Adventures in La La Land

What a week! I feel like I have so much to write about. 1. Last Saturday, we were immensely blessed by 2 different family members in the same day. One gave us a $100 gift card to Meijer, and another brought over bags and bags and bags of free groceries. Amazing. I had told Justin earlier that day, "We paid our bills this month thanks to your Christmas bonus. I don't know what we're going to do in January." Well we definitely won't have to buy groceries, so that should help a ton!! It's admittedly difficult being on the receiving end of so much charity lately. But I know that if I had the means and saw a loved one struggling, I would help in a heartbeat. Hopefully someday we'll be in the position to do so. In the meantime, we're exceedingly grateful for the way our family members are letting God use them to help us. 2. We all got nasty colds this week. Justin actually got it first, and I figured it was the same thing I just  got over, but no, it was...

Baby is the size of a honeydew this week.  How far along?  36 weeks - starting to feel like it's getting close! Total weight loss/gain : I don't even want to know. Haha. Maternity clothes? Yep - growing out of them. Sleep : Oh my word. Something has gone horribly wrong on the sleep front. I absolutely can not sleep. For the past few days I haven't been able to nap - I just lay there awake . . . very unusual for me. Then Christmas Eve I tossed and turned all night and literally don't think I slept longer than 10 minutes. I tried to nap on Christmas day, but didn't sleep one wink. So last night, I went to bed at 9:15 and figured I'd be out in no time. I got up at 11:30 to take half a dose of Unisom. It wasn't until I took the second half at 1:15 that I finally fell asleep. What on earth?!? I am insanely e xhausted, but can't sleep! I can't even begin to explain how frustrating that is. Best moment this week : Baby sister getting a Christmas pres...

1. Everyone keeps telling me the end of this pregnancy will fly by because of the holidays. They're wrong. Haha. I'm just not that busy. We hardly bought any presents. I finished buying them a while ago, and wrapped them last week. We don't have tons of parties to go to. I'm not doing a ton of baking. Sigh. I think I might go to my sister's house today and wrap her presents just so I don't have to sit at home thinking about how uncomfortable I am. Haha. 2. Lucy came down with some kind of ailment this week. It seems to be her Christmas tradition. Last year, she puked for like 2 weeks before Christmas and finished the year with diarrhea. This time it's been some kind of weird fever/gas/puking/cough thing. She was a grump all day on Tuesday and I could tell she didn't feel good. By Wednesday, she woke up with a 102* fever. She didn't want anything to eat, just wanted to drink apple juice and cuddle on the couch with me. Fortunately I had just set my ...

I really need to remember to put make-up on before these pictures . . . Baby is the size of a coconut this week.  How far along?  35 weeks (35 days 'til my due date!) Total weight loss/gain : +3 lbs in 2 weeks, +30 total. I weigh more than Justin now. That's a great feeling. Lol. Oh, and I noticed this week that I can't get my rings off. Oops.  Maternity clothes? Yep. Getting quite sick of them. Sleep : Pretty horrible. I'm to the point where I think "Why even bother going to bed? I'm just going to toss and turn in pain all night." Best moment this week : Baby sister getting her first Christmas present - an adorable  crocheted owl hat. She's so wearing it home from the hospital. Can't wait! Movement : All the time and getting ever more painful. I actually think she might have changed positions. I used to always feel her hiccups on my right side and now they're on my left. And I always felt her feet on my left side, but now they're ...

1. Here's the Advent recap for the week: Day 9: Play in the snow with Daddy . This was originally planned for later on, but the way our weather has been lately, I figured we better capitalize on the snow we got last weekend. Day 10:   Make Christmas cards. She wasn't real into this. We made a couple and then she was done. Day 11: Make snowman donuts . This one was a hit. (And I've greatly enjoyed eating these cute little guys) Day 12: Fail. We were busy this day, she never asked to do the sticker, and I wasn't well prepared, so it got skipped. Day 13: Date night with Daddy.  She was so excited to go on a date before she even knew what it was. Justin took her to Chuck E. Cheese and she had an absolute blast. (And I got all the Christmas presents wrapped!) Day 14 : Our secret one.  ;-) 2. Now that Lucy has her uppercase letters down, I decided we need to start working on lowercase. I half-heartedly searched for some kind of flashcards or puzzle I could buy b...

