26 Weeks

Last night after small groups we came home and Luke started running a fever.  Booooo.  I gave him some Motrin, but it didn't really bring it down a whole bunch.  Baby boy fell asleep fast when I put him in bed (after we rocked for about 30 minutes), and this morning he woke up good as new.  He was one chatty cathy, getting in all that he had missed last night.  As the morning wore on he started having a low grade fever that crept up to 101 by 11:30, so I gave him some more Motrin.  I don't believe he's had a fever since, so fingers crossed it's passed.  Whatever it was.  I am so very thankful that it didn't develop into anything worse, but it's kinda annoying when he gets these random fevers!  I get all paranoid that he's got something terrible and that then I'm going to get it. 

(you can't tell in this picture, but I actually finally got a hair cut last Monday.  I can't believe it's been a week and I still hadn't mentioned it.  I mean, a yearly hair cut is a pretty big deal.  I asked for 1/2 inch off, and she cut more like 2 inches off, but whateves.  It's healthy again.)

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 26 weeks- 97 days left......yikes!  I can't BELIEVE I'm in the double digits already.  But even though I'm under 100 days left, it still feels far off sometimes.  I made the comment this week that I feel like I'm pretty far along, but not far enough for there to be a light at the end of the tunnel.  Maybe around 32 weeks I will?

Size of baby: She's the length of a  English hothouse cucumber.  I guess there is a difference between that and a regular cucumber?

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'm afraid to look.

Maternity Clothes: Yes and yes.  Although I'm currently wearing Cody's shirt, so technically that's not maternity.  Actually, I wore one of his shirts Saturday too.  Yikes.

Gender: I'm having me a baby girl! Evan Elaine Carver will be here at the beginning of the summer!

Movement: It seems this weeks she's gotten too big to just give a kick or bump here and there.  I'd say 95% of the movement I feel is whole limbs sliding and pushing around under the skin.  It's all highly visible.  Sometimes she's gets a sharp body part and just puuuuuuuuushes against my tummy, and it HURTS!  I mean, push a finger into your bicep as hard as you can and that's what it feels like.  It's got to be her and not just the muscles contracting, cause there is a hard knot where it hurts, and sometimes you can feel the rest of her body in a soft lumpy line coming off of it. 

Sleep: Eh, take it or leave it.  I know you aren't supposed to sleep on your back, but sometimes its the only way to get my hips to stop hurting.  I try and prop myself up pretty high, and only lay there long enough for the pain to go away, but sometimes I fall back asleep.  :(

What I miss: There was something, but I forgot what it was.

Cravings: I can not get enough sugar.  Or chocolate.  I've told you about my cookie dough that I made.  I think half of what I spent our grocery money on today was junky sweets.  Brownie mix.  Strawberry fig newtons.  Ice cream.  Pretzel M&M's.  I just wanna munch all the time.

Symptoms: Still lots of stretching across my belly, and I can really tell that I've got more weight out front which seems to put a strain on the skin and muscles underneath my tummy. Plus I need to drink more water because the Braxton Hicks are picking up a little bit. 

Best Moment this week: Hearing my boy say even MORE words!  At church yesterday in bible class he busted out with "amen" at the end of a prayer, and today he said "blue" (boooo) for the speech therapist when she asked what color Thomas (the Train) was.  Amazing!

Oh, my boy

Luke's personality has blossomed and expanded over the last few months.  In a big way.  Every day that kid makes me laugh, frustrates me, and fills my heart with love.  Today was no different. 

This morning he wanted to read books.  So we read books.  He wanted to play cars.  So I handed him cars from the couch so he could zoom them across the floor (sorry, sitting on the floor is painful at this point.  Wood floors are hard).  Then he ran off to his room and came back with shoes and socks, pointing outside and babbling.  So I put his shoes and socks on him (with his jammies) and sent him out to the brisk morning to play.  Then I got to play.  I put Evan's name on Luke's old Boppy pillow.  I appliqued a onesie for her.  All the while he played nicely outside, punctuated with "Momma kwon!  Momma kwon!"  That's Momma come on! for those of you aren't fluent in Luke-speak.  Bless his heart.  Ever since he's learned that phrase my presence by his side is a must.  But I kept saying things like "Not right now!" or  "Just keep playing!"  I didn't really want to go out side, but how could I say that to such a sweet little voice?  Finally I said "I can't, Momma doesn't have any shoes on!"  He knows one must have shoes to go out side.  So what does he do?  Runs through the house, gets me a pair of flip flops, and brings them to me saying "Kwon Mom!"  Oh boy.  Melt my heart.  I put down my sewing, put on my flip flops, and sat on the bench outside to watch him play.  He played for a little bit, then went inside, brought back his rocking chair, and sat next to me.  I LOVE HIM. 

Then it was time for lunch, time for nap, time for Mom to take a shower.  After all of that I sat back at the sewing machine, and eventually he woke up from his nap.  Not long after he was awake, he came running over to me with his shoes, socks, and a tee shirt (he napped in just his diaper).  After I put them on him I laughed and asked if he was missing anything?  No Mom.  I asked him if he needed pants.  No Mom.  O-Kaaaaaay.  (which he mimicked O-keeeeeey) Off he went outside.  I went back to the fabric flower research/trial/error/attempts I was doing, and he went back to hollering for me to come out with him.  Don't judge, I just didn't wanna.  Finally I told him I couldn't because it makes my nose run.  Which is true.  I'm still itching from having the door open all day.  What does he do in response to that statement?  He brings me a tissue.  What am I gonna do with him?  So tissue in hand I went back out with him.  *sigh* That kid gets me every time.

He even said "Yes please" today!  That was a first.  And last night in the car Cody got irritated with the drivers ahead of us on the street and he said "Come on peeps.  Let's go!"  and the rest of the way home there was a little voice in the back saying "Kwon peas!  Kwon peas!"  When he's pondering a question he'll HHhhhhhhmmmmmm, with the inflection where it starts high and scoops down.  Cracks me up.

Maybe tomorrow I'll take a picture of the things I made today and post them.  I finally googled "how to make fabric flowers" hoping to find some good tutorials on flowers like I see all over Etsy.  Eh.  You can be the judge of how I did.  Maybe I just need more practice.  Tonight after dinner I made some cookie dough and split it in half- put an egg in one half and baked it up, ate the other half.  Okay, not all of the other half, but half of the other half.  A fourth of a batch of cookie dough.  Ug.  It tasted so good at the moment, but now I've sugared myself out.  Not to mention a little sickened at the thought of all that butter and sugar in my belly.  Between this baby and my sugar addiction, I am kissing my girlish figure away.  Scratch that.  I am eating my girlish figure away.

