MY BABY IS HERE!

I had my little man! Yeah, it has been a while and I have not felt like blogging. My son was born May 4 weighing in at 8 pounds even. He has been a blessing so far, honestly. He only cries when he is hungry, dirty, or just wants to be cuddled. We planned on having him sleep in his crib but he decided that the family bed was best for him. Best part? He looks just like me!

Everyone has adjusted very well. Emma had some issues for a couple of days but we have worked it out. We have had some "us" time and cleared it all up. She just needs to be reassured that we all still love her and can give her time with us.

Another great deal: I have one pound to go to my prepregnancy weight. I feel fabulous! It took about a week for all the swelling to go down but after that ~ I was good to go. I have already set a weightloss goal but I am waiting to get to my 6 week postpartem appointment before posting it on my weightloss blog.

Off to take care of my little man! Fold laundry, take care of the kids.........

Soon to be Cali girl!

Yup! We have orders to California! Warm, sunny, not so hot days are coming to us right after Christmas. We will be moving in January to Southern California. This means season passes to Disneyland! That means we get to go to Sloppa's house. (AKA Minnie Mouse in Emma's eyes) We are thinking of upgrading to a Suburban for the move. It would be great fun to travel across the country in a minivan with two hamsters, a cat and FIVE kids. Then again, our van has everything we could ever ask for, except MORE ROOM! LOL We need to just lay and wait for this to unfold. I know that Mike is excited to get back into sea work and to try another side of the Earth to travel. I am excited to try another part of the world myself. What fun would it be being in the military if you didn't take advantage of moving to places you would never live. Mind you, I went to Cali back when I was ten and even got to see carriers across the water from our restaurant. My grandparents live in Long Beach off the ninth hole of a country club. Hey, at least Mike would get to golf every once in a while off a top notch course!

Hopefully, I will be posting pics of my baby soon! Not much longer to go until my due date! One week, two days to go!!!!

It has been a LONG time

I know blog....I have neglected you. See, I have this thing called a life. Not that there has not been anything to post about. I have been just TOO BUSY to get on here and write. Things that have happened, short version:
First off, I don't know where I left off. We finished cookies, earning about $24oo in sales. That means our girls get to do a LOT. I have had drama with another parent over dates of our camping trip. Needless to say, she is like best friends with Nida and the two older ladies have been gossiping and getting each others feathers in a bunch. She wrote me a letter about a change in date for a big trip which was always slated for the 14th but thought about the 21. It was slated for the 14th because we were going to do Junior Jam. We canceled that because of too much going on in that month and because we had a LARGE camp out two weeks before. We thought about moving it to the 21 but didn't because the base elementary, about 80% of our girls go there, have a carnival. Our troop has missed it the past two years. Well, she got all bent out of shape because she thought I changed it which I stuck with the original date. (Yeah, this is the short version) Needless to say, I offered her tickets for the events we were doing but she declined.

The big trip in question: We took the girls downtown Charleston for an AWESOME trip! We toured the Exchange and Provost for an hour. We then took a 40 minute scavanger pirate hunt through the city.We came back and had a picnic in Waterfront Park. We then walked the girls down and they took an hour long carriage ride. BEAUTIFUL! We then fed the girls at an elected restaurant, Sticky Fingers. MMMMM! I had quite a few BAD contractions in there. We all joked that my three other chaparones would have to have another parent watch the girls while they took me to labor and delivery. Needless to say, I am still pregnant!

The other reason we really pushed to have this activity this day and not a later date: two of our girls were supposed to transfer the first week in May. Well, one of the girls had her dad's orders pushed up and she moves this weekend! I am so glad that she was able to do this last big trip. We still have many planned until their money is gone. They will spend it because they earned it!

Our big camp out went really well! That was the weekend before Easter. The girls had a blast. One of our memorable events: Two raccoons tried to get into our food the first night. We jumped out and scared them away but I ended up getting my sons Tball bat out of the car that he forgot to remove. We told the girls the next morning that the raccoons ate all of our food. We had a large boyscout group of about 120 next to us that over heard the girls and came over to offer us food. They got a good giggle out of it too.

