Happy Sunday!

Because the price of gas dropped, that's why!

So I had another dr. appointment today. We are measuring at 39 weeks. Ultrasound next week to help the doc decide when to induce.

My dh sent me to get gas at a station he saw that had cheap gas so I did. Right next door was a Goodwill. I had a bit of time so I stopped, and got these......Boutique style tweed purses with tags and plastic still on them, the prices said $35 and $22. I paid two bucks a piece. Yippee! I also got some baby names books,2 pairs of Sketchers dress shoes for ds, brand new slippers for dd, a pumpkin costume for the new baby, and adorable little white flexible shoes for dd#2. All for less than $20.

They had tons of purses if you like 'em...hope you get there before my mom does:)

P. S. Is it Thursday already? Sheesh!

like momma...

It's actually health food, people...Hershey's Special Dark.

Did you know you don't even have to open those little mini bars, if you hold onto it long enough and mommy isn't watching you can suck the melted chocolate right out of the foil!

Thirty- three years young...

To my husband, my best friend, my strength when I am weak, my taste tester, my leftover eater, my handyman, my reacher of all things high, my baby rocker, my vacuumer and sweeper when I am too big to do it myself, my comforter, my water getter, my coach, my hero...

May your boss give you tonight off and all the craftsman tools you have ever drooled over fall from the sky today but not hit anyone because that might hurt;) I love you...

Happy Birthday!

Kung Fu Parenting

So, I used to be an intense blogger like I was an intense parent. I would type, check my grammar, check my spelling, save it as a draft, read over it make sure it was as good as I needed it to be and then post it. Just like how I checked the kids over from head to toe before we went out or how I made the kindergartner pick out an item for show and tell that was just perfect, you know nothing that would make people think, "what kind of mother does she have?" I can't remember when I gave it up, not the exact moment anyway. But, I have been tired for a long time and now I let more things slide; which my friends tell me is a good thing. I post quickly and full of haste sometimes not even catching obvious spelling or grammar (comma happy:)) errors, and I just don't get worked up about it like I used to. I parent the same way. I try to catch teachable moments when we get them which, unfortunately are becoming more few and far between as we add to our family.

I haven't been feeling well and dh had plans to help his mom and dad shingle their house so he took the baby and the preschooler to give me a break from running around all day. Yesterday morning, after a rough night (I am positive it was the stomach flu, ick) my oldest and I were at the breakfast table. She is eating her cereal and I am drinking my water and she says to me, "It's been a long time since we had a girls day, mom." I am sure I haven't spent time alone with her since before the baby was born. After much conversation we decide to go to an early movie after school.

The cheap theater's earliest movie we could make was Kung Fu Panda and we actually missed the first 5 minutes or so because we stopped at the $100 store first. DD was talking a mile a minute in the store, "Mom, look at these costumes, oh my - they are so fancy." She talked her way around the entire store. I worried she would pass out from not taking a breath in between sentences. We made it to the movie just in time to see the old Master choose the panda to be the dragon warrior. "There are no accidents." he said. I may have been reaching a bit but I think the movie had a ton of parallels to my life, especially the parenting part. I am not a believer in Chinese wisdom, but my Bible and my Christian morals tell me to deal with what I have been dealt. That if I have faith in God, He will help me through pretty much anything I encounter. There is no secret ingredient that will make us stronger or wiser. We must believe. I am stretching the message of the movie to meet my beliefs as a Christian, but that is the way I explained it to my daughter and it satisfied her almost 7 year old brain.

I let her pick the food and she chose Sonic, ick. We are sitting in the car visiting and she is going a mile a minute again, who's daughter is she?

"Mom, it's a good thing we did this today before the new baby comes because dad couldn't take two babies and ds with him when he goes places."

"I am glad the baby is not here, she would be crying and we couldn't talk to each other."

"My teacher said she liked my hair, maybe we can get up early, before the baby does and you can do my hair like this every day? I like having cute, pretty hair."

"Can I be a mom and not get married? My teacher said you loved daddy in first grade but I don't like boys and I don't want to get married, but I really want to be a mom and a teacher?"

