09.30.10

I decided the other day that we should have a countdown to the babies arrival - since we are lucky to know the exact date she will be born (unless she comes early.)
My appointment today went well - again the fluids looked normal and she was being stubborn at my appointment.  She was laying across my belly again and at the very top so they couldn't find her heartbeat at first.  We knew she was doing okay after a few anxious moments since she kicked and both the nurse and I saw her.  The doctor said she wished all of her babies looked like mine.  It made me feel good that she is doing so great.  And since things seem to be moving along so well I thought, "why not make a chain for Kirsten and Peter to tear off until she gets here." 
So here is my chain - the kids helped me use my Cricut machine.  They each picked out a flower and a rattle to cut out.  Then with a little glue and a staple or two or more it was finished and now hanging on our wall.  For Dave and I it will go really fast, but for Kirsten and Peter 29 days will seem like an eternity.

09.29.10

The kids this summer were part of our libraries reading program and one of the perks was they each got a free pass to the DuPage Children's Museum.  I hadn't forgotten about it but it was coming up to expire.  I felt that the kids earned the chance to go and so I decided we would go.  Because of school and a impromptu lunch date with our neighbor we didn't leave the house until almost 2 pm.  I figured I didn't have much stamina to go for long and the museum closed at 4 pm and so it was perfect for us to go.  The kids had a great time and of course we started with the water part and by the time we were done there - all three of us were soaking wet.  I was trying to help Kirsten attach some pipes in the water and ended up spraying all three of us pretty good.  The kids didn't care and I was fine.  So on to the next adventure we went.  They had changed the upstairs just a little bit by creating a space ship and mission control area.  The kids loved playing there and spent a fair amount of time there.  We explored other areas of the museum and had a great time.  When the museum closed I was glad but the kids wanted to explore a couple more areas.  It was a nice time and the kids were so excited to tell dad all about their adventures.

09.28.10

What do you get when mom is busy working inside and the kids are outside playing?  A bit of a muddy problem.  Both Kirsten and Peter thought it was a great idea to play in the sandbox - that's okay with me.  But then someone - I don't know who - decided that putting water in the sandbox would be better.  Soon I could hear Kirsten screaming for me from the doorway downstairs.  I was up in the craft room with the fan on and so I'm not sure how long she had been yelling.  When I did find them they both were covered from head to toe in sand and mud.  I was so upset with them that I didn't take a picture until they were in the bathroom.  I stripped both of them down at the doorway and threw their clothes in the washer to soak.  Then I brought them upstairs and sprayed as much of the sand off in the shower before I let them take a bath.  I guess I shouldn't be too mad at them, but they did ruin the clothes they were in and I did leave them somewhat unattended in the backyard.  I had been checking on them off and on but I guess it had been awhile since I had checked on them.  Oh well, KIDS WILL BE KIDS.

09.27.10

I had my appointment today with the Maternal Fetal Clinic to have my Non-stress Test and my repeat AFI (to check for the amniotic fluid).  I passed with flying colors.  The doctor was pretty adamant that I would not be delivering early and that I need not worry.  My fluids looked great and that the baby looked great too.  She was laying across my belly rather then up and down.  I think she likes to make the nurses work hard to keep up with her.  OH, WHAT I HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO.  I distinctly remember a certain brother who did much the same. 

All I have to say is that I am much relieved and think she will be waiting until her scheduled c-section to make her appearance.  That's okay with me.  I don't really think I was prepared or ready for a quick arrival.  This gives me time to finish a couple of things before she gets here.

09.26.10

How do you describe the feeling of renewal?  Of new life?  I think a sunrise is the perfect feeling.  It is fresh and gives you hope for the new day.  We had the General RS Conference Meeting last night and it was such a renewal.  I felt uplifted and given new life for the upcoming week.  Although this week has had its ups and downs, I feel that I can go on.  I feel that what ever is put in my path is going to be okay.  I have no idea what the upcoming weeks will bring.  Will this baby come early or will it wait to come until the end of October?  It is hard to know and I just can't speculate anymore.  I have talked with my mom and think she may be here earlier then we had planned.  I am grateful for that and hopefully that will relieve some of the stress that has been making this last month of pregnancy so frustrating to me.

09.25.10

Our lawn must be the perfect place to have baby rabbits.  This morning Dave happened upon another nest of baby rabbits just before he ran over their hole with the lawn mower. There were 4 babies that were reasonable size in our front yard.  The lawn had not been mowed for various reasons for the last couple of weeks and so the grass was pretty long.  Dave was really happy that he saw them and didn't run over them with the lawn mower.  The mother was smarter this time and put them in the front yard rather then the backyard with the dogs.  I think they are big enough that they will make it.  Peter and Kirsten were enamored with them and Dave even let Kirsten hold one that was so stunned it wasn't running anywhere.  This one hid under the truck until Dave had to leave and he made it move so he wouldn't run it over.  I haven't seen them since but I hope they are okay - or should I hope they are okay.  I'm sure they could reek havoc with some of my plants - if I knew which ones?!?!?! 

