36 weeks right... now.

It's Friday night, and Jordan is asleep on the couch and I am just coming off a nesting high. My mother-in-law came today. We met Jordan for lunch with the girls and then he went back to work and we went shopping. It was fun, and the girls were so sweet too, until Ivey got sleepy. I made an extra trip out to the van just to drag out the stroller because she kept darting away from us in Belk's. She rode nicely in the stroller for about ten minutes before saying "I'm done." She didn't just mean she was done with the stroller, though. She was done with shopping. There was a major tantrum all the way back to the van, which was a pretty long walk. Poor Nana carried kicking, screaming Ivey part of the way for me. She fell asleep on the way home, of course.

We did get Robert a couple of cute little outfits and four Aden & Anais muslin swaddling blankets with adorable zoo animals on them. I love them so much. Most of what we got was for the girls, though.

And I've gotten a ton of stuff done today. I'm going to make a list, because that would make me happy.

1) Set up a changing station for Robert in the top two drawers of my bedside table. All his little Kissaluvs are in there, but I do need to find the rest of our newborn diaper covers.

2) Picked out and ordered gifts for Robert to give his big sisters. Suzi is really into Toy Story right now, and she's been going on and on about wanting a Woody doll. So we ordered Woody for Suzi and Buzz Light Year for Ivey. Suzi calls him Buzz Life Year.

3) Threw together my basket of comfort tools for my birthing time. Just my flaxseed heat packs and stuff. I didn't go all out this time like I did last time, because we hardly used any of it. Ooh, I do need to find the wooden rolling pin though. Or maybe I will just grab the one out of the kitchen.

4) Packed up all the towels and stuff like Robert's first outfit in a bin for the birth. This took me a lot longer last time. I feel so efficient!

5) Got all the kids' new clothes into the wash. Soon it will be folded and put away.

Here's what's left to be done:

1) Buy a few supplies

2) Make sweater flowers to decorate inside of belly cast

3) Make belly cast

4) Freeze some casseroles

5) Plan some birth day snacks

6) (Try to) make a birthing gown for me to wear

7) Make Robert some cute wool diaper covers (shorties)

8) Get all the cameras (Flip, camcorder, and regular) ready to go

9) Make CD of music for the birth

10) Install the car seat

11) Clean our bedroom and bathroom (I'll end up doing it five times)

12) Set up Robert's Bed Bug Bumper

13) Make a bunch of crafts--there are several things to finish before the big day!

Tomorrow my parents are keeping the girls for a while, and depending on our mood we're either going to go to the movies or get some of the things on this list knocked out. We'll see.

Oh and I finally worked up the nerve to post a more complete belly pic, way down at the bottom of my post. Just a little one. Here it is. 36 weeks.

I'm trying to keep the resolutions and stuff to a minimum

First, some pictures.

All the girls at the farm (where my dad's side does Christmas). Next year there will be a little boy propped up in the middle of them!

This is a good time of year for us. Christmas is over. All the hard work of gift-making is done, and now we have a long time to be creative and try things before it's time to start over. I already know what we're going to give a couple of people for next year, because of what they liked this year. Hooray for edible gifts, especially for those pesky people who are so hard to please otherwise. And next year I will be starting early. Making gifts for everyone turned out okay after all!

But other than that, here's what I want to do in 2011:

1) Hypnobabies. I know it may seem strange that we are taking a childbirth class for our third baby (our third class, too), but after hearing Megan's love for this class, and knowing how anxious I can get, I knew it'd be perfect for us. We've already done a few scripts and last night we went to our first class. The hard part for me will be doing the "homeplay" assignments each day. I'm going to have to put it on a calendar or something.

2) Make things. I want to come up with new things, and get better at making the old ones. I am still really into felted wool, and I have quite a stash of sweaters to work with! Lately I am working on birds. Here are two little bird families I recently made. I can't take all the credit for the idea--my cousins asked me to do them as baby gifts for new parents. It's similar to something I made for Christmas, but I love the idea of making a special little set of birds to represent a family.

A set of birds for a family with two mommies, having a little girl

I also do nests

I will have to do a separate post on things I am meaning to make. So many ideas, so little time.