"I know you love dad the most, but which kid is your favorite?"

and then after we had a bit of silence where I could actually see the wheels in motion in her head, she lays this one on me...

"How much love do you have, mom? Enough for all of us?"

I lost it. Tears and slobber, I almost choked on my condiment free grilled chicken sandwich and I reached across the seat to grab her and hold her and tell her that I had enough love for all my children. Each one is my absolute favorite and no one could ever replace her or any one else. I told her about when she first came home from the hospital and how beautiful and tiny she was and how much her daddy loved her, too.

That's about enough girl days for us, I think. I need to recuperate a bit.

I love you, firstborn. You will always be very special to me. I hope you never ever forget that.

why I don't drink enough water

630 am get up and get myself ready

715 am get crying baby out of crib and get her breakfast

730 am wake preschooler and first grader for breakfast

800 am check clothes, hair, backpack of first grader for the day

815 am send first grader out the door for the three block walk to school

830 am get preschooler and baby dressed for day

850 am take preschooler and baby to daycare

905 am go to sub job

1030 am done with morning sub class

1040 am pick up preschooler and baby from daycare

1100 am prepare lunch for preschooler and baby

1215 pm take preschooler to preschool

120 pm take baby to daycare

130 pm go to sub job

300 pm pick up preschooler from preschool

310 pm pick up baby from daycare

330 pm first grader arrives home from school

345 pm prepare snacks for first grader, preschooler and baby

530 pm prepare supper for first grader, preschooler and baby

700 pm help first grader do homework, pick out clothes for tomorrow, bathe if necessary

800 pm put baby to sleep

830 pm put preschooler and first grader to sleep

835 pm crawl into bed and pass out

10pm, 12am, 2am, 4am, 6am approximate times to hobble to the restroom or get up with baby

yesterdays gone...

We had a bit of a scare yesterday.

I woke up early in the morning with these spasms in my stomach, they continued all morning and into the afternoon so I called the doctor. I went in to have things monitored for a bit.

Turns out I am pretty dehydrated and have a bit of a virus. Baby is fine and things are progressing nice a slowly like they should.

Whew.

Today I plan to drink 100 glasses of water, even if it means I pee every three minutes. I don't want to go through that again.

Every piece is a part...

of His plan, that is.

Friday, I had a Dr. appointment. They are pretty much routine now. This pregnancy is a little bit different than my others because I have the opportunity to participate in a research project called Safe Passage. The USD medical research department and Sanford Hospital along with South Dakota and another Midwest state and (get this) South Africa are doing research on SIDS. It is pretty interesting stuff. I pretty much just lay there and visit with the research assistant while they monitor the baby and ask me a few questions. When the baby is born, they will do a few quick and painless tests on him/her and that will be it.

I met a new assistant this time and we got to talking and wouldn't you know it? She is a cancer survivor. She blogged about it, too. She's two years out, just like me. She has two children. We have a lot of similarities. We spent the whole hour talking about how blogging was like therapy for us. It felt like those 60 minutes went by in a flash. The hospital is opening a new infusion center in a few months and she is on the planning committee for it so she was asking me if I had any suggestions. It was actually nice reminiscing about something that wasn't so pleasant. I believe strongly that going through it changed my life, for the better. There was so much growth in those 6-12 months. I can't really explain it. She is a Christian, too. That was the real clincher for me. I just knew it was part of the Big Plan for me to meet her and visit with her. I soaked up her positivity and her strong commitment to others who are fighting the bully. I may even get on the list to volunteer at the center. I think I would find it extremely fulfilling and hopefully I could help others who are just starting or ending their fight. Maybe it's what I am supposed to do when I grow up? Only He knows for sure, but I am posting a note in my crazy momma brain to think about it a little more and seriously consider how I can be of service to others.

Mothers

Real Mothers don't eat quiche; they don't have time to make it.
Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably in the sandbox.
Real Mothers often have sticky floors, filthy ovens and happy kids.
Real Mothers know that dried play dough doesn't come out of carpets.
Real Mothers don't want to know what the vacuum just sucked up.
Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?' and get their answer when a little
voice says, 'Because I love you best.'
Real Mothers know that a child's growth is not measured by height or years
or grade...It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother...

