More

Sorry to give you the abbreviated version and then not come back.  I just haven't had it in me to blog this week.  It's Sunday and I"m up way earlier than I need to be, I can't sleep much these days, so I thought I'd try another post.

First a little more details of the day at Children's, for my memories if nothing else!  We started with another detailed ultrasound.  The baby was in a not so good position for getting pictures, so that took awhile.  We did get to see him pucker his lips out and move his arms up to his face.  He also go the hiccups again.  A doctor we hadn't met before came in to go over those pictures and she scanned a little bit more as well.  Apparently she thought his heart looked enlarged (she never actually told us this) and scheduled us for the fetal echo of his heart.  

After the ultrasound, it was MRI time.  I haven't had one before and was very nervous.  They had me lay on my side and wrapped my belly in this giant plastic rib cage looking thing, then strapped me down so I couldn't move.  I could not let myself think about the fact that I couldn't move or I would've gone insane!  I do get very anxious when I can't move or in tight places like the tube they slide you in, but I'm also pretty good at relaxing myself and getting through it.  So I used what works for me which is keeping my eyes closed, having air blown on me (the machine does that), thinking of anything else I possibly can and then they gave me headphones to listen to music which helped as well.  It seemed to take forever, but it was only about an hour.  It was so loud and the baby moved a lot from the noise.  My belly also go really warm when they would take the pictures.  Overall, I was happy I did it and didn't fall apart!!

Next we ran to the cafeteria for lunch as we were running behind on time, but it was past 1:30 and I hadn't eaten since 7:30 and was starting to feel the effects of that.  So we grabbed some pizza (they have LaRosa's and it was just as good as in the store) and some Sprite (a big craving of mine right now) and ate as quickly as possible and then ran up to the RCNIC for the tour.  The nurse showed us all the rooms, though we couldn't go in for privacy reasons, and she showed us all the family rooms and explained the procedures and everything.  Plus she showed us all the ways they make breastfeeding as easy as possible there with freezers in the hallways just for breastmilk, rolling curtain panels for providing privacy if you want to pump at the baby's bedside and also they have pumps and bottles you can use, you just need to have your own set of shields and tubes (which they will also give you!).  I thought that was very encouraging!  I didn't realize how many babies would be in there, but they have 6 or 7 rooms with 6 or 7 babies in each room, plus about 10 private rooms in the back for long term babies.  It was a lot of babies.

Well after the tour we went back to the Fetal Care center, that's who we're working with during all of this and they told us we needed to run down for the echo which had apparently been scheduled without us knowing and now we were very late for that.  So we ran down for that, and got right in.  For some reason the baby was in a much more cooperative mood this time and they told us they got fantastic shots of his heart and found absolutely nothing wrong.  They saw all parts working properly and not genetic defects at all.   So that was a big relief.  

So then, we went back the Fetal Care center and had our meetings.  First with the geneticist, which took a big family tree and then answered any questions we had about what was going on.  We met with a nurse, for just a minute and then we were ready for the big meeting.  We had been waiting in a little room and they came to tell us they were ready for us and when I walked in the doorway, I was very intimidated.  It was like a big boardroom, with the big table in the middle.  On the one side was the surgeon and his nurse, both with laptops open and ready, there was a small desk in the corner where another doctor was seated and she helped with the presentation, then the Dr. we saw last week was at the end of the table with his laptop, there was a huge presentation screen up and showing the ultrasound and MRI pics of our son, and then they had two visiting doctors one from China and one from Japan who were just sitting in.  Then we sat on the other side of the table with the geneticist.  So many different feelings washed over me in that second.  First, wow!  Look at all these people here to help our son.  Second, wow!  Is he really that sick that we need all this?  Did all these people have to give up their time to help us?  I still can't believe it.  It's just so surreal.

So the meeting started with going through a lot of the ultrasound and MRI pictures.  No one had actually pointed out the cyst to us before, so when they did here, I was speechless.  It's huge, even the surgeon said so!  It is literally the same size as the rest of his entire belly.  I knew it was big, I just didn't realize it was that big.  So the surgeon, who was very nice and knowledgeable and helped put me at ease, explained to us what is normally seen with each of the two types of cysts they believe this could be.  One type only consists of the cyst and no other characteristics, the other type usually shows up with other things happening as well.  Well they could not find any evidence of the other things happening which leads them to believe it's the first type.  But they were very clear that this does not clear us of it being the second type.  It just looks like at this time, that it's probably not.  This was good news because the second type was the more scary type and the one that could be from cystic fibrosis.  Well either way, the treatment would be the same with the surgery to fix the problem and a probable 7-10 day hospital stay.  

