Strained...

Yep, folks, that's me today. I can't elaborate here...call & ask or send an e-mail, maybe I'll tell you. Just know I lost sleep over it (which is never good when your 24 weeks pregnant) and I'm still thinking about it this morning. And, there's REALLY nothing I can or should do about it.

Boring Ole Update Post

Tuesday July 7-
I did housework. Then I met Amanda at Michael's. We got the paper for the invitations to the baby shower! Fun stuff!

Wednesday July 8- I did housework, including steam cleaning the carpets in the office. Then I had Bunco. I stayed out late & won 2 prizes. I got to play with/snuggle little miss Lily and that was great!

Thursday July 9-I got a TON of housework done, including re-doing the center of the office carpet, steam cleaning the hall way twice, cleaning the entire living room (remember the mess?), and moving my desk across the office.

Friday July 10- Not much going on today, I ran a few errands this morning and haven't done much more than the basic housework that I do everyday. (dishes, laundry, vacuum)
Tonight the census lady will be back to do her report with Tim.
I'm super tired & sore from yesterday, so I don' t have high hopes for today!

Upcoming Plans:

Saturday July 11- We'll hopefully do housework/garage cleaning, including a trip to the dump for Tim & his dad.

Sunday July 12-Tim's running sound for the 8:30 service & I'm the liturgist for the 9:45 service, so we have to make it to church this weekend.

Monday July 13-I'll have Chrissy's kids, because Mom & Dad are driving down. I don't know what I'll do with them, but it will probably involve cleaning house!

Tuesday July 14-Possibly jury duty, Mom plans on taking the kids to the pool at Amanda's work so if no jury duty that's where we'll be

Wednesday July 15- Free movie day at Greenbrier 13 w/ the kids & maybe Ms. Moose & her daughters

Thursday July 16- Beach day! We're planning on going to the beach with the kids & maybe Melanie & her kids. I have my doctor's appointment at 3:45 and we'll all go to that. (We'll probably go to Chrissy's shower/change & then go to my appointment after the beach.)

Friday July 17-Corn picking w/ Mom & the kids (I don't go in the fields, but we'll go along to help mom carry stuff & shuck the corn.)

Saturday July 18-If Mom and Dad are still here, we'll probably go swimming or do something fun. If Mom & Dad leave, Tim and I will probably do housework or relax!

Sunday July 19- Church in the morning & babysitting in the afternoon

Local folks, if you see something you want to come along with, just let me know!

Update & Calendar

Sunday was a pretty good day! We got rudely awoken by Lindsey dropping off the boys. We forgot to set the alarm & waking up to Wazowski's barks is not fun! (That was around 8:40.)

So, Tim made homemade pancakes & scrambled eggs for breakfast, I bathed the boys & straightened up the house and we ate breakfast. Shortly after breakfast it was nap time for the boys. They went down around 11:15.

While they slept Tim and I relaxed and played around on our computers.

When they got up, we had lunch, showers, and then rushed out of the house to go to James & Missy's house.

We were late, as usual, but they didn't mind. Tim and James headed out to pick up & move a refrigerator. Missy and I kept the three boys at home & had a grand-old-time chasing them around & attempting to make them be nice to each other.

Missy went out for pizza and that was a good dinner followed by brownies, I had baked during the day.

After dinner the boys started their melt-downs so it was time to head home & to bed. We put the boys to bed & then Tim went to bed around 10 & I went to bed around 11.

Lindsey showed up at 1:45 (way later than expected) and picked the boys up.

Next 2 Weeks So Far:

Monday July 6-Housework & Tim's going to Melanie's after work
Tuesday July 7-Housework & Tim's going to James & Missy's after work (and me & Amanda are going to Michael's)
Wednesday July 8-Housework & Bunco at Melanie's
(Tim has an important meeting at work)
Thursday July 9-Housework
Friday July 10-Jury Duty (Because I report on Tues & Friday I don't start on Thursday like I thought.)
Saturday July 11-Housework
Sunday July 12-Tim running sound for 8:30 service

Monday July 13-
Tuesday July 14-
Wednesday July 15-
Thursday July 16- Dr. Appointment
Friday July 17-
Saturday July 18-
Sunday July 19-Babysitting

Thursday July 2

Thursday turned out to be a wasted day too...I slept until 10 and then the stupid "Sears Home Improvement" robo-caller called and woke me up.

I didn't get much of anything constructive done the house.

When Tim got home we drove by the Auto Auction to see if they had any Mazdas but we were too late to go out onto the lot.

We went home and got the dogs and then took them to the dog park. That was nice and they had a good time.

