Rainy Days

It's a pretty dismal day. It's raining and overcast.  A perfect day for laundry and dishes and bathroom cleaning x3. It's also a perfect movie day, which resulted in a cuddle session on the couch with two little girls and a DVD of The Lion King {aka "Simba movie"}.

And right after lunch, the doorbell rang and the mailman delivered a package for Bailey and Avery. Bailey knows what this means: Presents from Gramma Cathy!!
[This girl has been conditioned Pavlov style. She sees any package or even just a cardboard box and she is absolutely convinced it is for her from her grandma.]

Grandma Cathy always sends the best packages. And they look cute too.

And there was candy inside!

 

Along with the all-important candy was a book. It was one of those books where you can record your voice reading it.

The girls LOVED it.

I think Bailey was slightly amazed to hear Grandma Cathy's voice coming out of the book.

The girls love to read books. Bonus points if there are pictures of animals. And even better if the book reads itself to you!

 

 

Earlier in the week when it was nice out, Bailey was playing the role of official leaf raker.
She loves to feel helpful.

And being buried in the leaves proved to be just as fun.

 

 

I am pretty excited for the upcoming weekend.

For one it is my birthday on Sunday. Not such a big deal anymore (really, after 21, it is all down hill) but I am excited to receive mail, especially mail that might actually contain money instead of demanding it. ;)  Also, my wonderfully talented husband always bakes me a delicious cake. And pretty sure cake is my favorite food, so that also has me excited.

On Friday Beaner will be home for a 3-day weekend, so we will be hitting up the new Mexican restaurant in town with her and Justy. Mucho chips and salsa for me; mucho margaritas for everyone else...

Then on Saturday Jared and I are heading to Sioux City to do some serious shopping and spend the day together. I am excited to get all our Christmas shopping done (I am determined to be done before Baby) and go out to eat for my birthday.   Endless shrimp here we come!  It might be our last little hurrah before I am chained to the couch 24/7 in a nursing tank top covered in spit up.
(Only 6 weeks - or less - left!)

Hopefully Sunday will be a low-key. Church in the morning and cake eating all day long. Some football. More cake.  Sounds pretty amazing to me.

Pumpkin Fest 2012

Seeing as it barely rained this morning and soon turned into a beautiful day, we hit up the local pumpkin patch for a few hours of fun.

I called up my mom and dad and they came along with us. Going and picking out pumpkins wasn't something we ever did as kids, so my parents got to experience it for the first time too.

There were quite a few different activities for kids of all ages, but mostly kids Bailey's age or a bit older. She wasn't quite sure about doing the trampoline with harness. It took some persuasion by Jared to get her to give it a try. But once she got the hang of it, she was all smiles.

However, the "corn pool" was a hit for both kids. The "pool" was actually like a giant sandbox, but instead of sand it was filled with 175 bushels of corn.

Avery, the poor thing, spent the better part of the day attempting to escape frequent Kleenex attacks by both Grandma and Mom.

{But on the positive side, the tooth finally broke through today! Maybe the end is in sight?}

There was a kid's zip line as well. Bailey was too young to be trusted to actually use it as intended, but we improvised and Jared pushed her along instead.
Maybe next year.

 

We finished the day off with a hay ride to pick out a few pumpkins.

Earlier my dad stuck a piece of straw in his mouth, which made Bailey laugh. So on the hay ride, she took one piece and put it in Papa's mouth and put another in her mouth.

They both rode nearly the whole ride like this:

You can't even stage a picture like this.

This girl just makes me laugh.

 

It was a nice day with beautiful weather and kids that didn't whine even once during the 3 hours we were at the Pumpkin Fest. Follow that up with an early bedtime of 7 pm and I would say the day was a success. :)

Week recap

It's been pretty boringly normal around here lately. We haven't taken any cute pictures of the girls in a while because the snot pouring out of their noses kinda ruins any decent shot. The weather has been bordering on cold so we have spent some days cuddled up inside.

In fact, I am not really sure where the week went...

On Monday afternoon my mom came and watched the girls for a few hours so Jared and I could get out of the house to celebrate his birthday. We went shopping for a couple hours - just browsing around, discussing Christmas presents for the girls, choosing new knobs for the nursery dresser... It was nothing fantastic really, but at the same time it was. I can't remember the last time we shopped without making a grocery stop to Walmart along the way. It was heaven.

We ate dinner together and I enjoyed Jared's complimentary birthday cheesecake for him since he has cut out junk food and most carbs for the past month or more. {Side note: what is a manly word for "diet"?} He has more willpower than I can ever hope for. He is down 20-plus pounds now. [Yay Jared!] And I am apparently picking them up as he drops them off... Anyway, the turtle cheesecake was delicious, as was the basket of bread I almost finished by myself. In my defense, there were flavored butters!

