34 Weeks

I hate complaining. I like to think of myself as a pretty positive person and when things aren't going well I try not to dwell on it. When someone asks me how I am I want to say, "Great!" even if it's not true, because it IS true that no matter how bad things get there are still so many things to be thankful for! It's hard to find that line between staying positive and being honest. And to be honest right now is a just plain miserable time in my life! At 34 weeks this pregnancy is kicking my fanny!

 

It's actually not the pregnancy, it's my fibroid tumor...or one of them I should say. I have three, but only one of them is affected by pregnancy. The are all tiny normally, but the one, for some reason, grows with pregnancy hormones. There's really no explanation for why it is bothering me more this time. You'd think the bigger it is the worse it would be. I think it was near 10cm with K (the size of a softball), and it didn't bother me a bit. It was 8cm with Boo and again, didn't bother me. It was 5.5cm with A (and this baby) and I had two episodes, both when I'd been walking a ton. It hurt like crazy (so I thought) but was nothing compared to this time around. I tried to get a not-disgusting picture of it. When I lay flat on my back it sticks up...you can see it bubbled up there on the right.

My doctor thinks it is going through some "red degeneration" which basically means the blood supply is getting cut off and part of it is essentially "dying". That seems like it would be a good thing, but the unfortunate side effect is extreme pain. Like can't-stand-up-force-yourself-to-breathe pain. It feels just like when you get a stitch in your side while running, with varying degrees of intensity. It started on December 1st, and is extremely random and sudden. I can be going along just fine and it hits me. The only thing I can do is lay down on my left side until the pain passes. Most of the time it fades quickly, but comes right back as soon I try to stand up. Usually I have to stay on that left side for at least an hour, and for some reason the couch is my best bet to relieve the pain. Consequently Cocoa has become my new best friend. She seems to think I lay there just for her comfort. :P

 

So for right now it's all about coping with the pain when it comes on. We've discovered that sitting straight up (like on the pews at church) or just plain trying to stay on my feet too long are triggers. Sometimes the pain is mild and I can work through it, and other times it screeches right to the top of the pain scale. I actually do pretty well at home because I can just go about my normal business for an hour, lay on the couch for an hour, repeat. 

I do have two different prescriptions from my doctor to help with the pain. We tried a milder one first, and it really does nothing. The stronger one helps only if I take it as a preventative, like when I know I'm going to be doing something that aggravates it. If I wait until I'm already in pain it doesn't even touch it. I try really hard to cope with it through resting rather than taking the medication because it has side effects. If I were to take multiple pills a day the baby could actually go through withdrawals like a drug baby! So I never take more than one a day, and try not to take one two days in a row. I would rather be in pain than hurt her even though my doctor assures me that using it as little as I do won't affect her. 

Honestly it's more frustrating than anything. I am not someone who enjoys idleness. It seems like every day I have a list a mile long of things I need to get done and it's really irritating to have my body at war with my ambition. :P

The girls don't seem to mind that Mommy spends hours on the couch lately. In fact, they rather like the captive audience. They put on Pandora and perform shows for me. 

 

Usually I don't slow down long enough to watch their shows so they're happy. :)

 And a silver lining...thanks to T's laptop I have gone from being SO FAR behind on my digital scrapbooking to being almost completely caught up! Normally when I need to work on a book I force myself to spend at least an hour a day on the computer, turning this blog into photo books, but I haven't kept up with it and was over a year and half behind. It usually takes me a good month to get a book complete at that rate. Thanks to the many, many, MANY hours spent on the couch the last few weeks I have completed three books, and am currently caught up to August of this year! 

All under the watchful eye of my faithful heating pad. :)

Several sweet friends from church have offered to bring meals, watch the kids, and Noni has even come over just to clean the house. Grandma brought lunch one day when they came over. I've been learning lessons in humility and accepting help from others, and we are very blessed to have friends and family to take care of us! Thankfully T is not a big dinner person anyway. He and the girls think it is a treat to have cereal for dinner rather than Mommy making them eat vegetables. Haha :)

K is very good at making egg sandwiches and has done so several times, and the girls are pretty good about playing and entertaining themselves. I am happy to report that the last three days I have been feeling a lot better! Still in pain, but it has been totally manageable...I can stay upright and walk through it which is a huge improvement! But I am definitely still counting down the days! :) Less than 6 weeks left! And my doctor indicated that he is willing to induce me once we get closer to the end so it might be even less than that. Grow baby grow! We want to meet you sooner than later! :)

Wordless Wednsday

 *K performing at a high school basketball game halftime a few weeks ago.

"I larious!" - Part 13

September 6th

Peanut came along and destroyed a mosaic tile thing Bug had been working hard on. Of course, Bug was very sad. I was talking to Peanut about how we could do better next time. Boo, apparently worried about justice, asked "What is her punishment?" I explained that I was talking to her and she wasn't going to have one. Bug didn't think that was good enough, "She needs a spanking!" Peanut, without remorse, says, "On my bottom?" She jumps off the couch, sticks her rear up in the air and starts spanking herself and laughing.

September 16th

We were out to eat and Peanut insisted that she needed to go potty even though I had just taken her three minutes ago. T finally agreed to take her. He said she got in there, sat down, looked up at him, and said, "Yeah I got nothin'.

September 20th

Peanut was drawing a picture of T. "This is your tummy Daddy!" Somebody asked, "Is it a big tummy or a small tummy?" A: "It's a BIG tummy! Like when Mommy has a baby!"

October

Her new thing is to randomly butt into conversations with, "Yeah toe-ta-ley!" in her best "Valley girl" voice.

