The Sandlot

Last night the kids and I watched The Sandlot (Kellen's choice).  I think he's seen the move one other time, but apparently has an elephant-like memory.  He remembered what part was next, asked about this or that coming up, and pretty much had the entire storyline down pat.  Where is that elephant-like memory when I'm asking him to do something?  Because I swear, sometimes he can walk outta' the room and forget what I just told him to do. I think he takes after his daddy on that one. His daddy that was taking kids to school and almost left one of them yesterday. (But I think their daddy from the bottom of my heart for taking them to school yesterday and today!) I guess we're still getting used to the expansion around here.

But I digress.  I know the movie is set 'back in the day', but was thinking about how I (or virtually any other parent I know of) would not allow my kids to just holler through the door at me that they're going to go play and will be back later.  Those kids spent the whole summer virtually unsupervised.

I grew up in the country (pick your jaw back up, folks), 3 miles out of a town the size of a postage stamp. But back in those days (you know, when the dinosaurs still roamed), although my folks had a pretty good idea of where I was throughout the day, we had free rein of the pasture and tank in order to play.  No tellin' how much trouble we got into riding the go-cart and blowing up ant beds. (Of course, we always gave the ants a good last meal first - grasshoppers who were mysteriously missing their legs.)

Even that amount of freedom probably wouldn't fly nowadays, huh?  Ah, the good ole' days!

Who knew?

Of the five people who read this, apparently some are well-traveled. Or live in exotic places. I just discovered the 'stats' tab available in on Blogger (duh me, so perhaps I'm a little slow on the uptake over here), and in the last month I've had visitors from Malasia, Thailand and Singapore.

Who knew?

Feel free to let me know you're here and reading! Anyone should be able to post a comment...

Noctural nastiness

and no, I'm not talking about that.

As I was awake last night with my dearest 7 1/2 week old daughter, I realized how quickly I or the nether regions of my brain can turn nasty if I'm pushed.  After 4 hours of fussiness, eating, burping, spitting up, and continually replacing the paci in her mouth, (never mind that I was dealing with this while being sick) my brain went nuts. I had thoughts of taping the paci to her, but of course knew that my noctural madness was just that.

Madness.

I would never do anything to hurt her or cause her bodily harm (just in case you are actually wondering about my sanity level at this point).  And despite suggestions from Facebook friends to utilize duct tape for this particular problem, I would not actually tape the paci to my child's mouth.

A few deep breaths and several looks into her sweet little face later, my brain moved on to the mechanics of finding or developing some contraption to actually keep a paci in a child's mouth.

Anyone out there want to help me with my quest for product development?  I'm thinking this could be my million dollar idea.  Kind of like the folks who made blankets with silky tags all over them. Genius. Considering how much Kellen liked (likes) to rub on silky tags, I'm kicking myself for not thinking of that one.

A Case of the Mondays.....

And I seem to have it!

Things I've learned and/or remembered today:

• it isn't always good when your kids share with you (See earlier post for explanation)
• little girls who are quiet in their room too long are bound to get into trouble (Tatum apparently decided to express herself artistically this afternoon instead of napping...her bed, her walls (discovered at about 3PM this afternoon) and as I just found out, her brothers new build-a-bear monkey. I was sure I had crayon-proofed her room! And if you're wondering, antibacterial dishwashing soap and a damp washcloth seem to be able to get crayon out of monkeys.)
• kids (seem to) learn their lesson when they are made to clean up their own messes (hello magic eraser...Tatum made short work of her wall and bed masterpieces with your help. Thank you.)
• you can't physically force a kid to eat, and it's too stressful to try (have been learning this one for a while)
• the poop of breast fed babies is almost miraculous...it defies gravity, seeps through the thickest of diapers, and soaks anything it comes into contact with. Scientists should study its properties and I can supply them with their research data.
• Jacey seems to be settling into a poop pattern...the bomb explodes at roughly 7PM. When it does, watch out! And the washing machine had better be empty at the time to deal with the aftermath.
• Matt can take apart the fabric on the bouncy and on the swing very quickly (see the above bullet for why I found that out) Oh, and this one I learned last night.
• Kellen is a most caring big brother and will make up a song on the spot to try and soothe his screaming sister.
• Jacey screams bloody murder if, when getting her dressed, you put lotion on her body and it isn't the correct temperature and/or you don't clothe her quickly enough.
• Jacey is now starting to take the paci from the hospital as well as (the new development) nuk paci's. This is good because I have quite the stock of nuk paci's for her, as I was just so sure she would take them and them alone, just like her older siblings.
• You can truly dread something that you know is the right thing, even after going through similar scenarios twice before. (Jacey starts her day care tomorrow, so pardon me while I grab a box of tissues)
• Virtually none of the above scenarios are good when you have a migraine.
• My migraines, while nice to me during pregnancy, are now coming back to greet me. For some reason, they seem to be carrying a grudge against me....perhaps they're trying to show me how much they missed me?

But as all three kids are settling into bed shortly before 8 PM, I also realize that:

• Tatum is incredibly upset if she thinks she'll fall asleep without someone saying night-night prayers with her
• My kids still love snuggles before bedtime and still want me to tuck them into bed
• Kellen is very thoughtful about helping without being asked, and eager to help when asked

And I'll take that any day of the week.

Pictures

I realized that I am woefully behind in uploading my pictures to my Shutterfly account.  I tried to log in, only to realize that I had forgotten my password.  I tried to log into the email address to which the account was linked.  I had forgotten the password to that, too.  I reset the email password, then reset the Shutterfly password, then logged in to Shutterfly and changed my email address.  Fixed that problem!

I'm just wondering how long it will take for me to catch up with Shutterfly.  I haven't uploaded pictures to that site since ..... fall of 2008.


Yikes!

I'm starting with the most recent pictures and will work backwards.  That way, I should have the current pictures in with enough time to work on the now-expected calendars for Christmas.

My goal (and it seems to have turned into a long term one) is to get the first year photo book done for Tatum and to try and keep up-to-date with Jacey's.  Alas, I'm already 6 weeks behind on that one. (Laugh now, it's good to have goals!)

If anyone has any ideas about organizing their digital photos, please feel free to share!

Update: It's now 8:56 PM and I am on the last picture folder from 2010. Wow, just wow.  I'll get there!!

Sharing

Isn't always what it's cracked up to be.....

Tatum has so sweetly shared with me. In case you don't know why that's a bad thing, let me refresh your memory.

For those of you keeping track, this is the third, yes third, Monday that she's missed school because of this....I don't know exactly what this is, but THIS.

I do want to get back to pre-pregnancy weight, but not this way!

Organization

Ok, so I've given up (reality check - am trying to give up) my perfectionistic ways.  I do; however, still want to be organized.  I ran across the following list today while reading an organizational listserv and wow.  Just wow. [My comments are at the side]

* People spend, on average, 6 minutes looking for their keys in the morning. [If any of you know Matt, this is many times a much higher amount of time in our house hold for him.]

