Category: Life

Trying – I’m really trying….

Okay, so I have a minute and I find that there is something cathartic about being able to get all my thoughts and ideas down onto paper and seeing as i don’t keep a “paper journal” it all goes here.

So, I have a choice, the baby is sleeping and the kids are outside playing and I could be doing laundry or……I could brain dump here.

Brain Dumping, it is!

Like I mentioned last post I am really trying to find a balance in my life.  I’ve spent a huge amount of time in front of the computer and I’m trying to be wise about my computer/Internet time.

I started last week by planning out our breakfasts and dinners.  I think that eventually we might plan out the kids lunches, but ofr right now they are just making them on their own on a day to day basis, and we’re supervising to make sure that they take a protein, a carb, a veggie and a fruit instead of 6 fruits and calling it a lunch.  It made a HUGE difference in so many ways.  I was able to plan out our meals using food that we aready had on hand and to make sure that our diet was varied and then I was also able to make a shopping list of what we actually needed and then stick to it…..WAAAAAAY better than just winging it.  AND…..the kids didn’t ask ONCE, “what’s for dinner?”  and i was getting that questions (no joke) about 20 times and it started first thing in the morning – before they’d even had breakfast.  It was unreal.  Now they can just look on the fridge and see what’s for dinner and there are no surprises and I don’t even have to think about it except for on Sunday nights when I’m planning the weekly meals. 

I also did breakfast because we don’t just eat cereal and so we rotate between porridge, eggs and toast, pancakes, eggs and hashbrown and usually have cereal once a week.  I planned that out and once again,the kids seem to be so much happier knowing what to expect and how to help out in the mornings (like either making the panckae batter from scratch or by cutting up the potatoes for hashbrowns).

Jon and I also sat down and worked out a weekly schedule so that he can get ahead a bit this month.  He has a ton of work, and if we can get a few extra hours in per day that would make a big difference in what’s coming in as far as the monthly earnings.  So, I know what to expect, and he knows what hours he’s working and what hours he’s “at home” with me and the kids and even the kids know when to leave dad alone and when he’s free, becuse we sat down and wrote it all out on the white board for them so there could be buy in from everyone.  the bonus in this comes in that we vaguely planned out the next 2 weeks as well (Spring Break) and if all goes according to plan, Jon will be able to take Wedesday’s off and we’ve told the kids that we’ll have Wacky Wednesday’s and Super Saturday’s where we’ll plan to do something fun with them….now I just have to come up with some options of “stuff” that we can do.  Stuff that they can choose from.  More planning….so much fun!  I say that with rolled eyes, but there is an element of fun in knowing a little bit of effort can alleviate a WHOLE ton of stress.

Moving on…….I did get ‘Siah immunized yesterdayand he’s got a fever now….I hate that.  i have more say on that topic, but i feel like I always have more to say and not enough mental and physical and emotional energy to actually get it out.  So, hopefully that will be my next post…maybe!

an anniversary of sorts – guest post

today is Nathaniel’s third birthday.  Alexandra had to remind me at dinner time.  There is a lot going on: Patti is in Toronto at a conference, I am trying to run my business and take care of all the kid details at the same time…

This is exactly what I don’t want to happen, and yet I feel it is inevitable.  I had a son.  I held him.  I kissed him.  Right now as I type, I can vividly see him in the dimly lit hospital room.  I remember where I was sitting and how I held him.  I remember the feelings of confusion and not knowing what to do, and not knowing how long I should hold him, and how quickly I should let him go.  I wish I had held him longer!  What I don’t want to do is forget all this.

Now three quick years later, my 8 year old asked what we were doing for his birthday… (For the last two years, we have gotten helium balloons and written on them with permanent markers and said a few wishes and let them go.)  I want to be the father of 8… 4 living and 4 have moved on…

Life has a way of moving on and focusing on the present realities, or even on present opportunities, but makes light of past actualities.  Things have happened that have defined me, have become a part of me, have taught me all about compassion in a way I wish I were still ignorant it… but in the here and now, I (we) focus on what is in front of us, or what is currently required of us.

In the first year since Nathaniel, not a day went by that I did not think of him.  Now three years later on his birthday, I did not think of him once, until I was reminded.  I guess that is how life goes, but I don’t like it… HE IS MY SON!