The Images of Mother

4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.

14 YEARS OF AGE - Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either.

16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.

18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!

35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she
carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen
from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where
love resides. The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty
in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly
gives, the passion that she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing
years only grows!

Is it time yet?

It's 3 o'clock in the morning.

My tummy has been growling for over an hour. I had to get up and eat something.

I ate supper...and dessert... and a snack before bed. I just can't get filled up. At my last Dr. apt. I lost three pounds. How can that be?

It's at this point that I begin to believe I am carrying an elephant in my belly.

'sun' dried tomatoes...

I really need to make this sun dried tomato Alfredo recipe. But I am too cheap to buy the sauce or the maters so I have to make them myself. I will be using the dehydrator today...the oven is too hot (it's humid out there). I wonder if I can just freeze them or do I have to cough up the cash to buy some olive oil to store the 'maters in?

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C).
2. Wash and halve tomatoes. Gently squeeze out the seeds. Place the tomatoes on a non-stick cookie sheet, and sprinkle with salt to taste.
3. Bake until tomatoes take on a leathery texture. This could literally take all day; smaller pieces will require less oven time.

It's on the menu for Saturday. Tomorrow we have the Irish Bowl and will be eating out!

***if you have time go to http://www.keloland.com/sports/ and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Vote to see the Montrose/ Viborg game highlighted on SportsZone this Friday night! Go IRISH!

Wordless Wednesday

Cousins...my daughter and my baby brother's youngest who won't look at the camera with their blue eyes at the same time.

Playing school

So, the first grader comes home with 'extra' papers almost every day. She explained to me that her teacher says they can throw them away but she likes to keep them to play school with her brother.
(I think it's a great alternative to the Disney channel after school.) Tonight I was the principal and dd was the teacher and ds was the student (she had to let him be a 4th grader), again. Supper time was actually 'school lunch' ("4th graders eat really fast, mom"), and recess time ("we can't play with the dog because dogs don't go to school") was before that. After supper the little one was in dire need of a bath so I asked 'the teacher' if she could help clean up the kitchen and put the dishes in the dishwasher. She pondered it for a moment and said, "Well, we don't really have that in our schedule, but we can skip smart board, that would be okay with me." Then after she had difficulty convincing 'the student' to help clean, she threatened to send him to the principal's office and call his parents. He ended up being 'disqualified' and sitting on the bench for next recess.

***Totally unrelated yet really important to me: Today would be my father's 58th birthday. Daddy, your almost 12 grand kids would have really loved to have known you. Keep the light on for us up there, will ya? Love, your first born.

Nesting...

The weeks are flying by, even in my present state of aches and pains and exhaustedness (yes,that's my own word).

My son was watching me get dressed for school last week and said, "Mom, when are you going to be straight again?",as I watched him move his hand up and down his torso. "You know straight like me and dad and my sisters?" I giggled and thought to myself, probably never son.

'By the book' we have about six weeks left, which means I have just about a month before my doctor will induce. I am getting antsy. #3 is still sleeping in our room. She sleeps through the night but we just can't seem to get her moved. The rooms are in utter disarray. I have no place for toys. I am out of space. Finishing the downstairs was great but I lost all my storage. It will all find a spot, I assume. It always does.