* Due to clutter, 25% of people with two-car garages can't park any cars in there and 32% can park only one. [Hmmmm, and Matt wonders why I throw a fit when our garage gets too messy for me to park in there.  I don't want to start a trend!]

* Women with shoe racks were seven more times likely to be on time for work than women without shoe racks. [Does shelves in the garage count as a shoe rack?]

* 80% of what we keep we never use. [Ouch!]

* We wear 20 per cent of the clothes we own, 80 per cent of the time. The rest hangs there, just in case. [Hmmm...just in case I get back to pre-pregnancy weight, perhaps?]

* 80 per cent of what we file never gets looked at again!

* Your four-drawer file cabinet, when full, holds 18,000 pages.

* Getting rid of clutter eliminates 40 per cent of housework in an average home. [Now there's an incentive to declutter!]

* Married men were four times more likely to leave their pajamas on the floor in the morning compared to single men. [*sigh*]

* 23% of adults say they pay bills late (and thus incur fees) because they lose them.

* Eighty per cent of the clutter in homes is a result of disorganization, not lack of space.

Such love...

On the way to school on Tuesday, Kellen was just looking at Jacey.  This is our conversation as he was about to get out of the car and go to school.

 

Kellen to me, "Jacey looks so cute,"

 

Me, "Yes, she really does with her pink bow."

 

Kellen, "No, not the bow. It's not her outfits. She's just cute all by herself." 

 

Blur....

Life has been quite a blur lately, with time zooming past me at warp speed. 

Tatum has been fighting something for the past week and a half.  Saturday night a two weeks ago, she had an explosion down under that I found in the middle of the night when I was checking on the kids.  She had apparently slept right through it, poor thing.  I got her and her room cleaned up, then put her back to bed.  No church for she or I that Sunday, and she continued to get sick off and on all day.  She stayed home on Monday with no incidents, then went back to school.  Fast forward to last Friday night when we went to the church to watch Hoosiers as part of their dinner and a movie family outing.  Kellen has an episode where he "peed poop" and then Tatum spit up her food.  It was a combination of lemonade and cake.  It wasn't pretty, but wasn't a 'get sick' thing.  I think she just didn't like the cake.

Anyway, Kellen was fine after that...no more episodes, but just wasn't acting quite right.  Tatum started getting sick that night and through the next day.  We couldn't get her to keep anything down, poor thing.  So another Sunday goes by where the girls and I don't go to church (we actually kept Kellen home with us as well).  Since Kellen had been symptom-free, he went to Awana's, but Tatum didn't make it to Cubbies for their first night.  A BIG thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for watching the girls last Sunday while we went to church.

So once again, Tatum stayed home with Matt on Monday, and had no incidents.  So, off to school she went on Tuesday while I went in to work with Jacey in tow.  After lunch I received a call that Tatum was running a fever and had 3 more bouts of explosions down under, so off Matt went to pick her up from school.  Maw Maw and Paw Paw came to the rescue on Wednesday to watch the girls, and although Tatum didn't have any episodes, she certainly wasn't herself....pleased with simply laying on the couch and watching TV with virtually no playing or her spunky personality.  So that earned her another day home.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts at keeping Kellen away from any germs that might get him truly sick, Wednesday night he walks into my room and informs me that he's just thrown up.  I clean him and his room up and put him back to bed.  Side note, it was of course, that precise moment when Jacey woke up and decided that she needed to be fed RIGHT THEN!  So I had to listen to her screaming (she can certainly let you know when she really wants something!) for the 30 minutes it took me to give Kellen a shower, strip and clean his bed (and drawers, and inside the drawers, and under the slats, and pretty much all of the wood on that side of the bed), throw his sheets, pillow, and the unfortunate clothes from the drawers into the washing machine and get him settled.

Ug.

So Grandma and Grandpa were planning to come over to watch the two princesses anyway, and they got the added bonus of Kellen on Thursday.  By the time I got home from work, both older kids were playing dress up and acting just fine.  No incidents, no fevers, no nothing.

I was befuddled as to how Kellen got sick when we had worked so hard to keep the two older kids separated.  The mystery was solved Thursday night when I saw Kellen brushing his teeth, then asked Tatum which toothbrush she had been using.  Unbeknown to us, she had been 'borrowing' her brothers toothbrush. 

We determined that as long as they both had good nights, that they were headed back to school on Friday. 
And back to school they both went.  Thank the Lord!!

So, you may be wondering why I was going back to work if Jacey wasn't going to day care.  Hmmmm....the answer is a long and yucky story about how we thought we had day care lined up for September 1st and then discovered at 2 PM on August 31st that in fact, we did not.  I will not go into the details of all of that, but Matt and I explored additional options and have found another day care for Jacey to attend beginning next Tuesday.  I am thanking God that He allowed us to go through that without me losing large amounts of hair or stressing out too terribly badly.

So....I've finished out my first (part-time) week back at work, both Kellen and Tatum are feeling better, and Jacey seems to have managed to escape this illness.  Today is operation disinfect house Hapes, again, in an attempt to purge all of those icky germs from the house.  Again.

In case you're wondering, the toothbrush responsible for the spreading of the sickness from Tatum to Kellen has been punished.

Cleaning Challenge

I'm on the FlyLady list, and receive daily emails for a great cleaning system for the house...one that uses baby steps and breaks large projects into 15 minute spurts; one that tries to combat perfectionism, not that I have an ongoing battle with perfectionism or anything, (drip, drip).

Anyway, I thought that while on maternity leave I would have the opportunity or take the time to actually DO the things included in these daily emails, but I seem to only manage a few days at a time each week before I stop. Apparently the routine part of this system hasn't quite stuck yet.

So today, my cleaning challenge is to see how many of the small 'projects' from the emails that I can do today.  (Nah, that doesn't fly in the face of the FlyLady baby step principle or anything)  Here is the list of things I managed to do this afternoon:

• purge underneath the kitchen sink (get rid of almost-empty cleaners that don't spray because they're so empty, etc)
• decluttered the food storage containers
• decluttered and reorganized the pantry (then moved on to the drawer in the kitchen that serves as a 'junk' drawer - it's amazing how many pairs of 3D glasses we have kept after the movies!)
• swept and mopped kitchen floor
• cleaned the ceiling vents in the bathroom
• cleaned off the left side of our desk (odd one, I know)
• cleaned bathroom door knobs
• cleaned the right side of the desk (tackle it one step at a time)
• cleaned screen on the computer monitor
• made list of items needed for bathroom (conditioner is out!) and office (printer paper, anyone? wishing I had bought some for the house when I bought for Kellen's school supplies!)
• cleaned baseboards in both bathrooms (and they still look dirty...I think it's the paint, as they are in dire need of a new coat of paint.  But this is a rent house and we aren't doing that.)
• cleaned the front of both bathroom vanities
• 5 Minute Room Rescue (folded and put away 3 loads of laundry)
• cleaned off the 'stuff' that had accumulated on the top of the dryer, then cleaned the washing machine and dryer (it's amazing how dusty they both get and how you just don't notice it!)
• cleaned the glass on the front door, mirrors in both bathrooms, and the full length mirror in the master bedroom
• cleaned out my purse
• dusted walls and ceiling in master bedroom
• cleaned fan and air conditioner vent in master bedroom
• cleaned out my car (pulled all of the kids stuff and trash out (isn't it odd how some things could fit into both categories), vacuumed, and sprayed with fabric freshener

It's an odd list, I know, but it's my attempt to do some of the things I've been meaning to do while I've been home.  Now, if I could only do the regular house keeping items on a regular basis. Oh wait, that's called a routine.

