The 4th, in pictures

Yeah, yeah,,,I know, no diaper post.
Not much posting at all.
I'm having issues finding computer time lately. I was accustomed to getting computer time in the evenings after the kids are in bed, but it turns out Tess wants to be held/nursed for a good two hour stretch during that time. She is so low maintenance and easy going the rest of the day that I can't begrudge her this time. In fact, it's nice to have the time to spend one on one with her. She's not really even cranky during this time, just a bit restless. But until she starts settling earlier, I'm going to have a hard time blogging much. I miss having time to write, and I'm frequently "blogging in my head". And you should see my inbox! But, Tess is only a newborn once...and I wouldn't want to miss even one of these smiles....


In the meantime, I'll post the lazy way...here's our Fourth of July.


The night of the third, John and the kids set off our own fireworks at home...


...while Jack and I watched from the living room window.


We also made our homemade tshirts. This is the third year we've made 4th of July tshirts...I guess that makes it an official tradition.




Don't know what's up with this weird face he's making...


Even Tess got one!


On the 4th, we made our usual flag cake to have for dessert with our cookout.


And went to fireworks with Meme and Papa.


Gratuitous Tess close-up...feel free to pinch the virtual cheeks...


Happy Independence Day!

cloth diapers...how we do it

Tess' cloth dipes have gotten a lot of comments lately, including some interest in why we use them and especially how we wash them.

First, Maria was a disposable diaper baby. I never really considered using anything else. I had no knowledge of cloth diapers except for my mom's stories about how horrible they were and how much she hated them. I first considered using cloth diapers when I read about the money we could save in the Tightwad Gazette. When I was pregnant with Jack I met some moms who used cloth diapers and started picking their brains. They all used very expensive all in one diapers. These looked really nifty and got rave reviews, but I would've spent hundreds of dollars just to get started. It would have taken me a long time to recoup that money in disposable diaper savings, and I just didn't have it to spend. I started asking around in online communities, making sure people understood that I was looking to save money with this whole venture. I also picked their brains about washing methods and over time developed our own. Altogether, I probably spent a couple hundred dollars on everything we bought to diaper Jack for the first year and a half..that included two different sizes of diapers and the related stuff. I doubt I could buy 6 months worth of disposable diapers for that. And the greatest savings happens now- Tess is using the same diapers..they are still in great shape...essentially for free. Here's everything I bought---some of it necessary and some I could have done without if I needed to---

---two diaper pails. Real pails, not the "diaper genie" kind. I actually started with one, and we are just using one now, but as the diapers get bigger they take up more room and I ended up needing two pretty quickly.

--chinese prefolds. How many you'll need depends on how often you wash the diapers. I bought two dozen and this lasts me a good three days. Some buy more and wash less often, but I honestly find that the pail starts to get a little, ah, ripe after three days. I wouldn't really want to wash less often. Don't buy the tiny ones unless you have itty bitty babies. I bought the standard infant and then when he outgrew those I think I bought the regulars.

--I bought these prowrap covers. I have two newborn ones (don't bother..Tess didn't even wear these once!), 6 smalls, and later 6 mediums. They are *awesome*. I hardly ever have leaks. Disposables leak more often. And they are cheap as far as covers go.

--When Jack outgrew the second set of prowrap covers, I decided to try these dappi covers. They are awesome! Cheap, cheap...they worked just as well as the prowraps, and they were more trim, which was nice when he started learning to walk. I may get some of these soon in a smaller size to try now for Tess. But I suspect they may be harder to get on and off neatly with that super runny newborn poo....

--I bought two dozen flannel doublers on ebay. Doublers are basically an extra piece of material you can put in the prefold to increase absorbency, especially as they get bigger and wet more. They come in different materials...fleece, hemp, etc.

--I bought two dozen flannel wipes as well. Yep, cloth wipes too. They clean *so* much better.

--Also, when he got bigger, I bought two arisocrat wool soakers. He was starting to leak at night. These worked very, very well, nothing gets through them. They are *expensive*,,,but you only need two, one to wash and one to wear, and I got mine on ebay for half as much.

---nice extras,,,these snappis to use instead of pins...these garmet extenders to help onsies fit over bulky aristocrat soakers at night...and a diaper duck to make rinsing out nasty toddler poo and bit easier.

Ok, that's the "what we bought". I'm tired and going to bed. Tomorrow..."how to wash"....

Tess, one month old

The progression of a smile....

back to...um...normal. Sort of.

Ok, that's it. The house is a wreck, I've got piles of laundry to fold and put away, we are still eating cream of something casseroles, the boys are falling apart from lack of routine...enough is enough. I've tweaked out a new schedule/routine and we are starting it tomorrow. TOMORROW, I say. My house will be clean! Healthy meals will be served! School will happen!

Yeah, really...school. We took most of May and June off,,,we are going back to doing at least math, religion, and reading for Kain and Math, religion, and Latin for Maria. We ended the school year unfinished on those anyway, so we will pick up where we left off on those and add our new school year stuff in August.

So where was I? Oh yes! Clean house! Healthy meals! Well-executed home management!

A girl can dream......I'm gonna try, anyway.

The Pickiest Kid, Ever

Foods Jack will actually eat (i.e., foods that he lives off of every day because he won't eat anything else)---

- peanut butter sandwiches
- string cheese
- milk
- grapes
- bananas
- apples
- raw carrots
- goldfish crackers
- macaroni and cheese
- pizza crusts, only
- Welch's fruit snacks, which I started giving him only because they have
Vitamin C in them, which he wasn't getting anywhere else in his diet.
- certain junky foods when he can get them, like tortilla chips,
brownies, cookies, etc.

Things Jack won't ever, ever touch---

- any vegetables besides the carrots. Ever. Never ever.
- any meat, though he has had a chicken nugget like three times.
- juice
- any other pasta besides the macaroni and cheese
- multivitamins, ensure, carnation instant breakfast, or any other
quickly sniffed out attempt of mine to get any other nutrition in him.
- any medication, no matter how much the doctor insists it's necessary.
Even if I manage to get it down, he immediately vomits it. The doctor
acts like I should be able to do something about this. How do you stop
someone from VOMITING??

He seems to have some kind of weird issues. Anytime he does try something else, even on accident, like the time my mom accidently gave him chunky peanut butter, he gagged. I've considered talking to the doctor about this, but I don't think they'll do anything. He's not underweight, he's healthy, and what can they do, really? Maria, btw, is an awesome eater, always has been, so it's not like I just develop these children who will not eat!

If he would at least take a multivitamin....we've tried several different kinds, but he doesn't even like hard candies or anything, so it's hard to get him to even try them.

