May 30, 2014 {Thoughts}

Well, my due date is looming in front of me... 5 days. I've been "checked" for the last several appointments and remain at a 1cm. So, if I don't go into labor before - Tuesday I have a non stress test and ultrasound to check on baby. While I haven't taken too many pics of this belly, here's one from 2 weeks ago - roughly 37ish weeks. And I laugh at the poor, poor, quality of my little ol' cell phones pics :) But you get the point.

In the meantime we have:
-Ava's 1st dentist appointment
-a ballet rehearsal and recital the next two nights in the next town over
-one more graduation open house
And...
An entire week of Vacation Bible School at church, of which my husband plays a large role. :)

It makes my head spin and sorta dread when my girls are older and get into sports and activities. I am a homebody through and through. But for this moment today, I'm sipping my coffee, enjoying my young children and waiting for a baby to come. May ends this weekend and then life changes for us. A new season, in many ways.

Despite my elephant ankles and restlessness I have gotten a few house projects done. Though my list goes on and on and on. We ripped down some wallpaper on the basement stairs and were pleasantly surprised to find GRAY paint underneath :) I've been working on our finished side down there and finally got my dresser painted and curtains made to hide the "laundry side". I'm planning to paint the walls green :) GREEN! Everything down there is cream and bland, so it's getting a makeover. In time. The dresser was FREE and given to us about 5 years ago - I spray painted it white and spray painted the pulls metallic bronze. It's now perfect for crafts of all sorts for the girls :) {Also, may make a great place to stop and fold laundry... until I get my vignette up above it}

The curtains were super easy and I whipped them up on a saturday morning :) I bought the material and made them, then realized we had about 5 inches on the bottom...too short. So I grabbed my extra burlap and extended them. LOVE how it turned out.

Life rolls on and we are eager to meet our #3 girl! Especially these two, who, now that they share a room are enjoying the pleasures of all things 6am. {Sigh}

Mixing everything at once.

I feel like a human blender today. I'm working on being very pregnant (37 weeks!) while finishing up the nursery and misc other 100 jobs I can think of to be "ready" for baby and family to follow. Note: Why DO we put so much pressure on ourselves to make things "perfect" for the mom that's coming to HELP us?! :) Rant over...continue.
I'm also working full steam on my baby girls THIRD birthday party to be held this Saturday after a busy afternoon of high school graduation open houses. Whew. I'm tired and it's only Wednesday. Tack on the everyday chores, raising two bouncy girls, ministry responsibilities and preparing somewhat decent meals... it's just a big mix of life. And it's all good.

This weekend my husband was THE MAN. He spent most of his day off on Friday helping me clean the house and really did mostly everything himself as I can't seem to peel myself off of the couch. :) So thankful for him. We binned up and moved about a million bins of girls clothes down to the basement - and I feel a little more organized. We purchased bunk beds online, as well as a few other needed items for the new babe. And then he made Mothers Day so special complete with gifts and a wonderful lunch at my fave place - PF Chengs. :) Yum! I napped all afternoon and that night went out with some girl friends for a ladies night. It was heavenly. These little ladies are what make me a mommy and I love them to pieces! Even though they make ridiculous faces.

As I mentioned, my baby turn 3 on Saturday. I'm struggling with that just a little bit because all I can see is this pic of her fresh face the day after she was born.

So, time seems to have once again slipped on and my newborn is turning 3. (sniff) I know my arms will soon be filled with newborn-ness, but each child is so precious and special. I always kinda mourn the growing up part. 

I'm planning a special Fairy themed birthday party for her this weekend I can't wait to make it happen! Really praying for enough energy and that the day goes so well. Hopefully I'll get some pics up of the actual day, but here's a peek at just a few of things I'm planning for my special fairy-obsessed-little girl :) 

Fairy houses: we'll be decorating our own.Walmart had tiny houses for .97! Auggie calls them "Stuck houses" because Tink got stuck in one in one of the fairy movies :) I love it! We have all sorts of glitter and sequins and stickers to make them lovely. :) Still debating the moss... would 3 year olds enjoy that?

And, a dum dum tree. Just because its cute and easy and yummy. August thinks Dum Dums are the best candy ever. 

And then just some every day birthday party fun... 

I'm planning to fill an inflatable pool with those multicolored plastic balls - ball pit! And we'll have streamers and fairy wings, etc. Oh I so hope my girlie feels special. 

All kinds of busy going on all around us. We are in the homestretch and I'm secretly hoping that maybe this baby would want to join us in 2 weeks rather then 3. We'll see! 

I'm here, I'm fine, I'm... very pregnant.

Would you believe that for this entire pregnancy I have taken maybe 4 pictures of myself? 4? I documented so well the growth of the belly with my last two babes, yet somehow baby this time is just not getting the picture time. I'm seeing more and more how all those sayings about "Third borns" are true. :) Hopefully we'll remember to take one at the hospital before go-time.

I'm 35 weeks and the finish line is in sight! It's beyond crazy to me that we are already to May and that in just a few short weeks baby will be here in our arms (Lord willing!).
We still have some projects to finish up:
-Purchase bunk beds and move August in with big sis
-Purchase additional mattress for said bunk bed
-Fix up the beat up crib and move it back to highest position
-Move the girls newly painted shared dresser to their shared room
-Take a hospital tour. We are delivering at a new hospital and I'm a bit nervous.
-Order the new pump...really hoping insurance goes a long way for this item!
-Paint the nursery? I SO want this to happen, but when?!
-Plan and celebrate Auggie's THIRD birthday!!!!

Pregnancy wise I feel GREAT just pretty tired all the time. My husband is awesome and has been the picture perfect patient, loving, and errand running kind of daddy to be (again). I'm so thankful for him and the 10pm run to the grocery for pre-cut watermelon, ice cream bars and coke lately. :) He's the best and I'm severely thankful. Even when day after day after day he comes home to a less then tidy house... what a treasure.
I've been having days, full days, where I have contractions all day off and on and no position changes or water drinks stop them. No one seems concerned and then the day after they are gone again. I'm curious to see what my dr says next week at my 36 week appointment. I'm also curious if I'll have another due date baby, go late like daughter #1 or... will we have a surprise EARLY girl? I love pregnancy but I'm starting to think a late May babe might be ok too. :)

Today I used up my Target coupons to stock up on diapers - and because I'm pretty random and love trying everything, I got one of every package... some pampers, some Huggies and a package of UP & Up for down the road. My mini-stock pile seems a little more hopeful now. The Lord has provided for us in HUGE ways with this baby by means of people giving us their gently used stuff, it's amazing. We now have a plug in swing, new travel system, bouncers, clothes, exersaucer. etc. There are just a few "must buy" items left! :)

Life wise... we are doing fine. It's the end of the student ministry year and we are full steam ahead with banquets, sr trips, open houses, graduations and normal end of the season stuff. As much as we love our youth staff and teens - I think everyone is ready for a beak in routine, not to mention some summer weather!

I've been so hit and miss around the ol' blog and I can be sure it will stay like that for awhile. But, I'm here, I'm fine, I'm very pregnant. :)