Baby shower @ 36 weeks

It's been a little bit since my last post. I hit my 36 weeks mark today so that's good news. I'm hoping that this coming week is the week she'll be ready to come. I have to admit I am getting a little anxious about the whole thing. Not about the delivery or anything..more about WHEN it will be. I am really excited to have her join us and the thought of weeks more is just not working for me.
Anyway, my baby shower was today. It was a lot of fun. There was a really good turn out and lots of fun stuff to open :) Girl stuff is so new to us, it's great. I put everything in organized piles a couple times and then decided I would wash all the clothes to get them ready. I got a couple doubles of things so I went to Target and exchanged those for a few things I neeeded and didn't get. I can't complain one bit, I really made out well :) Well, Aris did ;) It's just a lot of fun opening up all the presents. I really so have some of the greatest friends.
So, in case you weren't aware, the sale of our house was approved by the bank about a week and a half ago. The buyer had their inspection done last week as well and the apraisal so now we just wait for the lender to get everything. We are scheduled to close on May 5th. We'll be moving in with my parents until we know what we are doing. (moving back east or remaining in Tucson) We started packing up stuff yesterday. It's pretty crazy to think of all the changes that are hitting us right now or will in the next coming months. We're having a baby, selling out house & moving in with my parents, flying back east for vacation, hopefully having some interviews and possibly moving back east or atleast moving into a new place here. Justice also starts Kindergarten this coming year. There is just a lot going on. I'm trying not to get too stressed out.
Well, thats the update for now. Hopefully the next one will have pictures of Aris in it :)

Busy week

It's been a busy week so far. I had my appointment on Monday. Everything went well. I didn't get "checked" like I wanted to see how far along I was. Dr. Dunn didn't want to stir anything up. She wants me to get to atleast the 35 week mark, but hopefully 36 or later so she isn't going to check me until after 36 weeks. What a bummer. Oh well, I know it's best for the baby to remain where she is as long as possible, but I'm just not use to waitin, not to mention I am getting bigger by the second. I gained 8 lbs in 2 weeks! I can honestly say it's mostly the baby because I have only gotten bigger in the stomach. This is what always happens. I don't want to deliver a 11 pound baby like my Mom delivered me. Yes, I was 11lbs.
Anyway, enough complaining, bottom line is I'm just ready to have her. Anyway, state survey came into my work on Monday afternoon about 10 minutes before I was about to leave. So instead of taking it easy this week like I was told by Dr. Dunn, I ended up working until 11pm last night and then another 9 hrs today. It's so busy during survey, but I am pretty happy they came in before I went on maternity leave. Hopefully they will exit tomorrow.
The boys are doing good. They are feeling a lot better finally. Greg seems to be feeling better too. He caught what the boys had the end of last week and was sick all weekend :( He is in limbo with work right now. TUSD (school district) issued almost 600 pink slips yesterday to teachers they were letting go after this year. Greg didn't get one, but only because he isn't a contracted employee. He most likely won't have a position next year since the district is on a hiring freeze. I'm not really worried though.I feel like we'll be fine. Something will come up and I am not in jeapordy of losing my job so we have some security there. We are continuing to look back east. It seems like New Hampshire has a lot more job openings so Greg is going to start sending out his resume to those. We'll see what comes of it.
I think thats about it for now. We are just getting ready for the baby. Hope all is well with everyone else.

I love 1/2 days....except when I don't

As I may have mentioned previously I am only working 1/2 days now at work. I really like this schedule. I go in at my normal time and leave usually around 2 or 3pm. It's really nice being able to come home and relax, or catch up on stuff at home, but sometimes I'd rather be back at work....like today :)
I got home and everything seemed great, except about 3 minutes after I walked through the door London got up out of bed, where he was suppose to be taking a nap. That was the begining of the end. Once he sees me he doesn't go back to bed. So we played the game, you know the one where the child gets put to bed just to be back up again 2 minutes later with a big smile on his face. Oh yeah, that was my afternoon. I spent it fighting with London to take his nap. It didn't matter what I did, the child would not go to sleep. I spoke nicely, I spoke not so nicely, I didn't speak at all, and I spoke very loudly...but I didn't yell because we mormon Moms don't ever yell at our children....RIGHT? ;) Oh, that's right, we don't lie...I get those mixed up sometimes. Ok, so I yelled at him, took away his stuffed animals, threatened to not let him play outside later on, and I even gave him a spank. NOTHING WORKED!!! Oh man, I'm surprised killing him didn't make the list because I was that close.
Well Greg got home and saved me, but he didn't have much luck either. So London didn't get his nap. I guess the world won't stop turning because of it, but I must say that this child is really testing me lately. He has decided that listening and doing as I ask is over rated so he just doesn't do it most of the time. It doesn't help that I can't really chase him like I could 5 months ago and I think he knows it. I'm also not as threatening as Greg. He tends to do things a little quicker when Greg asks..sad but true. I wear out a lot faster. London has also taken up a new hobby of annoying his brother which isn't good for anyone. Justice has the patience of a 5 year old... oh yeah, he is 5. Go figure.
Anyway, that is my trial at the current moment and I have to face it alone tonight since Greg is out with the Elders. All I have to say is they better get a baptismal date out of someone tonight or I got jipped :)

