I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing...

Today's church marathon...

Okay, don't get me wrong...I love going to church on Sundays...it's just that by the end, I am completely wiped out! First of all, we have CCD (catechism/religious education/sunday school or whatever else you want to call it!) before Mass. Eva is in the preschool class and has to be there at 9, I don't have to teach my 4th graders until 9:30 (they have music class first!) Today was the last day for classes, and apparently there is a tradition to let the kids walk to the local quick-e-mart for snacks on the last day (I made them take a test after they got snacks) never mind that they are all old enough to recieve communion. The other 4th grade teacher and I told them that they shouldn't take communion because of the candy/pop right before church. Then, we had a very nice mass, but all the little kids in the church were restless today, so it was very noisy! Finally, we had a LOT of announcements about upcoming stuff, and a blessing for a young man going off to pursue the Franciscan way of life. After Mass there was a potluck followed by sexual abuse training (we both fortunately did the training several years ago!) which we skipped and went instead to a local restaurant. Afterwards, I decided we might as well pick up some groceries while we were out. (I go back and forth on that no shopping on Sundays thing...) Finally, 5 hours later we got home...

Since Sundays are hubby's only day off work during the week, 3 hours of church tends to wear on us...I am so not ready for the work week to start again!

A toddler with a step stool is just NOT a good idea!

Okay, so we've always had a step ladder in our house. It currently resides in the laundry room, and we drag it out when we need to reach something high up. We acquired a step stool when I got home from the hospital because I couldn't get up into our bed (normal sized box spring with a pillowtop mattress.) It is a $10 rubbermaid one, and it is Eva's best friend...ninety five times a day she asks "Where's my step stool?" It is a great aid for getting into trouble. Here is today's example...

I was lying down with Charlotte trying to get her to nap after our 5 hour church marathon/lunch/shopping trip (more on that later!) when I noticed a buzzing sound. When Charlie fell asleep, I went investigating. Due to my severe "Harry Potter" addiction, I have all 6 books on tape (I'm thinking about upgrading to CDs sometime soon...) and I listen to them virtually every night while falling asleep. My stereo is on top of a lingere chest (about 4 1/2 ft tall, I'd bet) and the rewind button was pressed in and buzzing. Where was the step stool? Right in front of the chest! Go figure, my little toddler was probably trying to "listen to music?" which she asks to do everytime we go into my bedroom throughout the day.

The real question is, what would I be in the box of 72?

You are most like: You are Green
The feeling of spring follows you. Newness, surprise, beginnings and growth. Your fresh perspective gives others much to consider.
Take this quiz: Which Crayola Box of 8 Color Are You?
Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

Obviously, I have no life...

Gummy Bears

You may be smooshie and taste unnatural, but you're so darn cute.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

Another TMI post...

So, I complained about pants about a year ago, so now I will move on to another of my clothing nemesis (and I have many!) and that is BRAS! Now, I know that not all plus-sized women are big chested, but I have the pleasure of being both fat and busty. So busty in fact that I have difficulty wearing all sorts of cute styles of clothing. Empire waists always fall mid chest for me, for instance. So, obviously I dread buying bras!

Recently, we went up to Denver to visit my parents. By a happy coincidence, I had gotten an ad from Lane Bryant (for those of you skinny people, it's a plus sized clothing chain) that they had their brand of bras on sale, buy one get one for $9.99. With this ad was a coupon for $15 off a purchase of $15 or more. So, while we were up, we left the kiddos with my mom and dad and did a little bit of shopping.

It was a fairly tolerable bra shopping experience, thanks in large part to getting a bossy black woman to help me! (There just tends to be a difference between a bossy black woman and a bossy white woman...since I am the latter, I know how I can be bossy!) You see, I had the right size in mind (46DDD, yes, that is 3Ds), but I honestly haven't worn an underwire bra since the beginning of college. This nice (but bossy) lady told me I needed an underwire, gave me a bra to try on, fixed the straps, told me to put on my shirt and look at it in the mirror. Honestly, it made a huge difference in looks.

Being a comfort person, however, I don't mind being saggy and comfortable. However, when hubby said it looked MUCH better, I figured I'd suck it up and go with an underwire. I asked the lady if there were any other styles of underwires that might work for me. She flat out told me that the style I tried on was the only style she would recommend for my figure. So, I bought two for the price of one after the sale and coupon, and got out of the store in under 20 minutes. What more could I ask for when bra shopping?

Grrrr...

So, should a person really be allowed to have a blog when it takes them twenty minutes to sign on to blogger?? I remember a day not long ago when I could handle simple tasks like remembering a username and password from one day to the next...