Another big event that has happened is my son has started his Tball and is a total star! He has had two games so far and has done so well! His second game was this weekend, our big trip so I missed it. He had a HUGE cheering section. A bunch of the boys from his AAU team (he is bat boy for a 12 and under team) came to watch as well as two of our neighbors. He had an awesome play that was totally WOW! He was playing first base, had the ball thrown to him which he caught. The boy running to first tackled him, he fell and kept his foot on base, showing the ump the ball still in his glove. He then stood making sure his feet never left the plate. He is my little Joe Mauer!

Negative news: my water pump went out on my van! It started to run warm and then the heat went out on it two weekends ago. I did a 45 minute COLD drive in shorts and sandals thinking it would keep me warm. Well, thank GOD for extended warranties! I paid my $100 deductible instead of well over $500. I was stuck there for FIVE HOURS with Emma. Luckily, no one was in the waiting room so we put cartoons on the big screen and stretched out in their leather sofas.

New drama with that mom from earlier: We had given out some badges this week during our meeting. My co leader made our transferring girl a birthday cake and had our meeting like usual. Well apparently we should have had a ceremony to give out the badges. I give up with trying to please that woman! First off, we service two schools on base. Her dd doesn't live near us or is even military. He buddy Nida is ex-military but lives in another service branch. Why don't they just scoot on down the road and start their own little group.

Anyway, I have run out of time. I will give more updates another time. A BIG UPDATE: I am now 1 week, 6 days away from my due date. I started contractions again yesterday during my son's practice. I honestly think I might go on my own with this one! Next appointment: Thursday. They will check progression.

My heart also goes out to those at VA Tech. I had a friend graduate from there a few years back. It is actually one of the schools I would like my kids to go to. They have a wonderful engineering program there. God be with those families....

Week of weeks....

It has been a busy few weeks. Two weekends ago, Emily and I did two cookie booths. I have had sick kids in and out of the house for the past MONTH it seems. As we speak, I have Emily home sick. Her dr said it is a Rotovirus. All her little friends at school have had strep. I almost wish it were strep so she could get an antibiotic and then be done with this mess. She has been sick since Sunday and finally seems to be getting better. She is still running a fever but not as bad as her 104 temp two days ago. The first day it was 103. It must have been from our busy weekend.

This past weekend was very eventful. We had a ZooCamp to go to for Girl Scouts. We had 7 girls and 4 adults. On our way up, we saw a horrific accident. We were so close to being in it, it just scares me. A pick up had crossed the median and hit a Sheriff head on. We were five cars behind and saw everything go flying. When we did go around, we saw the body of the sheriff. We had all the girls close their eyes the entire time. I had four girls in my car, 3 who are 9. There was no way I was going to have them see what we saw. Come to find out, he was a K9 and was named deputy of the year last year or the year before. He and his dog were buried together yesterday. Five other cars were in the mess as well. We came so close to being in it that it is scary. Another eerie factor....we remember the deputy passing us minutes before. His wife and three children are in our prayers......


On a happier note, we had a great time at the zoo! We got to go in the elephant and giraffe pen, pet some animals and do a night hike. We slept in a reptile room which disturbed Lizzie. The next day, we toured the zoo. I am getting too pregnant to do this stuff anymore. I swole up really badly and hurt at the end. At least I came home to a clean house! I had cleaned it before I left and my two younger babies and hubby didn't make any messes. I do think I have a UTI though. I was cramping and contracting all day yesterday and the day before. I haven't been feeling good at all. I did get to tour our Labor and Delivery at the hospital I will be giving birth at. WOW! That is all I have to say! The rooms are beautiful!@! Hardwood floors, decorated beautifully and most have a jacuzzi tub in them!! I am so excited to give birth there now. I contemplated giving birth at home in my big garden tub with a midwife but decided a hospital birth would be safer. I just wanted the tub for laboring reasons so now this allows me to stick to what I wanted! I am very pleased! Anywho, off to do some dishes and wait for the nurse to call me back so I can go in and get this fixed!

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Yes, one more thing to complain about! LOL No, for real, it is down right painful sometimes. It has been nagging me for a while now. It had gotten so bad that I just couldn't move my hand. Sometimes at night, my left hand would do that at night. I had my routine appointment this week and they gave me two wrist splints. I wear them both at night and I wear the right one all the time. The thing is, I am left handed. I don't get how my right is worse than my left. I did suffer from tendenitis in that wrist in high school for about a year after All State Band camp. We played a total of eight hours a day for a week straight. (Not all at once but still, playing bass clarinet put strain on my wrist. I also ran into a building on my roller blades on campus the last day.) Hey, at least my hips have not been giving me as much trouble as my last pregnancy. ~knock on wood!~

Story telling catches up with you eventually......

