Well we had a false alarm the other night...sortof. I hate that they call it "false" labor, because when you are having contractions every 3-5 minutes for hours at a time, it's definitely real- really hurts and really sucks! They sent us home from the hospital about 3 am, still with contractions 5 minutes apart and in definite pain. Adam was pissed that they sent me home, but the sucky part was as bad as the contx were, it became apparent after a little while that no Mabel was coming out that night...
We ended up spending almost 3 hours in the doctor's office the next day while they did a stress test, checked the amnio fluid levels, etc, to make sure everything was okay. The good thing that came out of it was that I got to have an extra ultrasound-yay! I've never had one so close to the end before, and it was amazing- what a great sneak peak! She looks a lot like Holly's newborn baby pictures, and her little fist was in front of her face. We kept waiting for her to give us the finger-haha she will fit right in with the other three who just learned that whole naughty finger business lol. Poor thing her head is so far down now it was squashed right in there :p The not-so-good thing is that according to this u/s, which I know can be off by a lot either way, this little girl is a whopping 9 POUNDS already. The tech did point out "look at her little chub rolls, she has a big belly". Yikes. Double yikes. That was last week at only 37.5 weeks. Jake had a huge belly when he was born, and he was 8 lbs 15 oz. We have another doctor's appt this week on thursday, could be an interesting one. I am scheduled to be induced on May 2nd if she doesn't come out on her own before that. And here this entire time I thought she was going to be the smallest one. My guess is she will not come out much over 9 lbs, even with the u/s because I have never measured even two weeks ahead. 9 lbs I can handle. 10-11 lbs um yeah....I'll take the c-section if they're handing them out! (Watch they are prolly TOTALLY wrong and she'll come out 7 lbs. can tiny babies have big bellies?!) I got a few outfits at Old Navy for her this morning and now I find myself skipping right over the newborn clothes and going to 3 months, Holly might be using all those newborn diapers for her dolls...
Those two days were so exhausting, the kids were gone, I felt soooo bad for sending them away 2 nights in a row but I really needed the down time. (Overdoing it much? That was what caused the whole false alarm I think. way too much stress and trying to corral kids, deal with adam's changing job hours, etc.) I think we pretty much stayed in bed watching tv the entire first day, and then he drove me around town so I could get a few easter errands done, we had a nice lunch at Red Lobster, got some movies, and back to bed....I know Adam was just as exhausted, he drove home from work that night to take me to the hospital, so hadn't gotten any sleep either, smacked the side of his face with a door (I didn't punch him, I swear!) drove home like 85 mph even though I told him to not be a maniac. It was just a really long couple days. After the kids left on thursday and I went up to my room to lay down, Jake had left his build-a-bear on my pillow on my side of the bed for me to sleep with. Awww, talk about a tear-jerker!
Easter tomorrow. The kids already had 2 easter egg hunts in the backyard this afternoon. Empty eggs with nothing in them lol. They will do it ten times over and over, running around the yard seeing who can get the most eggs. In the morning they will have to search high and low for their easter baskets (hey that bunny isn't gonna make it easy!) Jake thinks that the easter bunny "borrows" Santas cameras to spy on them through the windows :p In the afternoon tomorrow gramma will have a big easter egg hunt at her house for all the great grandkids. She really goes all out, all the eggs have a number on them, and then you get to match up your numbers for a prize when all the eggs are collected. The problem this year is that she always has this "golden egg" worth 5.00 and alllllll of the kids have been plotting for weeks who is going to find that golden egg. last year holly found it, well cousin was pissed when he found out someone gave her a hint, but I think if I remember last year the other kids had a lot more eggs than she did. I hope it doesn't turn into a bloodbath lol. I tried to convince all three of them they should let the 2 yr old cousin find it, but they're not having any of that.
The "kid that doesn't go home" has also been back this week. Sigh. I guess none of that police reporting the other night did any damn good. He was here today again from 12:30 til 8 o clock and no one even came looking for him, like usual. I think he's scared of me now. It really still bugs me the way that cop was like asking him "Are you being respectful? Do you listen when you're over here?" The kid never misbehaves, that isn't the problem. The problem is that I AM NOT HIS PARENT!? I am not his babysitter, I am not responsible for him in any way. But I do feel sorry for him, like everyone else in the neighborhood does. I decided if that "I'm locked out, I can't go home" stuff happens again, I am just going to take him to the police station and let them deal with his mother that way.....
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
What would YOU do?
Wow. I don't know whether to be super angry or just really really sad. We had a situation over here tonight with "the neighbor kid who never goes home", who I have mentioned on here a few times. I will just call him Kid because I don't want to say his name.
Well I had to drag all the kids out in the snowstorm because Holly had a girlscout Easter party and as much as I tried to convince her it was "probably" cancelled, she looked so dissapointed, that I finally gave in and said we would go see if it was still on, so we were gone for about an hour, and as we were leaving, I though I saw the kid coming down the sidewalk on his bike, but we were driving away. Okay, so maybe he'll go back home, right?
When we got back home, apparently the kid, who is 10, was locked out of his house, so he went over to OUR neighbor's house and stayed there. Locked out of his house. In a snowstorm. No coat on, forget hat and mittens. No socks on. riding his bike in a blizzard. giant holes in his pants. My SIL who lives next door to the kid and his mom called her at work and said "he's locked out, you need to come home". Well apparently the woman didn't give a crap because she said "oh he'll just hang around somewhere til I get back". So I took it upon myself to call the cops.
They send this doofus cop over who really apparently does not give a crap either, takes the kids "story", doesn't care what I have to say, and tells me to keep the kid there til his mom comes and get him. (this is not MY kid! I am not technically babysitting him!) Sooooo SIL who lives next door calls and tells me the mom got home at 5:15, why is it 7 o clock and she hasn't come over to talk to me like the good officer said she would? More phone calls proceed, in which I GET YELLED AT for sending the kid home, and the lovely cop tells me "that I'm not any better than his mother" for sending him home in a blizzard. At least I gave him a coat before I sent him back to where his mother was sitting on her ass on the couch.