When we got home we had a lazy dinner of ice cream, popcorn, and I don't know what else.


Friday July 3
Yesterday was a busy/lazy day. Tim got the grass cut & fixed the steam cleaner. He also took a long nap. I did some dishes and a tiny bit of housework but mostly didn't do anything until after 6 at night.

Then I decided to get moving on the office & really got quite a bit done, while watching "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button".

We read a little bit and then Tim started watching "Dexter" on Netflix & I went to sleep. It was a crummy night's sleep though.

Saturday July 4
So far today, Tim has done some work in the yard and garage, as well as installed a ceiling fan in our bedroom. He's my hero. Such a hard worker!

I've tended to the dishes, gone to the grocery store, and made grilled turkey & cheese sandwiches for lunch.

We still have to drive out to Amanda's house and get the boys' things and then drive to Virginia Beach. We are going to pick Spence & Grayson up at 3:40 and then head to church. After church we might go to see fireworks at Mt. Trashmore. (We're still working out the details on that one...OR Loren & Beth might come out here for steaks....)

23 Weeks

Wow,
Can I just say that being pregnant is awesome and I love it and I want more kids, BUT, it is not easy, it is not fun, and it is sometimes a pain in the butt! (Literally!)

So, Tuesday I'll be 23 weeks pregnant, Baby G will have good odds of surviving if anything were to happen to us and he's definitely starting to make himself known.

Tim and I have a name that we're feeling out and even using around the house, but we're not 100% so don't go getting anything monogrammed! It MIGHT be the one, but we're reserving the right to change it up until we sign the paperwork!

I have this webpage bookmarked in my favorites and came across it again today. I think it is so cool. You start out with an 8 week old itty bitty fetus & then when you move the slider, the baby grows. It is so cool. I play with it A LOT. I find it amazing how BIG Baby G is getting in there. I still don't look pregnant from the outside & many of my pre-preg. shirts still fit! I am down to one pair of shorts but it's ok, since I don't really go anywhere.

Anyway, when I was putting my anti-stretch mark lotion on my belly & boobs today, I was playing around & pulled my flabby layers up towards my boobs. When I did that you could CLEARLY see that I do indeed have a baby bump, it's just covered by plenty of flesh. (Which means Baby G is nice & safe in there!) I have big ambitions of actually getting some stomach toning exercises done to try to build up some muscles there to help w/ delivery but, actually having the time/energy to do them right now, is not happening. Maybe once the house is taken care of.

Baby G kicks a lot. I can feel him all the time. Even when I'm vacuuming and moving around the house. For the most part it's not uncomfortable, sometimes it's not when I'd like it to be but hey, I wanted this. This stage of pregnancy is DEFINITELY better than the first trimester when I was SO sick & tired.

However, I would never tell a newly pregnant woman "just wait till the 2nd trimest, it'll all get better" because that's just not true. Sure, I have SLIGHTLY more energy (I also have more time to sleep though...) and I'm no longer nauseaus. BUT, my back aches constantly. I have a HARD time sleeping & if I was still working full-time I'd still be exhausted. I can sleep in until 10:30 am if I was up all night getting kicked in the bladder. Some women can't. The kicking, even at this stage, can be painful and when I'm trying to sleep or read or do anything relaxing, it's pretty much the only thing I can focus on. Baby G doesn't like me to lay on my stomach at all. He doesn't care for laying on my back either. Oh and he USED to like it when I slept on my left side, but suddenly that doesn't work & now I'm sleeping on my right side. So, although the 2nd trimester is easier than the first (and funner b/c I get to feel my baby moving & have the knowledge that he can hear my voice, AWW!) it's not like being pregnant is suddenly EASY.

I'm starting to read and research delivery and breastfeeding. Any tips, book suggestions, webpages, what-not are highly appreciated though I won't guarantee that I'll take all advice I receive. (Such as being told to toughen up my nipples...women this is NOT happening. Those ladies hurt enough as it is!) But I will APPRECIATE all advice.

I want to have the basics of my birth plan in my place by my 28 week doctor appointment. (My next appointment is my 24 week appointment can you believe that? It's on: July 16 @ 3:45. Then my next appointment after that will be the 28 weeks, which is the week of: August 10th. Wowzie!)

So, anyway, that's your pregnancy update for today!

Wasted Day

Well, today was a complete wash-out. I woke up at 2 am last night, thirsty & needing to potty. Did that & thought I'd go back to sleep. Yea, right.