Pinchable booty

Yesterday the boys and I spent most of the day at Shae's house helping them unpack.  Did you catch that part?!  My friend is back!  I didn't write it down here, but I distinctly remember telling her that they wouldn't be gone that long.  I just had that feeling.  And sure enough, a little more than a year later they are back, with an extra kid in tow.  Anyway, for having a three year old (Dakota turned three this month), an almost 3 year old (Luke has three months left), and a one and a half year old (Kayden), they actually all played really well together.  Amazing! 

Today I finally had my stay at home and do almost nothing day.  I sat on the couch and really enjoyed my coffee.  I played play doh with my kid.  I  watched him play with his truck and horse trailer.  For some reason he had to wear his hard hat when he played with them, something he's never worn before even when he's played with the tool/tool box that came with it.

I piddled around on the sewing machine.  I took another 20 minute project and turned it into a 2 hour ordeal.  Wednesday Luke and I ran into a fabric store, where I came across some lavender and green plaid fabric ON SALE for $3.50 a yard.  Heck yes.  I got two yards and lots of ideas.  I used 1 1/4 yards of it to make another blanket, but this time I didn't layer it with anything, just hemmed up the sides.  It really should have taken no time at all, but I thought this would be the perfect project to try out a fancy stitch on the sewing machine instead of just doing a straight stitch up the hem.  All the detail took extra extra time, but I didn't do any of the work, I just had to sit there and make sure that the fabric ran straight.  What ended up taking f.o.r.e.v.e.r was when my bobbin ran out and after I reloaded it, the whole machine jammed.  It developed a giant wad of  thread under the sewing plate, which meant I had to take the machine apart to get to it.  I even snapped off my seam ripper in the wad.  Bummer.  But that seam ripper was probably at least a decade old, so I more than likely did myself a favor by now forcing myself to buy a new one. 

Here's my fancy stitch.  At first I was a little disappointed because the thread blends in with the fabric well and I wished I'd picked a more contrasting color.  But as I kept going, I realized it had been a blessing in disguise.  True to form I didn't measure anything before I started folding and pinning and sewing, and if you look closely to the whole things it's pretty uneven.  But I don't really care.  For the most part it's going to stay in her crib anyway.  I am hoping to really only use the quilt as decoration and have the blankets that I make and the ones I registered for to be the functional ones that keep her warm.  So after I was done I just folded it up and put it in the crib.

Someone wanted to see what I was doing.

Speaking of a little someone, he actually wanted to go pee pee in the potty this afternoon.  Of course I let him, and afterwards in his room I held up a diaper and a pair of underwear for him to choose what he wanted to wear.  He picked the undies!  I couldn't resist getting a quick picture of that little hiney wearing it's first pair of big boy pants.  I  love this little booty!

Unfortunately it only lasted about three minutes.  Not because he had an accident that fast, but because he didn't want to wear them any more.  He got this look on his face and just said "No Momma, no Momma"  over and over again while trying to pull them off.  I would have thought this would be more comfortable than a diaper, but I guess if a diaper is all you've known then the change might not be welcome.  We'll keep trying though!  Maybe next time I can stretch it to four minutes, and the time after that five minutes.  One day in the far off future my boy  will have that cutie booty in undies all the time!

Nursery Extravaganza 2011

Okay, so it's not really an extravaganza.  In fact, in the world of little girl nurseries, Evan's might be considered a little plain.  But the way I see it is there is a lot of space for us to expand on in the coming years.  Lord knows that little girl will rack up more cute things than I know what to do with and I'm gonna need a place for it all.  For now all I care about is the fact that it's done!  It may not be this, but it's ours!

To get a full appreciation of just how much work it took to get this room in working order, I'd like to present a little before picture.  A little insight to the disaster it was before.

(oh, that's a little painful)

You know how my house is nice and neat and organized with minimal clutter everywhere?  How everything has a place and everything is in it's place?  That's because all the things that didn't have a nice neat home, but I couldn't get rid of it, ended up piled in that room.  It was a lot.  And the closet was even worse.  You couldn't step foot in the closet.

But eventually some things ended up here:

(the new bookshelf in our room, where the chest of drawers once stood)

You've seen where the computer landed.  Some more of it ended up under our bed.  Unfortuantly more things than I wanted ended up here:

(you can see bits of the old day bed sticking up here and there, and those two big blue tubs are ALL of Luke's clothes that he's ever worn and outgrown.  I love my little boy things.)

which means at some point we are going to have to do something about that garage.  Yikes.  I NEVER thought I'd be one of those people.  But it's not space we are currently living in, it's not a space I look at too often for very long, and it's not high on my priority list.  Maybe in a few.....ahem.....years?  Anyway, most of the stuff ended up here:

or given away or donated.  Be proud.  It was tough.

So without further ado......Evan Elaine's nursery!

 (looking in from the doorway) (the chest didn't take up nearly as much space as I anticipated, hence the pictures going vertical instead of horizontal like I'd planned) (there will be something on the wall to the left of the window at some point, I just wanna make sure I don't come up with something better than I've already got planned)

 (look at how her headband holder is filling up!)

 (from the corner behind the chest looking back at the door.  I don't think I'd shown you the quilt I'd redone, which was Luke's from his bedding.  The original looked like this.  I just took strips of one of the room fabric and sewed over the blue.  Voila!)

 Ta da!  All I've really had to buy was 4 yards of fabric (one yard each of the four different fabrics that make up her name, the pillow, the baskets, the curtain stripe, and the bow holder), a quart of green paint, the curtains, and a few little accessories (wooden letters, a lamp, print off pictures, new hardware for the chest, materials for the bow holder).  I'm thinking I've spent about $120ish?  Not bad when new bedding alone would have cost me that much!  I feel like I should belong on one of those design on a dime shows.  Basically yesterday was totaly consumed with chipping, scraping, stripping, priming, and painting the body of the chest, and today I FINALLY got to clean my house.  I've been waiting to do that, and have it actually feel clean, for a very long time.  Momma is sleeping good tonight!

25 Weeks and more new words

First of all, in the last couple of days Luke has picked up two new words- pink and two!  Whoo hoo!  That's pretty huge for us.  Making that /p/ sound at the beginning of pink has been so difficult for him.  Unfortunately he's also picked up the words poo poo and pee pee.  While that's great for when he's potty training, it's not so great to shout out and want to talk about during a Walmart shopping trip, which is what he did today.  And for the last few months when ever we are counting he will say "One.....dis......dis.....dis......"  All we had was the one.  But now we are up to two!  Ha!  Every night when we say our prayers together, we always pray that God helps his brain and mouth to work together so he can say more words.  It's so exciting to see prayers answered!  Also today it was cute...he found my pack of nail files and said "aaaaahhh!" while pointing down his throat.  I laughed and said that it was a good idea that it could be tongue depressors, but that they were actual nail files.  What a smart boy to put those things together!  Oh, and one more thing.  I asked him a couple of days ago what his name was, and he said "L-dis-K-E!"  Ha!  I told him that's how he SPELLS his name, but when you say it, it is "Luke".  Funny kid.

