New Nursery

I'm still here and 39 weeks, as of today! I was hoping that taking Noah and his girlfriend Ava to the park yesterday morning would put me in labor. Then, I thought for sure that 20 of our closest neighbors invading our yard for an impromptu happy hour/pizza party where I stood for far too long chatting might do it. Then, I thought the contractions I was having from 3-5am were it. This morning I went to the hospital to volunteer and then Costco and thought surely that walking might help. Nope.

So, I will show you our new nursery....

Yes, yellow and grey. I still feel like it's a little plain and missing something, but I like it. My favorite thing is the baby animal print pictures.

Animal Print Pics from the Animal Print Shop
Bedding from Birds Have Flowers on Etsy. Such gorgeous things this lady makes!
Curtains from Lowes.
Shine Your Light and Let the Whole World See art from Graceforgrace on Etsy.
Coming soon is this owl mobile, from Hingmade, also from Etsy. Maybe this will brighten things up a bit:

Ready for three?

I'm still here. In two days, I will be 39 weeks! On Tuesday at my weekly check-in, I had made zero progress since last week. I haven't even gained any weight the past three weeks! How boring. Note to self: bring on the turtle sundaes! I could be completely wrong, but I don't feel like the baby is coming anytime soon, so I'm continuing to operate "as normal" around here. Don't get me wrong, I always wonder if today is the day, but I still have a lot of energy, so I'm trying to do things that I know will be hard when new baby comes.

One thing I did this morning was watch my friend Kim's little 4 month-old so she could have some free time. It started off so well. JM, Noah and I took Ali out for a walk in the Sit and Stand. JM walked with me, Noah sat in the back and Ali was in the front. I was feeling so maternal and optimistic, and I will admit, smug, thinking about how funny I looked with my big belly and three small people that were all so contented on their walk. We all made it around the block unscathed and happy.

We got home and the trouble started. I tried to put Ali down for a nap in the new baby nursery. That, too started off well. I changed Ali's diaper. Noah was so sweet and handed me some of his diapers for her. My smugness continued. "This is going to be a piece of cake!" I thought. Note to reader: never think thoughts like this or it will inevitably lead to you falling on your face, either literally or figuratively! Then both boys wanted to help/watch and JM started standing on this rocker toy we have so he could see into the crib. Then Noah tried to stand on the rocker thing, too, which coincidentally rocks, so they were both hanging on the crib, wobbly-legged and stretching to see. Then JM gets down and pushes Noah off the rocker, so Noah is crying and hanging from the crib. JM got a time-out and started crying and banging on his bedroom door. Then Ali started crying, because she was probably tired and overwhelmed at this crazy house and the large non-mama lady trying to swaddle her. Then Noah remembered that the large non-mama to Ali is his mama and he wants "hold you" right now. I couldn't get Noah to calm down nor to stop hugging my legs like a tree, making it extremely difficult to walk. Needless to say, Ali picked up on my stress and I couldn't get the sweet babe to go to sleep in the crib. Then JM came out of his room and was feeling particularly picky about his lunch and I was about to lose it. Thankfully, this isn't my first rodeo, so I just laughed at the whole situation. One baby on legs. One baby in arms. One baby who wants to eat on an orange plate. I'm used to multiple children crying at the same time (thankfully not all the time). Scary though, was the glimpse into the future, with three! crying children, and one very needy Noah. I am scared about Noah and this baby. He is a baby, still, and did not like sharing his mama one bit!

The situation ended with me putting Ali in the Ergo, which is hilarious, because I already have a large appendage out front, but God bless that thing, it felt good on my back even pregnant. Once I started attempting to make lunch walking around, Ali conked out. Then Noah got excited when in desperation I got out some Cheetos (desperate times, desperate measures). JM was happy when I fed him.... and all was well. Are we ready for three? I don't know! This could definitely be interesting.

Another update.... laugh all you want, but Noah's pacifier has come back full-force! After a month of his 5 am wakings, Michael and I had a come-to-Jesus at 5:30 am the other morning, and decided to bring Paci back out for sleeptimes and sure enough, for the past three days, that little stinker has slept in until 7 and his napping is back to usual, too! I don't care if he has buck teeth nor is two with a paci, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. If Paci makes Noah sleep better, then Paci it is!

Anyway, bring on H3! If Noah's going to sleep in until 7, again, you can come out, little one!