The rest of the week has been a blur of randomness.

*This week's doctor's appointment got cancelled and I was fine with it. It's pretty annoying to drive 30 minutes to see the doctor for two minutes and then drive back home. Baby is in there constantly shifting around to find the most uncomfortable (for me) position, so I think we are good to go.
*I got a haircut - talk about long overdue. This pregnancy has left my hair feeling like a horse's mane no matter what products I use. Not cool.
*I took a lot of naps. Long naps.
*Jared finished refinishing the dresser for the nursery, so we rearranged furniture. {It's completely sad how this excites me.} Now we are just waiting for the knobs to arrive. $6 per knob at Menard's? Yeah, not so much. Thank you, Overstock.com. Hopefully in the next week or two we will finish the room by actually hanging something on the walls.

Today I worked for a few hours in the afternoon once Jared was up to watch the girls. And in keeping with our exciting lifestyle as of late, after I got home, Jared and I sat down to watch a DVR'ed episode of SVU. He made it about 3/4 of the way through and was snoring on the couch Dad-style. Working nights really leaves something to be desired in the whole companionship department; he was asleep in bed by 9 pm.

Hopefully this weekend is less of a bust. The forecast for tomorrow is rain and I sincerely hope that comes with some thunder as well. I did not come anywhere close to getting my fill of thunderstorms this past summer. The plan is for a comfy, game-filled day tomorrow and a trip to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. I am keeping my fingers crossed that poor Jared isn't lulled to sleep by the hay ride.

32 weeks

Another week gone by.

Another week closer to finding out if we have a little brother or sister to add to our bunch.
Or if you ask Bailey her opinion on the sex of the baby, she will tell you "brother-sister." Apparently she either can't choose or it's going to be a hermaphrodite.

Time will tell.

32 weeks is a big week - according to pregnancy books at least.
 
It's the week where you can take comfort in the knowledge that "almost every baby born at this gestation does well and goes on to live a normal, healthy life."
And after seeing friends who have struggled with pre-term babies and long NICU stays, every week that goes by is much appreciated by me.

Overall, I still feel pretty great.
There are a few moments out of each day that I am uncomfortable. Especially since Baby loves to wedge his or her little butt high up into my right ribs. Apparently that is the sweet spot because that is where Avery and Bailey each liked to be too.

But other than that, I still get a good night's sleep every night - or I would if everyone in our house would stop getting cold after cold! We all know poor Avery needs to be able to furiously suck her thumb and a plugged nose just isn't really helping things.

And I feel like I am doing pretty well energy-wise.
{Or as good as can be expected with a 2 1/2 year old and a 17 month old.}
I am however realizing the perks of a single-story house like I had with my first two pregnancies. Those stairs are a real killer by 7 pm...

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Happy 28th Birthday, Jared!

 

 

 

Here is the birthday boy a mere 25 years ago...

Isn't he cute?  Love the suspenders.
 

And he still gets this excited about cake!

(Oh wait, that's me. Never mind.)

 

 

Anyway...

Happy birthday to the best husband I could have ever asked for.

I wish we had all the money in the world so I could surprise you with expensive gifts, fancy meals, and exotic get-aways, but I think dinner and a movie is probably the closest we are going to get for a while...  Besides, you are actually the one with a knack for surprises and presents.

 

I love you more than words can say. ♥
 

Happy Birthday.

 

 

Fall Bucket List

 

I finally got around to finishing our Fall Bucket List. I bought the cute leaf shapes a month ago, but when I went back to Hobby Lobby to buy another package, of course they no longer carried them. So what resulted is a lot of orange as I improvised and cut out some gourd/pumpkin shapes instead.

 

Our list seems a bit small, especially compared to this summer's.

 

But things like "visit a pumpkin patch" will take up the better part of a day and will hopefully include lots of other activities too. I read some other people's lists to get ideas, but there was no way "watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade" was making the list. Watching a parade - any parade - on TV? I would rather stab my own eyes out.

 

And we already have the girls' Halloween costumes, so that is another item already checked off way in advance. We have been practicing around the house with our plastic orange pumpkin buckets. These girls are ready for all that candy collecting!

 

And seeing as Baby #3 should be making his or her appearance sometime in {late} November, I didn't get overzealous. It will be enough work to drag my butt to twice weekly appointments - which start in two weeks.

Hopefully along the way I will think of some more ideas.

Feel free to share any good ones that I might be missing.

{Just don't bother trying to change my mind on the whole parade watching thing.}

October already

It's beautiful out today. I have some windows open and I can hear the leaves falling in earnest now. The backyard is beginning to fill up with them. The weather is perfect - still cool but supposed to reach the 70s by this afternoon. I have fall scented candles lit around the house. Now I just need an apple pie baking in the oven. {Need is perhaps the wrong word.}

I can't really believe it is October already, and that another week has begun. The last one flew by quickly.