I am so appalled. This is the second time actually in my life that I have reported child abuse against someone (we won't get too far into the first time, but what do you do when you are 16 yrs old and the kid you babysit for, shows her the closet where her dad locks her in when she's naughty and the belt hanging on the key rack?) And this is the second time that NO ONE HAS DONE ANYTHING!? This is more than a kid out in a snowstorm without a coat. This is a kid running around the neighborhood in the dark at 8 pm at night when he should be home eating supper, doing homework, and showering. this is a kid showing up on the doorstep at 6:45 am to see if Eric is up set, riding his bike to school when it is below zero out, eating 4-5 tacos at our house because no one ever makes him supper, showing up last sunday when it's thundering and lightning out 20 minutes before the tornado sirens go off. I don't know his mother's name, I dont even have her phone number. If something happened to him when he was at my house, hell I don't even know exactly which apartment is theirs. He will come over on a saturday and be at our house from 8 am until 9pm if you let him and NOT ONCE will she come to check on him. You can bet your ass if my kid was gone for 13 hours I would have the freaking cops combing the neighborhood looking for him. You can bet your ass if there's snow on the ground, my kid isn't even getting out of the garage without a coat on. And now I feel terrible because I can't let him come over anymore because he's not MY kid and he's not MY responsibility, and Im not going to let some stupid metro cop make me feel like he "should" be. I mean really, I have enough to worry about keeping track of my own three kids, nevertheless the gigantically preggo factor.
You try to do the right thing, and you wonder if you shouldve just stayed out of it.....
Well I had to drag all the kids out in the snowstorm because Holly had a girlscout Easter party and as much as I tried to convince her it was "probably" cancelled, she looked so dissapointed, that I finally gave in and said we would go see if it was still on, so we were gone for about an hour, and as we were leaving, I though I saw the kid coming down the sidewalk on his bike, but we were driving away. Okay, so maybe he'll go back home, right?
When we got back home, apparently the kid, who is 10, was locked out of his house, so he went over to OUR neighbor's house and stayed there. Locked out of his house. In a snowstorm. No coat on, forget hat and mittens. No socks on. riding his bike in a blizzard. giant holes in his pants. My SIL who lives next door to the kid and his mom called her at work and said "he's locked out, you need to come home". Well apparently the woman didn't give a crap because she said "oh he'll just hang around somewhere til I get back". So I took it upon myself to call the cops.
They send this doofus cop over who really apparently does not give a crap either, takes the kids "story", doesn't care what I have to say, and tells me to keep the kid there til his mom comes and get him. (this is not MY kid! I am not technically babysitting him!) Sooooo SIL who lives next door calls and tells me the mom got home at 5:15, why is it 7 o clock and she hasn't come over to talk to me like the good officer said she would? More phone calls proceed, in which I GET YELLED AT for sending the kid home, and the lovely cop tells me "that I'm not any better than his mother" for sending him home in a blizzard. At least I gave him a coat before I sent him back to where his mother was sitting on her ass on the couch.
I am so appalled. This is the second time actually in my life that I have reported child abuse against someone (we won't get too far into the first time, but what do you do when you are 16 yrs old and the kid you babysit for, shows her the closet where her dad locks her in when she's naughty and the belt hanging on the key rack?) And this is the second time that NO ONE HAS DONE ANYTHING!? This is more than a kid out in a snowstorm without a coat. This is a kid running around the neighborhood in the dark at 8 pm at night when he should be home eating supper, doing homework, and showering. this is a kid showing up on the doorstep at 6:45 am to see if Eric is up set, riding his bike to school when it is below zero out, eating 4-5 tacos at our house because no one ever makes him supper, showing up last sunday when it's thundering and lightning out 20 minutes before the tornado sirens go off. I don't know his mother's name, I dont even have her phone number. If something happened to him when he was at my house, hell I don't even know exactly which apartment is theirs. He will come over on a saturday and be at our house from 8 am until 9pm if you let him and NOT ONCE will she come to check on him. You can bet your ass if my kid was gone for 13 hours I would have the freaking cops combing the neighborhood looking for him. You can bet your ass if there's snow on the ground, my kid isn't even getting out of the garage without a coat on. And now I feel terrible because I can't let him come over anymore because he's not MY kid and he's not MY responsibility, and Im not going to let some stupid metro cop make me feel like he "should" be. I mean really, I have enough to worry about keeping track of my own three kids, nevertheless the gigantically preggo factor.
You try to do the right thing, and you wonder if you shouldve just stayed out of it.....
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Rain rain go away....
The longest saturday EVER........gosh, I think I would have rather been in the hospital giving birth.
Well it rained all day today so the kids were stuck in the house, and they are NOT kids who do well being stuck inside all day. I might have mentioned they don't really watch tv (sometimes you just wish they WOULD plop in front of the tube for an hour lol), with the rain there were no friends to play with, they couldn't go out and ride bikes, etc. and our Wii is broken.
I tried to keep them busy- (I should mention Adam doesn't do well stuck in the house all day either haha! I envied him leaving for work tonight.) this morning we made our own play-doh, which the kids thought was really great. I didn't really have any non-stain food coloring to color it with, so it came out this really funny pale peach color that looks alarmingly the color of raw chicken, but they thought it was the best thing ever. They sat at the counter and ran their hotwheels and cookie cutters, rolling pins, etc, through it for a good two hours, and currently it has been brought back out after dinner.
There were at least three temper tantrums in that two hours, mostly from Eric when he didn't get his way. They helped me make lemon cupcakes (haha the ones that are supposed to make you go into labor! Holly had a really fun time grating the lemon peels and then squeezing out the juice) we played and solved a Scooby Doo Mystery on the computer (well we solved it because I looked up the walk-thru and we cheated lol. Eric worked on it for an hour yesterday and we could NOT find this old man's false teeth.)
Then they tried to make their own monopoly game, which would have been really fun, but for some reason "taking turns" writing places in the squares was REALLY hard. ( I'll give you one guess which kid decided "I'm just gonna write in two at a time so we can get done faster"....) It still came out cute. They put all these placed from town on it, like grandpa's shop and the library, Butch's Pizza, the railroad yard, etc.
A few more temper tantrums and a certain 9 yr old who was mad because he wanted to go to grandma's and didn't get his way. I really hope the neighbors couldn't here them. Even when they were happy, the noise level in here just kept escalating to ridiculous levels. It is definitely time for summer and nice weather.
