How I Tackle the Nesting Instinct

It comes and goes. I am talking about the nesting instinct. Mikayla's dresser arrived today and Joe put it together. I am moving stuff around and slowly getting Lily's room ready. It helps me to make lists and I will cross things off as I get them taken care of. Most of the stuff I need to purchase.

* Bedding for crib - Mom is working on
* bath pillow
* Have Joe lift crib mattress
* From the garage grab swing, carseat, play mat and bouncy chair. - Need to wash these covers as well.
* curtains or blinds for windows - I decided at this time I don't need to worry about this.
* incline to sleep - Done - I purchased this today from Babies R Us.
* Cover for carseat - Done - Bought this on ebay and I am waiting for it to arrive - actually I bid on 2 my accident - I am hoping my other bid gets overbid! **Update - I was over bid on by $1 - that was close.
* Swaddle Blanket - Done - Bought this on ebay and I am waiting for it to arrive!!
* Lamp
* 3 tier draws (small) - Done - I grab one from my room and emptied it and put this in the babies room. I set the lamp on top.
* diapers - Done for now I have a stash of cloth diapers and disposables. If I decide I need more cloth diapers I will purchase them later.
* Music maker with lights
* binkies - Done - I purchased these today2 - nipples for bottles - This one is being put on the wait list as well. I am not going to worry about pumping for the first couple of weeks so I don't need to worry about this and numbers 3 and 4 until after she comes. 3 - breast pump 4 - parts for pump

I am ready for Lily to come even with a few things on the list. If she would arrive tomorrow we would be just fine.

-22

Yep - You read that right it was -22 this morning at 7:15am. So far this winter we have been very lucky normally we see a week of this type of weather around Thanksgiving but this is the coldest is has been this winter so far. Ever since we had that big snowstorm it has been cloudy and snowing lightly almost every day. Not enough snow to count just light flurries but with the cloud cover it has kept us warmer, around -5 in the morning warming up to about 10. This morning when I woke up I noticed how blue the sky was and not a cloud it sight (I thought this was wonderful because we have not seen much blue sky in the past few weeks and that in of itself is really odd for Gunnison - we average over 300 days of sunshine a year.) Then I thought if the sky is that blue it is pretty darn cold outside and sure enough it was -22! I have forgotten how hard it is to breath outside when it is that cold and don't even think of breathing through your nose - your nose hairs will freeze!!

8 Months Pregnant

I am 33 weeks and 4 days pregnant or in other words almost 8 1/2 months pregnant. I feel bigger and fatter every day!! I am so ready to have this baby but I keep telling myself that she still has to cook a little longer. I also keep telling myself I have anywhere from 4 to 7 weeks left. I had better not be overdue - I would not want to be around me that week.

I am going to be busy this week hopefully taking advantage of after Christmas sales and buying the few things that I need. Mostly it is items that I wish I had when Mikayla was born.

Okay - Take a look at these pictures - has the baby dropped?? I have been asking myself this question a lot lately - mostly because of how much time I spend in the bathroom. About 75% of my Braxton Hixs contractions are because I have to go to the bathroom - or if I didn't think I had to go I will get a BH and then have to do. Let me know what you think.

7 Months

7 Months and Then Some

8 months and then some

Looking at these pictures I got big in one month!

Christmas

Santa came last night and Mikayla had tons of fun opening presents. She even enjoyed handing out presents to Joe and I and the dogs for everyone else to open.

Don't you love the jelly on her lip! Here is a calender Grandma and Grandpa got for her. We put it on the wall and it is magnet so she can change the months as we go.

Poor Teo - Every year he gets at least one bow put on his head. As long as he has a bone to chew on he does not care. It was his birthday yesterday, Teo is now 9 years old.

This was the big present from Mom and Dad. Mikayla loves to help cook in the kitchen either with pretend or for real. Maybe we have a world known chef on our hands!

One last picture of Mikayla and mom. She just has to show her belly whenever we take belly pictures! I will post my belly pictures in a little while.

Ice Skating

In Gunnison hockey is a very BIG thing. We have two outdoor rinks - one with a roof and one without and we also have an ice skating pond. We decided to introduce Mikayla to ice skating. We went over on Saturday and she just played on the ice in her boots. Today we rented skates (for $3.00 - can't beat that!) Daddy had to hold her up the whole time but she loved it.

She loved it when we took the skates off so she could just run around in her boots.

Mikayla's New Room

Yesterday Joe and I spent the morning getting Mikayla's new room all ready for her. We had to clean out all of the junk in there since this room was the misc room. Here is a picture of her new room.

