Ahhhhh....

...the joys of being able to order online. I swear, if Peapod only delivered in my area (it delivers 20 miles away, dammit!) I wouldn't have to leave the house EVER and I could do just fine. Thanks to Amazon, B&N and Ebay, everything comes to me. I just get my kids to bring me the packages. ;-)

The Dr. appt. went well yesterday, I'm not in "delicate" condition, as in the sense that if I don't want to lie down all day long, I don't have to. I only have to when the contractions get really strong. So I've been able to sit in my office and actually eat at the table again. Sitting isn't so bad. Of course the contractions are annoying, but they're bearable. The Dr. says there's really no explanation, but she says that some women, after they've had a few babies, just contract more.

I had to call work and tell them I'm done, and I'm sad about that (it was fun getting out) but I just can't stand up for very long now.

So, nothing exciting to report, other than I am still surviving. Hubby is still taking pretty good care of me, and working long hours to boot, so I hope he gets to relax this weekend! (Relax? What's that?) Poor Hubby.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I just can't wait to watch The Holiday and Casino Royale again--we saw them in the theaters and I have been SALIVATING for them to come out on DVD. HURRAH!!

Wow.

Okay, Bed Rest still stinks, but I have to say, all sorts of family and people have come out of the woodwork to help out. I guess a lot of women have been on bed rest before, and they know how frustrating and hellatious it is, so they are determined to help me out. I know for sure, now that I've had my first experience with it, I wouldn't wish it on anyone. So I'll definitely be wanting to help out any woman who has to go through this.

I have family flying out next week for an entire week. They are going to clean my house and cook about three week's worth of meals and put them in the freezer to reheat and eat. I will feel like a major DORK, lying in bed while they do this, but it's for a greater good, I have to keep reminding myself.

Okay, remember those Gap commercials that were so popular a few years ago? They're bringing them back, and I have to say, this one is my favorite. It stars Claire Danes and the hotness that is Patrick Wilson. *SIGH* (For those of you who don't know who he is, he played Raoul in Phantom of the Opera). Click here to view it: (Sorry, Blogger won't let me post any videos for some odd reason today.)

And now it's time to...lay in bed!! Woo hoo!

Bed Rest: Part I

Okay, I'm going to be honest, here: Typing while lying on my side is wonky and SLOW, and frankly, I don't like it much. (If I sit up, the contractions start). So I probably won't be blogging every day for a while.
Besides, it's not like I'll have a whole hell of a lot to blog about, laying in bed all day, right? ;-)

This weekend was pretty good, though. Hubby has this knack of "gathering the troops" (aka KIDS) and rallying them to clean the house like I never did. Maybe because they're sick of "me" telling them to pick up after themselves, vacuum, clear the table, empty the trash, etc. etc.

Apparently, having someone NEW, telling them to do these same things, made all the difference. Saturday morning Hubby told the kids no one was eating breakfast until the main part of the house was spotless. (That's a new one I've never thought of: witholding food until they cooperate!) Naturally they were all starving, so for the next hour and a half everyone vacuumed, swept, scoured, scrubbed, emptied trash, dusted and polished until it looked like Molly Maids had just swept through. I came out to get a drink of water (if I go real fast it's not too bad) and I was amazed.
Then Hubby made cinnamon rolls for everyone, and bacon and juice, and I got my breakfast in bed.
Man, I'm lucky!

We survived the Daylight Saving Time thing without a hitch, too, I guess. I was all freaked out because we needed to download some tricky patch to our Treo phones but apparently since they're synched with the wireless they updated themselves when we simply powered them off and on. And the computers were fine, too. So Hubby just had to go through the house and manually change all the clocks. (Okay, we have a LOT of clocks!)

Sunday was so beautiful...the sun was out and the air was mild--it was almost 60 degrees here! The snow is melting fast and we're supposed to have gorgeous weather until Wednesday, and then it all goes to hell and freezes up again for a solid week, in which we get MORE snow. Such is Spring in Wisconsin. You think it's actually going to happen, and then BANG! Never mind! More snow comes and it freezes again. We honestly can't count on consistent warm weather until late May, here. Luckily I don't suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. That would be brutal.

Well, time to turn over on my other side, and the computer needs to be shut off. I don't want to catch the bed on fire. After that, I'll read, and then, I'll read, and then, I'll read, and hey, wow, I have my entire day planned out!

Sorry, the urge to be a smartass is still pretty strong. But I'm tougher than I think.

I think...

Well...

As of yesterday, I've been officially put on "bed rest." I truly believe that there is nothing on this earth more frustrating, than being confined to one's bed when one is used to running around. Can I just say it once?

UGH!!!!!

It's probably just what I need for now, though, because I can be a little high-strung sometimes. So, I've got everything I need, and I'm staying as flat as possible. Of course Hubby isn't exactly thrilled that he gets to spend his normally relaxing weekend running to the grocery store, dry cleaners, hair cutters, post office, soccer practice and dropping off Brownie cookie money, but he's taking it like a champ. He knows I'm not doing this on purpose, and he's being very understanding.