3) Nesting. I have been at the height of my nesting urge and I want to take advantage of that before the baby comes. Jordan and I actually got a lot done over the holidays. We cleaned out our kitchen cabinets (yay!) and stocked up on kitchen staples. And most notably, we cleaned out our bedroom. It still needs a lot of work though, because it's probably going to be Baby Robert's birthplace, and it's the room Jordan, Ivey, Robert and I will share for a while. Yes, Ivey will still be in the room with us. I'm not going to rush her out on account of the baby. We didn't rush Suzi out when Ivey came either. But that brings me to #4.

4) Get Suzi into a bigger bed, and Ivey into the toddler bed. I'd like to get this done before Robert comes. The plan is to do what we did with Suzi, and keep Ivey in our room in the toddler bed until she gets used to that, and then move her in with Suzi when she's ready. This will probably be something we all have to adjust to for the next several months.

She seemed to like the toddler bed at the farm... Or at least she liked playing on it

5) Have Baby Robert! And try my best to tandem nurse, and everything else that goes along with a new baby. It makes me nervous to think what it's going to be like around here, but we will have three wonderful children so it'll be worth it.

This is why I'm not making a bunch of lofty goals and resolutions for the new year. Come April, if I can just get through each day without being a horrible witch of a mother and losing my cool and screeching, I will have accomplished something. Even if the house is a mess, and the kids didn't get bathed and I didn't get a shower. Even if we have to wash a bowl and a spoon every single time we want cereal. Because let's get real. We're going to have three kids and the oldest one will be four. This season of my life is going to be a messy one, but I want to have fun in it. I know I'll miss it when it's gone.

What do you have planned for 2011?

Losing count... 23 weeks? It's nesting time!

First, some unrelated pictures.

Our town's Christmas tree the night it was lit

They both want Daddy to hold them. People are asking how he's going to hold one more. We're not sure yet.

You're how old? Three?

Yep, three! And I want a fire truck!

I should be 24 weeks on Saturday. I had a pregnancy ticker last time that helped me keep track, but it annoyed me because once I passed my due date it started counting the days back up. I was a little insulted that the designers of the ticker hadn't thought of that. Women go past their due dates all the time! It should've gone down to zero and then been like "Jenny is ___ days past her due date! Give that lady a medal for patience!" But it didn't, so I didn't get a ticker this time.

I had forgotten how wonderful pregnancy gets about halfway through when I start really nesting. My house is clean and decorated for Christmas! The laundry and dishes have been under control and I am undertaking large organizational projects that normally I would put off forever. On Monday my parents took both the girls to their house for the afternoon and in about four hours I transformed our craft room from a disastrous, shameful mess into a space we can actually use! I wish I'd taken before and after pictures. That room was where craft projects went to die, but by Monday night it was nice enough that on Tuesday I had my friends Megan and Jenn over to make Waldorf bunting dolls. (Well, Megan and I made dolls and Jenn gave us advice and tried to get some knitting done.) Yesterday I went through all the girls' clothes, got rid of some and packed most of the rest away. I'm almost done with that. I washed Robert's newborn clothes too and they are hanging in the Robert section of the kids' closet. It's a little early but I figured I might as well since I was in the mood!

Our little house is going to require some work before this baby comes or it's going to feel super cramped. We have three bedrooms, one of which is the craft/guest room. There is no garage and very little storage space. But the other day when I was cleaning out the craft room, as I piled up at least four tubs worth of stuff to haul to Goodwill, I thought, even if I lived in a mansion with a craft room three times this size lined with drawers as far as the eye could see I wouldn't want all this stuff. And no matter how big the room was it would still be a mess. So we have been regularly and ruthlessly hauling stuff to the thrift store. We have a tub that we keep in the dining room and we keep filling it up until it overflows every two or three days. We'll need some extra space for when we bring in new Christmas stuff. We asked our families to please take it easy on us this year, especially when it comes to toys. Hopefully by the time Baby Robert arrives we'll have plenty of space for him and his stuff! Someday we'll have a garage and another bedroom, and perhaps a sunroom. Someday.

My belly is getting "out there" and it's a different, more bubbly shape. I've gained about ten pounds and it looks like I'll end up weighing a little less than I did with Ivey at the end. A lot of my maternity clothes that fit the two times before are too big this time, so I've had to buy several new things. Sometimes I think I haven't felt the baby kick in a long time and I get worried, but usually it's just because I've been running around too much and once I sit down I realize he's fine. Jordan's been able to feel him for several weeks, but not as much as he could feel the girls.