It is HUGE for a 2 1/2 year old but she has plenty of room to play. She also gets her own bathroom and front door (just perfect when she is a teenager!!) We did block the door with a blanket to keep the room warmer and a bookshelf in front of it. If you don't know our house has 2 front doors - one right next to the other. She also has her own bathroom. We are in the process of getting the tub cleaned out (another spot where I stuck the extra junk in the house!)

Mikayla loves her new room and has been busy in there.

Snow and Cold

After our large snow storm a week or so ago it has been cold. I am not talking about 20 degrees cold but in the morning we are lucky to hit zero before I leave for work. It has been getting down to -15 or lower at night. We are staying pretty warm, our house has single pane windows (but we did cover most of them with plastic) and drafts everywhere. This year we are using our gas fireplace and even though it is on the other side of the house it keeps the house bearable for when we come home and get up in the morning. Our house is heated with individual wall heaters that do not have thermostats so when we turn the heat off it is off. We are going to place a space heater in the living room for when the baby is born so when I get up for nightly feedings I won't freeze my butt off!

This nice thing is that it warmed up a little bit today, it snowed about 2 inches last night and it snowing VERY lightly. So this morning it was 4 degrees on my way to work.

I am now 32 weeks pregnant or 8 months. By this Friday I will be 33 weeks and have 4 to 7 weeks left. I am soooo ready. Amazingly I have been sleeping better the last couple of nights, last night I only woke up once to go to the bathroom - that is a first in a long time. We are in the process of slowly (the story of my life right now) getting Mikayla's room ready. I did pull out the baby clothes and I am getting them washed and sorted. Everything is taking about 10 times longer than it use to because I am trying to be better at resting more. Last night I did no laundry, left the dirty dinner dishes, did not empty the dishwasher and I did not pick up the house. I sat on the couch and relaxed all evening. This is HUGE for me - I always pick up the house when I get home from work and try to keep it pretty picked up in the evening, I always do the dinner dishes and make lunches the night before. I figured I can straighten up the house at lunch time today.

Sorry this is not an exciting post but nothing exciting is going on right now. I will try to post some pictures this weekend.

Green Christmas

MSN wrote today on how hard it is to stay green during the holidays. Click here for the article . To me it is always easy to make small changes that will eventually effect the greater good. (Do you like that term?). Here are some simple easy ways to make your Christmas a little more green.

1. Gifts - There are many ways to make Christmas more green with the gifts you give. First you do not have to buy brand new gifts. You can find great things at second hand stores, Craig's List, Paperback swap etc. Mikayla is getting some books I ordered off of Paperback swap for Christmas. Also instead of supporting the huge retailers you can buy locally. Mikayla is getting some great wood alphabet blocks I purchased at a local retailer. Finally instead of buying gifts you can make them (arts and crafts, sewing, knitting). In my case I am making a whole bunch of holiday goodies for the grandparents. Making these cookies has been so much more and more love has gone into these goodies than anything I would have purchased. Mikayla and I have been making cookies every night and she loves to help out. Even if instead of smashing the dough balls she is making snowmen instead!

2. Wrapping Paper - Instead of buying the regular wrapping paper you can use other items to wrap gifts. Old newsprint or the comic section from the newspaper. If you are giving towels or sheets use those to wrap the rest. I recycle my old gift bags that I receive. Finally you can also purchase recycled wrapping paper.

3. Christmas Tree - The best way to stay green is to buy an articical tree and use the same one every year. They last forever. If you have to have the real tree you can look into purchasing a tree that has a root bulb on it. Then after you are done with Christmas you can plant it. I recently heard about this and thought it was an excellent idea, except there is no where around here that you can do that. Look into your local tree farms to see if they do this.

4. Christmas Lights - Now you can buy energy efficient Christmas lights. This will save money on your electric bill and these lights put off less carbon than the regular lights.

5. Christmas Cards - I love them and I hate them! In order to be more green here you can email everyone the Christmas card instead of buying the cards and mailing them. You can also find recycled Christmas cards on line.

These are just 5 simple ideas to make your Christmas a little more green. What other ideas do you have?

Doctor's Visit

I had my regular doctor's visit today. The doctor was concerned about how often I am having the Braxton Hix contractions but I am not dilated and the cervix is nice and thick. So no concern right now about early deliver.

The little one is already upside down. Yes the doctor had fun pushing on her head - not fun for me! I was glad to hear that the little one has flipped because now there is no concern about a breeched baby. I was not worried about this because Mikayla flipped about this stage a well - but you never know.