On Wednesday Justy made the trip with me to Ames for an endocrinologist appointment. She came under the pretense of helping with the girls, but she was definitely in it for lunch at Hickory Park. Love that place. I could practically drink their delicious buttermilk ranch. Plus it's always busy with a constant hum of activity so I don't have to be as worried about keeping the girls quiet. The appointment was fine and the ice cream afterward was even better.

My sisters Fe and Beaner were back this weekend for a visit. So on Friday night the whole family loaded up to go out to eat together. That happens very infrequently, and for it happen during harvest time is a rarity. It was nice to be together, but even nicer to just hang out casually on Sunday watching football.

As busy as last week was, this week should be the opposite. I don't have to work until the weekend, so we have some open, free days ahead of us. So I have decided to make it my goal to accomplish the tasks I have been putting off around the house. For example, the pile of clutter that is just sitting on top of the fridge - most of which doesn't even belong in the kitchen. And the closet in the spare bedroom that apparently just sucks in random items, never to be seen again.

I am crossing my fingers to stumble across a vase we have been looking for for the past few weeks. It is an ugly, shiny brown vase that we received as a wedding present. But oddly enough, it looks great with fall flowers and leaves in it - which is the only season we ever use it. And I can't find it anywhere. Apparently it went into hiding along with Jared's power drill battery charger.

But during the search, I have found quite a few things that made their way into the Goodwill donation box.

I seriously love donating things.

(I just cannot understand hoarders. If Jared were like that... A total deal-breaker. Massive irreconcilable difference.)
I like cleaning out our closets and finding things I know we don't use and that someone else might. I like the feeling of making more room and accomplishing a higher level of organization, even though it is probably only in my head.

Also high on my list is my goal to accomplish all my Christmas tasks by the end of this month. As in: shopping complete and wrapping done, resulting in a nice pile of gifts waiting in the basement until December 25th. Because, as you might have already heard, we are expecting the arrival of a needy little baby in November. And I do not want to have to take said baby into crowded stores, filled with coughing, sniffling people. [Plus it is gonna be cold out. Enough said.]

But I am getting ahead of myself. Back to this week:
Hopefully I can tie up some of these household loose ends and feel more prepared for Baby's arrival. It's starting to sink in that I will soon have zero free time and even less energy to do menial tasks like organizing the pantry. And maybe the girls and I can enjoy some backyard play time and stroller rides before the temps drop dramatically - and probably for good.

30 weeks

 

 

Today was Baby's 30-week growth ultrasound. They just do a quick view for measurements to make sure Baby is growing adequately because of my high-risk status. 

 

Estimated weight:  3 lbs 9 oz  (60th percentile)

Estimated gestational age: 31 weeks

Heart rate:  157

Presentation: head down  (Yay!)

 

I am pretty stoked about the whole head-down part. My breech baby Bailey never did flip and Avery did around 34 weeks. So I am feeling ahead of the game this time around!

[Let's go, VBAC #2!]

Like I said, it was a quick ultrasound, but the tech did print me off a picture or two.

 

Not sure why the tech always thinks she has to type "face" into all the pictures...

 

 

And here from this head-on view, our baby looks like a smooshed alien...

It also doesn't help that Baby has its little hand over its face.

{I basically just posted this picture so my sister Fe can stare at it for 15 minutes straight and not make out so much as an eye.}

So that's it. Just another normal appointment - which I love.
 
We are still blissfully unaware of baby's sex.
And also (less blissfully) unsure as to what Baby's name might possibly be - although I feel like we *might* be making some progress in that department.

Baby's arrival is starting to feel closer.
We still have some things to accomplish.

Jared seems to be in the all-too-common Man LaLa-Land. He seems to lose track of how fast the weeks go and has it in his head that we have months and months left. This past weekend I reminded him that by my original dates, I would be 31 weeks pregnant. And my water broke with Bailey at 36 weeks to the day. So after doing some quick math... that is 5 weeks. You never know when Baby will decide it's time...

Cut to a few hours later -

Jared is hard at work, sanding down the baby's dresser that needs restained. 

 

Now if only both of us could be as motivated to pick out that pesky baby name!

Blah...

I have a major case of the blahs.

I might not be one of those people who is always exuding sunshine and rainbows (I sort of hate those people anyway), but I am a content person.
I am happy with what I have.
I don't define my happiness or success by having an exciting, high-paying job or designer clothes. I don't drive a fancy, expensive car and have absolutely no desire to.
I have my health (minus the damn 'betes) and my family. I have a great husband, two healthy kids, a roof over my head, and food (mostly cookies) in my belly. Life is good.