This week....

Lots of big happenings...


John took the boys to the open house of the new fire station that opened up down the street. Jack, you'll notice is kind of red faced...he was still crying about having to leave when they got home. Speaking of weird expressions...it's so hard to get a good picture of Kain. He always points his chin up high in the air and makes this stiff, weird grin...ah well.


Jack and Tess in her crib-turned-cosleeper.


No, they don't actually sleep together in there. :) But my family bought Tess this really cool mobile, and Jack thinks it's his. He's obsessed with it, and I'm always finding him lying underneath it listening to the music. Ah well,,,Tess doesn't know any different.


A cute Daddy and Tess picture.


Jack last night...he passed out cold on my lap while I was reading Charlotte's Web to Kain.


Here's my first baby, going away for a whole week to Colorado. Alone. I mean, not alone, there's like other kids and chaperones and all, but alone as in WITHOUT ME, without anyone else in the family, with people that I have only known for a couple of years and for whom I have no polygraph testing, cheek swabs, or criminal background check. She is going on a mission trip with 6 other kids from our church. She was so excited about going, but it's so odd to have her gone to a place I've never been having a whole week's worth of experiences that I have no part in whatsoever. This is right after having her gone for several days visiting my parents. I miss her! And I wish someone would take one of these boys for a week. I mean, Maria's my helper...if someone took these boys, I might actually get something done around here! :)

Maria will hate this picture, btw...John was teasing her, so she's got this weird expression on her face. I'm so impressed, as always, with Maria's outgoing personality. This kid is fearless. None of her established friends from church were going on this trip. I would have been terrified to go on a trip to someplace I'd never been with a bunch of people I barely knew at her age, but this whole thing was her idea and she hasn't so much as batted an eye about the whole thing. I'm so proud of her...but I miss her!

Ta-da! The Birth of Teresa Grace

**First, a disclaimer...I used to work maternity, so I freely pratter on about mucus plugs, pooping, placentas and the like. As I live in a family of nurses, such talk is dinner table fodder around here. If such talk bothers you, you may want to skip this one. I haven't even started writing it yet....I just know myself. :)

Also, before you are impressed with my super memory powers, you should know that I was actually keeping a journal during most of my labor....otherwise I would have forgotten most of it I'm sure. Because of all the detail, I'm sure this will be pretty long...but hey, it was three days, after all.
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May 26, 9:30pm- I'm reading Prince Caspian to Maria when strong contractions start. I've been having Braxton-Hicks contractions every night for weeks but are were different. They're so strong I was having trouble reading through them. I say nothing to Maria because I don't want her to get all wound up and not sleep.

10:20pm- Maria's in bed and so John and I start timing contractions. They're 6-8 minutes apart and still stronger than any BH contractions I've had.

11:30pm- We decide to lay down and try to sleep. We're both tired and if this is it than we need some rest. With the BH contractions laying down always made them stop, but this time they keep going strong.

May 27, 12:15am- I can't sleep a bit...too wound up now. We decide to get ready to go. John loads the car with our considerable baggage...we have to pack for the kids to stay at my parents for several days, as well as all of our own gear. I clean the kitchen, bag up the trash for the curb, call the midwife and my mom, and make hotel reservations. We know my labors are very long, but we want to be close to the birthing center just in case and it is 2 hours away...my mom's house is very tiny, especially when my three kids are in it...hence the reason for the hotel reservations. It's a place to spend early labor.

1:30am- We load up the kids, trying to keep things sedate and quiet so that they will sleep on the way up. Haha! As if! They're excited and all wound up. My contractions have faded away, but once I am situated in the car they start up again. They are strong enough to make the car ride uncomfortable, and I'm glad we didn't wait.

3:00am- We arrive at my mom's with three wound up, wide awake kids. My Jackie sits on her couch looking very bewildered. I've never left him for anything close to this long before. He handles it ok, but I cry after leaving him, my big 3yo baby.

4:00am- We check into the hotel after some issues...the person at the desk has no record of our call for a reservation. The only room they have available is a smoking room. It stinks. And my cell phone won't work here. And I can't get the room phone to work either. So I'm irritated. We try to sleep.

7:00am- Contractions wake me up and I'm really disoriented and groggy. They must have puttered out some for me to be able to sleep this long. Still can't use the phone. I time some contractions. They are still 7-8 minutes apart. I pass some mucus plug though, and that is motivating. John is still asleep, but I'm awake and wired, and vaguely nauseous from the cig smell.

12:00pm- I managed to sleep some more after all, and the contractions have puttered out...supreme irritation. We have to make a decision about whether to check out from the hotel and stay another night. We decide to leave. We can always come back, hopefully to a nonsmoking room. We go to my mom's to hang out with the gang.

5pm- Contractions JUST NOW coming back. ARGGGHHH! While at my mom's I managed a very brief nap. The kids and John all had a good nap. Now we are rechecking into the hotel. It's obvious we have a long way to go still.

8pm- We had dinner in the hotel room, guacamole burgers from Sparky's, don't tell my raw foods vegan midwife, she'll probably fire me. We talk to John's parents by phone, and they want to know if we are considering a c/section. Sheesh! Why on earth would we do that? I mean, I know the waiting and all is irritating, but hardly reason for major surgery! I am having very strong contractions, strong enough to breath through, strong enough to make John rub my lower back, and I passed some more mucus plug. Progress!! Come on baby!!

May 28th 5am- Had contractions off and on all night, but not too strong. Now they are picking up again and I can't sleep anymore. I take a shower and send John out for some breakfast and coffee. I pass a TON of mucus plug while he's gone. Seriously, holy cow. I've never passed one before, you see...with Maria and Jack, my water broke very early, and I guess the mucus plug came out with that. So, it was kind of surprising, and impressive, I thought. I save it to show John when he gets back. I figured he'd be interested, you know, professionally...he's not. In fact, he's kind of grossed out. Whatever. Some people just can't appreciate the miracle of birth. While I'm sharing personal information, you should know that I am exceedingly constipated...have been during this whole time. I feel like the baby must have dropped down and be, like, blocking progress or something, you know?

7am- Contractions are 4-5 minutes apart, praise God, and stronger. I feel like TODAY'S THE DAY!

9am- We went to the birthing center to get checked by Becky, my midwife. She says I am a couple of centimeters dilated, very thin and soft cervix, but we still have a lot of work to do. She tells us to go walk, stay on my feet. I'm disappointed there wasn't more progress, but that's ok. I feel pretty good.

