Today was my 30 week check up. I can't believe that we are doing prenatals every two weeks now! This pregnancy has already flown by--I'm sure the next ten weeks or so will be no exception--especially since we have done just about ZERO to prep for his/her arrival!

My visit was good. Baby is measuring 29 weeks (my babies always measure a little small) with a nice healthy sounding heartbeat (147 bpm). All my vitals are fine. I've gained two pounds in the last two weeks which is great because I've had a hard time putting weight on. This brings my total weight gain to either 10 or 11 pounds. Hopefully I can keep gaining a pound a week until the baby is born. I really expected to go in and have gained more weight because I've been trying to eat more lately! But I don't have much room so I'm not eating as much--thanks to my good old short torso!

The only down part of the visit was that my midwife is sick! Not contagious-sick but she's got something going on that is making her feel terrible all the time. Gallbladder sypmtoms but all the tests have come back showing a healthy gallbladder--she does not look well though. She's lost weight and is surviving on soup and a few other thigns. Not good. My heart really goes out to her. She is a busy mom and midwife and does NOT have time to be sick! Being a midwife can be such a physically demanding job and I imagine that it's been quite awful for her to keep carrying on with her duties. Selfishly of course, I hope that she is better in time for our birth. You certainly want the person attending your birth to be in as tip-top condition as possible!

I'm cooking up a ham for dinner which excites me way more than it should. Not exactly a healthy food but it should make for easy dinners for the next few nights!

Rain!

FINALLY we got some rain! Yay! We ended up with almost 3 inches in the past two days--the most we have had since July 2007! Everything looks greener today and most of the trees are getting their foliage back. It certainly is looking more like spring around here. Jason's not exactly excited about this as it means that the lawn will awaken for the year and he'll be out there mowing it before too long :)

Our lessons have been a bit relaxed since a lovely kidney infection landed me in the hospital for a 48 stay three weeks ago. We've read "Mr. Popper's Penguins" and Hailey has worked on her penmanship. Hailey's reading has really taken off this year and I would venture to say the kid reads about an hour and a half a day. Her favorite time to curl up with a book is at bedtime-just like her momma! I'm so happy that she loves to read (I can not understand why anyone would NOT like to read! I read for an hour or more most evenings after everyone else is asleep and it has been a lifelong discipline problem of mine to put down a book and go to bed at a decent time).

Jason's got a good deal of band shows coming up for the remainder of March and most of April. I believe that he has a few lined up for the first part of May as well. Of course we all miss him when he is gone but we stay busy around here. I keep the girls on their regular routine but also enjoy getting to spend a little extra "girl time" with them on the evenings that Jason is gone. And after everyone is tucked into bed I tidy the place up and sink into an evening spent doing whatever I want to do :)

Speaking of...it's bedtime (GLORIOUS BEDTIME!!) for the little people. And then some delicious quiet time for this momma!

If it weren't for the fact that every single person in this family wants a piece of me (for their own various reasons) I would probably be ostracized for life at this point.

Tomorrow marks the great push of the campaign to save our clothes, linens, shoe laces, and remaining blinds. The notice is printed. It's sitting on top of my car keys lest I forget it in the mad rush to leave tomorrow morning. It's carefully worded and the pictures were calculated selections.

"MR. BILL NEEDS A NEW HOME!" is the title of the notice. It's going up on the announcement board at the vet clinic I've worked at for years.

Yes, after hundreds (a thousand?) of dollars worth of damage I have finally convinced Jason that the cat needs to go. True, Mr. Bill might be the coolest cat that we have ever (or will ever) own. But his dirty little habit is not compatible with rearing a houseful of children (what two year old can remember to close a bedroom door EVERY single time she goes thru it?). That cat has driven me to tears on more than one occasion because he has beaten me in the battle to protect my family's cotton possessions. Well, he may have won many battles but he will NOT win the war, my friends!

I have a dream that one day I will be able to hang a bra to dry in my laundry room and not have it rendered strapless.

I have a dream that one day I will be able to do buy curtains and be confident that they will not be chewed up and regurgitated onto the carpet or couch.

I have a dream that my four little children will be able to have shoelaces that are longer than the gnawed length of about 5 inches.

I have a dream.

(much apologies to Dr. King)

Shining Moments of Parenthood

Today, Hailey had a bit of trouble with "The Attitude" as she refers to it. She got a couple of spankings and was deprived of computer time because of her little blaze of rebellion.

While I was putting the girls to bed she asked me something and I told her "we will talk about it tomorrow " and she put this frowning, pouty face on (which I privately refer to as "The Brat Look") and put her hands on her hips. Very unacceptable behavior of course.

The inner Brat rose up in me. I copied her expression and her stance. Her eyes widened in horror and she started to cry. "Why are you copying me?!"

I swear I couldn't help my answer: "Just to show you how dumb you look!"

