The Sun will come out!

Well, I am bored. That is why I am blogging. I have gotten ahead of myself in schoolwork, and now I have done almost all of it. I dont feel like writing a 1700 word paper right now so I am going to blog. Get over it. As a family we dont have much of an update. We are all kind of in limbo mode until the end of March. I know it's only February, but the birth of a monkey is a big deal. We are counting down the days until my induction date and just hoping we actually make it that far.

Jared finished the last bit of his schooling up and ordered his diploma. He is bored out of his mind at nights now and spends a lot of time dreaming of all the baked goods he can make when this GD is done. Anyways. The first year we were married we made a pact. On our 5th wedding anniversary I would get a new wedding ring (my original ring was...well, as Jared says it was the budget ring.) and Jared would get a new truck. Well, add in two kids and me not working and that plan got thrown out the window. I did end up getting my ring, but the truck Jared wants is expensive! Over the years I have watched the prices of trucks and tried to find some way to afford one. Well, Jared mentioned recently that he really wanted something new and I have been concerned about the mechanical noises coming from his Mazda, it sounded like the transmission was about to drop. Grinding and nastiness. I had been working out a way to buy a new car when he mentioned the truck....again. This time I gave him a compromise. We may not be able to afford the truck he wanted, but I could get him a brand new truck if he would be willing to get a small one. He did not say no. So now Jared is the proud owner of a 2012 Toyota Tacoma. He is looking into a fancy alarm for it so it doesnt get stolen and taken to Messico. This is his 7th anniversary present, his birthday present, his fathers day present and so on. It will take me that long to recover the downpayment on it. But he is happy, and if we can afford it and he wants it, then I will do whatever I can to get it for him. I am really just a pushover. Unless you are a car salesman. I almost feel bad for the guy who had to deal with me, but we got the new truck for less than a used one would have cost. Go me. I may finally have this haggling thing down.

As for me, I am getting to that uncomfortable point. Instead of being gradual over the last few months, it has been a nightmare since the last week. Suddenly the contractions are non-stop, the nausea is as bad as during the first trimester, I have that horrible taste in my mouth, and I am waking up and staying awake for absolutely no reason. I cant forget having to hit the bathroom every 45 minutes. I am also having difficulties breathing and I am looking forward to him dropping. I cannot stand for too long because he has become so heavy that I start leaning forward, it hurts. People who see me almost daily have said that it looks like I gained 10 lbs out front in a week. I havent gained any weight in over 2 months, but I have definitely grown straight out. The good news is, that I have 4 weeks left. Just 4 more weeks. Tomorrow it will be 3 weeks and 6 days, which sounds so much less than 4 weeks. In that time, my mom will be flying out to spend a couple weeks, I will have an anniversary, and Kayla will turn 5. Everything is as ready as it can be for the baby to get here. I am nesting fiercely but I do not have the energy to do anything because the contractions are wearing me out so much. Even driving Kayla to school everyday makes me want to cry from the effort. Oh, good news, there has to be something good about this. Umm....Hrm. Ok, how about instead of trying to find the good in the last month I just admit I have nothing nice to say and so I wont say anything at all.

Kayla is just, well...Kayla. She is a unique and crazy little creature who can manage to drive us absolutely insane and have us cracking up at the same time. She can be mean, but she can be so sweet it makes your heart hurt. She is dying for attention and I have only so much to give her. She misses her mama. Its tough being the oldest. We are working on spending more one on one time together and she seems to be benefiting from it. She is not acting out as much. Right now she is locked in her bedroom due to a stupid stomache bug, but she is handling it fairly well. Normally, Jared will come home and set up the extra tv and XBox so she can watch movies all day, but he was unable to today. She has been patient, and staying there for the most part. She has two different video game consoles to play with and a bunch of books, but other than that, she is bored out of her mind. I am trying to decide if I should keep her home tomorrow or not. I probably will because bronchitis is being passed around class and I dont want her to catch it when she is in a weakened state. I definitely do not need that being passed around here.

Madison is potty training. She is doing really well. We have been starting and stopping since she was 18 months old, but I kept pushing it off because she acted terrified of being on the potty. I finally decided it was time to get it done. I do not want two kids in diapers, now that I have a truck payment to worry about. Anyways. She is still wetting her diapers in her sleep, but she has learned to hold it for her daytime nap-hour (cant call it an actual nap since she NEVER takes one anymore), so that is progress. I can handle one diaper a day for awhile. Much cheaper than the $45 every month or so on diapers. I expect her to revert when the monkey comes, but I will deal with that one when it happens.