11am- We have been walking the walmart supercenter. This is a very small town, there's not a lot of places to go. So...I literally walked up and down every single aisle of this place. Walking *does* make the contractions stronger, and I have to stop walking with each contraction. Luckily the store isn't crowded. I see these little girly 4th of July baby outfits for $5 and wish I knew what I was having. I do find this book and buy it for the baby. We consider going back to my mom's but decide that might upset Jack. Ironically, my mom had called the birthing center (still no cell phone service) and found out that we had been sent to walk. She knows to head to the supercenter, and she and Maria find us there, which was pretty funny. I also buy some glycerin suppositories. My new theory is that I had it all backwards earlier...the *poo* is blocking the *baby*. (Ok, it sounds stupid now, but at the time it seemed rational.)

12:30pm- We go to lunch at Myrtie Mae's. This time I decide to be good and eat lightly from the salad and soup bar...I hope to be working hard soon. The contractions are so good that I have to time my trips to the bar so that I don't have a contraction on the way because I absolutely cannot walk with them at all. They are 2-3 minutes apart now. And I'm at Myrtie Mae's. Eating Italian Wedding soup. Come on, you gotta love natural childbirth. Tell me this doesn't beat the heck out of lying in bed hooked up to fetal monitors!

2:00pm- We are at the local library. It's very tiny, but in a neat old historical building. I used to live in this town, and once upon a time Maria was a toddler and I used to bring her here. I feel all nostalgic. I gather a handful of back issues of Mothering and sit down in a rocking chair. The contractions are still hard and 2-3 minutes apart, and weird to manage in such tight, quiet quarters. I realize that being in labor in public is kinda like being stoned in public (yeah, yeah...I wasn't always the saintly person you know today, big shocker, right?). You feel all paranoid like "everyone knows"...not that being in labor is a terrible illegal thing, like being high and driving to Whataburger at 2am...but still, most people would be kinda alarmed to find out that you are in *actual labor* right there next to them. I hold the magazine up high and kind of hide my face with it during the contractions. We are now leaving to go back to the birthing center to be checked again. I could stay here longer, it's comfortable and I'm enjoying the magazines, but our parking spot is only good for an hour. And I used the glycerin suppositories...nothing! ARGH!

5:00pm - I'm completely in despair. I was only 3-4 centimeters along and was sent back to the hotel. I cried all the way here. This feels like it is never going to happen. John is doing great at keeping things positive, but I am sinking. Thank God for his attitude, because if his was as lousy as mine we'd be in trouble. He leaves to get dinner. I decide the hell with eating lightly, this baby is obviously NEVER COMING ANYWAY and order a sausage and green pepper sub. Hah! Take that!

8:00pm- The contractions are HARD and fast. John has been sleeping, and I dozed a little, but then I got up and started laboring alone while he slept.... which sounds terrible, but it was good, actually. I mean, I could have woken him up if I wanted to, but it was actually very peaceful, just pacing back and forth in the dark hotel room by the light of the TV, leaning against the wall or the sink for the contractions...I feel very centered and calm now. I decide to call Becky and tell her I think she should check me one more time before we settle in for the night.

**My notes stop here...this is from memory...as you'll see, even though things have been so slow getting going, once they start, things happen FAST...***

She checked me around 8:30pm, and I was around 5 cm. dilated. She told us to stay. The reason she held us off so long is that by law she can only keep us under her direct care for so many hours before she has to refer us to the hospital for "failure to progress". So she was holding off as long as possible. I am unprepared for this and decide we need to replace some things that we have used up in the hotel rooms, mostly water and juice bottles. So, we run to walmart (again) for these. While there I decide we need some fruit. And some gum. John gets Almond Joys, and I scold him because Becky will chastise us for the sugar and tell him they are just for him, not for *me*. We also call my mom and tell her we are staying at the center now and hopefully there will be some news in the morning.

When we get back and settle in Becky tells us she's called the other midwife that will assist her and she'll be there in about an hour, and that we should go walk. The birthing center is next door to the hospital, so we cross the street and walk slowly around the outside of it. It's a very sticky, humid night and I am uncomfortable and sweaty, and my back has a low, dull ache all through it, but I know it is being on my feet that has brought my progress this far, so we keep going, stopping for contractions. It takes us a good 45 minutes to walk there, around the hospital, and back. When we get back, I decide I want to take a shower and change clothes. While sitting on the toilet before getting into the shower, I feel a big pop and goosh...my water broke! I yelled a little with surprise, which brought John to the door, but I assured John I was ok and getting into the shower.

After I cleaned up I lay down in bed with John. This felt great...my back was aching and I was tired...but the midwife warned me I should get up and walk some more. At this point the other midwife showed up and we introduced ourselves. I got back up and started passing around the center. This place is really just a house. The biggest bedroom is the only birthing room. We walked a loop through the kitchen and living room for, I don't know, maybe 20 minutes or so. My contractions were 2 minutes apart and changed during this time. The midwives heard the change...I started involuntarily grunting and moaning with each one.

I got back in bed and they checked me again...and I was shocked to find out I was 8centimeters! Things happened quickly after that and are kind of a blur for me. I had a some contractions in bed. I remember asking for a bowl as the dry heaves came (nope, I didn't actually throw up any sausage and pepper sub, surprisingly), and I got the shakes so bad my knees knocked together, and I thought, "Ah yes, hello transitional labor, my old friend,". The nurse in me actually announced this, "I'm in transition," and I remember one of the midwives laughing and saying, "OK." She was probably thinking, "Duh!, You think?" I was gone at this point, deep inside my own head and only vaguely aware of what was going on around me. John called my mom and told her it was time to head over with Maria. She was really shocked...it was around midnight at this point and we had just called her at 8:30 and told her we were going to walmart. The midwives were rushing around to finish setting up, and at one point I vaguely heard the loud, violent hissing noise of the oxygen tank along with alarmed voices as the midwives and John rushed out of the room. Apparently one of the nozzles had broken off the tank or something and the oxygen was leaking out. I just remember being surprised at being alone for a few contractions while they tried to fix the tank, gave up, and brought in a back up tank. Maria and my mom showed up, and I could hear them behind my shoulder. I was told later that Maria was a little white,,,I'm sure it was intimidating to walk into that scene. I was working really hard at that point and very withdrawn. I remember hearing my mom tell Maria that it was ok, she could go give me a hug, and I heard her say she didn't want to, and I could picture perfectly the expression she would have on her face, feeling kind of embarrassed and shy...I wanted to say something reassuring to her, I think I did say something, but I couldn't quite bring myself around to focusing on her. My mom took her into the other room until it was time to push.

