What's up with us...

So...it's been awhile.  That's what happens when you're pregnant, I guess.  And it's hot.  And you have three other little kids.  And you're always tired.  And there is always laundry to do, and meals to fix, and pillows to keep company.  Etcetera.  ;)

These last couple months have really zoomed by.  After my grandfather's funeral in July, we celebrated Independence Day with friends, family & food.  No fireworks though.  Just sparklers 'cause it was just too dry in these parts to take the risk.  And since then...I don't think we've had a single real rain cloud.  So sad.  So hot.  So dry.   In fact, just last weekend my hometown area was just surrounded in out-of-control fires that were caused by dry lightning.  Five homes were lost and thousands of acres burned.  In fact, fire came withing yards of my childhood best friend's parent's home where I spend a great deal of my growing up years!  Thankfully, the fires seem to be mostly contained at this point but the lack of rain really has been a HUGE problem this summer.  :(

Mid-July I escaped my husband & kids for a weekend and attended Hills Alive Music Festival in SD with my parents.  That was kind of a nice little break.  I got to enjoy MercyMe & TobyMac interrupted only by the calls of my ever shrinking bladder and not by tired, sweaty children.   And I got to do a little thrift store shopping.  I was actually surprised that my parents we as accommodating to this as they were.  Overall it was a pleasant weekend.

In August, my cousin got married and I got to be the photographer at the wedding.  It was fun but totally exhausting.  Especially at 7 months pregnant.  I could barely move the next day I was so sore and tired!  I still have some editing to do for them but I posted a few on my other blog HERE to keep them from getting too impatient with me.

It was about this time that Acacia up & decided that she had had enough of diapers and began using the potty full time.  It seemed so sudden to me!  We bought her a little package of panties and she has been doing great!  Only one real accident to speak of.  Completely dry through the nights!  I am one happy mama.  :)

Russ & I also celebrated our 9th anniversary on August 16th.  Didn't get to do anything much.  Russ was working out of town and didn't get home until late so we ate at Pizza Hut with the kids on our actual anniversary.  But we got to go out to a nice place alone a couple weeks earlier so we didn't feel too cheated.

Russ has been working on our bathroom remodel.  We started tearing it apart over a year ago and it is finally almost finished.  Just a few more tiles and some grouting and I may actually have a shower upstairs again.  And now it is BEAUTIFUL!  You'll get the full before & after when it is finally officially "after".  :)

I am at 34 weeks in my pregnancy now.  Getting more awkward by the day!  Was in full-on nesting mode last week trying to get the house as absolutely organized as possible.  Purging anything that was not necessary.  Lot of trash & trips to Goodwill.  Even sold a few things on Facebook.  It's weird though, because I don't feel at all like I'm going to be bringing home a newborn in just a few short weeks.  I haven't had to buy anything for this baby since we've been told it's probably another girl and all the basics are covered.  We haven't got a room ready for her, no crib set up or anything, 'cause we know from experience that baby will spend at least the first six weeks (possibly months) in our room.  So we put the pack & play in the corner there which is just randomly filled with everything we think we'll use during those first weeks.  Not exactly "welcome home" friendly yet.  In addition to feeling like a real baby is kind of an ethereal concept and not a fact I should be getting practically prepared for. I have also been experiencing some crazy issues with heart palpitations and shortness of breath which has led to other symptoms such as extreme weakness & pain in my upper arms and legs.  It's something I've experienced before but the symptoms have never been this pronounced. When it happens, I feel just awful and have to just lie down until it passes.  Hard to be productive when you feel too weak to stand and you have to lie down all the time!   When I almost passed out in the ob's office they finally started taking me seriously.  Add on to this a family history of atrial fib and Wolff-Parkinson-White and they ordered a Holter monitor test.  BUT since I am a self-pay patient, the hospital is waiting on payment plan/help confirmation before they will administer the test.  At this point, I'm thinking it's all pretty pointless anyway.  I had an EKG when I was pregnant with Acacia that found nothing, and what are they going to do if they did find something this time anyway?  I'm having a baby in less than 6 weeks! 

On top of everything else the school year has begun and I'm attempting my third year of homeschooling in the midst of all of this craziness!  Not only am I teaching Eden who is now in 2nd grade but I've also started Jasmine on Kindergarten.  I wanted to start a little early this year since I know I'll be taking a break mid-October when the baby is born, but now that I've started, I'm not very worried about keeping caught up.  The girls are getting their work done much more quickly then I had anticipated, so I don't think those crazy sleep-deprived couple of weeks in October are going to set us back too significantly.  Praise God!  Jasmine is picking the routine up quite well.  We are currently in review of stuff she knows very well already so it seems super easy to her and is a good way to get her used to daily work.  She doesn't enjoy the handwriting practice very much and (as with everything else) wants to do things on her own terms which can be pretty frustrating at times...but that's okay.  It's the nature of the beast!  Eden has a tendancy to be easily distracted so having Jasmine working nearby has been a bit of a challenge.  But since Jazzy tends to finish her busy work much more quickly than Eden...Eden still gets a lot of one-on-one time with me once Jasmine has been excused, which works out nicely.  Acacia has been pretty cooperative so far.  While we work at the table, she usually plays nicely alone or sits with us doing her own "homework".  :)  The only time there is a problem is when I'm trying to read lessons to the girls.  It seems that if I'm reading, she thinks this is a good time to make lots of noise or try to talk to us.  But I honestly have almost had as much of a problem with Jasmine doing this as Acacia!  They just don't seem to understand the concept of sitting quietly and listening.  But other than those couple of minor issues, school has been going very well...much better than I had really expected it to.  Now we just have to wait to find out how adding a newborn to the mix is going to affect us.

We've also just started dance classes again this week.  Acacia had her first dance class ever and was sooo incredibly excited.  She didn't show even a bit of timidity or trepidation about going.  She walked in as if she owned the place and her teacher said afterward that she acted like she knew everything already.  Probably from watching her sisters.  Eden is taking three different classes this year:  ballet, tap and jazz.  She really wasn't enthused about tap but she wanted to take jazz pretty badly and so when the teacher said she needed to be in both ballet & tap in order to take jazz, she was back on board.  Jasmine decided in July when we registered that she was going to sit this year out of dance.  Was adament for weeks that she was perfectly happy NOT being in dance this year.  That was until dance actually started!  Now she says that she wants to be in the Monday evening Pre-K class that follows Eden's ballet/tap classes.  Seems like that's okay with everyone.  I just hope she doesn't change her mind again.  She keeps saying that she wants to be a ballerina.  So we'll see.  :)

Anyway, that's a quick recap of what has been going on here the last couple of months.  Hopefully I'll be able to post more now that summer is winding down but I can't make any guarantees.  I am a pregnant homeschooling mommy with three other kids after all!