Care to share yours?

Delusions....

Well, my full-time maternity leave is rapidly coming toward an end...with a day and a half left to go.  Apparently I'm fairly delusional about things....I envisioned my maternity leave to include such things as:

• daily walks with Jacey
• small moments (maybe 15 minutes??) of laying out in the sun (yes, I am aware it's horrible for you, but it's SUCH a stress relief for me!)
• finishing all of the kids baby books
• scrapbooking and/or other crafts
• cleaning house
• reading for FUN
• blogging on a regular basis

Yeah right.

My maternity leave has actually consisted of:

• a couple of walks with Jacey until I admitted that it was too stinkin' HOT for her to be outside...at ANY time of the day
• 1 lone jog, sans any and all kids
• cleaning house (to only have it look like I did NOTHING the next day, or later on that night)
• laundry, laundry and more laundry
• changing diapers, diapers and more diapers (and we aren't even on cloth diapers yet, so this one and the last aren't related!)
• baby books gathering dust, with me desperately trying to remember when the first time it was that Jacey boggled my mind when I caught her on her back AFTER she had been put down for tummy-time (funny - those milestones were a little easier to record with #1 and #2)
• starting a book for fun, not finishing said book (speaking of...I'm not even sure where that stinkin' book is!)
• do I even need to mention my lack of updating this blog?
• nursing (Repeat, repeat, repeat - hmmm...an average of 8 times a day for 5 1/2 weeks now - yowzers!)
• burping Jacey, then cleaning up Jacey's spit-up (Repeat, repeat, repeat)
• snuggling with and kissing on my sweet Jacey princess (can't even begin to count the number of hours spent snuggling or how many times I've kissed that sweet face!)

Now, I have been brave some and have done some day trips with the kids to infuse some fun into this time.  We took a day trip to the Mayborn Children's Museum on the Baylor campus in Waco (the older two had a blast, and Jacey just slept and ate).  Last week we did a slew of activities with Maw Maw and Paw Paw, which the kids enjoyed immensely.  Monday we watched Despicable Me in 3D, then went to Incredible Pizza and watched 101 Dalmations.  Tuesday we ate a late breakfast at IHop then went to The Woodlands Children's Museum, then had frozen yogurt at TCBY's, then headed back to Maw Maw and Paw Paw's for an in-house showing of The Aristocats.  Wednesday we went to the Johnson Space Center in Houston and closed the place down, and stopped at Chili's on the way back home for dinner.  That particular excursion was fun, but I think we might wait a few years before doing that one again.  There was stuff for Kellen to do, but not as many interactive things as either Matt or I thought there would be.  Poor Tatum, she was pretty much told all day long that she was just "too little" to do virtually any of the activities.  Thursday was a more laid-back day, with backyard pool fun on the deck, and then we headed back to College Station.  On Friday, I took Tatum to school and Kellen, Jacey and I hung out, getting things ready for back-to-school.  We ventured out to Wal-Mart for a tax-free shopping outing so get a few t-shirts for Kellen and lots of diapers for Jacey (I haven't gotten any cloth diapers for her just yet and am thinking about waiting until she can fit into the ones we already had for Tatum).

So as you can see, I wasn't a complete home body.  My mom thinks I'm crazy for all of the outings we have done.  I can't say I disagree with her totally.  There's a fine line between brave and stupid, and I might have crossed over that line a little with all of the outings, but I wanted the kids to have fun as their summer was winding to a close.

Perhaps my Supermom complex is starting to show through...you know, the one where you think you can do so much more than you actually can - at least more than you can do and maintain some semblance of sanity.  'Cause I apparently suffer from that syndrome every now and again....

Time Warp

So I have entered into a time warp...one where over 3 weeks have gone by since Jacey graced us with her presence, one where Tatum has moved into the 'big girl' classroom this week, and one where Kellen will start the 2nd grade in less than 2 weeks.

I feel like singing the Time Warp song from the Rocky Horror Picture Show...'Let's do the time warp again...'

I'm going to turn around and the girls will be teenagers. Oh my.

So...let's get everyone (or the five people who read this blog) updated on the variety of things that have taken place since I updated the blog last....

Jacey's arrival
I was slated to arrive at the hospital at 10 PM, and Matt and I went to the hospital, got settled in, and when I was checked, I was 30% effaced and about 1 cm dilated.  And apparently I had/have a posterior cervix, which was making it difficult to check me. (Fun for me!)

Here's the delivery time line...

• 11:40 PM, Cytotel medicine (to get my body ready for labor. Once administered, they ordered me to stay in bed for 2 hours - no problem!  I actually got to sleep a little!)
• 2:15 - 3:30 AM, Up and walking the halls (I was a sweet laboring woman and let Matt sleep for the first 45 minutes of my walking, then decided that I wanted someone to enjoy my misery with me share the experience with me)
• 3:40 AM (Saturday), 1 cm dilated (Way to go, body) and 50% effaced (Woo hoo)
• 3:45 - 5:40 AM, Napped!!
• 5:40 AM, Another dose of cytotel (The meds could only be given 6 hours apart, so this was the earliest they could give me the 2nd dose.  We had HOPED that my body would have progressed a little and that they would be able to start the pitocin at this point.  Unfortunately, I guess my body and Jacey had other ideas! I was still at 1 cm)
• 7:10 AM, Dose of staydol (Apparently, the cytotel was getting things going, and the nurses continued to ask if I wanted any meds.  I was determined to make it through this birth WITHOUT an epidural, and decided to get some staydol just to take the 'edge' off of the contractions)
• 8:45 AM, 1-2 cm, Doctor broke my water and indicated he needed about 15 minutes lead time to get back up to the hospital for the delivery.
• 9:45 AM, 3 cm, Pitocin started, another dose of staydol
• 10:42 AM, 4 cm
• 10:50 AM, Another dose of staydol
• 11:25ish AM, Dr arrived, 9 cm, and another contraction later I was begging to push.  Once everyone had taken their places, I pushed for about 5 minutes and......
• 11:34 AM, Jacey born!