In between all this, I was alternating between trying to get the house clean and taking a break every five minutes because my back is annoyingly sore. With them stuck in the house, you can imagine how that went. You go into a different room to clean and when you come back there's a giant mess where you just got done...talk about depressing! I was ready to throw my own temper tantrum. Definitely I am out of steam, and I think they are finally getting that mom really doesn't feel up to doing much.
Jake must've told me he loves me 100 times today and then lately he likes to come up when I'm laying down and pat my belly really gently, like he's petting a kitten or something. He is a very affectionate kid, especially when the other two are being naughty, he will say "Mom, I realllly love you." and then once in awhile he will add at the end "because I am the GOOD kid". Okay, you know as parents you do NOT play favorites, but when one kid is yelling "I hate you, you're the worst mother ever!" and the next one is saying "I don't hate you mom, I love you a LOT", sheesh that makes it hard lol!
Eric tried to redeem himself for the earlier bad behavior tonight by cooking the spaghetti for supper, which was fine but he likes to use a million pots and pans and all the "good" plates so I will be doing dishes for the fourth time today shortly. I think Holly might have been the worst today, god she was so loud and SO whiny- "Can't we go somewhere fun? Why do we ALWAYS have to CLEAN? cleaning is NOT FUN!" haha, I kindof got a kick out of that, because I was too tired to even argue with them about cleaning their rooms today, i was more worried about the rest of the house. and by suppertime the kitchen was a bonafide disaster again anyway. (how do other people do it? really?!) We'll save the room battle for tomorrow...
We have this one plate that when we all eat supper together is always Adam's, it's a giant ceramic plate with a buck on it. I think the kids bought it for him as a present once (it was like a dollar at Gordmans lol.) well now when dad is gone they always argue over who gets to eat off his deer plate. It totally reminds me of when I was a kid, because in our house we had those 4 classic square tupperware plates and the matching plastic cups. I have no idea why but me, brian, and kevin ALWAYS fought over who got the dumb gray plate! It wasn't even great, it had a big burned plastic mark on it. I think I have that plate put away in my "forever" stuff somewhere....the silly stuff you fight over with your siblings when you're a kid!
Even though my kids swear they hate each other sometimes and our house is total chaos, I think when they get older they will be glad they have each other. (And hey that's more people to take care of me when I'm old :p) Four is a good, even number. We can hang the "full house" sign on the door now.Well, as soon as Mabel actually decides to make an appearance! Adam says he has given up. he says he's just gonna count on it being May 2nd and quit getting his hopes up on an early vacation lol. I personally am banking on this full moon thing for tomorrow night. Got her room ready, got the bags packed, time to go little girl!
Funny story from Jake: he was standing by the back door looking out because we said it was snowing outside and all of a sudden he goes "Well, what in the hell is going on out there?" Oh lord, you know you shouldn't laugh because he'll say it again, but you can't help it. When he was about three, we went past a Kentucky Fried Chicken and he pointed and totally innocently said "Look mom, there's Fuckin Fried Chicken". I almost peed my pants laughing so hard, and since my kids never forget anything, he still thinks that it's funny to sneak that naughty word in when we go past a KFC. Always the comic relief.....
Well it rained all day today so the kids were stuck in the house, and they are NOT kids who do well being stuck inside all day. I might have mentioned they don't really watch tv (sometimes you just wish they WOULD plop in front of the tube for an hour lol), with the rain there were no friends to play with, they couldn't go out and ride bikes, etc. and our Wii is broken.
I tried to keep them busy- (I should mention Adam doesn't do well stuck in the house all day either haha! I envied him leaving for work tonight.) this morning we made our own play-doh, which the kids thought was really great. I didn't really have any non-stain food coloring to color it with, so it came out this really funny pale peach color that looks alarmingly the color of raw chicken, but they thought it was the best thing ever. They sat at the counter and ran their hotwheels and cookie cutters, rolling pins, etc, through it for a good two hours, and currently it has been brought back out after dinner.
There were at least three temper tantrums in that two hours, mostly from Eric when he didn't get his way. They helped me make lemon cupcakes (haha the ones that are supposed to make you go into labor! Holly had a really fun time grating the lemon peels and then squeezing out the juice) we played and solved a Scooby Doo Mystery on the computer (well we solved it because I looked up the walk-thru and we cheated lol. Eric worked on it for an hour yesterday and we could NOT find this old man's false teeth.)
Then they tried to make their own monopoly game, which would have been really fun, but for some reason "taking turns" writing places in the squares was REALLY hard. ( I'll give you one guess which kid decided "I'm just gonna write in two at a time so we can get done faster"....) It still came out cute. They put all these placed from town on it, like grandpa's shop and the library, Butch's Pizza, the railroad yard, etc.
A few more temper tantrums and a certain 9 yr old who was mad because he wanted to go to grandma's and didn't get his way. I really hope the neighbors couldn't here them. Even when they were happy, the noise level in here just kept escalating to ridiculous levels. It is definitely time for summer and nice weather.
In between all this, I was alternating between trying to get the house clean and taking a break every five minutes because my back is annoyingly sore. With them stuck in the house, you can imagine how that went. You go into a different room to clean and when you come back there's a giant mess where you just got done...talk about depressing! I was ready to throw my own temper tantrum. Definitely I am out of steam, and I think they are finally getting that mom really doesn't feel up to doing much.
Jake must've told me he loves me 100 times today and then lately he likes to come up when I'm laying down and pat my belly really gently, like he's petting a kitten or something. He is a very affectionate kid, especially when the other two are being naughty, he will say "Mom, I realllly love you." and then once in awhile he will add at the end "because I am the GOOD kid". Okay, you know as parents you do NOT play favorites, but when one kid is yelling "I hate you, you're the worst mother ever!" and the next one is saying "I don't hate you mom, I love you a LOT", sheesh that makes it hard lol!
Eric tried to redeem himself for the earlier bad behavior tonight by cooking the spaghetti for supper, which was fine but he likes to use a million pots and pans and all the "good" plates so I will be doing dishes for the fourth time today shortly. I think Holly might have been the worst today, god she was so loud and SO whiny- "Can't we go somewhere fun? Why do we ALWAYS have to CLEAN? cleaning is NOT FUN!" haha, I kindof got a kick out of that, because I was too tired to even argue with them about cleaning their rooms today, i was more worried about the rest of the house. and by suppertime the kitchen was a bonafide disaster again anyway. (how do other people do it? really?!) We'll save the room battle for tomorrow...
