First impressions

I'll post pictures backwards here - Kari took all the labor/delivery pictures on her phone so she had those, while I had her take our photo shoot pictures on my camera so I posted the pretty stuff before the nitty-gritty stuff, accidentally giving some people the impression that I endured this labor thing gracefully.  Here's what I really looked like during labor:

AWFUL.  I was being very sarcastic to that nurse putting that shunt in my arm.  Turns out, I needed it for pitocin in the end and she's actually a nice person, so I apologised after it was all over.

My 1st impression when they handed sweet baby Ethan to me was "eeeew, get him back off of me!"

They told me they'd put him on my chest immediately after delivery and they did not lie, I felt like they didn't so much catch him as rebound him from his prior slimy abode onto my stomach.  He was covered in goop! Totally gross.  And he had just given me such terrible grief of a delivery I said "it's going to take me a few minutes to love him." Yep, said that out loud.

My 2nd impression was that he has got some lungs on him!  I didn't know a newborn could scream so loudly and clearly. And persistently!  Even after swaddeling him all up he didn't calm down.  It was a bit of a relief when they took him to the nursery to get his bath, finally I had some peace and quiet! It seemed my fears for a colicky baby were confirmed, if he wasn't asleep he was crying (scream crying), but now he has begun taking a pacifier and is content for seconds at a time after he nurses and before the paci gets popped in. Yep, seconds, we'll try to stretch that to minutes as the weeks go by :)

My 3rd impression was that I was so glad Kari had been there with me.  Sure, she left when I started throwing up, but she muscled through it and came back and kept rubbing my back and getting on Joe when he'd quit rubbing my tailbone and she'd remind me to keep breathing and told me it was good to make lots of noise and it just felt good to have some support that I knew and loved when all the nurses seemed *so mean,* they just wanted me to be in pain pushing. I knew Kari was there wanting to not push right along with me! We could be wussy about this delivery thing together.

Sure enough, she says she's terrified of delivering her next baby, but I'll be right by her commiserating and not wanting to push, too. Thanks, Kari!

My 4th impression was how much easier the hospital visits were than with Caroline's delivery.  When Eli and Patrick came to visit with her they were craaaaazy, it felt like a wrestling match on my hospital bed, there was lots of baby stealing and jostling and pushing.  This time everyone was happy to see the baby but they were calm and sweet.  I expected Caroline to be crazy but she's a little mom, she likes to hold him and sweetly pat his head but when she's done she doesn't push him on the floor, she just let's me know, "all done!" And when he cries she informs me, "crying!" Thanks, sister :)  Eli uses his sweetest falsetto voice and talks to him, and Patrick is very protective and tells me how much he loves him.  It was actually a pleasure to have them visit!  Amelia and Addilyn were great, too, I actually looked forward to the kids stopping by rather than dreading the hour.

My 5th impression is that this is going to be the most fun I've had taking a baby home.  We have a great home to settle into, he has loving older siblings who won't kill him, I have my sister nearby, and for the first time I have loads of time with my wonderful husband.  This will be such a different experience, in such a great way!  

Baby!

Boy, were WE surprised when we got a boy!  Thank goodness I bought a back-up blanket because I sure don't need the purple on that I so carefully knitted :) 

 

Ethan Edward Jacobs

Born September 22, 2012 at 8:24 a.m.

7 lb 3 oz, 20.5 inches long

 

And cute as a button

 

I suppose I went into labor at 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning when my water broke, but I didn't have any contractions so I grabbed a towel and went back to sleep until 6:00, when contractions got rolling. Like Caroline, they got intense QUICKLY. Our friend stayed at the house while we drove to the hospital where Kari met up with us.  Also like with Caroline, I was already at 9 cm by the time we arrived in delivery and got to complete in about 15 minutes so had this been Caroline's delivery it would have been 2 contractions of pushes and done! 