8 months and counting

It's been 2 months already since I posted any pics of me or the boys. It's not like I really want or feel like having them taken of me, but I do like to have them for the baby books and stuff, so I had Greg take a few of me last night. Out of the 6 or 7 pics taken only 1 made it onto the blog.. and for good reason- the rest sucked :)
I gave the boys individual baths last night as well per their request :) I guess I can't blame them. It's not like they don't like taking baths together, they just realized that if they take seperate baths they get all the toys instead of just a few. No sharing involved. In a lot of ways I like it better too. It keeps me from yelling at them and less chance of soaking the floor with dirty boy water.
So I added a few pics of them from their baths last night. Everything is going well. I am getting very uncomfortable. I tried to bend over a while ago to pic something off the floor.... I made it back up ok, but man was it not comfortable. We are excited that the end is near...with the pregnancy that is :)

closer to normal

Well I had my appointment today and everything went well. I am off of the total bed rest restrictions. I am very happy about this. I will be returning to work tomorrow with some restrictions. I am on light duty in a way. Dr. Dunn says I have 2 1/2 weeks to go and then I don't need to worry anymore. That will take me to 35 weeks at which point she won't do anything to stop labor if I start in again. I can live with that :)
I was able to stop into work today to let them know I'd be in tomorrow and I have somw help coming down from Phoenix to get things back to normal before state comes in....unless of course state comes in tomorrow...lets hope not. I feel good and I'm excited to be up and moving around again. I just have to take it a little slower than before and try not to over do it. I'll probably work half days for these last couple of weeks. Incase you couldn't tell...I'm very happy about this.
So thats the news for today. The baby is doing good, she is moving all over and seems to enjoy kicking me in the bladder :) (I have not lost control...yet:) Greg is doing good at school and we are still looking for openings back east. Today is my Dad's 72nd birthday so Greg and I are heading over to my parents house for a sit down dinner without the kids. It should be really nice.
That's about it for now. I will continue to give updates as they happen :)

lying down and typing don't mix

I have survived almost a week of bed rest. I don't reccomend this for anyone, atleast not someone like me. It's really hard to just lay and wait for time to pass. So, I am giving myself a big pat on the back for being 95% compliant :)
I go to the doctor tomorrow to find out where we go from here. My contractions have diminished dramatically over the last couple days, but I do get them occassionally throughout the day. I have managed to stay under my limit of 4/hr, so I'm hoping that she will lift my restrictions so I can actually get some work done. This is not a great time for me to be out of work. We have state survey coming any day now and I would like to be there when they come if possible. That may be pushing things, but I would atleast like to be able to work from home and go in for a few hours a few times a week. The anticipation for tomorrow's news is killing me! So, I will let everyone know how I do. The baby is the most important issue, so whatever happens it will be what is best for her. I have made it to 32 weeks, so that is good news.
Anyway, some fun news to report has to do with Greg. He went to Palo Verde's prom last night. He was one of 4 teachers nominated to be Faculty King, and he WON! :) I was bummed I couldn't be there to see it. He got home last night with his sash and a scepter. Anyway, it was cool. Too bad I was at home, it would have been our 3rd prom together. Maybe next year :) I'll be sure to post some pics when we get them.
As far as everything else goes, the boys are doing great. They have been very good for us the past week and family & friends have been a great help. Well, I will get back to everyone tomorrow once I know whats going on.

Who ever said bed rest was restful???