Becky checked me again and said I had a just a lip left...that damned cervical lip. I'd had that with Jack. It's like pushing through broken glass. She asked me if I wanted to try pushing with her holding the lip out of the way, and I said absolutely not. I'd tried that with Jack and it was horrible. I just wanted to push past it when the time came. She encouraged me to get up and walk some more...my progress was stalling. I wanted to, because it did feel like it would be better that way, but I couldn't move, I felt inert and indecisive. I finally did sit up and had a couple of contractions on the side of the bed, holding onto John, and that was better. I got up and had a couple holding onto the wall, and that was better still.

I decided I needed to poo and moved into the bathroom to do so. Sitting on the toilet felt great and I started pushing. Becky expressed concern, but I told her I really just needed to poo. After a couple more pushes, she encouraged me to get back to bed in case this was the baby coming. I insisted I really just needed to poo and told her I had been constipated. I really didn't feel like going into my "poo blocking the baby theory" at that point, but I really believed I just needed to poo! A couple of pushes later, and suddenly I could feel that baby's head moving down. "Ok," I said, "I guess it's not just poo." There was a big commotion to get me off the toilet and back into bed. I wanted no part of this at first, I was quite happy to stay right there, but they convinced me I didn't really want to have my baby in the toilet. With what has been, to this point, the single most physically difficult task I have ever performed, I got on my feet and allowed John to half-drag me back to the bed as I shuffled and groaned with the sheer effort of trying to walk during such a time. I lay back down and immediately wished I was back on my feet. I felt too flat and awkward and couldn't get well-positioned, and it was too late to try to do much, the baby was coming whether I was comfortable or not and I was past articulating what I wanted. Maria and my mom came back into the room as I pushed a several more times. Pushing with this baby was definitely much more difficult than with the others. The pushing stage seemed to take longer and take so much more effort. The baby finally crowned, and the midwife had me gently push the head out, and then it took two more pushes to get the shoulders out. Tess was sluggish and purply at first...I'm sure it was all a lot of exhausting work for her too...and the midwife rubbed her down and suctioned her at my perineum until she started breathing on her own. My mom called out that it was a girl, and Maria was elated. Maria, btw, had done just fine with watching the baby being born...it was just the intensity of that transition stage that shocked her some. Then Becky plopped the baby, all hot and slippery, on my now empty belly. This was the first baby I actually got to hold right away,,,it was wonderful. I was still laying at an awkward angle and couldn't see her very well, but I rubbed her slick head and felt her plump legs as I tried to crane my head around. I was soon able to bring her up to my breast for her to try nursing. The angle was difficult, but she latched on for a bit and I got to stare into her swollen, red, beautiful face. Soon after that it was time to push the placenta out and John got to cut the cord. Becky announced proudly that I didn't even tear. Then she took Tess for a second to dry her off some more, wrap her in dry blankets, and put a hat on her, then she handed her back to me. I got some more pillows propped behind me and nursed a bit more. Then I passed her around to eagerly waiting family while I got up out of bed and cleaned up a bit. The midwives had everyone guess her weight. I guessed 8 1/2 pounds. Wishful thinking, I guess, on my part...that's the weight I was hoping for. Jack was 9'14, and I was hoping for anything smaller than him! She announced her weight,,,,10'15, and I was shocked. She didn't look that big to me. I don't know why, Jack looked huge, I immediately knew he was big, but Tess didn't look that big to me. Becky wanted me to eat and have some juice, so I did that, and then I dressed Tess in a gown and diaper. I marveled again at getting to have my baby with me the whole time and not taken away to a nursery.

Anyway, that's the story. She was born at 1:35am. My mom and Maria left soon after, and John, Tess, and I settled down in the king sized bed to sleep. I didn't sleep much. I was sweating like crazy and it was hard getting used to sleeping with a baby again. At one point I got up and slept in the rocking chair with Tess, with my feet on an ottoman, and that was easier than the bed. Later in the morning my mom came back with my dad and all the kids. We marveled at all her hair, and I decided to wash it and comb the goop out,,,she still hadn't had a bath. We were so surprised to see her hair, once wet, spring into dark curls!

We left the birthing center around 3 that afternoon, and I was very glad to be home in my own bed that night.

2 week old pics

These first pics are from my first outing with all four kids....alone. It was a little intimidating. First, we went to a children's concert for the public library summer reading program. The kids learned about local Ozark folk music and got to play some instruments in the "Ozarkestra".


Kain played this...thing...I can't remember what it's called now and neither can he! Anyone know? It's a curved wooden piece, looks like a bow, as in "bow and arrow", and there's a small can at the top although the can isn't really supposed to be there. You are supposed to use your mouth in place of the can, but the musician there put a can on there instead so it would be more sanitary for sharing with the kids.


Maria played the washboard, and later tried her hand at a fiddle too.

Then we went to the park next door. That was where things got a little hairy. It was very hot, and I had Tess in her sling...


Jack wanted to be pushed on the swings, out in the open sun, forever and ever,


and Tess quickly became overheated. I put her in the carseat in the shade instead,,,

,,,but then I had to lug that around, including when I had to chase Kain down a couple of times for harassing the ducks, something I don't allow. I need the stroller next time. Everyone was very hot and cranky by the end of it all, and I may boycott the park until late September. Seriously.

Last Sunday, Father's Day, Tess was baptised...John's parents came up for the weekend, and of course my parents and grandmother were there, so we had a little "baptism day/Father's Day" lunch at our house afterwards. No, I did not cook a thing. Good sandwich stuff, relish trays, veggie trays, fruit, chips, and dessert from the bakery...all I had to do was throw everything on the counter.


Teresa Grace, all dressed in white...


My grandmother and Tess...


The baptism cake...


And the Father's Day BIG COOKIE...

I don't have any pics of the actual ceremony yet. My mom took those, and she's giving me the cd when she's done making copies. It was a lovely ceremony, though, with our pastor, Fr. Mike...with the exception of Maria's baptism (we lived in Texas at the time) and our marriage, he has done all of the kids' sacraments and will be a fixture in their scrapbooks for sure. :)

hi...remember me?

I'm still alive over here. We are kinda sorta settling into some kind of new "normal". I *finally* caught up my inbox, so now I'm ready to work on cleaning up my blog, but my computer time is strictly limited (limits reinforced by a nursing baby), so bear with me. I'm going to work on my birth story post today, which is really a pretty funny story. Then I hope to catch back up with everyone *else's* blog! Right now I will just say that Tess is already three weeks old, (sniff, sniff) and she was baptised on Father's Day....I *love* baptisms, I love to smell the spicy chrism on her head and look into her face and think, This is the closest any of us will ever get to perfect innocence...a freshly baptised soul without sin...the closest we will get to looking into the eyes of Christ himself while we are on this Earth.