—————————————-

Nathaniel,

I miss you.  I see three year olds, and I know you would have been taller.  Your brothers and sisters were all big for their age.  I miss knowing who you would have become.  I miss knowing how much like your mom you were and how much like me.  In so many ways I am glad I got to hold you; to kiss you.  I’ve fought in my mind to keep you present in my mind and in my heart, but I haven’t done as well as I would have liked.

You are my son!  Nothing can take that away!  No matter how long you lived, you are my son.  No matter how well behaved, you are my son.  No matter what you attained, no matter what mistakes, no matter how hard you tried or how little, you are my son.  There is nothing that you could do to become more of a son, and there is nothing you could have done to become less of a son.  And so you get what sons (and daughters) get… my love.  My sons and daughters get all the love I have, unconditionally!  I know that you can see me from where you are and I know that you know my thoughts.

I love you.  Happy birthday.
DAD

Reflecting

Great Title, eh? 

Sounds like this should be a great inspiring post, full of all the wonders of 2007.  Maybe it might include some of the struggles and hardships that have been overcome or worked through…….NOPE!

I’m justnot feeling that deep this morning.

The kids are GONE! back in school, and my house is quiet, and except for the 4am fight that Jon and I had last night….all is well in my world.

I just realized that all I mention is when we fight….and well, it’s not as bad as it sounds. 

Please realize that we have a 5 month old who is not sleeping through the night, yet; so we are both over tired and on edge.  The fight last night was a stupid one.  Jon had got up to try to get the baby back to sleep (’cause if he smells me then he wants to nurse, and he really doesn’t need the middle of the night feeds anymore, so if he can learn to sleep through, then we’ll all be happier).  So, I was saying….Jon had gotten up at 3am to put the baby back to sleep, and by 4:15am – I couldn’t handle it any more. Jon was agitated, the baby was agitated, and I wasn’t sleeping anyway and I was agitated.  I just figured that an hour and 15 minutes was a good shot, and I’d nurse the baby and be done with it.  I know that’s just teaching him to wait it out, but with no one sleeping in our house, today and tonight should be fun times…wanna come over?

Anyway, Jon was annoyed and the Baby was crying and we were all tired, and some nasty things were said, and it was not a good time.  For some reason, after we had our little fight, the baby went to sleep and slept until almost 7am.

Middle of the night is not a good time to try and work anything out, so we both went to sleep, and now we still have to deal with the rubble of last night.  Not fun!

Moving on, ’cause that had nothing to do with what I originally planned to write out……ha ha HA HA HA!  That makes it sound like I had a plan when I sat down here in front of my computer.  There was no plan.  Which is why this ends up rambling……that’s something I want to stop doing.  I’m planning to have a plan…..see how tired I am….

Any way, I’ll just stop there and continue on down here.

We had a great Christmas holiday time, and you can check out the pics if you so desire.

Our Christmas Eve…….we found out that Taco Time is pretty simple and basic as ingredients if you are looking for a fast food.  Although the hard shells are corn, and some need to stay away from corn….but we were thrilled to find something that had no wheat, dairy or eggs in them….YAH!….oh, we skipped the cheese, and sour cream……that’s how they were “okay”.

I love this shot of me and ‘Siah……not cause it’s an okay shot of me, but mostly ’cause EVERY TIME he sees it, he stops whatever he is doing and smiles HUGE.

I also love this one of the 4 kids…….

…..to go to any of the “sets” just click on the pics, and it’ll take you there.

Then we had Christms morning with just the 6 of us, and it was so amazing. We usually have those mini cereal boxes, but we just bought 2 sugar cereals that we knew had no dairy in them…..but had WAY too much sugar in them.  The kids did pretty good considering they’ve been off sugar for a while now.

The presents part of Christmas was fun, as always.  My parents went overboard, and totally blessed the kids with stuff that they actually needed, and maybe a few things that they didn’t need.  I think the the highlight of Jeremy’s Christmas, though, was the stacking cups that he got.

He’s played those things non-stop since he got them…..everybody’s played those things non-stop since we got them.  I’ll post a video or two hopefully tomorrow.  It’s pretty funny to see grown men challenging each other over “those stupid cups”….even funnier to show them the links to the “pros” and to watch how fast they really can stack those things.  