And Thing One, who is nine, has been doing a LOT lately to help. I'll probably be asking her to do a lot more before this is all over, but she's a good girl, and she's capable. She only complains once in a while. ;-)

The only problem with lying down is---I get SLEEPY! And I don't want to sleep too much because I won't sleep at night. And it's not like I can down a diet coke to stay awake, because the baby will be all caffeinated and I'm thinking NOT a good idea...

UGH!!!

Okay, positive attitude, positive attitude...I will get through this. Worse things could happen!

I hope everyone has a good weekend. Think good thoughts for me and the little guy.

The Frustration Continues...

I ATTEMPTED to take it easy yesterday. Got the kids to school, and decided to very carefully tackle the Guest Room, which, as of late, has become a dumping ground for anything I don't want sitting out: baby stuff, Christmas decorations, etc.

Nope. The contractions started, and I was forced to stop. I googled my condition and read an article that scared the crap out of me, and promptly went to lay down.
SO, I won't be doing any cleaning. I just shut the door on the guest room. I'll pretend it's clean...for now. ;-)

Hubby comes home tonight, which will be a relief. This has been one of his longer trips.

And I have nothing else to blog about, because my brain is mushy this morning. Of course my friend and I were going to go tour the hospital together (well, we were going to FIND it first because it's in a town we both easily get lost in) because she's due in about a week and a half. But that won't be happening either. Not being able to do much really puts things in perspective for me.

I just need to lose the attitude about it. There's a much more important person to consider, at this point. ;-)

ANNOYING.

Spent a good portion of the day yesterday at the Med clinic, being monitored for heavy contractions. Not painful ones, but they sure weren't letting up. I had to leave work and get checked, to make sure I wasn't "in labor." I wasn't (thank heaven) but they weren't stopping.

So I'm on limited walking/standing for the next couple of weeks so they can monitor me. This baby needs to cook a little more. (7 weeks). The contractions didn't stop until I went to bed last night. It's the weirdest thing ever.
I think most people would rejoice at having to sit around the house, but I am not one of those people. I start to feel trapped and bored after a while. I have to "get out" and go places.

At least I'm not on "bed rest." That would truly drive me Starkers.

So, I am making a list of things I need to do. Chapters to work on, books to read, at least the house is pretty clean so I don't have to do any scouring. The kids' new chore charts have really gone well, and they are cleaning up stuff I would normally do. They're old enough now to really pitch in, and I'm sure glad of it.

Sorry for the boring post, but I'm really frustrated about yesterday. I hope things are better today. Having your pregnant belly in a near constant state of major tightness is enough to drive anyone mad...

Pretty Cool...

Courtesy of the Tudorhistory.org Blog---experts think this miniature might be the only surviving portrait of Lady Jane, "Queen Jane" who ruled for nine days before Queen Mary. How cool is that? Until now there haven't been any portraits of her, which I find surprising. Well, maybe not. She may have not really had "time" to commission a portrait, especially since she really didn't want to be queen in the first place! You can read the whole article by clicking on the link above.

Now they just need to dig up a portrait of Mary Newman, Francis Drake's first wife, and I would be supremely happy. I find it hard to believe that they were married all those years and he didn't at least have a miniature of her to carry with him on all his voyages at sea. She is a total mystery, still.

And yes, I LOVE Tudor history! You probably couldn't tell. ;-)

So, I really have nothing to blog about today. Other than it's reeeeeallly cold outside, and I have to work. And Thing One is having a playdate, and I'm supposed to cook hamburgers, because she told her friend that I make awesome ones. Thing One told me over cereal this morning that her friend's mom's kitchen is "always clean" because she never cooks anything. It's all done by microwave. I told her the reason our kitchen is always getting messy at every meal is because I'm always cooking. I've been "nuking" less food at mealtimes. I don't want my kids looking like little rhinos.

Although I do want to give a big hug to the person who thought up microwaveable Rice. You know, those packets you buy at the store, where you squish the rice up inside for a minute and pop the packet in the microwave for 90 seconds and voila--you have a great rice side dish!

You gotta LOVE that.

The baby hasn't been going "sideways" as much anymore. I really don't think he has room to do it, now. I felt him go sideways yesterday, and he did it v-e-r-y slowly, and I felt the whole thing. It took my breath away, a little. I just want him to get head down, and stay there. Then I'll be able to walk easier. The way he sits really makes a difference.

Yeah, boring baby talk, I know. But it's all I think about these days. Hubby bought lots of baby stuff last weekend: a swing, stroller/seat/carrier combo, and he put together the bassinette. It sort of freaks me out, having that thing in the room. When I wake up in the middle of the night I do a double take and have to remind myself that it's still empty, for now.

Time to pack lunches!

The Sun is Out!

The new Chore charts are coming along swimmingly. The kids seem actually happy about their work, and I had to laugh, because Things One and Three were singing as they were emptying garbage this morning: "We were born to empty garbage, Wah HAH!!!" over and over. It was pretty funny.
Of course, it's not that the chore concept is new, it's the PRIZE BASKET. I went to the Target Dollar Spot, and WalMart, and filled a huge basket with toys and gum and other goodies. So, if the kids fill up their chore charts for the week (they can only miss ONE star) they get to pick out of the Prize Basket at the end of the week.
They were salivating when I showed them the prizes they could choose from. I think this is the best idea yet!