My sister, God love her, claimed her and the ultrasound tech saw a pee pee at her first ultrasound. She then told my mom that they say 'little beans' so to speak. Well, after all that story telling....she is having a girl. I am happy she is having a girl! That means that my niece will have a baby sister to buddy up to, especially with how close they are in age. They are also looking at getting the same van that we have, same year so used. That doesn't bother me. It is the fact that they are trying to buy an $18,000 when they are stuggling to pay things as it is. I mean dang! From what she has told me, his car is in his parents name and is still being paid by them. Her car was like $6000 and they still owe $1500 on it. They will use this for the downpayment. I hope that his credit is enough to get it. From what she has told me, he screwed it up before. I just hope they aren't getting their hopes up too high or that they swamp themselves with more bills they can't handle. You would think they would learn from our early marriage mistakes. The only difference: Mike had a steady job that included health insurance. They do not.

Enough b*tching about family: Nida. Well, we have four adults going along with eight girls because why? My pregnancy according to Nida. How f*cking stupid is she? Two meetings ago, (don't remember if I blogged about it so here it is again) She yelled at the girls in my mid sentence. She has not been a participant of our troop for months and has stepped down as a leader. It was totally uncalled for. To top it off, she gave a girl a stern talking to about her heeley shoes. I had already spoke with the girl earlier and we had worked it out. I tried to get the woman's attentiong but she kept on and on with this girl. The poor girl was mortified and upset and you could see it on her face. I had to finally raise my voice because she was so focused on ignoring me. I told her to stop and that I had already spoke with her about the issue. I sent her an email knowing she would not listen to me if I tried to speak with her. I have tried many times to speak with her about other issues and what happens is, she is always right, doesn't let you get a word in and argues everything that comes out of your mouth. Now we have to have her on this sleep over trip when it is totally unnessessary to have her there. Thank GOD she is not going on our March trip! I could not deal with Miss Know it all there. I know how to camp as well as the other parents. I am camp trained and am NOT going into labor anytime soon. ~knock on wood!~ I always have to be induced and are always a week late. I know my body and will not put us in danger over a camp trip! The killer thing is this trips total, food, site, everything is $175. Her first food bill for the same amount of time was $185 and that wasn't even all of the food or the camp site!! Ridiculous! She will not be leading this troop next year if I have anything to do with it! I will not have these girls hurt because of a spitful, mean witch who obviously does not care for their feelings at all. I may be a stuck up b*tch on my blog sometimes and can be very nasty sometimes but this is my diary and my feelings and my vent spot for everything that runs through my head. I treat those girls with the utmost respect and know how to discipline without hurting their feelings. I get down to their level and try to help them grow as much as possible with the program. I want to connect with them and the other adults positively. Plus, a handful of girls don't have the chance to do certain things that Girl Scouts offers them. One of our girls has never been camping! It will be great to show her how fun it can me.

Ok, I am done now. I have to go and get my two middle kids from school. Two cookie booths this weekend, and drs appointment next week, a sleepover at the zoo, and our labor and delivery tour. It will be busy the next two weeks!

Anemia...

Yup, I am anemic. I should have known that was why I have been so tired. Then again, I am in my third trimester and chalked it up to pregnancy. They have me on a three a day iron pill habit. I am sitting here, tired out of my mind. I cannot wait for this to help out!

In other news, my kids have two new pets! We have friends PCSing out (transferring) and had two hamsters they wanted to get rid of. We had gone over to their house last week just to visit and my kids got to hold them. They were totally down with getting hampsters afterwards. They offered the animals to us so we jumped on board. They came in their two seperate cages with food and everything. One is only three months old! They used shedded paper so the first day we had them, Tuesday, the whole downstairs stunk! I went the very next day, yesterday, and bought a huge bag of cedar. They love the stuff! One of the cages is the tunnel type with a nesting area at the top. She used it for her toilet before. NASTY! After washing it out, I shoved a bunch of cedar up there. She is currently snuggled up asleep in it! The other hampster, Mr. Poofy as I refer to him LOVES the excersise ball. The only bad thing? The lid pops off! I found out the hard way. He ran two laps around the house and stopped in the hall. Emma runs and tells me he got out. Sure enough, there he is on the carpet. He didn't run though. I was more worried about our cat getting him. She has been very facinated with them. No surprise there! Let's see.......little furry, smelly animals in her house. She has been good about it, pawing at the cages only a few times. She is used to them now and doesn't bother them at all anymore. The ball facinated her for a minute and then she did her own thing.

