4th Folder, 4th Picture Tag

This lovely photo is brought to you courtesy of Lisa's 4th folder, 4th picture tag. I'm supposed to go to my photo file and choose the 4th picture from the 4th folder. This is what I got:

This shot is from June of 2004. It was taken at my baby shower when I was pregnant with Buggy. I don't think I could possibly have chosen a more random photo.

BTW: Mel, that couch was the best. I miss it. And to Lisa - serves you right that I would happen to pick a picture with you in it, since you are the tagger here.

Wanna Hear About my Day?

Probably not, but you get to anyway. Unless of course you choose to stop reading here, in which case I can't say I blame you.

Have you ever had one of "those days" you know, the kind where you start to wonder if all of the bad karma in the universe has ganged up on you just because it didn't want you to have an easy day? Yeah, that was us today.

It started at 6:30 a.m. when Beefy decided that he absolutely didn't want to sleep anymore. I, being the pleasant pregnant person (PPP) that I am, wasn't thrilled. He wanted to come downstairs and play immediately, but I was able to convince him that he really wanted to sit in bed with me and watch the sprout channel until I could force myself to function (much closer to 7:30 am).

After getting dressed, and trying to get the kids fed breakfast I got a phone call from Comcast (who I canceled our services with a couple of weeks ago). Normally, this probably wouldn't be such a big deal, but this is the 3rd phone call from them, in almost as many days, to ask me if my cable boxes/remotes were picked up. ("Yep, hasn't changed since the last time you called me on Saturday.") Then they guy on the phone had the audacity to be rude to me when I said that I was annoyed that they had called so many times, and that I would appreciate them leaving me alone. (Not to mention the fact that in addition to these calls about my equipment, they've called me at least 3 times since I canceled to try to get me to reconsider.)

Obviously that put me in a particularity foul mood. Add to that, a two-year-old who was in full on destruction mode, and a four-year-old in a whiny mood equal to my foul one. (Think heavy objects flying down the stairs, thrown by aforementioned two-year-old; a 30 minute battle to get the "almost-ready-for-kindergarten-but-still-can't-dress-himself-kid dressed; and two much too large kids getting chewed out for trying to squeeze themselves, at the same time, into the baby's car seat.)

I also had roughly 1700 square feet of badly needing to be vacuumed floors, laundry to the celing, and Braxton-Hicks contractions that started roughly the same time Beefy got up this morning. Yeah, my sister got an earful, when I called her to vent. She was very nice to listen without laughing too much. (She has 5 kids)

So, after some lunch and down time, we made a trip to the eye doctor to return the glasses I got last week, that I can't actually see out of. It turns out that they didn't mess the prescription up, like I thought they must have, but that contact and glasses prescriptions can sometimes be very different, and apparently my glasses prescription has changed alot (even though my contacts still work just fine, go figure). So on top of all of the other Dr. appointments that I have to endure over the next 3 1/2 weeks, I now get to add an eye exam to that list. Hooray!!!

Thankfully Beefy napped for me today (not that he needed it or anything), because I got to spend some quality time on the phone this afternoon with my credit union. See, our tax return came back last week, and I have made a fair few large purchases; so, the credit union sent me a letter telling me that they were worried about fraudulent activity on my account. ("Yes, I know I don't usually spend $300 in one day, but I promise that diaper purchase was made by me"). I know that it is there for my protection, and it is a feature that I am grateful for, but on a day like today, it was just one more thing, on top of many.

Now I know that days like this happen, I guess that we've just been fortunate enough to have enough good days in a row to make me miss them when one like this happens.

It's one of those things that really, all you can do is laugh about. Thankfully, I have a fresh order of girl scout cookies sitting on my counter right now. I guess I can also be grateful that my husband is having pity on me and taking us to dinner at my favorite Mexican place tonight.

Thank Heaven for the small perks in life right?

Baby Update

There will probably be a lot more of these in the next while, but the thing is - its kind of my life lately, so its what I blog about. Anyway, enough with the disclaimer.

I am officially 33 weeks and 6 days today. Tomorrow I hit 34 weeks, and on Sunday we meet the milestone of where I was when Buggy was born. (Kind of a silly comparison I know, but I always feel better when I reach that point, knowing that anything after that is just a bonus)

I am scheduled for delivery exactly 4 weeks from today. So, pending any early labor/complications/water breaking, Little Sister's birthday will be March 20 (and no later). As of right now I am scheduled for a 5:00 pm c-section. I'm not too thrilled about that part, I really hope that they are going to be able to move the time up, they said they would try.

