23 weeks

23 weeks....

Indigestion seems to come every night now, and sciatica is rearing it's ugly head on my left side. Other than that though, there doesn't seem to be many bad symptoms lately. Well I guess I've been having some minor breakouts on my face but nothing too major. My brother got married last weekend and we spent the weekend in a hotel - when we got home I fell onto the couch and slept for 4 hours straight and my entire body was sore for a few days. I think I just overdid it with being on my feet and too little sleep. It was a great wedding though!

Movement is regular now. Usually 2-3 times a day I feel a lot of movement for a while. It's become thumps and taps now, but the Mister still can't feel anything on the outside. He hasn't tried very hard though.
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I hadn't gained any weight all month. And then after this weekend of feasting I had a doctor appointment and low and behold I've gained 2 pounds. And all of it in a weekend. Eek. Too much eating out!

We still haven't done anything to prepare. The nursery is not even started, I haven't gone through the tub of newborn clothes, and we still need to buy a carseat. There's lots of time but I think we need to get started on some of these things.

A Day In The Life

A couple of my favorite blogs have been doing this, and I think it's a great way to document how life is right now. The little, mundane details seem so boring but looking back, they are always changing! Days were so different when Brook was tiny, and even more different still before she came along. I am sure they will change again when baby #2 comes along in a few months. So here, in all it's mundane-ness...is a day in my life.


5:45 David's alarm goes off. I roll over and go back to sleep

6:30 my alarm goes. I hit snooze but I've been awake for a while listening to David get ready for work. Just too tired to actually get out of bed.

6:40  David comes in to give me a kiss and make sure I get out of bed before he leaves for work. I head straight to the shower...miraculously it's still quiet down the hall.

7:15 As I'm putting mascara on, I hear little feet shuffling down the hall. I know she's standing there, peeking around the corner but pretend not to notice. She likes to "scare" me by saying BOO! The first words out of Brook's mouth after that are "Can I have a nack?" She calls all meals snacks ....

I usually give her Rice Krispies or greek yogurt. She eats at the table and then watched a PVR'd episode of Max and Ruby while I finish getting ready and tidy the house

7:45 I dress Brook and comb her hair, then she turns off the tv and we rush downstairs. She begins to play while I turn on all the lights, unlock the front door, turn on the kids music, and start mixing cinnamon flop cake for the kid's morning snack. I have to go back upstairs twice - once for flour because the daycare kitchen was out, and once for socks that I forgot to put on Brook's feet.

8:00 The first daycare child arrives. Mom and I chat at the door while the kids run off to play. After mom leaves I make myself a cup of coffee and get the cinnamon flop into the oven before the next kid arrives.

9:00 By now, most everyone has arrived and I've spent the last hour greeting everyone, chatting to moms, and getting kids settled into an activity or helping them wave goodbye at the window. My coffee is forgotten and has now grown cold. Morning snack is out of the oven and the kids are hungry, so I announce snack time and they all go trouping into the kitchen to eat. Colorful plastic dishes are passed out, along with forks and glasses of milk. Lots of happy chatter and LOTS of mess.  I remind them to put their dishes in the sink and wash their hands - I herd them one by one off to the bathroom and then send them off to play. While they get busy in the playroom I wash the table, wipe down sticky chairs, and sweep the floor. Dishes can wait.

10:30 We've been playing (and I've been alternating between playing and just sitting and supervising) but now it's cleanup time. We sing the cleanup song, get to work. I lead a circle time with the usual songs, calendar, a book, and a simple game and then they all head back to the table for an art project. More mess ensues...another round of hand washing, table scrubbing, floor sweeping.

10:45 It's usually outside time, but it's windy and cold so I skip it in favor of more play time. Brook and one of the other kids are having a hard time this morning, lots of bickering between them. Some children want to color and play with playdough, so there's another round of table washing, floor sweeping, and hand washing.

11:45 Cleanup time and lunch. After lunch a few moms come to pick up their children so we chat as I help children pack their lunch bags up and get started on some quiet book time while the rest finish eating.

