A Helpful Husband and Some Cute Girls

I mentioned I’d spent most of a week forgetting to take my thyroid pill.  After suffering the consequences of that, I’m really trying to remember to take it first thing in the morning every day.

Yesterday I woke up and found this on the kitchen counter.  Isn’t Matt so helpful?

 

Last night the girls got into the clean laundry pile for a little dress-up fun.  I’m pretty sure Joanna is wearing two tank tops, three t-shirts, and a nightgown.  She called it all her choir robe and headed off to her bedroom to sing.

Natalie had to get in on the action and wouldn’t have anything to do with me tying up the shirt.  She was happy to trip.  :)

This was today after nap.  Isn’t she amazing?!

Soooooo gorgeous!  Natalie took a good nap today, thankfully.  She didn’t get enough sleep last night and it’s enchilada night tonight, usually a bit of a late evening.  Sadly, I had a meeting during nap time so I didn’t get to sleep today.  :(

It is enchilada night though, which means no cooking/cleaning up dinner!  Whoo hoo!  Oh, and ENCHILADAS!

24 Weeks

24 Weeks – clearly no picture yet, and judging by the state of my hair and clothes, I’m thinking none to come :)

How Your Baby’s Growing (from Babycenter.com):

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

How far along: 24 weeks

Pregnancy symptoms: lower back and right leg pain – I’m pondering the possibility that this is sciatica, but I’ve read that true sciatica is actually pretty rare in pregnancy.  My particular pain fortunately comes and goes, lasting a couple of days each time.  It causes low back pain as well as hip, knee, ankle, and foot pain just on the right side.  My knee is hurting like crazy this time.

Food Cravings: fruit, chocolate

Sleep: good!

Measurement: inches

Movement: He’s active all the time and the movements are getting pretty strong

Labor signs: none 

What I miss:

What I’m looking forward to: getting the girls moved to their respective “big beds;” getting some decor up on the walls in their bedroom

Milestone: I’m really to the point where I look pregnant to the casual observer.  It’s pretty clear, especially in certain clothes.

Thoughts from the Girls: Natalie’s become pretty obsessed with my belly lately.  If we’re just sitting together, she likes to pull up my shirt and check it out.

Doctor’s visit: I had my 24 week visit on Friday.  It was a quick visit (which is good because I had both girls with me!).  My weight had jumped again to 169.5lbs.  I’m really consuming too many calories lately.  I’ll work on that.  :)  The baby’s heart rate was about 150 and I measured normal.  I got my lab orders for the glucose test.  Sadly I have to go to the lab in Humble instead of the handy one downstairs from the ObGyn.  So my doctor wants me to get my lab work done one week before the 28 week appointment so she’ll have the results back.  I’ll have to go by myself to this since the place is just plain grody and not kid-friendly and I’ll be there for at least an hour.  In addition to the glucose test, I have to have a repeat thyroid panel as well as some miscellaneous other blood work.  Apparently it’s a new law/rule thing to repeat the HIV test at this point in the pregnancy.  I told my doctor that was good since I’d probably contracted it since the last test.  She laughed.

America’s Next Top Chef

 

Joanna was playing play-doh this morning and decided to make birthday cakes for everybody in her kitchen.  Of course she needed her apron and oven mitt on to put it in the oven!

Matt took these pictures as I was in a coma on the couch.  I’ve been kind of an emotional wreck the last couple of days.  In fact Matt only worked half a day yesterday and pretty much took care of all household duties today.  I cried a lot yesterday, slept a lot today, and feel much better now.  I’m pretty sure I realized the reason for my energy/emotional drain.  I’m not sure I’ve taken my thyroid pill but once or twice this week.  I was struggling a little last week and the week before to remember to take it.  I’m not sure why; I’ve been in the habit for almost a year, but I just stopped remembering.  This week I didn’t even realize I’d forgotten until today.  I haven’t looked at the pills or thought about them in days at least.  I stuck them in the middle of the kitchen counter this evening so I will hopefully see them first thing in the morning.  Matt’s going to start helping me remember as well.  I do NOT want to feel like this anymore!