She wore the dress that I was baptized in, and then Maria. It's *so* pretty and vintage-y looking. Giving her a bath, dressing her in the poofy layers, then bringing her down for the family to oooh and aaah...the moment all felt a little bridal to me, a foreshadowing of another possible day in her future of poofy white dresses and extended family gathering. Our church does baptisms monthly, so she was baptised along with a tiny pair of twins...they made her look like hulk baby! And her baptism coincided, as they always seem to, with the outbreak of those lovely baby zits. They have since healed, so I'll need to post a more recent picture soon.

Just in the last week she suddenly seems older. She's smiling big, heart-melting gummy smiles at me already, staying awake for longer periods, and trying to hold up her huge head. She's absolutely beautiful and sweet and we spend several periods a day just staring at each other in fascination. Babies will never cease to amaze me. I've always loved babies, and when I first started working in pediatrics and in the newborn nursery at the hospital I couldn't *believe* someone was going to actually pay me to take care of babies all day. And so, having my own around again is just so much fun. I love babies. I love the silky feel of their hair, the way they smell, their teeny tiny feet and toes, the way they stare into your face like you are the most fascinating person in the whole world, the way their constant needs are so easily satisfied with a pair of arms, a pair of breasts, and a dry diaper or two...

...and speaking of which, Good Queen Tess awakens upstairs...so the pics will have to wait a bit...later today, hopefully!

Happy Anniversary, baby....

I had a nice long post about my dear husband planned...it is probably not going to happen. So, I'll take the easy way out....


again, you'll have to click on it to see it very well..can't figure out how to make these thigns bigger!

Our big anniversary plans include *trying* to get the kids to bed early and getting take out from Olive Garden and a movie from Blockbuster. You do what you can do, you know? And for this year, for this season of young children and little nursing babies, it'll be just fine.

library bargains

John took the kids to register for the library's summer reading program this week. Like most homeschoolers, we spend a good deal of time at the library, and their summer programs are lots of fun. At one point, I had illusions of using the library to save a bunch of money on homeschooling books..., and dvd's, magazines, music, cd-rom's, we use it all...but I'm not sure how much I really save anymore. John told me he paid off the fines on all three library cards...$75!! Ouch! We had already racked up some fines, and before Tess' birth John had taken them to check out some computer games to keep them entertained during that looooong week...we didn't even realize the computer games were only allowed out for a week. They were all overdue to the tune of $1 a day. So were the little music cd's that Maria checked out. It all added up I guess. It's a never ending source of frustration around here. I had to stop them from checking out library movies recently because they would just disappear for weeks at a time and the fines were just insane. I decided it would be cheaper to increase the number of movies we have out from Netflix.

I guess it's still a good deal, it would cost a lot more to purchase all the stuff we check out for sure, but at some point we may be checking out *just books*...they are allowed out for three weeks and only 10 cents a day if they are late. Golly...checking out books from a library...what a crazy concept!


ps- click on the comic to enlarge it... :)

I'd better label my pictures well....

Here's Jack as a baby, in the same outfit Tess has on below....



Isn't that wild?

All the photos you'd ever want to see....

Right after birth, kinda purply and swollen.


Me and Tess.


Me and Tess, again.


Me, Tess, and John.


Maria and Tess. She and my mom were at the birth.


The midwives, weighing her in.


Meme and Tess.


Getting all cleaned up and dressed...by me! Not by a nursery nurse! I loved keeping my baby with me, the best part by far. Once I got her, no one took her away.





All dressed!


Kain and Tess, later that day.


I wanted to shampoo the ook out of her hair that afternoon...


Look at all that curly hair!


Three days old, wide awake.

Coming up tomorrow if I get a chance, her birth story, and hopefully a pic of Tess and Jack. He's handling the changes fine so far...until we got home he complete ignored her, heh. Once we were home, he finally acknowledged her presence, but not much else. Now he has kissed her on the head a couple of times and talks about her some. Just his way of dealing with things...anyway, I just haven't been motivated to take more pictures just yet. Organizing these has been my big project for the last couple of days.

Birth Announcement

Teresa Grace was born May 28th at 1:35 am.
She weighed 10 pounds, 15 ounces.
No, that is not a typo. :)
21 inches long, headful of black, curly hair.
The birth was great, we got to stay at the birthing center and have our natural birth. We're both healthy, and she's nursing like a barracuda.
More pictures and details forthcoming in a couple of days. My mom got some great birth pictures, but I need to wait until my bottom is feeling more up to sitting at the computer,,,as you might imagine. :)

The time has come, the Walrus said....

Ok, boys and girls...this looks to be it. Entropy's dream may be more on than I gave her credit for. I've been having regular, strong contractions for 3 hours now. I'm not really ready to leave, I feel like I still have a long way to go, but the birthing center is two hours away through the mountains and we're a little worried about that, so we've decided to go ahead and go. I hope I don't regret it and end up puttering out and coming home!

confusing communion

We sit up front during mass...this works best for our kids. But there's a trick to it. You're first in line for the collection basket. You're first in line for communion too, and since there's hardly anyone ahead of you, you will be receiving communion quickly. You've got to be on the ball to sit up front, something that can be difficult during a mass filled with the distractions that come with juggling kids.

Today, I was ready enough. John filed out, then I followed with Jack by the hand, and Maria was behind me (Kain was at his dad's). As soon as I stood up, a contraction started. I was already lagging behind because I could only move at Jack's pace, so I bit my lip as the baby squished down rather painfully on my bladder and shuffled forward so as not to hold up the line. Once out of the pew, I lunged for Jack, who had jerked away from me, and snatched him by both hands, still contracting. All of a sudden I found myself face to face with our priest. He held up the host expectantly while I looked at him, and it, with confusion, surprised to be there. I almost reached up and grabbed the host with one hand, like he was handing me a cup of coffee or something, which would have been inappropriate to say the least, but that's how disoriented I was. I paused and looked stupidly for a minute at Father, trying to remember if I had even bowed my head or anything, and how I was going to receive when I had Jack by both hands anyway?, and then awkwardly stuck out my tongue to receive before shuffling my still contracting self back to my seat. It all took place in less than a minute and Father probably didn't even notice anything, but I felt embarassed anyway, especially since Father couldn't have possibly known he had given communion to someone who was struggling mightily just to keep from peeing on his feet.

updates...almost week 41

No baby. No, no baby. I'm so bummed.
I went to the midwife yesterday and she said I'm about 70% effaced and a couple of centimeters dilated...she was even able to touch the baby's head, which made me kind of wistful because *I* would sure like to touch the baby's head...and she said I should be ready any time now. She said if nothing happened in a couple of days we would start trying some cohosh and such to try and get things started. Then when I got home I was pretty sure that my water was leaking....but it either sealed over or the baby's head corked everything off. I had some pretty strong contractions for a while last night, but they puttered off again. So, here I sit, in maternity limbo...trying to be patient, trying to stay motivated to keep up with laundry and housework. I swore I wouldn't do this again, put life on hold when my due date approached, but it seems to have happened anyway. I told the kids that if the baby isn't here on Monday we are going back on our school schedule. I wish I had never taken them off of it, but that was mostly so that I could get stuff done that I needed to do before the baby came...now that stuff is done and everyone is bored and cranky. John is on vacation and has already used up a week of time off for nothing. Come on, baby!!!