09.23.10

Today I had a doctor's appointment and everything was going good.  We scheduled my C-section for October 29th.  I was thinking things were going to be great and then we went to the ultrasound room and looked at the baby.  We were there to measure the amniotic fluid.  She was waving at us and moving around a bunch.  The doctor started to be concerned when she couldn't see enough amniotic fluid around the baby.  She said I was borderline and wanted me to repeat the ultrasound at my appointment on Monday with the other clinic I see on Mondays.  She said to drink more water.  She thought because of my history with Peter and my hospitalization for dehydration, that was why my fluids might be low.  It kind of threw me for a loop.  This is how it all started with Peter.  I was borderline one week, the next week flying high and then the next week - DROP my fluids were very low and I had him that day.  I guess I better get things more in order or I will really be in trouble if she comes early.  Hopefully it will resolve itself. 

09.22.10

Umm, yeah this is what I get when I am not paying attention to my kids.  A BIG MESS.  Peter decided to dump all of my beads and all of the pom-poms on the floor of the craft room.  Let's just say I helped to clean up for awhile and finally went and put myself in a different room because #1 I can't really bend over that easily to pick up all those little pieces and #2 I was ready to scream at both my kids for not cleaning it up themselves.  Peter just continued to dump the pom-poms out after he picked them up.  It was maddening.

09.21.10

I love that we live close enough to the school that we can walk to school.  Although this year we have to walk around the block a little further since Kindergarten is on the other side of the school from us.  It is fun and is giving me exercise that I wouldn't otherwise have.  Today I did have to drive half of the distance so we can be on time for picking up Peter at Joy School and so we only had to walk to the truck today. 

Kirsten so loves school.  She is having fun, learning letters and new things everyday.  She is always so excited to tell us about what she has learned.  I am glad she enjoys school and doesn't have any trouble going.

09.20.10

How high do you jump for your food?  If you can't tell, he is jumping as high as Zoe's head.  He whines and cries all morning until you feed him.  He is especially impatient if you happen to walk Kirsten to school before you feed him.  I can hear him barking as we walk down the street.  What a silly dog!

09.19.10

More of the birthday celebration for me.  I always think your birthday should last a couple of days, not just the date of your birth.  So today Dave made us Lasagna for dinner and we ate this YUMMY piece of cake we bought last night at claim jumpers.  The kids were astounded by it's size.  I was in love with it's taste - especially the frosting.  I guess the Food Network is right, it is one of the top 5 decadent desserts (of course I will now have to figure out what the other 4 are.)

Kirsten made me a crown to wear out of paper and tape.  She is a true girl after my own heart.  She loves to cut paper and make things.  Thanks for the beautiful crown.

09.18.10

09.17.10

An early birthday present.  COULD HAVE USED IT YESTERDAY!!!

09.16.10

Our house has been the place to be.  The kids love swinging on the swings and playing around.  It has been beautiful!!  I mean BEAUTIFUL around here.  Nice open your windows, warm (but not hot) days and cool nights.  We love it!! 

Peter decided that he was going to take an adventure today.  I was bringing something inside when they were playing out front and when I came back out - he was gone.  I waited for the girls and him to come around the corner, but no such luck.  All I saw was Kirsten and Sierra.  I looked up and down the street and then looked down our bike path.  There he was across the street at the end of the bike path - headed WHO KNOWS WHERE?  A nice gentleman had told him not to cross, but Peter looked left then right, then left then right, then left then right (about 15 times the guy said) before he decided to cross the street.  It isn't a way busy road, but it almost always has a car or two coming one way or the other and Peter was just on his tricycle.  I finally caught up with him and brought him back to the house.  I was not happy.  I put him in time out and put the bike in the garage.  He was not to ride it the rest of the afternoon.  After probably 10 minutes in the chair he asked meekly - "can I get out of time out?"  Oooopppps!  I was so mad at him I forgot to release him from time out.  After that he I told him to get his ball or something else.  Eventually they ended up in the back yard - which I was grateful for.  Fully fenced!!  Some days it is hard to be a momma!

09.15.10

Some days when dad is out of town, mom has a bad day.  Especially when she and everyone else doesn't enough sleep.  It makes for a hard day.  This is Peter after a half hour meltdown that mom was about ready to put him on the street with a FREE sign.  It wasn't good.  It is just the combination of no nap, not enough sleep, a late lunch, no snack, the wrong fork, the wrong drink, . . . and on and on.  Finally after all that he ate his dinner and drank his Kool-aid and talked like nothing happened.  It was maddening.  But how can you not love a child who still won't sit down during dinner and smiles at you when you bring the camera down to captrue the moment? 