It doesn’t matter where she is, Joanna can dress up.

Joanna and I stopped by David’s house to take care of Didi, and while I was checking the mail, Joanna managed to find things to create a good dress up look, even in the living room of a single man.

I have no explanation for the beads except that I think everyone must have plastic beads in their house.  The glasses are David’s, and I’m guess the hair-tie bracelet must be my mom’s.  She leaves her hair ties everywhere.  :)

Cute girl getting kissed by a dog!

Fudds for Dinner

Tonight we decided to go out for burgers and fries.  As Matt put it, I was “emotionally spent” even as of this morning, so this was a great way to spend the evening.

Natalie loves french fries.  And she really loves ketchup.

 

Joanna ate a whole burger and a few fries.

She had a super great “cheese” smile, but was moving her head; that’s why she’s blurry.  :)

It was enjoyable to get out of the house and not create any dinner dishes.  After we ate, Joanna and I took Gran to the airport for a little vacay.  She’s meeting David in Austin.  Have fun!

How Cool!

There’s a tutorial for making it here: http://2littlehooligans.blogspot.com/2010/06/play-tent-tutorial-is-finished.html

I think she calls it “beginner,” but I don’t think it’s quite at my “sewing for dummies” level.  I’ll have to work up to it.  :)

LOVE it, though!  How super fantastic would it look in the playroom?!

Natalie has a fat lip

But I’ll get to that in a bit.  First up, a car full of cute girls!!

The girls have really enjoyed playing play-doh today!  And Natalie only ate a couple of small pieces.  :)  I decided to just relax my anal self and let the girls just mix the heck out of the colors.  We now have three small bins of a very beautiful brown/white/pink swirly color.  :)

I’m not sure what this face is about, but she was pretty serious about it!

A very messy jelly-face!

For lunch (the only meal of the day I fix different things for my girls), I made Natalie a PB&J and Joanna some Mac & Cheese.  I decided to also steam some cauliflower and sneak some into the Mac & Cheese.  I couldn’t believe it, but it totally worked!  It was white cheddar cheese, so the cauliflower was the exact same color.  I cut it up very small, and even though it was a different texture, she didn’t even notice.  Or if she did, she didn’t ask me about it.  And that is very unJoanna-like.

Then after I cleaned Natalie up, she mooched off her sister.  She doesn’t even like mac and cheese!  But she does love her sister.

C’mon, isn’t that just precious?

This next story makes me tear up a little!  Natalie had a little fall in the playroom and bumped her lip.  There was a little blood, which I figured out was from a cut on the inside of her top lip.  I was glad to see it wasn’t a tooth.  Anyway, I got her cleaned up and we were rocking.  Joanna pulled her little green rocking chair close-by and was rocking also.  Well Natalie, climbed out of my lap and attempted to climb into her sister’s.

I tried to help, but there just isn’t room for two in that chair!

So I moved them over to the big chair.  Man those girls love each other.

I tried to get a picture of the fat lip, but it was hard!

You can kind of see it here (her top right).  Please excuse the mouth full of cheerios.  :)

And another view:

She kept her tongue on it a lot today, but otherwise it didn’t seem to bother her.  We’ll see what it looks like tomorrow!

23 Weeks

23  Weeks

How Your Baby’s Growing (from Babycenter.com):

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.

How far along: 23 weeks

Pregnancy symptoms: back/knee/ankle pain (I think the pains are all related to each other)

Food Cravings: juice, pineapple, chocolate candy bars

Sleep: good!

Measurement: inches

Movement: Lots!  I’ve even been able to see it on the outside a couple of times

Labor signs: none 

What I miss: winter  :)

What I’m looking forward to: Doctor’s appointment on Friday; finding a dress for my 10 year reunion 

Milestone: We painted the kids’ room over the last few days.  Yay for nesting!

