39 week Update

So it's actually a rare occasion I have a doctor appointment on my actual flip day.  Which is today so I'm happy to report.

Baby looks good.  Blood pressure good, all that junk good.

I'm measuring 4cms which is AWESOME.  And because of that she offered me an induction date!  So Thursday Morning it is!  We are so excited to meet miss Claire.  And this works out great for planning for Lily and everything too, so we couldn't be happier.  I know medically unnecessary inductions are pretty controversial, and even I would rather not do it, but hey 4cm!  Baby is full term and I am ready to be done.  They offered and I quickly accepted!

We get to meet our new baby girl on Thursday!  I can't wait!

Are you STILL pregnant?

Why yes.  Yes I am.

The End.

It's been a while....

Miss Lily making a snow angel.  Or a "stowman" as she calls it.  This was a week or so ago.  Mommy doesn't like the cold so I'm avoiding it as much as possible.



She Likes to ham it up for the camera.

Decorating the Christmas Tree.  She was SO excited about it and she did a fantastic job!

Smiling for a picture for Daddy!

The Predictable Thanksgiving Post

Things I'm thankful for this year:

My family.....My husband and my daughter and the new daughter that is about to arrive any day now.  We truly are blessed and I wouldn't have it any other way.  Even though I may complain about being pregnant or dealing with toddler tantrums or having to nag Adam to unload the dishwasher for the 6th time....I wouldn't change a thing. Those things make us who we are as a family and I think that's pretty neat.  Yes, I said neat.

My extended family.....My parents, I know they couldn't make it for Thanksgiving and they will be missed but better safe that sorry with the roads the way they are.  My brother and his wife who are coming up to visit us on Friday! And of course my In-laws....who go out of there way to be there for us, we are excited to celebrate Thanksgiving with them this year.

My job (and Adam's)....Some people just aren't so lucky right now. 

Lily's Daycare.....Jane really is an extended part of our family and I'm thankful for the wonderful care that she provides for Lily.

Our home.....I know I definitely complain about this one.  I love our house, I really do.  It's just small.  But these days I know we are far more fortunate than some in that respect and in all reality it works for us.  And it's less to clean.  And we all know how much I love cleaning.

The Dog....I really don't give him much credit these days.  But he's a keeper, Lily loves him and he loves her (especially when she's eating)

Bedtime....Seriously.  It's probably my favorite part of the day.  Cuddle in bed with Adam and the girl.  Put her to bed and relax in my bed and watch crap tv.  I love it.

Of course the Obligatory, Our Health....We are very fortunate in that we rarely get sick and if we do it is short lived.  I hope Claire follows suite with that.

I think that's a good list.  I'm SURE I've missed some things and that's ok.  I'm really thankful for most things in my life.  Despite what you may have heard me say, I do consider myself a pretty lucky woman.

Hopefully you can find some things to be thankful for today and everyday!

38 Weeks....are you sick of these yet?

38 weeks.  Baby was full term as of last week.  But now I can say that I have less than 2 weeks! 