Off to bed with you child!!!  {And you too momma!}

09.14.10

Tonight I helped the Young Women in our church to make elastic waist skirts.  I guess I underestimated the number of young women and the time it would take to make them.  We had nine Young Women, nine sewing machines, two sergers, probably 9 young women leaders, helpers or moms.  It was a mad house.  When it was all said and done we had 8 and 1/2 skirts made.  Lots of excited Young Women with new skirts (and hopefully new skills.)  And one physically exhausted mom that had to still go home after 9 to put her two kids to bed (because Dad was out of town.)  I need to learn to say no to people.  I think I can do more then I can and end up feeling really crummy when it is all over. 

09.13.10

Time for getting out the fall decorations.  Kirsten loves to "play" with all of the decorations.  I let both of them lay with them.  I came back downstairs and they were all lined up in a row.  I love my fall decorations.  I think it is because I love the colors of the leaves as they change and the fall color combinations.

09.12.10

Okay, so here is one of those obligatory pregnant pictures that I know I need to take.  People kept telling me I looked good today and so I thought, I better take a picture after church or I might not have another "nice" looking day for awhile.  I have about 6 weeks to go (or so, whose counting?)  I bought this the other day because most of my Sunday wear is either black or brown.  I wanted some color and something new to wear.  I love it!  Plus it is my favorite color- PINK!!

09.11.10

 

Today was one of those work all day type of days.  I first decided to rearrange the bookshelf in the office to accomidate some of the kids books so they didn't get piled up in their rooms.  Then when we started talking about it we decided we better figure out if the crib was going to fit in Kirsten's room, and so Dave moved all the furniture around in his Auto Cad program and then went to work moving it in her room.  For now we are not going to put the crib up but you can actually see that there is carpet in her room and not just toys and clothes.  I like how it opened her room up.  Then while we were at it we moved the $20 purchase we made from Craigslist for Peter's dresser, or should I say Dave moved it up to Peter's room.  All in all it was nice to see the fruits of our labors. 

Now if I could just figure out where to put some of the stuff that got taken out of these three rooms.

09.10.10

My craft group met today and painted the wood boards that Dave made.  They worked long and hard and we had a great time.  I wasn't much help in the set up or clean up department, I had done all the work before hand to get the vinyl here and the wood cut.  I did a lot of sitting and watching.  Liberty and I made the cute Halloween decorations from the free samples the vinyl lady sent us.  It was a very, very long day but we all had a great time together.

09.09.10

Do I have an amazing husband or what?  He puts up with my antics and helps me get together all the wood for my craft groups.  He is such a sweetheart to do this for me.  He cut 16 boards for our Family Home Evening and Name Board project along with 100 plus tags for the Family Home Evening boards.  What a trooper.  He is so nice to help out.  He cut the boards to length, planed them and did a nice routered edge on each one.  For the tags he cut them to size and then put holes in them.  I have to admit they look pretty cool sitting here on his router table.  Thanks for being such a big help, and my group thanks you!!!

09.08.10

While I was upstais working on updating my blog I could hear singing going on downstairs.  I had let the kids play with my guitar and had opened up our electric piano and when I looked downstairs I saw these two playing and singing.  It was fun to listen to Kirsten as she sang the songs out of the Children's Hymnbook.  She can read really well and so has the words in front of her to help her sing them right.

09.07.10

YAY!!  Our vinyl order came.  We are doing Family Home Evening boards and Family name boards as part of our craft group and originally we were supposed to do it tomorrow, but UPS said that it wouldn't get here until tomorrow and so we moved the date to Friday.  BUT it came today anyway.  I sorted through all of it and found a couple pieces missing and called to get them on their way.  Otherwise it will be nice to finish this project so we can start our fun October project.

09.06.10

It is always sad to see a fun weekend come to an end.  Kirsten seems to think this is the best weekend ever.  I think she was glad to not be with ornery, tired mom all the time.  We meandered over to Naperville just before lunch and took Paula to a Pizza Joint.  You can't visit Chicago with out having PIZZA.  It is a sin, and even with her gluten allergy we found a place that makes a real yummy gluten free pizza - how do they do it - a sausage crust.  YUM!  How could you go wrong with all the toppings of a regular pizza with sausage on the bottom.  We had a regular pizza and the kids ate it up - I think each of them had 1 1/2 pieces.  We wandered down to the Riverwalk in Naperville and spent a little time on the water's edge and then drove Paula to the airport. :(

09.05.10

Mini videoheads - meet your Aunt Videohead.  It seemed all weekend when we weren't out enjoying the weather the kids were playing on dad and Paula's I-pod and I-phone.  And when the kids weren't playing then Dave and Paula were.  I kind of felt a little left out and wanted to ban them after awhile.  Glad you could come to Chicago to play on your I-phone (hee!hee! - just a joke.)