Yes, I've written the wrong date by accident.  It was bound to happen at some point.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 25 weeks

Size of baby: She's the size of a rutabaga.  What is that?!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Can I stick with the 13 lbs from last week please?

Maternity Clothes: Generally, yes.  But Taylor is taking some maternity pictures for me in a couple of weeks, and I decided I needed a new shirt for the occasion.  I went to Khol's with Mom today and after making sure we had totally picked over the kid's section for anything else my children "need"  ;) I told her I wanted to go to the juniors department to find a new top for the pictures.  She looked at me like I was crazy (I was expecting that), so I asked her to indulge my delusions and just go with it.  She did, and I was able to say a big BOO YAH! when several of the knit tops fit, just in a medium instead of a small.  I ended up getting two- one to wear on the shoot and one just because.  Yay  me!

Gender: I'm having me a baby girl! Evan Elaine Carver will be here at the beginning of the summer!

Movement: Oh man, she actually tickled me to the point where I was laughing this week.  She is still about three inches below my right rib cage, and I have a tickle spot over there. Every few minutes or so she rolls an elbow or tries to high five me or something (seriously, she gets out there.  Like visible through my clothes.) and one time she hit it right on the money.  It's a good thing I was alone in the living room when it happened, otherwise my laughing and yelling out "that tickles!" would have looked really odd.  She's also gotten me a couple of times in the bladder, but thankfully those haven't been square on kicks, just bumped into it.

Sleep: It seems that every other night I'm able to sleep through the night.  Better than nothing.

What I miss: I think I've been okay this week.

Cravings: Still the sweets.  Lots of sweets.

Symptoms: Still lots of stretching across my belly, and I can really tell that I've got more weight out front which seems to put a strain on the skin and muscles underneath my tummy.  And tonight I've been really dizzy.  Odd.

Best Moment this week: Sitting and watching my girl try to come out the side of my belly.  And getting tickled by her.  ;)

Weekend fly by

Whew this weekend went quickly.  Friday I spent most of the day painting furniture.  Yay!  I've got everything done except for the body of the dresser, which will have to wait until next week due to impending rain in the near forecast.  Since I'm not gonna reveal the furniture until the nursery is all done, I'll give you a little teaser. 

Nursery Extravaganza 2011 should be complete by the end of the week!

Something else I got done in that room was a little wall art.  My friend Jenn created some art for me to match the room.  I love having talented friends! 

She already had the family tree and the birdy picture in her shop, but I needed a third item and I love the idea of the words to "My Sunshine" with her name, so I commissioned that one from her. How great is it that she was able to take a snippet of the fabric I've been using and work it in?  Details like that make me happy.

 (our family tree with all four of our names on it)

Then I realized a certain little boy hadn't had his picture taken in awhile and was not only super cute, but acting very silly.

Yesterday I spent making the first of several burp cloths for my girl.  I went and bought a set of colored clothes (I've registered for another set, which I could pair with totally different fabrics!) and got to work.

Finally a sewing project I feel is picture worthy!  I tried a different style than I've ever done before, putting the fabric long ways instead of across the bottom.  I like the way they turned out!  And I don't know if you can see in the picture, but the black and white one has her name embroidered in yellow, and the yellow panels on the sides are ruffles.  How fun are those little deer on the teal cloth?  (Excuse how wrinkled the burp cloth part is.  I washed and dried them before I sewed them, and I didn't iron. Lazy.)

Today was church and my good friend Taylor's baby shower, which I helped to host.  It turned out to be a great shower, beautiful decorations, yummy food (which has left me too full to want dinner at the moment!), and a great turn out.  I'm so glad that my friend could be blessed today for her sweet girl that they've waited a long time for!  Too bad I didn't have my camera to take pictures.  (I know, you are so upset)  (actually, I think the majority of the people that read this were actually there today.)  Anyway, a few weeks ago I made her a little present that I had to keep under wraps until today.

*edit* it won't let me upload any more photos, saying I've reached my limit and have to purchase more?  Is that the limit for one post or the limit for my blog in general?  If I have to pay to post more photos ever, I'm gonna be a little upset.

*edit again* I did have to buy more space if I ever want to post another photo.  Grr.  But it was only $5 for the whole year so I sucked it up.

She's a photographer, so I couldn't resist the camera theme-ed fabric.  The onesie says "photo worthy", cause I know that girl will have more pictures taken of her than of either of my children combined.  Ha!

Also, on a side note, I've added a "Homemade for Evan" label.  Anything I've made for her or her room can be found there.  I know you were dying for that.  You're welcome.

He finally arrived

And by "he" I mean the Verizon man.  See, unfortunately today I had an all day window when he could come.  I didn't have errands to do today.  No.  Not me.  He came on Tuesday, but in the 7 minutes I left the house during my window is when he showed up, without the I'm-on-my-way phone call I was supposed to get.  So that left me with the I-can-show-up-whenever-I-want window of all day today.  Again I was told they would call first, but I  was skeptical.  I just knew that we either be the last stop of the day.  Or the stop that came right during nap time. 

I waited all morning.  At one point I passed the time by doing a little sewing, and that disaster should have clued me in to how the afternoon would go.  I whipped up another basket liner for Evan and I thought "easy schmeeze since I've already made one"  Nope.  I made it too small and therefore had to jimmy rig by adding a panel in the back to make it fit.  It. Looks.  Awful.  So bad that I couldn't even take a picture of it.  And unfortunately I cut the panels for an identical basket liner, so now I've set myself up for another disaster of a project and no extra fabric.  Hopefully I can learn from the bad jimmy rig and create a better jimmy rig, and at least one of the baskets will look good.   Goodish.  Which ever one looks worse will get to hold the sheets and blankets (aka-hide the badness) and the better one will hold diapers and wipes.  Yeeesh. 