Oh, and we got the air conditioner fixed...$830. Goodbye, economic stimulus check! I was so hoping to use that to pay the fence guy to come finish our privacy fence...(sigh)...

just hormones,,,I guess....

A little background...Kain and Jack sharing a bedroom has kind of been a bust. The two of them going to bed together...not good. Counting on Jack to be tired enough at the slightly later bedtime to pass out quickly...not happening. Counting on Kain to be the responsible older kid who sets the proper bedtime tone...yeah, right. I pretty much might as well be putting *two* three year olds in bed at the same time and counting on them to fall asleep quickly and easily. They keep each other up for hours while I turn into a shrieking maniac.

So, back to my crunchy momma roots, I brought Jack back upstairs to the hippy family bed. The baby's crib is already bumpered up against our king sized bed. I'm hoping it'll actually see more action this way. When Jack was a baby, it was pretty much a $200 laundry hamper for the first few months. Anyway, I made up a little pad on the floor next to John's side of the bed for Jack. For the last several nights, at 7pm, I take Jack up there and we read, we snuggle, we sing...I smooch his neck and drum out the Mexican hat dance on his belly...just sweet, silly stuff. Then I pretend to fall asleep myself, and he soon follows. When John and I come up to bed later on, we move him to the pad on the floor. Sometimes he stays there until morning,,,more often he ends up back in bed, wedged up against my back. I have really enjoyed having this time with him at night and don't regret bringing him back to our bed one bit. It's been such a gentle and lovely way to end the day with him, and often the only one on one time we get together. So, I guess that's why, tonight, once he fell asleep, I stopped to really look at him, and trace his eyebrows, and breathe in his breath, and uncurl his fingers, and then started crying for my baby who won't be the baby anymore, any day now. And he's so unaware of how much things are going to change for him, he doesn't really get what's about to happen at all, and he's so secure in his place as "the baby", and I know the changes will be for the better overall, but I'm still sad to see it all change for him, for us. How can you happily anticipate something so much and still feel some sadness about it at the same time? I can only hope it's just hormones.

update on peanut

Well...yesterday was my due date. So now, I am overdue, overdone, like a turkey, which is what I feel like, pretty much, a giant, overheated, overdue turkey.



I have contractions every day, and baby feels quite low and uncomfortable. I think I passed part of my mucus plug yesterday (there's that mucus talk again, sorry) and hoped that would be a sign of things really getting started. Things did not. It did motivate me to jump up and clean the kitchen though, so that was something.

In other news, John is officially on vacation now, so he's home for three weeks, which is wonderful. It's just nice to have the company, the distraction. Kain had OT yesterday, and then soccer practice, and John was kind of peeved that I took him to these things because "we are trying to have a baby", but sitting around here 24/7 doesn't make it any more likely to start labor, and it makes the waiting more irritating. It's far better for me to try to just do our daily lives than to sit around on the couch like some kind of Buddha.



Don't you like all the images today?

I'm trying to keep up with the daily house stuff so that I won't freak out too much when the in-laws head our way. We have dropped all pretense of doing school, although I really need to at least resume poetry...they are both in the middle of memorizing poems and I'm afraid they'll forget everything! Today I plan to catch up on bills and deskwork type stuff again. I also need to call the air conditioner guy first thing this morning because our AIR CONDITIONER QUIT WORKING LAST NIGHT, ARRRGGGHHHH! Totally unacceptable. Could the timing BE any worse?

Anyway, I will post something when things get started, which really should be any time now. My last two were right around their due dates, so hopefully this one will follow suit.

Brought to you by the class of '92

John, as I said, enjoys teaching Jack weird things to say...the latest has been the lyrics to "We Are the Champions". So, I had to look up the video for the kids on You Tube. And then I had to look at a bunch of other videos too. I love Queen. Love. Queen. Anyway, Maria stuck around to make fun of the guy in the leotard and to ask every 20 seconds, "WHY is he wearing a leotard anyway?" Because. Because he's Freddie Mercury, that's why. Because, when you are that freakin' talented you can walk around in a tent and nobody cares. Because, it's the 70's, and spangled, too-tight clothing was all the rage and considered hot on anyone, even way too skinny British guys with overbites.

So, of course at some point we were watching Bohemian Rhapsody. And, of course, if you were a teenager anywhere during the time that *I* was a teenager....



...you know what happened. At the appropriate moment, I whipped out my scrunchie and proceeded headbanging, in the finest pit style. Maria pronounced me "not cool", repeatedly, but what does she know? She thinks Hannah Montana is the height of coolness after all. Anyone that can't recognize the coolness of such a maneuver is too young, too old, or just a nerd. Because everyone else knows that thrashing during Bohemian Rhapsody is very cool indeed. But not recommended. My neck still hurts.

bugs and boys

A few weeks ago, when the weather was warming up, I found a swarm of ants in our main bathroom. We've never had them there before...in the kitchen, yes, this is Arkansas after all, and the ants will zoom in on some microscopic ice cream drip from the night before and swarm your kitchen within hours...but not the bathroom. Some investigating revealed a previously sucked-on and discarded hard candy that didn't quite make it to the bathroom trashcan. I chipped and pried it off the floor and the ants eventually left me alone.