I have to go finish cleaning. I am feeling an urge to clean pop up from my insides. Right...anyway I am going to try and get my blood flowing and clean up the mess they left from me cleaning their cages yesterday. I didn't get to it with all the cookie delivering we did yesterday evening. MMMMMM! Girl Scout cookies.......

The third trimester

I am finally in the last trimester. I am feeling pretty good minus some hip and groin pain here and there. I have gained a total of ten pounds. No too shabby! I have only gained inches on my waist and hips, 4 1/2 and 2 inches. I have done very well at keeping the my weight gain down. I would like to keep it at or below 20 pounds total. I have had some swelling issues so I don't know if I can manage this feat. I know though that if I gain water weight from swelling, it will come off by my six week postpartem appointment. Especially with breastfeeding and with a higher water intake. I want to repair the tire on my jogger BEFORE I give birth. That way, I am all set and ready to get walking. I am already pumped to lose after this baby is here. I know that I can get back down to my prepregnancy weight very quickly. That way I can get my butt back into ~weight loss mode~ for the summer. I want to get to my prepregnancy weight with Michael, 226, by Emma's birthday in August.

Things are going very smoothly with Girl Scouts. I do have an issue STILL with my old co leader. We had an event this weekend and she would ask me if I was ok. I am pregnant, not sick! She has made a big deal about a sleepover we are having at the zoo. Once again, I am pregnant, not sick. I mean dang! My birth buddy LIVES near the zoo. I am always a week late and have to be induced, EVERY TIME. If it is brought up for our camp trip in March, I will put her in her place. I will not be treated like a child. This is not my first go around with pregnancy. I KNOW my body. Why would I risk the health of my child or myself for a camp trip? Where is the sense in that one?

I have to get some more work done. Permission forms need printing...dang! I need to buy paper! I guess I will have to do my Wally World run sooner than expected.....

LONG 'SOAP BOX' VENT!

I have to jump up on my soap box and vent this one out. Title: family

I just had my sister visit for the week. She is younger than me by 7 years so she is my baby sister. I have baby sat her, even changed a diaper or two. She married a complete douche bag. She met him on the internet the last year we were in VA. She took moved down shortly after Emma's birth. She lived with us for a while until I got sick of being her mother and she moved in with him and his parents. She got knocked up and they had a quickie wedding. The proceded to live with his parents, because he was jobless minus being in the reserves, until about a year ago. She actually worked while pregnant until she was diagnosed with preeclampsia. Mind you, he worked at a restaurant for maybe a month during this whole time!

Ok, this is the rest of the story on him: He was in the Army for a short time. He claims he got out to go to school. We believe he was kicked out for weight. He is six foot four or five but weighs close to 300 lbs. He tried to tell us he weighed around 220. At that time I was around 240 so I KNEW he wasn't lighter than me. He is a BIG person. He finally weighed in at like 280. Well, during their online wooing time, he claimed to be making all kinds of money with this mortgage brokering thing. He didn't make a dime. He made a lot of claims and still does!

Well, they got married, had their daughter, six weeks early because Angie was sick and was put in the hospital for bedrest. They lived with his parents until last year when he finally got a job. They moved about two hours away from there and still took money from his parents to make it. They still pay his car note and insurance. Mind you, he is 26 and MARRIED!

While we were trying for this baby, there was some family drama on my dh's side of the family. We decided now was not a good time to try. We stopped but had forgot to wear portection or not have him..you know. Honest, hand on the Bible. Now we are expecting, which we wanted to but were going to wait until the drama blew over. Luckily, it did. The month before we concieved, that month and the month after, they had the same thing happen. At first she said one thing and then said the exact story I did, not realizing I told her. She ended up pregnant six weeks after me. Either they are that stupid, or they were trying. The thing is, there were getting ready to move to GA from VA. They were broke as it was and then they concieve, even after saying they wanted to wait until their dd was around 2 0r 3 to even think about another. Just admit you were trying! Oh, because you knew it was a stupid idea.