Book recommendation

So, yesterday I got a book in the mail (through Paperback Swap, see my links) and spent yesterday afternoon reading it and doing a lot of crying. Then, after work, hubby started reading it (and doing a lot of crying as well) and he stayed up until after midnight (a huge feat considering the kids and his work schedule...that and the fact that we are getting old and tired) to finish it. The book was "Letters to Gabriel" by Karen Garver Santorum.

Basically, it was letters she wrote to her baby while pregnant. I highly recommend reading it. I won't go into all the details, but she ended up delivering Gabriel Michael prematurely at 20 weeks. He lived two hours. It has a wonderful prolife message in it, and is the story of a mother and her baby.

I was just amazed and related to it as a mother. Not a book I'd want to read while pregnant, though...I really don't cry that much normally, but pregnancy makes me weep over cereal commercials!

Laundry...

So, the penance I recieved at my last confession was to do a load of laundry lovingly, carefully, and with prayerfulness for the gift of my family. (I thought laundry for penance was a bit harsh considering I didn't have any mortal sins to confess...but I guess that just shows how much I like doing it!)

Now, I believe I may be the laziest person on the planet when it comes to laundry. I never did any until I was married, and made hubby do half of the laundry up until I became a housewife...When we lived in the city, we would wait until every last piece of clothing was dirty, then we would both go to the laundromat together and sit there for several hours with several triple load washers going. In fact, one time hubby insisted on going to Smiley's Laundromat on Colfax in Denver because he thought it would be more fun to go somewhere exciting to do laundry (it wasn't...trust me!)

I don't sort colors, I don't usually pretreat (I did with Eva's clothes when she was little, but for some reason, I washed her clothes alone...not different detergent or anything...) and I wash everything except diapers on cold/cold.

So, this laundry with love thing was difficult for me, to say the least. In fact, I thought that since I spend so little time or effort on the family laundry, I might use this penance as an opportunity to turn over a new leaf! So, I went and bought a Clorox bleach pen, and got a pretreater for set in stains called Zout. I did three loads of laundry after pretreating...I even checked the really badly stained clothes (mostly Eva's) to see if the stains came out, and if they didn't I hung them to dry. I even finished the drying, folding and putting away.

After doing those loads, I realized that our laundry room was pretty much useless for laundry because it had become a dumping ground for everything that we didn't know what to do with! So, hubby and I cleared out so much stuff that our dumpster was full on Sunday (our trash day is Thursday) so we've had to be very creative in trying to get the rest of our trash for the week out there!

So, I brought our two hampers into the laundry room, one for whites, one for everything else, and I am attempting to sort our laundry everyday. Whites do not get pretreated until I have a whole load. Colors get pretreated as I put them in the hamper. When I have a load, I do a load. I am hanging certain items to dry rather than just not caring and tossing them in the drier. So far, so good in terms of my resolution.

However, this resolution is conflicting with another one of my resolutions...We are in the process of paying off all our debts (mostly student loans) and have paid off $10,000 since August. We have under $2500 to go, so pretty much all excess money should be going to debt payment...but I desperately want a laundry sorter (rather than the two mismatched hampers) and a wall mounting drying rack...

Maybe I'll ask hubby for them for my birthday in August...

And of course, most importantly...

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world. Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them. When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well. But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What's Your Beer Personality?

Not sure how accurate this one is...

You Have a Choleric Temperament

You are a person of great enthusiasm - easily excited by many things. Unsatisfied by the ordinary, you are reaching for an epic, extraordinary life. You want the best. The best life. The best love. The best reputation. You posses a sharp and keen intellect. Your mind is your primary weapon. Strong willed, nothing can keep you down. Your energy can break down any wall. You're an instantly passionate person - and this passion gives you an intoxicating power over others. At your worst, you are a narcissist. Full of yourself and even proud of your faults. Stubborn and opinionated, you know what you think is right. End of discussion. A bit of a misanthrope, you often see others as weak, ignorant, and inferior.

What Temperment Are You?

Okay, this really shouldn't surprise anyone!

Your Geek Profile:

Music Geekiness: Highest Academic Geekiness: High Fashion Geekiness: High SciFi Geekiness: High Geekiness in Love: Low General Geekiness: Low Internet Geekiness: Low Movie Geekiness: Low Gamer Geekiness: None

How Geeky Are You?

I am alive!!!

Okay, so I really dropped the ball back in October of 2006...but 6 months later, I'm back! (There's a really good reason I didn't e-mail everyone I know with my blog address...but I think maybe I will to keep myself on top of posting!)