Since then, I've been eyeballing the bathroom better, keeping an eye out for more food discards. The kids aren't supposed to throw away food in any trashcan but the kitchen one, but, well...you know how that goes. The other day I was in the bathroom and I found a saltine cracker carefully propped up in the window sill. All the kids were in bed, so I threw it away and made a mental note to question them about it. But my mental note of course got lost in my swiss-cheese pregnant brain and I forgot all about it. Until the next night, when the cracker had mysteriously returned to the windowsill. I threw it away again, again made my mental post-it, and of course promptly forgot all about it. Last night, another cracker had appeared. This time the kids were still up. I called the older ones into the bathroom for questioning. Kain admitted to leaving the cracker in the windowsill. He did it for the ants, he said. He wanted to leave them some food. In my bathroom. He left out food, on purpose, in my bathroom, for the express reason of bringing the ants back. And what's more, he just looked kind of confused when I tried to explain why this was a problem for me. Why *wouldn't* I want to feed the ants from our bathroom, after all??

blah, blah, blah

Ok, here's an update....
I'm actually keeping up with that ambitious list. Yes, I do deserve huge rounds of applause. I finished painting the master bedroom/bathroom this past weekend...I'll show some pics after this coming weekend's job of finishing organizing the room/baby stuff. It was a heck of a job, and frankly, my nesting energy has left. I had to really push myself to do it. But it's done. Maria helped me a lot, God love her. Not everyone would let an 11yo help paint their house...but she really doesn't do too badly. At least, her skill is comparable to mine. I don't know if that's saying a whole heck of a lot though. And she likes to do it, which puts her head and shoulders around anyone else around here I could recruit.

Otherwise, everything's going well, onto weekly midwife visits and that's getting old really fast, but baby is doing well and I keep getting bigger. Our activities are blessedly winding down. The kids finished their co-op classes, we all finished with PSR... I'm no longer feeling all antsy for the baby to come. I feel...I don't know...tired and cranky mostly, hormones I guess, but the thought of having a baby to take care of right now is kind of overwhelming. Maybe I'll be in a better mood once I finish getting the rest of my list done this weekend.

Less than two weeks to go,,,ready or not!

the poop

We are having poop issues.

Every night I put the boys to bed together.
And every night, after no more than 5 minutes, Jack comes out with a loaded diaper. Now, he's been potty trained during the day, and he'll even go all night most of the time without peeing. But he *will not* poo on the potty, hasn't done it even once. He waits until that diaper goes on.

Then I have Kain...Kain doesn't poo his pants, thankfully,,,but within 15 minutes or so of going to bed, he also has to get back up to poo. It doesn't matter how long I have him sit on the toilet before going to bed, he can't go until he has been *in* bed. This, of course, means that Jack is back up and running around again too, just for the heck of it since he's already had his poo taken care of.

In addition to all the poo problems, Jack has decided over the last few days that he isn't as potty trained as I thought. He's decided that instead of using the toilet, he just prefers to strip off his pants and pee on the floor of whatever room he happens to be in.

I'm so glad I got rid of that stupid cat that wouldn't use the litter box. But what am I supposed to do about the children?

laundry, laundry, everywhere

The following is a really boring laundry post. If your eyes are glazing over, feel free to skip it.

Recently there was a "loveliness of laundry" fair in blogdom. I didn't participate. I didn't even read it all, life was crazy at the time. But I've been meaning to post our latest laundry routine. Laundry is one of those areas in which I've experienced some major growing pains. Less than 4 years ago, we only had one child...now we are expecting a 4th,,,if you count Kain as ours. I do. I have to do his laundry, after all. And feed him. But that's a whole other post. Anyway, I know my laundry feat is small compared to some of the great big families out there, but it's been an adjustment for us just the same. For a while I was doing laundry a little at a time, one or two loads most days of the week. I didn't like that much....it felt like I was never *done*. Now I do all the laundry, all at once, once a week.

Every Monday morning, I bring down our laundry from upstairs, as well as the laundry from both downstairs bathrooms, and dump it all on the laundry room floor. Kain dumps the laundry hamper from the boys' room, and Maria brings hers. I start the hot water in the washer, then plop myself down on the laundry room floor (yes, I can still plop quite easily this pregnant,,,but the getting back up is hard) and start sorting into piles...whites, light colors, and darks. I start the whites first in the hot water (cleaning rags go in here too, cuz they are gross), and the rest I was in cold. I keep swapping loads all day long, trying to get most all of it done by the end of the day. When the loads come out, they are sorted right away. I have six small hampers that I break out and spread across the floor, one for linens, one for each child, and two for John and me (one for stuff that goes in our dresser and one for stuff that gets hung up). So, while I'm pulling stuff out of the drier, I am sorting it into the appropriate hamper for later. Tuesday morning I continue, though that is our co-op day and I don't have much time, so hopefully I'm just finishing up the last load or two. That afternoon, I start putting away. This is my big chore to get done before picking up the kids from the co-op. I take each hamper of clothes to their respective rooms and start folding and putting away. Maria folds and puts away her own, and Kain will be taught to do this as well sometime in the next school year. If all goes well, all the laundry is done for the week by the end of Tuesday.

Ta-da!

it must be a guy thing....

Once I dated a guy that thought it was hysterically funny to try and teach my parrot cuss words. Now, John would never be quite so crass, but he does think it's quite amusing to teach Jack to say weird things, like...

--Bob Marley protest song lyrics, and

--lines from old Warner Brother cartoons, like "consequences, schmonsequences, so long as I'm rich", and

--lines from obscure British comedy shows I can't even repeat because I don't even know them well enough to remember them now,

--and now, Queen lyrics. I heard Jack tonight in the tub singing, "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS...."

This isn't just my husband either. My dad does the same thing. I don't even want to know where, "Orlando, Orlando, is there an Orlando here?" came from...

Miley Cyrus

Amen. Amen, Amen, Amen.

tick tock, tick tock

Time is ticking away towards my due date, but I'm doing well on my list, so that's really motivating.

The first weekend I finished moving Jack into Kain's room. This meant shoveling out the tiny closet in there, which had been used for storage, piling all that junk in the dining room, and moving most of Kain's clothing onto the top rod. I left just his socks, underwear, and pajamas in a couple of the dresser drawers. Then I moved Jack's clothing to the bottom rod and drawers. I also moved in warm weather clothes and purged outgrown cold weather clothes. I hung a couple of hooks in the closet for robes and backpacks, and put a couple of plastic crates on the closet floor for each boy's shoes.

Then there was the matter of all the storage stuff...the far more painful part of the weekend. I had all the junk from Kain's closet already. Then I emptied out the large, overstuffed, hard to use closet that runs under the stairs. This is the first time I have done this since we moved in....four years ago. It was gruesome. I swept it all out and ended up with a dining room full of dusty baby equipment, disorganized boxes of holiday decorations, suitcases, bags, and other seldom used things. I purged through and threw away EIGHT kitchen trashbags full of stuff, added bigger things to the growing castoff pile in the garage, and set some things aside to give to the local thrift store. I set the baby equipment I was keeping in a pile for the kids and John to move upstairs. Then I organized all the holiday decorations worth keeping. Back into closet went a modest collection of sterlite boxes with the decorations, some backpacks on a hanger, the folding card table, the suitcases, and the cat carrier. Much, much better.