Crockpot Freezer Meals

Nesting mama checking in! Noah and I spent the morning listening to Paul Simon Pandora, dicing vegetables and mixing together freezer CrockPot meals for when the baby comes. This is such a genius idea. You prep all the ingredients for a slow-cooker meal, then put them in labeled freezer bags for a later time when you need a dinner idea, thaw and throw em in your slow-cooker. I cannot vouch for the flavors of any of the meals, except the Savory Chicken, which we had tonight and was a hit with both my toddlers (!!! I was surprised, but they ate the chicken and broccoli, wow!), but I do know that we will all be fed come sleepless-nights time and that alone pretty much rocks.

Prepping is the hard part, but I rather enjoyed it. The woman who shared these recipes said that her prep took about two hours, but mine was more like three. Perhaps because I had a million baby carrots to peel and wash from my garden. Perhaps because Noah was playing in the sink and made a huge mess.... perhaps because my neighbor-friend came by for a while... perhaps because I was chatting on the phone for a bit and can't multi-task. Anyway, who doesn't have a few hours here and there during naptime or on a weekend to crank out say, 8-14 family meals in one fell swoop? I have the feeling even after the baby comes, I'm going to try to do this monthly for those days when I don't feel like cooking. I love you, Crock Pot!

Here is the link to the recipes I made today: Freezer Cooking
She also did a second installment with some toddler meals, etc. that I'll try next time Part Two

Picnic people

Front-yard picnics are the best.
The weather has been absolutely glorious the past two days, so we've picnicked two days in a row.
Yesterday, Noah was having a playdate with his friend Ava, so John Michael and I had a little mother-son picnic. JM had his little sunglasses on and his feet crossed, shoes off and the most contented little look on his face as the sun shone down on us. Today, JM was having a playdate at Rhys's house (yes, aren't I the lucky one with two wonderful friends feeding my kids lunch two days in a row!??!) so the working-from-home Michael, Noah and I picnicked. What is it that is so magical about moving a meal outside? These are the memories I want to remember about my babies and their childhoods.

The theatah

John Michael and I had a special little date this morning. We left Noah at home and joined Kim and Rhys and some of Kim's mama friends for "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" at Zach Theatre. It was JM's first live theater experience. You never know with toddlers, so I was a bit worried how the 50-minute production was going to go, but he really seemed to enjoy himself. We let the three 4 year old boys (well, JM is close...) sit next to each other and they all watched attentively. It was fun watching their reactions to the silliness of the play. They were so sweet. Thanks to Kim for organizing this outing!
P.S. Thank you to Karen White for the super cool new orange shirt! We got it yesterday and JM wanted to wear it today, so I think it's a hit! What a sweet gesture after reading about Sr. Naranja!

37 weeks

At 37 weks, 4 days, I am 2 cm dilated, 60% effaced and enjoyed a 2.5 hour wait at Dr. S.!!!!!

Bring it! Dr. S, I love you, but please don't do that to me again next week! For the record, the kind doctor thinks 39 or 40 weeks, despite my uterine progress. He also did a weird voodoo thing to my belly and thinks the baby is around 7.5 lbs already. xoxo, MB

5 am? 5 am.

I am sure to go into labor today because this morning at 5am, I wasn't soundly sleeping, I was getting up for the day, to the tune of "Mama! Daddy! Mama! Daddy!" coming from Noah's room. 5 am, Noah? 5am. Yesterday, we tried to let him cry a little, which was a total disaster. Noah woke not only both Michael and I up, but JM, too, so our entire family was awake and moving at 6:15. For the record, letting him cry does not work. Something that also doesn't work is giving him back his pacifier. Yes, people, I am desparate. Not only has the lad been waking in the dark hours, but he also hasn't been napping well. What used to be three hours' nap has been an hour. The other day after he was crying for me after napping for only 45 minutes, a nap length of which he hasn't had since he was a newborn, paci made a miraculous comeback. "Look it's paci!" I said and he was thrilled and immediately went back to sleep for another hour. I have been letting him nap with it ever since. He seems to be doing fine with it only at naptime and not overnight. Sadly, his naps have been short since then, even with paci.

To confess, the lack of sleep has been leaving me frayed at the edges of late. Last week during spring break was HARD. It was hard to be on with no school break for JM, short naplets for Noah and no nap for John Michael. I felt like I was tap-dancing from 6am to 7:30pm. This weekend on Saturday morning, I got really depressed and overwhelmed thinking about the new baby and even less sleep. I sat down and had a little vent session with God and told Him that I could not handle this and to send an SOS of sorts ASAP, as of course I loved Noah but was really not liking him at 6am like I should.