 

But it wasn't, it was Ethan's delivery and was wildly different.  He was posterior (head down but facing my front, not my back) and stubbornly refused to turn around, so it was MUCH more difficult to push and ended up taking 90 minutes, not 90 seconds.  Needless to say, I was not a happy camper during delivery.  Labor, though, wasn't so bad, since getting to 10 centimeters was really quick and I kept thinking of something Kari said after she had Addilyn without any pain medication, that she thought contractions would get worse and worse but once they got to a certain point they just sort of stayed that bad, and then it was time to push the baby out!  So while my contractions were very painful I thought "well, that's okay because this is as bad as it gets and then I push the baby out!"  Too bad pushing was horrendous and made me SO SORE (yeah, all that, but also my arms and legs are sore from all the pushing and pulling I had to do to get leverage!).  If I thought I screamed bloody murder during Eli's and Caroline's deliveries it was nothing compared to this.  Just be glad you weren't there to see (or hear) it!  Anyway, the doctor eventually gave me some pitocin to help the contractions get stronger to get that baby out, which I did right around 8:30.  Not too bad, really only laboring from 6 - 8:30, but I guess I got pretty spoiled last time  :) 

 

Today was a lot more fun, I got showered and dressed and put on makeup and had Kari come take pictures of me with my new, sweet burrito.

Now THAT'S a good way to spend 90 minutes at the hospital!  More pictures to come, I'm sure, but now it's time for bed.

Stubborn baby bugs me - bummer

Getting enough sleep is tricky since I have to get up multiple times each night, but every time I wake up it wakes the (still unborn) baby up and then it's all awake and crazy in my belly so it's like trying to fall asleep with a squirrel up my shirt.  Not exactly relaxing. I still can't believe how active this pregnancy has been! So Joe was watching the action with me last night and it was so gross... I just had to take a video.

And yes, if the baby doesn't get the show on the road I'm being induced on Sunday.  I realize there are plenty of viewpoints on this but I'm sticking to it, for reasons which are mine and not yours, so I haven't mentioned it because it's not really up for discussion.  I don't mean to sound defensive and rude, but I seriously mentioned it to my neighbor who acted like it was a personal attack on her that I am getting induced.  "Ummmm, are you full term? (eyebrows raised to her hairline as she looked down her nose) Because you don't look very big."  Yeah, lady, 39 weeks and 4 cm dialated and you're the 18th person to say that I'm not big but trust me, I'm FINE.  So Sunday it is! 

Stripper

Well, still here... but again, not for lack of trying! I had an OB appointment on Monday and I had steadily been getting more and more uncomfortable and, consequently, miserable.  WHY did I ever think I liked being pregnant?! Grumpy and mean to my kids, tired and letting them watch too much TV, still surrounded by loads of projects to do but no energy in my limbs left to do them.  So when I talked to my doctor on Monday she agreed to strip my membrane; I was excited because I was positive this would bring on some labor! It's practically fool-proof, right? OBVIOUSLY... not so much.... BUT a totally weird side-effect is that is made me comfortable again!  Previously it felt like my hips were broken and the baby was so far down I couldn't even walk with my legs close together; not only is that uncomfortable for me, I figure it's pretty uncomfortable for other people to watch.  After being "stripped down," I can walk again! My hips are lighter! I am so much more comfortable!  And now I remember why, toward the end of my last pregnancy, I had decided that in general I enjoy being pregnant.... because up until Monday I was eating those words. Now I'm just back to eating 8 times a day, and with minimal heartburn because the baby is so dang low.  Still surrounded by projects and getting driven crazy at times by my kids but generally much better.   Thanks for asking :)

Hoarding.

Guys, it's a little embarassing to admit because the show I'm addicted to is not new... like getting addicted to Dawson's Creek during the last season when everyone's already over it... but I am SO ADDICTED to watching Hoarders!