I am proud of myself - at this point I have gained less than half of the weight that I gained with either boy. I know there is still a ways to go, but so far, I can't complain.

I still am taking a pharmacy's worth of meds every morning, but tomorrow I get to decrease it by one, from 9 pills to 8. Unfortunately, next week I will go from one shot daily to two, so I don't know that I am making much improvement in that area.

My husband finally finished painting the baby's room. And it only took me two weeks of nagging to get it done. It really looks great, and I promised him his own post about it (proclaiming his merits), with pictures when I have the painting junk cleaned out and the crib put together.

I also finished making the bedding (well, the blanket and the dust ruffle) and will include photos with the aforementioned post about the paint job.

Overall, enough to keep me busy. I am now at weekly Dr. appointments, and most likely twice weekly NSTs. I have an ultrasound on Wednesday next week, and will hopefully have more good news to post at that time.

Tagged Again!

Thanks to Chari for this one. (Okay, secretly I don't mind doing tags, I think they are kind of fun and they often make me think - but don't tell anyone).

Here goes:

Here are the rules:
Post rules on your blog
Answer the six '8' items
Let each person know by leaving them a comment

8 favorite TV shows:

• 30 Rock
• Office
• How I Met Your Mother
• Big Bang Theory
• Kitchen Nightmares
• Scrubs
• Numb3rs
• What not to Wear

8 things I did yesterday:

• Took Buggy to preschool
• Went to a meeting regarding preschool for Beefy next year
• Made Macaroni and Cheese for Lunch
• Took a nap (short, but still counts)
• Cleaned all 3 bathrooms (yay for me! they were nasty)
• Organized/de-junked the shelf above my washer and dryer
• Cleaned the boys room, only to have it messed up again in about 1.5 seconds
• Rocked my boys before bedtime
  

8 things I'm looking forward to:

• March 20
• Not being so tired all the time
• Spring/summer/nice weather
• My Girl Scout cookies (should be coming this weekend)
• Having all of my baby stuff organized and put away
• the "someday" in my future that includes a fence for my backyard, and new floors for my house
• My shipment of cloth diapers that is coming next week (yeah, I know - I'm a little crazy. It's okay)
• Bedtime
  

8 favorite restaurants:

• Los Portillos
• Red Robin
  
• The teryaki place down the street (I can never remember the name of it)
• Cheesecake Factory
• Qdoba
• Angie's in Logan
• Firehouse Pizza (also sadly in Logan)
• Cold Stone (does that count - we don't eat out that much)
  

8 Things on my wish list

• Our "school debt" was paid off
  
• An easy delivery, fast recovery, and healthy normal baby
  
• Aforementioned fence and flooring
  
• I could go away with my husband for a few days, sans kids.
  
• That my kids will do well in school
  
• That I didn't worry so much about everything (unfortunately, its part of my nature)
  
• That I was better at keeping in touch with people I care about (blogs are a great invention)
  
• That I will always have the insight to make the decisions that are best for my family
  

8 people I tag:

Okay, so I'm cheating on this one - I can't remember who has done this one, and who hasn't. So, if you haven't - consider yourself tagged!

Thanks

Thanks to everyone for all of the comments. Its nice to know that I'm not alone when I have my moments of full blown crazy.

I really do have great friends - in blog world and in real life. I am pretty lucky.

Today is better. The sun came out, and it is warm (a beautiful 52 degrees) and I think, for the moment at least, that my hormones have leveled out again.

I just need to remind myself sometimes that I have really great kids too. They may not be like all the other kids around, but they are very cool, and pretty dang cute to boot. And I think that most of the time, hopefully, I am not messing them up too bad.

Overall, life is good. We are pretty lucky.

Thoughts on Parenting

Does anyone ever have one of those moments where you suddenly get overwhelmed by insecurity about your inadequacies as a parent? I mean really, here I'll be-going along-thinking I'm doing okay and that I might have finally figured out something with this whole raising kids thing. Then, something happens that metaphorically hits me in the face and makes me think, "Gee, why did God give me these children to raise when there are obviously so many (much more) capable people all around me?"

