Hoping a to-do list will help me!

I'm feeling so scattered. We've got Ivey's birthday coming up, and I'm not nearly ready. I've got ten half-finished craft projects lying around everywhere, the house is a mess, I can't seem to catch up with laundry or dishes, and the baby won't let me put him down for more than 10 minutes at a time. Oh and I want to start our (first ever!) homeschool year by the end of the month too. So I thought maybe if I made a list it could help me focus my efforts.

1) Catch up on dishes
2) Catch up on laundry
3) Finish friend's diaper cover (half done already!)
4) Bake Ivey's birthday cakes
5) Decorate Ivey's cakes
6) Go shopping for party food
7) Organize craft supply explosion
8) Figure out the Ergo back carry with Robert
9) Make decorations for Ivey's party
10) Work on plans for first day of homeschool

This is just my list for this week. I'm going to tentatively set the date for our first day of homeschool as August 22. It feels about right and will give me time to finish reading and planning.

I feel better already. Better get back to work now...

40 weeks and 3 days: A quick update

The girls' toenails (Suzi green, Ivey pink) that I painted Friday

1) Nope, no baby yet!

2) I went to the chiropractor yesterday and was balanced and didn't even need an adjustment. First time that's ever happened to me! I'm going back again tomorrow.

3) Ivey slept about 18 hours yesterday and woke up this morning smiling and happy and hungry! There's been no vomit for over 24 hours, thank God! She is just about back to her old self, but we are keeping her on Culturelle (probiotics) and the BRAT diet for a couple more days.

4) Jordan has an accounting test tonight at 7:00 pm. Before he left for work I told the baby that anytime after about 9:00 tonight would be good for him to come out. Of course, going by my other two pregnancies, if he comes before Monday the 11th he will be early.

5) Even after Ivey's stomach bug created a bunch of extra cleaning tasks, there is hardly anything left on my to-do list! I have to vacuum a little, finish up a bit of laundry and that's about it. Now I am working off my "overtime" list. Some of the things left: take the girls to the waterfront park, make another baby cocoon, read birthy/breastfeeding books, reorganize the storage room.

6) I'd also like to get some of my during birthing time tasks done ahead of time. I keep wondering if this baby is going to come quickly once he starts coming, and it makes me a little uncomfortable to have more than about two hours of setup that has to take place once things are rolling. Last time there was a lot of running around only a couple of hours before Ivey's birth. So I might get started on that list today, too. I'd like to at least get the rest of the birth stuff out from under our bed and put down the waterproof floor cover and pallet for beside the tub. The bed is already made up with two sets of sheets, so that'll save us at least ten minutes. I'd like to relax and watch a movie or make brownies during my birthing time with Robert.

Yep, that should just about do it. We are ready whenever Robert is. Just please pray that no one here gets sick again!

Happy Birthday to my mom and a late pregnancy list

My mom, photo by Jenn at my Blessingway

1) Today is my lovely mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mama! I'm sorry I don't have your gift finished yet.

2) These girls. They play together so much these days. Of course, it also means they fight, but I love to see them interacting. Ivey yells "Shooozhee!" and tells her to "eet! eet!" and sometimes, if Suzi is throwing a fit, Ivey tells her to hush. Here's Ivey playing dress-up in the armhole of one of my shirts, much to Suzi's amusement.

And Suzi pretending to be a dog named Poopsie. It's funny when Ivey joins in and starts crawling around and panting.

They discovered that twice as much mischief can be had in the rocking chair with two.

The other day Ivey wore herself out so bad that we left her sitting in the recliner for a couple of minutes and when we came back she had fallen asleep looking like Winnie the Pooh.

I love them so, so much. But they make me so, so tired.

3) I just realized we need a couple of things from Whole Foods for the birth. Myrrh is one, which is for the placenta encapsulation process, and I also wanted some Rescue Remedy. I guess this means we'll be filling our gas tank again sooner than we thought. WHY can't we get a Whole Foods or an Earth Fare or a Trader Joe's just a little closer to home? They pile them into the cities!

4) In my desire to have everything ready for the birth, which we feel will probably be in the first half of April, I made a day-by-day countdown to-do list. Unfortunately my organizational enthusiasm exceeds my energy and I doubt all those things will get done. Everything wasn't done for Ivey's birth either and we survived and I'd even say it was pleasant. With Suzi, nothing was done. As of her birthday we were renting a house that was a gigantic mess, had yet to close on the new home we were buying, and were set to bring her home to my parents' house. Oh and Jordan had just started a new job the month before and had almost no time to take off. Compared to that nightmare, this time everything is perfect!

5) I can't wait to go to the chiropractor tomorrow. I'm pretty sure Robert has stayed in a good position since my adjustment Monday, but I want to keep him there. I've also been doing a lot of bending and lifting and don't feel great. What did I do without the chiropractor the last two times?

6) The priorities still on my list:

- buy those supplies

- sterilize Robert's umbilical cord tie we made at the Blessingway

- make my belly cast

- attempt to make a dress/gown for me to wear during the birth

- put together new activity bags for the girls

- do a wool wash and lanolize Robert's diaper covers

- get all the cameras ready

- make a playlist of birth music

- dig into my list of crafts, which are mostly for other people

- clean house one last time before the birth

Jordan is off tomorrow, so we are going to run a bunch of errands and get some of these things done. Everything will be fine even if we get none of them done, but I'd really like to do at least most of them before the birth. I am 38 weeks 5 days and so far, today is not feeling very productive.

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.

35 weeks and getting things ready!

I turned 35 weeks on Saturday. It's hard to believe that in about six weeks we will be holding our little Robert!

