To wait, or not to wait....

Our ultrasound is quickly approaching and we cannot seem to decide whether we should find out the gender. I should probably say I can't decide, because I'm reasonably sure that Hubs would happily go with whatever I want.

I see numerous reasons to find out. It might help the kids adjust to this baby a little quicker if they knew what we're having. Instead of talking about "the baby" as an abstract concept, we'd be able to talk about a person with a gender and probably a name. And, we have no girl baby clothes smaller than 18mo sizes because I thought I was done after Kat, so if it's a girl, knowing would help with the shopping.

Not knowing would be fun, too. I'm really enjoying driving all of the relatives nuts! They know the baby will get a family name, but they don't know any more than that, and the anticipation seems to be just eating some of them alive. Besides, the surprise might be fun for us too, since we are definitely done this time.

scary

Last night I dreamed I went in for a normal prenatal checkup and wound up giving birth. Scary thought, since I'm nowhere near term yet. In the dream the baby was a completely healthy boy, interesting as I've been thinking we'll have a girl. We really don't know, though.

Update, since I've been lazy about posting...

Our mom's group meeting was a lot of fun! About half the people who said they'd be there actually were, and I saw that as a pretty good start. However, after shopping the case lot sales, going into a cleaning frenzy in anticipation of guests, and lifting a two year into his car seat one time too many, something sorta gave in me, and I hurt myself. The doctor thinks I strained the round ligaments in my belly and pulled a muscle or two in my lower back. I've been ordered not to sweep, mop, vaccuum, clean the bathroom, pick up my kids, or lift anything else of any real weight. No danger to the baby, just to my comfort and ability to walk until this baby is born.

During all of that fun, I was supposed to organize our next mom's meeting, planned for this thursday. After a brief panic, I decided to dispense with doing a craft til next time, and announced that we're having Choctoberfest. (I stole that idea from a brilliant suggestion I found on Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer.) Then I sucked in my pride and asked for help getting the house ready. I hate to ask for help more than almost anything. When help is offered, I'm more than happy to accept, but asking for it seems to cause my brain to short circuit. But it seems I will have to learn how for the time being.

Stumbling, Slipping, Sliding toward Success

Today, I am hosting a pot luck dinner at my home in an attempt to start a mothers group. The plan is to have a bunch of moms from church and anyone else who might be interested come over for dinner, chat, and discuss what we want in such a group. I had hoped to send all of children outside to play for at least a portion of the meeting, but, as luck would have it, today we are recieving our first good snowfall of the year. The crockpot I planned to use to make chili didn't come clean in the dishwasher, and I ran out of places to put away all the canned goods I bought at the case lot sales. If it sounds like I'm griping, I'm not. You see, I have learned that the things that are the most worth it are usually accompanied by all kinds of these little annoyances. So, I'm hoping that all of the annoying slip ups mean that tonight will go great!

WFMW

Today is Works for Me Wednesday, and I think I have a tip to share! After the first few weeks of struggling to get his morning chores done on time before school, I instituted a new rule: No breakfast until the kid in question is completely ready to walk out the door for school. It sounds mean, but he has only missed out on breakfast once in almost two weeks of this new rule. So, that's what Works For Me!

Preggy Funny

A good sign you're pregnant: You wake up on the toilet, with no recollection of how you got there, and you are not at all surprised.

Ummm, now what?

So. The cute little Denver Broncos football uniform arrived. I unpacked it with all three kids watching eagerly. I explained that whichever of them it fit could wear it. Yeeeeaaaah. Slight problem there. See, the helmet fits Bug's noggin nicely. The jersey is about right for Kat. And the little, and I do mean little, pants probably fit Monkey-boy. I haven't had the guts to let him try it on, because I don't think he'll let me take it back off of him til I have to surgically remove it. Since seeing the cute little thing, he's been relentlessly chanting, "Go Boppos, Go Boppos, Go Boppos!" The helmet really is waaay too big for him. But I don't think he cares. And he won't be going trick or treating without me for years to come. Maybe I should let him wear it anyway, seeing as he's the second most avid Broncos fan in this house? (He learned from his Mama, of course!)

A giveaway worth checking out

5 Minutes for Mom is giving away a dyson vacuum. And it's pink. Not too sure about the color, but hey maybe my little princess will help vacuum if she had a pink one!

101 posts and I won a giveaway!

How's that for a pretty good day? Yesterday, a friend stopped by to visit, just because. That pretty much never happens to me, because around here any more than two kids is a lot and people don't know how to act around me, with the 4th on the way. But this friend just had her fourth, and her husband works for the same company as mine, and we have similar parenting styles, and as if that weren't enough, our kids are similar ages and genders and get along.

That would've been enough to make my day right there, so I'm glad I didn't check my email til today. That way, yesterday's goodness spilled over into today! I got in touch with an old friend from high school who emailed me back yesterday, and I won this giveaway! Woo hoo!

I hope everyone else is feeling as blessed as I am right now!

It's Fall!

The mornings are cold, the afternoons are blisteringly hot. Last week, I got up early to mow a section of lawn every morning. This week, I have been waiting until the sun finally dries the dew off of the lawn enough to mow. Soon I'll be raking and mowing. And railing internally at the irony.



I love fall because it's warm enough still to wear my easy to slip on sandals, and we all know how important that is, especially when pregnant. And fall is also cool enough to warrant a little bit of a wardrobe change.... nothing too drastic, just a little warmer clothing.



I love fall because of the things we'll be doing soon, all the fun stuff there is to look forward to. September will be packed with soccer games and practices, and on the 22nd, I'll be holding a meeting at my church to try to start a mothers group. In October, there's more soccer, the annual chili cookoff, Nevada day, and of course, Halloween. Then, Thanksgiving, our wedding anniversary, Christmas, New Years, the new baby...... Fall and Winter are just going to be so much fun this year!

