Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

What a week! Work was pretty well this week. I had two days of leadership training, which was acutally pretty enjoyable seeing as it was on a topic I enjoy, it was called Fierce Conversations and was mostly about commnication in the workplace; although, I think the thing that stuck out the most, I'll use at home. "Let the silence do the heavy lifting", Jeff makes his decisions internally so usually after I've asked him a question he thinks about it a long time before answering. Usually the silence makes me antsy and I start talking again. Evidently, most engineers function this way, internally processing, I was the only external processor in the room. It gave me some good insight on better communication with my spouse and they fed us really well so it was worth two days in an uncomforable conference room chair.

I am amazed at how time consuming Jeff's homework has been this semester. He has Tuesday and Thursday free, and spends the day working on assignments. He also does homework in the evenings on the other days of the week. I guess they're just more challenging classes this semester and he's doing what he can to stay ahead; I'm proud of him. He's considering taking a class over the winter break, which as long as it's in the morning should be OK. The winter session starts on December 19th, if his class is in the morning we could schedule my cesarean in the afternoon and it would mean that he would be away for a couple hours each morning, but it would also mean that he could knock out one more class in four weeks.

Last week when I went in for my checkup, they said they didn't have my lab results back yet. Come to find out, there was some lab error and they couldn't process them so I had to go back in on Thursday morning and retake my glucose test. I worked from home once I was done. Friday was a pretty standard day at work, although I found out my collegues and I received another team achievement award. This one really wasn't just for doing my job, we really bent over backwards for this particular customer and it was a well earned award. I don't know yet how much the bonus will be, but I'm hoping that I can use it to finish up my Christmas shopping.

Friday evening the girls had their first "slumber party". We usually have Gabrielle on Friday nights, but this week we agreed to take the Bryson's girls for the night as well so they could celebrate their anniversary. Jeff and I decided that the girls would be much better off if we organized the night with activities; left to their own devices the girls would be fighting in just an hour or so. We had a pizza dinner and then went out back with an LED flashlight and played hide and go seek in the dark. The "it" person had the flashlight. The girls had so much fun! Towards the end, Felcity ran into Helen and ended up with a black eye, at which point we switched gears and made smors. They mostly enjoyed roasing the marshmallows over the grill. After cleaning up the sticky sweet treat we went upstairs and played BINGO. We have a fun disney version with a DVD caller. They played three rounds before growing restless at which point we put on PJs and popped pop corn. The girls watch The Corpse Bride. At about 9:30 the girls left awake went to bed pretty peacefully. We were woken up at about 3:30 by Helen and Felicity fighting over a toy, they were all up and playing.

I finished sewing the girls' Halloween costumes Saturday morning while Jeff worked in the baby's room. He cut all the pieces for the chair rail and touched up the paint (we forgot to take the tape off the ceiling right away last weekend). He also hung some blinds and a new ceiling fan. We had the ward Trunk or Treat in the evening. Felicity, Helen, and Gabrielle had a great time. It was two wards from our stake and there were a ton of people. I handed out 300 pieces of candy, one per child, and ran out just at the end. It was fun and we didn't get home until 8. I let them each have one piece of candy before brushing their teeth and heading to bed. As I kissed Felicity good night I noticed her lips were sticky so I asked if she brushed her teeth. "Yes, Mom", smiling widely such that I could see the jawbreaker candy at the back of her mouth. "I thought you said you brushed your teeth?", thankful I noticed the tooth roting sugar ball. "I did Mom, I took my candy out, brushed my teeth and then put it back in mouth". I love being a mother!

Here's to hoping the weather goes back to being more fall-like and that everyone enjoys the fun Halloween holiday.

In My Life

Another week come and gone...where does the time go? Halloween is almost upon us and then its down hill for the rest of the year.

