A Quick Review

Let's just do a quick review of things not to say to a pregnant woman especially close to her due date.

1. "Are you still pregnant?" (or variations of, ie "No baby?")

Let's think about this people. A woman in her ninth month of pregnancy walks into a room. It should be fairly obvious that a birth has not taken place.

2. "Somebody's ready to pop." (or any variation of the size of the pregnant woman)

I don't find offense in this myself although I can completely understand how one would.

3. "You know it's going to hurt, right?"

What birth, or my fist in your face? I'm confused. In fact, if you feel compelled to start any sentence with "You know..." and you haven't given birth yourself, you should probably keep your mouth shut.

4. Do not use words or terms such as "waddle" or "prego" or anything that implies the mother is looking or acting abnormally.

5. Do not refer to your pregnant wife as a whale when she swims and then go on to make 'blow hole sounds'.

6. Do not complain about how *you* feel uncomfortable or confined.


Just something to keep in mind...

Still here

I'm still here, life has just been taking over that's all.

Part of the reason I've been MIA is that for a good chunk of the last 48 hours I either had a migraine or I was recovering from one. Today though I feel great. In fact I've often thought about it and I seem to feel really good right after a migraine, almost as if you don't know how much pain they actually are until you are done with one.

Mr. Sloth, who is just about done dealing with the needs of his wife, was wonderful though. He massaged me and brought me ice when I asked and arranged to have his mom watch Helen during part of the day so I could recover, because keep in mind a migraine is bad enough, but a migraine while 9 months pregnant is beyond misery. Not only is there only one way to get even a little sleep while *this* pregnant I can't take any medication that would help and I can't load up on caffeine that would usually help. I just have to hope that the one position I CAN sleep in is capable of causing unconsciousness.

It actually felt like a practice round for when baby comes. I got to practice all of my techniques to deal with pain and just like with child birth the pain doesn't go away you just find a way to deal with it...or pass out. I dealt with it as long as possible before waking Mr. Sloth for help and when he couldn't help anymore I took a bath in the dark. It was during this dark bath that I realized this is what it might be like when baby comes. Demand's room is right next to the bathroom and she sleeps with the door open so I didn't want to wake her with light from the bathroom. Afterwards, I moved downstairs, so that my whimpering wouldn't wake Mr. Sloth and so I could in all honesty sleep with the living room door open. For a while I imagined Mr. Sloth finding me outside frozen with my head in the snow in an attempt to deal with the pain, but it was too painful to actually move that far.

Since I would most definitely choose birthing a child to having a migraine, I should be good to go then. Remember; childbirth is a part of nature, migraines are not.

Anyway, I'm better now and my head did not explode.

Demand and I had a packed day. We ran errands all morning; groceries, Target, and tied up some loose ends at Church. (Baptism arrangements, tithing, CCD...) Then it was time for a late lunch. I let Demand stay up a little later before nap time since we had a late lunch. At first I thought it may have been a bad idea but once I started reading her "new" library books in a slow monotone voice she nearly fell asleep in her chair.

As always I told myself I would just nap for a half an hour. Then I begged Jesus for 10 more minutes. Then I promised Jesus I would seriously get up after just 10 MORE minutes. Then I decided I was pregnant and needed the rest.

After an hour and a half nap I was hungry and needed to get up and gorge myself on food I didn't want Demand to see. I ended up getting a lot more than eating done. Demand didn't wake up until 5:30pm when we woke her up (and she wasn't happy about it). She's had a cold for a few days so I think she was sleeping it off.

We had pizza and salad for dinner. I also snuck veggies into the pizza sauce (red pepper, spinach, and sweet potato so I feel it was a decently healthy meal. In the middle of dinner Demand shouted "CAKE!!" remembering that I promised she could help me make cupcakes when she got up from her nap.(At the time of course, thinking it would be at 3pm not 6pm) So after dinner Mr. Sloth headed to the gym and Demand and I had a full evening. We made and decorated cupcakes. I steam cleaned the living room carpet (although it hardly feels clean) I swept up most of the round candy sprinkles that she poured everywhere, I cleaned up a 'potty accident', did the dishes and picked up the playroom and her bedroom all before Mr. Sloth came home from the gym. I think I may have burned more calories than he did, but I did eat a cupcake.