I've been thinking back to my pregnancy with Ivey and it gets me a little antsy. I should be cleaning! I should be organizing birth supplies! I should be making lists and checking things off!

But first... I should be getting rid of this horrible chest cold and pink eye! It's been well over a month since our entire family has been free from sniffles and coughs. Right now we all have a little cough, and I have a big one. I am glad it's not one of the girls who has it, and I just hope no one else gets it this bad. My ribs hurt from the baby pushing them up and the coughs squeezing them in. I feel worse at night and when I first wake up, but last night I was finally able to really sleep again. I can't wait for this thing to be done with us. And the pink eye--well, that's just the icing on the cake for me and Ivey. Suzi and Jordan thankfully haven't gotten it yet. Hopefully both of these things will be over in a few days.

We have a lot to do before the birth, but we've already gotten some important things done. I'll just have to focus on those for right now...

1) We got our La Bassine birth tub and inflated it, and it's sitting in our bedroom all ready to go, except for the water. Jordan and I got in and tried out our positions we'd been envisioning for the birth. I'm planning to squat leaning up against the end of the tub, and Jordan will sit facing me and catch Robert. The tub is the perfect size, and it's soft and deep and strong. I love it.

2) Over the weekend I started washing towels and blankets for the birth. I recently cleaned out the linen closet so the bottom of it could be used for toys, and I picked our old, soft mismatched towels to use for the birth. We have a bunch saved from last time, too.

3) I ordered some coconut water for me to drink during and after the birth, instead of the natural sports drink I had last time. Coconut water is much better for you. It is already in the fridge.

4) We got Bed Bug Bumpers for our bed. When Ivey was born we tried to put her in an Arm's Reach Cosleeper, but she wanted to be in bed with us. This time we probably aren't even going to get the cosleeper out, or if we do it'll be used as a stand-alone bassinet for naps. Instead, the Bed Bug Bumpers are made of soft foam and go under the fitted sheet and keep the baby from falling out of bed without creating a dangerous crack like a bed rail does. Cheap and easy.

5) We let Suzi pick out her new car seat. Well, she picked the color; Jordan and I picked the model. It's the Britax Frontier 85 in blue. She loves it. We haven't moved her into the back of the van yet. We have several more weeks before that will be necessary.

6) Jordan brought our "birth stuff" down from the attic and I was happy to see that we barely need to buy anything this time. There are maybe four or five items to shop for (like a drinking water safe hose to fill the tub), whereas last time it was a huge list that took weeks to finish buying.

7) Important dates are set. I have my second and final appointment with our CNM on March 14th, and that weekend is probably when my friends will be doing a Blessingway for me! I'm excited! Baby Robert should be here by mid-April.

I haven't yet compiled a to-do list. Maybe I will get to that later today, since it's something I can do from the couch. I haven't been working too hard around the house because I'm trying to get better. Today my goal is to bathe the girls, wash diapers, get Suzi to dance class, and maybe make that list. At least this time I have my lists from last time to start with. Maybe for my next post I'll have a to-do list and a belly shot.

The to-do list swirling through my head

Fun stuff only...

1) Learn more about embroidery. Yesterday I jumped in by taking a piece of fabric and a little embroidery floss I had, sketching a little butterfly and stitching it on. It didn't turn out as I'd envisioned, but I learned the stitch I needed with the help of these helpful instructions. This is a good example of how I learn best by jumping in and trying! I want to learn to embroider funny sayings on pillows, and I also think sketching something and then embroidering over it looks really cool. It would be a fun way to add a little something to plain articles of clothing.

Don't laugh, it was my first try

2) Finish reading The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child. I'm on Chapter Six, which details how the homeschooling models they previously covered work in real life. Next I'm going to try out some of the activities I will read about with Suzi, see what she enjoys, and put some of them into our routine. Next up on my reading list: Homeschooling: The Early Years and one of the John Holt books but I can't decide which one. I'm already sold on homeschooling, so I'd rather read a book focused more on what, how and when than on why.

3) Learn how to crochet a hat, you know, like one of those slouchy, floppy berets. I want one of those and I want to make it myself. I bought some grey wool yarn at a yard sale and have had dreams about crocheting hats from it. One for me, maybe one for Jordan in a different style.

4) Bake chocolate chip cookies with Suzi.

5) Think of things I can make for Christmas gifts. There must be something I can learn to make for just about everyone, right? What are some good ideas of things to make for guys? Jordan likes to make things too, so maybe working together we can get everybody covered.

6) Get Suzi a big piece of poster board and some paints, dress both of us in old clothes, take her out in the yard and let her paint the paper, herself, and me. Maybe we'll make it a family activity. The other day while I wasn't looking she colored her hands and arms with markers (see picture in my sidebar) and ever since then I've thought this would be her dream art project.

7) Make a t-shirt quilt--a soft and cuddly recycling art project!

8) Make a book about Ivey's homebirth for my girls. When I got pregnant with Ivey I got a couple of books about a new baby to read to Suzi. When I opened them, though, I was constantly interjecting. "Suzi, this is what it'll be like when your little sister is born! Except you won't have to wait three days for us to come home from the hospital. And we won't feed Ivey a bottle. And she won't sleep in a crib. Or use a pacifier." These books ended up being more confusing than helpful. There are already some good books out there, such as We're Having a Homebirth!! but I want to write my own to read to my kids and make it more anecdotal and specific to us. I basically have it written already. Now if I could just draw some decent pictures...

Setting a deadline for these things would be stupid, but I wanted to make this list, if for no other reason than to remind myself I want to do these things! What's on your to-do list?