Jon’s parents came over for the rest of the day.  We had so much fun playing games and eating dinner and opening presents and just spending some quiet time with each other.  It was a very nice Christmas with them.  But it was a little different ’cause ha;f of our fmaily is on the other side of the world…..missed you guys!

Then, on Boxing Day…..are you tired yet?  I know I was, and we’re not even done yet?…….my family got together at my sister’s house to celebrate Christmas.  We had another good time.  The kids all got the play together and the adults all got to play together, and we ate some good food, and well….it was just a lot of fun.  Too bad Xani couldn’t keep her eyes open…I guess the day just wiped her right out.

THEN………the next day, Jon and I headed back to Debbie and Denver’s house to meet up with these guys.  We had such a fun time.  We showed up around 6pm, and then we finally looked at the time, and it was midnight…..it’s true that time flies when you’re having fun.  I just wish they didn’t live so far away. 

We had the 28th off and on the 29th we headed to another friends house for a evening of fellowship, fun and FONDUE!  It was a blast, and there were so many of my old friends that I hadn’t seen in a while, BUT……I stupidly forgot my camera.  Oh well! 

The 30th was Jon’s birthday, and we had a big lunch time breakfast for him, and then we did NOTHING on the 31st, and then we had…….you’ll have to check back tomorrow to check out what we did on NEW YEARS DAY!  Mean, aren’t I?

Anyway,  I don’t really have any NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS, but if I did….and I don’t……I’d be working towards being 175 pounds…..that’s my first goal…I seem to be sitting right now between 178 and 181lbs. and I’d like to drop a few more instead of just sitting here stagnant.

AND……… I want to start posting more…..like every other day, for sure, I hope, I’d like or whatever……..

How was your holiday’s?

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it….you know how it goes…

It’s snowing.  It’s been snowing off and on since last night.  We have about 6 inches of snow here, and I’m praying desperately that we don’t end up with a snow day tomorrow.

The kids would probably throttle me for doing so, but I really don’t want them hanging around the house all day tomorrow.  I have things to do and accomplish, and it’s hard enough to get it all done with just one little baby, let alone 3 big kids who are not pulling their weight around here as it is.

Although to their credit, they’ve done a lot of helping out this weekend.

My house is actually tidy, and I’m hoping to clean it tomorrow.  Mind you, their bedrooms look like a tornado blew through, but as long as I can close the door and pretend it’s not there I’m okay with that.  Not really, but I’m not up for “helping” them to tidy their rooms at this exact moment.

Well, I have another couple dozen cookies to make and then I have to either drizzle or dip them in milk and white chocolate……which should I do?  Drizzle? or Dip?

They are cinnamon flavored shortbread….not tons of cinnamon, just a hint, and they are freaking delicious.  I know ’cause I cheated and had one.

ps….note to self….in the next post – talk about Josiah’s accomplishment and the necessity of not cheating on your diet.

pps…apparently I am a HORRIFIC typer typist (You should guess how I just spelt horrific) and I make a crap load of spelling mistakes.  I just corrected 3 in this post, and after I re-read all that nonsense from yesterday I realized that most of it is spelt wrong, but I an’t going to fix it….it was hard enough to just get it up there without worrying about a few dozen spelling mistakes.

And It All Comes Crashing Down

So much for my “taking it easy….”

I think that today is making up for every bit of relaxing time I was trying to squish out of the past few days.

I have more things to try and accomplish than I possibly have time for, and now it’s just a matter of which ones are not going to get done.

I’d make a list here, but for some reason it helps for me to have it listed in pencil on a sheet of paper that I can carry around with me (I don’t need to refer to the paper once I’ve written it down, but for some reason it just helps me to write it down – it’s like it cements it in the ol’ sieve I call my brain these days steel vault…..I know, I know – a bit weird, but then I’ve never said thatI’m completely normal.

Speaking of which……do you have any little obsessive things that you do?  Like do you have to have the toilet paper coming over the top of the roll as opposed to just throwing it on there or * gasp * even worse putting it on so that the paper comes from under * oh the horror *  or how about lining up your cans inside your cupboard so that they all face out and stack up perfectly and equal distance from each other in nice neat little rows, or………folding your towels and having to place them in order from the biggest on the bottom to the smaller ones on the top of the pile…..or aranging your DVD’s in alphabetical order on the shelf  or lining up the library books that are stacked on the hall table to be returned in order from smallest to largest……..not that I’m admitting to any of this, you know, but someone out there might do stuff like this………….right??????