I had a Doctors appointment this morning at 9:15.  Let me preface with I took the day off work today so that I could cook/clean and prepare for Thanksgiving tomorrow since I had a Doctors appointment anyway.  I get there at 9, as of course you all know they tell you to be there 15 minutes early.  Normal drill I wait til 9:15 and they call me back.  I pee in a cup and she leads me to Procedure Room 1.  Procedure Room 1 huh?  I think this is pretty weird as it's like an outpatient surgery room with a LEEP machine and a Colposcopy machine and stuff.  I'm sorta weirded out by this as I've never been in one of these rooms before.  Of course I had a different Doctor than my own.  My doctor was out this week.  Ok fine.  I'll see someone else.  A man.  I'm not thrilled but whatever.  Every woman I know that has a male doctor just loves them so I'll go along with this.  It turns out he was the on call doctor from when I went to the hospital  on Saturday.  So I get undressed  and sit down with my fancy paper gown and I sit there and wait.....and wait....and wait.  The nurse pops her head in and tells me he's running late because of a surgery this morning.  Ok. I understand these things happen.  So I wait....and wait....and wait.  The nurse pops her head in again and says he's back from surgery and shouldn't be too much longer.  So I wait.....and wait.....and wait.  Meanwhile I'm sitting there have nakie with nothing to do, read, or listen too.  I couldn't even find any interesting bottle or anything to read and NO clock.  Finally I catch a glimpse of a clock on the phone....Wait.....that can't be right?  It can't REALLY be 10:30 already can it?  An hour and 15 minutes I've been sitting there.  The tears start welling up and I start wondering how long I'm going to have to sit there bored out of my mind, roasting to what feels like 100 degrees in that room with nothing to do.  I do manage to keep it together at least so I don't start crying.  10 more minutes pass before the Doctor finally shows his face.  Turns out he's nice enough but I didn't even get a "sorry for making you wait so long, things are crazy"  I mean I would have totally understood.  It's the day before a holiday and they are short staffed and he's got a woman in labor as we were talking.  But he's nice and we visit a few minutes and I kinda start to realize why women are always raving about their male doctors.  He didn't know me, I'd never met him before yet he took a few minutes to chat and explain some things to me.  He told me that had I been 39 weeks when I went in on Saturday that they'd have gotten things moving for me so I wouldn't have had to go home.  Whatever.  I don't really care.  He also told me I definitely did the right thing by going in.  He checks the baby's heartbeat, all is good.  He checks me.  Still right around 3.5 cm but he says the baby still feels kinda high.  He doesn't think I'll make it past my due date either.  Even though I know this really does mean nothing and she can come when she pleases, it still puts me at ease a bit thinking how I won't have to be pregnant much longer.  I sure do love babies but I certainly don't love being pregnant.

I got home at about 11.  I wasn't too thrilled as that was 2 hours out of my day that I could have used,  badly.  But I did manage to make some progress today.  I made the following for dinner tomorrow:

Pumpkin Pie with Struesal topping
Lemon Tart
Pecan Pie
Dressing
Green Bean casserole
Fruit Salad
Cranberry sauce

I also got all the dishes done and cleaned up the kitchen.

Tomorrow we just have to pickup and vacuum the downstairs.  I have to do a few things in the bathroom and that's it!  Besides finish making food of course.  Which is fine.  I'm excited to have people over on a holiday!  I've never hosted before and I'm happy to give it a whirl!  Hope it goes well!

I also hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving and Safe travels!

What a Weekend.

Saturday morning I had felt kinda off.  My back was hurting pretty bad and I really just wanted to sleep.  Alas, the 2 year old decided to get up and so we did.  We were going to decorate the tree and she was OH SO EXCITED about that.  I explained to her that I needed to put the lights on the tree first and Adam carried up all the bins.  Of course I plug in the Christmas lights and they do not work.  So Lily is freaking out about how she wants to decorate the tree, and darn it wouldn't you know that that tree had been sitting there for DAYS torturing the girl.  So I had to go to Walmart anyway and decided to just make a quick run then so I could get some lights for the tree.  The cheapest set of lights they had was $12 and I needed at least 2 sets for the tree.  So I made a judgement call and just bought a pre-lit tree since we were planning to do that after Christmas anyway.  But then I didn't have to buy the lights.  So I got home and we put up the tree and decorated it.  I still felt really off and had a hard time standing and doing anything for long periods of time.  But we got the tree decorated and done.  Which I am SO happy about.

Then around 10:45 or so I notice some pretty consistent contractions.  So I start to time them.  They were about 10 minutes apart at that point.  So I watched them for a while and they were gradually getting closer together but they weren't really painful.  Ultimately we decided to get ready just in case.  So we got bags packed and bathed and put the girl down for her nap.  I decided to go and get my groceries since at this point I was still pretty convinced that it was just BH (Braxton Hicks) contractions and we would not be going to the hospital and I would kick myself for not going since my coupons all expired that day.  So I go.  Get my groceries and come home.