The grandparents and the kids came in to see me at about 10:30 AM or so...the kids wanted to see us and present Jacey with her gifts, so they came in to check on me and then everyone went and waited for Jacey. As you can see from the picture below, Tatum was a little bit concerned, and I'm not sure that seeing me made much of a difference.

Apparently I am a power pusher.  With every birth I've gone through, I've busted the blood vessels in my eyes and on my face.  This one was no different....blood vessels busted in my eyes, all over my face and neck, and I even made my own nose bleed during the pushing as well.  I guess that's why Matt said she shot out like a rocket?

And, like her brother, she had the cord wrapped around her neck. Twice. But I apparently also had excess cord, so it wasn't wrapped tightly, which was probably why we didn't see it on the ultrasound.  Either that or she managed to wrap it during delivery.

7 lb, 2 oz
19 1/2 inches long
11:34 AM
July 17
Jacey Victoria Hapes

Our bookend baby!

The kids came in shortly later to meet their sister.  They loved her immediately, of course!

And here is one of the first pictures of newly expanded family!

I stayed in the hospital through Monday, and left shortly after lunch on Monday.  Kellen's birthday was on Tuesday, and his birthday party was the following weekend.

Kellen's birthday
We decided to have the birthday party at GattiTown, and as we have learned, not many of Kellen's school friends could make it (darn summer birthdays!).  However, he had some church and family friends in attendance, and he had a GREAT time!

He is obviously in to super heroes....Spiderman cake (thank you, Heather!) and plenty of Spiderman, Iron Man, and other comic heroes for gifts.

Jacey's first bath
Jacey is speedier than the other two, and her cord fell off at the 10 day mark.  Lucky for me, grandma was still here and was able to keep her bath-streak going.  She's given each of my kiddos their first FULL bath after the cords have fallen off.  She happens to LOVE giving babies baths and I do not.  Really.  I know that seems to be something lots of parents look forward to, but I don't like it.  The babies are too little, squirmy, and slick.  I feel like they're going to pop right out of my hands and arms when I'm giving them baths when they're teeny tiny.  I know, I know...I'm a wierdo!

Anyway, once we got the water temperature correct, Jacey LOVED her bath!  In her pink tub, nonetheless...

Although her face may not show it, she really DID like her bath!  According to her Paw Paw, she's a serious girl.  In actuality, she doesn't like bright lights and I miss her happy faces because of my flash!  She ADORES getting her head played with...hair washed, head rubbed and/or stroked (which both of the kids do quite often), and hair brushed.  Loves it!

Tatum's crazy hair/hat day
Tatum's school has been trying to have a 'fun' event at least once a week during the summer.  Last week it was crazy hair or hat day.  In Tatum's case, she picked out a hat (which had a matching purse to go along with it) and I did her hair in low pig-tails.  I figured when she finally got tired of the hat and pulled it off we would accomplish the crazy hair bit as well.

Kinda' like a two for one deal!

Isn't she just stinkin' adorable???


Kellen's Music Camp Performance
Last week Kellen was at music camp, marking the second year in a row that he's participated in this camp in Conroe.  He did a wonderful job during the performance, singing and doing the movements, etc.  He's such a ham!

It was themed - GPS (God's Plan for Salvation)...such a great show!!

And of course, one of his biggest fans was his sister Tatum!

Jacey behaved quite well, despite my concern...I was convinced I wasn't going to get a chance to watch anything, and she pretty much slept her way through the performance.  Yay!

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!).

Just can't take it anymore!

Those are the words Kellen said to me as he walked back out of his room and into the bathroom, determined to pull the loose tooth.  And so he did.

So, he's lost both middle bottom teeth and now the top right side tooth (you know, the right one of the front pair).

He just yanked that sucker right outta there!

When did he get so big?  I remember marking down in his baby book and on our calendar when he first got those teeth.....

To back the story up, he and I had a date night tonight...just us.  It's been the first time in ages that he and I have gotten to spend time together, so I picked him up, we went and got pizza and a milkshake (and used two more of the coupons that expired today, thank you very much) then headed home, where he got to select the movie of his choosing.  We hung out, then read a book about dolphins (he chose, not me...although I adore dolphins!) and he read it to me.  He's such a good reader!  Then he got all ready for bed and was putting himself to bed when he decided that he was done with the loose tooth.

Hangin' in there....

If folks ask me how I'm doing, that's the response they're most likely to get.  Is it sad that I officially have over 4 weeks left and I'm already to the 'hangin' in there' point?

"give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)

• I don't feel like giving thanks right now because my body is a human humidity reader, swelling larger and larger the higher the humidity levels go.
• I don't feel like giving thanks right now because it takes me longer than I think it should to actually be able to move once I get up from sitting down.
• I don't feel like giving thanks right now because the face I see in the mirror no longer resembles the image of me that I have in my head.
• I don't feel like giving thanks right now because I am seeing way too many numbers on the clock throughout the night.
• I don't feel like giving thanks right now because I'm having to trek to the bathroom every half hour.

BUT, this verse, and many others with the same overall theme, don't tell me to give thanks when I think my circumstances warrant it.

"give thanks in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES..."

Pretty straight-forward, isn't it?

How do you give thanks when you feel blah?  If you have the answer, let me know, but I'm guessing you adopt a Nike attitude and JUST DO IT.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28 (NIV)

In all things.

So, God is working for the good in:

• the fact that my body is a human humidity reader
• the fact that it takes me longer than I think it should to actually be able to move once I get up from sitting down
• the fact that the face I see in the mirror no longer resembles the image of me that I have in my head
• the fact that I'm seeing lots of numbers on the clock throughout the night
• the fact that I'm having to go to the bathroom every half hour

He has a plan for all of this.  (And you're probably thinking, 'Well, duh, Rebecca....the plan is for you to be able to deliver a little baby girl!')  Well yes, but considering that some lucky folks go through their pregnancy with very little 'unpleasant' symptoms, I think there might be more to the plan than just delivering.

We'll see.  And I'll trust.

But if you ask me how I'm doing and I'll still probably answer, "I'm hangin' in there!"

Interesting facts....

• My kids are apparently so competitive that challenging them to a race -- one to determine who can fall asleep the fastest -- actually works.  Yeah, I'm cool like that.  (Don't you wish you would have thought of it? - Go ahead, steal the idea...it works!)
• In the time it takes to cook ramen noodles (cut me some slack, they looked really good to me at the store tonight! And I didn't buy the oreos that I really wanted), I can unload the dishwasher. (The kids ate a much healthier dinner, in case you're wondering)
• In the time it takes for said noodles to cool, I can reload the dishwasher and clean off the kitchen counters. (Who knew?)
• I apparently have no "off" button for popcicles right now.

