Week 36, Day 1 - Weigh-in & Officially considered "fullterm!"

Yay! I love reaching a "new" week in my pregnancy - now I am officially considered full term and if the baby was to be born, it would thrive and be healthy. Although not ideal, my friend's baby was born 4 weeks early back when we had our first babies - they were due around the same time and it was SO not fair that she got hers so early and I had to wait FIVE more weeks for mine! But she did have difficulty nursing and he was so skinny....so I'll take a plump, happily nursing baby any day over that. =)

Weighed in this morning - I haven't weighed myself in a couple of weeks, and it has been absolutely DIVINE. But I am looking forward to the days when I can step on the scale and see it go down every day. Coming soon!!! =) =)

With this baby, my weight issues have been interesting. I'd say for the first 7 months I stressed HEAVILY about my weight gain - most likely because before I got pregnant, I had almost reached my ideal measurements. For the first time in my entire life - I worked super hard for it, and got it. I look back on my pictures now and I almost look too thin! But it was awesome - I wasn't too thin, I had tone and loved it.

So this time around, this pregnancy, has been difficult just in the fact that I've had to watch my body balloon up again, cellulite has returned, and there is a humongous lack of definition, ha ha! But at least I can claim rounded curves, eh?

The difference with my postpartum outlook, though, is HUGE. I now know exactly what I have to do in order to lose the weight. I know how to do it quickly once I put my mind to it - the Venus Index was the best thing that ever happened to me besides raw, I'd say, as far as fitness and awareness goes. I'm not sure how fasting and low calorie ties in with nursing so that is going to be a touch & go kind of thing, but I am confident that I will get there. Totally confident.

Because of that, I feel way more relaxed - I remember chomping at the BIT last baby, to lose the weight. This time around I feel more lazy about it and more like, wanting to just chill and not stress. Enjoy the baby, enjoy the postpartum time without trying to do too much, too soon. So that is really, really nice.

Weigh-in today was 156. I couldn't find on my blog where I last weighed, oops. So no way to compare, but I think I was stuck at 153 for a long time. I'm thrilled with this number, especially when I consider the fact that I really haven't eaten very much raw or even all that healthy this entire pregnancy. In the past pregnancies where I REALLY ate unhealthy, I was usually at about 190 pounds by now. Ouch.

I doubled checked for reference, Harmony's pregnancy, where I was at - at week 36 I weighed 158. So I am 2 pounds less than I was with her, yay! I'm not doing ANY exercise and haven't for several months, and my eating is pretty much awful. I sometimes will either skip breakfast or eat raw for breakfast, but many days my eating consists of:

Big bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, honey, cinnamon, raisins (eaten and prepared with water).

Chipotle Black Bean burger with tomato, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, 1 slice of cheddar - eaten on 2 pieces of bread.

Handful of chips, maybe a chocolate bar or two.

Roll + fairly healthy soup, quinoa, potatoes, etc.

See? NO veggies...NO fruit....at least, not in the quantities I've eaten in the past! I'm just not feeling the whole raw thing, rrrrr. Each day is different, though, and I'm taking it like that - sometimes I will fast in the morning and go grocery shopping and GRAPES OMG look so yummy I'll just buy a 2 pound bunch and eat almost the whole thing for breakfast instead of oatmeal.

Bread is my enemy, it makes me feel like crap. And also chips, even tortilla plain ones...waaah. Heartburn is also more prevalent this pregnancy than the last one, but once I eat raw for even half a day, it leaves...so it's nice to know at least I can control it!

Well, 7am has rolled around and it's time to get my booty in gear and prepare the kids' clothes & lunches.

Oh! Yesterday I went shopping for Christmas presents at consignment stores and came upon the MOST adorable little Robeez boots for $5, lined in the softest "fur" ever. They're normally in the $30 range new and they were LIKE new so I had to buy them.

I had these boots in plain brown for Grace7 when she was a baby and loved them. I wouldn't have actualy chosen this particular pattern but for $5? Couldn't pass it up. They are the first thing I have actually purchased for the baby and I put them in my room by my bed just to look at. SO cute and totally therapeautic in helping me visualize the new little baby I'm about to receive and be happy about it. Yay!

Week 35, Day 6 - Things that make me happy!

The past few days have been good ones, I'm starting to get excited about having a baby and that is such a GOOD thing for me!! I got this little flashback the other day of how relaxing and sweet it is to nurse a little baby - and how it was kind of sad for me before, when I knew that Harmony was probably my last baby -- that I would never nurse again. She even quit at 3 months, too! So it was like oh yeah, I forgot about that part!!!