Adam carried everything in and helped me put away the stuff that had to be refrigerated and we decide to time my contractions some more.  Four minutes apart.  So I watch them for a while...a good hour or so and decide we should go in.  Adam calls his mom (thanks again Gail!) to come and pickup the girl and I call the hospital and let them know we are coming and it'll be about 45 minutes or so til we get there.  We get to the hospital and they hook me up to the monitors and check me.  3.5 cm's pretty good considering I was 3 the day before.  At this point the contractions are still pretty painless and I begin to feel like an idiot for even coming in since I was certain they were just going to sent me home.  They decided to have me walk for an hour and then go back to my room to be re-checked and monitored again.  So we do that.  The whole time I just knew they were going to send me home.  Now walking for an hour.  That was SO much fun.  NOT.  But we did it.  Got back and re-hooked up.  Still 3-4 minutes apart.  A little more painful but not a ton, and probably more because I just walked for an hour.  They monitor me for another hour and then the nurse from hell comes in and rechecks me.  She was not gentle (I won't go into more detail than that).  And they tell me they are going to send me home.  *sigh*  A good wasted 3 hours of my weekend.

So since my mother in law had the girl, she just kept her over night.  So Adam and I were pretty hungry and decided to go and get a bite to eat at Perkins.  Which was kinda nice.  And of course to be able to sleep past 6:30 was wonderful on Sunday.  When I woke up the contractions had stopped and all was fine.  Of course we had a friend's kid's birthday party at 1:00 so we had to get the girl sooner so she could take a nap.  Alas, she did not nap.  So she was a beast ALL DAY.

Long story short.  Claire is already more difficult than her sister.  Let's hope this trend does not continue.

Oh and Dear Claire:  You can wait til the 29th now to come out so that we don't have to miss out on yummy food and visiting with family.  K. Thanks Bye.

37.5 week update

Well I technically turned 37 weeks on Tuesday.  Which was full-term!  So baby Claire is full term now, and we couldn't be happier!  Not that I was really worried about getting to this point but still, it puts your mind at ease.

I had my appointment today in hopes to reduce the amount of time I miss at work.

Everything looked good.  I don't remember my blood pressure (shame on me, I never do)  but they tell me it was good so that's all that matters.

Surprisingly I have gained A LOT less with this pregnancy than I did with Lily.  I'm not even sure how that happened.  With Lily I started off about 160 or so, lost 10-15 pounds in the beginning (thank you morning all day sickness) And ended at probably 210 or so.  I really stopped paying attention because it depressed me that essentially I gained 60 pounds or so.  Blech.  Dark days.  But this time, Sadly I started out higher, at right around 170 and I JUST broke 200 last week.  I can handle that.  Still more than ideal but whatever.  I feel better about it this time than I did last and have gained about half the weight.    Hopefully I can lose it quickly after.....but I digress as that's not what this post was for.

Last week I was 2.5 cm dilated already and she made sure to reassure me that that really didn't mean a whole lot especially since this is my second pregnancy.  I could sit at that for weeks.  *sigh*  Not always what you want to hear.  Even though secretly I was pretty excited because I did not dilate at all last time until I went into labor.  This week I am at "a good 3cm" her words, not mine.  And her advice to me was to make sure and eat dessert first on Thanksgiving.  Though I'm pretty sure that since we are having people over and I'm making dinner (which I'm actually pretty excited about since I've never hosted a holiday...ever) that I will get everything in the oven and then go into labor and miss it.  Cause that is just the way it is. 

Either way, She'll be here soon!  I doubt they will let me go past 41 weeks as lily was a larger baby, so I have LESS than 3 weeks to go!  Woohoo!  We can't wait to meet you Miss Claire!

Short, Sweet and to the point.

Have you ever tried Shutterfly?  I haven't.  But I've looked at their site longingly for a LONG LONG time.  And now with the birth of our baby coming up soon and Christmas season almost in full swing.  It's a great time to check out their cards!  I’m thinking THIS ONE  is in order for us this year!  I absolutely love it and it’ll work perfectly to combine our Christmas card and our new baby birth announcement all in one and save us some postage!  They have SO many to pick from with a new collection that you can find HERE

Other Bloggers!  You can get in on the action too!  Just go here and enter your information!  Write up a quick blog post about Shutterfly and you too can get 50 free holiday cards!  You can't go wrong!  I've heard nothing but fabulous things about their products and am excited to give them a try myself!