Now I just have to be patient and wait 9 more weeks until my due date of February 8th - this is hard because I want to see this little one so bad. I know that if I was working on her room I would be happier but that can't happen until Mikayla is settled in her new room.

Mikyala is saying that her current room is baby sister's room and the other room is her room - so that is a good sign.

2 Year Old Chores

As Mikayla is getting older she wants to do what mommy is doing. Here is a list of chores that she helps mommy with and she actually gets upset sometimes if I do them without asking for her help.

1 - Make her bed
2 - Make Mommy and Daddy's bed
3 - She puts her socks, panties, PJ's and daddy's socks away on her own.
4 - She folds the kitchen towels and puts them away.
5 - Picks up her toys, this takes encouraging because usually when the toys get picked up it is time for bed.
6 - She also loves to help mommy cook in the kitchen.
7 - She feeds the dogs. She knows they get 2 scoops and where to put the food down for each dog.
8 - She also lets the dogs inside and outside but needs lots of help turning the door handle.

Mikayla is becoming a great little helper - let's see how long this lasts! What does your little one do around the house to help out?

The Snow is Over!!

It snowed Thursday night, all day Friday, all day Saturday and it finally stopped Saturday evening. All said we received about 2 1/2 or 3 feet of snow. Crested Butte, the ski area, which is 30 miles north of us received over 80 inches in 7 days. Joe went skiing on Saturday and loved it.

Here is a picture of our backyard .


This is another picture of the backyard. Since the snow was so heavy and wet all of the willows that line our creeks are laying down - now we can see our neighbors - yuck! We loved the privacy they gave us. Most people didn't even realize that our house is down here from the main road but you can sure see it now.

Its Snowing!!!!

I have to admit that yesterday when my sister wrote in an email that it was snowing where she lives in Kansas I was pretty jealous. Yesterday it was rainy all day, which is odd for living at almost 8,000 feet in December. By late afternoon the rain turned to a snow rain mix and by bedtime it was snowing big flakes.

Around 5:30ish the electricity went out. I was having trouble sleeping all night due to Bratxon Hix contractions so I was tossing and turning all night. Eventually I did notice that we had no electricity. It did come back on about 6:45am - good thing because I needed to take a shower.

I looked outside and this is what I saw.
The snow is a heavy wet snow so we have tree limbs all over the yard - large ones!

Last night we received about 18 inches of snow and it is still snowing. It is not suppose to stop until sometime tomorrow! This is what I love about winter!!!

In order to get to our house you have to cross a bridge and we share our island with one other house. Joe had to go outside and help the neighbor remove downed tree limbs from in front of the bridge. Then when I was leaving to go to work about 45 minutes later I had to remove a couple more in order to get out. As I was removing it I heard another tree limb crack and fall as well.

This is a cute picture of Mikayla wearing daddy's ski helmet last night.

Braxton Hix Question

This is for all you mamas - that haven't forgotten what it is like to be pregnant (sorry mom!)

Yesterday I was feeling a lot of pressure in my lower belly (below the belly button). It would feel as if the baby was putting weight in one place but it was spread across the entire belly. It would make my belly get hard - not my entire belly but from about an inch or two above the belly button all the way down. If I got up to go to the bathroom it would stop. It was happening a lot yesterday. Was this a Braxton Hix contraction?

Today - so far - when she puts weight in one spot it hurts a bit so it defiantly feels different than yesterday. Not a bad pain just an pain from her moving and pushing.

So am I have Braxton Hix or not? I did not really get them with Mikayla - or maybe I did. I felt this type of pressure with Mikayla as well.

Some People Are Just Crazy!!

As you know I live in Gunnison, Colorado and boy does it get cold here. This winter and even last winter has been unseasonably warm. This time of year you can normally expect the temperatures to be -25 in the morning - or close to that. It has just recently gotten cold but nothing close to the -25. In the morning it is between 5 and 10 and then it warms up to a cold 30ish degrees. To me this means, pants, heavy sweaters, puffy jackets, etc... I normally do not wear a hat and gloves if I am just running errands.

Well - back to the title of this blog entry yesterday I saw one person walking around town in a short sleeve shirt. At first I thought maybe she cannot afford a jacket, but then why wear short sleeves. The I noticed that she was walking a few blocks and it even looked like the cold was not bothering her. I would have had my arms crossed and been rubbing my arms to stay warm. Not her she looked liked she was enjoying a nice walk in the spring or fall! Then later yesterday I saw someone wearing shorts!

I guess some people are just crazy - or at least they look crazy to me!