Still Pregnant...

SO, my doctor says it isn't uncommon for moms who have to go through the drugs and bed rest to keep their babies in to do such a good job that the babies don't want to come out once it is safe. Apparently, I did an awesome job, because I have officially been pregnant longer than I've ever been pregnant before. And I am FEELING IT. I am excited, though. I was worried that Annie would be tiny and fragile as a preemie, and that concerned me because she has 2 older siblings that can't wait to hold, help, and play with her. This extra time she's getting will help her be ready for the outpouring of love from them. I know I complain a lot about how uncomfortable being pregnant is. I don't mean to sound like such a wimp. I've just been through so much and now that she can be here, I WANT her here! I want to dress her, play with her, and snuggle her just like the kids. We've been holding our breath for over 2 months and preparing for her arrival. We've had my labor stopped on several occasions, and each time we had a flood of emotions-- scared/anxious, excited/happy, disappointed/sad, grateful/relieved. I'm just ready for the roller coaster to finally come to an end and bring this baby girl home!!

Beautiful Day, Coolest Mom EVER, and Clean Toilets!

Last week I got a notice that Jayden had an early release day from school this week. I was hoping and praying that the weather would be nice so I could let the kids go out and play for a while. I've felt horrible because my kids have been cooped up inside while I was on bed-rest. I'm not comfortable letting a 4 and 6 year old play outside in an apartment complex unsupervised. I woke up this morning and was disappointed: it was cold, foggy, and wet. Ew. My plans for the kiddos to get some much-needed outside time were being dampened. Pun intended. I dropped Jay off at school and then sulked home to get ready for my doctor's appointment. (No changes from yesterday, if you can't already tell...I think I've finally come to grips with it.) Karah went to a friend's house for a while, and I got some much-needed kid-"help"-free cleaning done. I was so focused on my cleaning that I didn't notice the sun peeking out and temperatures rising. I was SO happy when I walked outside to get Jayden!! It was in the 70s and BEAUTIFUL!! The roads were drying up, too, making it PERFECT for the kids to play. We got home and Karah got home shortly after. I opened all of my windows, opened the front door wide, turned on my Bon Jovi Pandora station, and promptly kicked my kiddos outside. Our apartment faces an open field and as long as they stay there I can watch them as I clean my living room and kitchen, which needed attention anyway. The neighborhood kids congregated out front, and it was just so awesome to me! It has been SO long since I've been able to just let the kids run around and PLAY. They played baseball, kick ball, freeze tag, got out our side walk chalk, and just did KID stuff. It was great.

After a while, Jayden started getting a little bossy and copping an attitude with the other kids. I tried to have a talk with him, but he thought he'd be macho and cop an attitude with me. He THOUGHT that since he was in "public" and surrounded by his peers that he could get away with that crap. Oh, ho ho, that boy found out that that doesn't fly with me. Back when I was a kid, one of my mom's favorite forms of discipline for back talking or bad attitude was to have us scrub toilets. When Jayden started being a snot to me in front of his friends, I went into I-Am-My-Mother-Mode. "That's it, Jay, you need to go inside and scrub my toilet. You will NOT have a potty-mouth like that with me, young man!!" As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I about smacked myself in the forehead. The kid LOVES cleaning toilets! This isn't going to be a punishment! I was totally caught off guard when the boy started to put up a fight! This might actually work!! He said a few more snarky things to me and I had had enough. "Ok, how does this sound, Jay...you can either change your attitude, clean ONE toilet and come back out and play, OR, I can spank you in front of your friends, you can clean TWO toilets, and I pack up your Wii. Which will it be?" I had about eight pairs of eyes bugging out at me. Jayden opted to change his attitude and clean one toilet. After he went inside one of the little boys tapped me on the shoulder. "Yes?" I asked. "You are the COOLEST MOM EVER!!" That was followed by the other kids nodding their heads in agreement. I was elated. I know my son had an entirely different opinion at the time, but I will graciously accept the title of Coolest Mom Ever from the neighborhood children. Jayden scrubbed the toilet, and all was well for about an hour. Then one of the little kids started pulling the same crud that Jayden did. I had told the other parents I'd keep an eye on them, so I was the only witness. I usually try to not discipline other people's kids, especially since I don't know these people very well. But something had to be done and this kid's parents weren't close. I looked him in the eye and told him, "I have TWO toilets. Jayden only cleaned one. Do I need to call your dad and let him know you need to clean one of my toilets for being disrespectful to me?" I thought the eyes were going to pop out of the kid's head. The other kids stopped what they were doing and jaws dropped to the floor. He apologized and everyone played nice. I decided to tell the dad what I'd threatened. I was terrified, but I didn't want him hearing it from the kid just in case the kid decided to change the story. The dad laughed and said that I was welcome to make his kids clean toilets and scrub floors if they pulled an attitude with me. *Whew*