Enjoy!

I want to clarify something....

Yesterday in my blog one of my options was to stay at home and still figure out a way to have some source of income.

I've had several people offer me opportunities like selling jewelry, or selling kids toys or selling pampered chef stuff.  And while I love that stuff, and love many aspects of that stuff it's really just not for me.  I sold Avon (several times actually)  And I could never make money on it.  It's true.  I suck at it.  In fact, it usually ended up costing me more money than I could bring in.

Oh I know what you're thinking....."You just don't know how to sell"  Which isn't true.  I KNOW what has to be done.  It's just not in my personality type to do them.  I can't be pushy or naggy or talk people into buying things that I haven't used myself or haven't tried, and if I have tried them I can't lie about whether or not I like them.  (And I LOVE Avon stuff)

I am just not a salesperson.  However, if someone would like to sell stuff FOR me and just give me the money I'd be all over that.  Yeah, I didn't think so. 

So thanks guys for the offers, I know you're doing a great job selling your stuff, it's just not for me.  Plus I don't think Adam would be too thrilled with me taking that up again.  Seriously....you should ask him about that sometime.

The truth is...

I'm terrified.  I have a few options in front of me in the coming months.  Most of them being career related. I'm surprisingly at ease about having another baby, maybe because I've been through that change before and sorta know what to expect.  But when it comes to Jobs and money it's always tough.  Sometimes no matter how well prepared you are for something you just really don't know what to expect.

So for those of you who don't know.  For a long time now I've wanted to figure out a way to be a stay at home mom.  I really think I would rock at it, but as with every option in front of me, there are downsides and I'm just not sure which option is the right one for our family.

Option 1:

Go back to work after 6 weeks home with Lily and Claire.

Pros:
1. I get out of the house and stay in the field I work in with great hours, flexible schedule and  an overall great work environment.
2. We do have the extra income from my job too
3. I can keep contributing to my 401k and we have more security if something should happen to Adam's job.

Cons:
1. Whoever does daycare for us gets to see my kids more hours in the day than I do.
2. My house will continue to perpetually be dirty (until the kids are old enough for us to force them to do chores)
3. Even with the extra income I bring in we STILL will basically live paycheck to paycheck and struggle at times.
4. Our Childcare expenses will be more than our mortgage per month

Option 2:

Me staying home

Pros:
1. I can set our own routine and be with my kids.
2. I will actually have time to keep up with the housework
3. We don't have to pay childcare
4. I think I would be really great at being a stay at home mom.
5. I could take the kids to playgroups and activities I can't do while I'm working.

Cons:
1. Money will be tight. VERY tight.
2. I would actually be sad to leave my job and kinda worried about having to re-enter the job market someday.
3. I like the social aspects of having the kids in daycare and that they can play with other kids.

Option 3

Me staying home with some sort of smaller income:           

Pros:
1. I can set our own routine and be with my kids.
2. I will actually have time to keep up with the housework
3. We don't have to pay childcare
4. I think I would be really great at being a stay at home mom.
5. I could take the kids to playgroups and activities I can't do while I'm working.
6. Depending on the job, we would have the extra income.
7. If I took in other kid/s then mine would get more of the social aspect that I'm looking for.

Cons:
1. Have to FIND another source of income (taking in kids, donating plasma etc.) Which is not as easy as it sounds.
2. Money will probably still be tight.
3. I would be sad to leave my current job and would probably miss the adult time.

So I'm sure there is more pros and cons that I can't think of right now.  But I think that is the overall idea of it.
In the end I may end up getting laid off here at work and then we'd have to re-evaluate some options at that time.  We are having a hard time making the choices because it really just seems there is no clear cut choice for us right now.  Financially, emotionally or whatever.  It just all depends on the circumstances and how things play out.