So that was last weekend. This past weekend was time to clean our master bedroom and make room for Peanut. This bedroom now had a big pile of baby equipment, over a dozen sterlite boxes of not currently being worn kids clothes that I'd already purged through on different day, currently unused schoolbooks, and general mess and clutter. I purged through the room, especially our overgrown movie collection. I rearranged furniture, finding better places for the vanity and other furniture and I moved all the boxes of clothing and baby equipment over on one far wall to make room for painting the last 1/3 of the room this coming weekend. John helped me set up the crib, sidecar style against my side of the bed. It looks very nice up there, or will once the painting is done and things are all in place.

In other news, I spent Saturday night having some decently strong, regular contractions for about three hours. I even called my mom to put her on possible "something might be going on, keep the phone by your bed" alert...but they went away. They came back Sunday night, but for a shorter time, I didn't even bother timing them or anything. I've hand handfuls of them here and there today, but nothing impressive. I am obviously nesting a bit, as evidenced by the fact that I have done more cleaning and purging in the last couple of weeks than I have in the last couple of years, in spite of my aching back and hips. I continue to be extremely huge and uncomfortable and wouldn't feel badly at all to have the baby a couple of weeks early, even if it's before the bedroom gets painted. I'm just saying.

But, I guess if I don't get the bedroom finished now, with the whole nesting thing going on, it might be another couple of years before it gets done...

more Peanut updates

First of all,,,if I haven't visited your blog in a while, I'm sorry. Chances are also good that I have visited and haven't commented. I have little patience for computer time right now...don't know why, although I have been having some sciatic pain off and on too. I'm getting, really, just comically large and uncomfortable...

Yesterday I had my 36 week "risk assessment" appointment with my midwife's back-up OB. This final appointment with the OB clears me for delivery with the midwife at the alternative birthing center (aka, house with one bedroom-turned-birthing-room owned by midwife across the street from the hospital). She did a surprise ultrasound while we were there, the only one I've had, because she just wanted to make sure the baby was positioned well for delivery. Everything looked great, and it was neat to get a peek at Peanut. He/she (she said she couldn't tell, and we didn't really want to know anyway) is head down, posterior, and looks good and healthy. We could see him/her (I hate saying "it"!) "breathing" amniotic fluid in and out, which was really neat too. She said the placenta and cord look good and healthy, and the placenta is attached to the belly side of my uterus which is why it's been tricky sometimes to find and keep a heartbeat at my appointments lately.

Then today I had an appointment with my midwife. Everything, of course, was still fine, but of course you never can hear that enough I guess. She did say I had a trace amount of blood in my urine, which might mean that I'm starting to dilate and having a little bit of show. It could be, I passed a bit of mucus the other day too. (By the way,,,I'm a nurse, for those who don't know, that took care of women and babies for a living, so I'm pretty free with blood and mucus talk around here. Sorry if that bothers anyone. :)) I'd love to have this baby a bit sooner than later, but I also know you can walk around a bit dilated for quite a while, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up. Oops...too late!

Anyway, we are really all looking forward to meeting this sweet baby. And not just so we can stop calling it "it". I'm feeling positive and good about the coming labor, and I've gotten a couple of chances to practice my breathing and relaxation techniques during the couple of gallstones I've passed, hehe.

Kain's narration

Our curriculum, being classical in nature, uses a lot of narration. For the uninitiated, narration is a method of developing listening skills and reading comprehension. We don't use readers with their neat little compartmentalized stories and comprehension questions at the end. We use real books, and the child "retells" the story in their own words and often illustrates it as well. As they get older, their narrations become better and more detailed. The narrations can also become writing practice as they get older, and can involve other subjects. For example, as writing becomes easier for Kain, he will copy his narrations instead of them being left in my typing. And for Maria, her narrations are used for art appreciation. We will do a picture study, and she will describe the picture back to me, I will write down her description, edit it with her for good grammar and sentence composition, and then she will recopy her edited description in her best cursive.

When they are illustrated, I will often include a "caption" for the picture. This is Kain's narration from religion today. These early narrations are some of my favorite assignments. Their thoughts are so precious and funny, and you never know what in the story will impress them or what kinds of details they will add. This narration was from a story about St. Anne from "Once Upon a Time Saints".


You can click on the picture to enlarge it. He describes the picture as "St. Joachim praying in the desert with cactus and sand". The speech bubbles up on top are God "answering" his prayer for a child. In case you can't tell, they say, "OK, I HEARD YOU".

the due date

That irritating little clicker over on the right keeps ticking the days down. I now have, according to the clicker, 31 days until my due date. My plans to perfectly organize my life before Peanut's arrival are not working out so well. I thought I could get some done in the afternoons after school was done for the day, but it turns out that I actually use that time to do lots of other stuff,,,like laundry, and housework, and cooking, that kind of stuff. And with the baby coming, and the "visit from the out of state in-laws" that will follow, keeping up with the housework and laundry and all is important to my stress level. When I look at the messy house, I think, "What if I went into labor RIGHT NOW?" There's really no time to do anything extra. So, I've picked some tasks to work on each remaining weekend. Assuming the baby doesn't come early, I should finish at least the most important things. And if it *does* come early...well, then...it won't all get done. Life will continue. :) So, here's the layout...there are only 4 weekends left.

1st weekend- organize and purge Kain's closet and dresser to make room for Jack's clothing. Move Jack's clothing out of dresser and changing table into Kain's closet and dresser. Make seasonal clothing changes for boys and help Maria do hers. Make list of needed warm-weather clothing and hit Target website.

2nd weekend- Purge and clean up master bedroom (which is also where the baby will be sleeping). Rearrange furniture to make room for baby stuff. If time, go through the really junked out under the stairs closet and organize the holiday decorations and all. Not because this has anything to do with the baby coming. Just because.

3rd weekend- Finish painting master bedroom/bathroom. It is already 2/3 of the way painted and needs to be finished. Bring changing table and baby dresser upstairs. Buy new bookshelf for playroom and bring old bookshelf upstairs to put in closet for storing not currently being used schoolbooks. Not because this has anything to do with the baby coming. Just because.

4th weekend- Wash baby stuff and put in dresser. Catch up laundry and pack our bags, including the kids' bags for going to stay at Meme's house when labor starts. Set up crib, co-sleeper style, at my side of the bed (it's mostly put together already). Keep up with laundry daily since, 1. everyone will have at least a couple of outfits packed in suitcases, and 2. so no one has to worry about it for at least several days after returning home with the baby.

This doesn't include the weekend of May 17-18. My due date is May 19th, after all, and even I'm not that bold.