So, what do you do that makes you weird…, I mean quirky…, I mean special and unique?

So Long and Good Riddance

No, I don’t actually mean that.

I’m going to a Ladies Retreat this weekend.  Just me and 70 other women, and Josiah……..

And no House Cleaning or making meals or co-ordinating peace talks between the monsters masses….

I’m almost, sort of excited….except that I have to schlepp 50 kerbillion tons of diapers and clothes and blankets and everything else baby related with me…..that’s on top of all my stuff.

I’m actually taking a HUGE monster sized suitcase, just one, and it has ALL of our stuff it.

So, Bonus Points for me for thinking that even though it’s ENORMOUS…..I only have one bag, and one bag means WAY LESS trips back and forth from the van to the room.

See, I’ve got my thinking cap on.

Jon’s at home with the 3 older ones, and if you think about him laugh, and then think about me and cry, ’cause I’ll probably come home to what looks like a war ravaged excuse for a house…..although the kitchen should be clean ’cause Jon’s OCD takes over and he can’t make a meal or do ANYTHING if the kitchen is messy. 

The rest of the house can be blown apart, but if the kitchen’s clean he doesn’t even see anything else.

It actually works well for us ’cause I don’t mind the rest of the house, but I HATE CLEANING THE KITCHEN. 

We’re a good team, but……….

Babe, could you make the monsters House Cleaning Fairies clean the rest of the house before I come  home on SUNDAY AFTERNOON AROUND 3PM…..I’ll even call first to give you warning…..PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!

Has It Really Been 2 Months Already?

DimplesI think I’m kind of in shock over here.

It’s hard to believe that two months have flown by.  There have been so many amazing firsts…..although if you asked me to name any, I’d be hard pressed to pull them up – just like that.  I’m also kinda sad, ’cause I’d like to squish you down and keep you little.

Not that you are really very little at a whopping 14 pounds and 23 inches long.

I think what I mean is that I’d like to stop time.  2 months has whizzed by, and pretty soon you’re going to be graduating and moving out and getting married, and it will have only been yesterday that I gave birth.

So much has happened in these past two months, and a WHOLE lot has not happened. 

Apparently, I can’t do EVERYTHING!  Who knew?

I mean I thought I was freakin’ amazing and could do everything.  I thought that I’d just add this one little baby, and I’d still be able to do everything that I was doing before he was born.

Ha!

HA! HA!

I’m lucky if I get one thing done in a day, and even if I manage to get one thing done, and still have actual day light hours to do another thing on my list…….I haven’t the energy.  I know I’ve complained about being tired, but when I’m rocking the little bugger to sleep at 12:23am while Jon is in bed sleeping, and then up at 5:47am wandering the house trying to get my little darling to burp so he’ll just settle down, and Jon is still sleeping…oh no…..wait a sec…..the alarm just went off….must be 6am…..and now he’s just hit the snooze button…….are you kidding me?  Just get up and rock your son…..I’ve been up 3 times already and my hips are killing me ’cause I need to make a chiro appt…….and there goes the alarm again….and he’s snoozed it AGAIN…………and now 15 million snoozes later it’s 6:52am, and the older kids are stirring and I might as well just get up ’cause the baby still hasn’t………oh, there’s the burp…..and now he’s sleeping, and I’m too annoyed to sleep.  Maybe I’ll be able to get a nap this afternoon…..yah, that’s right.  I’ll try to have a nap……aaaawwwwhhhh, who am I kidding…I can hardly ever nap……….this is definately a 2 shot Americano morning. 

Oh, did I just muse all of that out loud?  Welcome to my world!  We could call the theme tired and frustrated….mostly ’cause I’m tired!  Add a 14 pound mamma’s boy to that mix, and it’s a good time, people!

I’m serious about the not accomplishing anything.  Today, for example, I had a list (I can make lists while I’m nursing, so I know exactly what and how much I AM NOT accomplishing. – Yah Me!  It’s a real boost to the ol’ ego to make a record of what you can’t get done and to watch it just get longer and longer.  So much fun!) and I needed to go shopping.  I hit Costco and Superstore, and made it home before I had to nurse.  I needed to go to about 5 other stores to pick up 1 item from each of them, and before Josiah, that wouldn’t have been a big deal, but taking the baby out of his car seat for 5 minutes and then putting him back in it is frustrating and takes twice as long, and seeing as he doesn’t really like his car seat in the first place…it’s just hell all around, and so I don’t go unless I have someone with me who can stay in the car with the baby…….yes, I AM A DIVA…I need an entourage and I’m okay with that. 