Anyway, back  to the internet guy.  Finally about 2:30 I decided I could jump in the shower quickly.  Luke had just woken up, and I figured it was do or die before Kayden got up.  Not before I left a note on the screen door (which was locked) saying I was in the shower and PLEASE CALL ME with my phone number, cause I still didn't trust that they would call me first.  And sure enough, I got out of the shower (with no phone call), wrapped in a towel (which shrinks every day as my tummy grows larger) and there was a man standing at my door.  Scared the bee jeezes out of me.  Of course Verizon would show up at that moment.  I ducked behind the door and hooted until I got his attention to tell him I'd be there in a second, then I threw on a robe and dashed to the door.  Mid dash I noticed that Daisy had pooped right there by the door while I was showering.  *sigh*  Could my life appear to be a bigger mess at that moment?  Oh wait, it could, because then my kid walks around the corner in his jammies shirt (from the night before), no pants or shorts, and a diaper that hadn't gotten changed since he'd been up from nap time.  Awesome. 

But it's done.  My shame is over.  And Cody's computer is now wired to the wall as opposed to wireless through a wall.

Better day

Someone must have said a prayer for my patience, because it was much better today!  It also helped that I feel good about all the things I've gotten done lately and was able to allow myself to relax on the couch this morning.  I had a second cup of coffee, watched Glee from last night, and just enjoyed being curled on the couch. 

That's not to say I didn't get anything done today.  I did manage to get the chest of drawers down the hall and into Evan's room (drawers are still outside, which considerably lightened the load, and I slid some cardboard under it which made it just glide around).  I messed around with it's position and got it situated where I think it will look best.  Yes, it still needs to be painted this weekend (Cody said if I waited until Saturday we'd do it then), but that's okay.   I needed it out of our room and to know where I was going to put it.  I also spray painted a frame I already had for a piece of the wall art I've printed off and hung them on the wall.  Sara stopped by the house this afternoon and approved of the placement of things, so they are stuck!  And finally, I put the bookshelf together for our room and loaded that sucker up.  You don't know how good it feels to finally have all that stuff off the floor and back onto furniture!  Ahhhhh, it's like I've got some control back in my life or something. 

Now the only thing left to really do is paint the chest and bookshelf and some piddly little sewing projects (which will resume tomorrow or Friday.  I needed a break!)  I am so glad I have all this done and behind me so I can relax and just enjoy being pregnant.  I hate having a to do list in my head and always prefer to get things done quickly.  Plus today I was able to read some stories and play play doh with Luke, things I'd been neglecting.  Speaking of Luke his speech therapist came today (Monday her son was sick and rescheduled for today) and she managed to get him to say "boat" and "bus"!  It was only the one time, but one time is better than no times.  And we tried to go over some new letters, but it seems he's learned all the ones he can say at this time.  It's so funny, every time he spells his name he says "l-dis-key-eeee!"  He will not say "u" for the life of him.  L-dis-key-ee!  He also has a stop sign in his room, so he likes to spell "s-t-o-p"  But letters like "h" "i" "q" "w" "r" and "j" are either too hard or he's just not ready for, because he won't say them ever.  My sweet boy is getting there!

24 Weeks

Once again, excuse the awful-ness of my photo.  Sunday and Monday I looked nice and cute, but did I take a picture then?  Oh no.  I spent the entire day doing housework, and my appearance is a direct reflection of that.  On the plus side, I got the old computer desk out of Evan's room, all of Cody's things that he still hasn't dealt with in a box in the garage (where he can now deal with it at his leisure without me going crazy on him), and 4 loads of laundry folded.  Plus I straight up scraped the paint off of two dresser drawers tonight.   I did buy stripper for it, but it was a total bust and didn't work. 

Also, I just went back and tried to do a belly comparison from the last few weeks to see if I've really changed that much, and it just goes to show that I really should take each picture at the same time of day from the same angle.  This week I did it myself with the timer all the way from the dining room table waaaaay after the sun went down, and last week Cody took it much closer (from a higher angle since he's obviously taller than the table) at night, and the week before he took it but stood farther back and it was during the day.  Oh well.  I almost didn't take tonight's at all, so at least I've got something.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 24 weeks. Adding an extra day has made this week seem extra long.  In fact, someone asked me how many weeks I was today, and I couldn't remember if it was 23 or 24.  How sad is that?

Size of baby: Evan is the length of an ear of corn.  And I can tell, too.  The website I get all these weekly things from say that she's still a little more than a pound and about a 12 inches long, but another site I saw this week said she's about 2 lbs and 14 inches long.  That's a pretty big difference to me!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Welp, according to the doctor on Friday I'm up 13 pounds.  Now, I've seen other weekly pregnancy blogs and those ladies are 10 to 12 weeks ahead of me and only at 16 pounds gained.  Eek!  Plus I'm sure I'll balloon at the end, so it looks like I'm gonna be up a solid 30 lbs or so again this time around.  I should probably stop with all the candy and ice cream.  And milk shakes.  And cookies.

Maternity Clothes: Yes. Please refer to the picture.  Actually, I wrote that before I took the picture.  Don't refer to it.  The shorts and the tee shirt just happen to not be maternity.  I never wear this shirt because it's exteremly large and I hate wearing big shirts, but it was our intermural champions for flag football college shirt and I just can't part with it.  It's come in handy during pregnancies.  The shorts are old work out shorts from when I used to pretend to work out.  Read- jog around the block once or go to the gym and "lift" weights before hitting the pool and sauna.

Gender: I'm having me a baby girl! Evan Elaine Carver will be here at the beginning of the summer!

Movement: She's an active little booger.  And I can tell she's moving up too.  I could have sworn today there was little body part protruding from right under my rib today.

Sleep: Dear Sleep, you will come back one day right?  And when you come back, you'll leave your enemies Potty Break and Hip Pain in the dust?  Okay, thanks.
What I miss: I really missed beer this week.  Don't judge.

Cravings: Just the sweets. And I always give in. But that will stop.  Right.

Symptoms: Besides the stretching of muscles and skin and my tired back, this week the foot cramps have come out to play.  And the shortness of breath.  Sometimes I just have to sit and lean back to be able to fully expand my lungs.  Plus, if it's possible, my patience have become even shorter.  I'm afraid people are going to start walking on egg shells around me if I don't get my act together. 

Best Moment this week: Passing my glucose test!  Not that I was really worried, but it was nice to get the phone call that all was in the clear.  Also at the doctor on Friday she measured the height of my fundus for the first time- the length from the top of my pubic bone to the top of my uterus- and I'm measuring 22-23 inches, so not too far off!  (Typically you should be the same number of inches that you are weeks....so maybe I'll get me another sweet little bitty baby?)

Valentine's Day

I'm postponing my weekly pregnancy update until tomorrow.  Try not to be too devastated. 