Mr. Sloth is just putting Demand down for the night (9:30pm) but at least the house is clean and I'm not as exhausted as I would expect.


I'm going to have the baby tonight, aren't I???

Um, what?

Today was Bible Study day. Last night Demand seemed to be coming down with a cold, of course, right after we told her she had Bible Study in the morning. She slept through the night though and I was first one awake at 7:30am. I worked on my Bible Study (What did you think I did it ahead of time?) until Demand woke up. The first words out her mouth this morning were "Bible Study!!" Good thing she didn't seem to sick.

While everyone worked on breakfast I finished my Bible Study. Then we spent the rest of the morning getting ready to go. When we got to the Church we headed to the younger children's room first. It was then that I was asked to stay for the whole time because the teacher needed help.

Ugh. There went Bible Study. No group prayer, no small group, no video lecture. I spent the whole morning with 10, 2-3 year olds. I know how selfish I was about it. Every mom has to take a turn, I just never wanted it to be my turn. It had to happen sometime. My first assignment was to take a 3 year old boy to the bathroom.

"Um, what?"

Yeah, I know nothing about boys. And before you say anything I understand that there might be one growing inside of me right now, but I keep praying it's a girl. So my initial response was, "Does he know what he's doing?". Luckily he did, because I would be no help. I don't know what happened in there, I just made sure he washed his hands.

The first hour of class Demand kept coming up to me randomly saying, "Bye Momma!". Sorry kid, I'm here all day. The kids were great though, much quieter than I would imagine 2-3 year olds to be. My only problem was the only problem I've been having everyday. I'm at the end of my pregnancy.I didn't wear standing up shoes so my feet were killing me, all me feels swollen, and baby needs to make it self known in painful ways just about constantly.


We survived though. It was time to head home, Demand was more than ready to leave. We had lunch and then Demand headed down for a nap. I took a bit of nap myself before getting ready for my, now weekly, doctors appointment. Mr. Sloth stayed home so Demand could sleep, but of course the garage door opening right below her room woke her up as I left.

Everything still looks good. I gained four pounds this week so I'm playing a new game called "Where did it go?". (I have some ideas.) Doctor and I decided that any unpleasurable symptoms I may be having are just the glories of late pregnancy and nothing to be concerned about. I've had a few people comment that I've dropped. My chiropractor was one of them. After discovering that my hips were way off she definitely thought baby was arranging a few things in preparation for making an exit. The hip issue makes sense anyway because the one remotely comfortable way for me to sleep is on my right side and I usually wake up every half hour in sheer pain needing to flip over only to remember that baby doesn't like it when I sleep on my left and if I try I'll get a foot between the ribs. So I flip back to my right side only to remember a half an hour later that it hurts on that side. Repeat cycle till sunrise or until Demand wakes up.

Oh, to sleep on my back again! But for now I should expect baby to stay put for at least another week. I do have to mention though that Demand is apparently understanding more and more of this baby business. She insists on seeing *her* baby at least 10-20 times a day. She'll then hug, kiss and talk to my belly. She wanted baby to bounce on the big ball with her. She then said something really mature. She said, "Baby come out of you?". Then again she does insist that my belly button is actually baby's nose. Right before she went to bed Demand was watching the slow process of me re-threading the cover onto the baby's carseat. We discussed how the carseat was for the baby. Demand then spoke of the swing that goes with the carseat and Demanded the baby get in the swing. Not happening kid, but at least she's getting excited for baby to come out.

We all are.

A Guessing Game

I have "a friend" who is due with her baby almost any day and her blog has inspired me to start a guessing game of my own.

So tell me what you think.

Boy/Girl?
Date?
Time?
Weight?
Length?

A little FYI is that as of last Thursday baby has shown some progress (I won't share the details for those who are squeamish, but feel free to email me if you'd like to know) and I continue to have contractions and such daily. Remember though, all this could mean nothing. I've also had girl dreams which I had with Demand even though we thought she was a boy.

Also, here's a pic from a week or two ago just in case you need a visual.

Demand

A quick bit about Demand.

We've recently decided that Demand is a borderline savant when it comes to doing puzzles. We knew she was good, but now she's getting freakish. She can do a puzzle meant for a 6 year old, including a United States puzzle in which she knows not only a good number of the states but where they go as well. By the way, these aren't cut out puzzles, we're talking 48 piece jigsaw floor puzzles.