We have this one plate that when we all eat supper together is always Adam's, it's a giant ceramic plate with a buck on it. I think the kids bought it for him as a present once (it was like a dollar at Gordmans lol.) well now when dad is gone they always argue over who gets to eat off his deer plate. It totally reminds me of when I was a kid, because in our house we had those 4 classic square tupperware plates and the matching plastic cups. I have no idea why but me, brian, and kevin ALWAYS fought over who got the dumb gray plate! It wasn't even great, it had a big burned plastic mark on it. I think I have that plate put away in my "forever" stuff somewhere....the silly stuff you fight over with your siblings when you're a kid!
Even though my kids swear they hate each other sometimes and our house is total chaos, I think when they get older they will be glad they have each other. (And hey that's more people to take care of me when I'm old :p) Four is a good, even number. We can hang the "full house" sign on the door now.Well, as soon as Mabel actually decides to make an appearance! Adam says he has given up. he says he's just gonna count on it being May 2nd and quit getting his hopes up on an early vacation lol. I personally am banking on this full moon thing for tomorrow night. Got her room ready, got the bags packed, time to go little girl!
Funny story from Jake: he was standing by the back door looking out because we said it was snowing outside and all of a sudden he goes "Well, what in the hell is going on out there?" Oh lord, you know you shouldn't laugh because he'll say it again, but you can't help it. When he was about three, we went past a Kentucky Fried Chicken and he pointed and totally innocently said "Look mom, there's Fuckin Fried Chicken". I almost peed my pants laughing so hard, and since my kids never forget anything, he still thinks that it's funny to sneak that naughty word in when we go past a KFC. Always the comic relief.....
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Time is ticking away...
Funny thing I saw on the news: some vandals hit a golf course in FDL. the wierd thing is they didn't break anything, spray paint, etc. They dug 200 HOLES in the green. It looks like the groundhog from Caddy Shack went crazy. Okay, not funny that they wrecked the golf course, but what you just wonder what the heck people are thinking. Boredom?!
We found out yesterday that our old neighborhood got hit really bad by the storm on sunday. I would really like to drive out there and check out the damage, but I think it would be too depressing. There was an empty school attached to the church nearby our old house, and the entire school is destroyed. We had this big dead oak tree in the back yard where an owl used to sit on the top branch in the summer and whoo-whoo away, I wonder if that tree came down. This storm really hit hard all over, I can't ever remember seeing so much damage around here. Every day when we drive to school, I see another house or two damaged that I didn't notice before. You can figure out exactly where the tornado came down, which was exactly the first house hit, and trace the path that it went through every street. They are cleaning up fast, though. One house had the garage totally ripped off, and today when I went by they already have walls up for a new one. Nice to see neighbors helping each other out. Menasha got hit pretty bad too, we noticed on the way to the dr this morning. In the older part of town there are a lot of really massive old trees, not like the newly planted ones in the subdivisions over by us, and those 60 foot trees are just snapped all over like matchsticks.
Adam made supper tonight while I did the "thursday run" (eric shop, holly dance class, back to shop, baaaack to dance class etc. tiring...) I got to go in for the last five minutes and watch Holly go through her routine, she was so cute. When she knows you're watching she tends to watch YOU instead of watching what the teacher is doing, but she did really good. It used to be when I signed her up for that stuff she would kindof stand in the middle of all the other kids and watch while they screamed and giggled and jumped around, but she definitely is getting into things a little more. What I still cannot figure out is that she goes to school and she DOESNT TALK?! Even this far into the year, her teachers say how quiet she is, but literally as soon as she gets out that door at school and 10 feet down the path, she is talking your ear off about her day. I am really really hoping the new school, with all her cousins and her daisy and dance class friends with help change that next year. (Supper was fantastic, by the way. He really went all out, I was very impressed :)
The doctor's appointment went well, and if Mabel doesn't decide to make an appearance, I will be induced by May 2nd-3rd ish, so thank god I can look at the calendar and breathe a sigh of relief- 18 days at most! I still think she is going to come out on her own. The nurse today pointed out that sunday is a full moon. We were kindof joking about all the women who go into labor when there's a full moon, but I googled it when we got home, and it does make sense- "change in barometric pressure".... hmmm.... well tomorrow wouldn't be so bad either- grandpa's birthday! We actually have a bunch of birthdays coming up in the family again, so I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up on someone's bday. Trying to be optimistic and concentrate on all the stuff I still have to do before she gets here, instead of concentrating on wearing myself out trying to induce labor haha, but it's REALLY hard. And I get worried just looking at the calendar, all the "stuff" that's coming up in the next month that I have to keep track of. The kids have a million field trips and "someone come to school for reading, lunch, whatev, etc." days, and holly has dance rehearsals and a recital, 2 girlscout events...I get tired even thinking about it. There are big changes ahead in our house, I hope we are all brave enough to deal with them!
We were in Culvers for lunch today and the family in front of us in line had 3 kids, 2 boys that looked not much older than 3 and 18 months, and a newborn in a carseat (he still had his hospital hat on:). They were so freakin cute, the parents trying to order food and keep track of the kids and the one little boy kept poking at the baby. It reminded me of when our three were all really little like that, hell I do not know HOW I ever managed to keep them all alive and in one piece lol. When Jake was born, Eric was 4, but Holly was only 13 months. She couldn't walk yet, I had to carry her on one arm and swing the carseat over the other arm and hope Eric wasn't far behind. And I still took them everywhere. Compared to that, I think Mabel is going to be a piece of cake :)
We found out yesterday that our old neighborhood got hit really bad by the storm on sunday. I would really like to drive out there and check out the damage, but I think it would be too depressing. There was an empty school attached to the church nearby our old house, and the entire school is destroyed. We had this big dead oak tree in the back yard where an owl used to sit on the top branch in the summer and whoo-whoo away, I wonder if that tree came down. This storm really hit hard all over, I can't ever remember seeing so much damage around here. Every day when we drive to school, I see another house or two damaged that I didn't notice before. You can figure out exactly where the tornado came down, which was exactly the first house hit, and trace the path that it went through every street. They are cleaning up fast, though. One house had the garage totally ripped off, and today when I went by they already have walls up for a new one. Nice to see neighbors helping each other out. Menasha got hit pretty bad too, we noticed on the way to the dr this morning. In the older part of town there are a lot of really massive old trees, not like the newly planted ones in the subdivisions over by us, and those 60 foot trees are just snapped all over like matchsticks.