Well, as you may be able to tell, I have been placed on bed rest. Not exactly where I want to be at this moment in time, but not much I can do about that. I started having contractions yesterday. I've been having the braxton-hicks contractions for weeks now, but they have been fairly irregular. Well yesterday I started my morning with those contractions and they just didn't seem to let up. They aren't painful, but they aren't comfortable either. I had a doctors appointment yesterday so I just decided I would se what she had to say about it.
I made it to my appointment and let them know what was going on so they decided to run a few tests to see if I am at risk for pre-term labor. They had to take a swab from behind my cervix to see if there are any fetal cells there which, if posistive, would put me at a high risk of preterm labor and delivery in the next 2 weeks. (I think I mentioned I like medical stuff- sorry if this is TMI for some of you, I just think it's all facinating) Sooo, after the swab she took an ultrasound to see what was going on with my cervix and found that I am thinning out a bit too early. I'm suppose to be around 5cm thick and I'm only 2.3 as of yesterday.
Ok, so I was sent to St. Joes Hospital and was put on a monitor to measure my contractions. I remained there for the afternoon. They were measuring 4-5 contraction/hr so my doctor said that was too many and that I had to go on bed rest for the rest of the week. I was given 2 shots, one to try and help my uterus relax, and the other was a steroid in order to help the baby's lungs develope faster incase she is born soon. The goal at this point is to try and hang in there 3 more weeks atleast, but they said if I start to dialate they won't be able to do much medically to stop her from coming. I have to go back to the hospital today to get my second steroid injection and man does that thing NOT feel good.
Until I see my doctor again on Monday I am stuck on bedrest. She actually said if my contractions stop after Thursday I could go back to work Friday, but I have a few people (my Mom mostly ;) telling me I will not be going back to work on Friday...so that's probably how it'll be. Don't mess with the mama :)
At this point I am in bed 20 out of 24 hours a day. My family is helping with the kids while Greg is at work and Greg is taking over at home, but it is soooo hard to just try and lay here and not do anything. Thankfully I have our laptop to help ease the bordom. I'm still having some contractions, but not like yesterday. As long as I can keep them under 4/hr I am ok. If I get more frequent ones I have to return to the hospital. Everyone here is doing a great job of helping me stay compliant with the restrictions...they really are hard to do.
So that is the update so far. The funny thing is I actually have a written doctors order that says I am NOT aloud to cook, clean, or do any child care until ok'd by the doctor:) I think I need to frame that!

31 weeks and counting

Things are going good out. I head in for another appointment tomorrow morning. I'm 31 weeks as of Saturday. The baby is moving all over. She loves to get going at night...I'm gona have to change that somehow between now and her birth date :) Her favorite thing to do right now is get the hick-ups! She gets them several times a day..much like London did when I was pregnant with him. It's kinda funny. She's positioned so low that I feel her from the inside, but can't feel a thing on the outside.
My Mom and I got to go out on Saturday. She's been in Texas for work since the begining of January. She's finally home to stay. We went out Saturday and hit all the baby re-sale shops and garage sales. We picked up a really cute car seat. It's pink and black...girly, but not too girly. We also got a few small items. Mom and my sister Kellyn are throwing me a baby shower on April 18th so that will be a lot of fun.
The boys are having a lot of fun seeing the girl items I bring home every so often. Justice is so excited about having a baby sister. It's really cute to listen to him talk about it. He loves to say good morning to her and goodnight. He'll sit on the couch and talk to her and wait for her to move. London is doing pretty well too. He's not quite as excited, but he does seem to understand the concept and refers to her by name. He will also talk to her on occassion. I'm enjoying the comments people have been giving me about how small I am for almost 8 months! Keep them coming:) Suprisingly enough I have been eating just about everything sweet that I can get my hands on. No joke! I am a total junk food junky right now. Greg and I drove out to my Moms house tonight for no other reason than to pick up some woopie pies I called and asked her to make. I HAD TO HAVE THEM!
Well, more updates to come as they happen. Until then...work, work work;)

I love you as much as I love......

What a busy time. I am so looking forward to having Aris and being at home for a while. Not that having a baby is anything overly easy....been there twice and know it's hard work, but I am just ready for the change. It will be interesting to see how things go with me and the 3 kids at home. I have never prided- if that's even a word, myself on being a baby/child type of person. What I mean by that is I'm not the girl who grew up wanting to be a stay at home Mom with a house full of kids. Not that there's anything wrong with that- (Seinfeld flashback) I never was the babysitting type, and actually avoided it at all costs. When I was in junior high and high school I planned on going to college and then moving to New York to do theater on Broadway...no joke. And I was very close to moving there on a few occassions. I wanted to get married and have kids later in life....like in my 30's. That was my plan back then. But alas, what I had planned for me was obviously not what Heavenly Father had planned for me. I did get to do a lot of theater, just not in New York, and I did get to go to college for muscial theater, I just didn't get to finish it.. yet. I did, however, get to be married in the temple....at age 22 (only a few years earlier than planned;) and now I am blessed with 2 and 3/4 kids. Ok... so as I was saying. It will be interesting to see how things go in a couple months. I love my kids all the time... I just don't always like them :) I have had to learn to just let things be.... which is hard for me. I like things done certain ways and in a certain time frame. I still have to remind myself- frequently, that they are only 5 and 3 and I want them to like me when they grow up.
Oh, so Justice told his speech teacher at his last class, when they were discussing how to compare things, that he loved his Mommy the best, and when ask if he loved anything as much, in order to do a comparison, he said no because he didn't love anyone as much as his Mommy. How cure is that? I LOVED it. That is what makes me want to stay at home and not care all that much that I didn't get to go on broadway or move to New York. Somehow there just isn't much of a comparison :)

Magic Glasses!