They moved into a rental owned my his grandfather. That works out great for them. They have a three bedroom house for $400 a month. Great deal. Well, they move and the job he claimed to already have wasn't his. He got a job shortly after moving but come on! They had no insurance when they moved and she didn't get into an ob until last month. She will be 5 months along next week. She didn't even know when she was due until she went in. Then their dd got sick and she still doesn't have health insurance!

Now the thing that just drove me to this post. Their visit.....Things went fine for the most part. It was just the dumb stuff that built up and was just annoying. Like the fact that she claimed to be able to finance a house for $140000 at $600 a month. Our house in VA was just under$600 a month and it was $70000. Our current house is just under $200000 and we pay $1300 a month. Please. She nodded it off like I didn't know what I was talking about. Then there was our trip to BRU. We looked at everything and she was claiming Nate would buy her a $400 rocker and this bedding set that she found on line and this and that....

She didn't lift a finger really while we were here. She did brown some meat for lasagne. She used my master bath, shower and toilet which was super tacky. It made Mike irritated. You can hear her eat from across a room because she eats with her mouth open. Oh, Lord, her dd stepped on a small sliver of glass and said it looked infected a hour later. She wanted neosporin on it and kept putting bandaids on it which I found a few on my counters in my kitchen. GROSS. She brought a diaper out to the outside can, after I had to tell her not to put it in the kitchen, through the garage door. She brought up the can after Mike had just brought it out for the night and then had to go bring it back down when I told her she goofed. I had to fix it in the morning because she didn't put it back right. She whooped her dd after she got in the cat box. Her dd is not even 2. How would she know that this box with sand stuff is naughty? She yelled constantly at her for stupid things and was not consistent at all. Lord, then we got into a debate about if cheating was bad parenting. I did not agree. She went on about my sil, who did not cheat anyway. It is all on how the parents react to it. That and even if they split before they got with someone, it would still be the same. Oh, and then she ranted about the liberals....She also ranted about how badly black women treat her down there. I am sorry that your husband is a biggot but I don't want to hear it.(Oh, you should hear his mouth about other races. It is down right embarrassing) I am not a racist and never will be. I know the reason she was treated the way she was. She acts ignorant. Then she complained about how much we cuss and doesn't want her dd to learn that stuff. They listen to heavy metal type music or rock. Heck, one of the CDs she listened to on the way here talks about mens private parts and has all kinds of bad words in it. Oooh, the comparing of my husband to hers is getting old. Hers is way overweight. Nothing wrong with that at all except he has been trying to lose weight all this time. She claims 'he has lost 20 pounds' every time I see her but by now he would be down to the right weight. My dh weighs in at around 179. Do you know why? He actually works out! He is an avid runner, running a minimum of 3 miles a day. He is actually addicted to it. He was way overweight when we got here but that was because he had no time with him working 12 to 14 hour days. Lord, and when she compares their work......We make almost triple what they do. I also had to hear from Mike about how useless our Thrift Savings Plan is in Nate and Angie's eyes. She is just mad that we have over $20000 in there and will retire well PLUS provide college for our kids. Don't knock what you don't, WON'T understand. I know, stupid petty stuff but it gets on your nerves. They are just plain ignorant. I love my sister and my niece but this is gotten out of control. She doesn't take care of herself either. She is super swollen, prone to preeclampsia yet she is covering her food with salt, even her fish last night. She is as big as me pregnancy wise, if not bigger and she is not quite 5 months and I am 6 and a half. I can't explain it to her. I asked her about the salt and she says she doesn't care. How do you open her eyes to what she has become? I know that I can be a stuck up b*tch. I know I have high standards and can be a total *ss about it. I realize this. I am just refuse to become my mother.

The thing that really got it all rolling was she was only supposed to stay until Thursday. She didn't ask if she could stay until Saturday. She just assumed she could. Then there were the conversations with Nate. He was away for drill in DC. She claimed he was ready for his physical, this and that. Well, he calls aying he felt something pop when he was running and pulled something. He didn't tell her if he passed. You either made time or not. Well, he called yesterday and said he didn't pass. He also informed her that there wasn't $600 but $60 in their account after bills were paid or something. After she just went with us to Red Lobster. Oh, his excuse for not passing? They started the timer too soon. What ever!! The worst was going anywhere. Talk about an hour to get in the car! I have four and I was already buckled, including all the kids before she even had her kid in the car.