It was an amazing day. My kids played outside for HOURS. For the first time in...well...forever, I felt like a REAL mom. The type of mom that has a clean house and snacks waiting for not just her kids, but the neighbor kids as well. The type of mom that goes out and teaches the kids how to play Red Rover and kickball. The type of mom who will have ANY kid who tracks mud into the house clean it up. The mom that my mom was to me. Everyone LOVED hanging out at my house because my mom treated every kid like her own. They got the same love and attention we got and they didn't catch any breaks for their behavior. She provided several of my friends and my sibling's friends with some much needed structure. She IS respected to this day by everyone who walks through her door, and she still has other people's children call her "Momma My-Maiden-Name". I have always wanted to be that type of mom, but due to work, school, bed rest, and things I've totally let get in the way, I've been unable to do so. I am switching back into "Grateful-For-My-Bed-Rest-Experience" mode because it truly opened my eyes to what I was missing out on and provided me with an opportunity to make up for it. I hope to be able to maintain my love for keeping house and doing the whole "Mom-Thing". I have truly been enjoying myself, and I hope my family has as well.

Flu- Round 2

Who got to spend all Monday night puking and ended up in the hospital for IV fluids Tuesday morning? THIS GAL!! I love how my kids love to share EVERYTHING, including their flu-germs. I am FINALLY starting to feel better, but my little Karah-Bear is starting to feel yucky. Hopefully she doesn't get it as bad as Jay and I did. Part of me wants to rip my hair out and scream to the Heavens: "WHAT HAVE I DONE TO PISS YOU OFF??", but then this pops in my head: "At least we are getting over this before Annie gets here". Of course, it WOULD be nice to avoid this little flu all together, but since that apparently wasn't possible, I am really glad we are getting it out of our way.

Yesterday WAS interesting, though. I had planned on surprising Jay at school for lunch and about a gazillion other things for Valentine's Day. I was not planning on being hooked up to IVs and junk for most of my day. Whatever they gave me knocked me out, so I was pretty much comatose when I got home. Karah had spent the morning charming people at my mom's work while I was in the hospital, and she came home around lunch time. No problem. She typically turns on a show and lays on the couch when it is nap time. Occasionally she falls asleep, but not always. I expected that she would watch a show and possibly take a nap while I took a nap. I did not expect her to decide to "help" me because I was sick. First, she knew it was Valentine's Day, so she wanted to look extra special for Daddy. With my make up. My bathroom looked like a powder-bomb had gone off. So, she decided to clean it up. Strawberry toothpaste oughta do it, right? You know, clean mirrors and counter tops?? She abandoned the bathroom before it got any worse and moved to the kitchen (Thank GOODNESS). She saw that our powdered sugar container was getting low, and remembered that I had bought a new bag to put in there. Take a 4 year old, add a full bag of powdered sugar, and just imagine what my kitchen looked like. If you think it looked like that "snow" scene from Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, you guessed right. Moving right along. Since the powdered sugar was giving her trouble, she decided to move on to a smaller task: refilling the cinnamon shaker. She said she actually did that one without a mess...until the GLASS shaker slipped out of her hands when she was putting it away...it shattered all over the floor. *sigh* So now we have powdered sugar, glass, and cinnamon all over my kitchen, along with a whole thing of make up powder and strawberry toothpaste all over my bathroom. I woke up to an extremely upset little girl. She felt SO BAD for all of the messes she made because she was honestly trying to make my life a little better. She knew I was sick and not feeling well, and wanted to help. We came up with some Karah-Safe jobs she could do to help me out and then set to work on cleaning up the messes. After Jay got home, I did need to call in a life line to my husband to bring me some Dr Pepper...the child was in a MOOD!! Totally not like him, but I think he was just exhausted from being sick this weekend. He went to bed early, no arguments. All in all, despite the disasters (and there were a few more after I woke up) we had a pretty good day.