Adam made supper tonight while I did the "thursday run" (eric shop, holly dance class, back to shop, baaaack to dance class etc. tiring...) I got to go in for the last five minutes and watch Holly go through her routine, she was so cute. When she knows you're watching she tends to watch YOU instead of watching what the teacher is doing, but she did really good. It used to be when I signed her up for that stuff she would kindof stand in the middle of all the other kids and watch while they screamed and giggled and jumped around, but she definitely is getting into things a little more. What I still cannot figure out is that she goes to school and she DOESNT TALK?! Even this far into the year, her teachers say how quiet she is, but literally as soon as she gets out that door at school and 10 feet down the path, she is talking your ear off about her day. I am really really hoping the new school, with all her cousins and her daisy and dance class friends with help change that next year. (Supper was fantastic, by the way. He really went all out, I was very impressed :)
The doctor's appointment went well, and if Mabel doesn't decide to make an appearance, I will be induced by May 2nd-3rd ish, so thank god I can look at the calendar and breathe a sigh of relief- 18 days at most! I still think she is going to come out on her own. The nurse today pointed out that sunday is a full moon. We were kindof joking about all the women who go into labor when there's a full moon, but I googled it when we got home, and it does make sense- "change in barometric pressure".... hmmm.... well tomorrow wouldn't be so bad either- grandpa's birthday! We actually have a bunch of birthdays coming up in the family again, so I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up on someone's bday. Trying to be optimistic and concentrate on all the stuff I still have to do before she gets here, instead of concentrating on wearing myself out trying to induce labor haha, but it's REALLY hard. And I get worried just looking at the calendar, all the "stuff" that's coming up in the next month that I have to keep track of. The kids have a million field trips and "someone come to school for reading, lunch, whatev, etc." days, and holly has dance rehearsals and a recital, 2 girlscout events...I get tired even thinking about it. There are big changes ahead in our house, I hope we are all brave enough to deal with them!
We were in Culvers for lunch today and the family in front of us in line had 3 kids, 2 boys that looked not much older than 3 and 18 months, and a newborn in a carseat (he still had his hospital hat on:). They were so freakin cute, the parents trying to order food and keep track of the kids and the one little boy kept poking at the baby. It reminded me of when our three were all really little like that, hell I do not know HOW I ever managed to keep them all alive and in one piece lol. When Jake was born, Eric was 4, but Holly was only 13 months. She couldn't walk yet, I had to carry her on one arm and swing the carseat over the other arm and hope Eric wasn't far behind. And I still took them everywhere. Compared to that, I think Mabel is going to be a piece of cake :)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
This bun is cooked
grrrrr I am still knocked up.
I know technically I'm not even 37 weeks until sunday, but I'm sure when I go to the doctor tomorrow she's going to measure me at least at 38-39, so I think it's time for Mabel to make her exit, cuz she's putting me through pregnancy hell, and I swear Adam gets up in the morning and gives me this accusing look, like "Are you going to have this kid today or what?" Omg like I'm keeping her in there on purpose! like I LIKE peeing 47 times a day and feeling like I'm going to have a heart attack from walking up one flight of stairs, and laying in bed all night with killer contractions every 10 minutes (that is the WORST- you lay there thinking "is this it or what? and when you wake up 5 miserable hours later she's still in there...) Perhaps she is waiting for friday, which is grandpa's birthday.....
Jake really wanted to go to Memorial Park today since we haven't been there in forever with all the construction going on, so we went for an hour before he had to go to school. (After my CVS pharmacy run- that place is a hidden gem! laundry soap for 99cents today, who cares if the coupon was in spanish...) He was really excited to see they put in a new walking bridge, but man that walk down the loooooong path was almost the end for me. While he was getting back in the truck, I saw for the first time that he has little sprinkly brown freckles on his nose :) amazing the things that go unnoticed every day when you sometimes forget to look. After school today I let Eric go to the skatepark with his friend since he's been on good behavior status, and he bought me a get well soon card with a big dog on it from Walgreens lol. Gosh I have great kids! And I must look really terrible, because also the lady at the bank this afternoon asked me if I was "in pain".
We got word yesterday that Adam got a bid for the job in Stevens Point. I guess he gave up the manshack just in time. It will mean more driving (ugh- and the price of gas is killer right now.) but at least he can stay home until work calls and still make it there in time. We've been through that driving thing before, he used to drive to Horicon every day. good thing I didn't give in and let him pack us all up to move to Gladstone :) It's always an adjustment when he's gone a lot and all of a sudden here all the time again, so especially throwing a new baby into the mix, I think the next few weeks around here are going to get pretty interesting. All of a sudden there's a ton of stuff going on- his job transfer, Easter, the kids after school activities and field trips. I don't know how I'm every going to keep track of it all.
Funny story: every single year I swear Adam loses his boat/trailer keys right around the time he wants to start taking the boat out to go fishing and every single year he gets sooo mad and accuses the kids of touching the keys (that have theoretically been missing since last winter). this was today. all hyped up to go fishing and can't find his keys, tearing the house apart, ends up cutting the lock off (again). (Adam I write it with love haha! The Green Hornet strikes again.) I bet he put them in a safe place and will find them again in november....
I know technically I'm not even 37 weeks until sunday, but I'm sure when I go to the doctor tomorrow she's going to measure me at least at 38-39, so I think it's time for Mabel to make her exit, cuz she's putting me through pregnancy hell, and I swear Adam gets up in the morning and gives me this accusing look, like "Are you going to have this kid today or what?" Omg like I'm keeping her in there on purpose! like I LIKE peeing 47 times a day and feeling like I'm going to have a heart attack from walking up one flight of stairs, and laying in bed all night with killer contractions every 10 minutes (that is the WORST- you lay there thinking "is this it or what? and when you wake up 5 miserable hours later she's still in there...) Perhaps she is waiting for friday, which is grandpa's birthday.....