I feel much better. Mike was annoyed, I was annoyed.........She even left this morning without saying goodbye AND left a stinky diaper in my kitchen can. I came home to put a shelf together that we bought and it stunk to high heaven in there. Ok, done now, seriously. At least I know that I could not handle my mom coming for two weeks. My mom is just the same except ten times worse!

Enough of this complaining. It is over and done with. I was able to get my kitchen shelf today, my crib bedding and my car seat/stroller combo today. There goes like $700. I just need a crib mattress and a swing! Oh, I also got two cute sleepers today for my little man! Now, time to kick back and watch the movies we rented, without any babies screaming or dumb questions during the flick~!

FULL WEEKEND!

It was one of those super busy, CRAZY weekends. We tailgated Saturday from 2 -6 for our hockey team, the Stingrays. I had so much fun! The kids had a blast too. We were in the back so all the kids that went were running around, having a good time. They had red neck golf and this other red neck game that my youngest loves. (You have two ramps with holes in it. You have to throw these bean bags into the hole. It is similar to horse shoes) We barbqued and just shot the sh*t pretty much with about thirty other people. The game was awesome! Emma loves hockey as well as my son. She ended up sleeping through the last half of the game. Even through all the cheering and loudness. To top it off, we won in overtime.

Yesterday was just as busy. Michael woke me up around 8 complaining that his leg hurt. He climbed in bed with me and I gave him some Motrin. He was burning up on top of it. I ended up getting up a half an hour later because my stomach was eating itself. I ended up watching about three CSIs I had Tivo'ed and not gotten to. After Mike and the kids got up, I cleaned. I cleaned so long and hard, I started having contractions. I ended up just sitting and watching the last playoff game.

My boy was sick all day yesterday, running fever and sleeping. He was running a fever this morning. Not as bad but bad enough to make him feel lousy. He is playing his Lego Star Wars game right now. Poor kid. I hate it when my kids are sick.

I really do enjoy my kids. They are all great and well behaved minus a few glitches now and again. I mean, they are kids. They all get along 95% of the time. There are those few times when they bicker but usually I can get them to work it out quickly. Like right now, Emma is laying next to Michael while he plays his game. He let her play long enough for her to get her fix and then that was it. He did get mad when she was telling R2 to shut up. I told him to be nice and that was the end of it. One thing that irks me is when people say they can't stand to be around their kids. Why have kids if you don't like them? I always get how behaved our kids are. This is what happens when you give them love and a stable home. We also discipline consistently and don't over do it. I see people go off on their kids for dumb stuff and don't follow through on other things. When you have as many as I do, you have to keep them straight, keep them on somewhat of a schedule and give them all some of your time.

Well, I have to go finish my cleaning. My sister is coming to visit for the week and arrives here today. I am very excited! She is 6 weeks behind me in pregnancy. One big plan this week is to go buy all the baby stuff! Woo hoo! I can get the crib set up. I need to do it before I grow too big. If I let Mike try to do it..........yeah he doesn't do that very well. LOL

Off to do my work!

Doing so much better!

You know, I woke up not wanting to do anything. My hips were hurting, my back was still hurting and my head was pounding. After some Excedrin and moving around, I feel much better!

One of my weightloss buddies made a list of ten things to accomplish before December. I thought it was a great idea!

1. Stay under 250 for pregnancy weight gain.
So far, I have gained 5 pounds my 25 weeks of pregnancy. I know the most will be gained toward the end when he will put the most of his weight on. I just have to stay good to myself as I have to this point.

2. Drop down to around 200 by Christmas.
I started at 234 lbs at 5'9" with this pregnancy. I have a double jogger that I can use the same way I had last summer when I lost a bunch of weight.

3. Pay off a loan we have.
We will be transferring between November and January. That means selling our house and buying a new one. I need this one paid off before then. It is only around $3000. No biggie.

4. Redecorate Michael's room.
I am almost ready for this one. I just need to run in to Lowes and buy some paint. I will paint his walls and his bed. He has a full size basketball hoop I am putting up on his wall. (Saw it on Clean Sweep) Theme: NASCAR/sports

5. Paint.
We need to paint the half bath, kitchen,diningroom above chair rail, foyer, stairs and upstairs hall. The paint the builders used sucks. The color is fab but it is that nasty flat paint.

6. Purge.
Our garage needs to be cleared out of all the nonnecessary junk. We have junk like bed rails, a bunkie board, a rug, etc that Mike needs to take to the dump. I also have clothes to take to Goodwill in March for a badge for my girls. You get the idea.

