I'm going to keep at it until I run out today. I'm doing a few passes at a time, then taking a break in between to do the other chores and rest my back. My Hoover steam cleaner is great, but it's heavy and can do a number on your back if you overdo it.

I'm getting really anxious to get things ready for the baby. I've got to start getting Zoe's clothes into Megan's room. We're brainstorming ideas to organize the closet better. I think we're going to storm Lowe's this weekend and buy one of those orgnanizer system things, plus some extra bins, etc for shoes and out-of-season clothes.

Bryan wants to build the girls a bunk-bed and is looking for plans and ideas for that. He has already been offered help from our neighbor (the one who had the heart bypass a while back). He is a good woodworker and has a nice shop in his garage.

I'm not in much of a rush to move the girls in together, since Zachary will be in our room for the first few months, but we do need to keep moving in that direction. Anybody have any organizing ideas for clothing and toys when you move two kids in one room? I'm up to any suggestions.

Monday, January 07, 2008

Barack Obama a Radical Muslim?

I received an e-mail this morning that started out like this:

"Who is Barack Obama? Very interesting info and something that should be considered in your choice for President. If you do not ever forward anything else, please forward this to all your contacts...this is very scary to think of what lies ahead of us here in our own United States...better heed this and pray about it and share it. We checked this out on "snopes.com". It is factual. Check for yourself."

It goes on to claim that Barack Obama is actually a radical Muslim, instead of a Christian as he claims. And that he refuses to put his hand on his heart during the national anthem or to say the pledge of allegiance.

What I liked best about the e-mail is that it tells you to check out Snopes for yourself--really makes it sound legit, doesn't it? Well, if you actually check out snopes and their evidence, you'll find that this e-mail is actually a hoax full of false allegations. Here are the links to the Snopes articles I found:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/anthem.asp

The photograph in question in the second article was a true photograph, but claims that Obama routinely doesnt't put his hand over his heart during the anthem or refuses to say the Pledge are unfounded.

Lesson: Don't believe everything you read, especially in e-mails. Check it out on Snopes.com or other sources, especially before you forward it to lots of other people. That's how smear-campaigns and rumors are spread--people sharing information that they don't even investigate for accuracy.

There's enough political yuck going on already between the candidates themselves, don't you think? We don't need to propagate it.

Friday, January 04, 2008

Adventures in cake-making



In the last two weeks, I've made 3 cakes. It's truly a record for me. I'm not much of a cake maker, especially from scratch. I've made the girls their birthday cakes from mixes and pre-packaged icing for the past 3 years now. Though I get frustrated at not being a great decorator, I just like the fresher taste of home-baked birthday cakes, even though it's from a box.




These first two are Megan's 6th birthday cakes, with a Barbie, Island Princess theme. I used Duncan Hines white and dark chocolate fudge cake mixes, Pillsbury vanilla whipped icing (2 cans), and Betty Crocker decorator icing (the green in a can and the purple, pink, and white in tubes). The decorator icing comes with their own decorating tips too. I also used Betty Crocker Decor Selects colored sugars for the rainbow. Nothin but convenience here folks. The Barbie edible image and gazebo thing I found at two different places online (can't remember where right now).

Today, I finally got to try out my new Wilton Bundt pan my in-laws got me for Christmas. I made an Orange Pound Cake--a recipe that came with the pan. I wanted an orange cake recipe to use up some of the oranges I bought from my oldest niece for a fundraiser. I got to use my new microplane for some orange zest. Last week, when I took Meg shopping, I used a little Christmas money I had to buy me a new juicer (only about $10 at Wal-Mart) so I had fresh orange juice for the cake and icing. Though the cake looked and smelled wonderful, it was a bit lacking in taste. And for the life of me, whenever I make a cake from scratch, the texture ends up denser than I'd like. It WAS a pound cake, which is a dense cake anyway, but I had a ring of extra dense cake around the top (which was on the bottom of the pan). I may have underbaked it, but I couldn't get my toothpick all the way to the bottom and it looked clean when I pulled it out, AND I baked it the maximum amount of time. I followed the recipe to a T, and it ended up being a moist cake with yummy icing, but the cake itself is a bit bland. There is no salt in the recipe, which I found odd, and that may explain the blandness. I don't know if pound cakes usually call for salt or not.
Well, those are my adventures in cake making. I will probably try a recipe from online for a different and more flavorful orange cake.




Thursday, January 03, 2008

Attitude Adjustments

Megan had her first Upward cheerleading practice tonight. Unfortunately, she also exhibited a majorly bad attitude towards me and therefore required an "attitude adjustment" when we got home. I'm glad we had the time there at practice so I could better plan the "adjustment", instead of reacting out of anger.

Man, that kid can push my buttons. And so can just about anybody right now :) I'm giving myself a ton of slack with my moods because I just can't control them most of the time since I've been preggers.

I think, though, that when this pregnancy is over and I'm into the child-rearing years, I'll need to consider my own attidude adjustments. I want to reach the point where at least most of the time, I'm mindful and conscious about how I react to the kids (and others too). To think before I act and speak. And at the same time, be real about my feelings and not deny them. To be a good example to my kids about how to handle feelings in healthy ways.

Right now, I'm not sure how to go about that without talking their ears off, but if I can just reach the point of being a good model of behavior and taking responsibility for my actions and reactions, that should speak louder than words.

Now, where's that chocolate....?

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Time keeps on tickin...

**EDIT: The actual highlight of Christmas Day was finding out my hubby's brother and his wife are expecting again! Please keep them in your prayers that this pregnancy will be successful and healthy this time around!

It's a new year! Christmas came and went, Meg's 6th birthday came and went, and we're already full-steam into a new year. I don't know how it all goes by so fast.

We traveled to our hometown to be with family for Christmas. Highlight of the trip: Bryan and I went to Opry Mills in Nashville on Thursday to shop and just spend the day together. We had a ball buying little baby boy clothes we found on sale. We spent about 3 days with the family and came back here last Friday. I had to bake a couple of cakes for Meg's party on Saturday.

We had a nice little party for her at our church. Such a blessing, since I didn't have to worry about cleaning up the Christmas tornado at home :) She had her Nana and Papa there, Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Bradley, and a few little friends there and they each had a little sibling with them, so it was fun day.

On New Year's Eve (Meg's actual birthday), I took her shopping with the money she got for Christmas and birthday. She bought some new Bratz shoes (with no laces--she's very proud of that), a Fairytopia Barbie, and a Dora movie. That night, we had a fun party with our Sunday School class. The kids played upstairs and the adults played games and munched on goodies downstairs.

Yesterday, we mostly just rested. I started putting away stuff and washing new clothes. Today, I have a Dr. appt and it's so cold I dread getting out. Then it'll be back here washing more laundry :) The neverending stories of laundry and dishes begin again!