I think I've been watching too many birth shows....

Today I watched the documentary "Crazy Sexy Cancer". My daughter walked by glanced at the woman in the hospital bed on tv, and asked, "Is that lady having a baby?" That's what a woman in a hospital bed means, in her mind. Maybe that's not such a bad thing, though....

Logic, Schmogic!

Hubs called on his way home from work yesterday to ask what's for dinner. I informed him that there wasn't much leftover and he might want to pick something up on his way home, and while he was at it he could get me a McFlurry.... Big pause on his end, and then, "but we have 3 pints of Ben & Jerry's in the freezer... don't we?" I replied, "Yes, that's true, but I'm pregnant, not logical!"

Back to School

So, we survived the first week of school, and with sanity intact, too! Both kids like their teachers, and are still enjoying school. Keeghan is a little annoyed with a week of reviewing last year's stuff, but that'll pass, I'm sure. Kathryn just loves everything about kindergarten.

Next week is the one I'm expecting to be interesting. Soccer practices start for both of them, at different fields, of course. At least the times work out pretty nicely for the most part. I'm still waiting to find out the game schedules and see if those conflict at all.

Awww crud.

When Bug starting losing teeth, we made the appropriate oohs and awws, and the Tooth Fairy made her appointed visits.

Until, one day, she didn't.

That goofy Tooth Fairy slept a little late on a saturday morning, and woke up in a panic. Luckily, Bug inherited those airhead tendencies, and they kicked in that very same morning.

He forgot to check under his pillow. I had Hubs keep him distracted by feeding him, and ran to get some cash out of my purse. It was empty. Then I had a brain fart and remembered the huge box of books that had just arrived from ebay. There were even some tooth fairy themed ones, so I managed to stash one of those under the pillow in lieu of cash. And I congratulated myself for the great save.

Since I had a number of these great books, and always seemed to be out of cash when he lost a tooth, he got more presents that money from the Tooth Fairy. Seemed like a great solution at the time.

Today, Kat lost her first tooth. And I congratulated her, and oohed and awwed, and thought to myself, awww crud. Because I set the bar so high with Bug, Kat is beside herself with excitement over what cool present the Tooth Fairy will be leaving her. And it's my own fault.

Dorky phone message

I just called a friend I haven't heard from in awhile. Had to leave a message. I totally embarrassed myself. "Hi, it's just me. Calling to say hi and see what you're all up to." not too bad until this: " The number is xxx-xxxx.... um I think. Crud, I don't know. I can't remember my own number. Good thing you have caller ID. Bye." Now, I'll never get a call back.... lol.

Chores are becoming a real chore.

My oldest has been suffering lately from a case of the lazies. He has an argument or an excuse for anything I ask him to do, and failing that, he'll take as long as he possibly can. What gives? His sister's attitude hasn't changed lately, nor has his brother's, so whatever it is, is only affecting Bug. The most trouble I have with Kat is that she forgets things a lot, but I have a feeling that's pretty normal for a five year old girl with a healthy imagination. And when I remind her, she apologizes and hops to it pretty quickly.

In my bones

I know it's only August, but I can feel autumn coming. Around here, it might look like summer still, but if you pay attention the signs are all around. The dogs have shed their summer coats, and a now looking pretty cozy in their winter coats. After two months of high 90 and low 100 temps, we're finally down to the mid-80's. The trees are changing color, just a little bit here, and a little bit there. And the nights are downright cold already!

I think it might be a good idea to take the kids to the park a little more in the couple of week left until school starts. Just in case we can't go even sooner than usual.

Mattell recall

Mattell is recalling many of their very popular toys due to lead in the paint. My family actually owned two of them. One got destroyed with a hammer because it would never shut off and annoyed my husband one time too many. The other I'm going to have to take away from my two year old; it was a birthday present for him this year. Go to www.Mattell.com to see the full list.

Busy, Busy Week

Last week, I was put in charge of the crafts portion of our church's VBS. The theme was Avalanche Ranch, which was very cute. I started out very intimidated and a bit overwhelmed, having never even known what VBS was before this year. By thursday, I was not only feeling almost in control, but also pretty excited about it all. And then. We found out that two of the kids who'd been attending all week were suspected of having whooping cough. The last day was cancelled. Major bummer. And a major reminder of why it's so important to keep our kids immunized.

Just call it the Spring Creek Wildlife Preserve

I think my neighbors are beginning to wonder about me just a little. My erratic lawn caretaking must be getting pretty curious, or at least a little amusing to the outside observer. I think I mowed our lawn once this summer before our lawn mower decided to take the summer off. I was not convinced, so for a two week period, I'd be out there a couple times a day trying to get it started. Jehromy came home, worked on it, declared it fixed, and went back out of town for work. Which began another two weeks of trying, but not starting the lawn mower.

After a month of not mowing, it was getting a little embarrassing to pull into our driveway. Another couple weeks, and I decided something had to be done. It was becoming a fire hazard, not just an embarrassment. So I borrowed my father in law's mower and weed whacker.

That's when things got pretty interesting. Seeing as how I'm in my fourth month of pregnancy, and we're in the midst of a heat wave that shows no sign of relenting, I can only do a little bit at a time. Now, a smart person says, just do your yard work in the mornings and evenings when it's cooler. That person isn't in an exhaustion coma every morning from staying up too late on the phone with her hubby, or on the phone with said hubby the second the kids are tucked in. This person is, and has to do ten minutes here, ten minutes there, all the while taking half hour water breaks. The picture above is what it looked like when I'd mowed my first swath.