It made me more excited, memories of being in my room for hours on end by myself nursing the baby and just hanging out with my laptop while DH or others took care of the bigger kids. I'm working really hard to BANISH all thoughts of negativity about this baby, and focus on all the good things and -- it's working! It also helps that I am only 4 weeks away from my due date now - it's becoming more "real" and not so very very far away sounding.

I was thinking this morning, about some things that make me happy in my life - I know there are a billion more tiny little things but these popped into my head throughout the morning and I thought I'd share.

1. Clean matching socks in the sock basket for when I am putting together all the kids' outfits in the morning before they get up. I'm usually sleepy and it takes me twice as long to get ready if I have to hunt everywhere for clean socks! **love**!

2. Fun/yummy things to put in their lunches and surprise them with. I enjoy making their lunches and anticipating their reaction and just putting LOVE into making that meal enjoyable for them. DH brought home some donuts leftover from his office last night, and we NEVER buy donuts unless it's a party -- way too expensive at $1 a pop for our family! They were so excited this morning to each pick one out for their lunches! (and I had one...or two...ahem)

3. I'm getting excited about CHRISTMAS!! It's coming early to our house this year since I am going to be having the baby in early December - I plan to hopefully decorate the whole house right after Thanksgiving (maybe too hopeful, since my due date is the day after, but I think the kids will be happy to help me). I am also trying my hardest to get most, if not all, of their presents before the baby comes. I won't be able to shop out of the house -- and I would really love to find some cute sets of Polly Pockets, Monster Trucks, etc USED at the local consignment/thrift stores. So that's what I'll be working on during the days that Lucy is here to babysit. Or maybe Craigslist too.

And!! I had the kids all write down what they want for Christmas, and put it in a Word document - and I found last year's! SUPER helpful because they had alot of great ideas but of course I didn't get them everything they wanted. It helps alot to remember what I got them and what they really loved - also little things like jerky (my brother smokes his own and it is the BOMB so I'm planning to ask him to make some for the stockings & I'll pay for the meat!) and Ranch cornnuts. Things we don't usually buy but they love.

We've budgeted carefully this year so beginning in October, I have had a little nest egg of $$ to spend, with some more coming in the November & December paychecks. It's really fun because in past years I haven't had ANY money to spend on Christmas until December and I always forget about black Friday and the many deals that pop up on hip2save.com. (LOVE that site - you should check it out!!!) It's frustrating not being able to take advantage of these awesome sales unless I take the $$ out of the grocery money which of course, at the end of the month then we don't have enough! So I'm excited...it's also neat to be able to have the money and yet, take my time and watch for the best deals.

Thanks to hip2save, I was able to fulfill Rachel's wishlist for a Bath & Body works "Dark Kiss" gift set. Those are SPENDY and I wasn't sure how I was going to pull that off, buying her that AND other gifts (we have a limit of 5 gifts per child under the tree). I got her FIVE items ($10+ each) when a heads up from Hip2save let me use the buy3get2free sale, + $1 shipping code + 25% off. I wouldn't have even KNOWN about that had I not checked hip2save!

4. Warm yummy raisin-cinnamon-honey-blueberry oatmeal on a cozy fall morning!

5. DH & I went on a date last night, Rachel was urging us to go because she is saving for a trip to Disneyland in the spring with her aunt. We took her up on it, and when we got back?? CLEAN house, dishwasher emptied, trash emptied, OUR bedroom cleaned ("I wanted to cuz it was messy," she said), laundry switched from washer to dryer, new load put in the washer, AND the clean load folded & put away!

WOW! I was totally floored, she is such a funny girl. Doesn't take the initiative to do these kind of things when I'm home, but when I'm gone it's almost like she wants to surprise me so she does lots & lots. But also I think she hopes for a "bonus" in her pay =) =) =) which I am MORE than happy to give. Annnnnnd...this tells me what she is capable of doing when I have the baby - hmmmm. Dishwasher unloading, laundry folding, and cleaning my bedroom are all jobs that I do exclusively so now my wheels are turning. Hee hee.

6. When all the kids remember their backpacks so I don't have to turn around and go right back to school with the forgotten one. It's a 17 min round trip ride - ouch on the time wasted AND the gas in our Expedition SUV! I told James10 to remind me to do a "backpack call" in the morning right before we leave in the car. But usually I'm scrambling to just buckle the little ones and get out of there on time that it totally slips my mind. It's important they have their backpacks because they don't provide lunches at school so they need their packed lunch.

Guess that's it on the agenda today - I'm started to feel the effects of those 2 donuts I had this morning. At least I made myself eat oatmeal first instead of JUST the donuts.