Hoarders, Hoarding: Buried Alive, and True Confessions: Animal Hoarders are pretty much the only things I watch these days.  First, it makes me feel like an AMAZING housekeeper.  You can see my floor? BOO-ya! I rock!  Second, it motivates me to be a BETTER housekeeper, particularly while I'm watching the show.  About halfway through an episode I just have to start sorting something, folding laundry, putting away dishes, etc.  When I make a little headway I can relax again and watch some more show until it motivates me to get up again and do another chore.  It's so great! A show that makes me want to clean my house.  It's like watching some excersize program where you accidentally burn a few calories because you're so intrigued by the moves they're doing. And third, maybe my most favorite part, are the PEOPLE are Hoarders.  They are INSAAAAAANE!!! I always gives me something interesting to talk about with Joe over breakfast. 

The shows mention the 5 levels of hoarding, which I found a little synopsis of:
A level 1 household is “normal,” with some clutter, and is clean and livable, but perhaps with the occasional pet odors. Even some pest evidence — a few mouse droppings or an ants invasion — might be found in a Level 1 house.
A level 2 household might have more problems with pet and pest damage, may have some doorways blocked by clutter and may also have one important appliance, like a washer, dryer or refrigerator that hasn’t worked in some time.
Levels 3, 4 and 5 continue in this mode but with floor to ceiling clutter and things like structural damage in the home, such as leaks or broken windows, bathrooms that are unusable, rotting food and major pest infestations.
A person with a level 5 hoarding problem can sometimes not live in his own home because there is nowhere to sleep and the bathroom and kitchen are unusable.

According to that scale I suppose Joe's right - I definitely struggle with keeping my house free of clutter!

Okay, this is NOT my living room. But that's why watching Hoarders is so awesome, it motivates me to declutter. Then, according to Wikipedia (the source of truth and knowledge), I really DO have some hoarding tendancies (noted in italics, not in underlines - thank goodness!). They describe hoarding as a tendancy to hold onto a large number of items that most people would consider not useful or valuable. For example:

• Junk mail
• Old catalogues (I can't bring myself to throw out "This Old House") and newspapers
• Things that might be useful for making crafts (that's not hoarding, that's good common sense!)
• Clothes that "might" be worn one day
• Broken things/trash (this is Joe, he has quite a few broken items he won't let me throw away! Don't let him fool you! He's not innocent)
• "Freebies" picked up (did you read all about my new dishes shelf?)

2. The home is so cluttered that many parts are inaccessible and can no longer be used for intended purpose. For example:

• Beds that cannot be slept in
• Kitchens that cannot be used for food preparation, refrigerators filled to the brim with rotting food, stovetops with combustibles such as junk mail as well as old food piled on top of burners.
• Tables that cannot be used for dining (we have to clear off the table to eat before every single meal.  We DO clean it, but still!)
• Chairs or sofas that cannot be used
• Filthy unsanitary bathrooms; piles of human feces collected in areas of the home, sometimes there are animal feces over the floors of the home, giant bags of dirty diapers hoarded for many years.
• Some hoard scores of animals they cannot even marginally care for; often dead pets cannibalized by other pets are found under the heaps

3. The clutter and mess is so bad it causes illness, distress, and impairment. For example:

• Does not allow visitors such as family and friends, or repair and maintenance professionals because the clutter embarrasses them.
• Keep the shades drawn so no one can see inside
• Get into a lot of arguments with family members about the clutter
• Are at risk of fire, falling, infestation or eviction
• Feel depressed or anxious much of the time because of the clutter

Well, I think everyone feels a bit anxious now and again about how their house looks, depending on who's coming over, but I certainly wouldn't put my anxiety at Hoarders level where I haven't had people inside my home for 5 years or something. Maybe 5 minutes while I run through the house and shove dirty laundry into hampers and clear off my kitchen counters, but well... let's just hope we never see me in the future on my favorite show!