So, I get home, Jon helps to unload the van while I nurse Josiah, and then there is one last trip to make ’cause I forgot to take a deposit to the bank.  Stupid, sleep deprived me!

Now I’m tired and parked in front of my computer covered in barf…..cold wet barf….you should try it….smells lovely!  I should have started dinner, but I haven’t and now I have to scrap what I had planned ’cause there isn’t time, and I have to come up with a quicker meal ’cause I only have half an hour….maybe we’ll have chilli for the 3rd time in a week.  Won’t the kids love that?

I have so much more to say and no more time……maybe I’ll be back later tonight, but probably not…..maybe tomorrow…but don’t hold out too much hope for that either……..until whenever………….

ps.  I have a random set of pics up on Flickr, and I’ll be explaining some of them over the next couple of days posts.  You can get a sneek peek here.

The Catch Up Post (with WAY TOO MANY pictures)

Wow!  It’s been almost a week since I posted anything…..okay…maybe not a week, but it’s been 5 days, and that’s a week’s worth of work.  Any way, we are officially on VACATION right now.

It’s Fabulous *snort*…..yah!  A vacation at home with 3 bigs kids, and one newborn, and a husband who is still trying to catch up on a back log of work in his “down time”, and a messy house, and activites scheduled and then having to be “arranged” around a nursing baby’s schedule, and a screaming baby when we are on the road and it’s feeding time, and that’s just the tip of the fun we’ve been having…….OH THE JOYS!

As I mentioned last time, we decided NOT to go on vacation up to Vasseaux Lake, and instead we would stay home where we had all the gear, and didn’t have to pack anything up, and then just spend money on random bits of fun here locally. 

On Friday night, We invited friends of ours over and we had a birthday party for one of our friends. 

Holly's Birthday

Yah!  It was the first time that I’d had anything at our house, and well…..it went pretty well, but things took a little onger than I had expected.  EVERYTHING takes longer with a newborn around. 

Dave and JosiahWe even had a surprise guest from Labanon.  Jon’s brother was in town, and came out for the party. 

It was nice to see him, and for him to be able to see Josiah for the first time.  They only just left, so it was a nice surprise to see him again soo soon. 

It was a fun night for all, until the babies started to go beyond what they could handle, and everything was shut down, and we all parted ways to put the children to bed. 

Do they really even realize what power they hold at such a young age?

On Saturday, we “showed up at our cabin for the week” and would you believe it????…….the last people to use the place had left it a mess…..can you believe it?  So we had to spend our first day at the “vacation cabin” cleaning up.  That was Saturday….ALL DAY! because they fussed for the entire day about “HAVING” to clean up, and it took ALL FREAKIN’ DAY to get the house cleaned.  Talk about frustrating…..  We did go out to a nie Greek Food restauraant with Denver and Debbie, but I forgot my camera.  Lucky for us, Debbie had hers, so as soon as she sends the pics to me (HINT, HINT) I can post those.

Sunday we got up and we thought about going to church, and then quickly dismissed that idea ’cause it would have meant that we needed to rush, and I really wasn’t into rushing.  I’m feeling the lack of sleep these days.  It’s not too bad, and I’m really not complaining, ’cause this little angel child only wakes at 2am and 5am (like I’ve mentioned before) and mostly just eats and falls right back to sleep unless he gets a air bubble that he won’t let go of.  He really likes to hold onto his burps.  It really takes an act of God to get him to burp. 

Hanging at StarbucksAny way, we went into Vancouver to see Chris, and then we were going to go to Granville Island and check out the market and see if we could find any “weird, cool, unique and unfamiliar fruits” that we could try out for fun.  We might not send our kids with a dollar to the candy store at Granville Island, but we will take them there and search out weird fruits…..hey, if you say it with enough excitement in your voice – you can make just about anything sound fun.