Overall, this pregnancy has been way nicer, especially when compared to Suzi's. Robert is a sweet little boy.

A naptime post

1) Both girls are asleep. I am typing as fast as I can think.

2) I ran twice. One time I ran with Phibby, but she was confused and wouldn't run with me. She looked like she must have been thinking where is the fire? The only time I've run since freshman year of college was across the parking lot when I was late for work. (Or to snatch up a good deal at a sale.) Phibby is a leggy part-Vizsla and could easily drag me down the street if she wanted to. Instead, she kept up a leisurely trot a couple of feet behind me, and I ended up dragging her and eventually had to walk. The next day I ran with Jordan. He pushed the stroller and I had a hard time keeping up with him. Running just comes naturally to him. It's SO unfair. I want to keep running, and I hope I will. It made me sore though.

3) Even though I am a slow runner and ate some of Suzi's Halloween candy and some brownies and perhaps a cupcake or two, I lost a solid two pounds this week. It may not seem like much, but I didn't expect or need to lose a lot. I am breastfeeding so I can't really diet. I'm just happy that I got unstuck!

4) We watched Biggest Loser and I am kind of sad that Tracey is gone. I'm not sure why but I was just starting to like her.

5) The past couple of days I've been reliving the nesting I experienced while still pregnant with Ivey. It's amazing what I can get done when I put my mind to it (and the girls are napping or self-entertaining for a few minutes)! What I did in one day while Jordan was at work: cleaned out a spot in the living room for Ivey's jumperoo, organized our finances through May, made a list of financial goals we'd been discussing, bathed both girls, dishes, laundry (including diapers), prepared peas to be put away in the freezer, helped Suzi paint with watercolors and showed her how to do leaf rubbings. Suzi and Ivey have their good days and their bad (whiny/crying) days, and when they have a good day, so do I.

6) I ordered Suzi a bunch of Clif Kid Organic ZBars, hoping to get a little food into her. She is just not big on eating these days. She loved my Luna Bars, made by the same company, so I am praying she likes these even more. One of these days I'm going to order myself some Luna Bars. There are some good deals on eBay, but the ones I've seen anywhere else have been over a buck apiece. Expensive, but I've never met a Luna Bar I didn't like.

7) I am such a great mom that I somehow neglected to properly photograph our children in their Halloween costumes. Today, I am hoping to get them dressed up again and take a couple of pictures to share because they were so cute! I do have a picture of Ivey in the tutu and accessories I made for her. She never wore it anywhere, but at least I took a picture.

"Mama, I wook widiculous. This isn't going on the blog... is it?"

8) Amber mentioned a while back that she keeps up consistent posts by scheduling them, and I think it's a great idea. Write out four or five posts real quick while your kids are asleep and then you're set for a week or two! I tried it and it's awesome. Just wanted to let you know that just because I post something one day doesn't necessarily mean I wrote it that day.

Due Date Eve

Here we are on the eve of our due date (the later one, I mean) and no baby yet. My widget in the sidebar was set up for 8/3 and it has now begun to count the days back up. (Stop that! We are getting closer, not further away!) Everything is pretty much done except for things that have to be done right before the birth (like food preparation). In light of these circumstances, this was a well-timed post from Linda, one of my midwives. Despite my best intentions to be patient, I really am ready to meet my baby now and Jordan is too. We aren't taking any desperate measures or anything--I mean, these few days of waiting are just a teensy sliver in the grand scheme of our lives. Ivey is doing fine and we are prepared to wait. It does make it a little harder this time because the birth itself is going to be amazing and I'm excited about that, too! My mom blogged about the waiting as well if you'd like to read it. I don't personally have any belly shots or anything to share right now, but here are some pictures I meant to share a couple of weeks ago. These are the girls' beds.


An Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper for Ivey, which will be attached to the side of our bed once she arrives.


And this is Suzi's little toddler bed that her Daddy made her. It's so low to the ground that she can sometimes roll out and not even wake up! It is currently at the foot of our bed, so if she has a nightmare (about monsters, most recently) she can come cuddle with us. People are always asking about our nursery, but we don't have one. We have a playroom for the girls, but we'll all sleep in the same bedroom for now. It works for us.