Like a weed.....

growing, that is.  According to the ultrasound today, Jacey is measuring 5 lb 12 oz, and we officially have 4 weeks and 5 days to go.

Just for comparison sake, Tatum weighed in at 6 lb, 8.8 oz when she was born at 38 weeks.  Kellen was 7 lb, 2 oz full-term.

After the scariness that was Friday at the doctors office, today went much smoother.  Nevermind the fact that we had technical difficulties during the non-stress test - at least they were technical, not problems with Jacey!  After being hooked up for probably 10 minutes, when the nurse came in to check on me she realized that the machine had run out of paper and we hadn't actually recorded anything.  So they restocked the machine and started over. 

And not only could I hear her movements, I could feel them, too!  YAY!

And the ultrasound looked good.  Good fluid levels, still no appearance of the cord around her neck, and great growth.

So stay tuned for Friday's installment....

Cleaning

So for those of you who know me, you know I aspire to have a clean house but my wishes and reality don't always line up.

Today Matt is at a Sunday school golf tourney with the guys, and I'm going to see just how much I can get accomplished (with periodic breaks - I AM in the about-to-pop-pregnant mode, here) before he gets home.

Note: I'm going to work on the post in pieces as I take breaks, so I apologize in advance if it's somewhat disjointed.

First on the list, hit the "hot spots" (thank you FlyLady for the terminology).  For those of you not in the know, "hot spots" are the flat surfaces around your house where you dump things.  In my house, there are many of them, including the butcher block in the kitchen, the dining room table, the cabinet in the dining room, our love seat (which is currently covered in Matt's clean and folded clothes that he assures me he'll put away later on today), the desk, and our night stands.  I've tacked the butcher block and moved to our bedroom to tackle the night stands.  Matt's didn't take very long, but mine has taken more than a half hour because I'm actually going through things and getting rid of junk.

And apparently I feel the need to harbor all of this JUNK right next to my bed on my night stand.  Ug.  Must. stop. the. pattern.  I want my bedroom to feel like a retreat....not something we need to retreat FROM!  So I'm actually taking an aside from the hot spots and have decided to focus on our bedroom.....I have cleaned off our nightstands, GONE THROUGH the STUFF that was on (and around) my nightstand (and shockingly, this took the l-o-n-g-e-s-t amount of time), pulled the miscellaneous stuff from underneath the bed, and cleaned the TV stand (which also functions nicely as a hot spot).  I now have magazines and papers from way too long ago thrown away, coupons clipped and organized in their rightful place, and clean floors (and by clean I mean uncluttered, not vacuumed - I haven't made it that far yet).

Nice!

And here is question for the masses (or the 3 people that actually read this blog) - what do you do with the kiddo keepsakes?  I mean what do you really DO with them?  The mother's day cards, the cute notes and drawings, etc.  Do you put them in a box, do you take a picture of them, what???  Please tell me your secrets, because my kids are incredibly loving and make things for me that I truly do not know what to do with.  Help!

I'm now putting away the lingering clean clothes from the room...then I believe I WILL vacuum to complete the transformation.  I am resisting the urge to pull EVERYTHING out of the closet floor (isn't it amazing how much stuff happens to fall to the floor of your closet and goes unnoticed???) because I don't know if I will have enough time to go through it all before Matt gets home, and I would like him to see what appears to be a finalized project.  Resist I must.

But perhaps later....

And the stuff under the sink in our bathroom is calling me to go through it as well.....

Baby update

Well, she's still baking, but sure did scare me yesterday.

I went in for my non-stress and doctor appointment, and had ingested my Dr. Pepper immediately prior to like advised.  When I went in, they gave me yet another Dr. Pepper, just to be on the safe side.  Well, after getting hooked up to the machine for the non-stress, I realized that I still couldn't feel her (much).  A few minutes later, the doctor comes in to check on me and I inform him that in general, her movements have diminished dramatically over the last week and that I'm just not feeling her move nearly as often as I had. 

He had apparently already gone through my files looking for any patterns of this, and had found none.  So he was paying attention.  His response was that we were going to get to the bottom of it. TODAY. If he didn't like the way the non-stress looked, he was going to do another ultrasound to check on her, and depending on that, possibly send me to L&D for a contraction stress test (using pitocin to cause contractions and monitor how she responded to those).  And despite the fact that we want her to 'bake' for two more weeks to be considered full-term, if he didn't like that, she was coming outta there.

After I finished the 2nd Dr. Pepper, they moved me to my left side to see if that would get her going even more, and he stayed in the room with me listening and monitoring.

Funny thing was, we realized we could hear her movements on the machine, but I couldn't feel them.  At all. So we started 'ticking' the movements as we heard them, rather than as I felt them.  When we did that, she passed the non-stress test.

So my big question - Why am I not feeling her move when it's apparent that she is?  He didn't have a definitive answer to that one...

Still concerned, he has the ultrasound machine pulled into the room and does an ultrasound on her.  After he searched for a while, I finally asked him what he was looking for - and he was checking her fluid levels as well as trying to see if she had the cord wrapped around her neck.  Well, because she's head down - and VERY head down, he actually had to move her out of my pelvis with one hand and try to get a picture of her head and neck with the u/s using the other.

Ouch.

With her head momentarily out of my pelvis, we're able to clearly see her head and her spine, and do NOT see evidence that the umbilical cord is wrapped around her neck.  And her fluid levels look good.

Praise God!

So we're still left with my big question.  And no definitive answer.  We discuss adjusting my positions if it has been a while since I've felt her, and I practiced supporting myself with my arms and laying on my stomach (yep, you read that correctly) in order to put pressure on her and force her to really kick and move. That worked, by the way.  So if she goes too long without me feeling her movements, that is the plan.

As for the potential (and most probable) reason for why I'm not feeling her....she is so low and positioned in such a way that all of her arm and leg movements aren't noticeable to me.  When she's rotating herself - I can feel (and see) that.  I see something resembling a bottom rolling across my belly.  And after she does that, I frequently feel what I'm guessing are her knees or feet on the sides of my belly.

So, reassured that she was in fact moving, and armed with some techniques to use if I became nervous about my lack of feeling her move, we decided to call it a day.  Same ole, same ole for next week....ultrasound and non-stress on Monday and another non-stress and doctor visit on Friday!

Vote for Tatum

Well, if you saw my post on voting for Kellen, you know what I'm talking about.  I JUST found out that Tatum is in the running as well!

So....click here to vote for Tatum.  And while you're at it, remember that you can vote daily!!

2nd verse,

same as the first.

Dealing with cellulitis again with Tatum.  She had her swim lesson last night at the pool, we made it home, ate, bathed, and I didn't notice anything (but also didn't closely inspect her feet for bites, either).