This used to be a very common occurrence for me. When Buggy was little, I was terrible at comparing myself to others around me, and beating myself up over the fact that the way those other people did things didn't always work for our family. It has taken me some time to realize that I have a VERY different parenting style than most other people. I like to think that some of those many early childhood classes I took while in college actually paid off, and helped me to be able to recognize what works for my kids.

I don't think that I'm that far out there. In my opinion I have a very balanced view of relaxed and disciplined parenting. For some reason though, it seems to not mesh with what a lot of other parents in my situation do. We've/I've had a harder time finding friends because of this, and just when I think that I have accepted this, and I am okay with the way things are, I have one of the aforementioned "slap in the face" moments. I had one of those today.

I know that I just need to accept things for what they are, and realize that as long as I am trying my best to do a good job, then that needs to be good enough. Sometimes it's hard though. Inadequacy is one of those things I've dealt with for right around 26 years now. I guess what I am wondering is - is it just me? Or, is this one of those things everyone feels, but thinks they are the only ones that must feel this way. Kind of a kick back to high school. Any way, thanks for letting me ramble. Until next time...

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

No matter your current situation, or opinions of this "holiday", I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Maternity Photos

Okay, let me preface this by emphasizing once again that I really don't love having my picture taken. In fact, I think the last time I willingly let someone at just me with a camera, was for my bridal pictures.

With that being said, obviously I don't have any pictures of me being pregnant, with the exception of a few from my baby shower with Buggy, and an unfortunate picture at my best friend's wedding when I was extremely pregnant with Beefy - incidentally, I was not the only subject of any of those pictures.

Anyway, "AM" asked if I would be willing to let her practice some maternity shots. After immediately saying a heartfelt "No", I thought about it a little bit (my first mistake) and then some strange hormonal part of the back of my mind took over and made me think that someday I may regret not having any photos of me pregnant. So I reluctantly let her take a few (umm... more like a lot).

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is my journaling device right now. Therefore, you all get to share in the things that I feel like someday I may want to remember. (Oh, Boy!)

So, without further ado - Here I am in all of my 32 week glory.

The Bucket List Tag

The idea of this tag is to put an X on the things that I have done, and then answer some questions about myself. Here goes...

Swam in the ocean X

Gone to Washington DC

Gone on a blind date

Skipped school X

Watched someone die

Been to Canada X

Been to Mexico X

Been to Florida

Been to a foreign country X

Been on a plane X

Been lost X

Been on the opposite side of the country X

Cried yourself to sleep X

Played cops and robbers

Recently colored with crayons X

Sang Karaoke

Paid for a meal with coins only

Skipped out without paying for a meal

Done something you told yourself you wouldn't X

Made prank phone calls

Caught a snowflake on your tongue X

Watched the northern lights dance

Danced in the rain X

Written a letter to Santa Claus X

Been kissed under the mistletoe X

Watched the sunrise with someone X

Watched the sunset with someone X

Blown bubbles X

Can hula hoop X

Gone ice-skating X

Been skinny dipping outdoors

Gone to the movie's ALONE

Gone to a horror movie and laughed through it

1. Any nicknames? Mommy

2. Mother's name? Mom or Gramma Gramma

3. Favorite drink? Depends on my mood.

4. Body Piercing? Ears

5. How much do you like your job? I love it, but sometimes it can be tough.

6. Dad's name? Dad or Grampa Grampa

7. Favorite vacation? Disneyland (4 years ago).

8. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? Yes, and for breakfast.

9. Ever eaten mud? Not intentionally.

10. Ever been on TV? If I was, I don't know about it.

11. Ever steal any traffic signs? No

12. Ever been in a car accident? I don't think it really qualifies as an accident...

(For some reason there was no number 13... how superstitious of someone....)

14. Can you drive a standard car? Yes

15. Favorite pie? Once again, depends on my mood.

16. Favorite number? 29 1/2 .6

17. Favorite movie? Sliding Doors

18. Favorite dessert? White Cake, Butter cream Frosting.

19. Book on CD or regular book? They both have their place, but the audio book has to have a good reader.

20. Favorite food? Comfort Food.

21. Favorite day of the week? Friday, we try to do something fun on Fridays.

22. Favorite brand of body wash? What ever is cheapest, that doesn't stink.

23. Favorite toothpaste? Crest

24. Favorite smells? Rain on pavement, lemon/citrus, clean.

25. How do you relax? Watching TV, Reading, Playing wii.

26. How do you see yourself in 10 years? 10 years older than I am right now.

27. What is your favorite breed of dog? Really, really not an animal person...at all.

28. Like to celebrate by going out or staying in? Going out. I stay in enough.

-Thanks Lisa!