Do you know what? God sent me a few miracles in the past 24 hours. One was that Noah took a 3 hour nap yesterday. To have hope that Noah can still take a nice nap, even if it is not every day was very refreshing to my soul. Two, at 5am this morning, I didn't find myself that annoyed. Sweet Noah and I attempted to cuddle in the dark in the queen bed in his new room. We both got covered in our blankets and I tried to snooze, as he was hitting all the pillows on the bed like drums, then saying "puppy" telling me he wanted his Pillow Pet puppy, then was hitting me in the head with Pillow Pet puppy. Then he kicked me in the head, hard. He squirmed and squirmed around, but never made a peep nor tried to get out of the bed, so I kept thinking "5 more minutes and we're getting the coffee on" and soon those 5 minute extensions became me hearing his breathing slowing down and sure enough 30 minutes later, he fell back asleep until 7:45 when he opened his door on his own, came into my bathroom and said "Paci?" :) Such a stinker. A third thing that made me feel more optimistic this morning was John Michael. As I was leaving Noah's room at 7, I heard John Michael and went into his room and he told me he stayed in bed until he saw the 7 on his clock (which is something we've been working on lately). Another ray of hope. Something is sinking in with JM, anyway. He is getting way too big. His not napping doesn't really bother me that much, as he has "quiet time" and is pretty good about staying in his room and leaving me alone for an hour or so so that I can rest (more likely) or pay bills (uh huh), etc. When he comes out, he will happily watch a show. Noah, on the other hand, still doesn't watch TV, so when he's up, we are entertaining him!

Going forward, Michael and I have decided that since Noah is so loud in the morning, we are going to take turns getting him out of bed so he doesn't wake up the whole house. 5 am will not do, but until he learns to tell time, I think we are going to have to live with it. I need to just accept this as our "new normal" because hoping every morning that he will wake at a normal hour and it not happening is driving me crazy. Thank you, God, for giving me some perspective this morning and acceptance. Yes, the timing for Noah's "new normal" could not be shittier. 4am feedings for H3 and Noah up at 5 or 6 is not good, but I guess this is one of those things we are just going to have to get through.

For the record, thanks to our gazillionth dollar toward the 2012 heath care deductible, Noah went to the doctor on Friday and got X-rayed and then checked out and did not have a fracture nor Nursemaid's elbow. By Friday afternoon, he was acting completely normal.

Big belly

36 week sticker taken at 37 weeks. Whatevah. Do you think the baby has dropped? Will I get to my 40 week sticker? We'll see!

Spring bounty

Thanks to all the rain we've gotten this spring, my garden is thriving! Last year was so hot and dry that both my summer and winter gardens were kind of disappointing.

If you've ever thought about gardening, you should do it. I get such a thrill from harvesting my crop, probably because it is miraculous the lack of effort I put into it and it still grows. It is really cool to eat a salad that I grew myself and I like the idea that my boys are eating food that we actually grew. This spring we've gotten: lettuce, green peppers, italian parsley, sugar snap peas, broccoli, carrots and swiss chard. Some strawberries, collards and onions are coming in. All I do is have it on an automatic timer with a drip hose to water. I rarely weed. I rarely fertilize. It's so cool!

Today I harvested these carrots! The boys had carrot sticks for dinner! I scattered seeds in November and kind of forgot about them. Last year I tried to grow carrots and they were a total bust so I got kind of generous with my scattering and they are totally crowding each other in the bed.

I think I mentioned that Michael got me a lemon tree for my birthday last year. Said lemon tree is also thriving. Never has a plant been more beloved than our lemon tree. Both M. and I have brought the tree in to shield it from the rain and wind and are both constantly babying it by moving it around to the sunniest spot in the yard. Two weeks ago, it had a ton of blooms on it and the bees came like crazy. Now, we've got about 30 little buds! I'm thinking lemon pie! Lemonade! Okay, I'll be happy with a few lemons for tea. Baby steps, MB.

SXSW 2012= Check!