I hate having things up in the air like this.

                               

Before I was a mom...

Inspired by this post, I thought I'd add my own 2 cents.  By the way, I LOVE that site.  Always good for a laugh so check it out if you get a chance.

Before I was a mom...

Then: I swore I would never let my kids throw a tantrum in a restaurant or other public place and let them get away with it. 

Now:  I don't allow her to get away with it, we deal with it ASAP and if necessary remove her, as even though I AM a mother and understand that children are children and you can't stop these things from happening, I don't have to let it continue and torture all the poor unsuspecting people at the store or whatever.  I will add, that thankfully Lily is EASY, easy to distract, she loves to go out so this is (thankfully) rarely a problem for us.

Then: I swore I would never let my kid drink pop

Now: She doesn't drink pop for 2 reasons, 1. She plain doesn't like it (Adam has tried to give her some) and 2. She is only 2.5, when she's older I'll be ok with it at holidays and such but still not on a regular basis.

Then:  I swore I would never let her run around in just her diaper.

Now: While it still DRIVES ME INSANE, she prefers it and I have learned to pick my battles.  If my kid wants to run around in a t-shirt and a diaper I guess I'd rather her do that then fight with her about why she has to wear pants.  I'm hoping she grows out of this soon though.

Then: I swore she would never sleep in our bed with us

Now:  I still don't allow it.  I won't sleep, Adam won't sleep and Lily wouldn't sleep well.  Sometimes if she's really upset we do let her come in our room and settle down a bit but she goes back to her bed to sleep.  I am anti-co-sleeping and it's one of the few things I don't think I'll ever fully understand the appeal of.  Now, don't think that means I think it's wrong if someone else does it, that's not what I'm trying to say.  Just more of the, I don't get why anyone would WANT to do it.


Overall I'm pretty laid back and try not to say "I will never let my kid do x" Cause really you never know what you'll do when you are in someone else's shoes.

These days I totally bribe her with things ALL the time.  "If we go inside Lily, we can watch some Dora"  Or "Take a few more bites of your dinner and then we'll have some dessert"  Sure a lot of times dessert is just an apple or some oranges or something like that, but it's SO not the point.

So tell me, What do YOU do now as a parent that you thought you never would?

Saturday Saturday

Where to start?  Hmm Let's see.  First of all and most importantly I had the most fabulous day on Thursday!  Like I really don't know what could have made it better.  I'm not sure if I had mentioned it around these parts but my company is pretty slow and Adam and I were sorta hoping I'd get laid off so that I'd be able to collect some unemployment while I was out with the baby.  We were excited and pushing for that for a couple of reasons.  Of course after talking with my boss and realizing that he wasn't planning to lay anyone off until at least after Thanksgiving, it became clear that I couldn't count on that option.  I mean what if I give birth beforehand?  I wouldn't be eligible for Unemployment then so I was sort of bummed out as I didn'tthink I was going to end up getting any pay while on leave.  Until one of the ladies from our corporate called me.  I had asked a few months ago if there was any paperwork I needed to fill out for my leave.  I didn't have any last time and so when they never got back to me I really didn't think much of it.  But she told me yes, I need to fill out a form because I was eligible for Short Term Disability.  Of course I had to ask because I wasn't eligible for Short Term Disability last time.  This is where it got interesting.  She told me actually yes, I was eligible for it last time and our old HR lady was wrong.  And that I was not the only one that got screwed out of a paid maternity leave.  In fact because I am a salaried employee I should have gotten my full pay instead of the capped amount the production employees get.  Ok.  Interesting right?

So in the end it turns out I get my FULL pay for 6 weeks (or 8 for a c-section)  I would have a waiting week but my boss said he'll pay me for it since I got screwed out of my paid time when I had Lily.  So YAY!  I'm So beyond thankful that I am getting paid for my time, and while I am disappointed that I missed out on it last time (no wonder our old HR lady got fired), I understand their reasons for not giving me the back pay.