Well, they are finally here. Justice got his new glasses yesterday. He managed to take a spill and bend them within the first 5 hours after getting them sustaining a cut on his temple, but the glasses were salvagable... thank goodness. He looks really cute with them on. He really likes showing them to people.

10 Things About Me

Well, a friend had a really cool blog up all about herself. She called it 10 things about me, and tagged anyone who read it to do the same. I really liked it so I am going to do the same. Hopefully it won't be too boring :) If you like it please do the same because I really enjoyed reading hers and I would love to read other people's as well. Here goes it...

#1.) When I was in 6th grade I cut my bangs even though my Mom told me not to because my forhead was too short for bangs....like I had any idea what that meant... and then I realized I didn't like it after all so in a moment of despare I shaved them off! haha Oh yeah baby, I even told a kid who asked me why my banged were shaved that I got hit in the head with a rock and they had to shave them off to get to the wound. (I have since repented;) What a dork. I must say that I understand the meaning of someone's forhead being too short for bangs..a lesson learned a bit too late I'm afraid :)
#2.) I have never had a nightmare.
#3.) I have been known to cover my eyes during scary movies no matter who is around which I believe has helped me keep my perfect record of no nightmares. (I do peek through my fingers though..it makes me feel safer)
#4.) I love card games.
#5.) I have a tendancy to sound like a know it all....I don't mean to be that way, it's just how I am I guess. I like to share my opinion with people and hear their's, but I'm sure that I can come across as being controlling. I never mean to sound like I'm talking down to anyone, I just like a good conversation. I also over explain things. (if you couldn't tell) My sister is lovely enough to point that out whenever she can.
#6.) I enjoy being by myself...more than the everyday person I suppose.
#7.) I like medical stuff...like watching surgery's and other medical procedures.
#8.) I have talked my way out of or run my way out of 3 times as many tickets (automobile) than I have ever had to pay for. (Not recently)
#9.) I use to love to break into old abandoned houses and buildings. Just because I thought they were so freakin' cool looking.
#10.) I tend to have more boy friends than girl friends. Girls never seemed to like me as much. Go figure.

Hymne a l'Amour

It's busy times again at the barrel makers house. Great news for us though, we got an offer in on our house today :) Greg and I had to go sign all kinda of paperwork at then realtors office this afternoon. We're pretty excited & relieved that things are finally going somewhere. The market is just so sucky right now. We are blessed to have this happen, I can't take it for granted. Greg and I are also doing our best to get out of debt. We have arrangements to pay off two out of three of our crdit cards by May. That will be awesome!
I hit 25 weeks this last saturday- give or take a few days. Just over 3 months to go until Aris arrives. We're trying to get in a better place financially so it won't be such a struggle over the summer. We bought our tickets to go back to Maine for 3 weeks in the summer. Greg's brother is getting married and we hope to use this time to set up interviews for Greg. We are hoping to be able to move back there in the late summer.
The pics I added are as of today at 6 months 1 week or so. Everything is going well. Justice continues to love the idea of a baby sister and actually drew a picture of our family during primary at church yesterday and it included baby Aris :) How cute is that? We're still waiting on Justice's glasses to come in. The Spongebob frames are on back order so it may be another week before we get them. I'll be sure to put some pics up of him when we get them. Greg started teaching and is having fun doing it...as much fun as you can have with 4 rooms full of punk kids;) (Thats my quote not his ;)

so let go and jump in...