Felicity had two half days this week as it was parent/teacher conference. We are very proud of her and the great success she's having at school. She's above grade level in all the areas they look at and got the highest marks in all the behavior/socialization areas. They evaluate much of their progress with an exam they are given at each quarter and there was only one thing she didn't score above the grade level. They are expected to write their name, fist and last with correct capitalization and Felicity used a capital T in her first name. Sorry for the brag-fest, we are just very proud of her and the care and excitement she puts into school. All the teachers at the Early Childhood Center seem to really love Helen as well and rave about her. To have two for two I feel incredibly blessed, I know only a small part of the girls' success has anything to do with us as parents and has more to do with the fact that Heavenly Father sent us a couple of amazing little people.

I also had another midwife appointment this week which was a quick check in that went well. We'll be having another ultra sound soon to monitor the baby's size since I am consistently measuring big. They didn't have my test results from the myriad of blood tests they did at my last check up, they weren't sure why they were being held back. I should hear sometime this week, but I don't really anticipate any problems; I'm feeling well. I met Mom and Grandma for breakfast on Friday morning and while I couldn't stay and hang out too long, I enjoyed the time I had with them. I didn't even find anything at the thrift which was odd!

Saturday we spent the day with chores around the house and also working on the baby's room. Helen's fantastic nursery teacher gave us a very nice crib this week and we went and bought paint and a ceiling fan for his room. I was actually feeling pretty energetic this weekend and helped Jeff with the taping and painting along the base board. We painted the top half of the room light blue, the bottom half light green and we got a white chair rail to run along the middle of the room. My plan is to, with Jan's help, cut out the outline of little bees in vinyl and create a little bee trail around the middle of the room swooping under and above the chair rail. I also found a great quote from a Winnie the Pooh book that I want to put on the wall. Jeff is going to make some built-in shelves like he did for the girls room. I think after that all I need is a changing table, a diaper genie, blinds, material to make curtains, and diapers...I'm almost ready! I can't believe how quickly this has gone. I must admit that I'm very worried about leaving the baby after my maternity leave is up. Honestly, I've not been allowing myself to even think about it. I miss being away from home so much, I know we're making the right choice, it just doesn't make it any easier.

I also finally started really making progress on the girls' Halloween costumes! I pulled out the sewing machine and just put my mind to it. Not a moment too soon either, the Ward Trunk-or-Treat is on Saturday and then Halloween on Monday, again where did the month go? I am also proud that I made some more progress with Christmas preparations. I got some more gifts taken care of and made a batch of chocolate bread to go in the baskets I give as gifts. Looking back, it was a pretty successful and productive week...here's to hoping next is just as good!

If I Fell

This week has marked a substantial slowing down for me in terms of what I'm able to comfortably accomplish. Point in fact, when I first sat down on the couch with the lap top to write this post, I didn't come up with anything right away (which for me would indicate a significant mental slowing down) and I fell asleep for a couple hours before having someone climb on me to cuddle. I feel as though I accomplished very little this week and its quite frustrating.

Felicity had fall break and I'm so grateful we were able to juggle the schedule and I'm grateful to Jan and my mom for taking Felicity a couple days this week. I wish we could have taken time off to do something fun, but it will have to wait until Jeff is out of school seeing as he isn't granted a fall break. Work continues to go well and I was pleased to hear this week that I had earned two team achievement awards. One was for dedication to engineering excellence (or something like that) and came with a monetary bonus which we will be happily using to get the baby's room ready with paint, new shelving, furniture, etc. The other was for Excellence in Engineering Security (again, something along those lines) and while it doesn't have a monetary bonus involved (bummer) it will include lunch and a photo with the VP of Engineering. I do enjoy recognition for just going into work every day and doing the best work I can. We have been so blessed by my job and while I carry a lot of guilt around lately over not being at home with my kids, which is where I really want to be, I'm grateful for the opportunity that we have. We were always blessed in the past with enough for our comfort when I stayed home and Jeff worked, and I know that that season in life will come again; for now I'm going to do the best with what we have. I'm so happy Jeff has the opportunity to go to school and better himself and better prepare himself to lead and take care of his family, a responsibility he is really looking forward to as well. I'm so proud of all the progress he has made.