Sorry so long, I just find hoarding extremely interesting and decided you should, too :)

I've created a monster

Ohhhhhhhhh MAN.  Eli is in a rough phase right now concerning the Land of Nod.  He will totally still go down for a nap BUT then he's up until ridiculous hours of the night.  In spite of me putting him to bed between 8 and 8:30 he'll regularly stay away until 10:30 or 11! And that's just not awesome.  To remedy bedtime we started taking out his nap, which worked great for about 2 days before the meltdowns began kicking our butts.  Yeah, getting toward bedtime can be rough when a kid hasn't taken a nap, but Eli would start getting crazy upset about stupid things by about 2:00 ("my macaroni is falling out of my mouth!" as he spits it out, or "I can't see my thumb!" even though hey, it's attached to his hand). Even putting him to bed at 6:00, which I did tonight out of total exasperation, is still 4 hours of dealing with ridiculous.  Now I feel stuck between ridiculous evening hours of exasperation or ridiculously late nights where all I want is some alone time so put yourself back in bed again please, and as I can't say that I like either of those two options very much.  As I mentally blogged this I realized there's a third option, to put him down for a nap but wake him up so it's short and won't interfere with bedtime, and that's what I think I'm going to do.... starting tomorrow.  

mystery solved

Remember how the boy's room wall was wet and we didn't know why? Now we do!  We had a heavy rainstorm a few days ago and turns out the house has terrible drainage! It was just groundwater, not some hidden plumbing disaster.  "Just groundwater" still isn't great, of course, the carpet got all soaked and we had to vaccum it out and then dry it with the fan and blah blah, BUT the new drywall Joe put up is moisture resistant, so we won't be getting any mold (not that I worried about it from one measly rainstorm) AND now we know the cause so we can FIX it!  Can't fix what you don't know, so the rainstorm was a step in the right direction.  The next step in the right direction will be something like a french drain next to the foundation and a sump pump (all things I don't really understand, but I caught snippets of the conversation, so I'm putting it down anyway).  Ahhh, how we love our projects...

Jealous? You should be

Jonathan was getting rid of a shelf that had sat in his workshop for a while; it was pretty rough but they offered it to us before donating it or throwing it away.  I initially declined because I've been trying to pare down our shelves - we have (well, had) a number that were just cheap and obnoxious and unmatching, so I told them to donate it.  They had it out on their drive when a homeless man, as Jonathan describes it, asked if they could hold the shelf for him and he'd be back with a truck.  What truck? For what house? But sure, they'd hold it for a few days. Meanwhile I visited Kari's house (weird, we NEVER hang out!) and saw the shelf and it wasn't flimsy or cheap like the ones I was getting rid of, this was a shelf with POTENTIAL! (It was also a shelf with dirt, grime, leaves, and some mouse poop on it). So I said if the homeless guy never showed I WOULD take the shelf. 

Joe said I was a hoarder.  The homeless guy never showed.

Well who's the hoarder NOW, punk?  Cutest shelf ever!

Bedtime and Joy School

Eli turns out to be the singer of the family!  Who'd-a-thunk?  Football brute-slash-baritone, I suppose.  Kari said Eli is still very shy in participating in Joy School (we started last week) but he'll sing every single song! I've wanted for ages to get them singing on camera, and here it finally is!  And notice they are together on a put-together bunk-bed in a painted-blue bedroom, VERY exciting. 

Anyway, that's not REALLY the point of posting... the point is that, like last time, I'm still here.  You want a baby? Well, here's a dishwasher post.  Or a song. Or whatever.

still here

I've been trying to keep up with mundane posts so if anyone checks they can see life is still mundane; surely if I'd had the baby I would write about the baby!  So yes, I'm still here.

Not for lack of trying - as I mentioned previously, for well over a week I've had multiple contractions each night that are strong enough to wake me up, plus some during the day.  At my weekly OB check-up, this week and last, I am already dialating and effacing, and 2 weeks ago an ultrasound placed the baby at over 6 pounds.  Mentally and physically I am oh-so-ready to get this over with, so when the *perfect* timing opportunity came up last night and I went for it... and it didn't work! Castor oil, you failed me. Well, you worked in that sense, but you didn't send me into labor, and that's what I really cared about.  Yes, it's still 2 weeks to my due date, but don't be a hater - my body is obviously already ready (dialating, contracting, baby's nice and fat) but it just isn't getting the show on the road so I tried to help it along. And now you really can't hate because it didn't work and I am just as uncomfortably annoyed as I was before, only the timing will probably be terrible.