What a crazy week! Well, I guess most of our weeks tend to be crazy. I don't mind really.. it just gives me something to write about. Let's see... We are excited! Greg got the job at Palo Verde High School :) He was really worried about his interview and as it turns out....as it does in most cases... the woman was right! haha Yes, I knew he got it, they love him there. It didn't make sense that anything else would happen. Tuesday he got a call from the V. Principle offering him the job. He goes to TUSD orientation on Tuesday and then starts his teaching career on Wednesday. He'll be teaching 4 periods of 11th grade American History. Better him than me :)
Now, with that news I was forced into making arrangements for the boys. I will be working until I have the baby so it made me scramble to find something that would work. HOLY CRAP it is so expensive to put kids in day care. I have been so spoiled having my Dad watch them for the past 4 1/2 years. Totally spoiled. Grandpa will be watching the boys, but only once a week now:) On the other days the boys will be going to a friends house. It was quite amazing actually, the way I found her. An old friends stopped in my office to say hi today and during our conversation I explained my current search for affordable day care. He then asked if I would be willing to have them in a home setting. I said that would be fine and he then told me his wife was considering watching some kids during the day. I spoke with her later today and everything fell into place. It was awsome! What a blessing.
Ok, so on with my crazy week. London had his 3 year check up. We ended up taking him to see his wonderful doctor last week since he had been sick for a while only to find out he had Pneumonia. Yeah, that was great. So, Monday he had his regular check up and he was doing great, but after talking to his doctor she decided she would refer him to a speech therpist for a screening. No biggy, Justice is actually just starting speech tomorrow...add another one to the pile what the hay! So, while Dr. Miller is checking London she looks over at Justice and something caught her eye. She stops mid exam and says she needs to check something on Justice. She does and then says she thinks one of his eyes may be turned in slightly so she is going to refer him to a Opthamologist...... oh yeah keep it coming. SOOOOO, I get him in to see this great childrens opthamologist who does his exam and tells us in not so few words that he needs glasses for more than one reason. Well of course he does... it just wouldn't be right if he DIDN'T need glasses. Did he have ANY idea what my last few weeks have been like? Bring it on!
So, after work we took Justice to Nationwide Vision and he picked out some really cute SpongeBob glasses. I told him these were going to be his "magic" glasses. He's totally stoked about these things now. It's great!
Ok, so that has been my week thus far. There are many things that have happened in between the lines that no one cares to have me explain so I won't. It has been fun and it won't be over. Greg has his certification tests to take on Saturday....all freakin' day! Oh joy! Well, I hope everyone is just as busy as me and therefor offers no sympathy what so ever. I really don't mind.. besides if all this stuff wasn't happening how boring would I be? Dare I say VERY? Yes in deed.

Is it time to eat yet?

Hello all. Well, things are moving right along these days. Greg had his first interview today for a teaching position at Palo Verde High School. He did his student teaching there. We're hoping all goes well and he gets to job. It would really help us out. We'll find out next week if he is the one they picked. Greg said he was pretty nervous during the interview, but I feel pretty good about it. They really like him there. The dept. head even recommended him for the position before the end of the last semester. Hopefully things go our way... or should I say the Lords way.
Also happening today was my 23 week ultrasound. We actually got all the measurements when I went in at 18 weeks, but Dr. Dunn did another full ultrasound for fun. She got some really cool pics of Baby Aris. I have about 10-12 new pics to show off. They are a lot of fun. We got some really good ones of her profile and a great one of her face. It was so much fun watching her move around on screen. She is growing like she should. I'm measuring a few days ahead of my due date. She weighs 1lb 5oz already! We are really excited. What's really fun is that the boys are excited too. Especially Justice. He loves to sit next to me with his hand on my stomach and feel her move. He gets so excited about it. This evenening I told him it was good to talk to her so he asked her to please move for him and right after he finished she kicked. He thought that was great.
Along with those fun things London's b-day is on the 18th. He'll be turning 3! I can hardly believe it. He's growing up so fast. I still call him my Baby London. Greg tries to tell him he's a little boy, not a baby, but he insists he is Baby London. I don't help much since I can't stop saying it. London actually thinks it's part of his name :) Oh well.... as long as he doesn't go to high school thinking his name is Baby London Cooper then I think we'll be alright.
Ok, enough long windedness- if that a word- for now. Hope all is well with everyone.

20 weeks & counting

Well, we hit the big half way mark last Saturday. 20 weeks down...hopefully not so many to go :) It's been a busy last couple of weeks for us. Greg's b-day was on the 11th... he turned 28. Greg graduated from the U of A on the 18th. As a suprise Greg's Mom flew out without him knowing for the graduation. She got to stay a few days with us. It was a lot of fun. The saturday after graduation we had a nice open house for him with cake! I love cake :)
The fun didn't stop there. Christmas came and went. We had a lot of fun with the boys and spending time with family. It's been a busy time for us to say the least.The next big items on the list are my b-day on the 5th and then Greg getting to work. He has applied at the high school he student taught at. We're hoping that works out, otherwise he'll do some substitute teaching throughout the semester.
We're really excited about the next few months. We've got a lot of things happening and are looking forward to them....most of all the birth of our little girl sometime in late April/ early May. Hope all is well with everyone else.