We stayed with Chris for a long time, and had a REALLY GOOD TIME, but by the time we were done, we couldn’t go to Granville Island.  It was too late – maybe another day.  Instead we took the kids to Red Robins, and they were wonderful little angels.  Which was a miracle, as they’ve been a bit wild recently.

We had to stop at the Farm Market to pick up some fruits and veggies on our way home, and Jon took the kids into the Market while I sat in the car and nursed Josiah.  Josiah was still going strong when they were finished, and so they played in the gravel parking lot.  Who knew that a gravel parking lot could be so much fun.  See how sad they are to be leaving…what a bunch of goofs.

Not Happy

On Monday, Jon worked in the moring while the kids tore the house apart, and I tried to sleep (Sooooooo tired – I know……I’m a whiner, I have it sooooo easy)  Then we all pack up and went to the Matinee for Ratatouille.  The kids loved it, and it was actually a really cute movie.  We had to go into Langley to see see the movie ’cause that was the ONLY place close that was still playing the movie.  After the movie was over we went and visited  my Dad at his office, and then went shopping for a few baby things.

We ended up picking up backpacks and school shoes for the kids, so they were happy.

That brings us to today.  We had a bunch of stuff planned.  Little things that required little to no money.  We were going to hit the Library, and let the kids take 5 dollars each and spend it at the Dollar Store, go to all 3 parks at Mill Lake, and finish up shopping for school supplies. (I just have a few things left to pick up). 

Jason & JosiahA friend of ours called us this morning, and adjusted those plans for us.  YAH!

Jason is down from Prince George, and got to see and hold Josiah.

I’m posting this picture to drive Lise mad with envy, and then maybe she’ll move back…..or maybe she’s still holding out hope that we’ll move up there.

Anyway, Love ya girl, and miss ya tons. 

It was so nice to see Jason, and we talked and talked and talked, and still didn’t get to say everything that we’ve have liked to.  We could talk forever. 

We really miss these guys.  They are AMAZING people, and we are worse off because they’ve moved so blinking far away.

 Movin’ on before I start thinking about it too much and cry…..

We did get out and pick up a bunch of school supplies, but I’m still looking for a few specific things.  Jon did take the kids to ONE of the parks at Mill Lake, but aside from an amazing visit, our day was pretty much shot.

Here is a cute picture of our little demon angel.

Here he is at one week old.

and Here’s Two Weeks

And we Absolutely LOVE this Lion King shot….love the arms and legs. 
They’re so long and scrawny.

Alrighty, I have so much more, but the little man is calling, and so I must go.

 Go and check out the new pics up over here.

Is it really still this week?

I have a hard time believeing that I wrote that post only 4 days ago.

This has been the LOOOOOOONGEST week ever, and truthfully – It’s not over, yet……

Tuesday I was part of a pre-conference all day meeting that was pretty fun.  Wednesday I was able to make it in to see Chris, although he was a bit backed up, and I didn’t get to see him as much as I would have liked to.  I got home from seeing him, and had a message waiting for me on my home phone……..from my doctor’s office……the Obstetrical Doctor……telling me not to worry, just to call…………..

Yah Right!  Those calls are almost NEVER good!  So, I call back, but I know it’s about the gestational diabetes test that I took last week.  YUP!  I flunked the one hour test, and have to go in  for the 3 hour.

It oculd have been worse news.  I could have had such bad levels that they would have just sent me to the gestational diabetes clinic, and we could have carried on from there.

Apparently, the cut off level is 7.8, and I was at an 8.4 – anything higher than a 10.3, and I would have had a direct pass to the clinic.  So, I still have a chance at passing the 3 hour, although when I went in to pick up the requisition from the office yesterday, the nurse didn’t really think that would be the case.  I’ll just have to show her……

So, I called my naturopath, to ask a few questions, and she has put me on some stuff that is supposed to level my blood sugar levels, and I’m back HARD CORE on the candida diet cause it’s supposed to also stabilize blood sugar levels.  So much fun – not!

I will admit that the news that I had flunked came at a not-so-fabulous time.  I am doing okay emotionally.  Not fabulous, but better than really bad!  With everything else that is going on, this one more piece of news kinda pushed me over the edge and I had a bad night on Wednesday night.  Kept obsessing about everything, and couldn’t sleep until after 2am.  Nice, eh?  Especially as I had to get up at 6:30am the next morning to take a shower before I started Thursday.