Art

I've mentioned on here before about Buggy's strong creative side. Every time I see one of his pictures I think to myself, "Gee, one of these days I really should scan those and save them, someday I/he might want to see them again."

Well, today is that day, and since this is the closest thing to a journal/scrapbook that I currently keep, you all get the pleasure of enjoying some of my sons creative outlet.

These firs two were drawn on a bigger paper, so I had to scan sections and crop it down to get the majority of the characters, but I think you get the idea.

**Bonus points for anyone who figured out that they are Nintendo characters. (We've been playing a lot of Mario Party, and Mario Kart on the wii lately)

This next one was what he drew in Primary. I probably shouldn't admit that I had a hard time believing he had actually done it all by himself, but when I asked the teacher, she assured me that he did. Wow! (but then again, I'm biased) Obviously, he didn't do the writing along the bottom though.


This next one still kind of makes me laugh. When the boys bring toys downstairs that are supposed to be in their bedroom, I will pick them up, and pile them on the stairs to wait until the next time someone goes up, so they can be put away. Anyway, the other day I had a pile of such toys on the stairs, and was working on something in the kitchen, when Buggy calls out, "Mommy, come see my Sponge Bob!". I couldn't remember putting a Sponge Bob on the stairs so I was curious. I went over, and lo and behold - There was a Sponge Bob, plain as day (well at least to anyone who knows how a 4-year-old mind sometimes works).

Well there you have it. A sampling of what my son spends a lot of his days doing. Maybe someday they will be worth millions (parental wishful thinking, right?)

25 Random Things

I've been hit with this one at least 4 times, so I am going to get it over with (not to mention the fact that it finally gives me something to post about). It was actually kind of fun, but I'm not going to go through the painstaking effort of tagging 25 people, so if anyone wants to do it, knock yourself out.

1. I love playing drums. It was my major in college, I taught it for a long time, and I miss it. It just isn't practical with my kids and current lifestyle.
2. For a while in college my job was reading obituaries for the Alumni office. (Not kidding, I really got paid for it.)
3. I love reading of any kind, but I harbor a secret enjoyment for magazines - something about the brainlessness of it.
4. My husband and I met at a party, where he spent the whole night hitting on me, then left without my number and had to try and track me down after.
5. I'm actually very girly, I love dresses and heels, and frilly stuff, and totally loved dolls as a kid (still kind of do), and am therefore really excited to have a girl, knowing my luck though, she'll be a tomboy.
6. I'm not a terribly social person, but I love my friends and I love getting together with them.
7. I have some strong OCD tendencies.
8. I really like crafty projects like card making, and sewing - but I don't particularly enjoy scrapbooking.
9. I secretly fear having to work in scouts when my boys get to be that age.
10. I wish my backyard had a fence.
11. I've only kissed one other guy, than my husband.
12. I apologize too much. I don't know why - I just do.
13. I have two boys, who I wouldn't trade for anything, even though some days they drive me crazy.
14. I love beef. Especially when I am pregnant.
15. I'm currently experiencing pregnancy number four, kid number three, and girl number one. and pending any major disasters will be giving birth in exactly 6 weeks from today.
16. I love playing my wii, we got it more for us (my husband and me) than for the kids.
17. I have a true passion for GOOD ice cream.
18. I also have a thing for Cheesecake, and I make really good cookies too (but I promise I'm not as obsessed with desserts as it sounds like I am).
19. I like blogging. It's one of those things that I said I would never get into, and then had to eat my words.
20. I am the youngest of 6, and there is a 22 year spread in my family. My husband is also the youngest of 6, with an 11 year spread. Both with 3 boys, 3 girls. And where ever there is a boy in my family, there is a girl in his, and vice-versa.
21. My kids currently have 42 first cousins, with at least one more pending after my baby girl is born. (No wonder I always miss birthdays)
22. Even though we have big families, my husband and I both like things kind of quiet - I think that's why we handle it okay, even though we are very far away from them all.
23. I don't really like my birthday, I like others, just not mine.
24. I hate having my picture taken. Photos of just me are a rarity.
25. The only nights I have ever spent away from my kids, have been in hospitals. (I really need a vacation I think).