Charlotte was born November 11th with a scheduled c-section, thanks once again to breech positioning. She is a very sweet mama's girl now, and at five months is rolling all over and grabbing everything within reach. Mostly she drools on things she finds, or talks to them. Every night when we are trying to go to sleep, she sings an ode to her pacifier, as far as I can tell.

Eva is still as goofy as ever, and is a great big sister. She likes to help out when I need her (at least most of the time) and pretty much always wants to help me when I DON'T need help.

So, I am back, and I will actually go and e-mail some friends and family to let them know that I have a blog, in hopes that THAT will make me write in it!

Okay, I am officially a slacker...

Can't say I haven't blogged because nothing has been going on...that would be a lie...

I'm just tired and grumpy and huge and uncomfortable, and it is so much more theraputic to whine about it to hubby rather than blog about it!

So, I guess the big update is that at my 34 week appointment, my OB really thought that he felt a baby butt at the top of my uterus...but I asked him to take a look anyway, and sure enough...BABY IS BREECH!!!! Just my rotten luck! But, I had a feeling this kid was too. Also, no shot of genitals (in fact, the OB couldn't even get a femur measurement, but did irritate my scar from Eva!)

So, the plan is this...

No external version because OB doesn't suggest "mashing on the uterus" with a c-section scar.

Will try the webster chiropractic technique (of course, when I called today to make an appointment, turns out the chiropractor doesn't work on Fridays!)

Can't go up next week for that because we close on the house on Thursday

Won't go up at the beginning of the next week because I want to spend Halloween with Eva.

So, hopefully it will be November 1st for the first chiropractic technique, then again on the 2nd. Apparently, not on the 3rd, as the chiropractor doesn't work then!

Then, on the 3rd, I will have another appointment with OB, and we'll see what position Charlie is in.

Then, I guess I'll just spend the weekend up there, maybe meet with my doula. The next week, I may try up to three more treatments with the Webster technique. Then, at my 37 week appointment, I figure we will have one more ultrasound to confirm positioning.

If Charlie is still breech at that point, it will be scheduled c-section the next week (assuming I make it that far!)

I'm kind of wondering if I am just destined to have breech babies. My OB asked if my doc had mentioned me having a uterine abnormality...apparently, my OB standardly checks the uterus for certain abnormalities when he delivers a breech baby. I told him that I doubted anyone thought of it with as many things that went wrong with Eva's delivery!

So, I am not sure at all what is going to happen. The good news is, the chiropractic care will only have $15 per treatment copay, plus we will have to pay 10% (not as nice as the no copay no coinsurance on maternity services!). Also, we found out about length of stay. 48 hours with a vaginal delivery, or 96 hours for a c-section. So, at least if I have surgery, I'll have a lot of help for the first 4 days.

So, that's where I am...slightly disappointed, but at least there seems to be an end in sight (particularly if Charlie doesn't flip over!)

For the next week and a half, I'm going to try all the old wives tales...frozen peas on baby's head, handstands in the pool, pelvic tilts, etc.

Wish me luck!!!

It is 5:30 am...

...and I have been awake for a half hour...

This is NOT a good thing...however, I guess since I have a doc appointment in Denver, it is a "good thing" that I am up and getting ready to go. The exciting part is that hubby was able to get the day off work, so he gets to come with me to meet the "other doc", and then we are going to tour the hospital, at some point stop by my parents house to pick up a few things, and pick my SIL up at the airport (she's flying in for a week long visit between semesters, or whatever they are at her college...)

Now, if you think I am unhappy at the prospect of being up at 5:30...Just wait until we have to wake Eva up!!!! She's about as much of a morning person as me!!!

Here's hoping Charlie inherits that trait as well!

Last doc appt...

Okay, I am a slacker...

My last doc appointment was on the 7th, down here...I got to traumatize a med student...it was fun! Actually, I had my appointment and Eva's 2 year well child check (with one immunization) at the same time. The nurse took us back, and weighed us, etc. Then we waited (my MIL was nice enough to come down to help out with the appointment, so that I wouldn't have to deal with Eva and shots and prenatal crap all alone!) and heard my doc outside the door say "she's a high risk OB delivering in Denver and splitting prenatal care, and also a 2 year well child check"

In walks the poor med student...

Now, I like med students...it's just that perhaps I am not the patient to try to learn on! First, he looked at my chart and said something about needing a glucose tolerance test...so I told him that I had already spectacularly failed my 3 hour test, and to please not give me any glucola! Then, fortunately, he did not have as much trouble with the doppler as I expected (though much less proficient than my doc.) Heartbeat was good. He did my measurements. Now, my doc has some fabulous way of making me measure correctly (being twice a normal woman's weight in an unpregnant state does not make for good measurements while preggo!), so when I saw him at about 24 weeks, he said I measured right on (and wrote that on my chart.) So, this time, the med student determines that I am measuring at 32 (at week 28), so when I go back to my OB I'll probably have to explain that the difference in a month had more to do with different people measuring than me growing that much! Not to mention since my weight stayed the same, I have a feeling it was mostly measurement problems!