We've decided to fully support this crazy ability of hers and invest in more puzzles in order to exploit her later for cash.

While I'm on the topic of Demand I shall lend you a funny quote from just a few minutes ago. While semi-watching the Inauguration, Demand noticed the reflecting pool in front of the Washington Monument.

She said, "River?"

I said, "No, that's the Reflecting pool."

D: "Reflecting pool?"

Me: "Yes, the Reflecting Pool is in Washington D.C. Did you know that Daddy used to live there?"

D: pause "I get my swim suit."

Busy Weekend

Today was a big day. I had promised Demand that she could wear big girl underwear when she got up from her nap since she's been doing so well in the potty department. Well her nap went long, really long, she slept until 4:15pm. I thought I heard her stirring so I went up stairs and looked in the doorway to see my sleepy toddler sitting on the potty in her room. Starring into space with her hair all frazzled. Yes I think she's getting the hang of it.

Anyway, she jumped up and asked for her big girl underwear. Ugh, I thought, I had to go to the store, but I promised she could wear the underwear. So I decided to do the unthinkable. I let her wear the underwear to Target. She did great. She peed twice before leaving and once as soon as we got in the store. Of course once she finished her sucker (her reward) she claimed that she had to go again, but I wasn't about to park a cart full of paid for groceries to take her to the bathroom. Shortly after we got home she went in the bathroom on her own and went again. This has been slightly easier than I thought it would, once she got the hang of it of course.

Our weekend was busy. Friday and Saturday I collected food for my big freezer cooking session. Saturday morning I finished my shopping in the morning and started cooking right away. Mr. Sloth was taking the afternoon off to brew beer so our morning was flexible. I got 3/4ths of the meals cooked in a brief amount of time. Then it was time for Demand to nap and for Mr. Sloth to leave.

Demand, using her "toddler sense" slept late and I had to wake her up to head to a 2yr. old birthday bash. I made sure everything else was ready to go so I would wait until the last second to wake her up, and we could head out the door as soon as she was dressed. I planned for everything....except my car keys. They were to be found no where and the clock was ticking. It had been a long day already and I was emotionally spent. I called Mr. Sloth crying that I couldn't find the keys and I had a brown eyed toddler ready for a birthday party ("With Cake!!") Mr. Sloth came home with his keys and Demand and I were only a half an hour late. (It helps that I tend to be early about things.)

Demand was thrilled to be at her party which was at the same place she takes (sniff, took) gymnastics and it was a super cute barn yard theme. The party ended at 6pm, but being emotionally and physically spent I didn't want to head home alone with Demand. I called Mr. Sloth to let him know I was on my way to meet him and would pick up dinner on the way. It was a half hour + drive and my big plans to head to Wendy's drive through were crushed when I couldn't remember exactly where it was. (We were in our old neighborhood) so I had to settle for SuperTarget. Ugh. Again, I was just *done* for the day. The last thing on my mind was dragging my pregnant self and a toddler out of a warm car, through a cold snowy parking lot and into a store. Demand walked at a snails pace and her new 'piggy balloon' in tote wasn't helping the problem.

I called Mr. Sloth to see if someone could have the oven ready for pizza. He informed me it would just be me and Tiger eating. Tiger!! My refuge! I grabbed pizza and comfort food and headed to Tiger's house. My night was not over of course. Demand insisted on going to the bathroom every ten minutes and the only bathroom is upstairs, plus I stuck around as long as I did and kept Demand up so late because I thought Mr. Sloth would ride home with us. I was mistaken. As we gathered our things to go he informed me that he had to ride with Obscure for some beer making reason.

So into the frigid car I climbed. I forgot to mention that I complained about being cold the entire time I was there (sorry Tiger, I was in a complaining mood and not dressed properly). So already cold, I climbed in the frigid car for a long ride home. You know how inevitably, no matter how far you are driving the car doesn't heat up until you get to your destination. I walked in the door and Demand, being overtired was crying because I wouldn't let her watch "a show". Mr. Sloth called to see if I was home yet as he had just pulled in next door. He could hear her crying and knew I was stressed. Without saying a word I went upstairs to take a bath. I wasn't mad at Mr. Sloth I was just.....done.

