Quick 5

This week has been brought to you by Oatmeal Creme Pies, Pepsi Next and the color red.

1.  Last Friday I finished Alaina's rag quilt.  That thing was a beast of a project.  Very very simple and very VERY time consuming.  If our house catches on fire, I will probably grab the girls and that quilt.  The rest can be replaced.  But it turned out exactly like I hoped it would.  I'd love to make one for each of the other girls, but probably not for at least two years.  I need a break.

2.  Last Saturday we took the girls to Happy Hearts, an event that our church puts on for preschoolers.  There was a pancake breakfast, crafts, games, a bouncy castle, and an awesome puppet show.  The girls LOVED it.  Alaina spent most of her time in the bouncy castle (surprisingly) and playing the games.  Joya loved the crafts, since most of them were sticking stickers on things, which happens to be her favorite pastime.  She also loved the slide in the biggest bouncy castle.  She would have done that the whole time, except I pulled her off of it when the bigger boys started playing since they had zero respect for the two-year-olds.  She would have gotten clobbered.

Alaina and her good pal Avery

Probably upset that she couldn't go on the slide

3.  In other Valentine's related news, on Wednesday we enjoyed our annual heart pizza from Papa Murphy's.  Although with another mouth to feed, we're probably going to have to end up getting two one of these years.

4.  Then Thursday morning, Lee got up early and made us a sweet Valentine's breakfast.  One of my mom's cousins gave us a waffle maker that makes heart-shaped waffles for our wedding, and at the time Lee thought it was so lame.  Little did he know we'd end up having three girls, which makes it very appropriate and special to have such a unique appliance.  The girls thought it was awesome.  (So did I.  I love pink hearts.)

5.  Hopefully less than two weeks to go with this little bun in the oven.  I've officially reached that point in pregnancy where you feel like you just might be the first woman in history to be pregnant forever.  My mind knows the facts, but my body feels like it's just settling in for the long haul.

Joya standing right under me, then leaning back so I can see her face.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Quick 5

Did anyone see that the power went off at the Superbowl for, like, 37 minutes?  Just wondering.

1.  I made some queso for us to enjoy while we watched the big game.  Regular stuff: store brand Velveeta and Rotel.  Lee put it on his hot dog and it blew his mind.  So give that a try next time you have some.

2.  Two of our favorite things happened this week.  Our car had to spend some time in the shop, and Joya was sick.  Nothing like spending large chunks of change getting the car fixed.

3.  Joya turned out to have a very mild ear infection.  The good news is it was the first one she's had in six months.  Another piece of good news was that the doctor said it "wasn't the worst one she'd ever seen" and that antibiotics would help.  It did.  And we finally got some good sleep on Wednesday night.

4.  I'm not much of a cuddler, and Joya definitely takes after me in that area.  Monday night and Tuesday night Joya woke up with a raging fever, and so I gave her medicine and put her in bed with me just for my piece of mind.  We're not family bed kind of people, and I don't think Alaina has ever even slept in our bed.  But I'm too big these days to sit up with Joya in a recliner, so laying down with her seemed to be a good idea.  But after about 20 minutes of that, Joya started saying "Bed.  Go to bed.  Please."  I clarified that she wanted to go back to her bed, and she said yes.  At least she felt good enough to want to sleep by herself.  And there really isn't much room in our bed these days (thanks, Baby Meatball!).  And now I don't really have to worry about her wanting to sleep in our bed all the time.  All's well that ends well.

5.  The rest of our days are falling into the Waiting Game for this baby.  I'm wrapping up all my projects and plan to spend lots of time with the Kindle these last few weeks.  Unless I get the burst of nesting energy and am able to clean or something.  But that didn't really happen with the other girls, so I'm not counting on it.

Peace out!

Quick 5

Hello February!  Blessed birth month!  (Unless Baby Meatball decides to come two days late, and ends up in Loathsome March.)

1.  Having Joya in a toddler bed has clued me into what an early riser she is.  She comes out of her room anywhere between 6:30 and 7:00 most days, although we did see two days in the last month when she slept in until 7:45.  But mostly it's the early times.  Alaina will most often sleep until around 7:00, although sometimes she'll come out early too.  Last Saturday was an early morning.  I was getting ready as usual and Lee was still sleeping when the girls made their way to my bathroom door.  I told them to be quiet because Daddy was sleeping, and they hung out with me for awhile.  Then I told them to go wait in their room for me while I found my socks.  It took about four minutes, and when I walked in their room to get them, this is what I found:

SO CUTE

2.  It's a good thing we decided to go for a toddler bed with Joya, because she's fallen out of that thing like, 3 times already.  She cries every time, probably from the surprise of ending up on the floor in the middle of the night.  What would she do if the bed was more than three inches off the ground?

3.  On Wednesday night Lee had a special meeting with his men's group, so I had to take both girls to Cubbies.  Usually only one of us takes Alaina and then Joya gets to go to bed on time.  Anyway, we left the church around 8:20.  It was past Alaina's bed time, and it was WAY past Joya's.  I turned on the classical music to help them settle down, and this is what I hear from the back seat:

Alaina: Mom, I'm pooped!
Joya: Yeah, me too.  I poopy.

We then had to explain what "pooped" meant, although I'm not sure Joya fully grasped the expression.  (She wasn't actually poopy, but she's in the "me too" phase and will never be outdone by her sister, if she can help it!)

4.  Alaina got into the charter school!  We are officially enrolled, I think.  Or at least we will be when I send back the confirmation letter in response to her acceptance letter.  I'm so relieved and thankful.  I'm very hopeful that this charter school will be a great fit for us.  It's a small K-12 school, which I've always liked.  Since we can't do private school and have ruled out homeschool for now, then we're excited about the charter school route.  Alaina is going to LOVE school, and while I will probably cry when she goes, this is definitely an experience I want to watch her have. 

5.  Drum roll please...the baby's room is done!  Or 98% done.  There are still a couple of tweaks to make, but everything is mostly in place and most of the baby laundry is done.  Now, before any of you freak out about me having it all together, let me explain a few things about me and my preparedness.  I have fully embraced the fact that I do NOT deal with change well, which is a fantastic quality to have when you're facing a Huge Life Change event like having a baby. (Just ask my sister-in-law, who witnessed me sitting down and bawling the day we moved into our house for no other reason than the fact that the house was in complete disarray.)  Anyway, I know that the first three to four weeks of Baby Meatball's life will be emotionally unstable enough without me having to wonder where her clothes and diapers are.  The simple act of learning to balance a newborn's schedule with the busy lives of two other girls will already be more than I can handle.  So it was very important to me to have the baby's room ready and the majority of the baby stuff set up a month before she comes.  So grace to you (yes, YOU Christina!) if you didn't have half of your stuff ready.  I have always wished I could be more spontaneous and go with the flow, but I'm just not.  And having a baby is not the time for me to try act completely contrary to my natural inclinations.  I'm really hoping that simply recognizing the fact that I don't deal with change well will be half the battle, but that remains to be seen.  Anyway, here is the baby's room:

 That's a wrap!