Quick 5

Oh, blessed 60-degree winter day.  Please stay with us through the end of February so we don't have to deal with snow when it's time to go to the hospital to have the baby.

1.  The only downside I can think of to these 50 and 60 degree days is that it is SO DRY.  Alaina and Joya walk around with their hair flying in all directions, my hands are cracked and white despite the moisturizing I do, and I will be amazed if we make it through the winter without me frying an electronic device simply by touching it.  It is NOT pleasant to get a static shock on my big ol' belly, which often is the first thing to come in contact with something metal these days.  I hope the baby is okay.

2.  Last weekend was super-productive.  Lee took Friday off and spent most of the day re-arranging our basement and moving the office down there.  We have a bona fide living space, ready and waiting for family activity.  It looks great, and I'm so excited about it.  I'd post a picture, but there are still a few things out of place and I'd like them to be moved.  Maybe next week.

3.  Hopefully by the end of next week I'll have the baby's room ready.  The crib is set up, but the sheets need to be washed.  The curtains need to be hung.  The changing table needs to be moved from the girl's room.  And the rest of the boxes need to be unpacked.  I try to do a bit each day, and that seems to help.  I'll post pictures of that when it's done too.

4.  Working on this baby's room makes me feel a little sad for Joya.  Joya never got her own room; she stayed in our room until she slept through the night (which was when she was about 8 months old).  Then she immediately went into Alaina's room.  She's never really had a space all decorated just for her.  I hope that she'll look back and realize she's the first to sleep in the toddler bed, and I did buy brand-new bedding for her.  Alaina's baby room was awesome, and this baby's room is going to be good too.  Such is the life of a middle child, I suppose.  I can relate.

5.  I don't really have a lot of fears about childbirth.  Even with Alaina, it has always gone very smoothly for me.  But lately I can't seem to stop googling "how long does labor last with the third baby?"  I think I know enough people that barely made it (or didn't make it!) to the hospital on time, so it freaks me out.  I know my mom is at least an hour away from being able to be here to watch the girls at any point.  Will that hour not be enough time?  My labors have not been very fast before (25 hours and 15 hours) but will this baby just drop out of me?  The worst part is, no one can tell me.  Not the doctors.  Not the internet.  Not other moms.  It is what it is, and that is my least favorite part of childbirth.

Anyway. 

Quick 5

Another week, another pound gained. (Thanks, Baby Meatball!)

1.  Last week's baby shower was such a blessing.  In addition to some way cute clothes for the babe, the main gift was a Kindle Fire, which is a pretty sweet piece of technology.  It was on my list of Things I'll Probably Never Own (along with a Kitchen Aid Mixer, a Dyson vacuum, and a smart phone.)  But I've really enjoyed it so far.  I had no idea there were so many free e-books I could have.  I won't have to go to the library for months.  (For myself anyway; the girls still need their books and DVDs.)  I still feel like I can't express my gratitude enough.

2.  Our dear friends also gave us a Canon Power Shot camera.  That was a HUGE unexpected blessing.  We do have a fairly decent camera, but it's rather large and bulky, and we just don't lug it everywhere.  So a lot of pictures do not get taken.  But now I have a cute little one that I can throw in my purse.  And it has some really fun settings too, which make me feel like my pictures might finally be on par with the ones that people like to post of their kids.  These were taken this morning with one of the settings, and I love it already.

3.  Joya seems to be maturing by leaps and bounds all of a sudden.  Don't get me wrong; she's still very two.  But maybe it all started with the big girl bed.  Suddenly her sentences seem clearer and better structured.  And she definitely wants to do more by herself, like climbing into the van and up into her seat.  I picked her up and put her in one day because we were kind of in a hurry, and I greatly offended her.  She is quite the little person.

4.  I had my pre-admit appointment at the hospital this week.  You have the option of going in early and answering all the health-related questions, as well as filling out some paperwork so you don't have to do it while you're in labor.  It's a great service.  And the hospital is such a nice facility.  The baby's room is nowhere close to being ready, but at least I feel like the hospital part of childbirth is ready.  It's a big check off my check-list.


5.  I can't seem to come up with #5 for the life of me.  But that's life, I suppose.

Happy Friday!

Quick 5

For some reason, I'm always surprised when it's time to write the Quick 5.  It makes it seem like the days are faster than they really are.

1.  Joya has done fairly well in her big girl bed.  Nights are no problem.  We have a little more trouble with her room time and nap time.  At room time she freely destroys any order we've created in their room.  At nap time, I have to go in at least once to tell her to lay down and go to sleep.  And her nap times have been reduced to about an hour and half, possibly two hours.  At first she couldn't open her door, which I thought was great, but she has quickly figured that out.  I suppose the point is, she feels LOADS of freedom with this new bed situation and she is taking full advantage of it.