7. Give birth.
Yeah, I think that is a major one! Can't avoid that one...

Well, that is all I have for now. I guess I can add more later. I have to go get some cleaning done. Kids get out in a couple hours and they need to get all their laundry to me. That means putting clean clothes away from this past weekend that I was unable to do because of my back. Lordy, that was a long sentence. Seriously though, I am still making up for being a cripple since Sunday. Off to work.....

Thrown out back

Yes, I am a jacko bean and through my back out. We stopped off at the Dollar Store after hitting the outlet mall (I got William some onsies from the Carters store!) and Mike with my oldest ran in. Well, Emma started screaming, literally, for a movie to be put on. (We have a six disc DVD player built into our van) I went to turn and holler at her and pulled the HELL out of my back. I forgot that I am six months pregnant and my ligaments don't like this at all. I could hardly walk into the house it was so bad! Getting up has been hard. Well, that happened yesterday. I am still hurting but not quite as bad as I was. Enough to go and buy some new clothes for Lizzie and Michael today. I also did a small grocery store run with my boy. He really likes it when it is just momma and him.

My son is definitely a momma's boy. He loves every moment he gets with me. He likes to lay in bed with me right before bed, just to tell me about his day without any other kids. I thought at first it was just to lay in our bed. Well, last week I actually went to bed AFTER Mike. He had Michael in there with him and I made him move to his bed, just like Daddy has him do before he gets in bed. Well, he got upset because he just wanted to lay with me. I hope that William and I will have that closeness that Michael and I will always have. I am so happy to have two sons. I am going to make sure that my first son gets just as much attention as my second. I could have ten boys but none could ever be as cool as my Michael baby!

My Elizabeth

What can I say? She is unique. She is different from all of my other children. Emily got grounded for getting two C's on her report card. She is in the ACE or gifted program. My son learned all of his letters in two months and is one of the top kids in his class. Emma recognizes almost all of her numbers and some letters. Then there is Lizzie. She just is not all there all the time. He meds help her not be so antsy but that doesn't help her comprehend things.

Anyway, we had an IEP meeting today. They are just waiting on the doctor form from her doctor and they can put her in resource. During our meeting, I brought up if she might lean toward Autism or something. They agreed and thought either Autism or Asphergers. I have an appointment for her tomorrow with her doctor to have her tested. The sooner she is tested, the better. Then we can help her accordingly. I have also decided not to home school her. With her having her issues, I think it is best to keep her in the public school system. Plus, once she is out, I don't know if she could ever go back. I know I could do it with no problem. G.S. has set me up with so many skills that I can use with her. There are also many premade programs you can purchase for around $1000 that would work and in SC, all you need is a high school diploma, which I have. If she is either of these two, it is better to get her professional help. I already know she has some issues with OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. We will find out more tomorrow. I just thank God all of my others are bright with above average intelligence. It makes it easier to give Liz more one on one help.

I am going to call up to the equine specialist next week and get her back into riding. I think that will help her out a lot. Plus, they have a new director that seems to be more in tune with the girls. Plus, I would like to take advantage of their program while we are still here. Their prices are hard to beat! Emily has some interest in riding as well but Lizzie gets dibs on this one if there is a time difference. If I can get them in within a hour of each other, they can both do it. If not, Emily can go back to her ice skating lessons or dance. Michael will start up with baseball here in two more months and Emma will start with ballet next month. I would prefer her to do gymnastics but she is insisting on "ballerina school". All I keep thinking is if we keep busy, the time will pass more quickly and the baby will come sooner. One extra curricular per child. It annoys me when people over book their kids or don't even bother to put them in anything.

SOAP BOX TIME!

This has been annoying me for a while and I might have already blogged about it. On the large family board on BBC, there was a question that was asked,"How will you pay for your kids to go to college?" There were a few, including ourselves, that have a solid plan in affect. Then there were those people that seem to just "pop" out kids that don't think of their future. These dumb *sses were like," Our parents didn't provide for us a college education and we aren't going to for our kids." One parent actually said that someone has to be the garbage man. What about trying to help your kids become the best people they can? Why would you want your kid cursed with a pay check to pay check, barely getting by life. Now in the other hand, I wouldn't want to pay for the whole thing. I think tuition would suffice and maybe a few books. They say that when you pay for it yourself, you respect it more and don't take it for granted. Then again, I don't want them to be smothered by student loans afterwards. Last word: Don't pop out babies without a plan for their future. They aren't babies for very long and when they are school age. They cost money! Just because you get 'baby fever', don't go and have a kid. Yeah, most people can afford a baby, but a child..............?