I ended up being awake until after 4...closer to 5. I was itchy & hot & cold & Baby G was kicking and doing the hokey-pokey AGAIN. So, I laid in bed for a long time & tried to fall asleep. I took a bath & read some Harry Potter. Finally I got back to sleep. I stole all the covers & pillows and made a little nest & was just SO comfortable until the phone woke me at 11:15.

It was Chrissy. She had court for missed child-support payments at 1:00 & could I come babysit. WTH? So, I got up & dressed & out of the house. I spent the first hour or so laying on the couch reading/resting while Brianna, Ashley, and Ange's son Jarred played on the Nintendo. Then, when Caro woke up, we went to McDonald's for fries & coke (mmm mmm good!) and then to Rock A Bye Baby. I got 3 books on pregnancy & breastfeeding & 8 long sleeved onesies. I'm going to dye them with the next batch of diapers I dye!

When I got home, I took pictures of my diapers & flipped through the new books. I should read them cover-to-cover but I'm not up to it tonight. I've got a tiny headache & just don't feel like doing anything.

I think I'm going to go cut up meat to make rice and gravy for dinner & get that started. That way Tim and I can eat when he gets home from church.

Update Time--Lots of Pics!

OK, Blogger is being dumb since I installed IE 8, so pictures are going at the top today.

Here's the tees, socks, and Gerber prefolds I dyed today, soaking:

Here's the "tropical green" and "jeans blue" GMD periwinkle edged prefolds I dyed today soaking. (Green are rinse soaking & blue are dye soaking.) This is the super cool light fixture Tim installed Friday night next to the sky-light. We always said we were going to put one in & now we did! Yay!

This is what my living room looks like right now. It's a disaster! This is part of the work-in-progress that is getting the house ready for the baby/day-care.

Here are the first batch of diapers/tees that I dyed. The tees were "left over" dye and they didn't turn out very dark at all. They are definitely YELLOW and not white anymore, just very faint yellow. (Which is totally fine in my book.)

Here's just the diapers. I think they came out nicely!

Here are the pictures I shared of the nursery.

Up first is the "big kids" side of the closet. Most of the stuff in there will be heading to the garage for storage. Carolynn, Grayson, and Spencer's clothes will be relocated to the office/guest room closet.

This is the way cool fan that took Tim almost a whole day to install. Isn't it awesome?

This is Baby G's side of the closet. You can see all of his clothes!

Here's the extra pack n plays next to the guest bed:

The guest bed:

The pack n play we use right now, holding 2 car seat bases, the Safe Seat, and the swing for Baby G.

The toy part of the room (Baby toys are out, Big Kid toys are in the chest.)

Saturday June 27-

Tim got up early & headed to the car dealership. They were going to take all day to do his inspection & oil change, so I headed over to get him & then we went to Lowe's to buy stuff for the fan install in Baby G's room.

Let's see...I spent the day getting stuff done around the house & on the computer. Tim spent the day installing the fan in Baby G's room. It's looks awesome! I went grocery shopping in the afternoon & then made homemade pizza for dinner.

We ate quickly and then drove out to Harbourview to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. We really enjoyed it. I only had to run to the potty one time, so that was good!

When we got home it was bed time.

Sunday June 28-

We got up and got pretty much straight to work on the garage. It looked like it might rain so we had to work hard and fast. I listed more than 10 items on Freecycle and we really got a lot done. We spent the entire day from about 10-6:30 getting the garage clean. We only left to go pick up Tim's truck.

When we were done with the garage (mostly done, there are several boxes to come inside, several I need to repack, and a large amount of trash that needs taken to the dump) we decided to grill some cheap steaks for dinner.

So, Tim set to doing that & I made giant baked potatoes. We ate dinner while watching "Night at the Museum" and went to bed before 9 pm!

Monday June 29-

I was a super busy girlie! (Once I finally got moving!)

I had a lazy morning. Baby G woke me up at 4...I've been getting up at 4 for water & to potty pretty much every night for more than a week.. BUT, he didn't want me to go back to sleep. No matter what position I layed in, it was like he was doing jumping jacks in there! I couldn't sleep w/ the constant kicking & so my mind wandered until after 5...then I finally went to sleep & Tim's alarm went off at 6! So, I stayed in bed until 9 & spent the first two awake hours of my day, playing on the computer.

Then, I got to work!

I've gotten my bedroom completely clean (bed made, vacuumed, straightened the closet, dresser, and my craft table). I also got the bathroom swept out & all of the trash taken out of there. I also re-organized the medicine cabinets & stashes around the house, tossed old prescriptions & stuff. I realized I had 3 kinds of meds. in a box under the counter that I JUST bought new of b/c I thought we were out. I hate that!