So that's pretty much how the day went.  I felt so relieved, knowing that we have a good chance of this being something that's easily remedied (well I guess if surgery on a newborn is easy), and a good prognosis.  So tomorrow I meet with my regular OB and we'll discuss my options as far as whether or not it's a good idea to try and turn the baby, and if so when, and if not when to do c-section.  I'm eager to know some "whens".  I feel like that's the last piece of my puzzle.  We have such a huge support group with our family and friends and church that I know everything will be covered, but I"d just like to have some time to work everything out.

Oh and baby shower update!  I didn't take pictures at the second shower (I actually didn't take them at the first shower either, Abby and a cousin did!), but I'm happy to report that after two showers and a few gifts in the mail, we are pretty much finished with shopping for this baby!  Just in the last week we've gotten:

swing, bouncy seat, bathtub, booster seat for kitchen chair, diaper bag, changing table pad and cover, breastmilk storage items, boppy pillow, nursing cover up, monitors, lots of towels and washcloths, lots of clothes, lots of blankets, a waterproof crib pad, a health kit (thermometer, aspirator, etc..), picture frames, sippy cups, bowls, spoons, a stuffed Eeyore, medicine, toys, pacifiers, and many other things I'm sure I'm forgetting.  We already had the crib and changing table, the stroller and carseat and lots of clothes, diapers and wipes.  So we're set!!  We're so very blessed to have such generous people in our lives.  They've made it so easy for us and we couldn't ask for more.  

I just can't wait to meet our new little guy and be able to hold him and snuggle him.  And reveal his name, so everyone will quit trying to pry it out of me and the children!!!  Well I better go now, it's time to get ready for church now.  Have a great day!

Update - Children's Hospital Day

It was a long day and I'm very tired, in fact I'm typing this while lying in bed, so this will be the abbreviated version and I'll give more details tomorrow.


Everything went well. I had the ultrasound, MRI (which was not great as I'm a tad claustrophobic), and unexpected Fetal Echo on his heart, the tour of the RCNIC, and all the meetings and everything went great. We met with the surgeon and he told us the cyst could be one of two types, both requiring surgery 12-24 hours after his birth. One is a tad more serious in that it could cause more complications. The surgeon is leaning towards the better of the two types and we're happy about that. This type has no connection to Cystic Fibrosis and the other type has about an 8% of CF. So either way our chances for CF are pretty small right now. Praise God!! His heart was absolutely perfect on the Echo. At least as much as they could see. He had no congenital defects. He weighs about 6 lbs 6 ozs right now and is still breech.

The plan is to just wait out the next few weeks as he is no immediate danger right now and then deliver him close to the due date. The doctors agreed that this problem would not prohibit a normal delivery (no c-section). Only the breech position is what may make us have to go that route at this point and they thought we should be fine having our regular OB try to move him with the procedure they do and I might get to have a regular delivery. Oh I hope so!!! Even with the cyst doubling the size of his belly, they thought I'd be fine to deliver him.

So after he's born, he'll go to Children's and have the surgery and then the plan right now is that he'll be able to go home in 7-10 days. I spoke to many different people today including the surgeon about the breastfeeding and they are super supportive of it and provide pumps and bottles and all kinds of help to make sure they can give the baby the breastmilk right away. He will most likely be tube fed at first, but they'll feed him the breastmilk in the tube. I'm so excited about that too!!

Overall it was great news. They said hopefully we'll just get the surgery and recovery done and that'll be it. He should be fine after that. Again, Praise the Lord!!!

The people there at the hospital were so wonderful. They never took any shortcuts and made sure they were completely thorough in all their tests and assessments. They also treated us so well. I can't say enough about them.

Well I better rest now, I'm soooo tired. Oh and I had my other shower yesterday and I'll talk about that tomorrow as well! Thanks for everyones prayers!!

Children's Day and Our First Baby Shower

First some business and then some fun. Monday is our day at Children's Hospital. Steve and I begin the day at 10am with an ultrasound and then we have an MRI at 11:15 (I say we because he'll be there with me, but those are just for me to do!). At 1:30 we have a tour of the RCNIC which is the newborn intensive care unit at Children's. Then we have a meeting with a geneticist at 2, a meeting with a nurse at 3 and our big team meeting at 4. At the team meeting we'll be talking with the surgeon who will do Poppy's surgery, plus the Perinatalogist that we saw last Tuesday. Hopefully all plans will be worked out then and we'll know what's coming up after that. It'll be a long day, but I'm eager to get some more information and lots of questions answered.