So that is about it. I will include some pics of the most recent events in our lives and try to keep everyone updated as the fun stuff happens over the next few weeks. I cannot wait to be on the other side of this in the healing and adjusting stage.

Its Cold, INSIDE!

I know its seems preemptive to change my blog background to St Patrick's Day, but I am getting a headstart. The next holiday is St Patrick's Day after all! The last couple of weeks have flown by. It didnt seem like it while we were living it, but now it does. Hopefully the next couple months do as well. As a family we have not done much, there is not much I can do since I tire so easily now. We did share a cold, hence the title of the blog. It was evil, and is still wreaking havoc. Madison seems alright, but Kayla started showing symptoms on Saturday night. We had come back from Jared's graduation ceremonies and headed out to dinner to celebrate. Kayla started sneezing and did not stop. Then she had a fever hit and started crying to go home. Madison started begging to as well. We put them both down at 7 PM and they were out in minutes. Jared and I have been sick for over a week now. He has a cough from heck remaining, and I am still trying to breathe out of my nose. But, we are able to function.

So yes, Jared did graduate from college this past weekend. While officially he is not done until Sunday, he would have to make some serious effort to fail his current class. We are so proud of him and it was really fun to see him walk and get his 'degree'. There was easily 300 students there graduating, and only 3 of them were caucasian! It was hilarious! So in a few more days he will officially have his Bachelors degree in IT Network Management. He has been going to school for so long that I dont think he knows what to do with himself now. He has been talking about getting his Master's degree, but we are discussing the future options as we want what is best for the future instead of what is easiest. Other than that he is just trying to be as helpful as possible around the house and with the kids so that it takes the strain off of me.

I have been doing well on my diabetic diet. I met with my diabetic OB last week and was told that I was doing well enough I did not need insulin. I am so grateful for that because I do not know how I would have been able to give myself a shot! It's hard enough to have to prick my fingers 5 times a day. I am able to back off the testing and only test every three days now just to make sure that my situation is not getting worse as the pregnancy progresses. The baby still has lots of room in my uterus to grow so he is not concerned at all. I dont even have to see him again! I will find out tomorrow if everything is still progressing as normal in every other sense. The doc has not officially decided on my induction date because of the diabetes, but at this point I have 5 weeks and 6 days left to go. Not too long. 5 weeks and 1 day until my mom flies in! I am having to slow down even more. I was finally feeling well enough a few days ago to start nesting cleaning. I scrubbed the entire master bath, including base boards, walls, windows, and light fixtures. It only took me about an hour and a half of heavy motion. I spent the rest of the day with homework, grocery lists, making valentines for Kayla's class, and cookies for her class. The next day I could barely move. I was so tired that I thought I was having sugar problems. I was fine, just overdid it. I am having to learn my limits so that I do not bring this little one into the world too soon.

Kayla finally seems to be getting past her phase. She is being sweet more often and less and less grouchy. She still has her days that she flat out defies us, but it is not constant anymore. I am making a huge effort not to yell at all during the day. I am tired of yelling because it is not getting us anywhere and the kids are only responding with anger. I hate yelling. I am trying desperately to teach Kayla empathy and how her actions are affecting those around her. We are especially trying to focus on her actions and how they are teaching Maddie bad habits. I hope she continues to improve her attitude and realizes that her actions are not acceptable because the consequence of a time out does not phase her, nor does taking toys away.

Madison is getting better as well. She has been pretty miserable as she has been getting in her 2 year molars. They are taking their sweet time. She has one almost all the way through, one about 1/3rd through, and one just peeking out. When she is in pain she just cries and cries and has to be held constantly. That is nice occasionally but it is hard too as she is still rough when she is in my arms and ends up trying to use her brother as a pillow or a punching bag. She is learning to speak still, and while I can understand pretty much everything she says, it is not very clear. I am trying to remember if Kayla was better or the same at this point and I seem to think she could speak better. I am going to try to correct her speech over the next few weeks so that she can start speaking more clearly.

So that is about it. We are just trying to finish up things around the house for baby, and just learn to adjust to our constantly changing environments. This weekend we are going to try to get CJ's room finished completely as well as pick up all the little things we still need for him. My goals this week are to clean the couches and carpets in the living room as well as deep clean the guest bathroom. Next week I want to scrub the kitchen and my bedroom and get the bassinet and changing table set up and ready for the baby. I would like to be completely ready for him by the beginning of March in case there is an early delivery. The last rooms in the house to be cleaned will be the kids' bathroom upstairs and the playroom. We have got to get some sort of storage system going in there.

Us at the graduation ceremony

The monkey wall cling in CJ's room

I know they are useless, but they are so dang cute!