Busy

In an effort to keep busy I started a new book last night. Had to remind myself to turn off the light and go to bed. That is always a good sign the book will be good. It is 'The Imperial Cruise' by James Bradley. It is about the cruise that Teddy Roosevelt and Taft took to the Philippines, Korea, China and Japan in 1905. It tells how this cruise and the diplomatic talks surrounding it set up the events of WWII specifically, the Pacific involvement. Very interesting! I will keep you posted on how the book turns out.
No new baby news yet. For the most part I feel great and don't have any complaints. Of course, I am tired of gestating and have had yucky heartburn but other than that am doing well. Trying to decide how to do my lesson plan for this next week. I am hoping that baby will come yet this weekend and I won't have to do my plan! Must go shove some more laundry through!

Baby Update

Well, apparently Baby Bean is super comfortable in my uterus. I think my gestation is going to stretch into years instead of months. Trying to be patient and wait. I have had really horrible heartburn the past month or so. My throat is sore! Have done all the nesting I can do. No big projects to work on to keep me busy and distracted. Still doing school.

My darling husband took us all to see Megamind at the $1 theatre yesterday. So funny! I was really surprised that I liked it as well as I did. The previews were just ok but the movie was good. That was a nice distraction. We came home and made pizza. I had quiche (see aforementioned description of heartburn). Husband is at Bible study this morning and then has to go into work for a few hours then we have our small group for church tonight. At least today will be distracting. We will see what the next few days bring! It is supposed to be 60 degrees tomorrow so maybe we can all take a walk. Don't worry we will call, FB and otherwise inform when baby arrives!

Sigh

Well, all hopes of birthing early are gone! Tomorrow is my due date. (For whatever that is worth.) I am feeling well, but am ready for this baby to arrive. I am trying to be patient and remember that God is in control of when this baby will be birthed. He has a perfect time and I don't want to interfere with that time. So, no, we will not be doing anything to encourage labor. Unless you count going up and down the stairs several times a day or vacuuming. (both things cause contractions) I did have contractions the other night for two hours but they went away. I had contractions like that for about a week before Mr. Biscuit arrived. I am hoping for any day other than Valentine's Day.

Snow/Sick Day

Today is a snow day and sick day combined into one. We only got the tiniest amount of snow. I think 'a dusting' would be the appropriate term! But we haven't had a snow day yet for school so I am taking one. So There! Plus, I am still sick with this stupid cold or whatever it is. Bleh! I haven't been able to sleep at night which is super fun. Last night I was up from 3am-4:30. Not to mention the lack of sleep from bedtime until midnight. And then Nathaniel crying at 5am. I am a little tired today. So we are going to hunker down and survive our day until daddy gets home. My dear husband has been a rock this week! He arranged for some mommy time for me on Monday to relax. I was already starting to feel a bit off so it was nice to rest. I made my sister a sling for her new baby. (Can't wait to meet my niece!) Then on Tuesday I packed them a lunch and he took the kids to the Children's Museum. I had my prenatal appt. All is well. Just waiting! Then by Wednesday morning I was miserable. He skipped his Bible study to take care of everyone while I rested. Thursday, early morning, I had a fever for a few hours and couldn't sleep. So, he took Biscuit to the grocery store. I am sure when his alarm went off to go to work this morning there was a small sense of relief at not having to be Mr. Mom today! I am praying he doesn't get sick or anyone else for that matter! That is our week in a nutshell. Super exciting, eh?

On an unrelated note...I love Skype! I was able to talk to a friend last night in China! So amazing to be able to see and talk thousands of miles and 13 hours away! I was also able to talk to my baby sister this morning in Korea. Please be praying for her as she injured her tailbone! She is pretty miserable. Pray for quick healing! I love you tiny sister!

Ocho!

My sweet little girl is eight!! I can't believe it! We had a nice day yesterday. Bella got to go to lunch with Daddy at Steak n' Shake. She even brought back a shake for her siblings. Sweet girl. The girls spent the afternoon in the snow building snow men. Matilda was quite thankful to be allowed out. We made her cake and cupcakes. She has a two layer (white on bottom, chocolate on top) cake with pink cream cheese icing. She also has cupcakes. I forgot to get ice cream yesterday so I will have to run out for that later. She wants chocolate with brownie chunks. Her birthday dinner was breakfast pizza, hash browns and apples. It was devoured rather quickly. She opened her presents after dinner. A Hello Kitty bedding set, some Bath & Body Works stuff, a painting kit. The girls spent the rest of the evening wrapping themselves up in the comforter. Tonight is the family party.