Week 35, Day 2 - So overwhelmed...Saturday meltdowns

Saturdays are beginning to be the new meltdown days for me it seems. Last Saturday I spent so much time crying I felt like my whole day was like one emotional basketcase! Fortunately I was away part of the day and was able to cry out to God in my need in the car as I was driving...that was really special. I seem to start the day out with high hopes but by the late afternoon I am so overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of what is required of me that I basically just cannot stop the tears from coming. There seems to be no end in sight, 5 weeks and probably longer, how much more of this can I endure?

It's not that I am in pain or that my days are torturous by any means, I really do have good days! But I think it's when all the kids are home and they simply do not care, or just don't see any need to pick up their toys, to not make a million messes and actually pick them up, to stop all crying at me at the same time...I just feel like I'm one person against the world.

I pick something up from the floor and accidentally drop it again, and it just makes me want to scream - it takes so.much.effort just to bend over and slowly pick it up! Just that one little thing - let alone the socks and the shoes and the candy wrappers and the cars and the discarded clothes and the books and the Toys R Us ad Marie was looking at. All on the floor.

I remember from previous pregnancies feeling this way, just not really sure how to do....this. How to be a Mom to lots of littles when I myself just am not physically able to do it - the sheer amount of TIME it takes to clean a room now is double what it used to be. And then Harmony climbs up on the counter and finds the bag with 1/2 cup of lentils I didn't use in last night's dinner and puts them in a cup, and promptly spills them all over the entry way. Sigh.

Anyway, I remember feeling this way and realizing two things.

One, that if I can just sit on the floor and clean around me, then scoot to another section and clean there, then keep on going - take a small trash can or bag with me and everything that is not trash, just put it on the couch. That way when I *do* stand up, I can more easily clean everything that is now on the couch because it doesn't require bending all the way down.

The other thing, is that I am not able to do marathon clean anymore. I can't just take an hour and get amazing amounts of things done...and then have the rest of my day relatively free. This is SO frustrating for me! But I am forced to take 15 minute stretches of laying on the couch.

While, incidentally, the kids mess up the house again.

I do have them clean, though, I am getting rather adept at having them clean the rooms in the house they're in charge of several times a day. Just last night they were all ready to have movie night with snacks and had their jammies on, and I told the that even though they'd JUST cleaned an hour ago, the house was messy again so - no movie until they all cleaned again. LOL.It worked like a charm.

But right now, the reason I'm feeling overwhelmed is because my 2 older ones who shoulder the burden of the dining and living room cleanup, as well as the dishes at night,are gone for the whole night. It is up to me, and I'm just feeling it. DH also just mowed the backyard which means everything in his way got dumped onto the back patio -- there's ALOT of stuff on there. Crappy stuff. Like old boards, cups, bowls, Little Tikes toys big slide taken apart, numerous bikes and other pieces of trash. It looks awful and normally we'd get the kids to clean it but... since they two older ones are gone, it'd just be *normally* something I just take care of.

But I can't. Every step is heavy. And the frustration is mounting. That's why I feel a meltdown coming on, I HATE this. SO frustrating to be WILLING but my body is lugging around this heavy belly and aching back.

I guess I don't have any majorly hopeful things to say today, but it does help to write it out and know that I am not the only person who has ever felt this way. My Mom and everyone else assures me that it'll be over soon, that it is just a stage and I KNOW that - in my mind I can tell myself all sorts of things that are good reasons why I should be perfectly happy with my life. But the way I FEEL is that every day is long and it's like I'm just waiting....but waiting for what? For the baby to come out, I suppose, to not feel this way anymore, but even then, I'm just going to be trading a heavy belly for a very very tired, exhausted, and emotional one.

So.

I guess, ask me how I'm doing in maybe 3 months. Until then, just know that I am hanging in there and working on being thankful for the things that ARE good and a blessing in my life. Like the fact that I am not on bedrest??? I can't imagine!!

7 things I am thankful for, inspired by Tereza:

1. My kids are all currently healthy! No midnight barfing to deal with or high fevers and grouchy kids.

2. Even though my dryer takes 4 cycles to dry it WORKS!

3. I have a home, and not an apartment.

4. My new bedroom...my breath of fresh air when I get so overwhelmed.

5. A husband who reminded me that he doesn't know how to read my mind, but who wants to help - so ask! I will. Today. Vacuum, please? =)

6. We have enough money for gas and food until we get paid in 13 days. I think. If I'm frugal. But at least I'm not stressing about it.