Dad was home yesterday and we made 18 pints of salsa. A friend from school had graciously dropped off peppers for me and I was anxious to use them up. The peppers were beautiful. Do you ever look at a veggie and think, wow, that comes from a tiny seed? It is a miracle what a little dirt water and sunshine can do. These pale orange peppers were particularly beautiful. I had never seen the likeness of them. My son's favorite color is orange so I was showing them to him. I started chopping and they smelled so sweet. It wasn't until I finished them and started in on the green peppers that I felt the heat. It started in my fingers and I scolded my husband and told him he must have slipped me a jalepeno. I NEVER chop the jalepeno's, that has been his job since our first salsa years ago. I kept on cutting and I even got out the gloves because my hands were on fire. Soon, I had a runny nose. Then my eyes started burning. I took off the gloves and scrubbed my face and hands with soap. While I was panicking and started to get short of breath I remembered my friend saying, "would you like some habeneros?" I told my husband to taste them. Um, he shouldn't have listened to me. He had a hard time choking down. My hands are still warm as I type today. I am such a moron, Wikpedia defines them as 'one of the most intensely spicy species of chili peppers', and I touched them with my bare hands, the same hands I change the baby's diaper with. So, if you get one of my jars of HOT salsa, don't expect anything less than hot. I'm serious. It's good, but it's spicy.I also made 8 quarts of marinara sauce for winter pasta nights. MMMMM. It tasted ridiculously bland after making all that salsa. I hope I didn't ruin it:)

Daddy got the full time weekend job at the hospital. Beginning in October, he will be working every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until April. It will seriously cut into my blogging time. Of course, having another baby won't help much either. I am still pondering if the extra money will be worth the loss of weekends. I will get back to you on that.

My mom brought her lights and camera after church today for some belly shots. I have been wanting a belly photo since my first pregnancy. It was hard to get a shot that I was happy with. My belly is big and ugly now. The kids wouldn't keep still. But, I hope that when I look back at the photos I will remember what an awesome blessing it was to be pregnant and how lucky I am to be a mother. It will make those 1150 days so worth it.

It's been a few posts since I had a photo so here's a couple pre-photo-shop to tide you over...them there stretch marks are the real thing.

One thousand one hundred and seventeen

That's how many days in my almost 34 years I have been pregnant.

I am ready to be not pregnant...now.

Yesterday I made four trips to my sil's to drop off/pick up kids. Then I took my circus to the dentist. The baby wouldn't sit with anyone but me so I sat (all 25+ pounds of) her on my aching belly while the assistant cleaned my teeth. We got home and ate a hot (thank you, Lord for crock pots) supper and did homework and got ready for bedtime, which is the same time for everyone... even me.

My feet hurt, my shirts are too tight, and I crave chocolate hourly. I haven't seen my husband in almost 50 hours. The kids are driving my bananas. I need to do laundry but I can't bend over to sort. I can't see my toes. My belly bonks the sink when I do dishes. I can't unload the dishwasher without grunting in pain. The simple act of sweeping and mopping is painful.

I look forward to having this baby so I can have an excuse to sit for more than a minute and rest my aching butt.

Thank you, Lord, for all the blessings these past few years. I am not worthy. Actually, I am sort of scared about managing all these blessings (especially the living breathing ones).

PGNT4EVR

On our road trip this weekend we saw a lot of personalized license plates. I decided what mine would say if I made one up today. Hence the title.

We had a really great time visiting with family. The kids rode the 4-wheelers, got in the hot tub, and my dd went to the American Idol concert. She was really exhausted when they got home. She had just enough energy before she fell asleep to tell me, "Mom, you would have been sad...the lines at the bathrooms were really long." Six going on thirty, she is.

The baby is mobile. She is moving and grooving. We are in trouble. We have yet to install the baby gate or lower the crib mattress. The to do list is getting almost too long to tackle. I have had a bit of energy to complete some mending and small projects that I wanted to do. I made a baby doll blanket and pillow for dd and I have a tiny bit more of fleece I want to make a hat and mittens for #3. I thought perhaps I was nesting, but today I am thoroughly exhausted and have no energy to do anything.

Today we are all back at the grindstone. Dad is at work. Dd is at school. I am back in the car dropping off and picking up kids from daycare and preschool while I sub. Dh fixed the broken dryer last night so at least I can get caught up on some laundry this afternoon. I am too fat to hang stuff on the line any more.

The weather is a crisp, cool change from the 90 degree stuff we experienced this weekend. I am NOT complaining. I love this stuff. I put potatoes and ham in the crock pot for supper.

I have an ice pack on my butt for my sciatica and fingernail polish on my ankles from all the !@#$ bug bites I got this weekend, but it could be worse. I could have strep throat, too.