Poll

I put up a poll on the right! You can vote on the sex of Baby Bean. Big prizes to those who are correct. Such as bragging rights and self-congratulatory pats on the back! Leave a comment if you want.

Thankful

My sweet little Matilda Monkey is doing great! She has been off the narcotic pain meds for a few days now. With very little Tylenol even! She has another day of antibiotics and then done with all meds. She still has packing in one side of her nose and tape on the outside. The packing is starting to come out and should only be another few days until it is out all the way. My prenatal appt. went well. Everything seems normal and baby is still very active. We will have another appt either Thursday or Friday. Need to double check the schedule. We haven't really done anything this week. This next week we are back to the grind. Need to stay on schedule so we won't be behind when Baby Bean makes an appearance!

Better Than Expected

Matilda Monkey's surgery went very well. She had some pain immediately following surgery but seems to be doing very well now. She hasn't complained once! At least not about surgery related things. She did change her mind about wanting a baby brother after Biscuit was trying to smack her today. (And, no, we don't know what we are having) We go back to see the surgeon the first week in February. A few people have asked how things look which is a bit complicated. She is swollen and stitched and taped up. It is a bit hard to see anything. It will also take a bit for the tissue to heal. The scar tissue will also take a while to even out. It took about six months after her initial lip repair to see what it would really look like. I will keep you posted!
My darling husband was able to do some school with Bella today, so we aren't totally behind!
We have a prenatal appointment tomorrow. I can't believe we are down to every week prenatal appointments already. This baby will be making an appearance before we know it. Everything is ready to go. Except, I realized diapers might be a good idea! I keep thinking we have a few months left but we don't! I better get that on my grocery list for next week!
Off to snuggle with Monkey and scratch her back!

Question of the Day

Why do tangerines have so many seeds? Two of my three children love oranges and I thought we would try some tangerines to mix it up a bit. So many seeds!!! I guess it is back to clementines or navel oranges.

We are one week out from surgery day. Matilda Monkey has surgery next Monday. I am praying that all goes according to plan and her recovery is short with minimal pain. She has done so well with all of her other surgeries to day that I hope this one is no different. I will be 36 weeks the Friday after surgery. How did that happen!? Technically, full-term. I always go late so no reason to anticipate anything happening so early but one never knows! Then one week exactly from surgery is Bella's birthday. The time is flying by! I can't believe she will be 8.

Happy Dance

My precious husband got me a webcam so I can skype with my sister in Korea! We were able to talk to her last night and this morning. All in one day for her! So fun to be able to hear her sweet voice and see her sweet face. The kids all thought it was pretty great. They skyped with my parents also (who live a whopping 10 min away) . I think the phone is a thing of the past for them. So thankful for technology that enables us to stay connected! Thank you dear husband!!! Also, Biscuit is getting his lovely locks cut today. Will post pics if the haircut is handsome. If not, I will dig out a paper bag! :)

Being the Genius That I Am

After my shower this morning I put my glasses on and noticed they were very blurry. Must need to be cleaned. So I took them off and finished getting ready. I went downstairs and cleaned them thoroughly. Put them back on and they were still really blurry! Oh no! Maybe they are scra....oh I put my contacts in this morning. Never mind! Can I blame this on being pregnant?

Two Big Things

Mr. Biscuit is now officially a big boy. He has his own special big boy bed and he is potty trained. Hallelujah! Everyone always says boys are difficult to potty train. Not the case! Last Monday I put him in underwear and told him he needed to pee on the potty. He had three accidents the first day and none since. He will not use the small potty and insists on the big toilet with no little seat insert. This is after we special ordered a pee deflector for the potty chair. Thank heavens it was only $2. He has been dry at night and nap time. I feel this is all too good to be true. I keep waiting for him to decide he doesn't want to do this after all. The past 2-3 days we have even let him wait to tell us when he needs to go with very little prompting from us. So far so good! I am in shock! He looks so cute in his big boy underwear. At least, our diaper budget is gone until February!
His bed is going quite well. He loves it and calls it "boy". He seems to be sleeping a bit better. Averaging once a night getting up. He knocks on his door in the morning to let us know he is up. (We have a thing on his doorknob that he usually can't open by himself.)