Sunday Mr. Sloth was up first, even before Demand. So when I got up Demand was eating breakfast and I had eggs and coffee waiting for me. Soooo nice. Mr. Sloth had even showered and dressed both himself and Demand for Church!!

After Mass I worked on a few more meals. I still haven't finished everything but I only have two half meals to work on tonight. After doing my calculations it looks like I spent $125 (+/-) and got 25 meals. So I spent about $5 a meal. It was so worth it!! I hesitated to spend all that money on food I wouldn't be eating this week but I kept repeating "it's $20 to order a pizza" this will save us money.

Yeah me!!

So if you are wondering how this works. I made a number of meals and separated them according to how much we would eat in one night. Everything is labeled and has cooking/baking instructions.

On the menu we have: Chili, marinara, hashbrown casserole with ham frozen separately, Asian marinated chicken, Mexican lasagna, Chicken rolls,Cheesy Chilada Bake, Marichi chicken rolls, cooked/seasoned taco meat, and smoothies ready for blending...I think that's about it, oh and a few frozen pizzas "just in case".

It's a lot of work, but the money and time we save is worth it....right?

Free Time?

So I guiltily staying in bed this morning instead of getting up and doing my Bible Study (that I should have been working on all week). Finally at 7:15am I heard Demand so I got up. While I was in the shower (Mr.Sloth let me shower!) my small group leader called to say that Bible Study was canceled, due to the cold.

I still feel guilty for not doing my Bible Study, but at the same time I'm glad I didn't get up early.

At first I was disappointed that they would cancel due to the cold then I learned that they expected -45 degree windchill. Yikes. And Mr. Sloth has to fill the car with gas "just in case".

So what do I do with my suddenly acquired free time this morning?? I'm biting the bullet and doing more baby prep work and cleaning. Luckily Demand doesn't seem too upset that we aren't going to Bible Study, and she's easily pacified with her Snow White dress and "Wiggles" video. I've already showered which is par for the course (btw I don't actually know what that means) and I have a load of laundry going already. In rare form, I went to bed with a clean kitchen last night. Usually we're so exhausted after CCD on Wednesdays that the kitchen is last on our list. Next I'll work on our birth plan and put away the rest of the freshly cleaned baby clothes. I have to label two packages and if I get them sent out today I will consider it to be a completely successful day. Heck if I get them in the car it will be a successful day!


Demand presses on with potty training. We don't even have to ask if she needs to go because she goes every 10 minutes. She'll finish her "reward" and go right back to the potty. She's totally milking the system!! I even think she's being withholding when she goes so she can get two treats (or more). She may be smart, but she's going to have a sugar addiction soon.

I just want to comment again on my new diaper bag. I LOVE IT!!! I tell Mr. Sloth everyday how much I love it. Partly because I want to share my joy and partly because he judged me for buying and I want him to know I don't have buyers remorse.

Now I'll share the furniture I saw at Sam's Club yesterday that I love and, if we're blessed with a new home in the next year I'd love to own them. First off the living room set. I love the color scheme (green and chocolate, if you can't tell). I really like the dining room set too. It's 'counter height' so it's taller than most tables, but we're taller than most people, plus it's square. We've learned that we enjoy square tables more than rectangle ones because you see and talk to everyone.

There's no remote chance of us buying either of course, but a girl can dream. If we even get a chance to move in the next year, I'd be more than happy. Forget new furniture!

Ok back to the real world. I have one baby to prepare for and one to play with.

Countless

Guess what I haven't done today??

CHANGED A DIAPER!!! This just dawned on me. Demand has gone potty so much today that I lost track! She even stopped playing on her own to go. And at least twice she forgot about her after potty reward. She's really getting it!!

Mr. Sloth wants her to go to big girl underwear tomorrow, but I think we should do another day (or more) of pull ups, just in case today was a fluke.

She's so proud of herself. When I left her in the bathroom one time I said "take your time" she replied with "There's no rush!". She's really starting to get the idea!!


Things are getting exciting around here!!

Well then...

After dragging myself out of bed with a headache due to sharing a queen bed with a toddler and husband while nine months pregnant and sneaking around the house in utter silence I find it all was done for nothing.