7. My friend Lucy from England who is willing to come for 7 hours twice a week and clean for me, whatever I want her to do, for very small pay. She is worth her weight in GOLD!!

New Post on Simply Rejuvenation ~ check it out!

My Master Bedroom update here ~ !

Week 32, Day 7 - On being frugal...

Being frugal is such an interesting thing. I wish I could always have the mindset to really, REALLY not spend money unnecessarily and go the extra mile to save/cut costs. I think there really are a ton of places a person could save, it's just a matter of how willing you are to make those small sacrifices.

I've noticed that me, especially with food, it is a comfort when I feel trapped in my life and like there is nothing to look forward to in my day. When all I am facing is a really messy house, husband out of town, physically feeling tired before I even start with difficulty bending down to pick things up...all I want to do is crawl into bed and forget everything. Then I remember ooooooh there's ice cream in the freezer! And hot fudge topping I can make with my famous recipe I found online using just chocolate chips, oil, and butter. Mmmmm...it makes my whole world better.

But back to being frugal, it's kind of the same thing - if I know I can spend online or go thrift shopping then I feel like my day is a little bit brighter.

The opposite is that when I know we have absolutely NO extra money, actually minus money, then I can start feeling claustrophic and squeezed tight, like there is no "out". And on the other hand, it's the same thread that I've been thinking about throughout this whole pregnancy - if I have a goal I am working towards or if I am doing it as unto the Lord then it seems like the heaviness is lifted.

You know the past 2 weeks we've been on a spending freeze...and then we got paid yesterday. It is HUGELY good for me to put together our monthly budget BEFORE we get paid because then I can see where everything is going, and see that yikes, we literally have ZERO ZERO ZERO extra money for ANYTHING. Too many dentist appointments and lots of Macleay events coming up as well as beginning payments for the baby have sucked us just plain 'ol dry. But I am so so so thankful that we do have enough to pay for our necessities - isn't that how God works? He provides, we are never left wanting...we have enough for gas, food, bills - as long as I am faithful to dole out the allotted amount for each category then I know I am well pleasing in His sight as far as that goes.

I think often of those verses in Proverbs 31, about the godly woman. The one that has often spoken to me throughout the years is the one that says, "The heart of her husband safely trusts in her." Because I am the "nerd" in the family and love doing the budget and figuring out all the money stuff, it is on my shoulders to make sure the bills get paid and not to spend a ton of money on groceries, etc. He works hard every day to make a living for our family, and then hands the money over to me - and safely trusts it in my hands.

That puts me in fear and trembling sometimes, that I not let him down and disappoint him by making rash money decisions! It has been a safeguard for me many times especially before I click "complete order" on the internet. =)NOT that I buy online very often, mostly it is a killer sale for children's clothes and I wish so bad that we had enough money to just buy them all their clothing that they need at once instead of little by little here and there at garage sales, consignment stores, etc as I happen to find it. So I talk myself into "just a couple of outfits" or "I'll only spend $50" or something like that...and it's hard to take a step back and realize that we don't actually NEED need that, y'know?

We were in Walmart yesterday and by now my kids are used to me telling them sorry, not today...when they ask. But I splurged just one tiny little bit when Jack got SUPER excited when he saw a box of Lightning Mcqueen Halloween fruit snacks, 30 packages for $4.99. Ohhhhh it was hard to think of saying no to him! The little ones usually have just ONE fruit snack pack per day while watching a movie during naptime, so that's just 2 per day - it'll last 15 days that way. Hee hee. So I bought it and that was my splurge for the day. =)

DH wanted to take the boys along with him for a business trip and instead of buying meals we packed cereal with bowls and spoons, and I made up little lunches with chips/fruit/candy/water bottles so all they have to do is stop at the grocery store and buy some lunchmeat & rolls.

We also have not turned on the heater yet this year - the mornings are becoming pretty chilly but not anything a sweatshirt can't fix! It's amazing how good it feels to know I am not splurging where I shouldn't be, and that I am being a good steward to what God has given me. But trust me, when it gets tooooo cold I'll be the first one to turn it on, I'm not that hardcore lol.

It's hard for me to provide a yummy snack for the kids (homemade) EVERY day, but the alternative of buying snacks to always have on hand can get pretty expensive. So I have decided that I will work on making something at least twice a week - and double/triple batches so that we can stretch it. I also have to watch our food like a hawk - if I buy 2 giant family packs of Dorito's for school lunches to last the whole month by carefully measuring out each person's portion, then it works. But the kids are not allowed to touch it - can you imagine? I can, it has happened before...those two bags are GONE in about 2 days!