I've been having contractions pretty steadily now for the last week. Like, anywhere from 4-6 minutes apart regularly. And when one hits it makes me gasp a bit. The kids think it is hilarious. "I mean it! Clean your *gasp* room please!" (with the last part in soprano...) Yeah. Real intimidating. The problem with these contractions is that THEY AREN'T DOING ANYTHING. They are annoying as crap and my muscles are hurting like crazy, but I haven't dilated enough for the doc get this kid out of me. He said he wasn't going to stop me if I actually went into labor, but he said he wasn't going to do anything to speed things up right now, either. Gee, thanks, Dude. It is a blessing and a curse. Blessing because he is letting our family get over this flu-crap before Annie gets here, and curse because I am experiencing all of the pains of labor without receiving any "fruits" from it. Dan says we aren't going back to the hospital until my water breaks, and I agree with him. We've gone in a total of SIX times this pregnancy only to have my labor stopped or slowed each time. It is annoying. And expensive. And annoying. (Yes, I am aware I said "annoying" twice, and I will say it again. Because IT IS.) I have a doctor's appointment today, and hopefully there has been SOME change since yesterday. At least enough for him to stop giving me a patronizing look and DO something. I really like this doctor, but I'm at that point where I'm pissed that he's a man because he may have helped deliver thousands of babies, but he's NEVER carried or pushed one out. Therefore, he is starting to irk me every time he says "Just a little longer. You can do it! It is better this way, anyway." I honestly think he would feel a little different if someone was kicking him in the family jewels every 4-6 minutes and then telling him "The longer you endure this, the better off you'll both be!" *deep breath* Sounds like it is time for me to repeat "At least we are getting over the flu before Annie gets here" a few times...

A Family Tradition

Almost eight years ago, Dan and I met. We dated. We fell in love. He proposed to me and I said yes. We went to Build-a-Bear Workshop to celebrate and made each other bears. When Jayden was born, we got him one. When Karah was born, Jayden made her a bunny. She still carries that thing everywhere she goes and sleeps with it every night. We figured that since the doc eased up on my restrictions (and I actually took if fairly easy today) that we would keep up our tradition and let the kids make Annie one. There were about 30 different animals they could choose from. There were pink bears, sparkly bears, purple bears, brown bears, white bears, dogs, cats, penguins, chipmunks, and such. Jayden wanted the pink cat, where Karah wanted the white bear with rainbow polka-dots. Then Jayden wanted the Texas Longhorn (That's my boy!!) and Karah wanted the pink bear with hearts all over it. Jayden wanted the purple bear with peace signs, and Karah wanted the baby-pink bear. They were really sweet about it. They would present the reasons why they liked that particular animal for Annie and then talk about it. They would point out pros and cons of each one. There were NO fights (!!!). I was pretty sure we were going to end up with something obnoxiously girly. Not that I would really mind, but everything they'd picked out was either sparkly, pink, or purple with pink. They were going back and forth between the baby pink bear and the hot pink bear with a heart nose when Jayden said he wanted to do "one more walk-by". Karah went with him. They would stop every few feet to touch and make sure it was soft enough. They stopped in front of an orange cat. Karah picked it up and said "This one." Jayden felt it, and then nodded his head in agreement. It is the CUTEST little cat. They each did the little "heart ceremony" and got to help stuff the bear. They decided to name her "Kitty-Anne". We had SO much fun, and the kids got along great. These two kids are so excited and ready for their little sister to get here! Annie is one lucky little lady!

