13 December 2020

 

I feel like my whole week got derailed!  On Monday we were suppose to be hosting our 13th annual Gingerbread Family Home Evening event, but with me being on bed rest and Arlo's potential Covid exposure we made the difficult decision to cancel.  I was pretty bummed.  In the afternoon Phil took Arlo to get a Covid test so that he could return to school earlier.  In the evening Felicity had her first choir concert and Helen was going on a visit with her Young Womens leaders.  We dropped Felicity off at Cienega, then we waited outside while Helen had her visit.  They were broadcasting the choir concert live on YouTube, so we watched from the car while waiting for Helen.  The kids stood six feet apart and sang in masks and as you may imagine, it was pretty awful.  It certainly wasn't the ideal set up for singing, but we made it through to the end.  I am divided on whether I should commend the school and the teacher's dedication to making sure the kids had a performance experience, or disappointed that they had them perform under far less than ideal circumstances.  

 Phil worked at Pima on Tuesday and I had a follow up with the OB from last week's hospital visit.  Everything is looking good again and we're measuring right on target.  I have another ultrasound next Tuesday, so we'll get a better estimate of the baby's weight, the state of the baby's placenta, and start making some more definitive plans for our c-section.  I am also starting twice a week non-stress tests (NSTs) next week to keep an eye on everything while I try and carry the baby for as long as is safe.  

 My friend Abish came over on Tuesday night and brought dinner and helped me wrap Christmas gifts after Phil took the kids to church.  The girls had Young Womens activities in the evening, Helen's class was decorating gingerbread houses and Helen was able to include her friend Morgan via FaceTime who would have joined us for the FHE decorating, but couldn't this year.

 Wednesday was Arlo's 9th birthday, it was also the day when we got his Covid-19 test results back, he was negative, which I suspected seeing as he had no symptoms.  I called the school to see if I could forward them the results and have him back at school, but a district representative called me back and said that the secretary at Copper Ridge gave me incorrect information, that if Arlo wasn't wearing a mask when he encountered the sick family it didn't matter that he had a negative test, he couldn't come back to school for fourteen days.  So I guess he'll be doing online school for the remainder of the year.  We made plans to celebrate his birthday on Friday when everyone would be home.  Felicity spent the afternoon with Nana doing some Christmas shopping and the two of them had dinner together.

 Phil taught again on Thursday and in the evening started taking down the built-in desk and shelves in what will soon be the baby's room.  Once he got them down we realized that the tile backsplash had damaged the drywall, there were some electrical outlets that would need to be moved, and there was no carpet under the desk drawers; our project just got a lot bigger!  We both attended a virtual stake leadership training via zoom after dinner which was interesting.

 Phil was home on Friday and spent his morning cutting out the damaged drywall.  Helen got to go out with Nana in the afternoon to do some Christmas shopping when she was done with school, she decorated another gingerbread house with her cousin in the evening before coming home.  We got a call that the rest of our baby furniture was ready to be picked up, so in evening Phil went and got that.  

He and I took Arlo out to dinner for his birthday once we got the furniture home.  Arlo wanted to go to Red Lobster, so we drove to the only one still open in Tucson, on Oracle and River, which took us about 45 minutes.  We enjoyed our dinners and when we got home we had cake and Arlo opened his presents.

 Phil was back to work at the fire station on Saturday and the kids and I came to an agreement that we needed to get some chores done around the house.  Since I am officially on bed rest I really couldn't do much, so we rotated with each kid helping for an hour at a time while I directed and by the afternoon we had the house clean and the laundry done.  I sure hope they help me keep the house picked up, I really like it when its clean.  Our sweet friends, the Masseys brought us dinner in the evening.  I'm so grateful for all the help we are receiving.

 Phil came home in the morning and we enjoyed church together from home.  Felicity had a runny nose, so we didn't want to spread any germs.  The kids played together in the afternoon with Arlo's new building set.  He got some new Legos and a straw construction set that he and the sisters had fun playing with.  It was nice to see the kid play with actual toys!  

 Felicity made some gingerbread in the afternoon and Arlo hung out with me on the recliner watching Christmas movies.  Helen was speaking at a Priesthood and Young Women's preview event, so she and Phil went to the church around 4PM.  Just before they left, Phil noticed that Charlie had gotten himself a mouse.  I don't know how the dirty little thing got in the house, but I'm glad we've got Charlie on the prowl.  He doesn't do too bad for a claw-less, spoiled house cat! 