Our plan today was to head to 8am Mass and then to Demand's last gymnastics class. Not only was Mr. Sloth going to come but Demands grandparents, aunt and two cousins were going to come too. So after getting dress, doing my hair and make up and making some tea, I realize it's 7:30am and we have little chance of making it with Mr. Sloth and Demand still sleeping. Then I get a call saying the rest of the clan can't make it due to car issue and weather issues (20 below zero here). That part actually works out well since it didn't look like we were going to make it to Mass (our meeting spot). What's frustrating is that it's 7:46am and Mr. Sloth and Demand are still asleep while I'm awake!!

Come on!!!


Pregnancy barrels on whether I like it or not. Everyday activities are becoming either impossible or just uncomfortable. I was home all day yesterday so Demand and I worked on baby stuff. I washed all my cloth diapers and the rest of the baby clothes, including any equipment covers that had been in storage. Anxious to try out the new baby swing I fetched the car seat out of garage storage and cleaned that off. Demand doesn't quite get who it's for but boy does she like it. I do to. Assuming the baby at least tolerates the car seat (crosses fingers) this device is going to be a life saver. I also got to try out the winter car seat cover that I bought.

Demands naked baby doll seemed to like it, why wouldn't Baby Valentine??

Left on my list to buy are some fleece swaddles, diapers, and wipes. And if I find $500 in my couch we'll pick up the chair and ottoman we picked out at TakeYourMoneyRUs. After that we'll be done with buying things and move on to doing things. Pack bags, write down numbers, rearrange furniture, re-write birth plan. Four weeks now, it's coming fast!!

For anyone keeping track Demand went potty 5 times yesterday!! A new one day record! She's starting to enjoy it so much she'll go, then sit down again and ask for water so she can go again. At least it's a fun game when it's 9:30pm and she hasn't gone to bed yet.

We ventured to the gym last night even though traffic was heavy due to the afternoon snowfall. It felt good though, save for the first three seconds in the pool of course. I'm glad we went even though Demand didn't get to bed and I didn't get the kitchen cleaned until after 9:30pm.

Obscure made the mistake of asking *this* pregnant lady if she needed anything from Target. Many late night snacks were eaten afterwards.


I'll post pictures of Demands gymnastics class later! Wish me warm!

Yawn

**Warning Potty Training Talk Follows**

So over the last month or so I decided NOT to push the potty training with Demand because chances are high she might revert once baby is born. So what happens? Saturday Demand announces to me that she has to "tinkle" and goes to the bathroom and pees. I then find out she did the same for Mr. Sloth earlier in the day. A fluke? Perhaps, but she's gone 8 times in the last twenty-four hours and almost always at her prompting.

Ok then. Perhaps she's ready afterall. And today she not only peed but went #2 (she hasn't done that on the potty in months) AND she went on the potty at Church too. Which means going on a cold big toilet. While it's really impressive that she had no problem going at Church, in reality it is where she has Bible Study so once a week she sees other kids going potty in the same bathroom, so it's not completely unfamiliar to her.

A funny story about her going at Church. It was after communion and Demand was standing between Mr. Sloth and the side aisle. He turned to me and said she needed to use the potty. Luckily we always sit near the front so we scooted out quietly. As we got in the bathroom there were two other little ones in the bathroom so she seemed excited. We get in the stall and she looks at me and says, "I tinkle, get sucker??". I tell her yes, and then she peed. Mr. Sloth and I just found it funny show she seemed to be negotiating the process. I was nervous about the sucker bit, because she'd have to wait until after Mass. Well I opened the bathroom door, saw the choir walk by and realized Mass was over. Huh. Good timing!

Later today Demand headed to Grandma and Grandpa's while Mr. Sloth and I headed to a Bradley Method refresher class (birthing class). Just to clarify this is something we chose to do, our doctor and hospital aren't making us do take a class. It was nice even if only to make having a baby more of a reality and see our old instructor again. Our instructor was actually at Demands birth so it brought back some memories. The downside to this refresher class is that it has reminded Mr. Sloth of all the things I should/shouldn't be doing when he's been out of the loop for the last 8 months. Rats! So now he's all "don't eat that" and "you should be sitting like this", so there goes all my fun for the next four weeks.

I'll backtrack a bit and tell you about my Saturday, wait Friday. Long story short Mr. Sloth didn't get home until 1:30am. I rarely fall asleep without him so it was a late night for me but to top things off I woke up at 3am. I woke up, woke up. I wasn't uncomfortable or anything, I just wasn't sleepy. I headed downstairs for a few hours of TV. Demand woke up at 5am and even though it was Mr. Sloth's morning, I was up so I got her. It was too early to let her wake up so I changed her diaper and took her into our room. With the choice of getting up with her or letting her sleep in bed, Mr. Sloth threw back the covers and welcomed his sleepy daughter.