And now for some fun! Last night was my first baby shower. Two friends from church had it for me and we invited a lot of Steve's family to this one. It was very nice and lots of fun. I'm so grateful to everyone who put time into doing the shower and to everyone who came. It was just what I needed. Celebrating the baby instead of worrying about the baby. I couldn't ask for better friends and family. Here's some pictures.

Opening presents!

Abby and the very beautiful and delicious cake!

My friends from church who had the shower for me. They are such wonderful friends and I"m so grateful for them!

These 3 pictures are our family playing games!

These pictures are a lot of our gifts. We got lots of stuff for nursing, lots of bath stuff (including the whale tub that Abby and Noah wanted so much!!), a set of monitors, a diaper bag and a beautiful handmade book. We are so blessed! All this and we still have another shower tomorrow!

These just show the bedding we decided to buy for Poppy. We already had some neutral bedding but after we found out he was a boy, we decided to get the Mickey Mouse bedding! It's so cute!!

Level 2 Ultrasound

We had a 2 hour long ultrasound today and here's the info we have now. Please bare with me, I have some information, but not all at this point. Poppy's intestine (I believe large intestine) has a perforation and where that occurred, a cyst formed. According to the Dr. we saw today, this will have to remedied by surgery after Poppy is born.

He is still breech and measuring bigger all around than what my dates say he should be. So that means he probably won't be moving and will be delivered via c-section. So the plan would then be to deliver him and transfer him via ambulance to Children's hospital for his surgery as soon as he is stable enough for the transfer. I don't know yet, if they want to take him early or if we can wait a few more weeks. According to the ultrasound today, he already weighs around 6 pounds. But I know those estimates can be off a bit.

Our first step is to go to Children's hospital (they are supposed to call later today with my appointment info), have an MRI done to verify the diagnosis, have an EKG done (although the Dr. said the heart and everything else looked great and he should know he spent sooo long looking at everything!), meet with the surgeon and then have a "team meeting" with the surgeon and the Dr. we saw today to make all the decisions and plans. Then I'll have more concrete info.

One scary part of this is that this condition he has is seen in patients with cystic fibrosis. It doesn't necessarily mean he has that, but it means he might. I don't know for sure how we go about figuring that out yet.

At this point I am so relieved to know that this problem can be fixed, although, I'm very upset that I will be stuck at another hospital recovering from my surgery while he's at Children's having his. I want to be with him. He may be whisked off before I can hold him and snuggle him. And I don't know how in the world I'm going to nurse him when I may not see him for a couple of days. I guess I'll just pump or something, I don't know.

I guess it'll all work out in the end. I did get to see a 3D image of his face and he's very cute!! Now it's another waiting game and I'll post more info as I get it!

Thanks so much to everyone for their prayers. I can truly feel a peace that I know is answer to someone's prayer and I'm so thankful for it.

Sunday

Today is Sunday. We went to church, picked up newspapers (for coupons) went to lunch at Noodles & Co., (I had Wisconsin Mac & Cheese, soooo yummy) went to Target (only spent .75 on 3 clearanced 1.00 bin items), stopped by Kroger (for more 1.59 a gallon milk and 1.00 1/2 gal. OJ) and then we came home. Just the rest of today and all of tomorrow and then I get to see Poppy again and maybe (hopefully) get some answers. One part of me wishes these days would go by lickety split, but another part of me reminds me that I'd be wishing away days of my childrens lives and how could I do that. I don't get nearly enough days during their childhood, so I need to be thankful of each and every day and certainly not wishing for them to go by fast.

But as Tom Petty says, the waiting is the hardest part. And boy is that true. While waiting your mind wanders to maybe it's this and maybe it's that. And if it is this then we'll have to do that. Or, I just hope it's not this. Anything but that.

And so, I've been trying to keep my mind off the maybe's. I've made some more freezer meals for after Poppy arrives and I'm making even more tonight and tomorrow. After that I'll have 4 chicken casseroles, 4 pepperoni pastas, 4 mexican cornbread casseroles, 6 meals of hamburger patties, 5 meals of pulled pork for sandwiches, 8 meals of homemade mashed potatoes...all of those homemade. Plus 3 lasagnas, 16 frozen pizzas, 3 meals of chicken nuggets, 3 meals of pizza rolls, tons of hotdogs and smoked sausage and many sides including fries, vegetables, fruit, breads, etc...that are all the premade, prepackaged variety. And some canned goods as well. We should be pretty well prepared as far as food goes after that.