 Next week will see my last day of work.  Raytheon shuts down for the holiday season and we get a couple of weeks of paid vacation.  I'm using the rest of my PTO to start my holiday break early.  I'd normally go back on January 4th, but this year that's when I'll be starting my maternity leave.  I get 12 weeks of maternity leave between the company's parental leave and my short term disability benefit, but when that time is up, I'll be submitting my resignation.  What started as a necessary job turned into a ten year career and it helped me take care of my family well, but I always had hopes that I'd be able to come back home full time to take care of my family.  My sweetheart is willing to provide that for us and I am so incredibly grateful.  We've taken the time over the last nine months of our marriage to use our double income to set us up to make living on one income comfortable.  I'm so very, very excited to be a stay at home mama again!

06 December 2020

 I'm exhausted!  It was a heck of week.  Phil was hunting with his brother on Monday and the kids and I managed our schedules without too many problems.  Everyone had in person school and I had several meetings back to back throughout the day.  Felicity helped me deliver eggs in the evening and once we were done with that I was able to meet my girlfriends in town.  We had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and enjoyed time together as always.  I'm so grateful for them.

 I'm trying to get everything ready for both baby and Christmas.  Of course, I'm still working, so its been challenging. I probably over-did it on Wednesday between working, emptying out the office to make room for baby, and cleaning because by mid-afternoon I was having contractions and some spotting.  The internet company came out in the afternoon to move the cable from the office to the kitchen where I'll be setting up my work space temporarily until the shop is finished and I have a new office/craft room.  Once the cable guy left I knew I needed to call the doctor's office and see what she wanted me to do seeing as the contractions weren't going away.  She called me back while I was on the way to pick up Helen and Arlo from the bus and wanted me to head to the hospital.  I got the kids settled, packed a quick bag, and made arrangements for my mom to pick Felicity up from the bus later in the afternoon.  I headed for the hospital and left a message for Phil who was still hunting and out of cell service.  By the time I got through admitting and hooked up to two IVs, I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes.  They weren't super painful and they weren't very productive as I wasn't actively bleeding, but seeing as I am only 32 weeks and have the placenta previa we needed to stop the contractions.  I was admitted for 24 hours where they gave me medication to aid in the baby's maturation and to stop the contractions.  It took several hours, but we got the contractions down to only one or two every hour while giving the baby steroids and magnesium to make sure his lungs would be more mature and his brain would be protected if I did have to deliver prematurely.  Phil called me in the early evening and was able to come home from hunting. The hospital allowed him to come stay with me even though their no visitor policy is in effect since there was a chance that we'd have to have our c-section early and there would not be enough time for him to get there.

The nurses took great care of us and baby Jude is doing well.  His heartbeat patterns were perfect and strong, accelerating when they should in response to contractions and recovering quickly.  He seemed pretty unaware that anything was wrong.  When my contractions and bleeding were under control I was released on Thursday evening with instructions that I would have to spend the rest of my pregnancy on bed rest and would need to come back right away if I had further bleeding or frequent contractions.  The medication I received should help safe-guard the baby from complications if he has to come in the next couple of weeks.  We're hoping I can hold out until 37 weeks, which would be delivery via c-section Monday, January 4th.  However, its possible we'll be having this baby before then, we'll just have to see how things go.  Bed rest is going to be hard for this mama!  We got home to find that my sweet friend Gretchen had brought the kids dinner so we didn't have to worry about that.  I sure am blessed.  

 Thursday evening I got a phone call from a neighbor letting me know that one of their children had tested positive for Covid-19 and that Arlo had been playing at their house early in the week.  Ugh, I really didn't need another level of complication!  Lucky for me, Phil had taken off of work through the weekend, so I had lots of help on Friday.  The kids had dentist appointments and I am happy to report that no one had any cavities!  The dentist looked at Arlo's broken tooth and was of the opinion that waiting until after he's had orthodontic work to fix the broken tooth is the best option.

  Phil and the kids finished decorating the house on Friday, hanging the rest of the lights and getting out the stockings and such.  Nana took Arlo out for his birthday in the afternoon and they had lunch out and got to buy some new clothes and toys.  He had a great time and was excited to show us his new stuff when he got home.  The elementary school called me in the afternoon informing me that our neighbor had reported their child's positive Covid test and that they had said their child had played with Arlo.  The secretary said Arlo would have to stay home from school for two weeks unless he could provide a negative Covid test after eight days.   