All else went fine (although appointments with med students take a long time, as they have to figure things out...) then my doc had to come in and chat with us to make sure everything was okay (and to ask me about my sugar numbers) and finally, the nurse came in with Eva's immunization. Well, I thought that between me, my MIL and the nurse, we had Eva held down well enough, but she squirmed really badly, and the needle fell out of her arm, so she had to be poked twice...though the sticker and the sucker did help make up for that!

The good news is that she is done with immunizations until between ages 4 and 6...the bad news is, she probably should get a flu shot this year, with Charlie on the way, and she will have to go in twice (and have half a dose at each visit) since it will be her first flu shot!

Anyhow, thought I should post about this appointment before I go meet Dr. Foust (I am NOT kidding...that is my OBs partner's name!!! If I were that man, I would have changed it, but I guess there are probably lots of people who don't get it...) on Wednesday!

One house down...

One to go!!!

So, here is the deal...we closed on our old house, and managed to get a little money back out of it (YEAH!) which is great since it was on the market for 9-10 months. So, we are down to one house. We extended our bridge loan until December 1st, and then we will have to get a permanent mortgage on this house.

BUT...in February, theoretically, we will be moving back to the farm and hubby will be farming with his family. (By theoretically, I mean, I have no idea how much we will get paid or the benefits we will get...I do know what house we will be living in out there, as one of hubby's cousins and her hubby currently live there and are in the process of getting a new house...)

SO...come January, we will probably put this house on the market. The fun part of that is that we still have plenty of finishing work to do on this house!!! So, here is our schedule for the next couple of months...

November-have a baby and close on a permanent mortgage
December-get used to having new baby, have a baptism and celebrate Christmas

January-lose mind, list house, deal with infant and toddler, hope to find a buyer quickly...oh, and get an official start date for the farm!

February-give two weeks notice, start moving, and start new life as farmer's wife...

ARGHHH!!!! Just a little stress on the horizon! Hopefully, I won't have to add "recover from major surgery" to the list...

I am tired...

I am tired of poking my finger four times a day...I am tired of not being able to get a good night of sleep...I am tired of having to go to the bathroom every hour...I am tired of being kicked from the inside...I am tired of having to hoist myself out of chairs...and I am tired of my entire body aching!!!

Is it a bad thing when you start thinking "well, I'll be 36 weeks the week of Halloween...that's not too early to have this kid!!!" When you are due November 26 and start thinking that October sounds like a good month to have this baby...is that a problem????

"Yippe ki yo ki yeah! Today is your special day!!"

"Yippie ki yeah ki you...today we celebrate you-ou-ou!"

(For those of you who don't spend 3/4 of your life listening to Veggie Tales...that is the birthday song from "The Ballad of Little Joe!)

Today my sweet little baby girl is 2 years old!!! I have no idea where the time went! At the same time she has grown so very much...it almost makes me sad that she is growing so fast!

So, Happy Birthday Eva Majella!!! I love you!!!

"If you have any poo...fling it now!"

Okay, so if you haven't seen Madagascar, or been in my living room recently, maybe this title makes no sense.

PLEASE tell me that this is a sign that Eva will soon be ready to potty train!

She just wandered in here (to the kitchen, where our computer is located) wearing her t-shirt she slept in, but no pants or diaper...So, I went to investigate the diaper HOPING it was just wet and that is why she took it off...no such luck...poopy pants!

Now, this is the first time she has taken her diaper off when it has been poopy. However, yesterday, I noticed that she was sticking her hands down her pants and I told her it was time for a diaper change. Another poopy diaper then, and poop on the hands, of course...

It's been a couple of weeks since the last poo flinging incident (I mean, really flinging) where she was still in her diaper (which was poopy) but had smeared poop all over the carpet, furniture (one time) and herself...

I just don't ever want to deal with THAT again...nothing like being hugely pregnant and bathing a poopy toddler, keeping the dog from licking the poo smeared into the carpet, and using our teeny tiny spot lifter (that we got when our little pug dog was a puppy...) to basically steam clean half the living room...

Oh, and her diaper today was great, as last night we put up a 50 lb feedsack full of sweet corn, so she ate a little over a cob of corn while we were husking it on the porch. Great to see chunky corn in her diaper this morning...