Can you say Nesting?!!

For the last several months we have been living in a chaotic mess! I started too many projects all at once and have been a stressed out, manic little birdie. We've been able to get lots of the projects done and now I can finally chill out! Eric is hoping and praying that the insanity will stop.

It all started several months ago with Eric building these nice wood shelves in our 2 closets so that I could have better organization. They are fabulous and make such a difference!
After everything was put away and in a good spot, we decided we were going to make the toy room the baby's room instead of putting her in with the boys. That meant...the closets had to be rearranged again...
We also got some bunk beds from a friend and they are perfect! We put them together and the boys love them. Another project...moving things around, finding new places for toys and making the bedding work.
On to the next project...painting the crib and the glider. My sweet friend gave me a glider that she was done with. We decided to paint both things white to look cute with her bedding. I had another friend make new slip covers for the cushions to match her pink room.

Here is the rocker before...
During...
After...
Next up, food organization...Eric built shelves in the armoire so that we could use it better as a pantry. Another project for me...organize all the food and rearrange all the cupboards.Then, I cleaned and organized my fridge and freezer! I also cleaned underneath the fridge...so disgusting and it was not on purpose. Eric pulled it out and I immediately said, "stop!...you know I will have to clean under there if I see it!" I would have rather remained in the dark on that one. Of course now that its clean, it was worth it.
Now, for the nursery...

This has been really fun because I haven't ever decorated a nursery before. Here is what it looked like before, when it was the toy room...
Here it is in progress...
The best "honey-doer" around...he gets the job done and does it well.
Here is her room still in progress...
And it's finally finished!
Time for the baby to get here!

Now we are both perfectly exhausted just in time for a newborn, he is probably done with projects forever, and we can't actually live in our house or it will all get messed up! But its all worth it. Right honey? He has been so great to do all this for me. I am so excited to have things in order before the baby gets here! Thanks babe...you are the best!

Talon's Projects

It seems like our family likes doing projects. We have been going crazy with projects around here that we are trying to get done before the baby is born. Talon also loves projects and has been doing some with us and some of his own.

This was back in November when I was making chocolates. He loved helping me until his arms got too tired...
This was a batch of yummy new cookies we were trying...
We had fun, but it became even more fun when Talon thought he was sneaking a taste of powdered sugar and it was cornstarch. He's gonna need a drink after that little blunder.
He loves helping us, but he has his own creations too. He LOVES building all sorts of different Legos. He builds them and then breaks them to make something of his own...
He got this Bionicle for his birthday and it was the largest and longest project for us both. Luckily I like building things, but by the end I was so done with it. But it was worth it to see the smile on his face and it was fun to do together.
Apparently paper plates are perfect project material.
A boat he made and was going to paint but we never did.
Finger paints, crayons, q-tips and a toilet paper roll.
Toilet paper man...
He also loves drawing and coloring...
He colored this for us for Easter and even wrapped it (in Christmas wrap).
He made this welcome home sign for me when I came home from a weekend away. I kept it on the wall forever!
I love that he enjoys doing fun and creative things. It's something I have good memories of when I was little.

Now I have to get on with the rest of our projects! My next post will be chock full of them.

Cozy

Here is how I usually find my boys in the morning after I drag myself out of bed...being cozy.
Somehow we have picked up saying "let's get cozy" or "cozy me?" My sister Rachelle says the same thing to her kids and I think we stole it from them. Since I've been pregnant and on the couch more often, I like to "cozy" them whenever I have the chance and I love when they are cozy together. Talon is more affectionate than Ty and has some nighttime fears.

Particularly at bedtime Talon has a hard time being far from Tyler. He has a fear about not being able to see him. Tyler is fine in his own bed, but Talon really needs the security. Before we got the bunk beds, we pushed the two twins beds together so that Talon could always see Ty. He would ask me to turn Tyler towards him so that he could see his face. I hope this is just a stage and not that he is fearful all the time. Although it has been good for him to learn a lot about prayer and blessings. He asks Eric for blessings all the time, which is so precious to me. I hope he feels like prayer and blessings are a great source of comfort when he is scared. Just tonight, he thought he was praying silently but we heard a bit of what he said. One thing he said was, "Jesus, will you give me a blessing?" My sweetheart.

Happy

I had a great Dr. visit today. Last time, our little baby girl was breech and I was a little stressed. I was concerned that she may not turn and I might have to have a c-section, which is not the worst thing of course, but I was hoping things would go as they have before with my other two labors. Today he said she was head down and so I am very happy!! I am sure she could turn again, but I'm hoping she will stay in her ready position.

Whenever we are at the doctor, Tyler asks "we are going to the doctor and then our baby sister is going to come out?" Yeah, I wish...not yet buddy, but sooner than later. My doc asked me today if I was still interested in being induced a week early, to which I replied, "absolutely". So, I am planning to be induced on July 28th (7 weeks from today).

This is good news to me because this pregnancy has been harder than the others. It seems like there is one thing after the next. I start to feel better and then something else hits. For a while I was really feeling depressed and that was probably the hardest thing. If I am happy I can handle life, but if I'm depressed and struggling mentally and emotionally, that's another story.