Flu

Apparently our family can't catch a break! Jay came home from school on Thursday feeling just fine. He did his homework, had a snack, helped me clean up his Lego table, and was about to help me clean up the hallway when he started complaining of a tummy-ache. Now, my kids are good kids, but sometimes they make stuff up to get out of cleaning. He asked if he could just take a break and watch a cartoon because his tummy hurt. I told him if his tummy REALLY hurt, he could go lay down on his bed, but if he'd just help me finish cleaning up the last few things in the hall we could watch a cartoon together. He went straight to bed. The kid was asleep within 2 minutes of laying down. It was only 5:00 pm. I tried to wake him up because I was afraid he'd be bouncing off the walls by 7:00 pm. He was OUT. My radar went off. This is NOT normal behavior for him. He slept hard for about 3 hours. When he woke up, he ran straight for the bathroom. That is where the poor kid spent the next 4 hours. We had to bring him a bucket because he was experiencing double-trouble. He kept asking why being sick felt so horrible. I explained to him that his body had lots of germs in it and that it was trying to get all of the germs out as fast as possible. I felt SO bad for him, but couldn't help chuckling at some of his comments. After a few rounds of vomiting, he called out "Well, I just killed a BUNCH of germs!!". He also begged us to take him to the hospital a few times. Dan went out and got him 7-Up, Popsicles, and Gatorade. Jay had a hard time keeping anything down, and he absolutely refused to leave the bathroom for any reason. It had been about an hour since he'd experienced either unpleasant experience. He kept saying all he wanted to do was sleep, but that he couldn't get comfortable on the toilet (duh). We finally coaxed him off the toilet by promising him that we would bring in his little couch and let him sleep next to the toilet. (THANK GOODNESS I scrubbed the crap out of that thing *literally* the day before!) Dan gave him a Priesthood blessing during all of this, and Jay said the sweetest prayer right before he went to sleep. In the blessing, Dan said that Jay would experience the symptoms of the sickness, but that it would be over quickly if he had faith and prayed. So, he prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help him calm down enough to sleep. He also asked Him to bless Annie and make her healthy and strong so she wouldn't get sick. He fell right to sleep and woke up happy. He was still a little queasy this morning and he took a nap this afternoon, but by 4:00 this evening, he was fever-free and helping me sanitize the kitchen. I am glad it was a 24 hour bug, and I hope that Jayden is the only one who got it. If the rest of us catch it, I hope it is over before Annie gets here!!

Bouncy Chair!

I have AMAZING friends and family. I went over to my mom's house tonight and this was wrapped and waiting for us! "To: Annie, Love: Aunt Krissa (my sister in law), Uncle Matt (brother), Cousins Rylee and Nolan (their kids), and "Aunt" Caity (a good friend of mine). A bouncy chair was pretty much the only thing left on my list to get. This particular bouncy chair was THE bouncy chair I really wanted, and I've been watching 3 of them this week on E-bay. Thank you so much, you guys! The picture doesn't do it justice. It is SO cute and SO soft! I know Annie will LOVE it! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!

FREEEEEEEEEEEE-DOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I were physically capable of doing back flips, I would SOOOO be doing them right now!!! Today has been absolutely awesome. I got my last shot. I only have 4 more days left of taking Procardia. And, the blessings of all blessings: He relaxed my bed rest rules!! WAH-FREAKING-HOOO!!! He would still rather me stay down the majority of the time, but he said that I CAN "nest" a bit and go shopping as long as I ride in one of those little motor cart things. He that he would still prefer me to make it another week and a half, but that he would not stop her if she came at this point. He said to "take it slow and easy" with my new-found freedom and to have fun. I shot out of there like a bat out of hell. I have an almost 2 page list of chores I need to get done before this baby is born and, bless his heart, Dan hasn't been able to REALLY get started on it. My bathroom is sparkling for the first time in 2 months. I picked up my own kid from school for the first time in 2 months. My fridge is stocked with REAL food to make REAL meals instead of the random foodstuffs my husband comes up with for the first time in 2 months (again, bless his heart). I may or may not have not used the little motor cart thingy... (The motor cart baskets at Kroger are TINY!!) And I am now understanding WHY my doc told me to "take it slow and easy" and to try to stay down as much as possible. I was hurting BEFORE I broke out of bed, and I am DEFINITELY hurting now. I regret having rolled my eyes when Doc told me he wanted me to still stay down as much as possible. I'm starting to think he MIGHT be worth listening to... I AM excited about being able to do "light" housekeeping and "light" shopping in preparation for Annie. Oh, SO excited!! But I need to be responsible with my glorious new freedom so that I can still be conscious and capable when "Baby Time" officially comes!