So Adam and I decided to go out for steak to celebrate!  And as we were sitting there I was beginning to think I was starting to go into labor.  I had a lot of contractions and they were even starting to get painful.  But I drank of ton of water and then when we got home I laid down to rest and it stopped.  Which I suppose is a good thing.  But we are officially ready for her to make her appearance any time she is ready!

Today my brother and Sister-in-law were supposed to come up and spend the weekend.  But as usual Minnesota had other plans.  Snow, and lots of it.  As of this morning they had already a couple inches on the ground and it was coming down pretty hard here.  I heard later some places got like 10 inches.  I don't know for sure how much we got, it pretty much all melted as it fell around here.  We ran some errands (finally got a new laptop....LONG overdue) and when we were coming back it was starting to stick to the roads and the grass a bit more.  So tomorrow we'll take the girl out as she pestered us all day about going out to play in the "stow".

So things are good.  And I'll take it.  Now just for the waiting game.

Where to start.

Well I hit 36 weeks yesterday!  I am VERY happy about that.  It means less than 4 weeks til my due date and after my appointment yesterday I really don't think I'll make it that far.  As of yesterday I was already dilated to 2.5cm.  I will take it.  Even though my doctor really did make it clear that that didn't mean anything especially with a second baby, it still made my day and made me happier to hear that then I haven't made any progress at all.  So I'll take it.  And hope that she comes soon.

Secondly, it looks like I will for sure be getting laid off here in the next couple weeks.  But don't feel sad for me.  This is a blessing.  Instead of having to take 6 weeks of unpaid time off from work and still having to pay half time for daycare for lily (to keep her spot), I will be able to collect unemployment and at least have some type of income, and depending on how things go, we may drop daycare all together.  Transitioning to lower income might help us make the transition to me being a stay at home mom.  I would have some time to job search something part time, or back again with the option of watching someone else's kid for a little income or whatever.

So things are good right now.  I'll take it.

I couldn't have done it without you.

Yesterday we had another of what I like to call, "Philippi family fun days".  This is meant sarcastically of course in the sense that it's usually a day we take to be productive and get things that are long overdue marked off the to-do list.  They don't happen as often as they should and I had no idea that yesterday was going to turn into one of those days.  But I'm glad it did.

In the morning I did dishes and got some other stuff cleaned up.  Lily was a major help (as she usually is)  She picked up her toys, and I gave her a wash cloth and she cleaned the tables and helped put things away.  It still amazes me how helpful a two year old can actually be.  She saved me a lot of bending and picking up.  She kept asking me for "another really important job".   I'm thankful that she is so willing to help and I hope it lasts for a long time even though I know it won't.  But after I put her down for her nap I seriously debated taking one myself.  But I figured my time would be better served actually staying awake and catching up with laundry.  There was also a big task I've been meaning to tackle for a while now.  Cleaning the entry.

For those of you who don't know or aren't familiar with our house we have an uninsulated entry right off the kitchen.  We put shelves out there when we moved in and used it for extra food storage.  Until we got mice.  Oh the mice.  So I made sure we  no longer keep food out there and instead I keep things like our crock pots, larger Tupperware, serving trays.  Stuff like that.  And it was a mess.  A hot mess actually.  Plus we have mice out there again (why I'm not sure there is no food for them)  So it's annoying and gross.  I finally got up the energy and motivation to clean it out and get rid of some stuff and clean everything and whatnot.  I felt really good getting it done.

Then Adam cut and installed some shelves for me on the inside of our basement so I can put some canned goods and things like that there to free up some cabinet space.  We've been meaning to do it for a while now and just haven't gotten around to it.    Then came Lily's next "really important job"  I unloaded all the stuff I wanted to put on the shelves onto the kitchen floor.  Lily got her shopping cart and loaded everything up and brought it to me and handed it to me so I didn't have to bend down to pick it up.  She was Awesome.  It's amazing to me how helpful she is and how excited she is to help me.

Yesterday I really don't think I could have done it without her.  And thanks Adam for putting in the shelves!  They are everything I hoped for and more!

Now I just need to train the dog to clean up his own fur off the floor.

It's the little things in life....