I've also done a little shopping for our new little boy. We bought him a few outfits and some Disney stuff. I got him a pair of swimtrunks with matching shirt at the Disney store yesterday. Both were clearanced to 3.99. Hopefully they'll fit him next summer!! We also got him a Mickey hooded towel and a little Mickey rattle toy. It has been sort of fun knowing that he's a boy. I added some boy stuff to our registries too. I haven't ever been able to pick gender specific items before. That was fun. I will miss the big reveal at delivery of the sex, but this has been kind of nice too.

Well I better cut this short today. I need to get started on the cooking for tonight and I'd like to clip my coupons as well. And if I'm feeling really ambitious, I'm going to go downstairs and go through all of Noah's old clothes and pull out my favorites to bring up and put in Poppy's closet. I'm excited to see some of those things again!

I'll update after our appointment on Tuesday.

Week 33 update-news on Poppy

Well it looks like we need some prayers.

At my last appointment it looked like maybe there was something wrong with me: high blood pressure, retaining water, large measuring belly...something. Well it turns out, I'm fine. But Poppy's having some trouble.

First of all, we had to find out the sex because knowing what kind of parts were inside, were important to know. And so in order for me to use the proper pronouns during this post, I'll announce that we're having another......boy!! I'll explain the parts part in a minute.

From the ultrasound they determined that Poppy (yes I will still call him Poppy until he is born), has a distended belly. It's measuring quite larger than it should be. Which explains why I in turn am also measuring larger. They are unable at this time to pinpoint why it's larger, could be a blockage or fluid back-up in the intestines, could be a growth or cyst on kidneys or something else. We have a Level 2 ultrasound scheduled for next Tuesday with a specialist who can hopefully give us more answers. Basically at this point they could only tell us that whatever it is in there, is about the size of a tennis ball. They needed to tell us that they could rule out an ovarian cyst (which is apparently common) because the baby is not a girl, thus why we needed to know the sex.

He said after the next ultrasound, we'll be able to hopefully put together a plan about when the baby needs to be born, what procedures need to be done before or after the birth, and even if we need to deliver at a special hospital. Poppy is also currently breech. So with that news and a distended belly, I'm fearing a c-section. I haven't had one yet and I really don't want one, but of course whatever it takes to deliver Poppy is what I'll do.

So now we wait, at least this time I only have to wait 4 days. And in the meantime I'm going shopping for blue stuff!!

And don't forget, it's all in His hands.

Life with Us

Quick post:

I'm 32 weeks today!!  My blood pressure (according to my at home monitor) has now settled down a bit to about 131/85.  That's a bit better.  The swelling has subsided.  My belly seems to be continually growing, but we'll see about that next week.  I have just 5 more days until the ultrasound.  Poppy has been very active today and yesterday.  Today I looked down as we were out running errands, and my belly was completely lopsidded!!  It looked so silly!

Nesting has kicked in some and today I'm cleaning out our laundry room, installing a hanging shelf and putting together a 3 shelf organizer for the floor.  I also purchased a new bookcase for all of our books.  You know you're a homeschooler when you have bookshelves in your formal dining room, kitchen table eating area, hallway, etc...   

Noah and Abby are starting a homeschoolers soccer league tonight.  It's only on Fridays from 6:30-8:30.  It's a bit of a drive, but it seems really great.  I'm really excited about it.  It's just a mom and dad who decided to organize this for their kids and now they have over 130 kids signed up this year!!  

My baby showers are in 2 weeks!!  I can't wait!!

Tomorrow is another Lowe's project day.  Daddy enjoys taking the kids to those.  It's their special time.  I stay home and relax!!

We just finished our 2nd week of schooling.  (Only six more weeks to go until our big break!!)  We had a great day of spelling tests, math lessons, math bingo, handwriting, nature walk and leaf collection, geography lesson, and we made a cake and decorated it to look like the world map.  That will be yummy later!!

Well that's it, the laundry room is calling!!!

Pregnancy week 31

I had my doctor appointment on Thursday. It seems I have a few issues, nothing that seems to be really alerting the doctor, but is unsettling to me anyway.

My blood pressure is high and teetering between hypertensive and prehypertensive. Previously my blood pressure had been very normal as in around 116/63 and is now right around the 140/90 mark, sometimes more, sometimes less. So that's a pretty big jump from my normal.

I've had a bit of swelling in the feet and hands, nothing too terrible, but enough to keep me in flip-flops only for awhile now!

My belly is also measuring quite bigger than it's supposed to be, which is also a change from my previous appointments. I'm 31 weeks now and it's normal to measure anywhere between 29 and 33 cm for 31 weeks. Well I"m measuring 38 cm.