I went back downstairs.

Around 6:15am I fell asleep. At 6:45am I heard rustling upstairs and decided to reclaim my side of the bed. I slept for forty-five minutes while the rested duo had breakfast downstairs. My big plans for the morning involved an early morning breakfast with friends so my nap had to be short. The crazy part was I still wasn't that tired and never was that whole day.

After breakfast at Panera Bread me and the ladies headed out for some baby shopping. I didn't need anything at the maternity clothing store but it was nice to browse. I did get a few things at TakeYourMoneyRUs though. Almost everything I got was on my list to buy, with the exception of purchase. A new diaper bag. And it. Is. Fantastic!!!

One purchase we are excited to try out is the swing. Not just any swing. It's basically a frame where you place the carseat and it swings the baby's carseat. You've all seen the parents swinging their baby's 80 pound carseat around desperately trying to get them to sleep. We can't wait to try it! I still need Mr. Sloth to fetch me the carseat out of the garage and I need to clean all of our equipment covers, but until then Demand thinks the swing is for her baby doll and keeps asking me to take it out of the box.

So I guess that summarizes our weekend. I of course woke up this morning feeling the effects of not sleeping the day before and being a Sunday (and a mother) I couldn't just sleep in.

You can bet your tushy I had coffee though. And baby loved it.

Crazy Friday Night

Well I brought this on myself. I demanded (wonder where Demand gets it) Mr. Sloth make a 'Baby Brew" beer for me for when baby arrives and I jump back on the wagon. He agreed it should be done, he just lost track of time. So basically he had to do it this weekend which means tonight. And since we don't have a "heated garage" he had to do it at a friends house, so I'm left to put Demand to bed and stay home alone all night.

Well played Mr. Sloth!

I tried to be positive and say I would get a lot of work done while he was gone, and I could be right, maybe I will. I just highly doubt it. Demand just went to bed. It's 8:30pm and Demand doesn't seem thrilled with the idea. I'm exhausted and have been all day so unless I get some unexpected and naturally induced energy, I have a feeling on this couch I shall remain for the night.

The good news is that tomorrow is my morning off. I have big plans too. Me and the ladies are going to have breakfast at Panera and do some baby shopping. I won't say who but one of them just announced a pregnancy of their own so we thought it would be a fun morning. And I honestly do need to hit the baby stores, with five, gasp, four weeks to go we are in desperate need of baby stuff.

Mr. Sloth and I haven't discussed the afternoon plans but I think they might involve cleaning the garage. Then he's making Enchiladas for dinner which I'm excited about since I've never made them myself. I think that's about it for our weekend plans.


Hope baby doesn't come early....

Dreaming

Let's just assume that from now on I will mostly be speaking of new baby preparations. Agreed?

Either nesting has kicked in earlier with this baby or this baby is coming much earlier than planned. Even though the last two afternoons I've put cleaning and organizing on hold to spend time with Demand, I somehow found myself completely reorganizing my pantry yesterday. The worst part is that I wasn't satisfied with it. Demand seemed to enjoy it though. I found Christmas M&Ms which she tested for me, she got to rediscover her baby bottles (which she insisted were "Mines".)I hope someday they discover the chemical reaction that occurs in women that stirs up such desires of cleaning. Imagine the price you could put on that bottle of pills!!!

One of my main housekeeping goals before baby comes is to completely clean my kitchen floor. About once a week I clean the area in front of the garage door because I get so sick of stepping on tiny pebbles that are left behind after the muddy snow melts everywhere. The mopping usually stops there though.


I of course have big plans for this afternoon, but I suspect that about twenty-minutes from now my body will get over it's current sugar rush due to the orange pop I just drank and remember it's carry and growing a human child. I will then rush Demand through our nap time routine so I can stumble into our room and crash for a nap myself. I will then spend the next 30-45 minutes, not sleeping, but getting in and out of bed to tell Demand to get BACK into bed and/or change an inevitable poopy diaper that occurs in the middle of nap time almost daily.