Phil and I took a trip to Walmart and the feed store in the evening, with me waiting in the truck since I am not supposed to be up and wandering around.  We also stopped at Home Depot and picked out our Christmas tree.  We decided to make a date of it and had dinner at Red Robin when we were done since it was just the two of us.  

 The kids helped with cleaning house on Saturday.  I tried to direct from the couch, even though that's challenging.  I very quickly realized that I'm going to have to adjust my expectations for how the house is going to run over the next few weeks.  A member of the Primary Presidency came by the house to bring Arlo an ice cream treat for his birthday in the afternoon and he was pretty excited about that.  Felicity had a birthday party to attend in the evening and was looking forward to spending time with her friends.  Helen also had a virtual get together with some of her girlfriends, they did a paint-a-long and watched a movie together.  

Phil was able to get all of the office/craft stuff out of the extra bedroom.  Now all we need to do is to remove the built in cabinets/desk and paint. I'm hoping we'll be able to finish the nursery before the baby comes; of course that's made harder with me not being able to help much. Our new stroller and car seat came in the mail and Phil was excited to take everything out of the box and set it up.  

  We enjoyed church from home on Sunday and I was able to stay down pretty well.  In fact, I didn't get up until close to nine and took a 2-3 hour nap around 2pm.  Phil started grinding his deer meat, it had been chilling in the cooler since he brought it home last weekend.  He made us fresh deer tacos for dinner which we enjoyed in front of a Christmas movie.  The kids donned their Christmas jammies in the evening and pulled out the tree ornaments.  Usually decorating the tree gives me anxiety, the kids man-handle my ornaments and make a mess of the whole situation.  I sat back on the couch and let them do their best.  They only had one of the several totes out, so the tree probably only has 1/3 of the ornaments this year, but I am happy to report that the kids were really careful and did a good job; I didn't even rearrange them after they went to bed.  I'm going to learn a lot about letting go and being humble over the next few weeks I think!

 

29 November 2020

 Work was very quiet this week as most everybody had taken the week off for the Thanksgiving holiday.  It meant I could catch up on some maintenance tasks.  On Monday my morning started early with dropping Felicity off at seminary, taking Helen and Arlo to the bus stop, and then back to the church to pick up Felicity and take her to school.  Phil worked at Pima teaching paramedic class and I met him mid day for lunch.  I enjoy it when we can make that happen, today especially since he also worked teaching Fire Academy in the evening until ten.

Phil was at the fire station on Tuesday and I had an early morning OB appointment.  It was a follow up ultrasound to check on the status of my placenta previa.  Unfortunately not only has it not moved away from my cervix as my uterus has expanded, it actually repositioned in the wrong direction and is now completely covering my cervix.  The doctor is concerned and reemphasized taking it easy and warned me to call right away if I had any bleeding or contractions.   She also said we may move the c-section date up to January 4th from the 11th which is three weeks earlier than my due date.  I'm not too worried as I haven't had any problems or symptoms of problems yet and we are well past the point of fetal viability.  The good news? Baby's measurements put him at 3 pounds 4 ounces, which is exactly what is expected for his gestational age, again, its looking like we'll have a nice normal-sized baby this time around. 

We celebrated our Thanksgiving on Wednesday since Phil was going to be working on Thursday.  I took the day off from work and started cooking early.  Phil came home around 8:30 and surprised me with a new haircut.  He cuts his own hair, usually while he's at work, this time he shaved it all off, and quite honestly, I really like it!

I had this idea this spring when I bought chicks that I would like to buy a breeding pair of turkeys to keep on the ranch (and produce chicks for us) and then to raise one for our Thanksgiving dinner and have one to sell as a "Thanksgiving Experience".  Basically I thought there might be folks out there who would be interested in harvesting their own fresh turkey, but maybe wouldn't know how or wouldn't have the space to raise their own.  Well now that our turkeys are grown, we decided which two we were keeping, which we were eating, and which one we were going to sell.  I mentioned my idea to a few people and had an interested friend, so she and her family came out to the ranch Wednesday morning and Phil walked them through the culling and cleaning process and when we were done we both had fresh, farm-raised turkeys to put on our tables.  I am hoping that we get several turkey chicks next spring because this trial run of our "Thanksgiving Experience" was so successful, I'd like to try it on a bigger scale next year.  Making Two Jack Ranch as self-sustainable as possible is my goal, so I love to come up with ways to make it pay for itself: selling pork, eggs, honey, and now farm experiences!  