 See how uncomfortable I look? 

 

Timing.  THERE'S something you don't worry about too much with your first!  Labor starts, you head to the hospital. But with 3 kids to watch it could prove tricky - who can come in the middle of the night to stay with sleeping kids? Who wants to deal with 3 kids during the day for what could be hours upon unknown hours? What about naps? What about bedtime? I want Kari to be there with me to help through labor, so that means 5 kids instead of 3 that need watching. The *perfect timing* was that Joe's parents came to town yesterday and are now available to watch the kids, but only until they leave on Saturday, and Jonathan had Wednesday off so he was home to watch their kids while Kari came with me - all kids accounted for!  Naps, bedtime, and everything! And THAT would have been perfect.  PLUS, then Joe's parents could see the new baby, we'd be able to bring it (him/her) home while they were still here, and Joe would automatically have a few days off (his regular weekend, Tues - Fri) before he had to start taking a few days off from his regular work schedule.  He only has 3 vacation days accumulated so far, which means if I deliver earlier in the week, like Wednesday (perfect timing!) he gets his regular weekend PLUS those 3 workdays PLUS a regular weekend; if I deliver into the weekend he has to take off work right away and then only gets one regular weekend.  Which, hey, is more than he ever got from Whiting-Turner anyway, but now I'm all greedy because I'm used to it.  So yes, the pefect timing will come around again next week, but with so many contractions and already dilating I worry this baby will have TERRIBLE timing and come Saturday evening - when Jonathan's at work so we need a sitter for Kari's kids, Joe's already gone to work so he needs to speed home and then take those 3 vacation days, and John and Debbie will have left so we'll need a sitter for our three kids and they'll miss seeing the new baby by mere hours.  GRRRRR!!! 

Neighbors

I love our new house - love the layout, love the quiet neighborhood, love the closeness to nice grocery stores (not the shabby Safeway we lived next to in the rental house), love being so close to Kari's family... what I am not necessarily in love with are the neighbors.  The miniature neighbors, that is, the ones who always want to come over and play.  Here's the rundown.

We have one set of neighbors with young boys, ages 6 and 3, that love to ride their bikes around and yadda yadda and they're great!  Perfect fit for our kids, and they have played here and Patrick has played at their house.  We have a second set of neighbors who are retired but a number of times each week their grandsons stay with them.  THESE boys are ages 9 and 11 and, while we were cleaning the house and preparing to move in, seriously headed across the street the moment they saw us pull into the driveway. Every time!  They liked the play with the kids but one time we had NO kids and they just walked on over and inside anyway!  Now that they are in school they head to our house the moment they are dropped off! 

This is weird.

I've got a couple thoughts swimming about here -
1) I am happy there are kids nearby who like to play with our kids. They're friendly and polite and get along really well; our kids definitely enjoy them coming over.
2) I am totally weirded out by the age gap.  Why would those older boys want to play with kids who are 4, 2, and 1 years old?  I would understand it a lot more, I suppose, if it were girls, who often like to feel like babysitters and moms or some authoritarian-over-small-people figure, but boys? I'm confused.
3) We kinda feel like the grandparents are mooching.  Seriously, we are not even completely moved in! For a month we were just coming here to WORK, so no, I do not want to watch your kids; now that we ARE moved in we are unpacking and painting and NO, I do not want to watch your kids! I am weeks (or days, please please!) away from delivering, do you think I don't have my hands full? Or do you perhaps think that because your grandkids are older they are babysitting rather than being babysat?
4) To be fair, I have not sent my kids to THEIR house to play, and I don't necessarily expect them to head here to ask if my kids want to go there... once you're together, let playtime begin!
5) I do not plan on sending my kids to their house to play.  While the grandparents are very nice (we've met them), these kids are totally older and have access to things (like the internet, video games, etc) that my kids don't have, and they might not get that what's appropriate for an 11-year-old just isn't for a 4-year-old.  Basically, I'm scared my kid will have a creepy experience where some older kid whipped out a Playboy magazine they nicked from their dad/older brother/whoever (and of course the sweet grandparents don't know) and now my kid's totally confused.  So now it's back to being resentful because the only option I'm comfortable with is having extra kids at my house.

