tea, ball bouncing, kidney stones and other random things

*I am normally not a big tea fan. However, I bought some red raspberry leaf tea today, loaded it up with some sugar (bad, I know, but I can't stomach it any other way) and I am currently ENJOYING it! Wow!



*To encourage baby boy to move down some, I've been bouncing on my exercise ball frequently. Plus, its just plain fun to bounce up and down on this thing.



*I got out my breast pump today. I realized how much I really don't like that thing, but how useful they really can be. Especially in the early days.



*I have, what appears to be, another kidney stone. I was having some major back pain last week. When I went into the OB, they tested my urine and concluded that it was probably a kidney stone. Last night, and the night before, I was in major pain. Even when the stone isn't trying to move, my back/kidney area is aching. Fun, right?



*Did I tell you all that I measured ahead last week at my appointment? We've decided to go ahead with the ultrasound that the OB recommends. Its scheduled for Wednesday morning. if nothing else, it'll be nice to see baby boy's sweet profile again. :)



*One of my very best friends, Devan, is gearing up to have her baby. She may be in early labor now! If she doesn't have her sweet little girl today or tomorrow, she'll definitely be here on Wednesday! Yay!

And thus concludes today's episode of random facts.

What I'm thankful for

I am thankful for more than I can even type here. But, for one, I'm thankful that I've made it this far with this babe.

Truly amazing.

Truly wonderful.

Truly a miracle.

a tenth

Well, I guess I'm officially on my way to having a baby. It may be a long way, but the process has started. At today's OB appointment, I was 1/10 of my way to being ready to deliver a baby. Seems exciting, right? Well, it is. But, one must keep in mind that second, third, fourth time moms can be 1/10 of the way there for weeks or months. Puts a little bit of damper on that excitement.

But, like my math teacher once taught me, 1/10 is more than 0/10. :)

because I haven't posted in a while

Throw away money

While at the Christmas tree lighting on Friday night:
A: Mommy, Daddy! can we ride the train???
me: No. Not today.
A: Why not?
me: We don't have the money today.
A: Other people are riding it!
me: Other people have money to throw away.
A: I want money to throw away.

At least he's honest

A had gotten into trouble lately for shutting his van door after he gets into his seat. The reason being that I have to re-open it in order to get him buckled. This particular time, he actually obeyed and left his door open.

E: A! Good job! You obeyed and left your door open!
A: yes! O told me to close it, but I obeyed. Its easier for you to get me buckled this way. But, you can turn around in your seat to buckle me. Mommy can't, though, because she's too big.
E: Yes, I can turn around. But, its still better to obey. You like to obey, don't you??
A: Yes. I do. But, sometimes I like to disobey.

Heaven in a Casket
A: How did great grandpa get to heaven? In a balloon?
O: No. In a casket.

Have you seen this frog??

A lost his lovey again.

We've searched and searched for him. But, we can't find him anywhere!

So, we're trying to find him a new "fwog". I can't remember the brand, and I've done all of the tricks I know to do. Any advice?

Have you seen this frog?

Why we love the south, reason number 1

Because we can take pictures like this:

in the middle of November,
and actually be a little warm in the dressy clothes.

Apparently, we didn't move far enough south, though. Its not going to be nearly as warm the next few weeks. Just in time for my parents' arrival. I try to tell them that its still warmer than Michigan... (though, most places are.)

It seemed like a good idea at the time

We bought a gigantic, family sized box of cheerios at the grocery store the other day. Mainly because we can gobble up a regular box in less than a week. It seemed like a good idea at the time. More cheerios in a box- more breakfasts for the kids.

It seemed like a good idea, until this morning. That entire box of cheerios ended up spilled all over the kitchen floor. I think I'll buy the regular sized box from now on...

It really does fit. Sort of.

Olivia: "Mommy, how is the baby going to come out? Is it going to get cut out like me, or pushed out like Austin?"
Mommy: "I'm going to push it out."
Olivia: "Where is going to be pushed out?"
Mommy: "well, from my bottom."
Olivia: chuckles, "noooooo! it wouldn't fit!"

33 weeks and good news!

I had a normal check up today at the OB. I'm one day shy of 33 weeks. My last appointment, two weeks ago, was a little rough. VBAC's make my OB nervous. Large babies make my OB nervous. So you can imagine the nervous energy soothing out of her when she measured me at 5 weeks ahead. Again. That's right. Again! That appointment was the 3rd time that I measured ahead. Pretty significantly ahead, too.

Today, though, I only measured 2 weeks ahead! Woot! I actually measured smaller today than I did 2 weeks ago! I'm hoping that the next appointment continues with this trend, in hopes that it soothes my OB's concerns about me birthing a large child. (which, by the way, the dr. I saw today said that she didn't think the baby was that big. she did a bit of pushing and prodding per my request.)

The other good news? Baby is back in position. About 2 weeks ago I felt some HUGE movements from baby boy. I mean HUGE! After those movements, I started feeling his hiccups on my upper right side, instead of the lower left that I had been feeling up until that point. I was pretty convinced he was head up. Last night, however, I felt some gigantic movements again. Today- hiccups on the lower left side. The dr. felt around and *thought* that she was feeling the baby's leg up high. Yay!

So, all in all, a great appointment. I wouldn't say that I'd prefer to have the dr. I met with today deliver my baby, but she was fine. I had to meet her before I get too close to my due date. Just another step closer to delivery. :)

1 day shy of 33 weeks

A story from our Monday

O, A, and I went to a local outdoor mall/shopping center on Monday to do a little shopping and have a little fun. We stopped by Maggie Moo's, to decorate ice cream cupcakes. (Just what the kids needed after a weekend full of scavenging for candy...)

On this cupcake: cupcake, ice cream, frosting, sprinkles, gummy bears, teddy grams, and M&Ms.

After the cupcakes, I let the kids run around, and around, and around the courtyard area to get some of their wiggles out. They had a LOT of wiggles and they were having a blast.

Sometimes when my kids get wild, they get naughty. By naughty, I mean they don't exactly pay attention to the rules ("stay away from the water!" or "don't run into other people") and tend to have selective hearing as well. In the end, we had to go because the kids had a hard time controlling how far they were running.

Being the nice momma that I am, (well, on this particular day at least.) I told them we could walk past the water feature on the way to the parking lot. As we looked at the water, the kids started begging to throw pennies to make a wish. I fished through my purse and found some pennies and handed one to each kid.

Olivia wound up and got ready to throw hers. I asked what she was wishing for and she said "its a secret, Mommy!" She flung that penny into the water with a big grin on her face. (When I use the word "flung" I'm not over exaggerating, either. It almost went out of the water on the other side!)

Austin got ready to throw his and I asked him the same thing. As the penny was leaving his hand, headed toward the water, he said "I wish..."

The penny then hit the water.

"I wish I had a penny."