Oh, holy whale do I not look good in this picture. But, you know I'm almost 37 weeks pregnant and enjoying the fruits of the sweets of this being my potential last pregnancy. Amy's Mexican Vanilla ice cream on S. Congress with Heath Bar crushins? Yes, thank you. We got a babysitter from 2-8 today and I got my SXSW fix. Y'all know how much I love the "South-by." Great weather. Free stuff. People watching galore. We started out on E. 6th at Papi Tinos sitting on their shady front porch, enjoying tacos and free beer (or water) and watching the hipsters go by. We then hit S. Congress for that scene. We stopped at Home Slice for dinner, then I got a cup of Amy's, caught a cab and am now home and parked in front of my TV at 8:44. Plans for the evening involve an early bedtime. Nice!

The only bad part of this day is that while we were gone, Noah fell off our trampoline and has what me and Dr. Google have determined to be either a sprain on his elbow or Nursemaid's Elbow. The poor babysitter felt terrible. When I went into his room, Noah was sleeping (good), but had his arm all wonky in the air (bad). Poor babe! I hope he's okay. :( The babysitter said he didn't seem to be in pain, but he wouldn't use that arm. It's good that he's sleeping. What do you do when your child gets hurt when you aren't there? I wish the babysitter would have called us, but I do trust her judgment. I'm interested to hear the whole story from JM tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm proud that I hung for 6 hours today. Who knows how dilated I am now with all that standing and walking!

36 weeks

What is it about this appointment? Last time with Noah, I was 1cm and 40% effaced at 36 weeks. You may recall that because JM was 5 days early, Dr. S predicted that I could "go at any time" and I freaked out, cleaned my house and all the baby gear, made meals like crazy, did my newsletter.... and then sat around, waited and watched the clock for FOUR FREAKIN WEEKS! Little stink was a day overdue (which is so like his sweet/naughty personality). I will try to remain practical with H3, that these visits will mean little in my mind. It's God and the babe who are in charge!

So, anyway. Today was the first of my full-term weekly appointments, but I'm kind of on a wonky schedule since my OB is on spring break. Last week I saw him for my unofficial 36 week appointment (at 35 wks) and I was 1cm and 20% effaced. Today I saw the NP and I am 1.5cm and 50%!!! effaced! Having learned my lesson with Noah, I will be doing my darndest to continue on with life as we know it, but I am taking into mind the fact that the NP said she didn't think I'd make it to my due date, but I would make it to my 37 week appointment next week.

So I did do a load of newborn laundry today and packed my hospital bag. Folding all those itty bitty clothes never gets old! Knowing me, I will totally go into labor this week, because my pantry is completely bare, Dr. S is on vacation (and he hasn't delivered either of my boys because they were both born on the weekend when he wasn't on call) and more, because my mom had the nerve to leave me to go to Cabo (5th anniversary!? gah!) and she is supposed to take care of the boys!

Senor Naranja

Oh, last year was the year of green. This year, we have moved onto orange. Orange makes JM extremely happy! We are into orange because it is the construction color. He points out orange safety cones. He will select a pair of underwear if it has a tiny bit of orange on it. He even loves seeing other people wearing orange. Orange it is. I am so tired of orange. Orange and jeans are his preferred outfit. When I wash his clothes, he quickly works through his short sleeved and long sleeved orange shirts and jeans and then wears the orange shorts and then moves onto yellow (also a construction color, you know). He has so many cute clothes! Thankfully, I've got two other little boys coming up who might wear the adorable non-orange things currently in JM's closet. I'm crossing my fingers. Dare I hope that JM's next fashion stage is something other than monochromatic? In the meantime, bring on Senor Naranja! Do your kids have weird obsessions like this? Oh, these crazy little people.

Jute Monogram Wreath

The playgroup mamas had another craft night, which is pretty much the only time I craft. I love craft night! It's very calming for me. Anyway, inspired by this project we made some jute monogram wreaths.

Wanna make one? You need:
12" paper mache letter (I got mine at JoAnn for 4.50)
1 roll of jute twine (also purchased at JoAnn- I like to call jute "yoot" in my head, because I'm fancy like that. Doesn't it seem like it should be yoot instead of joot? I think so, but the girls at craft night looked at me like I had three heads. I digress)
felt
ribbon
glue gun (and lotsa glue)

scissors

First, take an end of jute and your glue gun and attach to the letter. Then continue to wrap and wrap and wrap and wrap (and wrap!) the jute around the letter, gluing every few inches to make sure the jute is secure on the wreath. Every letter is different. Doing an H was easier than my friend Karyn's C, but she is a super crafter, so I don't feel sorry for her. Hers turned out lovely! I started my H by wrapping vertically on one side, then went to the middle vertically and then the other side. I then started wrapping horizontally over my previous work to make sure all the little jute lines went the same direction on the majority of the wreath.