As I mentioned earlier, my mom and dad watched Felicity on Friday. They had quite the adventure and they took her shopping at Target, out to lunch, then to see Cars 2, and then to the Marana pumpkin patch. They rode the tractor, picked out pumpkins, played in a huge sand box, jumped on a jumping pillow, went through the hay maze, and so much other fun stuff. She was pretty worn out by the time they brought her home, but she had a great time.

I've been very discouraged with my lack of energy and time to get things done lately as I said earlier. On Saturday I finished cutting out the fabric for the girls' Halloween costumes, but fizzled out before I even got the sewing machine set up. I also sat down and got my Christmas cards written and addressed. Since the baby will be born the week of Christmas I want to have all my ducks in a row so that I don't feel like I missed something. So the cards are ready and I did some Christmas shopping online for the nieces and nephews. My plan is to make one batch of Christmas treats a week and store them in the freezer, so that they are ready to assemble in baskets before I head to the hospital. Jeff finished priming the baby's room, so hopefully we can paint next weekend. I have so much I want to get done, but with work and my calling and everything I need to do around the house, I'm just exhausted! I think too, that reality is setting in and I am realizing that I don't have as much time as I want...the baby will be here in eight short weeks! We can't wait to meet him and the girls are excited too. I signed them up this week for a Big Sister class at the hospital where they will go on a Saturday morning and learn about holding, diapering, and taking good care of their new baby brother and the class also includes how to deal with the feelings involved when a new baby comes home and a tour of the maternity floor where baby brother will be born. They are both excited to go, I think the class is Saturday, December 10th.

I'm going to try to keep my chin up and let the non-important things go and not stress myself out (we'll see, I'm not very good at that). I have Friday off this coming week, but we have parent teacher conference and I have a midwife appointment in the afternoon (I'm going every other week now). I'm hoping to catch breakfast and shopping with Mom and Grandma on Friday morning, but we'll see. We hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the ones the love most.

I'm Looking Through You

The weather in the latter part of this week really made if feel like fall. It's been so beautiful! We haven't had the air conditioner on since Wednesday and have had the windows and doors wide open; I love all the fresh air blowing through the house.

Jeff is continuing to enjoy school as the semester wears on, he's had a slew of tests and lots of homework that keep him pretty busy. I spent a day and half of this week working from home as the rest of my team was at a conference.

I had my "big" midwife appointment this week as well. I had my one hour glucose test which includes a blood draw and my RhoGAM injection which they give you in the hip (my whole leg has since been sore). I figured for good measure I should get my flu shot out of the way too and get all the pokes behind me. It all went well and I had a standard visit on top of the prodding. I had a huge jump in my weight, but she didn't give me a hard time about it seeing as we're getting down toward the end and all my babies have really started to put on extra weight starting around this point. I am almost finished with my 29th week and am measuring at about what is normal for 31 weeks. Baby is still head down and doing great.

We enjoyed our weekend and got some chores out of the way on Saturday and then Jeff sat down for the rest of the afternoon to finish up the homework he had due for Monday. I worked on sewing the girls' Halloween costumes. I've only managed to get them cut out, I haven't actually started any of the sewing. Jeff also had two church lessons to prepare for, one in primary which he normally does and one for Elder's Quorum. You would have thought we were taking him to the gallows on the way to church this morning he was so nerve wreaked. He made it through without any sort of mental episode and is happy to have it behind him, hopefully it will be easier the next time.

We're going to continue to enjoy the weather and being together. Felicity is out of school this coming week, but we won't be able to do anything exciting since I'm saving my PTO for the end of my pregnancy and Jeff has to be in school. We are, however, planning to take a long weekend vacation in November for our wedding anniversary, possibly to the Salt Lake valley, so there is that to look forward to.