Thoughts from the Girls: Joanna told me yesterday that she wanted Baby Brother to come out.  Fortunately, she was okay about it when I told her he had to grow some more first.  She’s very excited.

Doctor’s visit: I have one Friday for “24 weeks.”

Almost Moved Back In

Before I head to bed, I thought I’d post what the room looks like as of quitting time.

From the doorway:

 

Joanna’s new bed will be against that wall (not the window wall).  You can see her “new” quilt laying on the floor.  It looks wonderful with the blue.  The quilt was Kathryn’s when we were younger.  I can’t find mine.  I’m a little worried I don’t have it anymore.  I’m still hoping I may run across it at some point, but Kathryn said Joanna could use hers for the time being.  In a perfect world, I see myself making (or maybe just commissioning) a quilt for each of the kiddos as they grow out of baby beds.  But maybe not…

Natalie’s spot for now, soon to be left behind for the toddler bed.

The toddler bed (which Joanna is sleeping in at this moment in the playroom) will go under the window, back where it was.  I joked with Matt that I wanted to try and move her while she was sleeping, bed and all, back into her room.  We decided against it.  :)  It would be good for the room to air out a little bit more anyway.  I actually opened the window in there for about an hour and that really helped with the smell.  It probably did not help our energy bill though.

Good night!  I’m hoping to get the room pretty much all the way back together tomorrow.  I don’t have Joanna’s new bed yet, but I want to tackle everything else.  I do want to get her moved over the the “big” bed pretty soon though.  Then we’ll work on Miss Natalie.  I wonder if she’ll transition to the toddler bed as easily as Joanna did?

Day 5 (Hopefully the last) of Painting and Father’s Day

I didn’t take any painting pictures today, but there wasn’t much to it, either.

I touched up some around the ceiling where I thought the paint looked a little streaky and Matt did a second coat on two of the walls.  The other walls looked pretty good, which is fortunate because we ran out of paint!  We have a tiny bit left for touch ups in a jam jar (and of course we can always go get another gallon if we decide to recoat the other two walls), but the can is now empty!  I really like how it turned out, and I’m excited to get the room put back together.  I’m hoping Matt will help me move furniture back into the room tonight so I just have to scootch it tomorrow while he’s at work.  Or maybe I can call him in sick and hide his keys.  :)

I’ll post more pictures when the furniture is back in and the window dressings are up and maybe even some stuff is hung back on the walls.

Today of course was also Father’s Day!  Happy Father’s Day to my Dad and Matt’s Dad and to Matt!

We went to church this morning before heading to Mamma and Pop’s to celebrate Father’s Day with the family.  We had BBQ – yummo!  And chips and queso and cake and tea.  Ahhhhhhh…

This morning before church were the only pictures I took today (unless you count the picture of the paint label I took since we’re not keeping the can).

The girls and I gave Matt a few treats for Father’s Day.  Really, everything’s from the girls, but since they can’t drive, I had to help.  :)

 

They gave him some of his favorite coffee (super extra dark plus or something) and some shaving gel.  :)  Natalie also gave him a new picture insert for his coffee mug.  The last one didn’t have any pictures of her on it, so she had me help her make a new collage.  Joanna gave her Daddy a gift card to the new movie theatre to they can go see Toy Story 3 together on a date!

We love you very much Matt!  I sure am glad my girls have you.  And I’m glad you’ll have testosterone reinforcements soon.  :)

Lisa’s Surprise Party!

My good friend Lisa will be turning the big Four-Oh early next month, and her husband arranged a surprise party for her today!  The theme was “Still Hot at 40!” which is kind of funny if you know them, but of course so true!

Here is the cake (before Joanna sticky-fingers got to it!).  There was a banner as well, but I’m not sure Lisa would appreciate me posting the picture of it here.  Maybe we’ll see it on her blog though?

