Cookie monster!

I had an intense craving today for no-bake chocolate cookies.  So intense that I fought the urge to leave work and go home to make them.  I fought the urge ALL AFTERNOON LONG!

After I picked Tatum up and before we went to meet our Sunday school dinner group, this is what our kitchen counter looked like.

Tatum and I both sampled the chocolatey goodness and were very pleased with the results.  She was a great helper, even if I was paranoid that she was going to burn herself on the stove while I was cooking them (and yes, I kept her away from the hot stove very well).

A few (ahem...) additional cookies after getting home from Chic-fil-A and my craving is satisfied.  I think.  Now, if only I could put them away for good and stop eating them.

Weekend Fun

So indulge me while I backtrack just a bit to this weekend.  We were able to get some things done around the house on Saturday, and Matt was kind enough to let me sleep away most of Sunday to rest.

In the midst of my nap, he must have fallen asleep as well.

As you can see, it's probably not a good idea for both adults to be asleep at the same time in our house.  Apparently the kids, Tatum specifically, felt like Daddy needed some doctoring.

Monday's Mission Accomplished

My home to-do list consisted of:

• Laundry
• Dishes
• Kitchen Counters
• Sweep and Mop Kitchen Floor
• Vacuum (the entire house)
• Soak in the bath with some bath goodies

I managed to complete all tasks (well, you and I both know that laundry is NEVER actually finished) except for the vacuuming last night and rewarded myself (and my aching back) with a soak in the tub.

It was so nice and relaxing that I actually fell asleep in the tub.  I'm not sure that had the desired effect on my aching back!

This morning, I finished off the list by putting in another load of laundry and vacuuming the house (all rooms except Kellen's).  Pretty good job on my to-do list, if I say so myself!

Let the countdown begin!

Had another ultrasound and non-stress today and both turned out fine.  She's hanging in there on the low end of the 'normal' range for AFI.  And she gained a whopping half a pound in three days!

Yup.  You read that correctly.  She went from 6 lb, 6 oz on Friday to 6 lb, 14 oz today (give or take 7 oz to each of those).

The doc popped his head in to say hi and I took advantage of the opportunity to ask about induction.  And we're now scheduled to go into the hospital THIS Friday at 10 PM to begin the process.

As you can see, my maniac-ness is continuing.  I thought about it, bugged Matt, then asked both Aunt Boo and Kellen what they thought about holding off on the birthday party for a week and having Jacey this weekend instead.  To be fair, I actually asked Kellen if he wanted Jacey to come before his birthday and/or birthday party.  He said yes.  He wanted her to come before his birthday and birthday party so that she could come to the party, too.  And let's be realistic...there's no way Aunt Boo is going to come down here so close to his birthday and NOT celebrate it.

So he'll end up getting a family birthday celebration and his 'real' birthday party out of the deal (although he doesn't know that) and we're good!

By my calculations, I have 4 nights to finish up the projects around the house.  And tonight Tatum and I went to the pool so that she could have a swim lesson and I could float.  I'm so glad that I went ahead and mustered up the energy to do that!  She and I had fun playing before her lesson, she had fun with Cymon during her lesson, I was able to float in water that was amazingly cool, and even swam some (slow) laps while she was having her lesson.  And I actually feel a little refreshed!

Praise the Lord!

We got home, I bathed her, we had dinner, got ready for bed, read and she's tucked in all tuckered out.  Nice!

Now on to my maniac ways.  I've been having contractions since about 3:30 or so this afternoon.  For about 2 hours they were 3-9 minutes apart.  A little more sporadic than what would be considered 'real' labor, if I remember correctly, but strong ones nonetheless.  They stopped while we were at the pool (for the most part), and started back up when we got back home.  I'm thinking they're nothing, other than a nusiance.

So, to continue with mustering energy, I have unloaded and loaded the dishwasher and the dishes are washing right now.  I've done 3 loads of laundry (so far) tonight, and have a stack of clean laundry to fold and put away.  I've swept and mopped the kitchen floor and cleaned off the counters.  I've picked up quite a bit in the living room, and wanted to vacuum the house, but since Tatum is already in bed and asleep, I'll try to do that in the morning before we leave for the day.

And I'm determined to soak in the tub tonight and use some more of my rediscovered 'goodies' from the bathroom cleaning spree.

Wish me luck!

My maniac ways continue.....

Tatum and I went grocery shopping after I picked her up today, and before putting the groceries away, I decided that, despite being exhausted from work and the simple excursion to the store, that it was the PERFECT time to deep clean the refrigerator.

Maniac!

But, it does look much better, even though I didn't completely finish due to a finger injury.  Apparently the corner portion of the microwave is incredibly sharp, and when you clean next to it without paying complete attention (or have an incredibly pins-n-needles, carpel-tunnel-like hand), you can rip quite a bit of skin away from underneath your fingernail.  OUCH!

Project done, at least for now...that's my cue to sit down, relax, put my feet up, and watch a movie with Tatum.

Maniac...

That's what I've felt like almost all day...beginning at shortly after 4 AM when Tatum burst into my room, poked me, and asked me if it was wake up time.  When I told her no, she asked if she could snuggle with me, got into bed, snuggled, and promptly fell back asleep.