My Precious Hailey...

turns seven years old today and I can hardly believe it! My wonderful big girl who filled me up with love during her first year, challenged me beyond belief during her toddler years, and has amazed me with her creativity and kindness during her kid years is growing up way TOO FAST! She has been the child that has taught me to refrain from judging other parents too harshly ("MY child would never do that!"). The one who made me caused me to fall in love with nature all over again (bugs are FASCINATING!). She is the person who most dramatically motivated me to mature and slowly shed my selfishness. I am a much better person today than I was seven years ago because of her.

I see so much of both her Dad and I in her. She looks just like him, loves to test boundaries, doesn't need to follow the crowd, and is particular about her belongings (where they go, who touches them, etc). She is a bookworm, a night owl, and hates to be wrong--traits she most certainly gets from me. She can be the sweetest of children--her compassion occasionally amazes me--and then then she can display some of the most rigid, anal retentive behavior imaginable (just knock over her carefully arranged display of My Little Pony and see the total collapse of her self-control). Her independence is sometimes difficult for me to understand and to respect because I was the total opposite as a child (I was shy and so far none of my children have a shy bone in their bodies!).

Hailey has big plans for this year. Today we are taking her to get her ears pierced. She's been wanting this since last summer (we said she had to wait until she was seven) and no matter how many times I have asked her if she still wants to do it, her resolve has never changed. She has informed us that now that she is turning seven, "The Attitude" (as she refers to her ongoing struggle with being disrespectful--she's improving constantly though) is going to go away. She is very excited about her role as big sister to three younger siblings. She talks about the new baby almost every day and loves to feel my belly. She can't wait for the birth and I am excited for her to be able to watch yet another sibling be born. This will be a good year for her--for all of us.

I'm wrapping this up so I can sneak upstairs and take a look at my brand new seven year old--that is if I can even see her because she often sleeps completely underneath the covers!

Happy Birthday My Hailey! :)

Today...

• I have doled out no less than 9 spankings between all three kids (someone got 5).
• Paige has fallen off 2 chairs and one dresser.
• After administering a spanking I was told that I was being unfair because I had not specifically said that disobeying would result in a visit with the spanking spoon.
• I was described as "unfair" on four different occasions. And a "You are too busy to play with me" was thrown in there to make sure I got the point that I'm "World's Lamest Mom"
  
• Two cups of orange juice were spilled on the formerly clean kitchen floor (one spill was an accident, one was an experiment).
• I've made one tearful call to my busy husband (shameful).
• It took the girls an hour and a half to put up their laundry.
• The oldest child spent an hour and a half sitting on a stool until she could speak without whining.
• The cat barfed on the floor. Of course I stepped in it.
• I discovered several spots of blue play-doh ground into the carpet.
  
• Paige took off her diaper and I still can't find it.
• The dog, who was crated in the garage and had been let out already, barked continuously for two hours this morning for no apparent reason other than to join in the quest to drive me insane.
• Someone got a hold my car keys and the car alarm went off for twenty minutes before I realized that I was the inconsiderate person whose car was disturbing the neighborhood.
  

It's been a trying day no doubt. I was talking to my younger sister who is also in on the good fight with her own kids and she was having a low day too (this is not allowed--usually one person gets to be overwhelmed per phone call). She said "It just hit me: I will still be doing this next week. And the week after that! And the week after THAT!"
And then it was my turn for revelation. My attitude changed on a dime and I replied to her "God willing!" :)

What is it about this date?

The last time I logged on here was exactly a year ago today! Very strange.

I see here that exactly a year ago we were fighting the puke bug. Maybe that's God's way of reminding me not to complain about our current war against pink eye??? After all, the worst thing about pink eye is that we are quarantined here at home (sort of like we've been for the past two weeks b/c of the Christmas Cold the younger two were hacking their way through). I guess it's just the idea of being locked up for yet another week. We did go downtown to the Austin Nature Center on Saturday. It was fun but I'm wondering how many kids we gifted the pink eye with (hey--I thought that Reese was just having an allergy issue!).

'Tis the season for sickness though. If we can avoid vomit, out of control diarrhea, and The Flu then I will consider us lucky. No more visits to the indoor playground at Chick-fil-A though. We haven't had the best luck with that place. I'm pretty sure our Christmas Cold orginated from our last visit there. And then the time before that we didn't even all make it inside before Reese had her toe practically cut off by the bottom of the door (amazing amount of blood--I'll post pictures soon).

Anyway, I'm sick of writing about sick. I'm in a pretty chipper mood b/c I feel GREAT after spending the last few months alternating between hugging the toliet and the couch. :) We had a great Christmas and a pretty good 2008. Many obvious blessings from The Lord.

Well, I'm glad I figured out how to reset my password on this little deal. Fun, fun!!