And finally, I gained 8 pounds in just this last 4 weeks. Now keep in mind, previous to this, I had only gained 2-3 pounds the entire pregnancy (I lost almost 8 pounds in the first couple months).

So with all those fun symptoms, I earned myself another ultrasound visit!! She thinks I could be just retaining water, which would explain the weight gain, bigger belly and swelling. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I won't have the ultrasound until the 13th, and then I'll also meet with the doctor the same day. So hopefully we'll get some answers. In the meantime, I'm trying to take it easy (as much as I can with our new school schedule and baby projects to finish), lower my sodium intake to try and help with the fluid retention and blood pressure and monitoring the numbers. We ordered our own blood pressure cuff and stethoscope which should be here by Monday or Tuesday.

As much as this has been a surprise to us, we know it wasn't a surprise to God. He already knew this was going to happen and He already knows what's going to happen later. And I feel a lot of peace with that. It's easy to get all worried, especially when you google the symptoms (not that I'd know anything about that!!), but worrying hasn't yet changed a diagnosis, so I'm trying my best to remain positive and let it all be in His hands!!

And the good thing is, we get to see Poppy again in the ultrasound!! I'm excited about that!!

This belly of mine.

I'm 30 weeks pregnant now!!  (Please excuse the white streak on my shirt, I made homemade fried chicken tonight and I always end up with something all over my belly when I cook!!)  But you can see how big the ol' belly is now!!  I'm doing pretty well.  My main complaints are tiredness and pelvic bone pain.  Other than that I'm doing great.  My baby showers are only a few weeks away, I'm so excited!!  We have names picked out now, but I'm afraid we'll just end up calling them Poppy!!  Even our family calls them that!!  Poppy is a very active baby.  The kids have loved feeling them flip and flop in the belly.  Noah is so cute when it happens, he puts his hand on the belly and says Poppy in the sweetest little voice.  I think they're both very excited about meeting this little one as I know Daddy and I are as well!!

We started our "new" school year yesterday.  So far, so good.  It's such a huge difference from before and it's taking a little getting used to, but so far I'm happy with our choices.

I went grocery shopping last night and got tons of food for only 70 bucks.  I added up the "values" of the food (before sales and coupons) and the total was 210.  I got tons of stuff and now I'm hoping to just eat from our pantry and freezers for the next week or two to clear some of the stock out.  I mainly shopped at Meijer, they are having a 10 for 10 sale and I spent forever in there trying to figure out what I wanted to buy.  I was so exhausted!!  I also did a quick stop at Kroger for the Tyson chicken breasts and their milk (half gallons for .75!!).  But boy after shopping for over 2 hours, I was so tired and my back hurt so bad.  I hope the deals aren't as good for the next few weeks, so I can get a break!!

My house is a bit of a disaster zone.  My mother in law sold her house and moved into an apartment and our house is now scattered with the things we wanted to keep and not send off to donations.  Plus, I've been concentrating on getting ready for school the past week or so, and not so much on the whole house cleaning thing.  Maybe next week I can get it back in order!!  It always amazes me how when you take off cleaning or laundry for just a week or so, how bad it can get!!!

Well I'm off now.  We're heading out this evening to visit family for a bit.  Have a good one!!

Schedules and Curriculum

So I finished making the plans and schedules for our first 8 weeks of school this coming year (starting Monday) which will take us right up to the time of Poppy's arrival. So anyway, I just thought I'd share it all here as a record and for anyone who might be interested! I try not to schedule down to the last minute because I've learned very quickly that things don't happen on "my time", so I allow wiggle room for unexpected "learning" (think, spilled milk, cleaning up dog vomit, things of that sort!!) situations or anything else that may come up. And there's always tomorrow or next week if we get behind!! The schedule to me is not what's most important, however, I do feel it is necessary to have a basic schedule in mind or something is bound to be left out and forgotten. So without further ado....the schedule!! (Oh and just for reference, we start around 8:30, snack around 10, lunch around 12)

Monday

• Bible reading and memorization. (We're doing Proverbs this 8 weeks.)
• Pray and praise (a quick prayer for the day and a song of praise)
• Math (The kids are using Horizons math this year and Monday's also have math drills with flashcards)
• English and Handwriting/Copywork (We are using Rod & Staff English this year, Abby is doing A Reason for Handwriting and Noah is doing Bible copywork for his handwriting practice)
• Snack and Read Aloud (They snack while I read aloud)
• Spelling (Both kids are using A Reason for Spelling)
• My Father's World (this is our history, geography, some science, some art and some music curriculum all wrapped into one. I mainly consider it our history/geography lessons with some "added benefits" of science, art and music.)
• Lunch and chores (see chore chart below)
• Finish any earlier lessons
• Ohio Fun Book (we're using these Fun Books to learn a little Ohio history and facts)
• Outside time
• Quiet reading time (this includes Mom!!)
• Free time!! (should be at least 2-3 hours before dinner, so plenty of time to play and explore to their hearts desire!!)