Lisa was surprised – yay!  She knew something was up, though, because Tony had racked up a lot of cell-phone minutes talking to Lisa’s mom and good friends from out of town.  They all flew in for the surprise!

The girls had fun eating Tin Roof BBQ (I couldn’t eat enough!) and swimming and playing in the backyard.  It was wonderful to meet some of Lisa’s friends I didn’t know and visit more with the ones I did!

Natalie played for a long time on the coffee table.  Hey, whatever makes you happy kid.

Our friend Abby was practicing her Big Sister skills (which will be needed in September).  You can see her point to Natalie where to sit! 

Riley, Anna, and Joanna in the “big” pool.  The girls were counting, then splashing into the water.  It seemed as though the numbers they were counting to were sort of arbitrary, but maybe they had a system.  They moved all the way up from counting to three and splashing down in the pool to counting to twelve.  :)  I’m loving the hands on the hips here by Miss Joanna, who was kind of the leader of the pack in this game.

We ate yummy chocolate cake and even took a group picture outside.  I bet Lisa will post it on her blog – I’m excited to see it!

After getting dried off and dressed again, Joanna did some dress-up inside with a lot of hot pink feather boas.

We had a great time!  Good job Tony for pulling it off, and we’re so glad God made our friend Lisa!  We love you!!  Happy Birthday!

Painting Day 3 and 4

I didn’t take any pictures yesterday (Friday), but we prepped the kids’ room for blue paint.  Matt and I decided we liked the splotch on the wall enough to head to Sherwin Williams for a gallon of “Upward” in the Harmony paint (no VOC), flat finish.  I thought about going Satin/Semigloss, but our walls are so bad that any shine shows all the imperfections.  That’s not really what I want to dwell on in my babies’ room.

Anyway, then after the girls went to bed (still camping in the playroom), I layed drop cloths, spackled some, taped the baseboards, moved out the furniture, took down the window coverings, dusted some cobwebs, and covered the crib with plastic.  So right now the girls’ dressers are in the middle of the living room. :)  I also decided that drop cloths are kind of like scrapbooks.  It’s neat to look back at the different colors and think of all the things you’ve painted.

This morning I let myself sleep in and have a pretty leisurely morning.  Then we decided Matt should start painting first.  He’s the roller-man.  The girls and I ran to the store and fixed lunch while he painted and painted.

Matt multitasking:

 

Isn’t he cute?  Just watching him roller makes my arms hurt.

Then after the girls and I ate lunch, Matt ate lunch, and the girls ate second lunch while I did some cutting-in. 

Dude, I almost didn’t post these pics.  The sweatpants are very bad for my figure.  And yes, I know that’s pretty vain.  :)

I like using the dining chairs as my step-stools.  They’re very sturdy, I don’t mind if I get a little paint on them, and I can line them all up and walk from one to the other all the way down the room.  For painting, though, I wish they were about two inches taller.

Matt finished his rollering, and I cut in all the way around the room.  I layed on the floor some to do the baseboards.  There’s really not a good position to paint along the bottom of the wall while pregnant.

I can tell I’ll need to do some touching up, and I may have Matt do a second coat.  It does look really good though.  I was thinking we’d need a second coat, but looking at it this evening, I’m not sure.  I think we have enough paint to, so we might as well, but it dried really nicely.  We’ll look at it in the daylight tomorrow.  I know I have some streaking along the ceiling where I just didn’t quite have enough paint on my brush, but that should be easy to fix.

I think the room is going to be so calm and beautiful once all the furniture is back inside and everything’s redressed.  Yay!

I was downloading pictures, and I saw these next two, but I didn’t remember taking them!  Then I realized Matt must have had my camera when I was showering off all the blue paint.

Isn’t she AMAZING?!

I could just eat this child up.  But then I wouldn’t have her anymore, and I would be very sad.  But still…  Look at this face!  (And ignore the dirty paint clothes and books all over the floor).  :)

Friday so far

The girls and I got a nice treat this morning – Gran came over and brought us breakfast!