Jake really wanted to go to Memorial Park today since we haven't been there in forever with all the construction going on, so we went for an hour before he had to go to school. (After my CVS pharmacy run- that place is a hidden gem! laundry soap for 99cents today, who cares if the coupon was in spanish...) He was really excited to see they put in a new walking bridge, but man that walk down the loooooong path was almost the end for me. While he was getting back in the truck, I saw for the first time that he has little sprinkly brown freckles on his nose :) amazing the things that go unnoticed every day when you sometimes forget to look. After school today I let Eric go to the skatepark with his friend since he's been on good behavior status, and he bought me a get well soon card with a big dog on it from Walgreens lol. Gosh I have great kids! And I must look really terrible, because also the lady at the bank this afternoon asked me if I was "in pain".
We got word yesterday that Adam got a bid for the job in Stevens Point. I guess he gave up the manshack just in time. It will mean more driving (ugh- and the price of gas is killer right now.) but at least he can stay home until work calls and still make it there in time. We've been through that driving thing before, he used to drive to Horicon every day. good thing I didn't give in and let him pack us all up to move to Gladstone :) It's always an adjustment when he's gone a lot and all of a sudden here all the time again, so especially throwing a new baby into the mix, I think the next few weeks around here are going to get pretty interesting. All of a sudden there's a ton of stuff going on- his job transfer, Easter, the kids after school activities and field trips. I don't know how I'm every going to keep track of it all.
Funny story: every single year I swear Adam loses his boat/trailer keys right around the time he wants to start taking the boat out to go fishing and every single year he gets sooo mad and accuses the kids of touching the keys (that have theoretically been missing since last winter). this was today. all hyped up to go fishing and can't find his keys, tearing the house apart, ends up cutting the lock off (again). (Adam I write it with love haha! The Green Hornet strikes again.) I bet he put them in a safe place and will find them again in november....
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Misery does not love company
First nasty thunderstorms of the season rolling in...I think Jake is a little nervous. He was double-checking that all the bikes were out of the way so I could shut the garage, then him and Holly went around and shut all the blinds and curtains in our house, it was so dark in here it was like midnite lol. Eric used to be the one who was really afraid of storms. When he was 3 yrs old and I was about 8 months preggo with Holly, a tornado came up so fast (literally it was a 1/4 mile away but the sun was shining at our house) that i had to grab him out of his bed while he was taking a nap and huddle in his closet. He has never forgotten about that! It was great to finally have some nice weather today, Adam went up north to clean out his manshack since he is giving it up for awhile, and Eric is gone to gramma's so we took a little drive down by the river park. Holly and Jake thought it was hilarious that there were ducks in the village swimming pool:) They didn't last too long at the park, I think because they play on the playground so much at school, it seems like they're getting "too old" for park trips now, now they want to shoot hoops and rollerblade, and go fishing by the river instead. It would have been a perfect day for us to take a long bike ride, but it will be awhile before I can do that with them again :( Prolly will spend a lot of time this summer toting Mabel and her stroller off for walks in the woods with them instead.
Yesterday I made Adam come grocery shopping with us, since he is going to be home for the next week and I wanted him to pick out some stuff, otherwise he is a perpetual recorded message over and over. "you never buy anything good. I'm going to Taco Bell". (Well really he just doesn't LIKE anything- nothing in the slow cooker remember?!) Well it was also 10-double coupon day, so I gave him half the grocery list and I took half and we met when we were done and I threw a bunch of stuff in his cart and gave him some coupons. He looked like he was getting pretty cranky, until he saw how much money we actually saved. (61.00 and 2 free gallons of milk.) I however was also starting to get cranky, I swear I was walking through that store and I felt that THUD again like Mabel dropped another inch. Hello-I'm not gonna mince words! Butter knife to the crotch! Theoretically I know babies don't really "drop" like that, but holy man, I hardly could walk through the store, by the time I was in the checkout line I was like in a cold sweat. Really it's getting ridiculous- it's a beautiful day Mabel, time to come out!
One of my friends brought me a labor cake yesterday- nope, didn't work. (It has castor oil in it, thank god you cant taste it.) we bought a pineapple yesterday and I made myself eat it all day long, even in a smoothie- nope, she's still in there. I killed myself cleaning the house again this morning- owwww i will pay for that later when i want to sleep. All I am getting in return are killer contractions that don't count as "being in labor" apparently, because they are not regular enough. (even though i have them pretty much every time i walk, and all night long for the last three nights, bad enough to wake me out of my sleep even. And they're not the same as Braxton Hicks- i have those too, but these are the real ones that hurt. A lot.) So uncomfortable and just antsy, like I don't know whether to lay down and cry or get up and walk around.
I seriously do not remember being this miserable with any of the other kids except Jake, and that was only for the week before he was born, and because he was lying on my sciatic nerve so my legs were numb. AND I was pregnant three other times in June, July, and August, and I STILL was not this miserable. This makes me think that there's no way she could possibly stay in there for another 3 weeks. (I'm prolly kidding myself, but if she does, i am in for 3 weeks of hell.) All my other kids were also induced, so this whole thing feels really wierd to me, because I think this one is finally gonna be the one that decides to come out on her own. I feel like that girl who swells up like a blueberry in Willie Wonka, just sitting around waiting to pop like a giant water balloon. . I know there's a lot of stuff I should be doing yet (don't have any of her clothes put away, don't even have a bag packed or anything.) but i really just want to lay down and not move.....
Yesterday I made Adam come grocery shopping with us, since he is going to be home for the next week and I wanted him to pick out some stuff, otherwise he is a perpetual recorded message over and over. "you never buy anything good. I'm going to Taco Bell". (Well really he just doesn't LIKE anything- nothing in the slow cooker remember?!) Well it was also 10-double coupon day, so I gave him half the grocery list and I took half and we met when we were done and I threw a bunch of stuff in his cart and gave him some coupons. He looked like he was getting pretty cranky, until he saw how much money we actually saved. (61.00 and 2 free gallons of milk.) I however was also starting to get cranky, I swear I was walking through that store and I felt that THUD again like Mabel dropped another inch. Hello-I'm not gonna mince words! Butter knife to the crotch! Theoretically I know babies don't really "drop" like that, but holy man, I hardly could walk through the store, by the time I was in the checkout line I was like in a cold sweat. Really it's getting ridiculous- it's a beautiful day Mabel, time to come out!