So we were sitting in church yesterday, and all of the kids were being so quiet and so good, and I was thinking to myself: "This is a pleasant dynamic...and it's all going to change in SEVEN weeks!" Until that moment I was one of the moms who looked at other moms who were at church and had little toddlers crawling all over them, screaming, demanding snacks, basically making TONS of noise, etc.
That was ME, about five years ago. I had the Nightmare children. Now that they're all older, they are much better behaved at church, and I was getting all smug because I didn't have to deal with babies and toddlers anymore.

Heh. Joke's on me, right? It's like we're starting all over again. Six and a half years is a HUGE gap, I think. But I do love babies. They're fun.

Do I have mixed emotions or what? ;-)

I saw the sun come up this morning. Seriously, I've never watched a sunrise in my life, that I remember. Hubby was dashing around this morning (he just left for New York--can I say he's THRILLED that the weather there is supposed to be WAY cold) and I was sitting on the bed, looking at the sky through our bay windows and suddenly, there was the sun, s-l-o-w-l-y rising up! It was neat. Although I couldn't look at it very well, it was too bright. I'm just glad there's sun. The last few days have been gray and yuck. It was just a neat little thing to witness. It made the ensuing flurry of packing lunches and cramming kids into snow gear a little less tedious.

Well, off to the grocery store I go! Lots to do!

CRAVINGS, Cravings...

OY. Do I have them in spades. Now that I am comfortably in my Third Trimester (a little less than 8 weeks to go) I am having cravings. For Baaaaaaad food.
They're not weird cravings, it's not like I want to eat coal, or pickles dipped in yogurt with chicken gravy and chocolate syrup or anything, but my cravings are ALWAYS the unhealthy kind. Case in point:

1) McDonald's Bacon egg n cheese biscuits (aka Heart Attack in a Wrap)
2) Cheesecake
3) Brats (Like the kind you can get in Brewer Stadium that have your entire fat allotment for the next three months) With Mustard, yum...
4) Double Stuff Oreos and Milk
5) Doritoes (Nacho Cheese) In fact, ANYTHING Cheese...

And I'm really tall so I carry my babies low. So I never get that "I can't eat" syndrome. Seriously, these are NOT healthy cravings. Well hey, coal is worse, right? ;-)

I have also decided that high velocity winds coupled with snow are NOT among my favorite things. I had to run to the cleaners and the grocery store this morning (Hubby leaves for NYC Monday and I had about 72 things I needed dry cleaned) and it was basically a blizzard out. Not fun when you have to load massive amounts of grocery bags in the back of the car.
And I accidentally left my garage door open and there's enough snow that blew in there to make a snow FAMILY, never mind the Man. UGH. I had to shovel it out.

I'm ready for Spring. Bring on SPRING, already, DAMMIT!!!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. Boston Store is having an awesome sale, and we need Baby Things!!! I still can't believe how fast the time is flying....eeeek!

Wonky Weather

Okay, that was strange.

About 3am this morning, Hubby and I awoke to what sounded like sand blasting against our windows.
It was sleet, apparently. Hubby couldn't go back to sleep, so he got his noise-cancelling headphones (they're cool--they go IN your ear canal, he wears them on planes when he watches Ipod movies) and went back to bed. I tried, but the noise was too obnoxious. Somewhere around 6am, the sleet turned to snow, and we were in the middle of a full-on blizzard.

So the buses couldn't get through, and I drove the boys to school (Thing One is still sick) and I had to drive about 15 mph the entire way because the roads were absolutely treacherous. So a normally 5-minute jaunt took about 20 minutes.
Apparently the snow will give way to rain again today, and then revert back to snow again tonight. So we'll have ice layered with snow. FUN. A big old yucky strata sandwich in our yards. And now the driveway plowing people have plowed the snow up at the end of the driveway and it is so tall it resembles The Great Wall of China and I had to call them to come and disperse it eventually, when they can catch their breath. (No hurry--I just don't want my basement to flood when The Great Wall melts!)

So, wonky weather all around. I have a baby shower to go to tonight, too. A lot of things have been cancelled lately, I wonder if she'll still have this shower. We'll see. If it's blizzarding out, I just might drop the gift off at another time.

So, I am very proud of myself. Yesterday, I got the Kid's Library set up. It's fun. Thing Two's room has an alcove when you first walk in, with a whole wall of built-in shelves for a "Library" of sorts. Until yesterday, it was shelves with lots of boxes on it. I unboxed the books (finally!) and put them all on the shelves, and it looks great. And I put a basket for each kid on the bottom shelf so when they are reading a book, they can put it in the basket and no one will take it. I think I'm going to either make or buy a sign that says "The Library" for fun, and hang it above the built-ins. All the kids books will go in there, so we won't have any more fighting over whose is whose. It's all community property, now, and I'll put it on their chore charts to keep it tidy.

Okay, I'm going to call Hubby. He STILL hasn't made it to work???