Then she watched the girls while I showered and got ready. Ahhhh…

So then I felt motivated to run a couple of errands. We went to Wal Mart to pick up a few odds and ends and then to Target to work on a baby registry. I thought about not registering at all, but… it’s just so fun! I already have an Amazon.com registry, which I really love because Amazon has just about everything, including cloth diapering stuff. You can’t exactly walk into Amazon and do some shopping though, so I wanted to do a “local” registry as well. Fortunately, we don’t need much for this little one (yay!), and what he does need is mostly stuff I don’t want to register for anyway. He’ll need some clothes and socks and bibs and things like that. If people give us gifts of those kinds of things, I want them to pick out what they like! All that being said, I found plenty of things to point my price scanner at. It’s kind of addicting. :) Joanna even helped pick some of the things, which is really sweet! I did discover that Target.com sells some of the cloth diapers that I like, which is cool.

Speaking of the cloth diapers, I’m still loving them! Even with just two, I’ve really cut down on the amount of disposables I use. Also, Natalie’s worn them several nights and never had a leak!

Since we’d been shopping so long and the girls had been so good (or mostly anyway), we decided to just grab some quick lunch at Target before finishing shopping then heading home. All this time, Joanna would not go potty at the store. She kept kind of wiggling around like she needed to, but wouldn’t do it. What’s that phobia of public restrooms? :) Just kidding. Sometimes, though, she just psyches herself into/out of weird things. Poor kid.

They worked so hard this morning and had full bellies, so this is what I had in the car after just a few minutes of driving:

They’re really cute, but that’s not exactly good for me. If only it was a cool 65 degrees outside and I could park in the driveway and join them!

It’s 3:00 now and I’m going to attempt to lay them down for a rest. The big one will go; sleeping is always a fluke for her, but the little one just may not. We’ll see!

Either way, Matt will be home in just a couple of hours, and certainly I can make it until then!

Painting Day 2

This isn’t a painting picture, but she’s so cute!  And no, she’s not sitting in a pile of trash, that’s some recycling that isn’t in the bin.  She was fussing until I pulled out the camera.  Then she said “cheese!”  Love that girl.

This morning I decided I really did not like the “Honest Blue” we painted yesterday.  It’s a pretty color, very baby blue-ish, but it’s really not what I want for the space.  It came out much bluer than the color sample card thingie.  so I headed back to Sherwin Williams with my trusty helper Joanna to try and find something greyer and dustier.

I came back with a ton more cards and a sample can of “Upward.”

Here it is next to the other blue:

And by the green valance:

 

And all by itself: 

The pics of the paint aren’t great – oh well.  We definitely like it better than the first blue, enough even to paint a huge section of wall.   Pics at the end of the post.

This evening before she went to bed, I let Joanna get in on the painting action.  She’d been wanting to so badly.  She’s in her panties because she’s three and holding paint.  I’m posting a lot of pictures because she just had so much fun!

Then I made her get her jammies back on to take a picture by her work.  She kept moving.

“Don’t touch the wall!”  She’s checking to make sure she doesn’t have paint on her fingers.

“Point to your stripes.”

Then a preggo pose by the blue.  I thought it would give you a better idea of the color if you could look at skin and clothes and stuff.  It was dark outside by this time so the light’s not great.

 

Here it is with the quilts in the view.  The color doesn’t really look quite like itself in this picture.

 

A wider shot.

I put another coat of primer on the boxes.  You can’t tell from the picture, but they’re still peeking through.  If it was a solid color wall I was covering, I’d leave it at this, but I really don’t want those boxes showing through so I’ll do one more coat tomorrow.

Nobody’s showed up to look at the paint on the wall.  What’s up, people?  I really won’t make you pick up toys or clean the kitchen.  Really.  I’ll even give you a slice of homemade bread.  I just made a couple of loaves using my new Kitchen Aid mixer today!