I guess I need to add that to our daily routine, because when we got up this morning and I was helping her get dressed, I noticed that the area around her ankle was red, hot and VERY swollen.  I drew the outline, gave her Benadryl, and we headed on with our day.  Once I got in the office, I gave her doctors office a call and scheduled an appointment for her for mid-day and he confirmed my mommy-diagnosis - cellulitis.  Again.

Armed with a prescription for the same two antibiotics she was on barely a month ago, I dropped her off at school for her nap, dropped the prescription off at the pharmacy, and went home to have lunch.  While I was home, I stripped her bedding, all of her loveys, and the numerous stuffed animals that accompany her to sleep and threw them in the washing machine on hot. Just in case. I also took all of her crocs, minus the ones she was wearing, and soaked them in clorox-water in the sink. Just in case. Then I went to pick up the prescription, headed back to day care, woke her up to take her meds, then stayed with her until she went back to sleep.

So now I'm on a mission to see how in the world we can avoid this from happening again.  Antibiotic ointment on anything resembling a bite or sting is apparently a must for her. Daily. So is insect repellent with high concentrations of DEET.  Note to self: I need to look at what they're using at day care when they go outside. One of her teachers did tell me that they put the insect repellent on them twice for each period of time that the kids are outside.  Not twice a day, twice per outing. You would think that would be sufficient, but apparently not.  Unless we go to the pool for swimming after school during the week, we aren't outside. It's not that I don't like the outdoors, I just can't handle the heat right now. So she isn't getting the bites from being outside after school (which is good, since the mosquitoes that vector the west nile virus are out at dusk). On the weekends we might go and do things, but it's different every weekend and again, I can't really handle being outside too terribly much right now.

So, I'm trying to clean and disinfect everything I can, even though that's probably not the cause of her infections.

I'm open to suggestions if anyone has them!

Vote for Kellen!

A week or two ago, I entered a few photos of Kellen in a contest Parents magazine was running.  They're looking for kiddos to grace the cover of their magazine....and will send some semi-finalists to a photo shoot in August to get the shots they'll make the final selections from for the contest.

Well, I received an email today indicated that Kellen is in the running to become one of the weekly reader's choice finalists!

('Cause my boy can be quite the ham, right?!)

Anywhoooo, follow the link to vote on Kellen and vote for him!  You can do this daily and through June 27th.

Whoo hoo!!

Fail....

I think I failed my non-stress test today.  Jacey was moving some during the ultrasound, kicked the nurse as she was putting the monitors onto the ever-expanding space that used to function as my abdominals, and then didn't move again for nearly 20 minutes. Apparently Matt and I breed stubborn and strong-willed children, a trait that is evident even in utero (shocking, huh?). I had 1 kick/movement during the entire non-stress test, despite drinking a Dr. Pepper prior to going into the doctors office and drinking a Barq's (with bite, mind you) during the test.  I had 3 other "marks" on the read-out that were contractions. That was it. Ug.

I say I think I failed because I don't actually know what the criteria is for passing a non-stress test in terms of number of movements in that amount of time and I am not scheduled to see the doctor until Friday, after my next non-stress test, when we'll go over all of the results from this week. Of course, that is unless I get a phone call first, which the nurse said was likely.

Jacey has actually been fairly inactive today, which is unlike her.  As my zombie-like demeanor might give away, she normally keeps me up quite a bit at night either kicking her legs causing knees and/or feet to attempt to escape my belly or by practicing her punches on my bladder.

However, as I type this now, she's practicing a few of her kicks.  Maybe she wants to come out and go straight into Tae Kwon Do with her brother?  Who knows.

So, since I'm feeling her move some, I'm trying not to stress about what I don't know about the results of the test today....'cause stressing about it certainly isn't going to help matters!

The end result

...of my neurotic behavior leading to the maternity shoot and Maleigh's awesome photographic talents can be found here.

I love the sneak peak and cannot wait to see the rest of them!

I just love how this one turned out....if you're gonna be round, you might as well have fun with it!

Chick-fil-A deals

A friend mentioned to me this weekend that the Chick-fil-A here in town was having 'deals' every day they are open during the summer.

So, for you College Station folks, here goes (in case you don't have this info yet, and I did the best I could to write down quickly, so be sure and double check this at CFA):
Monday - Milkshake Monday! Buy a 20 oz milkshake, get a spicy chicken sandwich free
Tuesday - 5-8 PM, Kids night - Kids eat free w/ purchase of an adult meal
Wednesday - Free refills on your waffle fries from 5 PM - close
Thursday - Free 3 pack mini OR breakfast chicken sandwich for breakfast (No purchase!)
Friday - If you purchase 4 meals, you get 4 desserts for free
Saturday - Get a free small nugget tray with the purchase of a large nugget tray

Cool, huh?  I think I have my Thursday breakfast lined up!

Big girl

According to the ultrasound I had today, Jacey's pretty big, at least for 33 weeks, anyway.  She's measuring 4 pounds, 12 ounces (with a 6 ounce range on either side of that figure).  Considering that the 'average' (according to several week-by-week calendars I've browsed) is  4 1/2 pounds, I guess that probably makes her pretty normal sized, but yay!

I was able to see her yawning and blinking at me today.  Very interesting.  She must have been in a rare sleepy mood, because she wasn't moving very much during the ultrasound OR the non-stress test.  She didn't kick it into gear until I had finished off a bottle of Gatorade.

But, it must have been good enough, because the doc popped in to check on me and said he liked the way the non-stress test looked and that the ultrasound looked good, with a pocket of amniotic fluid for her. 

Yay!

I'll do another non-stress test on Friday, see him again, and then next week will be more of the same!

What a weekend!

You know the weekends you have that are thoroughly enjoyable?  The ones when, at the end of it, you look back and think, "I just had a GREAT weekend!"

Well, I had one of those weekends this past weekend.  And I was so blessed by it!

Kellen had been gone for almost two weeks (home the weekend prior), so it was wonderful to spend some time with him.  Tatum had missed him terribly, so it was great to see them playing together (and sweetly 95% of the time, too).

Saturday was an incredibly busy day.  We started out with me going crazy trying to get EVERYTHING together for the maternity photo shoot that was slated to begin at 9 AM.  It was one of those times when I thought I knew what I was going to wear, what I was going to accessorize with, and then when I put it on, I didn't like it.  And if I didn't like it on, I certainly wasn't going to feel good enough in it to get pictures made.

So after grabbing clothes for the kids in colors that coordinated, deciding then changing my mind about what Matt was going to wear, and grabbing almost a half dozen shirts for me, we set out.  Late.  Our poor photographer called 2 or 3 times just to make sure she didn't miss us at our set location, but it was just one of those mornings!  Luckily, she's really easy-going and completely understood my neurotic-ness.