One of my friends brought me a labor cake yesterday- nope, didn't work. (It has castor oil in it, thank god you cant taste it.) we bought a pineapple yesterday and I made myself eat it all day long, even in a smoothie- nope, she's still in there. I killed myself cleaning the house again this morning- owwww i will pay for that later when i want to sleep. All I am getting in return are killer contractions that don't count as "being in labor" apparently, because they are not regular enough. (even though i have them pretty much every time i walk, and all night long for the last three nights, bad enough to wake me out of my sleep even. And they're not the same as Braxton Hicks- i have those too, but these are the real ones that hurt. A lot.) So uncomfortable and just antsy, like I don't know whether to lay down and cry or get up and walk around.
I seriously do not remember being this miserable with any of the other kids except Jake, and that was only for the week before he was born, and because he was lying on my sciatic nerve so my legs were numb. AND I was pregnant three other times in June, July, and August, and I STILL was not this miserable. This makes me think that there's no way she could possibly stay in there for another 3 weeks. (I'm prolly kidding myself, but if she does, i am in for 3 weeks of hell.) All my other kids were also induced, so this whole thing feels really wierd to me, because I think this one is finally gonna be the one that decides to come out on her own. I feel like that girl who swells up like a blueberry in Willie Wonka, just sitting around waiting to pop like a giant water balloon. . I know there's a lot of stuff I should be doing yet (don't have any of her clothes put away, don't even have a bag packed or anything.) but i really just want to lay down and not move.....
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Whew a lot of people are talking about this new show on TLC about the extreme couponers. Im pretty sure if you looked at the rest of their lifes most of those people could flat out be called OCD cases and it would have nothing to do with coupons. I like a good deal as much as the next person, but 100 boxes of spaghetti? Really?!
That being said, yeah, I do get excited and occassionally sing in the car on the way home when I find good deals, but maybe I just need a life lol. (PS- Pick n Save is having "10-double coupon saturdays for the whole month of April! what luck! ) I found this superneat website earlier tonight at http://www.simplebites.net/, and I can't wait to try some of her suggestions, like making more of my own "pantry staples" at home (spaghetti sauce, syrup, salsa etc,) We already do a lot of making our own pickles, jam and stuff in the summer, but I always wanted to try growing herbs too, and making our own seasonings. (I have been looking for a recipe for homemade taco seasoning for awhile if anyone has one? tried a few havent found one we like yet.)
Recently I also found this recipe that I guess the Duggars use and a lot of people swear by to make your own laundry detergent. this sounds pretty interesting, if anyone has tried it let me know!
Today's lovely double coupon day I got 5 free lunchables at Pick n Save, the little make your own sub ones the kids like for their lunches (hurry if you want them- even without double coupons they are 10 for 10 and they have 1.00 off 2 coupons stuck on the fronts, which makes them 50 cents a piece. ), free oreos, free Kraft Singles, and 3 boxes of Gogurt for 75cents each, and a bunch of stuff for our taco night, basically I saved 22.00 and spent 25 (as long as I save at least 50 perc. I usually consider this a good shopping trip.) and pretty much that is the only grocery shopping I have done for the week, besides my 5.00 trip to Target.
oooo Target has Purex fabric softener Crystals (I LOVE these in the laundry! I could totally get high smelling this stuff LOL.) unadvertised ringing up at 2.99 this week, used a coupon off the target website and a printable one I found online and got it for 99 cents, reg priced at about 4.99 :)
Adam's been home a couple days extra this week, I have not been feeling well (I think he's afraid to leave, I feel like a water balloon ready to pop any second.) so he took some vacation days. Supposed to have a doctor's appt on monday but I am going to see if I can get in before that, because I REALLY feel awful, pretty sure I don't remember feeling this terrible with any of the other kids until right before they were born, and mabel is still technically 3 or so weeks out. I can't imagine her staying in there for 3 more weeks, or maybe I'm just "hoping" because my back is annoyingly painful and the Braxton Hicks contractions are unbelievable- I went to lunch with some friends this aft, and we were sitting at TGI Fridays and I got one so bad my eyes actually started watering , couldn't move couldn't breathe...Wow! I should probably get around to packing a hospital bag sometime soon....
here's a really fun and educational website that the kids like http://www.starfall.com/
and also this is supercool, an eagle's nest in Iowa they just hatched three babies this week. The kids love to watch the mama eagle feed her babies, we look at it every day. http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/ if it doesn't work for some reason just google "Decorah Eagles".
had jakes pt conference yesterday, he is doing great. he writes and colors everything green, so funny he's always been biased towards green stuff, since he was a baby he has LOVED frozen peas and green beans. I love his paper where he wrote "When I grow up I am going to eat Oreos all day long" :)
Eric got grounded this week for having attitude issues, so now he is stuck hanging around the house all week trying to earn his "theoretical" points back so he can go to gramma's with his cousins on saturday.
And Jake got grounded for a day (can't do much more than that, he's only 5.) because he's been flipping people the "birdie" finger and he flipped off the neighbor kid's DAD!? I was so embarrassed! Holly saw some other kid do this at school last week, came home and taught Jake to do it, now they keep doing it to each other when they think Im not looking. Sigh. It's always something.....
That being said, yeah, I do get excited and occassionally sing in the car on the way home when I find good deals, but maybe I just need a life lol. (PS- Pick n Save is having "10-double coupon saturdays for the whole month of April! what luck! ) I found this superneat website earlier tonight at http://www.simplebites.net/, and I can't wait to try some of her suggestions, like making more of my own "pantry staples" at home (spaghetti sauce, syrup, salsa etc,) We already do a lot of making our own pickles, jam and stuff in the summer, but I always wanted to try growing herbs too, and making our own seasonings. (I have been looking for a recipe for homemade taco seasoning for awhile if anyone has one? tried a few havent found one we like yet.)
Recently I also found this recipe that I guess the Duggars use and a lot of people swear by to make your own laundry detergent. this sounds pretty interesting, if anyone has tried it let me know!