10 things that make me happy (in no particular order)

1. Listening to my 2 year old sing.  I could listen to it all day it's just so dang cute.  Of course under normal circumstances I'd rather use 3 sets of earplugs and a few headphones to drown out the sound of a little kid singing.  But when it's your own kid, it's different.  So let's face it.  I'll be the mom that just stays to listen to my own kid at concerts and stuff and then leaves.  Sorry world.  I also won't hate on you if you don't feel the same love for my kids singing.  But for now at least. I could listen to the ABC's or Twinkle Twinkle, ALL. DAY. LONG. and never get tired of it.

2. When the dishes are done and caught up.  Now granted I fully admit that this is rarely the case in my house but I love the feeling of not having anything super important I need to do at any one moment.  Plus in general it smells better in here.  Don't judge.

3. Baby clothes/shoes.  Anyone who knows me knows I have a terrible addiction to baby clothes and shoes.  I am not generally the type to leave my babies in sleepers all day.  In fact I don't remember EVERY doing that with Lily and I highly doubt that will be the case with Claire either.  I get dressed every day and I love that my babies look good and put together too.

4. Our family cuddle time in bed before Lily goes to sleep at night.  In fact I think this is what I will miss the most about Lily being an only child.  Oh the cuddles and closeness of that half hour of family time.

5. Coffee.  Sure I've given it up many times since I seem to react not so great to the caffeine and totally become dependant on it.  It's sad when I give it up but I always come back.

6. The Wonder Pets.  Yes.  Again, don't judge.  I like the show and have on occasion watched it even when Lily was in bed. 

7. The fact that Adam likes to cuddle (sorry honey, the 3 people that read my blog now know your secret).  He may not be the most romantic man but he sure does love to cuddle and that makes me smile.

8. Fresh, clean sheets.  I don't think I need to add anything else to that one.

9. When Lily says sweet things to me like "I love you mommy" or "I so proud of you"  Or when she says completely wacky things.  Kids really do say the darndest things.

10. Chocolate.  Do I need it?  Nope but it sure would be a sad world without it.

I suppose it even seems funny now

Back story:  I'm an idiot.  I thought I could just take Lily anywhere for a flu shot and she could get one and be done.  Reality, that is not the case.  Most places the kid has to be at least 16 or even 19.  I did find one that was 10 and one that was 4.  But the problem is, Lily is not any of those ages.  So I was stuck.  I had to call the clinic.  I had to take her in.  All this while I was trying to avoid having to pay the dang copay for a flu shot.  So I end up calling late.  After all the flu shot clinics are done at her normal Dr. Office.  And the only ones they have available are at another clinic here in town on Thursdays or in the next town over on Wednesdays.  Both days suck for me, as I have to take time off work, pull her out of daycare and pay the dang co-pay for the visit.  Now, normally I would have just probably skipped it as I don't think the flu shot is the be all and end all in medical importance, BUT we will have a newborn, who can't be vaccinated in prime flu season.  So I suck it up since I suppose it was mostly my fault for waiting so long and schedule her an appt at the clinic here in town.  For 9:15 this morning.  So I debated long and hard my options, as I start work at 7 and so 9:15 isn't the most convenient time for me.  I ultimately decided to just stay home and take her and then come to work after.