Thursday was a crazy busy day.  Did a ton of running around, and had to drive into Langley to pick up the Meds from the Naturopath, and was supposed to pick up one thing from a Pharmacy, but I hit 3 different ones, and it wasn’t available at any of them.  I had to blast home ’cause the kids were walking – at least that gave me a few extra minutes.  It’s the difference between thinking that I have to go and pick them up around 2:30pm, or they come home around 3pm.  Their schoool actually gets out at 2:48pm, but if you want a parking spot you have to come a bit early, and you have to factor in the driving time (even if it is only 3 minutes) – when they walk home – I don’t even have to think about them until they show up just after 3pm – that is soooooo nice!

So, last night after I gave a really lame attempt at getting the kids off to bed (Jon normally does the bedtime routine ’cause I hate the 500 million stall tactics, and hove no patience at that point), I laid down with J to get him to settle down and go to sleep……..and I fell asleep!  That’s not really a problem except for the fact that I’d told Xan that I’d come and lay with her for a minute as soon as J was asleep.   I think I stalled her off until tonight!  At least that what I remember from my end of the conversation, mind you I wouldnt’ bet he most reliable person to ask at that point ’cause I was mostly asleep.

I woke up feeling pretty good this morning.  The kids got off to school, and I got ready for the day.  I’ve been shopping this morning already, and visited Jon at the conference.  I’m home now – OBVIOUSLY – and am just finishing up a salad with some chicken on it, and have to get busy.

I have a bunch of stuff that I NEED to get done, and it has to be done either today or tomorrow.  I should really just do it today to get it over and done with.  I’ve been feeling more pregnant, and awkward as far as my body goes.  I’m getting bigger, and am starting to feel a bit uncomfortable, but I’m not complaining…..too much!

I’ll be 29 weeks tomorrow, and am so excited to have made it this far.  Only a bit longer and our sweet little boy will be here.  I have an ultrasound on Tuesday, and it will be fun to get another peek at him.

Well, that’s my week so far.  Hope you’ve all had a fabulous week, and have an even better weekend.

This Week

This week feels a bit nuts.

I really shouldn’t complain as it hasn’t even really started, yet; but I know where it’s headed.  Jon is doing sound all week for a conference, and while it’s decent money for a weeks worth of work, it’s  hard week on our family.

It sucks even more ’cause this year they started the conference on the Victoria Day Monday Holiday.  Last year, the holiday was the day after everything wrapped up, and it was so nice to have a day off.  This year, I had the kids at home all by myself, and Jon was gone, and well…….it was just a rough day.

I’d like to think that I’m further ahead of “things” than I was was this morning, but I’m not entirely certain of that.  I have a full day tomorrow, and am hoping to pop in to see Chris on Wednesday.  The trip in and out is always a big deal.  I don’t mind it so much, but it jsut really takes up your day.  Thursday, and Friday I’m helping out a friend, and then I have to survive Saturday by myself with the kids, and then Sunday is crazy busy with both Jon and I involved, and well…then we start another week, and I already have Monday and Tuesday booked up of that week, and will probably want to go in to see Chris next Wednesday.  I might just book off Thurday entirely, and so far I one appointment first thing on Friday morning.  The only good thing about all of this is that by the time these next two weeks are done – I will be finished 30 weeks.  Wow!  We really are headed into the home stretch, and I still have SO MUCH to do.

We did manage to clear out the baby’s room, and scraped the first layer of filth off the walls.  We still need to clean them really good, and then fill all the holes, and then paint.  I also need to steam clean the carpet REALLY well!  Then we just have to get some furniture to fill it up.  I did hang some of the little clothes in the closet.  SO CUTE!  I really can’t wait until we have this little one.

I did hear a very sad story today though.  The pastors of the church that the conference is renting came past the church today, and they had been at the hospital visiting with a couple who had just had a stillborn.  It’s so sad.  The baby was 11 days overdue, and moving around and everything seemed to be fine, and then it just stopped moving.  The lady had the baby last night.  It’s so hard to hear things like that.  It doesn’t scare me, but it does make me wonder if they had induced 2 days earlier, would there have been a different outcome?  Just like, if Nathaniel had been born at 25 weeks, and not just died, he could have been alive.  I know that you can’t live in the “what ifs” and “could have beens”, but sometimes it’s hard to not think the thoughts.