Am I being paranoid? Do you guys have any experience with something like this? Kathy, does Gideon hang out with Rushmore's friends? (Just putting that in writing is so ridiculous, I'm thinking "nope!").  What about you, Sherrye? Debbie? Mom? Anyone? I want to be polite but, at the same time, not dread 3:00 as the school bus is dropping its load and, consequently, MY load.    

Apply yourself

When we sold our Thornton house we wanted it listed as "move-in ready," which meant appliances were included.  It was our realtor's suggestion, since houses like that sold a lost faster (must have worked!).  We'd gotten most everything from Craigslist or garage sales, with the exception of a new stove and range hood, but everything ran well so we were pleased to get a nice bonus from leaving our stuff that wasn't expensive in the first place.  Then, when we bought this house and didn't have any appliances, how handy:  "Appliances included."

Fast forward to our first day here.  The dishwasher doesn't work AT ALL. It SOUNDS like it runs but the motor is completely shot, so instead of spraying water onto the dishes (you know, cleaning them and such) it dribbles water into the base and makes a huge mess and doesn't clean anything, including itself.  Well, fine, we got our last dishwasher on Craigslist for $50, this won't be a big deal... except that Pueblo hasn't quite caught the Craigslist bug like Denver, and there was not one single dishwasher listed! Like, ever! Okay, so we need to buy new, that's a bummer...

Fast forward to our second day here.  Whipping up a chef-inspired pot of macaroni and cheese for the kids (complete with paper plates and plastic utensils because I don't have a dishwasher and don't need THAT much handwashing, thanks), I had the burner on high and turned it to med-high once the noodles started frothing so they didn't boil over.  I checked on the noodles 2 minutes later and there's no sign of bubbles in the water - they're not boiling over, but they are not boiling AT ALL.  This is exactly the same problem we had with our stove in Thornton (before we bought new) - the electric coils are loose and don't have a decent connection so if you shift the pan or change the heat setting or (heaven forbid) look at it wrong, the burner turns off! Whatever when you're making macaroni for the kids, but it is AWFUL if you're on a time crunch, or cooking something that needs decent attention, or if you're having a bad day and you already want to kick something.  So guess what? We needed to buy new - again.

Fast forward to our first electric bill. All August we worked on the house so we had the fridge plugged in and kept snacks and drinks here, but we certainly didn't LIVE here to use any electricity (no TV, computer, etc) and we worked during the day so we didn't use lights, meaning the bill should have been about $10. ORRRRR... $35 to run one stupid fridge.  That drips water inside.  That might as well match the new appliances that we're already buying, I suppose! 

So buyer, BEWARE... "appliances included" does not mean those appliances actually WORK. They might just be there for show.

Here's wat we've come up with, though:
These two babies were delivered today

 Did you happen to notice how AWESOME they are? Because we did! 23 cubic feet of fridge storage that doesn't leak and is EnergyStar rated to cost $50 a YEAR to run!  Double doors for easy access to the kitchen OR *future* breakfast nook! I don't have to stoop to get the milk! I've never had a new fridge in my LIFE!  The dishwasher has all the buttons on the TOP of the panel so kids will leave the dang cycle settings ALONE since they can't SEE them (a weird, but very valid, consideration), and the top rack changes height so you can load up some seriously oddly-sized items.  Maybe not a huge selling point for most people, but I despise handwashing dishes and when you make a big meal that uses lots of big mixing bowls and pots and pans it can be impossible to load them!  But not now... 

I am looking SO forward to Joe installing this so I can use my remaining pregnancy time to finish painting, not hand-washing yet another load of dishes from the day (but don't worry, I'll still waste some time blogging!).