Tuesday

• Bible reading and memorization, pray and praise
• Math (Horizons and Tuesday's have Calculadder also for extra drill)
• English and Handwriting
• Snack and read alouds
• Spelling
• My Fathers World
• Lunch and chores
• Science (we're using Apologia's Exploring Creation series books and we're using the Zoology 3: Land Creatures of the 6th Day book, we're very excited about this one, it looks awesome!! I found Noah reading it by himself yesterday!!)
• Ohio Fun Book
• Outside time
• Reading time
• Free time

Wednesday and Thursday (same schedule)

• Bible reading and memorization, pray and praise
• Math (Horizons and Wed: add flash card drills, Thur: add Calculadder)
• English and Handwriting
• Snack and read alouds
• Writing (we're using Writing Strands this year as our actual "writing curriculum" although there will be tons of other writing done this year in the form of journaling and notebooking)
• My Fathers World
• Lunch and chores
• Finish earlier work
• Science
• Spelling
• Outside time
• Reading time
• Free time

Friday

• Bible reading and memorization, pray and praise
• Math (we play a math game on Fridays along with our regular lesson, usually a math bingo game, they love that!)
• Spelling
• Snack and read alouds
• Nature Study (we're doing the one hour nature study found here, and use the Handbook of Nature Study book along with it)
• Handwriting and copywork
• Lunch and chores
• Art or music (these are switched every other week). (For art we are using Artistic pursuits and for music we're doing the Stories of the Great Composers)
• Logic Book (we're using the Mind Benders series of books for a little fun puzzle solving!!)
• Outside time
• Reading time
• Free time

So that's the basic idea for a how a week will hopefully go. I know I'll throw in a few field trips into the mix as well, for a little more excitement! And most of this curriculum is new to us, so the schedule will undoubtedly go under a few tweaks and changes as we figure out just how long we need for each subject.

Here's the chores we'll be doing as well. The kids lists are made to take only 10 - 15 minutes a day while I'm cooking lunch.

Noah:
Monday-empty small trash cans in bathrooms and laundry room
Tuesday-clean powder room (wipe down mirror, sink and toilet)
Wednesday-clean up playroom and vacuum it
Thursday-wipe down upstairs bathrooms (sinks and toilets using Lysol wipes)
Friday-wipe down kitchen cabinet fronts and appliances

Abby:
Monday-dust downstairs (using swiffer duster)
Tuesday-clean glass doors and windows (not all windows, just the ones in the doors)
Wednesday-clean up playroom
Thursday-dust upstairs
Friday-use Swiffer sweeper downstairs

Mommy: (I do my chores throughout the day!!)
Monday-2 loads of laundry, dishes, sweep and mop floors
Tuesday-2 loads of laundry, dishes, deep clean kitchen (counters, appliances, etc..)
Wednesday-whole house pick-up (go room to room straightening, removing garbage or dirty clothes, putting things where they go), dishes
Thursday-1 load of laundry, 1 load of bed linens, vacuum upstairs, dishes, make beds with clean linens
Friday-dishes, deep clean bathrooms (scrub toilets, floors, sinks, tubs and showers)

The kids are also responsible for keeping their rooms in "good" condition, they pick up their rooms right before bedtime. They also feed and water the doggie in the morning!!!

I also prepare the meals, and on Monday's Noah gets to help with lunch and dinner and on Wednesday's Abby gets to help. They don't consider these chores, they love helping with meal prep!! There's actually a lot they can do with the meal prep and they are both very interested in cooking and serving meals.

So there's that and I can now mark off scheduling from my to do list!!!

This and That

Summer is flying by!!  We're having tons of fun and getting things done for Poppy's big arrival.  

My to do list is still pretty lengthy but here's some of it:

Clean unfinished space in basement

Clean carpets

Finish organizing playroom

Tackle mountain of paperwork

Clean out refrigerator and all freezers

Straighten garage

Make freezer meals for after baby arrives

Clean out laundry room

Plan for 8 weeks of homeschooling

Finalize our homeschool schedule

Deep clean the van

Finish plan for Abby's party (it's already scheduled for somewhere outside of our home, just need to do food and decor plan)

Those are the big ones.  The things I"ve already gotten done include:

Put together and set up baby furniture

Make baby registry

Clean and reorganize kids rooms

Go through old baby clothes and pull out what I want to use for Poppy

Wash and hang up all of Poppy's clothes

Come up with boy and girl names for Poppy (finally done!!)