Felicity helped me a lot in the kitchen this year.  She wanted to take on the pie crusts, so I taught her how I do mine.  The crusts and subsequent pies turned out great. Our dinner, fresh fried turkey included, was ready around 2 PM.  It was just our little family this year.  Although we had a missing family member at the table, Arlo had taken off at some point during the morning (probably escaping from any clean up the kitchen related chores) and didn't respond to the triangle I have mounted to the back porch; we started without him.  We had a very nice meal and everyone ate until they were satisfied.  In the evening we watched a movie together (and Arlo finally ate his meal when he resurfaced on his bike), enjoyed pie, and then Phil and the kids cleaned the kitchen for me.  

Phil started packing for his hunt since he had to work on Thursday.  When he's hunting for himself he usually backpacks in, so it was interesting to see him pack all of his light-weight, necessity only items in his pack.  It still ended up looking really heavy, I don't know how he does it!  He's really excited to go, he's hunting with his brother, his nephew, his brother's brother-in-law, and his brother's brother-in-law's son (did you catch all that?).

Thursday was nice, I got up for a little while with Phil before he left for work and then lazed around the house for a couple of hours and had pie for breakfast.  About mid-morning Helen found me to tell me that Arlo had chipped his tooth.  When I asked him to see it I was appalled to see that he had broken off a very large piece of his front, permanent I might add, tooth.  When I asked how it happened assuming he'd say he'd fallen off his bike or ran into something, he told me he was playing with magnets in his mouth.  Really?!  You are almost nine years old, why on earth would you put magnets in your mouth.  Ugh!  He said it wasn't hurting so I guess we'll just have it looked at when he has his upcoming dentist appointment next Friday.

On Friday I officially picked up my last Christmas gift and I am done!  My goal was to complete all of the Christmas crafting, gift buying, decorating, and baking in November so that I could focus on getting ready for the baby in December, well I've finished the crafting and gift buying, hopefully I can finish most of the decorating on Monday.  I went grocery shopping on Friday morning and picked up everything I needed to make my holiday treats and cookies and in the afternoon I started baking.  Felicity and I made 32 mini loaves of banana bread and 16 loaves of pumpkin bread.  Helen had a virtual appointment with the counselor and I think that went well.

 Maggie has started her anti-fungal medication and is responding well.  She doesn't seem to be in near as much pain, I think she's starting to think peanut butter has magical properties since that's what she gets her pill in twice a day.   I picked up a paper copy of her prescription from the vet (with only a little push back) so we are hoping to explore some alternative options for getting in filled since she's going to be on it for a long time.

Saturday was more chores and Christmas baking.  I'm struggling to keep up with the "have-to" normal weekly chores (like laundry and dishes) in addition to the extras that I like to do this time of year.  We're starting to move a lot of the extra stuff out to the temporary shed and I think when that is done and we can set up the baby's room it will be easier to clean.  Phil got home from hunting around 7:30 and brought deer home!  He got a nice buck on his second morning and came home dirty and tired.  I had picked up take-out and the kids and I were watching a Christmas movie when he got home.  He sat to watch with us, but after having his dinner promptly fell asleep on the couch.  The cat, who was very interested in all the exotic smells that must have been emanating from his hunting clothes, curled up on top of him and dozed off too...they were a funny sight.

 We had a great Sunday.  Phil had a meeting in the morning and then we were all at church for Sacrament meeting.  When we were done we came home and I worked on some more baking, knocking out my haystacks, some ready-bake cookies, and a pound of fudge (which actually turned out pretty good the first time, surprising since I'm a notorious fudge failure).  Phil and Arlo worked on hanging the outside Christmas lights and Felicity helped me in the kitchen and also set up the artificial tree in the living room.  In the afternoon we went to my mom and dad's house for dinner and visiting.  We had a very nice visit and got home in time for scriptures, prayer, and bed.  Phil is heading back out hunting on Monday morning, helping the other guys since he filled his tag.  Its going to be a busy week ahead of us!