Today's lovely double coupon day I got 5 free lunchables at Pick n Save, the little make your own sub ones the kids like for their lunches (hurry if you want them- even without double coupons they are 10 for 10 and they have 1.00 off 2 coupons stuck on the fronts, which makes them 50 cents a piece. ), free oreos, free Kraft Singles, and 3 boxes of Gogurt for 75cents each, and a bunch of stuff for our taco night, basically I saved 22.00 and spent 25 (as long as I save at least 50 perc. I usually consider this a good shopping trip.) and pretty much that is the only grocery shopping I have done for the week, besides my 5.00 trip to Target.
oooo Target has Purex fabric softener Crystals (I LOVE these in the laundry! I could totally get high smelling this stuff LOL.) unadvertised ringing up at 2.99 this week, used a coupon off the target website and a printable one I found online and got it for 99 cents, reg priced at about 4.99 :)
Adam's been home a couple days extra this week, I have not been feeling well (I think he's afraid to leave, I feel like a water balloon ready to pop any second.) so he took some vacation days. Supposed to have a doctor's appt on monday but I am going to see if I can get in before that, because I REALLY feel awful, pretty sure I don't remember feeling this terrible with any of the other kids until right before they were born, and mabel is still technically 3 or so weeks out. I can't imagine her staying in there for 3 more weeks, or maybe I'm just "hoping" because my back is annoyingly painful and the Braxton Hicks contractions are unbelievable- I went to lunch with some friends this aft, and we were sitting at TGI Fridays and I got one so bad my eyes actually started watering , couldn't move couldn't breathe...Wow! I should probably get around to packing a hospital bag sometime soon....
here's a really fun and educational website that the kids like http://www.starfall.com/
and also this is supercool, an eagle's nest in Iowa they just hatched three babies this week. The kids love to watch the mama eagle feed her babies, we look at it every day. http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/ if it doesn't work for some reason just google "Decorah Eagles".
had jakes pt conference yesterday, he is doing great. he writes and colors everything green, so funny he's always been biased towards green stuff, since he was a baby he has LOVED frozen peas and green beans. I love his paper where he wrote "When I grow up I am going to eat Oreos all day long" :)
Eric got grounded this week for having attitude issues, so now he is stuck hanging around the house all week trying to earn his "theoretical" points back so he can go to gramma's with his cousins on saturday.
And Jake got grounded for a day (can't do much more than that, he's only 5.) because he's been flipping people the "birdie" finger and he flipped off the neighbor kid's DAD!? I was so embarrassed! Holly saw some other kid do this at school last week, came home and taught Jake to do it, now they keep doing it to each other when they think Im not looking. Sigh. It's always something.....
Friday, April 1, 2011
Free is a good thing, kid.
Whoo-hoo all the free samples I just signed up for are starting to roll in. Eric opened up the mailbox today and he's like "Mom, WHAT did you order now?" 25.00 worth of swiffer/mr. clean/febreeze coupons, 4 free diapers (okay they're size 5 and Mabel wont wear them for 2 years but whatev! free!), and a tiny cute mini make-up bag from Target with shampoo, lipgloss, lotion, etc, and 25.00 worth of Target beauty coupons. I will have to take that with me to the hospital since I actually got THIS from Adam. And I quote, "Are you going to fix yourself up and put on makeup when you go to the hospital so you look good in the pictures?" REALLY. I haven't decided whether to think this is funny yet or not. I think we have some free popcorn, deodorant, and crackers coming in the next few weeks too lol. I was reading this blog today about these extreme couponers, and this lady got 60 BOXES of pasta for free by using coupons. Really, now that's ridiculous, I wouldn't even go that far, unless you were going to split it with 15-20 other people.
Holly lost a tooth at school today, one of her top ones. Kindof sucks that Adam isn't here, he was always good at sneaking in the kids' rooms and getting to those teeth under the pillow without waking them up. I always forget or fall asleep, and I'm sneaking around at 5:30 AM trying to do it without waking them! Once the tooth fairy actually had to come back the next night and leave an apology note and twice as many quarters. She still believes in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, Leprechauns (LOL~) Easter Bunny....we always tried to make them believe in all that stuff as long as possible, it's a piece of childhood you can't ever get back after you lose that! Unfortunately, she's also the NOSIEST KID EVER. I bought a bunch of stuff for the easter baskets already, and I know she has been in my closet, so now I will have to save it for her birthday and get something else...
Yesterday I think I went a little crazy with the cleaning streak, I started cleaning carpets and emptying closets, and today when I got up I could not MOVE without being hit by major BH contractions, ugh so annoying and painful! Mabel is definitely on a downward path! Couldn't even walk up to Holly's school, the poor teacher must really think I look pathetic, cuz she just waves and sends Holly down the sidewalk so I don't have to shuffle myself all the way up there. As much as I would like to convince myself she will be here any day, I know it's going to be a loooong 3 weeks at least, though I doubt it she is gonna make it to my gramma's birthday on May 1st. My guess is April 27th or 29th. (Any guesses anyone?!) This is officially "the throes of misery"....
Holly lost a tooth at school today, one of her top ones. Kindof sucks that Adam isn't here, he was always good at sneaking in the kids' rooms and getting to those teeth under the pillow without waking them up. I always forget or fall asleep, and I'm sneaking around at 5:30 AM trying to do it without waking them! Once the tooth fairy actually had to come back the next night and leave an apology note and twice as many quarters. She still believes in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, Leprechauns (LOL~) Easter Bunny....we always tried to make them believe in all that stuff as long as possible, it's a piece of childhood you can't ever get back after you lose that! Unfortunately, she's also the NOSIEST KID EVER. I bought a bunch of stuff for the easter baskets already, and I know she has been in my closet, so now I will have to save it for her birthday and get something else...
Yesterday I think I went a little crazy with the cleaning streak, I started cleaning carpets and emptying closets, and today when I got up I could not MOVE without being hit by major BH contractions, ugh so annoying and painful! Mabel is definitely on a downward path! Couldn't even walk up to Holly's school, the poor teacher must really think I look pathetic, cuz she just waves and sends Holly down the sidewalk so I don't have to shuffle myself all the way up there. As much as I would like to convince myself she will be here any day, I know it's going to be a loooong 3 weeks at least, though I doubt it she is gonna make it to my gramma's birthday on May 1st. My guess is April 27th or 29th. (Any guesses anyone?!) This is officially "the throes of misery"....
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