A Day at the Beach

In my hopes to stay up later so I can sleep better...I thought I would post again.


25-1# bags of rice=$30
1 flat tote with lid=$12
buckets, shovels, etc=$7
1 used shower curtain=free, but originally like $2
hearing your child say "ooooh, fun" 100 times in 2 hours=priceless!

My friend Carrie made one of these for her daughter and we visited them last March...we never played in her rice box but on my way home from Forest Lake I decided to stop by a Target and pick up the supplies. I put it together for Parker and he played in it around 18 months of age. Then I got sick of picking up rice so I put it under his bed until tonight. At the original time he was too young to understand-"don't throw the rice out of the box"...which is partly my fault since I gave him this cool toy to play with. So tonight I rearranged his bedroom and he saw the rice box. So why not...I let him play in it. He played for 2 hours with rice! I cleaned his room, did laundry, organized baby clothes, remade the crib bedding (I think I am trying to trick my body into thinking I'm nesting!) and Parker just kept playing and saying "ooooh, fun Momma". I would hide random sand toys-like a crab, seashell, and a golf ball and he would hunt for them with his "bovel". Occassionally the rice would fly out of the box, but that's what the shower curtain is for. I have used that old nasty shower curtain for more projects...like play-dough. So here are a few pictures of the fun...
oooh this is fun!


I found my golf ball!





and the not so fun of "it's bathtime Parker, we need to put the rice away"


more tantrum...


the saga continues...check back with me next week to see if he is done crying

GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME!!!

Okay I am soooo ready to have this baby. Yesterday I wasn't because I didn't have any energy after barfing for 2 days! Now I feel like I could muster up the strength to deliver.

I go to the doctor tomorrow afternoon and have the check up to see if I am progressing and to have my "membranes stripped". I know gross but I am willing to try anything. We tried twice with Parker but since the placenta was still a little low it didn't work. Other people have had it done and gone into labor that day or the next...I know the baby will come when it and my body are ready but I am ready!

Parker finally seems to be on the mend today. He went to daycare...and I haven't gotten a phone call yet saying that he is throwing up. He hadn't held any food down since last Friday! No fever, no other symptoms, just throwing up. We basically stayed in the house for 5 days! Which was okay since it was -50 yesterday! I got the flu Sunday night and full fledge Monday! Wow, it does suck being this pregnant with the flu...I survived and hope it doesn't come back anytime soon.

Hopefully I am too busy to post tomorrow, but I'll let you know the progression (if there is any).

latest update

I went to my weekly check up yesterday. everything is normal and moving in the right direction! A little change has taken place so we'll wait and see what next week brings.

We are getting a little more anxious these days with the waiting. I am getting the question...are you still pregnant? a lot. Bear and I were worried about Parker's reaction when this baby really arrives in our house. We were visiting baby Brooks this week and Parker was just in awe of him. Then says "I hold it?". So we had him sit on the couch and put the Boppy around him and he cradled that little baby so sweetly. Kissed his head, touched his hair. It was so innocent. Then it was Jillian's turn to hold the baby and Parker freaked out. All out tantrum that he had him first! So we'll hope he shares his baby a little better, especially with mommy and daddy.

I did some online shopping this week, after I failed to find what I wanted at Target last weekend. My big splurges were:

• The hooter hider which is a totally cool and spendy little piece of fabric that you use when nursing in "public". I'll never forget the trip to Bemidji dress shopping for Davina's wedding when I had to nurse Parker in the bathroom at Applebee's!
• The body support for the baby's car seat. Just a little extra protection and padding to keep this baby warm-since it's -45 below zero half the time up here!
• I already had the bundle me from when Parker was born. It got us through the whole winter nice and warm.
• And last but not least-my mother in law has decided to purchase our double stroller from Phil and Ted's. This was totally on my wish list aka "I'll never buy something this expensive on my own" list. She decided since she bought Parker the crib, she needed to buy this baby something "big" meaning expensive. I tried telling her that the crib goes to this baby too and we needed nothing. But after hearing me talk about how I have no idea how I am going to walk/run this summer with 2 kids she decided to splurge. I can't wait to try it out! And for those of you who know me so well...you know the color I picked was bright orange!

Nesting?

so I had an appointment last Wednesday-just the weekly checkup. Nothing much has changed...but at least we are moving in the right direction. In case you don't want to read things like cervix just skip this post.
So my cervix was at 4 cm thick the week before and on the ultrasound. Now it was down to just 2cm! I am dilated to 1 cm-only 9 more to go! If only they were all that easy and "painless". Dr said whenever the bebe decides to arrive is just fine. I am his next patient due so now we just wait.
I would like to think I had a little nesting phase last night but I am afraid it was just my normal crazy personality taking over. Parker and I were out of town Saturday for a hockey tournament-which was a blast! And when we got home yesterday I did 3 loads of laundry, put pictures into albums, put pictures into my scrapbook called "to scrap someday when I have time album", rearranged the 2 guest bedrooms and put the crap that piles up in them away, and then took a bath and couldn't walk for the rest of the night! I started one simple project and this is what it turned in to. What I originally intended to do was laundry and get everything off of our hardwood floor so it could get replaced today. And that is what it turned in to!
The hardwood floor guy is "hoping" to rip up and replace all of the floor in one day. Now I think he is ambitious!! The hardwood floor story goes back to April...we had it installed and it was wonderful! Then August came and our fridge died for the 100th time in 6 years so we bought a new one and when the store delivered it, they broke the water line hookup and it flooded our new floor! Well we put a claim in to the insurance and then had to wait to see how bad the floor got. Well it got bad so we finally took the claim and got the check to fix it...then the floor guy went to buy the replacement pieces and the make/model is discontinued! So now we get a whole new floor, again! So for the last 2 weeks my fridge has been in the dining room/living room. Bear thinks it's nice since it's so close to the couch! Anyways, I hope today when I get home from work it is all finished and I can get back to being lazy and staying warm...