Physically for the last month I have been battling anemia, bronchitis, a sinus infection and apparently allergies. Who knew you could get allergies when you are pregnant? I've never had allergies and man do I have sympathy for people with them. They are terrible. I felt like I couldn't breathe or ever get clear and I couldn't taste anything, boooo. Luckily, lately they have gotten better and I feel like I can breath better. I still have a remnant of a bad cough. When the cough was bad, I wet my pants straight through twice! I have never had that problem in pregnancy and then here comes the humiliating and uncontrollable cough that makes me wet my pants. "Oops, excuse me, do you have something I could wrap around myself so no one will see that I just wet myself?"

So, now that those things have gotten better, I have sciatica again. It has come and gone during this pregnancy along with my varicose vein throbbing pain. Yesterday I was in tears driving Talon to school. Any time I put weight or pressure on it I wanted to die. I had a visit with a physical therapist that was helpful and now I am just trying to lay down a lot...um sure. And really, the throbbing vein thing comes and goes. When it's bad it's bad, but for the most part it has been OK.

Today is better and I am so happy for that! Pains will come and go, but I am still so happy and excited to be pregnant! I don't even have it that bad compared to some of my friends. I am amazed at what women cope with to get their children here...women are tough. Here is a shout out to all you women who have endured and struggled. I take strength from your strength.

Mother's Day 2009

I had a great Mother's Day this year and yes, it's going to get sappy. But at least I'm posting, right?
What mom doesn't want to sleep in? So, of course that was a great beginning to a very pleasant day. I had a yummy breakfast and then relaxed in the tub.
With Eric, there is always gifts. I didn't realize this about Eric right away. He loves giving gifts and he would probably deny that he loves getting them, but I know he does. I don't think I have ever measured up to his gift-giving abilities. I'm working on it. I hope that by Father's Day I will have the perfect gift for him. He picked out this absolutely adorable blanket and burp cloths for our baby girl and these cute flip-flops for me. Loved it!
Talon gave me a smorgasborg of homemade gifts including a "clean the house" coupon along with a priceless story he wrote and illustrated for me.
And a plant that he thought he was keeping a secret about. He kept saying under his breath, "I can't believe you don't know...", then trailing off trying to not really give it away. I think the cutest thing was that he kept saying that he couldn't wait for Mother's Day. Sometimes I'm such a crappy mom and he still wants to be so good to me. Kids have such boundless love.
We went to church and I loved the talks that were given. I was teary-eyed the whole time. I love hearing grown men get weepy about their mothers. They keep apologizing for being so emotional, but it just warms my heart to see the impact their mothers have had on them.

After church, Eric prepared a delicious steak dinner and I even got the "special" plate.
What is Mother's Day without a chocolate dessert?
And of course, one of the best parts of the day is the card that Eric gives me. From day one in our relationship he has said that he doesn't write cards well, but he has always given me such meaningful and sentimental cards that are treasures to me.
After letting me rest and being mom and dad for a day, this is what happened...thank you Eric for my wonderful day!
I can't mention Mother's Day without talking about my own mother. We celebrated with her on Saturday night at Tuscany and we had such a great time. We were missing Daniel and Rachelle which would have made the siblings complete. We laughed and had such a great time just talking and relaxing.

After dinner we went out to the garden and took a few photos which turned out to be very comical. But, after all of it, I got a great picture of my mom. Isn't she beautiful? And she's single. Anyone have an awesome dad looking for a fabulous woman in his life?
Another nice thing about my mom is that she always gets us cute, hand-picked gifts. Thanks mom!!
I'm so grateful to be a mother and to know that this is what I want in my life. I have a tendency to complain, ummm, kind of a lot. But, I would never change my life. I get stressed, crazy, worried, tired, angry, overwhelmed, lonely and everything else in the challenge of motherhood, but I would never want to be anywhere else or doing anything different. That doesn't mean I don't want time to myself for my other interests but I'm happy that I'm not always wondering if I should be doing something different with my life. Thanks to a wonderful mother who I knew found joy in her role as a mother, I wanted to be just like her. Being a mother is what I have always wanted to do. I had absolutely no idea what it entailed, but it's still worth it.

We are having a...

...GIRL!! We have some of the nicest friends ever! Jeff and Diana took us out to yummy sushi and then said, "let's go find out what you are having...our treat." We were planning on waiting for the ultrasound in my doctors office (1 1/2 weeks away). They said they couldn't wait! We went over to the mall to Fetal Studio and the OB who did the ultrasound stayed open late for us. It was the most fun, spontaneous thing! We are still in shock! I asked him to check and make sure there wasn't anything hiding and he said he was 200% sure, three little white lines. He also said she has big lips. Nice, no botox for her. Can they really tell??
Eric's face was so sweet. We were both teary-eyed. Even before we found out if it was a girl or a boy I was starting to cry. Just seeing her little face, bones, spine and movements is so special and amazing. It reminds me what a miracle it is and really bonds me to her. So, to end the evening right, we bought a few bows for her. I can't believe I just bought bows! :)