Fast Forward to this morning.  Miss Lily was super excited to go to the Dr. Yes, I think she is the only kid ever that LIKES going to the Dr.   We left the house at 9 because the clinic is close to the house and I new the general area it was located.  So I didn't think much of it.  Until I drive out there and I can't find a building marked as the clinic ANYWHERE.  After turning around and making several loops I ultimately decided to stop at the Business office (that I drove past several times) and asked them where the clinic was.  She takes me to the back door, points to a building a couple blocks away and says "See that green building over there? that's it."  Now this wouldn't have been a big deal had I planned ahead and actually gave myself some time.  But nope, at this point it was at least 10 after 9 or so and I'm holding Lily, 8 months pregnant and I have to make a choice.  The choice to either walk/run to the clinic to make it there on time, or to walk/run around the building and get back in the car and drive over, get out and hope I can make it in time.  Well I figured it would be quicker to just walk/run over.  So I'm carrying Lily, Running across these parking lots trying to make it there on time.  Then my brain starts swimming with thoughts about how I'm going to miss this appointment and have to reschedule and take MORE time off work and miss MORE daycare (that I have to pay for anyway)  And then the tears come.  Yes, I'm running across parking lots carrying my 28 pound little girl, crying.  Then miss Lily hugged me and told me this: "Calm down mommy, I'll wipe your tears for you"  Which of course made me cry harder because it was so unbelievably sweet.  So we finally make it to the clinic.  Now to find the door.  I put lily down and asked her to be a big girl and run with me so I can catch my breath a bit before we go in so I don't look like a crazed lunatic going into the clinic.

We get there at 9:17.  I was nervous.  I mean you all know how Dr.'s offices are.  They can make you wait for 45 minutes after your appt time but heaven forbid you are a few minutes late.  But thankfully they were understanding and she told me people get lost back there all the time.  Which actually made me feel a lot better.  So we get our form and go wait.  (we ended up waiting 5-10 minutes yet anyway)  Lily was happy though cause she got to watch the fish swim around in the fish tank.  We get called back to the room and she was happy.  Remember my kid loves the Dr. office.  Until we have to take her pants off so they can give her the shot in her leg.  She cried.  A Lot.  Poor thing.  But she was rewarded with a scratch n sniff Strawberry shortcake sticker.  She was happy, wanted to go and look at the fish again.  OK.  Fine, we made it, hopefully things will calm down now right?  WRONG.  She started crying when an elderly man in a wheel chair said hi to her.  I don't know what her deal was, but I figured we wouldn't subject all the poor people in the waiting room to her crying so we left.

I knew we had a walk back to the car but Lily usually wants to walk and the weather wasn't too bad so I assumed this would be a piece of cake.  Boy was I wrong.  She screamed to be carried.  Then screamed when I asked her to walk, So I carried her.  She cried anyway.  THE WHOLE WAY BACK TO THE CAR.  And she was carrying a paper and pen and it was windy so at one point the paper went flying out of her hands and I was left to run after it to make her just be quiet for 2 minutes.  I tried bribing her with Halloween candy I put in my purse as her reward for being good at the Dr.  That did not work, In fact I think it angered her more that I bribed her and she cried harder.  FINALLY we made it to the car and she stopped crying....which is where I started.  I was physically in a lot of pain (remember, 8 months pregnant) and tired and disappointed in myself for not planning ahead better.

So long story short....I've never been so happy to get to work than I was today.

Just Like Dora Does

Oh Boy, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that saying through the course of a day.  I sure would have a lot of nickels.

The other day I asked Lily if Dora jumped off a cliff if she would want to do that too.  Her response was not what I was expecting when she excitedly ran over to get one of her little Dora dolls and asked me if we should throw her off a cliff.  Can I? Can I? Can We?  Sigh.  And of course my kid doesn't forget so she brings this up frequently to me now.

And yesterday I told her when I picked her up from daycare. "We are going to go and vote and then you can have mommy's sticker"  and as we were getting out of the car at the polling place she told me this: "We are going to go and get a yellow boat, just like Dora does."

Where did I go wrong?

35 Weeks.

My thoughts on the whole thing?  Get her the hell out.  I really can't believe how similar my pregnancies have started out and yet how different they seem to have turned here towards the end.  With Lily the end was my favorite.  I wasn't terribly uncomfortable. I didn't experience a lot of pain and mostly I just enjoyed feeling her move, after a rough start to the pregnancy I was just enjoying not feeling sick all the time and the fun of decorating her room and getting ready for her arrival.  With this one though, I am SO sore.  Sore in areas I didn't know could be sore.  I can't sleep right.  It is painful and uncomfortable to walk or even really move my legs a whole lot.  I really just want to be done.

2 weeks until I am FULL term.  And I am hoping by sheer willpower that she will be born before her due date.  That would be so wonderful.