Things My Kids Have Said

Ok, I know I've posted a lot of these things to Facebook already, but I'm going to go ahead and blog about them here, too. These are conversations/silly things my kids have said during my time on bed rest:

Karah: "Mommy, the other day I pretended I was pregnant and laid in my bed while I told Jayden to clean my room. I would help sometimes and throw toys from my bed to the basket. It is fun being pregnant!"

Jayden: "Dad, Mommy's having another...contraption?" (After we tried to correct the "attraction")

Karah: (After seeing a BowFlex commercial) "Mom! We HAVE to get one of those so your tummy won't be so HUGE!!!"

Karah: (Immediately after I rolled out of bed) "Mommy, go back to bed. You look like you need it!"

This morning I heard a knock on the door. I wasn't dressed, yet, and Karah beat me to the door. This is what I heard as I frantically searched for my clothes:

FedEx Man: "Is your mommy home?"
Karah: "Yeah, but she's pregnant and laying down on bed rest in her bed because she's pregnant with a baby and having contraptions because she's pregnant and on bed rest. My mom is PREGNANT!"
FedEx Man: (Obviously trying not to laugh) "Will you let her know I have a package for her?"
Me: "I'll be right out! I'm sorry!"
Karah: "Get back in bed, I'll handle it!"
FedEx Man: (Can't hold it in anymore) "I can just set it down-"
Karah: "I'll take it, thank you!"
Me: (Finally...covered...enough to run out there) "Thanks!"
Karah: "I'm telling Daddy!! Where's your phone!"
I could hear him laughing all the way back to his truck...

Waiting Game

No, I am not going to have a little breakdown on how emotionally drained I am. I am PHYSICALLY spent, lol. I have been having painful contractions since Sunday, and Annie has officially "dropped", making a LOT of pressure and pain when I try to get up. Two things I am doing my best to avoid. I will admit that over the weekend I may have over-done it. I think I've hit my "nesting" stage. I thought I was restless a few weeks ago, but it was nothing compared to THIS. Dan has gotten mad at me several times because he'll catch me wiping down the counters and mirrors while I'm "washing my hands" or putting toys/clothes away "on my way back to the bathroom/couch". He keeps reminding me that I've always been a terrible liar and to sit my butt back down. Grouch.

Anyway, all of that led up to Sunday, when the REAL pain started. These are hard-core-where-is-my-epidural contractions. I was afraid we'd have to go back to the hospital. I didn't want to. We were in the middle of watching Hook as a family. All of us were quiet, comfortable (with the exception of my contractions) and just plain enjoying each others' company (which is saying something, because I thought my kids were going to kill each other earlier that day). I didn't want to disrupt that with ANOTHER trip to the hospital. So, I when I noticed the contractions getting closer together, I decided to stop announcing them. I know, I know!! The point of contractions getting closer is to signal that it is getting closer to the baby coming! I get it! But the movie was almost over and I wanted to have that time with my family before all heck broke loose. I forgot that my children are little Tattle-Tales. Jay was snuggled up to me and could feel me tense up when a contraction hit. "Dad! Mommy's having another attraction!!" Thanks, Son. Dan suggested I call my mom to see if she'd be able to watch the kids if the "attractions" got any closer. I called her during a snack break, and she was already planning on coming over. Apparently the Superbowl was also on Sunday. Dan and I figured that would be perfect. We would finish the movie, let Mom watch the rest of the game, and we would go to the hospital if it got to that point. Thankfully, after Mom got here the contractions started slowing down. She decided to stay the night just in case they picked back up. They've been off and on since then. My stomach and back muscles are killing me. My contractions aren't consistently close enough to warrant a trip to the hospital yet, but they are DEFINITELY painful enough to be a pain in the butt. Har har. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. Part of me wants to wait until tomorrow. But the little kid in me wants this pain. to. stop. NOW. I'm practically immobile right now. Even if I wanted to, I can't straighten up "on my way back to the couch" without bursting into tears. I've talked to the nurse, and she's advised me to just wait until the contractions are 5-6 minutes apart for an hour straight. They are about 10-15 minutes apart consistently for the last 2 days. UGH!! This type of waiting SUCKS!!! I just keep chanting "tomorrow morning, tomorrow morning" in my head. I get my last injection, I get taken off my meds on Sunday, and after tomorrow he won't stop me. I just have to make it to tomorrow morning....