IF she falls asleep (Which did not happen yesterday resulting in a very crabby me who decided to deal with exhaustion by telling Demand "No, because you didn't nap" to every single request.)If she falls asleep, I'll then tell myself "Just twenty minutes" at least three times before finally getting up and realizing either everything I planned on doing during nap time would wake Demand or I just don't feel like doing it and choose to eat junk food and watch TV until I finally get the energy and motivation to do something and five minutes into that activity Demand wakes up.

That's actually a pretty good and honest summary of the nap process around here. Once in a while the stars aline and I don't nap but start working right away AND Demand takes an extra long nap, allowing of course for more work to get done, but I usually end up doing too much on those days and realize how tired I am just as Demand is waking up.

So, my big afternoon plans involve cleaning the kitchen (stop me if you've heard this), folding laundry (that I still need to dry), plan meals and groceries for next week using a super tight budget, and if possible to keep both eye lids open, read.

Wish me luck!

Operation Baby

Let's see if I can remember what all has happened during the last week or so.

Demand got a tooth! Crazy huh? I thought I saw two tooth buds a few weeks ago but it was hard to tell and I thought she was done getting teeth. Last Friday morning I was brushing her teeth and realized that there were more teeth than the previous day. That would explain her crabbiness, exhaustion and late night/early morning awakenings. Looks like one on the other side is about ready to surface as well. (Sigh) who needs sleep anyway. It's not like I'm having a baby in a few weeks.

Speaking of which, every day Mr. Sloth and I are more and more convinced that this baby will make an early arrival. Saturday night I had some contractions and such. It was Mr. Sloth who decided they were contractions. Since Demand started her entrance by breaking my water first, I don't recall these early type of contractions (although Mr. Sloth insists that I had them with Demand as well.) With contractions and general uncomfortableness (It's a word) I'm ready for baby to come. The heartburn/ reflux has started, I can't really complain though because I had it the entire time I was pregnant with Demand. Besides, it's making me drink more milk.

Since I waited until after Christmas to prepare for baby the clock is really ticking. Last week I resorted all the baby clothes and pulled out the cloth diapers and neutral baby stuff. He babies bed is already out and set up since I babysat a nine month old two weeks ago. The Sloths made a preliminary trip to TakeYourMoneyRUs (Remember that store?) to decided on a few things. Since this baby is born at the opposite time of year we need a few things to, well, winterize baby.

We decided to try out double strollers while we were there even though I have no plans to buy one until spring (and quite honestly I don't know if one will fit in our lovely Saturn Sedan). We had Demand sit in them while we pushed them around. The one Mr. Sloth and I liked (both price and style) Demand insisted was "too small".Whatever that means. Either way it's the first opinion we've ever heard her express.


Next on my baby to do list is making a bunch of meals for the freezer and washing and putting away baby clothes and diapers. Mr. Sloth and I have decided to get a babysitter the next two Sundays so we can cook and clean. One week we'll do all the freezer cooking and the other week we'll clean the garage. I've already planned the menu and shopping list for cooking so we might do that this Sunday provided we can find a sitter. I decided to clean the garage too because Mr. Sloth grumbles every time we enter or leave the garage. I can partly understand his frustration. It's supposed to be his space, but we don't have a basement and since we'll hopefully be moving within the next year he doesn't want to do any improvements. So I thought at least a good clean up of the garage could make a difference.

Speaking of moving. We've been thinking about it more seriously. Mr. Sloth has made it a goal to be able to move in the spring. We'll be starting a Novena to St. Joseph soon. Since it's going to take a miracle to allow us to move, we figured we start out asking for one before *needing* one. Besides, had we put St. Joe in charge of our home in the first place we wouldn't be needing his help right now, right?

Between baby coming and wanting to move we're working extra hard on our finances. I started reading a personal finance book last night which always motivates me to make better decisions about my money. As far as the average American family goes, we're not doing too bad and there are definitely things we're grateful for. We completely own the one car we have and we have no credit card debt. The only debt we have is college debt and my MRS degree was worth every penny of interest. ;) Every time we make a mortgage payment on time I am extremely grateful. That said, there are still other areas where we could make better decisions.

Well that's about it around here. We're mostly just in 'baby mode and/or money making mode'. I better wrap this up as nap time is quickly approaching and I promised Demand I would play Dora games online with her first.