I also LOVE the food bank, of course! It's fun to see what I get, they actually do give quite a lot of food and it is worth standing in line for half an hour. I love trying to get creative by adding rice into as many dishes as I can, as well as serving homemade bread with every dinner. It really adds up, these little decisions not to get pizza for dinner even though it IS just $10 to feed our family at Little Ceaser's! But instead I can easily throw some flour into the bread machine and put some rice on, and add a can of tomato sauce to a can of beef stew + some chicken broth to make enough for our family. Or add pasta, add veggies....I think I'm thinking more about cooking dinners because of the fall weather. =) We rarely eat meat - but I do incorporate beans into meals whenever I can, that's another thing we have a TON of but I just need to figure out an easier and tastier way to cook it. They always turn out really bland for some reason.

So my goal this month is to be really frugal wherever I can. ONLY buy the things the kids absolutely need. Like Harmony needs long sleeve shirts but she doesn't need any more pants or skirts. No matter how cute they are!

I still have my $$ I've earned on Ebay to go towards my room and the funny thing is, I am really hesitant to use it. I know exactly what I want to buy (all white sheets & duvet covers, and the most beautiful small romantic chandelier ever...), but I think the thought of not having ANY money in case I find the bomb of a deal somewhere makes me hold onto it.

Anyways, it is my mind today to really be content to be here at home, to dream about my room and look forward to the day when it'll be done but understand it is not going to be done THIS WEEK or anything. It'll be a work in progress, but the end result is going to be soooo beautiful and worth the wait! And to work in my home and not rely on comfort food that costs money (ie ice cream!) and thrift store shopping therapy. Hee hee

Week 32, Day 6 - If the ONLY thing I got done today is mating socks....

...then I can look back on my day and feel like I've accomplished something. It's kind of like those dumb little things that bother you day after day, yet it just never gets done even though it would only really take just 15 minutes out of your day to just do it!

Like touching up that one corner of the wall that the kids keep knocking into and paint has started to fleck off. Or giving the highchair a quick wash...usually all of these little things are quickly done, but add it all up together and it is so overwhelming!

Anyway, today we got paid. Hallelujah! The past couple of weeks have been interesting, practicing discipline as we literally had *no* extra money at. all. I'm going to be much more careful this month with budgeting and keeping careful track of what I spend where, so that no one category gets ballooned out of proporton when I spend.

On my list to get when we got paid, those bare essentials that *are* necessary but not like RIGHT THIS SECOND so, we have waited a good couple of months past when we should have, to do this: buy socks for the kids. It's easy to go through the summer wearing sandals, and even a month into school they're still wearing sandals, but when the fall hits it's like uh-oh. Am I really spending a whole 10 minutes of my morning just looking through the sock basket for socks for 6 kids?? REALLY??

I bought a lush and soft package of 10 pairs of gray/white socks for the boys ages 9 & 10, and anothe packge of 10 pairs of pink/white socks for the girls ages 5 & 7. Rachel12 has been telling me she has NO socks for the past couple of months so she was on my list to get as well, but when I got to the women's section there were SO many options and she is pretty picky, so I decided to just wait until I have her with me.

I'm glad I did, because when I got home and paired all the new socks and put them in the sock basket, I just winced. There were SO MANY unmatched and colored/patterned socks in there...ugh.

We basically have a family sock basket - I rarely sit and mate all the socks when I do laundry. Because only Bret & I have dresser drawers (everyone else keeps their clean laundry in the family room on a shelf in a basket, kind of like a family closet) - I just keep all the socks together. When I got sick with this pregnancy, I counted myself to be lucky just to have CLEANED the socks, lol, so they were all just put into the basket as is once cleaned, not mated.

I threw out ALL the girls' socks no matter what - some of them are purple, some pink, that they like - but my logic is this. Yes, when they're both matched up it's great but it's so much easier just to have 20 socks that MATCH each other so that when they do go through the laundry, I can simply mate them and wah-lah, no hunting for *that* perfect matching sock.

I had a big mound of misc colors and sizes when I was done - all destined for the trash. It felt so nice!!! And what else did I find? Hmmmm....about EIGHT PAIRS of socks that are Rachel's, misc colors of course...but still. I'm debating whether or not to chuck all of hers, and Harmony2's, and Jack3's to do the same...it'd just be so much simpler to have 1) pink/white for the girls, 2)white/gray for the boys, 3) Adidas for Rachel, 4)all white for Harmony, and 5) all gray for Jack.

Y'know?

I just love the idea of needing socks and there you go, there are 10 matching socks for each person. Plus, I'm also starting to gear up towards having the baby and trying to get them to do wayyyy more on their own.