Baby Stuff!!

My online shopping spree is arriving!! I am SOOO excited!! Dan and I have been talking about how this baby might just be our last, seeing as each of my pregnancies have gotten progressively worse. So, I have decided to throw "gender neutral" stuff out the door. Dan is just going to have to deal with pushing around a Pink Cinderella stroller:
I LOVE this stroller. I know that it is white with light pink, but I plan to Scotch Guard the ever-living-crap out of it. For those of you who have known me for at least 5 seconds, you know that I am a Disney fanatic. People have stopped playing Disney Trivia with me because there is no point. They can't win. Karah is no different. She shares my Disney enthusiasm and at times exceeds it. So, imagine my excitement when I found the "Disney Princess Royal Ride" travel system. I knew that Karah and I would LOVE going places with Annie and her "Royal Ride". It came TODAY. Karah saw the huge box and couldn't wait for Dan to get home to open it. I'll admit, neither could I. I sat down on the floor and pried the box open. Karah dragged out the pieces. I was thinking in my head, "Oh, she is going to be ecstatic when she sees Cinderella on it!!" and I was so proud of her for wanting to help assemble it. Until she left the pieces on the floor and dove into her new "fort", that is. Oh well. She occasionally emerged from her castle and "Ooohed" and "Aaaahed" appropriately. Once it started resembling a stroller she ran and got a baby-doll to "test it out" to make sure that Annie would be safe and cute in it. It passed. It is much cuter than I thought it would be, to he honest. I can't wait to put Annie in it!!


I took pity on Dan when I was looking for a diaper bag. Well, not really. It is just that the diaper bag that surpasses all diaper bags (in my own personal opinion, of course) didn't come in any girlie colors. I had the choice of plain black or black and this weird looking green. Other than the lack of pink in it's color pallet, this diaper bag is AWESOME. We found it (brand new) with all but one of the accessories on Ebay for pretty cheap. This thing ROCKS. I watched the video for this diaper bag, and I kid you not, a pillar of light from Heaven above was shining down on my computer and I heard angels singing. I'm one of those women who uses her diaper bag as her purse. (Let's be honest, is there any SANE woman out there who doesn't??) I have always hated carrying diaper bags because they give you this huge pocket for everything and that is it. I am constantly losing my keys, wallet, make-up, and such in the chaos of lotion, wipes, toys, diapers, snacks, pacifiers, burp cloths, bottles, etc. I have to dig and dig and dig to find anything (which is not always possible without finally screaming in rage and dumping the entire thing out at the check out counter to find my flipping wallet...). This diaper bag not only has lots of pockets connected to it, but it has separate accessories that you can keep bottles, cell phones, wallet, snacks, and such in that clip onto the bag (outside AND inside!!). We are talking Ultimate Organization here. It is called the Clic-It. Mine came yesterday. I've already packed my make-up bag, wallet pouch, and put their little key chain thingy on my keys. I have to send the big bag part back, though, because there was a huge tear in it. Sad day, but they said I should have my new-not-torn one by the end of next week, so I'm not going to fret (yet). Here is what it looks like:



Kinda manly, I know, but then I imagine slipping my hand in the bag and immediately finding my keys clipped to the side and I'm over it. I AM currently open to suggestions, however, on how to girl-ify it. :)