I made some felt rosettes, which are super duper duper easy and fun to make. Here is a tutorial if you want to make some. If only I had a little girl in this house, I would be making some serious rosette something or others. I don't know what I'd make, but if you need someone to make extra rosettes for free for you, I'll gladly oblige.

I finished by attaching a ribbon to the top of my H. Since I'm a crafting dodo and need EXACT instructions on how much of what I need to buy, I only bought a yard of ribbon and it wasn't enough and it's a little short. I also didn't make a pretty bow on the wreath, like our model. I lean on the side of subtle (read: boring), so I'm not sure I'll put one on, but you should if you feel your wreath is naked!

Honestly, I'm not sure I love how this looks on my door. It seems awkward, or something up against my mighty lion doorknocker. Perhaps I'm more of a circle wreath person? I want to like it, so will give it a few weeks, but I may move it to my living room. I really liked it without the ribbon on my bookshelf. Anyway, this craft was easy and fun to make! Thanks, Karyn, for hosting us at craft night, again. Some of us wouldn't craft without you!

Austin hair

The closest "kids" haircut place to our house is kind of dirty and the last time we we were in there before Christmas, I felt like she only did an okay job. So last time when their hair was getting long over the ears, I sent Mike and the boys down to Great Clips and Noah, in particular, got totally butchered. For the past six weeks, his hair has stood up in the back kind of like Beaker from the Muppets.

Enter Birds Barbershop. I'd heard good things about their kids cuts and I must say I'm pleased with our experience there today. The price isn't too bad and they were really good with the boys. John Michael had his hair cut by a guy with stretched earlobes. Noah had his done by a lady with tattoo sleeves. What can I say? My kids are Austin kids! Actually, JM really thought it was cool that a boy cut his hair. I've never thought about it, but he has had only women cut his hair. I think he liked the idea of going to the barber shop. He also liked the orange lollipops and trying to play Pac-Man on the retro arcade table.

One of these days I need to learn how to do the Wahl clippers and really save us some money. These kids barely have any hair, so this haircutting thing gets expensive! Until then, I think we're going to go back and forth between a "good cut" at Birds $$ and a "so so/possibly Beaker-cut" from Great Clips $.

Hello, blog!

Sigh. John Michael is not napping, anymore. Noah is still getting up at 6 some mornings and only napping for about an hour. Grrr, Noah! Remember your 3.5 hours of bliss with paci? Weren't those days amazing? I'm not blogging much because there is a direct correlation between hours napped in this house and the amount of energy I have come the end of the day when I usually write. I'm behind on email. My kitchen stuff is still not quite unpacked. I'm moving in slow motion and completely unmotivated to do much of anything. This is the time that I need everything to return to the way it was a few months ago, when everyone was napping for 2-3 hours consistently! Hello, new baby in 4 weeks?!! That said, I'm working on trying to get some help for when the baby comes.

I have to say that I am really enjoying my boys lately, despite their constant awake-ness. Noah's new thing is that he comes up to you and says "Hold you?" and it's impossible not to sweep him up right there and then. Also irresistible is "Choo choo, me?" when he wants you to play with him on the train table. John Michael has been especially charming, except for this morning when he got chocolate granola on his planned school outfit (we set out clothes the night before these days to avoid that monster in the morning), and it took 20 minutes to get him dressed and we were late for school. Typical. He does this thing sometimes which drives me krazy, where he all of a sudden gets completely helpless. Today, he couldn't pull on his pants nor go down the stairs. Nor put on his socks. Nor strap the velcro on his sneakers because it was "too tight." Nor walk across the driveway because his shoes weren't attached. The list of things he could not do on his own was long. Serenity now! How on earth are we going to get me, JM, Noah and Baby H3 to elementary school at 7:30 in a few years when 9am is a challenge now?

Anyway, I had my 36 week visit with Dr. S this week. I'm only 35 weeks, but he's on spring break next week. I'm 1cm dilated and 20% effaced. After Noah being one day overdue, I have no idea when to expect this little one! It's so fun not to know when he's coming. And, I've changed my mind about his name, again. I think I'm driving Michael crazy with my indecisiveness on our 3rd son's name. Michael has liked the same name for the past four months now. We'll see!