I always get their clothes ready for them in the morning. ALWAYS. Just cuz, it's way easier and they're sleepy and I can hand them clean socks/underwear/shirt/pants and say HERE, get dressed. But now Grace7 lately has been whining about not being able to find her own clothes, she doesn't know what to wear...blah blah blah. I wonder if I'm creating lazy monsters by doing this?

Regardless, especially when I have househelp for the next 3 months....and esp when the baby comes, I need them to be able to get their own clothes. I guess that means weeding out the "not okay to wear in public" type clothes so that the only options they have are good clothes. Then comes teaching them how to mix & match, lol!

That's why I LOVE The Children's Place clothes, though - boys are super easy, just jeans & a shirt, any shirt. But girls, they're all about pinks and purples and flowers and stripes and orange and greens and don't forget the sparkly rainbow tights! So TCP I love because they always have the same exact colors that mix & match with ALL their shirts & bottoms. I am hoping in the next month or so, to totally revamp the 5 & 7 year old girls' wardrobes - the clothes are pretty good quality considering the prices, and they should be having some good sales pretty soon.

Since we got paid, I dropped all the kids off at school and then went to Walmart with my huge long humongous list of stuff. Every month I do one big shop at Walmart, WinCo, and Costco. That lasts us for the entire month since I buy in bulk - like today I bought two big boxes of diapers and won't have to buy more unil we get paid again. So I was able to take care of my Walmart list, which I was thankful for! Then I went to Once Upon a Child to see if they have anything on our "needs" list for the kiddos - shoes, coats, etc. I finally got smart and started writing it all down so that helps a TON when I'm faced with so many cute shoes and all of a sudden can't remember who needs what or what size and OMG these are sooooooo cute, Marie5 would LOVE them! (um....oops, when I get home, find out SHE's the one with all the shoes and Grace7 has none....)

When I got out of there it was 10:30 and I was soooo tired, I forget that my body can't take much these days, this babeeeee is getting heavyeeeeee! I got gas and was contemplating running home to change a diaper/put the groceries away/then get Marie at 11:15 but got a call from Isaac9: he's convinced he has a sore throat AND a fever and can I come get him? Argh...their school is 15 minutes away round trip...! So I did that, then got Marie, and got them lunch when we got home, then mated the socks.

But now I have a million bags sitting on my counter to be put away and the house is still in dire need of the daily pick-up-from-the-craziness-of-morning. So even though I DID get the socks done, you'd never know I even did anything! But as long as in my head, I know I got that little project done then I think I'm okay - I feel like I accomplished something....

PS I'm so excited, I haven't sold anything on Ebay in a loooooong time but since DH said whatever extra money *I* make I can use for my room, I put a few things up. One of them is a pair of jeans I bought for Grace7 a few weeks ago at Once Upon a Child for $6.50, cuz they had diamonds on them. But no elastic button on the inside waist so she doesn't like them...and I happened to notice that they are the "Miss Me" brand which my sister Victo.ria who is 16, is ga ga over - apparently they're like $100+ at ,pupscale stores. Onto Ebay they went and they just sold for $41! Yay!
My "Miss Me" Jeans Auction

Week 32, Day 5 - Sooooo tired today!

You know those days where you wake up so refreshed and feel like it's going to be a GREAT day with lots of plans to get so much done??

Today is not one of those days.

I had a hard time sleeping last night, and basically woke up at 5am and tossed & turned, thinking about this or that. At one point I sat up and was like OMG! I totally forgot to put the tooth fairy money under Isaac9's pillow...and he even TOLD me before he went to bed that I should just give him the money then because I always forget, lol. I've kind of given up on the whole mystified look when they talk about the tooth fairy, pretending I have no idea what they're talking about...at least, with the bigger kids. Kids are just way too smart these days.

I said no way, go to bed, and if I forget I'll give it to you in the morning. =) When I slipped it under his pillow of COURSE he woke right up and was like, "What, Mom?" I just pretended that he'd been having a bad dream and I was checking on him to see if he was ok. And then, of course, he totally forgot all about it in the morning and it's still there under his pillow.

Anyway, today I am bleery eyed. And feeling not motivated at all. I have like 4 phone calls to make and I HATE making phone calls, to make appointments and all that. I rear ended a guy very gently on Sunday at about 8mph because Rachel put some shoes with a BUG that crawled out up by my seat when I was driving - she was showing them to me. Yep. Tapped that Honda Accord with my Expedition. Ugh.