Baby is the size of a butternut squash this week.  How far along?  34 weeks - only 6 to go! The end is in sight!! Total weight loss/gain :Didn't weigh myself this week. Dr. appointment on Monday.  Maternity clothes?  Obviously. Sleep : Not great.  Best moment this week : Jesus' birthday party! Movement : Alll the time. I asked the doctor about her position at my appointment last week. I was right. Her feet are on my left side, butt right under my belly button, head down (and maybe her arms too? I feel a lot of punching of the bladder and cervi x - ouch!). Food cravings : Cookies, candy, donuts - the usual. Food aversions : Vegetables. ;-)  Gender : GIRL!!! Labor Signs : Nothing new. Belly Button in or out?  It's almost gone. There's just a tiny nub left. Still amazingly don't have the linea negra. I had it by this time with Lucy. Why would it be different this time? So strange. What I miss : Regular clothes. What I am looking forward to : Ch...

This year's event wasn't as elaborate as I would've liked (especially the food), but I'm really trying not to over-exert myself these days. I'm pretty sure the kids (and moms) had fun anyway. :-) Last year, we had 5 moms and 5 kids. This year, we had 7 moms and 9 kids! It was kind of a madhouse at times. Haha.  We started out with breakfast: I made French toast sticks for the kids, cinnamon rolls, and 2 egg casseroles for the moms. Sides of cheese, grapes, and cupcakes.  After we were all sufficiently stuffed, we moved on to story time. I neglected to take any pictures at this point. Basically I had all the bigger kids sit on the floor in front of me while I read the Christmas story (from the book I previously mentioned). Before I started reading, I handed each kid a piece of the fridge nativity Lucy and I had made. I told each kid to listen for their character and put him/her/it on the fridge when he/she/it came up in the story (Mary, Joseph...

1. We started our Advent Calendar this week. Lucy loves peeling off the sticker each day to discover that day's activity. It's a good thing she can't read because I actually switched up a lot this week. I'm sure you've seen most everything on facebook, but here's a quick recap: Day 1 : Read the Christmas story and go play at Kelly and Presley's house. [Justin and I had to go to a wedding all day.] Day 2 : Make bead ornaments. She loved  this activity. I started out giving her red, green, black, and white beads. But once she ran out of those she moved onto the less Christmassy colors. She asks to do it every day! Day 3 : Make peanut butter bird feeders. She spent most of her time licking the peanut butter off the knife. Day 4 : Make Christmas pizzas for dinner. She loves helping me cook, and kept saying enthusiastically, "We making Christmas pizzas!" Unfortunately, she refused to eat our masterpieces. It was a whole wheat crust, and she w...

Baby is the size of a durian fruit this week. What the heck is that? Spell-check doesn't even recognize the word "durian."  How far along?  33 weeks - only 7 to go! Total weight loss/gain :+4 lbs since my last appt 2 weeks ago. +27 total. Oy.  Maternity clothes?  Yes. Totally. I'm down to about 2 pairs of jeans I can bear to wear. Sleep : Not great. I'm annoyed I only have 2 sleeping positions, and neither of them are that comfortable. Best moment this week : Wearing that cute dress to the wedding. Lots of people pointing and laughing. Haha. Movement : Oh yeah. I'm pretty sure she's trying to break out via my belly button. She's a little confused about which way is out . . . Food cravings : Milk. But not on its own. I've been eating tons of cereal just so I can have milk. Also had a craving for sparkling grape juice yesterday. And chocolate. For some reason there is no chocolate in this house and I really need some!!! Food aversions : Veget...