Long story short, after getting her opinion on clothing choice (which luckily coincided with what my leanings were), we were ready to go.  We took lots of candid shots with all of us as a family at the George Bush Library by the pond and gardens.  There was a nice breeze, so it wasn't completely miserable, either!  Quick change of clothes for me, and Matt and I took some shots together.  Then back to the car for clothing changes for me and the kids and we took some pictures fully belly style....with the kids painting my belly.  Kellen even wrote 'family' (misspelled, but how adorable!) on my tummy.

I cannot wait to see how they turn out!

As we were on our way to the photo shoot, I realized why I was wanting it to turn out perfectly. --This would be my last chance to do this.

Ever.

NOTE: I know the drill about never say never.  But if there is a 4th baby Hapes, God will be truly demonstrating his sense of humor. Big time.

I had wanted to take maternity pictures with both of the other kids, but I never followed through with it for one reason or another.  I have in my head the types of images that I wanted to see...but never made it happen.

And this was my last shot.

No wonder I was so stressed out!  Once I realized that, I relayed my epiphany to Matt, took a deep breath, and thought...but Maleigh will make sure we get good shots.

We finished up with the photo shoot right around 11 AM, then headed to the house for a quick change of clothes, grabbed some coupons and went to eat at a pizza place we hadn't tried yet, but had coupons for (that expire at the end of the month!).  In case you're wondering, Hungry Howie's Pizza is FABULOUS!  I thought it was a little pricey, even with the coupons, but then realized that I was full on only two pieces of pizza, which is rare for me (pregnant or non-pregnant, I can put down some pizza!).  Oddly enough, the same thing happened for Matt, so we ended up with lunch AND dinner out of the deal.

Then I headed out to my spa day, and had a facial, massage, and pedicure.  SO NICE!  I finally made use of the Christmas (yes, I know...Christmas) present that Matt gave me.  As I finished my spa session, I set out to use yet another coupon at Bath Junkie for some salt scrub.  Things went a little awry when I was rear-ended en route (no injuries, thank God!) and then realized that my attempt was in vain anyway, since Bath Junkie has apparently closed here in town.

Back to the house I went, and then we hung out for the remainder of the night.

Sunday I apparently needed lots of sleep, because I mumbled something to the effect of, 'Just a few more minutes' to Matt when he attempted to wake me up to get ready for church.  I have no recollection of that conversation.  At any rate, the kids lounged, I lounged, Matt tried desperately to get rid of his headache, and I mustered the energy to clean up a little around the house in the meantime.

Matt and Kellen went to mow grass while Tatum was finishing her nap and snuggling with me, then when they got back to the house we headed out for our Sunday School dinner group playdate/picnic at one of the splash pads here in town.  We were there between 2 1/2 and 3 hours and the kids had a BLAST!  You would have thought that there were holes in their stomachs with as much as they continued to eat, but they played HARD!

Afterwards, we went to Ben and Jerry's to use yet another coupon (catching my theme yet?) for a buy one, get one free ice cream.  We all had yummy flavors and it was a great ending to a fun filled family weekend!

We got back home, Matt bathed the kids and we got them settled down for the night, he went to the store (gotta love my man who will shop for me!) and then he and I stayed up waaaayyy too late watching Wolverine.  I had forgotten how much I liked that movie!

Here's hoping your weekend was as enjoyable as mine!

High risk

High risk is not a term I would use to describe myself. Or this pregnancy. So it was a little disconcerting when, after my first non-stress test today at the doctors office, I realized that phrase was circled on my paperwork as I was taking my slip up to the front to check out.

Hmph.

It's just a phrase. And it changes nothing, really.

My God is bigger than a phrase on a piece of paper at any doctors office and He's in control of this situation.

In case you're wondering, the non-stress test went well today.  Stay tuned for Monday, when we do another non-stress and have an ultrasound to measure the amniotic fluid levels.

Week by week

I had my doctors appointment today and we'll now be taking it week by week.  Overall, it was a good check up. 

• Blood pressure is good (which is a good thing considering how much 'edema' I have...if my bp was off I'm thinking I would be quite a bit more concerned about that particular nuisance).
• Weight gain is just weight gain.
• Muscle tightness/soreness and joint stiffness warranted me a trip to the Health Foods Store for magnesium to supplement...1000 mg per day (or 250% of the daily value).  Note to self: I should look at my prenatal to see how much is in that as well.
• Heart pounding and racing was attributed to a hyper volume issue.  Nothing to be concerned about unless it doesn't stop and/or I have tachycardia to go along with it (which I haven't).
• Continual contractions, despite a heavy fluid intake of water and gatorade is not concerning at this point, but he indicated the magnesium will probably help with that as well. (YAY!)

The monitoring begins tomorrow with the first non-stress test.  Then on Monday I'll go in for an ultrasound and another non-stress test.  Next Friday, I'll have the third non-stress test and see the doctor again to go over the results of all of those things.  He wants to look at the ultrasound to see how things look with her right now before making the final decision on the steroid shot sequence.

Then we'll go week to week to see how things are progressing.  I'm hopeful that the Monday ultrasound/non-stress and either a Thursday or Friday non-stress/doctors appointment schedule can be maintained to minimize my trips.  The office is very accommodating, so we'll see!

When the thunder rolls.....

....and you're at the pool, it's not good.

Yesterday was supposed to be the beginning of Tatum's private swim lessons with one of the graduate students from my department.  She taught both of the kids two summers ago, and they did wonderfully with her!  And yes, in case you're wondering, we actually gave Tatum lessons with her when she was just over a year old...and she did great!

Back to the point.  Tatum and I arrive at the pool maybe ten minutes till 6, and we were supposed to meet Cymon at 6 for the lesson.  No biggie, we're early (for once as of late) and head on in to the pool to splash around.  At this point in time, the quicker I can get somewhere that makes me a little more buoyant, the better!

We play for a few minutes, then I hear it.  Thunder.  I wasn't the only one who heard it, because the lifeguards were conversing back and forth amongst themselves to be sure they heard it, too.  Yup.  Whistle blows and they clear the pool......just as Cymon was walking toward the entrance.  So we cancel the actual lesson and agree to meet again on Wednesday as originally scheduled. 

I then went to the lifeguard to ask about a rain check, only to be told that they aren't 'officially' shutting down the pool, they're just required to wait 20 minutes after the last thunder clap.

So we wait.  For 20 minutes, just like we were told.

After the all clear, I rinse Tatum off (because in the meantime, she went and played on the playground.  I didn't think they wanted her getting back into the pool with dirt and sand on her.  Just my guess.) and back into the pool we go.

For all of 45 seconds.

And the thunder rolled.  Yup.

Here's hoping that the forecast for Wednesday is better!

Update

Wow.  I've realized that I've been less than stellar at updating the blog on actual family happenings.  Sorry 'bout that!