I thought I'd shared pictures of the playroom before, but I don't think I did. It was my first major act of nesting a couple of months ago, and here it is...




This room was previously quite cluttery and useless. (By the way, that is my belly cast from Suzi on top of the bookshelf. I never painted it but now I kind of like it the way it is!)

Now I am going over to my parents' house to wait a little more, and we are going up to the Tamassee DAR School thrift shop this afternoon. Should be a nice distraction! Hopefully I'll have baby pictures to share soon...

"I'm a bird in a nest! Tweet tweet!"

Suzi loves playing in this beanbag we found at the latest consignment sale. Sometimes she's a bird in a nest, and sometimes the beanbag is a swimming pool and she runs and jumps into it. I love to see how she uses her imagination to have fun with everyday things. It kind of reminds me of when I was little. My Barbies used to ride around in shoes because they didn't have a car.

And here was our project of the day today. I am embarrassed of the before pictures, but there are better ones after...

This is our storage room.

See that big white boxy thing in the bottom right corner? That is a really nice chest freezer, and yes, it's buried. Jordan had to be the one to put stuff in and take stuff out--I couldn't get the lid up with all that junk on it, and as you can see there is no way to stand in front of it. So today, I decided it'd be good to organize this room. Jordan was thrilled. His favorite part was when I went through all his tools and said "What's that?" and "What does this do?"

It took us several hours. We took everything out, swept the floor, threw a lot out and consolidated the rest. Jordan had already hung pegboard on one wall, so I put the pegs up and hung anything that had a hole in it! Jordan put a shelf up above the freezer. In the end, I think we are both pleased with the results.

I don't think we threw out anything good, but we will definitely be able to find the stuff we kept, and at a glance. Because most of it's hanging on the wall.

And there is nothing sitting on the freezer anymore!

And I can stand in front of it!

Hopefully soon that freezer will be filled with casseroles. I am hoping to start making some soon so we'll have them for after the birth. If you have a good recipe that freezes well, please share it!

What we've been doing (nesting, mostly)

I've only got about a month left until my due date. Wow! We're having a baby next month! Maybe this is why I've been so fired up about cleaning and organizing lately. I've been keeping a to-do list up on the computer screen every day I'm off work, and most days I get everything or almost everything done. Yesterday I did things like organize the (once cluttered) dining room, clean out the fridge, go grocery shopping, and did regular stuff like dishes and laundry and vacuuming, plus a few other things. Jordan helps with all this. I am sure he is overjoyed each morning when he comes downstairs and sees my list staring him in the face! (Do daddies nest too? I know they sometimes have morning sickness and gain weight, but neither of those have happened to him this time.) He has been a pretty good sport, and even got up at 6:30 this morning to take some things up to the attic for me. He has the day off Monday and will be doing yard work.

Suzi is contributing in a big way, too. She frequently says "I can help you!" and will pick up her toys and complete simple tasks most of the time. But that's not all she's done. Our little girl is using the potty! I don't know what to say about this, really. I mean, she's 25 months old and in the past month she's gone from not wanting to potty consistently at all (when I say "not want" I mean kicking, screaming, crying, saying "I want diaper!") to using the potty with 97% success. Yesterday I took her to the babywearing meeting at the library and she even went to the potty there. We have a special little seat for her, recommended by Hobo Mama. It works great! I know I'm probably not qualified to give advice, seeing as how we arrived here through sheer dumb luck after we happened to be blessed with a potty prodigy, and most of you who are still potty training probably want to slap me right now. But just in case we did a thing or two right, I'll share what helped Suzi in a future post. We are so happy about not having to deal with diapers anymore that we are hoping to implement elimination communication early on with Ivey.

And the picture... This is Suzi playing with her little cousin Anna, who is about five months old. Isn't she beautiful? Aunt Jeanie brought Anna over to visit at my mom's house the other day. Suzi just loves Anna and I'm hoping she has as much fun playing with Ivey later. We are all so happy because on my dad's side, there has been a sudden baby boom--and all girls! This Christmas at the farm there will be four sweet little ones: Suzi, Olivia, Anna, and Ivey!