12:30 Bed time. Ah....Everyone is laid down on a cot with a blanket from home, Enya is playing softly. One child begins to cry but it doesn't last long. I change the baby and tuck her in to her own room for a nap. She screams herself to sleep, poor thing. Once she settles, I sit down in the nap room with my Bible and my ipod to relax. Brook is rolling around, talking, and being noisy. Most of them do fall asleep but a few stay awake and I give them books

2:15 The baby begins to wail, so I turn on the lights and most of the children get up. I change the baby and then put out a snack.Brook finally fell asleep at the end of nap time and is still snoozing. As the kids eat snack I wash the dishes. Brook wakes up crying, so I abandon the dishes for a snuggle.

The rest of the afternoon passes in a blur of cleaning, changing diapers, breaking up arguments, reminders to put toys away, and greeting parents as they trickle in to pick up their kids. The last child is picked up just before 5. Brook plays for a few more minutes while I tidy up the daycare and turn off the music and the lights.

5:10 We head upstairs. Brook reads books while I start supper.

5:45 Daddy is home! Brook runs to him, they hug and read books together until supper is ready.

6:00 We eat dinner and then relax in the living room. Brook alternates between playing and jumping all over us. David offers to give Brook a bath tonight, so I clean up dinner while they splash in the tub. He gets her ready for bed and they read a book. We both tuck her in and say prayers.

8:00 Brook talks and calls for us for close to an hour, but falls asleep around 9. We watch tv and sit with our laptops. David gives me a foot rub in exchange for watching Duck Dynasty. I fall asleep on the couch and David wakes me to go to bed just after 10.

I wish

"I wish I could get the flu so I could have a break."

I seriously thought this today.

What is wrong with me?

I think I am just tired and overwhelmed with life right now. At least, I hope that is all because otherwise that sort of thought is just crazy.

The mister called me today. JUST as the kids had finally gone to sleep for a nap, and I had tip toed away and begun to wash the mountain of dishes from this morning. Elbows deep in dishwater, the phone rings and I have to dry my hands to answer it, only to hear "I don't feel very well so I'm on my way home."

And I was jealous.

He spent the afternoon on our bed, sipping ginger ale and playing on his phone.

I spent it working hard, like always, downstairs.

Now I know he was truly sick. And I do feel bad for him. But I was totally jealous. And I kept thinking how nice it would be to get the flu so that I could spend a whole day laying around with nothing better to do than take naps and play Angry Birds.

But I don't REALLY want to get sick. I have too much to do. If I have to call in sick, that means I have to give back a day's wages to my daycare clients. Yeah, who likes to fork over a day's wages because you dared to get the flu? And we have a big weekend coming up that I cannot afford to miss.

So I spent the evening making dinner, running errands at the store, giving Brook a bath and tucking her in. Reading "just one more story" and then getting up to fill her water bottle, tuck her in one more time, and tell her to get back into bed because she most certainly does NOT need to wear her tiara to fall asleep.

Once she was finally settled, I circled the house armed with clorox wipes and a bad attitude. I was mad. I wasn't mad at the poor sick man on my bed, I was just mad. Mad that he ALWAYS is the one getting sick and staying home. I swear he catches every sickness that goes around, and he has so many sick days banked up that a mild case of the sniffles is cause to take 2 days off work to recover. I have NEVER in 4 years taken a sick day. I've been sick, yes, but I just worked through it.

I just feel like I am always the one left standing. Everyone else gets to take personal days. Curl up on the couch every time they have a fever and watch trashy tv until they feel better. And I am always the one nursing and cleaning and keeping the house running while they are down for the count.

Just once I almost wish I could throw responsibility out the window and actually rest when I get sick.

I probably will get this stupid flu. Even after cloroxing every surface I could think of and shreaking "Get back!" every time the mister emerged from the bedroom where he is quaraintined.

But will I take a day off? Nope. Because we can't afford it. And the world would stop spinning and everything would crash and burn and my life would fall apart if I risked spending a day on the couch and calling in sick.