1. I can't believe today is December 1st. Maybe there really is something to this global warming thing. It's been so weird the past few years having so little snow. Not that I mind. I have no problem finding my Christmas spirit without snow! I finally made the Advent Calendar last night. It took me forever . I was going to make little envelopes for each day, but decided that was too much work, so this is what I ended up with: I just wrote the day's activity on the back of each circle and lightly taped it to the square so Lucy can peel one off every day. She was so excited to peel off today's and immediately said, "Do another one?" when we were done. Haha. I'm excited to have pre-planned activities to do every day. She's going to love it. 2. It has been a long week. I can't believe it was just last Saturday that I posted about Lucy's eye. I decided it was just a sty, but then I woke up with the same red, swollen painful eyelid on Sunday! Ne...

I wrote these on facebook every day, but here they are in a more permanent fashion. Lucy's are below mine. I'm thankful for . . . Lucy and her silly sayings Crazy turbo baby sister Hardworking husband A church that we love My job Godly girlfriends Medicine The truth and clarity of Romans 2:22 Naptime Justin home from his business trip Married into a family I love Christmas music Sisters Brother Parents Humans are only pregnant for 40 weeks 3 paycheck month Pa xil Got to see Becky Inspirational Fiction Health A family that gets along and loves each other Traditions The generosity of others A husband who makes pancakes My nephews Warm, cozy house Contact lenses The Internet So much to be thankful for And Lucy is thankful for . . . God Jesus Lola Daddy Mommy Baby Sister Aunt Niki Aunt Libby Uncle Luke Grandmas Grandpas...

My sister and I love traditions. We complain often that our family doesn't have enough. So I decided (with much thanks to Pinterest) to start a new one with Lucy this year: the Advent Calendar. We didn't do anything like this as kids, so I've just gleaned information from the Internet and relied on my creativity. My Advent Calendar isn't nearly as beautiful as anything I've seen on Pinterest, but I did come up with 25 activities to do from December 1-25. I wrote the activity on the red square and lightly taped the circle over it. She'll peel off the circle to see the activity. Read the Christmas story. [I got the book  The Story of Christmas  by Patricia A. Pingry at Family Christian for $6.99 yesterday. It's just right for Lucy.] Make pipe cleaner/bead ornaments.  [Just let her string pony beads onto pipe cleaners, form into a "wreath"-type circle and let her put it on the tree.] Make peanut butter bird feeders . Pick ...

Baby is the size of a squash this week.  How far along?  32 weeks - only 8 to go! Total weight loss/gain : +1 this week, up 24 total (as of Monday when I went to the Dr. for my eye) -- I just looked it up: I was up 25 lbs at this point with Lucy. Bummer. I feel like I've been gaining less quickly this pregnancy. Hopefully I won't gain 18 more pounds in the ne xt 8 weeks like I did with Lucy. <:-O  Maternity clothes?  Yes. Totally. Sleep : It takes me forever  to fall asleep. And if I get woken up for any reason in the night, the process has to start all over again. Still having wicked night sweats too.  Best moment this week : Having a week off of work and having Justin home to help out.   Movement : Oh yeah. I've been trying to figure out how she's positioned. I feel the most kicking on my left side, so I think her feet are over there. And there's always a big hard lump by my belly button. I'm thinking that's her butt (and spine - it's bump...

1. I need to record that for the first time this week, Lucy correctly identified all 26 letters of the alphabet on her flashcards. At almost exactly 2.5 years old. Go Lucy! What do I need to teach her next? The lowercase letters? The sounds the letters make? 2. I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. My doctor is on vacation, so I saw the P.A. Isn't it horrible that I got more information out of the P.A. than I ever get from my doctor? And I got right in and out. Usually I wait at least an hour. The morning I was there, I was feeling soooo dizzy. I asked the P.A. about it and she said I'm probably just dehydrated and need to drink more. As the day went on, though, it got worse and worse. I was so annoyed because Justin and I had arranged someone to watch Lucy and had big plans to go out to eat and do some Christmas shopping. Eventually I realized I was having Paxil withdrawals, which I already wrote about in my 31 weeks entry. It was not fun . I sat in Logan's comm...