Today was a beeeeeeeeee-autiful day.  Just like the past weekend was.  Temperature was in the 70's and the sun was shining.  And while it was just like this for the past two days, today was the first time Luke got to play outside.  After we ran our Monday errands (Target for groceries and Home Depot for  the paint that will freshen up Evan's furniture.) we came home and Luke found his way out back.  He also found an old cell phone that had been buried in the grass or something. 

All I know is that I was getting Kayden going with lunch and I looked out to see him pacing in the grass "talking" to someone.  Later he told me it was Papa.  Hmmmmmm.   Alright then.  I fixed him some lunch and let him eat outside too.

But the conversation was just too thrilling to stop and eat. 

Finally it was that blessed time of day that I call nap time (these days Luke calls it, lay in bed and talk time), and I finally got to eat some lunch.  Right as I was finishing and trying to decided what sweets would satisfy my need for sugar, Cody showed up at the door with cheese cake from Cheesecake Factory.  Yum!  I didn't even care that he'd eaten half of it on the way home! 

Late this afternoon I set the table for our family Valentine's day dinner, and baked some brownies. 

Then I made one of Cody's favorite meals- bacon and shrimp- and we actually sat around the table together.  I need to clean off my sewing stuff more often!  It was fun using our wedding champagne glasses, although don't worry.  Evan still has a couple of DECADES before she tastes the stuff.  At Target I bought some strawberry pomegranate Italian soda, which was not only delicious and fizzy, but a nice deep pink to match the table!  It was fun blessing my family with a little love today, but man, my back sure is killing me.

Oh!  I almost forgot- after nap time I put his shoes back on him and he spent the rest of the day outside until the sun went down.  And the phone?  He has figured out he has pockets, and he kept the phone in his pants pockets all day, pulling it out occasionally when he got a call.  Or needed to talk to the "choo choo's".  Did you know you could talk to trains on a phone without a battery?

Where did he go?

Someone has switched children with me and didn't ask me first.  I used to have this sweet, quite, well behaved little boy.  Now I have some kid who NEVER. STOPS.  ever. 

Case in point.  Cody had to work this afternoon, so right before he was finished working Luke and I went to Ikea to get the new bookshelf for our bedroom.  I wanted to pay cash, but needed Cody's truck to pick it up, Cody works across the street from Ikea, but he didn't want anything to do with the inside of the store, so it was a win win.  As I paid for the bookshelf, Cody backed up to the front of the store and we loaded it up then he took Luke and I to Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table, so Cody took Luke up and down the escalator outside of the restaurant to kill time.  Then we got to sit.  Correction.  Cody and I sat.  Luke did not.  He stood.  He danced in the booth to music over head.  He tried to visit with the people in the booth behind us.  He tried to pepper his dinner roll.  He drank an entire glass of lemonade.  He wanted my Dr. Pepper.  He wanted Cody's tea.  He jumped up and down on the springy seat.  I have no idea who this kid is.  I have no idea where all the energy has come from.  When Luke gets like this, I just look down at my tummy and think "Good lord, what have we done."

Since we had two cars Cody told me I didn't have to wait until the check was back to go, I could take him whenever I was ready.  I said I could hold off a few minutes for another long car ride of talking about the traffic lights, the construction sites, and more traffic lights.  Then he did the sweets thing possible at that moment in time.  He told me to go on in his truck and he would drive Luke home in my car.  *sigh* Sweet relief.  I know that Cody hates to drive my car.  I know that he gets annoyed with having to acknowledge the color and change of every single stop light you go through.  But he volunteered to switch with me just because.  What a stand up guy.

Don't say "I told you so"

Well, I knew it would happen.  I called it last night. 

The test today wasn't as bad as I'd worked it up to be.  Sure, by the time I got to the last third of the glass of juice I was done with it and ready to pour it out- forcing myself to finish it was hard.  If you've ever watched me eat, I generally don't finish things.  I don't know why.  I just don't.  When I'm done, I'm done, and forcing myself to swallow any more makes me feel a little gaggy.  Hence today.  Blec.  But I willed myself to take those last drinks, and then we were off.  I got to the doctor right before it was time to do the blood draw.  The first nurse had a hard time getting anything, so another nurse came in to try the other arm.  After that it was over!  I survived!  The crazy part is she wants to see me in 4 weeks (it's been every 6), and then after that I'll go to every 2-3 weeks.  I can't believe I'm there already!  I figured I had at least two more appointments before the time between them started shortening. 

After the appointment Mom took me and the boys to Einstein Brothers Bagels for lunch, where I had the best cup of coffee ever.  Then it was home and nap time.  Mmmmmm nap time.  I sat in the rocking chair with the tv on and my lap top in front of me the rest of the after noon.  Yet, some how I'm still absolutely beat right now, and it's only 8:30.  I had a funny dream last night where I was running around trying to get everything ready before the appointment today, running late to start the drink, and when I went into the fridge I found the bottle empty cause Cody had drank it.  Maybe my sleep last night has something to do with my exhaustion from today. 

On a funny note, my boy became quite the little problem solver today.  He's rammed some of his cars up underneath the entertainment center (again) and was a little miffed when Momma wouldn't go fish them out.  I'm sorry, my tummy is a bit in the way to be rummaging around on the floor trying to reach under furniture.  I told him he had to wait for Daddy to get home, and maybe next time he wouldn't purposefully run thing under there.  Yeah right.  He swung his little body around, backed himself up under the entertainment center, and USED HIS FEET to push them closer to the outer edge.  Then he moved the ottoman aside and was able to get them.  It's crazy to watch their little wheels spin sometimes. 

It got cold again

*Please Note!* Well, it appears that my spell checker isn't working, so, ahem,  sorry about whatever you come across.

Yesterday was stinkin cold.  Like, sting your face off, take your breath away, wind chill in the negatives cold.  The over night temps last night were record lows.  It was cold.

Never the less, I still managed to get things done.  Like........I built the whole desk.  Well, first I made Evan's dress to match Evalyn's, took the picture to compare sizes to the one I'd already made:

(I think it looks like a size 12 month to me!)

But the whole process only took an hour.  Then I was just faced with the big flat box, like it was mocking me.  If your bet from Tuesday was "Cody won't follow through with putting it together like he said", then you were right.  I'm not giving you money though.  I started putting the desk together at 11 yesterday morning, and I didn't get done till almost 11 last night.  Now granted, that was with a sizable lunch and dinner break (which was at Mom's.  She took pity on me because they cancelled church and dinner at church and she knows how much I loath cooking.), plus I took a break inbetween each step because of my back.  I have never put anything together before that intimidated me more than looking at the instructions book for that thing.  But after getting past the 4 PAGE supply list, it wasn't too bad if you just took it a sentence at a time.  And each peice in itself wasn't that heavy, so the only part that was hard was bending over so much.  My back hurts again just thinking about it. 