But that doesn't stop me from feeling really, just.... bleh...

I love our girls, but man-oh-man have they been driving me insane. Just completely bonkers. For the past 8 days I have heard more crying and whining than I think I have heard in the entire past year. Between both of them having horrible colds and Avery cutting the world's slowest moving molars, it's been all I can do to keep a small grasp on my sanity.
[I always know my feelings are justified when Jared of all people is peacing out for work early.]
That means it's bad.

I have found myself getting irrationally mad at Bailey for the dumbest things, like when she insisted on starting to count from 3 instead of 1 one day. I am sure she was doing it to get a reaction and the sad part is that it was working. It also isn't helping that she has officially decided to disagree with me on every single part of the day.

Typical morning:
     Me: Bailey, do you want cereal or yogurt for breakfast?
     Bailey: I want yogurt. Yogurt! Yogurt!
     Me: (give her yogurt)
     Bailey: No! No yogurt! I want cereal.
**Now apply this scenario to every single part of every day. Clothes, using the potty, brushing teeth, nap time, what book to read. The possibilities are simply endless.

It has to be hormones, right?

When in doubt, blame it on the hormones...

I don't remember ever having such a profound loss of patience about anything and everything. I could seriously fly off the handle at any given moment. And thank God for texting because it has probably saved me from going all-out super-bitch on someone at work a couple of times at least.
And, in general, some people are just so damn obnoxious. And annoying. It shouldn't bother me, but it does. I just want to roll my eyes. Constantly. And so I send a snarky text message to help put myself in check. {Apparently my maturity also made an exit along with my patience.}

I have just felt in a funk this past weekend. Saturday afternoon was all free and clear for me to do anything I wanted. The house was spic and span, the girls were taking an amazingly long nap, and Jared went to nap too. I had time to myself. But I just didn't want to do anything. I tried to read, watch a movie, take a nap, journal... nothing was doing it for me. I hate that feeling.

I apologize for this entire post.
It's kind of become an online vent session for me. But I feel a little better.
If I didn't have a bun in the oven right now, I would resort to a large, large Long Island Iced Tea and an iTunes mix of get-out-the-anger type songs (Beaner always has the best mixes of these) to make myself feel better. And it would probably work. But alas...*sigh*

Hopefully some of you fellow preggos and former pregnant ladies (and anyone who just likes a good bitch sesh in general) can relate. Sometimes you just have to let it out. And as much as I love being pregnant, I am ready to have my more even-keeled self back. [This is where Jared laughs to himself.]

Just looking at the pictures Jared took today made me feel horrible. I looked just plain fat in 90% of them and forbid him to post them anywhere. There is a reason I don't take pictures while pregnant - apart from the periodic side-bump shots. And apparently horizontal stripes are not your friend when it comes to maternity wear. Lesson learned. It sucks to have to learn it through photographic evidence though.

But there were some cute shots so I will post some of those. Jared bought himself a new camera lens with his gambling winnings from almost a year ago, so we went out to mess around and take a few pics with the girls.

 

 

 

 

Aren't they just too precious for words?

 



Moments like those remind me of how much I love them - snotty noses and all. Being a mom is really hard work. Much harder some days than others. But the sweet moments make all the other crap worth it.

 

And with this long-winded post, I believe I have talked myself out of my blahs.

Thanks for sticking it out with me.

Gone Country

Harvest is in full swing.
And it's a record early one.
My dad doesn't remember ever being in the field by their anniversary on September 10th.
A year to remember for sure.

My dad runs the combine and my mom drives the dump cart to unload on the go.

This past week we planned a visit to see Papa and "Gamma" in the field. I was wondering how well Bailey would do with a ride in any piece of machinery since this is what happened last time:

Complete hysterics.

{It's hard to believe this is the same child... Time flies.}

 

This time was completely different. She LOVED riding with her papa in the combine. She got to turn the steering wheel and push buttons (not always at appropriate times, mind you). 

 

 

She was pretty excited about the whole thing.

And I think my dad was enjoying himself, too.

 

Bailey made herself right at home. Once I vacated the cab, she situated herself on the spare seat and commanded my dad to buckle her in. Give the girl some fruit snacks and she would have been good to go for a few hours.  At least.

 

 

Avery also enjoyed herself. Every time my mom would pull along side us in the field she would clap and wave and yell "Hi!" at the top of her little lungs. She plopped herself on the floor and was content to stare out of the big windshield at all the corn disappearing before her eyes.

 

 

After a few rounds it was time to explore all the corn stalks (and dirt in Avery's case).

 

 

{Check out those boots. She is pretty proud of them.}

 

 

I am sure we'll be making another trip to ride in the combine this fall since it was a big hit.

(And so Jared can practice taking more pictures of the girls.)

 

Happy Harvest!