NO damage to my car of course, but his got bent up a bit - rrr. Anyway so I need to call the insurance company...and also the dentist to make an appointment for Grace7 who keeps saying her tooth is hurting her. And to reschedule my dentist appt for Friday because DH or Rachel (my babysitters) will not be available to watch the kiddos. I also need to make an appt to get an eye exam for me before the baby comes so I can stock up on contacts - I only have 3 month's worth left and I don't really want to tackle going to appt's with a new baby.

AND - since we finally finally get paid tomorrow (we've been living on rice & beans, beans & rice and spending NO money for the last 2 weeks mostly due to poor budget planning on my part) I can now call the air vent guy to come clean them out & the dryer as well...before we have to start turning on the heater. Our dryer takes 4 cycles to dry and I suspect a clogged vent so that will be nice. Not $75 nice, but at least I can get the laundry done in a flash! I always hated that last winter when the kids would go out in the snow and come trooping in with all their wet clothes, only to want to go back out an hour later. Aaack! Hard to keep up with drying the snowsuits & coats in between, esp with a bum dryer.

Every morning seems the same. I think that's why I love working on my room little by little because then I see some progress, some change, in my life. Before I got pregnant the change I worked towards was in the way I was able to transform my body - that was fun, to see new numbers on the scale, to see new defined muscle, to FEEL stronger and feel young and in shape. Now I just feel old. Really old.

Sometimes it can be tempting to be disheartened by my life. By the mundane-ness of it. By cleaning up the same exact messes every morning - clearing the cereal bowls, picking up pajamas cast-offs, cleaning each room one by one with the little things that are just THERE, no idea how they got there or why. I suppose the change is that I can clearly feel the difference between being 8 months pregnant and 6 months pregnant. My stomach is definitely heavier, so my back hurts more - and all of it becomes a little harder, picking up the rooms each morning, etc.

But the other thing I know and realize, is that when I am living my life with the desire to have the ideal life and have fun, or an easy life, then I can get pretty grumpy. Cuz when you think about it, 7 kids ages 12 & under plus being pregnant, is in no way FUN. At least, what most people think is fun - it's alot of work. But the key is, that when I live my life to please God? Ohhhh boy, what a different story THAT is! What a happiness and freedom that brings, to live to do everything to please Him. Love that key to life that I've been able to see!

Guess it's time to get up and work - sooooo tired but I know a nap will only make it worse, at least, at least, a nap right now.

Week 32, Day 2 - Apparently mind tricks DO work!

So.

This morning I felt very lazy. I mean after all, it's Saturday morning, right? I've spent 5 days in a row dutifully turning out the lights between 10:30-11pm and getting up at 6:25 to work at a fairly fast pace to get all the lunches made, everyone's clothes lined up, get everyone up & breakfast made, fix the girls' hair, then get 5 of them out the door and drive to 2 different schools...and usually early, to boot! Yay! It goes pretty smoothly except for the occasional fit about clothes or hair (why is it always the girls...rarely the boys?? LOL!) but the main thing is that when I get back home with just the 2 little ones, I am TIRED already!!

By the time we get home at around 8:30, I've been up & at it for 2 solid hours with no break and as I survey the disaster left behind I find myself wishing I would get up even earlier so I could get THEM up earlier so they could have more time to put away their pajamas and put their blankets away that they always haul into the living room to sleepily watch a movie for a few minutes before their day begins. And put their cereal bowls away...

So this morning I just wanted to lie in bed BUT it is a big work party day at Macleay, so after snuggling & chatting with DH for a bit (who has been away for the past 2 days and came home late last night) I had to get the 4 older ones ready and off to Macleay with DH.

Then, I just went...back to bed. I know, BAD Mommy!

But the 3 who stayed home, 5,3,2 - were watching a movie and I wanted to relax! So then, I had 2 bowls of cereal (BAD Mommy again, it ALWAYS makes me feel ill...but it's so yum! I think it's a nostalgic food for me, I grew up eating it every morning) and decided to just hang out in my room and do what I do every time I lie down - surf Pinterest and look at different decor blogs and get super inspired and excited to do TONS of things I basically can't do because I'm too pregnant and tired after doing my NORMAL duties, to even attempt more. Blah. But anyway...

Oh my good Lord the house was messy, especially after cuddling with DH while the kids got themselves up & ate cereal and played and changed their clothes...all the stuff I usually do directing them to PICK UP THEIR MESSES didn't happen cuz, y'know, I was with my beloved! MUCH more important. =)

So I decided to do, some mind tricks. I told myself that even though I felt like crap (my dumb fault = cereal) I was going to tackle the girls' room and when I was done, when it was ALL done, I would lie down for 15 minutes. Then I would get back up and do another task.