Our new living room!  It's not as bad as I thought it was gonna be, and I think I'm gonna enjoy Cody being here in the same room that I am most of the time.  Hopefully he will be content with the set up and it will stay like this. And what did my boy do while I was working?  He "helped" me, he played, he tortured the dog.  When I say tortured the dog, I mean this.

Chasing her around with his push cart and raming her.  She would try to find higher ground:

But he would just disrupt that.

Plus he got all 10 puzzles out and put every. single. piece. in a pile on the couch.

Believe it or not we didn't loose any when I went to put them back together.   

Today was a bit more low key than my building expedition from yesterday.  I did a bit of rearranging of furniture in the bedroom, shifting the chest of drawers out and the sewing table in.  Now I've got a big empty chest of drawers in the middle of our bedroom floor because I was not stubborn enough to move it myself down the hall to Evan's room.  I'm gonna *try* and wait for a time when Cody can help me.  After nap time Luke and I got out and did a few errands.  Got some colored burp cloths to embellish for my girl, printed of some nursery art, got some more fabric to replace what I've used up recently.  When I got home I put my new fabric and cloths and some other laundry in the washer because, *suprise!* our cold water didn't freeze up over night despite the frigid temps!  By then Cody got home from work and we were chillin as a family on the couch. 

That's when I heard it. 

Splashing. 

Oh, I knew instantly what it was, and I dashed into the laundry room.  Sure enough, water was gushing out from behind the washer.  Apparently the cold water pipe didn't freeze, but the drain sure did.  It took almost a whole roll of paper towels and three bath towels to mop up the mess.  It was sweet though, both my boys came running to help.  Cody got under the table and mopped up what was there, and Luke ran to find a flashlight and shined it for us.  Hey, at least in his version of "helping" water didn't just get spread further!  And now I've got another washer full of dirty water and sopping laundry.  The good news is Saturday it's supposed to get up into the 60's, so if it does't thaw tomorrow then it should by then.  It won't be as long as the last time! 

THEN, as if the washer incident wasn't enough, I go to make dinner- hot comfort food of baked potatoes topped with chili.  I get the potatoes in the microwave, turn to dig out my chili and BAM realize I forgot to buy some.  You've got to be kidding me.  I tried to convince Cody to go to the store, but he tells ME to go and (get this) TAKE HIS TRUCK AND GET HIM GAS.  Ha!  Yeah right buddy.  I huffed and threw on some shoes, ran to the store, made it home and still had time to open the can, heat it up to a boil, and grate some cheese before the potatoes were done.  I felt pretty much like a rock star at that point. 

I would love to say that all of this has earned me a day on the couch with my DVR tomorrow, but unfortuntaly I've got my glucose test and doctor's appointment in the morning.  *sniff sniff*  I really don't wanna do this.  This was one of the first things I thought of to dread whenever that litttle second line appeared.  I know that this time tomorrow it will all be over and I'll be pecking away at how it wasn't that bad, that I made it a bigger deal in my head, but still.  It's what I do. 

And since I don't want to end on a Debbie Downer note, I'll leave you with a picture of what came in the mail yesterday. 

The other two bows I ordered!  I left the one in the package because I thought even that was cute.  I love everything about these headbands!

Sunny and productive

Today was another beautiful day.  The sun was shining, the weather was warm, the blinds were open.  I cleaned the other bathroom today (a miracle in itself since I usually can't make myself do any housework past Monday), made some chocolate chip cookies (which included the first batch without the chocolate chips for Cody.  That kid is still weird.), and made a dress for Lindsay's Evalyn. 

I cut two dresses at the same time, and I'm going to make Evan one tomorrow just like it.  Our girls will be matching, just a year apart!  I did use the link to measurments that Julia had found and left for me the last time I tried a dress, so hopefully these two dresses will actually be the size 12 months they are supposed to be.  Maybe tomorrow when I make Evan's I'll photograph the pink and brown dress with the green dress so we can see what the sizing difference actually is.  But that's just me thinking out loud.  Or on the keyboard.  Whatever. 

Also exciting news, the desk came today!   Yay yay yay!  The only problem is, it's in a big box.  A Big.  Flat.  Box.  Which means there is a husband around here that's gonna have to put it together.  He said he'll do it after I go to sleep, which is the silliest thing I've ever heard considering I am more than willing to help (and I'm VERY handy at putting things together.  Really and truly.)  Do we wanna take bets on whether it actually happens, and if it does how late he stays up to do it?  Or realizes at 4 this morning when he's only half way done that he's going to have to finish tomorrow?  There are many many things my life partner is good at.  Time managment is not one of them.  Unfortuantly I'm not only excellent at time managment (usually), but I'm a bit of a stickler about it.  It goes alone with my "rule follower" nature.  He's not a rule follower either.  See why we tend to clash?  A lot? 

Anyway, I'm hoping I'll have some finished product pictures of our new living arrangment tomorrow, but I'm not keeping my fingers crossed.  Let's be safe and plan for that on Thursday.

23 Weeks

Well, the sun was out again today which helped me to be much more productive then the last....ummmm.....week.  I did laundry (what little I had.  I'm totally staying on top of that this time), cleaned a bathroom, made a burp cloth set for a lady at church, made dinner (I actually got a compliment from Cody on my hamburger!), changed the sheets, emptied the dishwasher.  Yesterday I did my weekly grocery shoping (during the big game of course, had the place mostly to myself), cleaned the floors, and did some over all tidying.  The front door was open, the blinds were up, it was a lovely day.  No desk yet, but lovely none the less.

I mean, what day isn't lovely when these sweet things arrive in the mail?!  The first two bows of the four I've ordered so far!  I got these two beauts at this shop and now they reside on the bow holder!

(Can you see my belly button?  Hello world!)(Also, welcome to what I've been wearing for the last week.  It's hard to put on actual pants when you know there is no where to go.  Just keepin it real folks.)

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 23 weeks. Finally.  With Cody home so much last week, it was almost like every day was Saturday, and the week just couldn't move forward.  It was a long one.  Hopefully this week will move faster.  Except not too fast.  I have my dr. appointment on Friday and it's the glucose test.  Blec.

Size of baby: weighs as much as a large mango.  She's a little over a pound!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I don't know right now, but I will on Friday at that appointment.  Shall we guess 10?  12?

Maternity Clothes: Yes.  Today I tired to wear one of my regular tee shirts, and it barely met the top of my yoga pants.  Oh brother.