I didn't.

Not that it would have mattered too much, because my brain was doing crazy things to me in my sleep last night.  Note to self: do NOT look up diagnoses on the internet before bedtime.  And by the way, 'oligohydramnios' is the fancy word for the condition of low amniotic fluid.  AFI is the acronym for amniotic fluid index.  A normal AFI is between 8-18 cm, 5-6 cm classifies you as oligohydramnios, and they use measurements from the four quadrants during the ultrasound to get the number.  You know, in case you were wondering.

Crazy me, I dreamed about various scenarios related to Jacey and her AFI all night last night and was virtually convinced that I was going to go in for my ultrasound today and then head straight to the hospital.

Maniac, I tell you.  Maniac.

So immediately prior to going to sleep, I started writing all of the things that I could think of that I needed to get done at work, and some home-related items, before having Jacey.  And I worked from that to-do list quite a bit today, but it still isn't all completed.

Maniac.

However, I went to the doctors for my check-up, passed my non-stress test with flying colors, and had a great ultrasound.  Jacey was even trying to talk to us.  Or swallow.  Or something, while we watched her.  And she's even lower now than she was earlier in the week, and without her starting to actually come out, I didn't realize that was even possible!  (In case you're wondering, her AFI was a little over 9 cm...so we're in the clear for her fluid levels right now!)  She's measuring a whopping 6 pounds, 6 ounces at this point, and with three weeks and 2 days left to go (officially), she may end up being the biggest of our kiddos yet!  If she decides to wait that long.  Or if I decide to let her wait that long.  The doc said he would be ok with inducing me late next week, but we're looking at quite a few conflicting logistics for that to actually occur next weekend....an ABS reunion Saturday, Aunt Boo coming (I think it would be nice if she got to meet Jacey while she were here, but...), then we're ALSO planning Kellen's birthday party for Sunday afternoon (and we probably wouldn't be able to guarantee that we would be out of the hospital in time to actually make it to Kellen's birthday party, and I'm not really ok with that).  In a perfect world, my plan would be to go in to get induced Thursday night, have her Friday morning, get released from the hospital on Saturday, then have Kellen's party on Sunday.

Did I mention that I'm in maniac mode over here??

Anyway, the weather wasn't really cooperating for Tatum to have her swim lesson tonight, so we headed to Target to pick up some odds and ends for Jacey instead.  I had forgotten how quickly things add up when you're dealing with baby gear!  Breastmilk storage bags, cream, pads, a bottle, extra nipples, etc....Craziness!

Tatum was being her usual chatterbox self, and I finally asked her to be quiet for just 5 minutes as we were checking out.  How did the little toot respond, "How about 2 minutes, Mommy?"

The lady checking us out laughed, then (in all seriousness), looked at me, pointed to my belly, and asked if I was having another one.  On the outside, I smiled, shook my head and said "Yes, another girl." On the inside I wanted so badly to look at her with the same level of seriousness on my face and say, "I'm sorry, what do you mean? Why do you ask?"  People, I'm way past the point of trying to ask in a nonchalant way.  And if she really didn't know I was pregnant, whoa buddy.....I look like I have a watermelon sticking straight out in front of me!  She completely cracked me up!

Progress....

So Matt and I really made some progress on the house this weekend....we're getting there, but still have much to do.  You know when you really go through things that you end up making more of a mess before it all becomes clean, orderly and tidy, right?  Well, that's where we are.

Tatum's bed got moved from "their" room to the "girls" room late yesterday afternoon, and that room is shaping up quite nicely (apologies in advance for the poor picture quality...photo taken with my phone).

As you can see, both beds are in there, and other than the cradle (the odd looking thing up on its side), things are pretty well in place.  I still need to assemble the changing table and organize it, but it's certainly getting there!  There is the other bookshelf in there as well (against the wall you can't see) and it looks really nice.

The unintended outcome of our progress were the reactions the kids had last night to bedtime.  They were non-too-happy to no longer be sharing a room with each other.  Tatum bawled.  And bawled.  And bawled some more...even with Daddy AND Mommy trying to comfort her.  Kellen was a little better, but sad, and tried to comfort Tatum in the meantime.  And the odd thing is that Tatum wants to share a room with Jacey (but in her defense, there is no Jacey outside of Mommy's tummy yet, soo......)

And in the living room, the computer desk and computer are all set up, and Matt spent much of yesterday afternoon and evening getting things organized in there.

Next up on the list, assemble and organize the changing table in the girls room, clean up Kellen's room, and finalize the living/dining room transformation.

Whew!

We're getting there....

So Matt and I have managed to swap bookshelves (taking the one from the "play" room into the living room and the one from the living room into the "play" room), purged items from said bookshelves, and have gone through toys in bins and books (both ours and the kids).

I also inventoried all of the girl 0-3 month clothes, washed, folded them, and they're now put away in the former "play", soon to be girls, room on the newly inserted bookshelf.

Next up, moving the computer desk and computer into the living room, rearranging the furniture in there, bringing Tatum's bed back into the girls room, and then setting up the changing table.  I'm hoping we'll get all of this done by the end of the day tomorrow (it would be wonderful if it was all done today, but I know that I'm certainly running out of steam!).