Finish ordering all homeschool curriculum for next year

Have the kids assessment's done

Write out next year's notification letters and sample curriculum and book lists

Send in all forms for homeschooling

Take a big load of things to Goodwill

Put together stroller and carseat

Set up new playroom

Catch up on coupons (I was behind 5 weeks, it took 6 hours last Sunday, but I got it done!!)

Get Mt.Laundry down to a reasonable level

Begin plannning Abby's party and schedule it (her Birthday is only 8 days before the due date!!)

Have fun with the kids!!  (We just went to the Beach yesterday!!)

I still have 11 weeks to complete my list (unless Poppy arrives early!!) so I should be able to get it all done.  This week has been our first of two weeks "off" from school.  We're only taking two weeks off and then getting started on our next years curriculum.  Next week is VBS.  The kids will be there from 9 to 12 all week and I'm planning to use that time to sit at a restaurant (Panera, Chick Fil A, etc..) and plan our 8 weeks of schooling.  I'm actually excited about that.  I get really excited during the planning stages.  It's so fun to see ahead into what we're going to be learning and the fun things we're going to do with it.  I'm just planning 8 weeks worth for now and then after the baby comes, we'll decide when we're going to start again and I'll plan more then.  

We still have lots of fun things planned for the summer including another Reds game (Noah also won the Step up to the Mike contest and will get to announce a batter for the Reds!!) and a Kings Island trip with my family.  I'm also having 2 baby showers next month which I'm very excited about!!  With all this going on, I know the time before we get to meet Poppy will go very quick and I'm both happy and sad about that.  I cannot wait to meet this little one and see what they look like and if they're boy or girl of course, but I also love being pregnant and hate to see that come to and end.   But only the Lord knows if this will be my last pregnancy, as we've decided to leave that in His hands now (He knows way better than we do), so maybe I'll get to do it all over again.  

Well I better go tackle something on my to do list now.  I'm just doing a clean up day today, so I'm off to the family room!  Have a good day!

Our Summer in Pictures....so far!!

Well we've had a fun and eventful summer so far and it's just begun!! I just thought I'd take time to do a sort of pictorial of the fun we've had so far.

These are Noah and Abby playing at our local park with a splash pad. So refreshing in the heat!!

Noah was baptised a few weeks ago. We're very happy with his decision to devote himself to the Lord.

These two are from the Taste of Cincinnati. We met a talking Hot Pocket!! And enjoyed some yummy pizza from Balboa's. We also pet the police horses and ate some other yummy treats. It was lots of fun.

These two pics were from our latest field trip with our homeschool group. We went on a bird watching expedition. It was really cool because Josh, the naturalist, had this special hand held thing that could imitate bird calls and the birds would actually come close to us to see who was invading their area!! It was really cool. The top picture shows the kids on top of a tree trunk that had fallen from a tree that was over 300 years old!

We're still working on our lessons this summer. And these two pictures are experiments Noah did one day when he was studying rocks. The first was to show how sedimentary rocks are formed and the second shows that only limestone bubbles when vinegar is applied to it. He's very much into geology and mining right now. He loved this study.

This was from our big family trip to Gatlinburg. We went with all of my Dad's family including his parents, his sister and her family (husband and son), his brother and his family (wife and daughter), my family and my brothers family. We all stayed together in one gigantic cabin in the mountains. I really loved it. It was so much fun to be with everyone.

This is Noah, Abby and Riley eyeing an exhibit at the big aquarium in Gatlinburg. That is the coolest aquarium I've ever been to!!

Noah and Riley goofing around in the cabin!!
This is Abby standing on one of the three balconies our cabin had and you can see our view. It was awesome!!

These are go-kart pictures from Gatlinburg. Most of my family including my grandpa raced those go-karts!!! It was so cool to see them all out there!!

These 3 photos are from the past weekend when went to the grand opening of the Lego store. The kids made bricks to help the brick master complete an 8 foot tall R2-D2. The 3rd picture shows Noah's hero, the brick master!! We then waited in line for 2 hours to get the limited edition lego set for our store. It was worth it, he was so happy!!

This is Abby in her dance costume outside at our house. I thought it looked so cute when she looked through the leaves. You can see one of my peaches growing on the tree too!!

These pictures are from Abby's dance recital. She did wondeful and her whole class looked just beautiful up doing their ballet. I loved it!!! The last one shows the bouquet of flowers she got from her family!