Flying

Another week gone, where does the time go? So last weekend I over did it with chores I guess because when I woke up on Monday, I was in a lot of pain and did not feel well. I stayed home on PTO, but it was too difficult to take it easy with an empty house and things a mess. It probably wasn't a good idea to clean house because on Tuesday morning I really felt awful and worked from home. I need to remember to take it easy and that I can't do everything I think I can do. I can hardly believe I only have about 10 weeks left.

Helen spent the night with Nana and Papa on Wednesday night. We took the opportunity to take Felicity out for a special evening. We had dinner at home and then drove into town to see a movie. We got popcorn and watched The Zookeeper. I had read some reviews online that people felt it was child appropriate, yeah, they and I have differing opinions on what is appropriate, but it wasn't too bad. I don't really think Felicity understood the premise of the movie, but she was a good sport and enjoyed being out by herself with Mom and Dad.

Work is going well, I'm plenty busy which makes the time go by quickly. I need to start getting my maternity leave all lined up, I'm not looking forward to the paperwork and phone calls to get all of that approved and in motion. Jeff continues to enjoy school and is doing well. He does seem to have a lot of homework, but I think he's making it his priority on Tuesdays and Thursdays when he's at home. Helen is such a good girl, and believe it or not, is very content to entertain herself on those days when it's just her and he. I thought, seeing as she's always had Felicity as a playmate, she would be lost without her and need Jeff to entertain her, but not so, she really enjoys playing by herself and from what he says, she puts herself down for a nap in the afternoon when she gets tired.

Felicity is loving school and has made a lot of good friends who she talks about. I continue to be impressed with the work she brings home, she's very careful and meticulous with her work; much more so than I ever was at that age. She also loves to do homework after school. This past week her teacher sent home some supplementary math sheets as "extra practice". Felicity sat and did page after page until she completed the entire packet. I hope her enthusiasm lasts throughout school. I think that she will really excel in math, she already, without knowing she's doing math, adds and subtracts things in her head. We were in a restaurant a few weeks back and the hostess asked us how many in our party. Felicity answered "four, unless Nana and Gabrielle were with us in which case we would need six". She's a bright girl; although we've noticed since she started school that shes become a little more sassy with us and very strangely that she's started hitting Helen as a means of getting out her frustration. Let's just say that she's spent some good time in timeout and we've had some serious talks about acceptable ways of communicating our needs and more importantly acceptable ways of responding to Helen.

We enjoyed our semi-annual general conference of the church this weekend and appreciated being together as a family for the sessions. The girls had a packet to work on and really liked the coloring activities, and since it was a special occasion I let them use their markers which made it even more fun; more colorful, but more fun. I was going to take notes, but the lure of crocheting instead won out and I finished a baby blanket. We have tried to come up with some good traditions to make conference something the girls look forward to, this year we went to McDonald's in between sessions on Saturday...it was a madhouse! I guess everyone had early morning soccer because the place was jammed. The girls did, however, enjoy playing and having chicken nuggets.

Saturday afternoon we started painting in the baby's room. We started priming over the old paint in there and Felicity helped us. It's not done yet, but I imagine Jeff can finish it up sometime this coming week, not that I'm in a big hurry as I haven't decided on colors just yet. We're going to use the Winnie the Pooh bedding we've had for both girls, so I'm thinking some light blues, yellows, and greens with maybe a bee motif on the walls. I'll be sure to post pictures when we are done with it.

I'm feeling pretty well, although the fatigue from the first trimester has crept back in and I find myself having to get up for a brisk walk at work in the afternoon to avoid nodding off at my desk. I've settled into a good sleeping pattern, and I am just loving all the baby movements, even the strong ones that are borderline painful. It's fun to watch the surface of my tummy dance around, it's slightly surreal and I love it. I have my big checkup this week with blood tests, a glucose test, and my least favorite, a RhoGAM injection. Then I'll be on the every two weeks schedule, I can't believe time has gone by so quickly. Before I know it it'll be Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and then the big event. Bring on the Holidays!

Oh, and here is a link to that AMAZING talk from the general Relief Society meeting I mentioned last week, Forget Me Not .