Gender: I'm having me a baby girl! Evan Elaine Carver will be here at the beginning of the summer!

Movement: Almost all the time.  And a lot of the time it's not even just pokes and jabs, it's the tidal wave rolls that feel like cart wheels or something.

Sleep: Between the bathroom trips and the tissues, I am up somewhere between two and three times a night.  And unfortunatnly it's about to get worse because I've just been told the medicine I've been using to get what little control of my allergies I have, is not appropriate for pregnancy.  Oops.  I was so depressed trying to find a suitable replacement and finding none that I tried to buy myself a new shirt so I'll at least look cute while being sleep deprived, but Target had nothing I liked.  Talk about adding insult to injury.  So I went to Freddy's for a hot fudge sundae.  Maybe I should up that poundage in the weight catagory to around 14 lbs.

What I miss: My nasal spray.

Cravings: Just the sweets.  And I always give in.

Symptoms: Ugg.  I can literally feel my tummy getting bigger and bigger.  The skin stretching.  The tummy muscles deteriorating.  I can't imagine how I'll feel in 10 or 12 weeks.  And I keep forgetting to mention I've already gotten the waddle down.  It's just so much easier to walk that way.

Best Moment this week: Hearing my sweet boy say more and more actual words.  He's done so good this week!

I'm including a straight on photo this week so you can see that belly button of mine.  I told you it's come out play!  And I didn't realize how wide my hips looked until I saw these pictures.  Either these pants are a little baggy or I'm growing myself some birthin' hips.

The sun! The sun!

Oh ya'll, the sun was out today!  Not only was it out, but it warmed the world up to a toasty 50 degrees today!  We started the day with thick sheets of ice covering the roads and ended it with dry pavement.  Lovely.  It's like we hadn't spent the last 5 days with temps in the teens at all.  It all must have just been a bad dream.

Since Sara and I still weren't on our ladies retreat, we retreated to Babies R Us.  Just the two of us, with Sonic drinks in hand, for two hours, with a scanner gun.  That's right, we did my registry today.  And much to her chiding, I've got a whopping 24 items on that list.  Plus we went to Target and I registered there for about 10 more things. 

I know. 

I went bananas. 

But at least it's done with and I can check one more thing off my to do list. 

While I was gone Cody was supposed to take Luke over to his parent's to play and give his dad some disk thing.  Of course by the time I got home at 5ish they still hadn't left yet.  So I finished getting Luke dressed (Daddy had only gotten as far as sweats and socks for him, so I took the liberty of changing the pants to jeans, and added shoes and a hoodie) and I just went with them.  While we were there my mother in law was kind enough to feed us dinner- fried pork chops and homemade mashed potatoes with some green beans.  Mmmmmmm.  One more meal I didn't have to fix.  Plus it was so good I finished my plate and Luke's (after he got down from the table, of course). 

What a great day.  There was sunshine, friendship, makeup, and a hair brush involved.  (I may or may not have combed my hair at any point while there was ice on the ground)  (I did shower every day though) I'm pretty sure the entire hundred thousand people who live in this town had a great day too, because most of them were out and about soaking up the sun too.  The traffic didn't even bother me, I was just so glad to be driving my car. 

ANOTHER SNOW DAY

-For some reason even when I'm watching a show off the DVR, I hate getting up before commercial breaks come on.  Yes I can pause the tv any time I want, but some habits are really hard to break.

-I think coffee and Dr. Pepper are the most perfect beverages and there is no need for anything else.  Oh wait, I forgot about cherry Coke.  And mango tea from Le Madeline's.  And Boston tea from Red Lobster.  And peach mango tea from Shlotzsky's.  Okay.  Scratch the last part of that first sentence. 

-Sometimes at home when I'm not sure what room Luke is in, I call him like a dog.  "Here Lukie Lukie Lukie."

-I think watching Luke develop is the coolest thing ever.  I know I've said this before, but it's been awhile.  All of the sudden I've realized he's not this little baby that just stares at me with a blank stare, but he's a little boy who gets it.  He knows his routine, he knows that you have to move the mat to get the stool in front of the potty, he knows where his inhaler is and how it works, he knows what it means when a visitor stands up and gets their things (that their leaving, he goes to the door, opens it, and waves), he knows that I like to have the remote control (he always finds it for me when I am in the living room), he knows that you can fast forward through commercials and gets annoyed when I don't, he knows about the little picture on the back of the camera, he knows to spit when brushing his teeth, he KNOWS things.  Some of it amazes me, like the teeth brushing part.  He's only watched one of us brush our teeth a hand full of times, yet he just knows.  He amazes me every day. 

Those are just a few random thoughts I had today.  And I had lots of time for random thoughts today.  It was yet another snow day.  Except this time there was actual snow involved.  It snowed for about 10 hours, starting at about midnight.  When we woke up there were already several inches on the ground, and it just kept coming down.  It was beautiful. 

 (I wish you could see better how thickly it was falling!) (And where's the road? Where's the curb?  It was hard to tell)

(I made him wear his robe around the house to stay warm.  It's so cute, the hood has black spikes like a dinosaur and there is a dino embordered on the front)

The whole morning was spent in idleness. I tried to start cleaning off the computer desk so that when the new one gets here (which I was hoping would have been today) we'll be ready to go. But Cody was sitting at the desk, and my "hovering" was invading his personal space. I asked him what else am I supposed to do?! to which he said anything but this. Still couldn't get up the gumption to start a new project, and all I could do was pick the house back up. Luke and I had made quite a mess with the cars and the Nerf bullets and blocks.

Now call me crazy, but I did get out and drive in the snow around lunch time.  See, my sweet momma had taken the time to do six loads of laundry for me, and I needed to go over and get it.  Driving in the ice and snow wasn't that bad!  I only fishtailed (I was in the truck) once, just a little, between the drive there and home, and the ruts in the snow kept me pretty close to on course.  After I got home and showered up, my friend ventured over.  She had called and asked me if it was okay, she was going CAAAA-RAZY stuck in her house.  Knowing the feeling, I was all up for it.  So Niki came over from 2-4 for a nice little visit.  At that point I was supposed to be leaving for my ladies retreat, but we backed out of it due to the road conditions.  The sun had come out during the afternoon, which was deceiving to how drivable it was out there, but the camp was about two hours away and we decided not to risk it. A few of us girls did however, decide to at least have dinner for SOME time together.  That was nice.  Between Niki and dinner I feel much better about my cabin fever.  Although, it didn't really help with my feelings of having an out of control mess in parts of the house.  I know that it can't be helped until the new furniture gets here, and it won't last for forever, but it still gives me an icky feeling inside.  I hate that things have to get messier before they can get really clean.  That's the way life goes sometimes. 