October 22nd

We went to the dentist and they had Halloween decorations everywhere. She saw a skeleton and looked confused. "Why is that X-Ray hanging there?"

:)

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

 

The girls have been LOVING all the snow we are getting! And for the first time ever they are actually enjoying it and playing in it!  K's SPD issues have drastically improved over the past year. She occasionally wears jeans now! And so, for the first time ever, she has spent hours and hours outside in the snow without a peep about snow clothes! SOOO nice!

 

 

Boo and Peanut get cold and come in after about an hour, but K has stayed out for 2+ hours multiple times. She builds snowmen, snow forts, shovels the sidewalks, and does who knows what else. 

Here they are being silly and pretending to eat the snow with their "diggers". 

Snow fort! It looks small but it was actually big enough for her fit inside! 

 

See?!

 Last year we bought this after Christmas off the clearance rack at Target...snowman Mr. Potato Head-like pieces. :P

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! 

Merry Christmas!

Here are the play videos...anything I could say about Christmas is pretty much summed up here...

Merry Christmas! May you be blessed as you celebrate this blessed day when love came down from heaven so we could one day live there eternally!

Christmas Play

On Sunday the girls performed in the church Christmas Play. Noni actually wrote the play herself! It was a sweet little play about two friends. I will post the videos tomorrow. Here are the pictures...

K and her friend F were the two main characters.

 

The other kids were part of the choir. I was impressed with how well everyone did. A lot of times during performances the kids sing quietly, not really knowing the words well, but Noni had worked really hard with them and these kids were belting out those songs!  This one was taken during rehearsal.

Two of the loudest. Haha :)

 

 This one I took during rehearsal. Peanut initiated a group hug between her and three other little girls. So cute.

 I think I counted 28 kids up there for the actual performance, and there were a few that had stage fright and didn't go up. I love that our small church has so many kids!

The backpacks will make more sense if you watch the video tomorrow. :) 

Peanut and the other Cubbies got to go up and say Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 

And Boo and C said Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Peanut got squirmy about halfway through and went to the other side of the stage where her friend T was. She untied the ribbon on the back of her dress and was swinging it wildly. No idea what they are doing here...right in the middle of the play. Haha :)  

Noni and her student director, K, did an amazing job with these kiddos! Way to go everybody!

 

Videos tomorrow! 

Merry Christmas Eve!

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Cookies!

I am unreasonably proud of myself...I let the girls make Christmas cookies. Doesn't sound like a big accomplishment, but it is something I dread since it makes SUCH a mess! I managed to avoid it last year, but I talked myself into this time. They were very happy! 

 

It ended up being a 3 part process, and that was actually a lot quicker than usual because I bought the bags of dough that you just have to add a few things to, so the dough took hardly any time at all. 

They spent a good hour and half rolling it out and cutting out shapes.

 

While they were cutting I was baking, but it still ended up taking over 2 hours to bake them all. We made 4 batches...enough to take to the neighbors and AWANA.  

After naptime it was time to frost!

 

 And don't forget the sprinkles! Peanut was most excited about those.

 

 

They frosted for over an hour and only got about half done. We had to clean up so we could eat dinner before AWANA, so the next day we dragged it all out again to finish up.

 Yes it was a huge mess! I got two dust pans full of cookie dough and sprinkles. Thankfully the wax paper deterred most of the frosting dried to the counter, although some did manage to escape.

   

But they had a great time and made some pretty cute (and yummy!) cookies. 

And they had a lot of fun so it was worth it!

"Handlebars"

I think I mentioned that for her birthday Noni asked for a set of children's handbells so she can start a little handbell choir at the church. The girls absolutely loved them and within 8 days of getting them she had taught them a song and they performed it during the church offertory. It was a huge hit! Everyone loved it, including myself. I was smiling so big the whole time I took this video. They were just too darn cute! Peanut kept calling them "handlebars". She interuppted me during prayer time Saturday night and said, "Mommy! Pray for us to do good on our handlebars!" So funny!

Funny Friday

Happy Friday!

Happy Birthday Noni!

We had plans to go bowling on the base for Noni's birthday, but there ended up being some type of event and we couldn't get in, so we headed back to Noni and Papa's for games, lunch, and tree decorating. We had just given the girls Christmas shirts that morning so they were happily in the Christmas spirit. :)

 

  Of course they were thrilled to help Noni open presents no matter where we were! 

 

I think they let her open one...maybe not. :P

 We got her some fun puzzles.

 And Mama got her something she has been wanting for a long time...a set of children's handbells! She wants to use them to teach the children at church. The girls LOVED them and immediately started trying to play songs from the book! 

 

Then Noni brought out the ornaments and let the girls help her decorate the tree. 

I took this picture of Boo from the back and she looks like she's about 10! 

 I've been catching up on my digital scrapbooking lately and laughing at how I have so many baby pictures of Peanut not wearing pants. And then I saw this....apparently things haven't changed much even though she's 3 now! :P

Papa made a from-scratch carrot cake!

 It was a nice day even though it didn't turn out as planned. 

Happy Birthday Noni! We love love love you!

Coloring Contest Winners!

Our post office had a Thanksgiving coloring contest this year and both Peanut and Buggy won (for their age groups)!!! They were so excited!  I meant to take a picture of all the girls pictures before we took them in, but I guess I forgot. The post office called later and they got to go in and choose a prize! Peanut was THRILLED with her Playdoh.

And Buggy was just as happy with her rubber bands! She made bracelets for days! 

Boo didn't win her age group, but she did a good job too. :)