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 ;)