These 3 pics are from the Reds game where Abby announced the lead off batter for the 3rd inning. I can't show the pictures of the scoreboard because it has her full name and city she lives in. But you can see the picture of her in front of the big camera! It was so cute because the crowd was shouting things like "great job Abby" and stuff like that. She didn't want to take the Skyline hat off because that's how people recognized her when we went to the restroom or something!!

The picture of Noah is him eating peanuts. The kids LOVE to eat peanuts during the games. We bring our own to save a few bucks, but they are just as happy as can be cracking open those peanuts!!

On Fathers Day we went fishing at my aunts house. She has an awesome stocked pond and everyone caught several fish. Mainly blue gills were caught, but Noah caught a bass and then Abby caught the biggest fish of all, another bass!! She caught it with a tiny Dora fishing pole. Daddy thought the pole was going to break!!

This is from the Reds game we went to with my parents and my brothers family. It was the Civil Rights game and they had a ceremony at the beginning honoring Hank Aaron, Muhammed Ali and Bill Cosby. It was really neat to see them. This picture shows Bill Cosby going around the stadium.

And finally we have Abby practicing her letter writing skills (language arts!!) by mailing a letter to Mamaw!!!

An update date on Poppy's preparations!!

It's baby post time!

Right now I am 24 weeks and 4 days pregnant. I will be 25 weeks on Friday!! So far I've only gained 2 pounds. I'm apparently only gaining the actual baby weight and using up my "reserves" for anything else I need!! Trust me, I've been eating, but I suppose my metabolism has been boosted or something!! My doctor thinks it's fine as long as I'm not losing any weight and the baby is growing as it should and both of those are being met, so she's happy!

We had the ultrasound two weeks ago and everything looked perfect! I almost forgot to tell the tech that we didn't want to know the sex, but luckily I remembered in time!! It was so nice for all of us to see the baby. We saw all the important parts: spine, skull, arms, legs, heart, etc... and both the tech and the doctor said everything seemed great. That's such a relief. My next appointment is in two weeks and I have to do the yucky glucose test. Hopefully that'll all turn out great as well.

Poppy's looking at us!!!

I've gotten pretty big now. Not much in my normal wardrobe fits except for a few shirts and elastic waisted skirts or pants. I haven't bought a ton of maternity clothes yet, I'm just trying to get by with the few things I have. Everyone has felt the baby move now. That's always fun. After the ultrasound and feeling it move, all of this just feels so much more real. Although there isn't a day that goes by when I question if it's real! I wanted so long to experience this again, and sometimes I just can't believe I'm blessed enough to get to do it again.




We have done a lot of the "getting ready" things that need to be done, but we still have a lot to do. We moved the kids playroom downstairs to clear out the last bedroom upstairs for the baby's room. I'm still working on organizing and purging the stuff in the new playroom. We've gotten rid of a lot of stuff already, but we still have so much. I just can't deal with the piles and piles of stuff anymore. So that room is still in a disarray.

We painted two of the walls in the baby room. I like the new colors, it's much brighter than it was before. We also installed a closet system and the furniture my parents bought us is now set up in there. I love it all!! I keep walking by the room and peering in at the crib. I was sure I'd never see a crib in my house again.










I organized all my diapers and wipes in the closet and took an inventory. As of right now, I have :


120 Newborn Diapers
257 Size 1 Diapers
256 Size 1-2 Diapers
312 Size 2 Diapers
520 Size 3 Diapers
346 Size 4 Diapers
52 Pull-Ups
82 Packages of Wipes

I feel pretty good about our amount of diapers up to size 3 and then I think we need to add more to the size 3, 4 and 5's.



Oh and names. We STILL can't decide on names. Boy or Girl. It's driving me crazy. I really want to get this settled and for some reason no one can agree!! Aaargh!! Maybe we'll just end up calling them Poppy since that's what we've called them all along!!

And I'll finish with just a few pics of the cute little clothes I've gotten for Poppy already. Their so cute!!

I bought these at Meijer a long time ago. I just thought they were so cute!!

I got these all on clearance at Target. All set with Disney shirts for Poppy's first trip this December!!!

The middle one is not new. It's one both Noah and Abby wore. Riley even wore it too! It means a lot. The other two are new. I think they're so cute. Even though we buy gender neutral ahead of time, I still think they're really cute!

This is one is really for a boy, but I thought it was so cute, I thought I'd take the chance!! I just loved it!!

Well that's it for now. I'll try and update in a few weeks!! We're almost ready for you Poppy!!!