ANOTHER snow day

Yep.  Today was day number 3 of being iced in.  Day.  3.  And today Cody had to drive into work, so it was just me and Luke.  All day.  Again.  I think at some point I just stared off into space for a while.  Other things we did to pass the time was play Hot Wheels, rock in the rocking chair while watching Dinosaur Train and Sesame Street, eat stuff, and clean out the bookshelf in the computer room.  Looking at that list, I'm sure I did other things between the hours of 8:30 and 5:45 because that doesn't seem like nearly enough to pass the time, but I can't remember what it was.  Cody got home from work a tad late due to the road conditions, and after decompressing for a little while, he took the battery out of my car and we headed to Walmart for a new one.  Oh man it's a lot of work bundling up a kid and yourself to get out in 20 degree weather.  Thankfully Cody still had Chick Fil A on his mind (as did I) and he said we could get it for dinner.  Whoo hoo!  It also helped that it's located in the parking lot of Walmart.  So after a quick trip inside for my new battery (and for candy) (and frozen pizza for their dinner tomorrow night) we were cruisin through the drive through.  Chick Fil A has never tasted so good, not only because I've been needing a lemonade, but because I didn't have to cook it.  I know cooking for days on end may not be a big deal to some, and would even be appalled that sooo over it, but I was soooooooo over it.  Preparing three meals a day for three and a half days in a row was way past my culinary limit and I was not looking putting up with one more meal.  No thanks. 

Also, I didn't craft today.  No pictures.  Sorry.  Like I said, I did a lot of sitting and staring.  I just couldn't get up the mojo to do anything.

Another snow day

Much of today was pretty much exactly like yesterday.  Cody didn't go to work (although today he was put of bed by 9), but he worked from home.  There was ice and snow everywhere.  The washing machine was still frozen up.  Daisy  was still prissy about going outside.  This is as far as she got. 

Some of today was different.  A majority of the Texan population lost their power for extended amounts of time today due to the state's inability to keep up with the power surge of heaters in such  low temps.  Luckily we didn't loose our power once, although I did prepare for it all day.  I let Luke watch PBS all morning so that when the power did go out I wouldn't have used all of our go-to time killers already and be up a creek with a restless two year old.  And then when it didn't go out all day I was happily finished with my daily craft project (with minimal interruptions) and Luke was one step closer to learning his letters.  Really!  I was impressed with how he was doing while watching Super Why and Sesame Street!  Daily craft: a basket liner.  I've got a couple of baskets from Luke's nursery that I got at his shower, both with fabric liners in blue.  Well, we can't have that!  I got out my trusty seam ripper, took apart the liner for this basket, and used it as a pattern for something to match.

I used a different a fabric on the bottom that I'm not super fond of because it won't really be seen and then I wouldn't be wasting the stripes.

Not perfect, but good enough for me!  It's the perfect width for burp clothes, and I plan on having this little baby very close to the rocking chair in the nursery.

At  lunch time I merely had to breath the words "Chick Fil A" and Cody was on board with getting some for lunch.  I was really in need of lemonade.  And fries.  And chicken nuggets. Out he went, wearing pajama pants, a sweat shirt, a robe, and a cashmere trench coat, to hunt and gather our food.  Unfortunately the restaurants were not as lucky as our little family when it came to electricity.  Chick Fil A was closed.  All other food places were closed (so said the husband, and I blindly believed).  Even Walmart was closed.  It's true.  So I turned on the oven and heated up some chicken fingers I had in the freezer.  Not NEARLY as good, but much cheaper.  Plus I made some mac n cheese to go with it, and I let Luke have the left overs after he woke up from his nap (I felt bad since he loves the mac so much and I made it after he was asleep).  While he ate his snack I started in on purging and combining the dresser and chest of drawers in our room.  Luke soon followed, playing, but then about 20 minutes later he came in with a clean plate saying "Oh no! All gone! Daisy all gone!"  I looked at the plate, it had obviously been licked clean, and I asked him flat out "Did Daisy eat the mac n cheese or did Luke eat the mac n cheese."  He looked at the plate, looked at me, then pointed to the dog and said "Daisy does."  That darn dog had gotten up on the coffee table and licked his plate clean while he was in the room with me.  *sigh*  I got him a whole bunch of pineapple instead and made sure to stay in the room with him while he finished it off.  She paced and paced around, but that was one snack she wasn't getting. 

At 4:30 I tried to go over to Mom's with the laundry, but my car won't start.  Highly irritating.  I already had the laundry in the car, I had already told Luke to get some clothes out, he was already hyped up about leaving the house.  Not sure what it means for tomorrow.  Just kinda felt like I was getting hit with one more thing.  First the toilet.  Then the frozen pipes.  Now my car.  A part of me felt guilty for getting so upset over such trivial things, but I think we've established the pregnancy zaps my patience.  Of course after that Luke wouldn't leave me alone with "Momma's car?  Momma's car go no?  Momma's car stuck?" over and over again.  Not good.  I got a little testy before dinner.  I'm going on the ladies retreat this weekend with church, and I hadn't been really excited about it until now.  Tonight I was ready for a little break.  I love my boy.  Love him.  But days and days and days on end with only each other puts a little stress on a momma.  I'm hoping that Cody actually steps up and does some parenting this weekend.  It KILLS me that the handful of times that I've left them for a day or so, he doesn't really do much.  In fact, his exact words are "Why should I have to do it when someone else wants to do it?"  Um, awesome attitude about your kid, dude.  So anyway, I wasn't really looking forward to dealing with that again, but I need a break.

So tomorrow is shaping up to be much more of the same.  School was cancelled for tomorrow before the sun even went down today.  They are calling for more blackouts tomorrow already, due to the continuing strain on the electrical companies.  Good thing Luke got his fill of tv today. Not sure what's gonna happen with my car.  The only thing we've run out of is pants for Cody, but he said he doesn't mind pulling a pair out of the dirty clothes (in my car) if he has to go in tomorrow.  Well, that and anything good to eat, according to him. Apparently my idea of snack foods for this week were not up to snuff.   But you know what?  After all this whining, I really am thankful.  I have been so thankful in this cold snap for our warm cozy home.  Thankful that I have a plethora of hot beverages to choose from when my feet are cold.  Thankful that I got my errands done on Monday and we've got all the food and things we need for the week.  Thankful that Cody hasn't had to drive into work, so I haven't had to worry about him.  Thankful we had heat today when so many homes were without.  Thankful that it's ONLY our washer that's frozen up, not a bathroom or the kitchen.  Just thankful.