Big Boy Bed
A little literature while pottying!

Big Boy

Last week Mr. Biscuit was switched to a big boy bed. I can't believe that time has come already. So far, he seems to be doing well. We sit in his room til he falls asleep. This typically takes less than 10 minutes. Unless of course I fall asleep also. Not that that ever happens. Ha ha! He actually slept through the night last night. Now if only I could sleep through the night! We were so incredibly blessed to have two great sleepers first. I am praying baby bean will be a great sleeper as well. I haven't taken a picture of him in his bed yet. Maybe tonight if I remember.

Baby Bean

Baby bean is growing quite nicely. I am measuring a few weeks ahead. No big deal. The baby has probably had a growth spurt. I seem to do this each pregnancy. If only that meant the baby would come closer to my due date. Ha ha. A girl can dream. The heart rate was still around 140-160. Old wives' tale says it is a girl. How I feel and how I am carrying says boy. I am pretty sure it will be a baby. It is fun to not know the sex. All of you planners our there I heard you sighing heavily and shaking your head! We see the midwife again at 29 weeks. (first week of December)

Awesome!

My husband is awesome! He is priming my front door. I have been waiting on this project to be done for a Long Time. For the past few years it looked like a peely mess. It already looks so much better. I so appreciate the hard work my husband has put into this project. It really means a lot to me that because it is important to me, it is important to him. He detests this project. And then, if that wasn't awesome enough he cleaned the kids' bathroom and our bathroom. And by clean I don't mean a quick swipe. He SCRUBBED every surface! I am so thankful for my husband!

Holy Moley!

So, I haven't posted about this yet. Back at 15 weeks I had a kidney stone. Extremely painful! I would much rather push out another 9 pound baby. (Who knows I might get that in February!) I happened to pass a rather small stone. It looked like a grain of sand. Then back at the beginning of October I had another stone that was painful. This time I didn't find the stone. The doctor thought perhaps I didn't pass it all the way. That seemed very likely as Sunday evening I had more pain but it was lower than the other time in October. I still didn't feel great yesterday and today seemed to still be having some symptoms. I told DH tonight that I thought the stone might come out soon. He nodded and smiled. I was getting ready for bed and decided I better pee one last time. Thankfully, the doctor gave me a 'hat' to put on the potty. I peed out the most ginormous stone! I was always led to believe it would be eeny teeny. No sir! We are talking about a 1/4 inch and jagged. And yes, it hurt!!! Let's hope this is the last of my kidney stone issues. Taking this stone in to be analyzed for sure!

Oh Really?

As I was listening to Pandora this morning an ad popped up. The ad was for a certain birth control that labeled itself as 'pregnancy protection'. Are they protecting a pregnancy? Are they protecting you from a pregnancy? Let's call a spade a spade. This is ridiculous. Why not a pregnancy preventer? Why are ad execs afraid to call their product what it is? They don't need to make up a palatable name for something that is widely accepted. How sad that our culture sees new life as something you need to be protected from.

Oh My

I have two small pet peeves to share today! Number one is people who ride their bicycles on the wrong side of the street. A bicycle is considered a vehicle therefore needs to be ridden with traffic! NOT against!!!! It is dangerous to ride your bicycle the wrong way. I think pet peeve number two will not be voiced today. On a more exciting note...We are replacing our plastic containers with glass. Kmart has a sale on glass storage items. This is something we have been wanting to do for a while now but just never found a great sale. I would like to replace a few other plastic items also but have had a hard time finding a better solution.
We are all doing well. Recovered from our colds. Ready to start a new week of school. I am working on lesson plans today while my dad takes the girls fishing. Biscuit is taking a nap. I had better get busy!

Birthday Boy

Biscuit had a great birthday! He received so many nice new toys. Hopefully, he will actually play with them! :) He had white cake with chocolate fudge frosting. We had my parents and sister and her family over for cake and ice cream. Please forgive some of the pics as my dear husband took them and has his finger in the frame.

He Made It!

Mr. Biscuit has survived to his second birthday. A bit of a miracle if you ask me. The kid has ate lots of dirt, bashed his head innumerable times, drank dog water, ate dog food and a host of other incidents. My sweet boy is finally talking and saying more everyday. He loves to give kisses and must hug every family member before bed. He is busy constantly but loves to read and play trucks. He likes to do puzzles. Biscuit loves everybody and rarely is shy with anyone. Happy Birthday my baby!