22 November 2020

 This time of year always just flies by and I have so much to do that I'm finding myself wishing things would slow down a bit.  The kids went to school and seminary on Monday and Phil was teaching at the college which left me all on my own during the day.  I worked from home and also had the opportunity to make progress on my last few remaining Christmas gifts.  I finished three hats for the kids on Monday before it was time to run around picking everyone up and dropping off eggs and lots of other errands.  

 Our dog Maggie has not been feeling well lately.  It started several weeks ago when she developed a cough, but I didn't think much of it because she only coughed after running hard or getting excited.  A few weeks after that she started limping on one leg and when we couldn't find any cactus assumed it was a sprain or torn muscle.  Well last week she stopped walking all together, she had no appetite, was depressed, and drug her bottom along the ground to get to her food and water.  She was able to get up on occasion, but you could tell it hurt.  I was able to squeeze her in on Tuesday for a vet appointment as we were thinking she probably had Valley Fever.  Sure enough, her test results came back positive.  The vet said the cases have skyrocketed this year since we didn't get any rain and thus there was more dust blowing around.  She gave us a pain medication and started Maggie on an anti-fungal medication, a medication that she will have to take every day, twice a day, for 2-3 years.  Ugh!  She's worth it though because I wouldn't want to have to try and train another dog to do all the things Maggie does on the ranch, that and we're kinda fond of her!

 On Wednesday evening Phil and I went into Vail to look at a bunk bed that Phil found on FaceBook Market Place for Arlo's room.  I had intentions to build Arlo a bed, but it still hasn't happened and I'm sure he's tired of sleeping on a mattress on the floor.  The bed was nice enough, so we bought it and Phil put it together when we got home.  It takes up a lot of room so we had to rearrange some things, but I'm happy with how it turned out and I think Arlo is too.

Felicity and Phil went back out for a final day of hunting on Thursday morning.  They saw lots of animals, but didn't get close enough to get a shot, so at the end of the day, they didn't bring any meat home.  Phil has his own hunt coming up after Thanksgiving and then our family will be done with deer season.  I am now 31 weeks into my pregnancy and I'm feeling really well.  I've gained altogether too much weight and I get tired and achy pretty quickly after trying to work around the house, but I am so grateful and excited.  I can't believe we're only 7 weeks away from meeting our newest addition.

Helen and Arlo went to visit their dad this weekend and on Friday Phil and Felicity and I went to Costco and a few other places before enjoying a nice evening in.  Phil worked at Pima on Saturday as his paramedic class is practicing for their final exams.  Felicity helped me with some chores around the house, I'm currently trying to pack up my office/craft room so we can tear down the built-ins, paint, and actually set up our new baby furniture.  I did carve out some time to finish the kids' PJs for the year (I always make them a set of PJs for Christmas) and another gift I'm excited about, but I won't share it with you just yet as I really want to keep this buttoned up until Christmas.  

 There were a couple more baby projects sprinkled in, I love this little wipe container I made that matches the clothing tote labels and closet hanger labels.

When Phil got home from work, he set to fixing the dryer which hadn't been working all week.  He ordered a part on Amazon and within an hour or so he had us up and running again.  I'm so grateful for him.  It's not that I couldn't have done it, but the fact that I don't have to is wonderful.

 Our Sunday was lovely, we had biscuits and gravy for breakfast and watched Stake Conference from home.  In the afternoon Phil and I went to a drive-by baby shower for one of his co-workers which was nice.  We picked up the kids in the evening and were grateful to have everyone safe under one roof on Sunday night, ready for the upcoming short holiday week.  (Can I mention that I only have 4 more Mondays of work before my maternity leave!?)

15 November 2020

 I'm actually feeling pretty confident that I'll be able to get everything ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year with plenty of time to spare to get ready for the baby's arrival in January.  That's due in part to all the time I spent this week finishing up projects and presents.  Even though I'm feeling confident, if I'm not scrambling until the very end (like last year when I delivered my cookie plates on Christmas Eve) it will be a Christmas miracle!

 Monday was my birthday, and it was a significant one, I turned 40.  FORTY!? I'm not sure how that happened, but it did and here I am, a 40 year old.  Evidently telling people in the preceding weeks that I wouldn't be celebrating my birthday this year did not prevent it from happening anyway.  Oh, well!  I worked during the day and in the evening Phil took me out to dinner at Texas Road House and we had steak and ribs and really enjoyed ourselves.  I got lots of birthday wishes and felt loved, it was a good day after all. 