The stove is coming on the 26th. 5 burners, eh? eh? Now I can make 5 check-inspired mac n' cheese meals AT ONCE. But really, it has a huge burner (I've nicknamed it Big Bessie already) that's perfect for my big canner (and yes, mom, I researched up and down and the manufacturers specifically state that canning, even pressure canning, is OK on a glass top).and those other 4 will just be the icing on my New Stove cake.  In fact, maybe with a new stove I'll have to bake a cake to celebrate... 

And yes, all the appliances are white to match our up-and-coming project of painting the kitchen cabinets white! Wahoo!

Swimming, swimming, in the swimming pool. In September.

Yesterday was gorgeous! Not swimming weather, in my opinion, but I needed the pools cleaned out before I deflated and stored them for the winter, and the best way to do that is to get the kids in to swish around some water. Swimming it was! After about 2 months of ZERO pictures I finally broke down and bought batteries for the camera because I didn't want to be caught at the hospital and a newborn baby and no camera, like a shmuck. So now I have to take pictures of random things to make up for all that time lost - lucky you! Picture dump! Here's my kids splashing the afternoon away. You're welcome,.

Sleep

Caroline whined to herself quite a bit before naptime one day.  After she had quieted down we snuck in to see how she'd soothed herself - a hat.  Perfect! 

Eli and Patrick shared the guest room for a few days after we moved in because their room was the stinky room - we eventually covered every square inch in Kilz oil-based primer and guess what? Don't smoke in your house, it means you'll have to Kilz every square inch!  Stink solved.  So while we tackled that problem, anyway, they slept together and one night we found Patrick in this *very* comfortable-looking position. 

Myself, I've been sleeping poorly most nights because of contractions, painful enough to wake me up but certainly nothing regular enough to bother timing.  Mostly I half wake and start counting (who knows why, you need to count time BETWEEN contractions) and as soon as one tapers I am back snoring and counting sheep instead. As much as I hate it I figure it's much better to do small amounts over many nights than to labor for a few painful hours at once and go to the hospital and find out I'm only at a 3 or 4, so I'll put up with it a while longer. 21 days until the official D-Day, but I gave Joe 97% odds that it'll be within the next 14. Those odds may be aided by some castor oil :)

We're in!

We moved in to the new house!  It's been:

exciting
hard work
fun
exhausting
expensive
a little bit smelly

We bought the house knowing full well the extent of the smelliness (pet pee and smoke), so it hasn't been a surprise that to find a lingering smell here and there.  We did everything we could about the major culprits and the house smells 99% better, but it's things like opening the linen closet in the bathroom and catching a whiff of stale smoke... REALLY?! Did you smoke while you sat on the john?!? So apparantly every square inch needs to be painted, not just the major walls, to seal out that smell.  Since that's not something we're ready to get ourselves into yet I think it'll just have to queue up on the growing list of projects (meanwhile we employ air fresheners and open windows).  I just can't decide whether it would be better to work on these projects while pregnant and exhausted and with a new baby and, most likely, exhausted.  Eli and Caroline were good sleepers - we painted our kitchen cabinets when Caroline was only one month old, after all - so I'm leaning toward "new baby" being easier; at least I could lift heavy things and not have my belly in the way and get winded climbing those whopping 7 stairs! 

A few weeks ago my doc confirmed what those crazy ladies have said, I'm looking small for how far along I am, and I was measuring (from the outside) a month behind so she ordered an ultrasound.  The ultrasound confirmed that I'm right on schedule for the end of September, so no worries there.  Joe was busy with two sets of missionaries moving all our stuff into the house on ultrasound day, so Patrick came along with me and had a very good time.  Who knew a 4-year-old would be interested in ultrasounds? The cool part was the tech switching to 3D mode, which I've never had - this picture was particularly good!  I averted my eyes when she got close to any telltale body parts, but I think the face looks like Caroline, so I'm back to thinking "girl." I'd give it a 50/50 chance :) Your thoughts?