Bribery

If you have never used bribery to some extent with your kids, then your "kids" are not of the human variety. Lately I have grown tired of asking the kids to clean their rooms or help with other household chores only to be ignored. I am not the only one who has grown frustrated with me being on bed rest. I love them to pieces. I really do. It is just stressful on everyone when our house looks like the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina instead of the comforting environment it is supposed to be. They come home from school or play, kick off their shoes, drop their bags, and drag their toys to the living room, our room, bathrooms, or kitchen because they can't see the floors of their rooms anymore. Their bathroom was a NIGHTMARE. Strawberry toothpaste all over the counters, hair crap all over the floor and mirrors, bath toys everywhere, and the oh-so-lovely-evidence of a 6 year old boy all over the toilet. Dan can only do so much. He gets home from work around 6 pm, takes Jay to Karate almost immediately, eats dinner around 7:30 pm, gets the kids ready for bed at 8, fights with them for at least 1/2 an hour (sometimes more) then he is finally able to assess the mess around him close to 9:00 pm. If he doesn't have any clients contact him with problems with their websites, that is. I have tried to give him time to relax and wind down, but it just isn't practical or possible until I can start pitching in again. We have had help, don't get me wrong, but I would literally need to have a live-in maid to keep up with my little mess-makers. It has gotten to the point where they don't care if I revoke their tv/video game privileges because (and this is REALLY sad) they know it is more of a punishment for me. So, again, desperate times call for desperate measures. Jayden's new-found fascination with Star Wars has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me to bribe him. Yes. Bribe. He has expressed over and over again how he WISHES he had REAL light saber. Well, I got online and found this:




















Oh yeah. And it is only $8.99. (SCORE!!) I told him that for every day he kept his room clean and helped with other household chores, I would put a sticker on a calendar. When he filled his calendar, he would get his light saber. Karah was not about to be left out of this super-sweet deal. She isn't sure if she wants a light saber or a new outfit for her doll, but I told her we could decide when her calendar was filled up. Ladies and gents, I asked them to clean their bathroom yesterday. Those kiddos SCRUBBED that bathroom. They not only picked up their toys, clothes, and garbage, but they SCRUBBED it. Mirrors, counters, TOILET, tub, floors, you name it. I thought that they would put up a fight today when I mentioned cleaning their rooms. Nope. They also picked up the living room. I might just get used to this. I'm going to hang their calendars up in the main room of the house and put a picture of their prize above it. That way they will be able to mark their progress and remember why they are working so hard. I am SO proud of my kids. I know we are only on day 2, but they've made it farther than I thought they would. I just hope that if they keep this up Dan and I can come up with some good rewards in the future that are free, lol.

Earth Angels

I have always believed in God and angels. I am also a firm believer that God sends angels to help Him out down here on earth. Sometimes they are guardian angels that we can't see, and sometimes they are in the forms of friends and family members. I have had SEVERAL help me throughout this time. I've had them take kids, bring in meals, clean my house, and just sit and visit with me. When I had my little "Oh-my-gosh-I-could-be-having-this-baby-in-2-weeks-and-I-have-NOTHING" freak out session a few days ago, those angels kicked it into overdrive! I was having fun (probably a little too much fun) shopping online. Some things were so outrageously overpriced brand new that I almost had to take another little trip to the hospital. I then thought "I have several friends that have kids. Maybe they still have some of their baby stuff and would let me buy or borrow it..." I made a post on Facebook and BAM!! I have BOXES of baby girl clothes, toys, shoes, blankets, burp cloths, nursing pillows, and a Bumbo chair! I am pretty sure I'm not going to have to shop for clothes for this child for quite some time. This has helped us out SO much!! I am so grateful for the many, MANY angels out there who listened to the still, soft promptings from our Father in Heaven. I don't think anyone will truly understand how deep my gratitude and appreciation goes. I hope one day I will get the opportunity to "Pay It Forward." Thank you, my Angels here on Earth, for all you've done for my family and me!!

Countdown!

I had my weekly doctor's appointment today. These usually include getting weighed, getting my BP taken, listening to Annie's heartbeat, receiving a lecture on the importance of staying reclined and relaxed, and receiving my super-fan-freaking-tastic injection. Every once and a while he checks me for labor process or orders some blood work. This week he confirmed my last post: After today I only have ONE more injection, and after I hit 36 weeks I no longer have to take Procardia! He will not be stopping or slowing contractions down in a week and a half!!! The countdown IS ON!! Next week he has ordered a sonogram to make sure Annie is head-down and doing okay. I am SO excited. I have a feeling I'm going to have a baby the week of Valentine's Day. WAHOO!!!