Here goes:

Kellen completed the first grade a little over a week ago.  That in and of itself is monumental (at least in this momma's book!)  Unfortunately, he spent the Thursday prior to getting out of school in the doctors office, as we were trying to determine if he has broken his finger (he is Matt's child, you know...).  On Wednesday night, he shut his pinky finger in the door after we got home from the swimming pool.  Needless to say, he was in quite a bit of pain and couldn't bend his finger very well.  After icing his finger down for about 45 minutes, I decided to forgo a trip to the ER and just check on things in the morning.  When we did, he was able to bend his finger a little better, but considering how swollen and purple it was, we decided to be safe.  So I dropped him off at school and told him I would call the doctor and get an appointment, but would make sure it was after 1 PM when he was back from his end-of-school picnic.

Yup.  Never should have uttered those words.

I put a call in to the doctors office and they only have an appointment in the morning.  His doctor and the back up we normally see weren't available in the afternoon.  Ug.  So I called the school, made arrangements with the principal to pick him up before the bus left for the park, and to deliver him when we were through to his teacher at the park so he could ride back on the bus and spend the rest of the day at school.

We go in to the doctor (me and both kids, including Tatum - her story to come) and are seen by the doctor, who decides we needed to get x-rays to rule out a break (just like Matt and I thought).  So, I got the orders for the x-ray, took Tatum back to her day care, and Kellen and I headed to the hospital.  Now, considering everything we had to do, we didn't have to wait all that long.  But to poor Kellen, who wanted nothing more than to get to the park for his class picnic, the waiting was brutal.  We got the x-rays and headed back over to the doctors office to get the results.  Once we got back there, we were ushered right in and told that no, it wasn't broken.

Thank God for small miracles!

We then hightailed it to the park, and made it there right at noon, giving my dear sweet Kellen a whole HOUR to spend at the park with his friends and classmates.

*Sigh*  It was the best I could do, which didn't sit all that well with him.

The end of the school year came the next day, and with a gift for his teacher in tow, he was off.  He got a wonderful report card (surprise, surprise) and had a great last week behavior wise.

Last week he lolly gagged with Maw Maw and Paw Paw at their house, and for the next two weeks, will be attending the YMCA day camp in Conroe.  He's going to have just oh-so-much fun this summer!

Oh, and apparently Matt informs me that between Mother's Day and some day last week, Kellen has grown a quarter of an inch.

Yowzers! 

Matt was packing his clothes for this week yesterday, and asked about a pair of shorts and whether they were 'play' shorts or good shorts.  With him growing like that, just about everything should be play shorts, because he's gonna be out of them by the end of the summer!

On to Tatum....
So the same Wednesday night that I took them both to the pool, I noticed that the top of her foot was red.  Really red.  Upon closer inspection, I see some bite marks on the side of her foot.  After the pool (and icing Kellen's finger) I gave her some Benadryl, thinking she was having a reaction to the bites (she is MY daughter, after all, and mosquitoes love us both).  Thursday morning we take a look at her foot to notice that the redness has spread, it's VERY hot to the touch (or even if you held your hand over it) and it's swollen.  So I took her to day care and told her I was going to call the doctor.

I was able to get an appointment for both kids at the same time relatively early in the morning, so yay!  The doctor walked into the room, started to ask what was going on with Tatum, saw her foot and stopped mid-sentence.

It was THAT obvious.

Diagnosis - cellulitis.  We drew an outline of the current redness, then he marked a spot further up on her calf and indicated that if the redness crept up to or past that line that we needed to bring her back in immediately.  Armed with a prescription to fight both strep-A and staph, we were ready to go with her.

So I did take her back to day care, let them know what was going on, dropped off her prescriptions at the pharmacy, then headed back to the hospital to finish up with Kellen.  After getting him squared away and dropped off at the park, I went back to the pharmacy, picked up the meds and went to day care.  And Tatum was asleep for her nap.  Ug.  So I couldn't give her the first dose of antibiotics.  I left day care with instructions that they call me if she seemed really uncomfortable and headed off to work.

A short time later, I got the call.  They indicated that her foot felt like it was on fire (and it did).  So I picked her up, headed home, gave her the first dose of her meds, put ice on her foot, and let her pick the movie of her choosing.

Whew!  She wanted lots of snuggles, didn't want me too far from her, but all-in-all, she was in a relatively good mood, considering.

Fast forward to now, and she's good.  We've just finished with the 10-day sequence of both of the medications, she didn't have some of the side effects we were concerned about (BIG yay on that one), and now we're just needing to be sure to keep her slathered with sunscreen and cooled down (the combination of antibiotics made her more susceptible to the sun and overheating, and those effects will linger for another handful of days).

She has the first of her swim lessons tonight and Wednesday night, and she's very much looking forward to going back to the pool!

Me and Jacey....
So the Texas heat and humidity are really getting to me.  I went in to my thyroid doctor today and he even commented on my 'edema'.  Isn't that such a nice word for saying you're bloated, swollen and/or retaining water?  Anyway, I go in for a check-up on Wednesday, and we'll schedule out our monitoring, which will include once a week ultrasounds, twice weekly non-stress tests, and the steroid shot sequence to try and mature Jacey's lungs.  I'm not exactly sure what that schedule will look like, but I'll know more on Wednesday. 

In case you're wondering, the extra monitoring is, at this point, a precaution.  Kellen had the cord wrapped around his neck (twice, if memory serves me) AND he had a knot in his cord.  Knowing either of those things would have made his delivery an automatic c-section, but we didn't know.  So with Tatum, we decided to monitor things a little closer there toward the end, just to be on the safe side, beginning at 32 weeks.  It was a good thing we did, because at 38 weeks I was told that the doctor didn't like the levels of her amniotic fluid and that I was going into the hospital to have her.  That night.  Non-elective. 

Just so you know, the phrase 'non-elective' is a VERY scary one.

Considering the history, we decided to begin the monitoring process at 32 weeks.  I am now 32 weeks and 2 days, and my appointment will be at 32 weeks and 4 days.  I'll be thrilled if all of the extra precautions are just that, but am thinking that realistically, I'll make it to 37-38 weeks.

She seems to be doing fine, is VERY active, and doesn't like to be squished.  At all.  By anything.  I can't wait to meet her, but am just trusting that it will happen when it's supposed to.

Kellen and Matt put up the crib this weekend, we went and got another crib mattress for it, and the bedding has been washed and is now in place.  So Jacey officially has a place to sleep now, which was something that apparently was bothering the kids quite a bit.

As for things at work, I'm trying to finish up projects and have the end of June or middle of July in most folk's mind with regard to when I should be slowing down.  I'll work right up until Jacey comes, so long as I'm able, but everyone around here needs a date or time frame to shoot for in order to wrap up projects that will be due while I'm out.  So that's what we're doing!

Last but not least, Matt.  He's still Matt, and doing the same ole, same ole.  And putting up with me and my end-of-pregnancy craziness.