I've got a cold

I feel kinda icky. I got body aches, my throat is scratchy and I just feel ick. I am not super sick, just enough to feel sick if that makes sense. I probably won't do any cleaning today. I have G.S. today and want to save my energy. We will see how it goes

Yesterday I had my ob and second ultrasound appointment. My little man would not sit still in the first one so she could not get a good pic of his face and his heart. Mike got to go this time. This is his first BIG ultrasound. He was there for this one's 3 month McNugget ultrasound and that was it. He was tickled all day that he got to see his son. We even saw him kicking me. He would bring his leg into his chest and kick as hard as he could. TOO FUNNY! He was putting his hands on his face and at one point had his arm stretched across. WE did get a good shot of his face and his heart is healthy. It seems to me he has really long legs too!

I met the 3rd ob out of four for my appointment. He is like 7 feet tall, I swear! He was really nice, very quiet but very informative. He let me know the kids could be in the room, which isn't going to happen but it is nice to know if it comes down to it, it can be done. We also discussed a tubal and what it would be like. Yeah, not going to happen. I have to come back six weeks later and go under for it. With a new baby, a nursing baby at that, no. Mike is going to have it done. It would be so much easier. We also discussed my due date which is now solid at May 3rd not the 9th. He wants to start checking me at 35 weeks because of my fast labors. He said that if my cervix is favorable at 39, he would be open to induction. The other doctor said the same thing. I would like to see how my body does before I go toward induction. I have a feeling that I will actually go right around my due date this time. We have a big camp out two weeks before and the following weekend is another event. With all that walking and working, I know I will dilate. I have made arrangements for my mom to come for two weeks to watch my kids for the delivery. If I go while they are at school, her and Emma can be there during the delivery. Luckily, Emma knows all about the blood and messiness of babies. She has watched Baby Story and other birth shows before. She has told me stories of the babies coming out and the 'bloood' and stuff.

I am going to go lay down. My back is really achy. I know I will feel better when the Tylenol kicks in! :)

CRAZY HOLIDAY~

Yeah, we had a wacky, crazy Christmas! It went awesome though. The kids got all kids of cool toys, including this PS2 game my son is addicted to, Lego Star Wars. He and I played for almost two hours the other day. LOL

My son also stayed at his cousin's house for three days. I had Michael withdrawl BAD. My sil was like, "You are getting another son." Yeah, but I only have one Michael baby. Then I took his cousin for two days. I about lost my mind!! The two of them are just crazy together. Mike went golfing after work on Friday so he didn't come home until 4 or 5. I about lost my mind, seriously!! They went outside (it was in the 70's, seriously) and played with the neighbors. Then I had them PLUS the neighbor kids in and out. Michael's little buddy had Michael withdrawls too so he really wanted his buddy. Well, Michael ignores his cousin when his friend is over. I had a hard time telling the kids no, didn't want to hurt anyones feelings. On top of it, William was fussing around in my belly, so I was doubly irritated. Finally, I made everyone come in and I took a shower. I have never been so RELIEVED for Mike to come home. When Andrew went home, I had a no kid zone, other than ours, for two days plus yesterday because of the rain.

I got a LOT done yesterday. I had been having some hip pain because of our mattress so I went and bought an temperpedic pillow. Now I it under my hip, one under my head, one between my knees, PLUS my preggo pillow noodle thingy. ANYWAY, I don't hurt anymore so I did some super cleaning/organizing. We bought a large rubbermaid box for our tree. Well, it didn't fit so I went through and put all of our donation clothes in there, all out in the garage waiting for our Spring Donation time for Girl Scouts. The girls earn a patch by donating two bags of clothes to Goodwill. I also redid my main G.S. box that I bring to our meetings. I cleaned the entire kitchen minus the floor, revamped all of my G.S. notebooks, and did about 6 loads of laundry. (I have the super duper wampy dimey washer/dryer that wash about 30 large towels so one load is equal to two or three for a normal load) I am doing three right now, plus I mopped my master bath, made a kaper chart (job list) for our troop, AND got our next event lined up. OH SNAP! I also cleaned our two bins of our camping gear. Now all I need to do is shave my frigging legs!!