Woohoo, you would not BELIEVE the amount of work I have already accomplished today!!!! The girls' room was a complete and total MESS, I actually got a huge garbage sack full of stuff for Goodwill out of their room. Hee hee. Too bad DD5 was home cuz she kept on pulling stuffed animals and purses and little insignificant toys and summer shoes too scuffed to sell, OUT as fast as I could put them in! That's why I like to do that sort of thing when they're all gone. LOL

It looks awesome in there now, and I even moved the crib over to a different wall just to, you know, make it look different and fun. Funny how the kids think you are playing with them when you sit on the floor and clean their room (cuz for me, these days, everything happens while SITTING on the floor - I feel like each day I have a max amount of bending over that is allotted to me each day and if I exceed that, oh boy...so I ration it out as best as I can!). They were excitedly exclaiming over lost treasures, and all 3 of them were in the crib at one point having loads of fun. Too cute.

After their room was done, I had to make lunch real quick, they were starting to root around in the fridge = sure sign! So THEN I was able to lay down and surf some blogs - I found a kitchen that looks almost identical to ours except for the window above the sink (ooooh I wish I had a window to dress up, our kitchen is more like a "hallway" type of kitchen that leads into the family room so, no window for us) and the darker counters.

We have the same exact tile, and the same oak cabinets basically. I saved it on Pinterest so I could show DH - he's a little skeptical of painting over the wood.

Before:

And the after:

Isn't it just so pretty?!!! Even the rug, just love it. Oh! The main thing I wanted to show him, too, is that is very close to the color I want to paint our entire living area in - a gray color with lots & lots of white, and then accents of robin's egg blue and sage green/tan. It looks fabo with the white, doesn't it??

So back to cleaning, once I'd had my little break I tackled the BOYS room - again, another disaster, totally and completely. I switched things up a bit in there too for a little bit of fun and newness, and vacuumed it, the whole shebang. I was going to rest, but as I was putting the vacuum cleaner away I was like hmm...I should just vacuum the HALLWAY since both those rooms are clean now and the stuff in the hallway is going to get tracked into the rooms.

I vacuumed near my bedroom door and thought hmmm....I think I'll just quickly vacuum in there as well, just a bit. Then when I got done with the hallway, which leads to the CARPETED dining room (yes, LOVE that) I decided to just tackle that too. Which means cleaning up that room real quick AND might as well clean off/wipe the table & highchair from lunch...! Then I sat on the floor and picked up all the DVD's and candy wrappers from last night's movie night in the LIVING room, and vacuumed in there too. Oh, and actually MOVED one of the big cozy comfy chairs to vacuum under.

BOOyah! So take THAT, lazy self!

I was eyeing the entryway's need to be swept desperately, and also the kitchen, AND the bathroom - I could get all 3 of those done in about 8 minutes if I did it quickly. But then I said no, I better go lay down...

...and I just now got up after sitting here typing this and I am definitely STIFF and sore. Aw....lame. But that's okay, it really is a weird feeling though, to have SO MUCH in my head that I want to do - but my body is just totally resistant. I get these hard contractions when I vacuum and well, it's just an interesting time I'm in. I lay there in my bed and daydream about all the things I can do once I have this baby out and it's 2-3 months old.

But THEN I wonder if all of this is just totally nesting and once I actually have the baby and am in that whole lack of sleep mode...will I wonder what in the world got into me THINKING I could actually do things? Or even want to do them?

I felt like grabbing a paintbrush and taking it to the girls' room - their walls are purple on the bottom, and pink on the top - we're talking bubblegum pink. I think it's pretty, but not in it's current state - the border that was supposed to bridge the two colors never got put up, wah. And it's been 7 years since it was painted and has many MANY nicks and holes and all sorts of stuff - scribbles, even some Disney princess rub-on's that are halfway off I did when Rachel was 5
(she's 12 now and well, doesn't appreciate them as much anymore, ha ha!). THEN, the kids really REALLY wanted to help me paint MY room so I said no (this was about a month ago) but I let them paint with primer in their room. So about 1/8th of the wall is covered in white primer.

I wish I could just tackle their room, and the boys' room too...and just everywhere. My mind goes way faster than I could ever keep up!

Guess that's it for now - I still have a super duper messy kitchen and family room to tackle, including a humongous clothes monster on the couch that keeps on getting knocked onto the floor by kids who think it's fun to jump on it. Rrrr. It just takes my DOING it, so maybe after naps? I think I need to take a good long rest now, my back and achin' bones are talking to me. =)