We wandered Target before dinner on Monday and got ideas for baby items we want to get.  We were so blessed by so many generous people.  We had several gift cards to use on top of the nursery furniture money.  We got some good ideas and started buying things off our baby list this week.  I've been getting boxes from Target and Amazon all week!  Phil worked at the fire station on Tuesday and I had a check up in the morning.  It was just a standard blood pressure, sugar, measurement exam and I was in and out fairly quickly.  Everything is good, my fundal measurements are right on target.  I keep thinking how crazy it would be to have a normal-sized baby.    For reference Felicity was born at 42 weeks and was 10 pounds, 2 oz, Helen was born at 38 weeks at 10 pounds, 0 oz, and Arlo was born at 37 weeks at 10 pounds, 4 oz.  I don't know what I would do with a 7 pound baby, I might lose baby Jude in the blankets or something.  

All three kids had in-person youth activities at the church on Tuesday evening, which they really enjoyed.  They were home from school on Wednesday for Veteran's Day and Phil didn't have to work either.  I worked from home, but mid day I took a break and Phil and I drove over to the north side of Tucson.  We had picked a set of nursery furniture online and wanted to see it in person and see which pieces were available.  We really went back and forth on buying new furniture versus used furniture.  We looked on Craig's List and Facebook Marketplace, but people rarely sell whole sets of furniture, they get rid of the cribs, but not the dressers/change tables, etc.  We reasoned that if we bought nicer furniture it would last longer and Jude could use it for longer.  Anyway, we went into the store and walked out with a crib and change table, which they had in stock, and ordered a bookshelf and dresser, which will be delivered in a few weeks.  I'm happy with the decision and look forward to emptying out my office/craft room, painting, and setting up the baby's room.  Thank you to everyone who donated toward our nursery furniture fund, it covered more than 1/3 of the cost of the entire set and we are so appreciative.  

 We unloaded what we brought home with us and then Phil went to teach Fire Academy.  They're wrapping up their academy and were prepping for their family night which means they were practicing putting out fires, so he came home all smoky. 

 Thursday morning I got up early and went down to the church to be the hall monitor for seminary.  It was a little strange seeing as Felicity doesn't have seminary on Thursday, but I was happy to help and I got to crochet for an hour while sitting in the quiet hallway.  Phil was up early on Friday morning with Felicity and the two of them went deer hunting in the Catalinas.  They hiked back a ways and were able to see several bucks, Felicity had a shot in the afternoon, but missed.  They ended up coming home instead of camping out and went back out on Saturday morning, this time into the Rincons.  They saw several more bucks and she shot and missed.  Since it was a muzzel-loader hunt, they didn't get a second shot and after test firing the gun a couple times Phil determined that the gun was at fault.  Helen lost her opportunity to go since she can't afford to miss school because her grades have been so poor.  

 My girlfriends and I met for dinner in Tucson in the evening on Friday.  We went to Postino on Grant and it was really different, but really good.  We enjoyed time together and even had cake to celebrate my and Aly's birthdays which are both this month.

I worked on laundry, cleaning house, and some Christmas projects on Saturday.  I have been trying to get ahead on gift buying and making so that I can focus on getting ready for baby in December.  I wasn't successful at completing the house cleaning or the laundry, but I was able to make a set of onsies for one of Phil's co-workers who is also having a baby around the same time as us.  I also added monograms to our family's Christmas stockings and made some custom onsies for our baby as well. 

Helen had a meeting with the other youth leaders on Sunday morning, so I dropped her off first, came home and got the rest of the family ready for church, and then we joined Helen at 10:30 for Sacrament meeting.  When we were done we stopped over at my mom's house to visit and have lunch.  The kids and I enjoyed the rest of our Sabbath together and are ready for another week.

08 November 2020

 My Monday was busier than normal it seems.  I managed to oversleep and wake up only in time to throw something on and rush Felicity to seminary and then drop Helen and Arlo off at the bus stop.  That left me a few minutes to shower and dress as I needed to be in Tucson for my three hour glucose test at eight.  I failed my one hour test last week (just barely) so they wanted me to take the more extensive test.  It was basically a blood draw at 7:50 followed by downing a sugary drink then I had to be back at 8:50, 9:50, and 10:50 for subsequent blood draws.  Needless to say by eleven my arms were bruised and tender.  I did pass, however, so no worries about gestational diabetes.  I had several meeting in the afternoon at work and was excited to see Phil when he got home from teaching in the evening.

