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 :)