2.  Last weekend we were blessed with a couch and over-sized chair for our basement.  A couple that Lee works with was getting new couches (because these don't recline, and because they want something better to "cuddle" on) and asked if we could use their old ones.  All we needed to do is move them ourselves.  So our good friend gamely agreed to drive Lee up to Westminster in his truck to pick up the new furniture.  It's going to let us have an actual living space in our basement.  I thought we were at least a year or two away from that, but once we get our boxes rearranged, we'll have a great place to go when the summer heats up.  These people even tossed in a TV and DVD player, so we'll be able to hang out in style.  The basement stays around 70 degrees in the summer, and we are really going to enjoy having a place to go.

3.  Lee and Travis were also able to go pick up a dresser for the girls' room on Saturday.  I was able to move the canvas bins/college cube storage into the baby's room, so I'll have a place for her clothes.  I also want the world to know that my parents weaseled Lee into taking a pink desk that I specifically said I did not want to take.  It's their desk and they could have sold it on craigslist or something, but now the task has fallen to me.  I just wanted everyone to know.

4.  It's official.  My belly is impossibly huge, and I still have about seven weeks to go.  Every single week at church I have to tell at least four people that no, I'm not about to give birth and no, there aren't twins in there.  Sometimes I feel like I should wear a sign that says "End of February!!" but then I realize that most people are just making conversation, and it is good for me to converse with them.  Even if I am saying the same thing over and over. 

5.  Tomorrow some ladies at the church are throwing me a baby shower.  It's so nice of them, since you don't really get baby showers after your first.  I don't really need anything, so it'll be interesting to see what people bring.  Maybe diapers.  Anyway, it will be really nice just to hang out with some ladies for a couple of hours.  I'm looking forward to it.

Go Broncos!  I'm as much of a Bronco fan as the next person, but I think the local tagline that they've come up with for this playoff run is SUPER LAME.  United in Orange...who got paid what to come up with that?

Quick 5

New Year, new happenings.

1.  I've been looking on craigslist for a toddler bed.  I find craigslist to be extremely frustrating and not for the faint of heart.  Much of the stuff on there is way overprices, as if living in Denver, Colorado entitles you to charge people near retail price for your used junk.  But I did find a bed and mattress set in my price range.  But that lady didn't respond for over 24 hours.  So while I was waiting I found another one for $10 less, and she responded right away.  So I sent Lee out on Tuesday night and he came home with a toddler bed and mattress for $30.  I was pretty stoked at the price.  The next day I had to reply to the other seller and tell her that hers wouldn't work out for us.  Guess she didn't spend her day watching her email like I did.

2.  Last night was Joya's inaugural night in her new bed.  I put her to bed as usual, told her to stay in bed and go to sleep, and she did.  That was that.  She did wake up about three times in the night calling for me, so each time I went in and told her to lay back down.  I think she was just a little confused, and she laid back down without a fight each time.  She still didn't try and get out of bed, so I'd say the night was a success.  I hope she sleeps better tonight, but at least she isn't wandering the house.

3.  Room time this morning did not go so well.  I am going to miss the days of crib time, where I'd put her in her crib and she would happily play for an hour and a half.  Today she lasted about 40 minutes before she started knocking on the door to be let out.  Maybe she'll get used to it.  This afternoon will be her first nap in the bed, and I have no idea how that's going to go.  I'll be sad if the days of two and a half hour naps are over too, just because she can get out of bed. 

4.  I try to pray a lot of things for my children, but two things I always pray are that they would hate sin, and get caught when they are guilty.  Well yesterday during morning couch time, I hear Alaina say, "Oh no!  Mom, I had an accident."  She came to me and there was chocolate dribbled down the front of her shirt.  She had had chocolate milk at breakfast, but I didn't remember her dribbling then; she would have told me.  So I asked her if she threw up, and she said no.  Then I asked if she had been eating chocolate.  She nodded, then confessed that she had been sneaking Hershey Kisses out of the kitchen.  I suppose in her defense I left them in her reach, but she did know better.  I sentenced her to no dessert or snack that day, which was met by many tears, but as they day went on she totally understood.  It still amazes me that the "get caught when she's guilty" part of the prayer actually came to fruition.  Poor girls.  I'll be praying that for the rest of their lives.

5.  With this new year, I have a very strong desire to make goals, but I'm afraid I can't get past "have a baby" and "adjust."  I suppose "don't be a slug" violates every goal making rule, seeing as how it's not very measurable, but that's the best I can come up with.  I feel like we have so much to do before the baby comes (getting the toddler bed and moving the crib out of the girls' room was a big step) so making any goals beyond that feels overwhelming.  Maybe I'll be able to come up with some in April.  I hope they count then.

Welcome anyway, new year.  I don't like the number 13, so 2013 doesn't really fill me with any great expectations, but I'll try and keep an open mind.