Poor Tim's sick & needed meds & we didn't have any (so I thought) because I can't/won't take much so I haven't been keeping our "household pharmacy" well stocked! Now, all of our meds Rx & OTC & vitamins too, fit into ONE medicine cabinet! hee hee...

Let's see...I also straightened up the kitchen & got the dishwasher finished loading. (With another FULL load of dishes piled into the sink.) I gathered up dirty laundry (from all over the house) & made a heap in the back of the kitchen b/c we have to drive to VB to Tom and Peggy's house to get the detergent! Yay! (She can shop at the commissary & they carry 7th Gen!) So, I'll do laundry all day Wednesday!

I also ate some breakfast, somewhere before 1:30!

After all that I took a short break and then got back to work:

I got the nursery clean & redid my pics over the show-off thread on Diaperswappers.

I got the laundry folded.

I emptied & reloaded the dishwasher.

I went to the post-office & mailed the Goodmama I traded for a diaper for Baby G. (I also got a price quote on shipping another diaper & had them weigh my prefolds.)

I hand-washed all the non-dishwasher stuff.

I dyed 3 prefolds yellow & started dying 3 t-shirts too. I'm hoping to do one more batch tonight w/ red! (Periwinkle prefolds weigh 3 oz. each, just so you know.)

Tim and I went to Arby's for dinner b/c we had a coupon! We got 5 roast beef sandwiches, a large soda, and a med. fry for less than $10! It was great! (Plus I didn't have to mess up my freshly cleaned kitchen!)

And, we went to Hancock Fabrics & bought "tropical green", "jeans blue", and "burnt orange" dyes. (I already had "sunflower yellow" and "poppy red".) I'm hoping to get most of the periwinkles dyed & then embellished this week. I'm finally nesting!

I finished dying the three yellow tees. I got them rinsed & washed (along w/ the 3 diaps) and even into the dryer. The diapers are GORGEOUS! The tees are like BARELY yellow.

So, I started the poppy red diapers too, I only did 2 of them this time. (I wanted a really rich color.) Those diapers turned out AWESOME too! I only got them dyed & rinsed. I moved the dye into a bowl & set one tee and a pair of socks up to soak in the dye. Then I put the prefolds in the wash and went to bed.

Tuesday June 30-

I woke up at 4 am, completely unable to sleep. (It is nice to be routine/expected....but I don't like not being able to get right back to sleep.)

I spent more than an hour laying there trying to fall asleep. I finally got to sleep sometime before 6. I woke up around 9 on my own.

Since then I've gotten the red tee and socks soaking in cold water to rinse since I don't have any detergent I can't wash them yet. I've dyed the green, blue, & orange prefolds and have tees & socks soaking in each color. Now I'm on a hunt to find somewhere close by that has free & clear HE 7th Gen. detergent so I can wash them. Then I'm going to shower, possibly go out & get detergent, and get the office done.

Today's agenda includes a major over-haul of the office.

Tim thinks I'm silly. I demanded that the garage get done this weekend (even though it threatened to rain all day) and we got it almost done.

Now, the living room looks like a hurricane hit it. My school stuff takes up literally 1/2 the room & it's sloppy. There's also "stuff" to go to like 5 different places, mail, books, movies, blankets, and more just around in there.

BUT, I think the office should be the next room to get clean (since the bathrooms, nursery, and my room are done & the kitchen is as good as it's getting).

My rationale is: once the office is clean I can get my school stuff set up in here. Most of that stuff is going to go either in my "scrapbooking/arts & crafts area" or in the "office/guest room".

Once the office is clean we can also move the guest bed out of the baby's room.

THEN, we can move the stuff in the baby's room that needs to go to storage OUT to the garage.

THEN, I can finish the living room.

THEN, we can spend another day re-cleaning & finalizing the garage.

Sounds like an organized plan of attack right? I'm hoping to get it all done by this weekend. Tim is off Friday and we have no plans. We're broke, so I'm babysitting Grayson & Spencer & we aren't spending any money.

$94 of what I make this weekend is going to pay off library fines & the rest MIGHT get my car detailed. We really need to start using my car 100% of the time & only driving the truck (19 mpg) when we need the big vehicle. BUT, my car is pretty yucky (hasn't even been washed in a year!) and Tim hates driving it! So if I spend $60 to get it spiffed up, hopefully he'll drive it & not complain.

What are YOU doing for the 4th of July?

Wednesday July 1-Housework

Thursday July 2-Housework

Friday July 3-Tim's off, Housework & Boys

Saturday July 4-Housework & Boys & Church & Maybe Fireworks

Sunday July 5-Church & Housework