 I thought it would be fun to have a themed Family Home Evening this week.  We had a lesson about the importance of family both those with us now and those who have gone on before us, we had rolled tacos and beans for dinner, fried cinnamon bread in churro flavored ice cream as our treat while we watched the movie "Coco".  It was a great night and I think the kids really enjoyed it.  Sometimes I manage to put thought and effort into FHE and sometimes we call it a win if come up with something fun to do together.

 Phil taught on Tuesday and I worked, I find I feel a lot more busy at work with my new project.  I'm grateful for that, its almost easier to be busy than to not be.  Only six more Mondays until I get to take my maternity leave...I'm really looking forward to that!

 The kids were back in school on Wednesday and Phil spent his morning fixing the lights on the trailer.  Between a new light kit and some fuses for the truck, he had it working pretty quickly.  Arlo had piano in the afternoon and I ran some errands while he had his class.  Thursday I had a hair appointment in the morning.  I hadn't been in quite some time and I finally told the gal that does my hair that I was ready for a change.  In the spirit on honesty, I hadn't intended for those words to leave my lips, I was planning to have her trim it, touch up my color, and maybe do some side-swept bangs, but the words "I think I'm finally ready to have you cut it" came out of my mouth.  My stylist was practically giddy and she literally took a chunk of waist-length hair and cut it right then and there so I couldn't change my mind.   The color came out beautifully and I was really happy with the cut when we were done.  It is different for sure!  I haven't washed it yet, but I hope that I still love it after I wash it.

 Phil went out to sight in his muzzle-loader rifle since the girls will be using it to hunt next week.  We all got dressed up in the afternoon and met a friend in Madera Canyon who had agreed to do family photos for us.  The fall colors were beautiful in the canyon and the kids were mostly cooperative.  Arlo struggled to smile in any sort of genuine way and I don't know what he has against looking at the camera?  I have several photos of his smirk or creepy forced smile, or outright grimace, but there were a few of him naturally smiling.  As for me, I know that my pregnancy weight is outrageous, but nothing quite drives it home until you see it in a photograph, sheesh!  

 We dropped Helen off at piano after we were done with photos and Phil treated the kids to Taco Bell and a soda from Circle K; it doesn't take much to make them happy.

 I had my day off on Friday and Phil had to work at the fire station.  The kids were all home from school and I was pleasantly surprised when I logged into Arlo's school account and found that he had already finished his "at-home work", hes doing really well and adjusting nicely to the strange hybrid schedule.  Helen is still struggling, I checked her grades and found several missing assignments including a make up test that her ELA teacher had graciously set up for her to take again after not showing up to take it last week, she told me she had taken it, she hadn't.  Its frustrating.  I'm frustrated as a worried mom, shes frustrated that she's being checked up on.  I'm praying we find a happy balance and the tools we both need to be successful.  I had an appointment at the bank in the morning to have them change my name on my accounts.  It has taken forever to get things sorted out making sure we have the right names on everything, the current climate has made that more challenging too.  

 On Saturday Felicity and Phil and I loaded up our ice cream machine and headed to the far north side of Tucson where my wonderful friends were throwing us a baby shower.   It was really windy and threatened to rain so most everything was set up inside.  I loved visiting with everyone that came and everyone colored a page in an ABC book for little Jude and decorated onsies.  Aren't they cute?

We had the ice cream, a soda bar (my favorite), and tons of yummy food.  We were able to live stream some of the more interesting parts on Facebook so that those who were not comfortable coming in person could still participate.  

My girlfriends set up a diaper raffle and a fund for nursery furniture and Phil and I were overwhelmed by how many boxes of diapers and wipes we brought home and how much money was donated towards our nursery fund, we feel so incredibly blessed.

We got some adorable little outfits, a personalized blanket and hooded towel, and so much more that I couldn't name it all.  Phil's mom gave us a photo album of his baby and school pictures and the precious little outfit she brought him home in along with the crocheted blanket he was blessed in. We are just so appreciative of everyone's love and support.

Phil worked at the fire station on Sunday and Felicity and I enjoyed a quiet Sabbath.