Readying the nest!

We have been super duper busy around here during the past week. Uncle Collin came to lend a hand with Mary Louise and David so that Brent and I could get the upstairs toy room up and functioning last weekend. When Mommom and Kyle came down with the flu though, he opted to stay with us all week - giving me a little time to really spruce things up around here!

Toy room: done - am working on 2 bulletin boards to properly display the artwork of our masters but otherwise, it's great! We even got around to hanging some pictures upstairs...ok, if you've known us for any amount of time, you know good and well this is a BIG deal. Hanging just one picture in our house takes, sometimes years...sometimes it just never happens. It usually means we're about to move...we're not - that I know of anyhow - it's just one of those things...

Mary Louise and David are LOVING their toy room. They have a well organized craft closet, space to stretch and play and their very own space to share. In Mary Louise's words, "Daddy! My woom is boo-tee-full! My sweep in my big bed ta-night?"

They were ready. The transition has been wonderful and Mary Louise, though she wakes long before the crack of dawn (try any time between 4:30 and 6am), she does seem to sleep very soundly there and wakes less than before. David still wakes one to 2 times nightly, but after the first 3 or 4 nights, seemed to figure out that this new room was safe and he's been a calm "waker" ever since. As I've said before, I don't think I'll ever be able to accuse those 2 of being great sleepers...

We were also able to organize and finish the guest room (minimal to no baby / kid things there!! comfy bed!!), clean out and organize kid clothing, linens and the remaining boxes and odds and ends around here.

During the week, I re-organized our changing area and some built in shelving in our kitchen - which brings that to a much more functional room.

Anyhow, things are coming together. Projects are getting done. I am so very thankful to feel well enough to continue to keep up with it all. I finished Collin's visit out with a really good house (and dog) cleaning and even managed to have an electrician come and wire and area to mount the television - a long awaited project...(and with the kids constantly smearing whatever is at hand over the screen, a much needed one).

I feel like we finally moved in - over a year after actually moving in! ha!

I had an ultrasound on Wednesday - the first one that didn't yield any more photos of the Sugs. As it turns out, sweet baby is a little tired of the paparazzi. 31 weeks marked the start of our weekly biophysical profiles. We watch for proper development of the baby including certain milestones. In the final weeks of pregnancy (can you even believe it!!!???), a baby will begin to practice breathing - the diaphragmatic muscles get a little practice moving up and down and the baby makes facial breathing movements a few times per hour. We saw a few practice breaths during Wednesday's ultrasounds - right on track!! The estimated weight was 4 pounds 3 ounces - assumed by adding one ounce per day since the prior ultrasound. They will actually measure the approximate weight of the baby every other week per protocol (so I will have a more accurate idea of the weight after this week's check-up). The bottom line during this week's viewing is that the baby looks wonderful, we are both very stable and there are no concerns at this time. Uncle Collin was able to tag along which was really nice as his schooling will likely prohibit him from seeing our new little one for a bit post birth. Though there weren't any great frontal views, he did get to see some movement, hands, feet, a quick profile, and hear exactly how the baby was positioned - still head down but flipped since the previous week so head down toward my right hip, back curled up towards my left side, rump just under the left side of my rib cage with legs and arms snug and cozy on my right side. That kiddo is certainly making good use of any space my short waist torso can provide!

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Mary Louise and David come up with things all the time...I really should keep an ongoing list:
Mary Louise's regular positive response is, "Yeah. Ok Mommy. Sure! Uh huh!" That child is almost 3 going on 14...

Today, David was pushing her around on her tricycle. They got a bit rowdy and Mary Louise hit her shin on a pedal. She didn't cry - just came up to me with a bleeding shin and a HUGE grin saying, "My have new band-aid Momma?! Just one! My have a bo-bo wite here! My need a new Band-aid wite Momma?!" I gave her a pink Hello Kitty Band-aid...not that she knows what the heck Hello Kitty is (umm, incidentally, what, or who is Hello Kitty - I don't even know)...I found her a few minutes later proudly looking at her battle wound saying, "He-yo Kitty Cat!! My yike pink! He-yo Kitty! Meeee-yow!!"

On house cleaning day, I told the kiddos that we would bathe the dogs first thing in the morning. Mary Louise said, "My bave da dogs myself Mommy?"
"Sure!" I said, "That would be wonderful!"
"Ok!" she said. "My need a tow (towel) and a pink hose peese."
"We don't have a pink hose Mary Louise. I don't even know where to find a pink hose. We do have a perfectly nice green hose that you can use though."
"My need a pink hose NOW Mommy!" she said. "Dus one. You can find it on da peter (computer)."
This would be the unabridged version of the story - I did mention this on Facebook so I could remember. That child...the now thing, I could really do without. We're working on it. Otherwise, she's quite the hoot and a holler!

David has been doing some fine tuning with his super dry sense of humor as well. His therapist told me when she came this week that he ignored her for a good bit of the session. I asked him about it and said he needed to listen to her questions and try to answer them. He grinned and told me, "my pay (play) Mommy!" He then went back to doing things as he wanted. Again, totally normal behavior for his age (at least that's my opinion anyhow).

This afternoon, he ran around our little play area in nothing but a bright yellow cloth diaper. He seriously reminded me of a tiny super hero. So funny. He was so busy - working on blowing bubbles, drawing with chalk and pouring water over plants and bricks.

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We've finally had some really nice weather after a number of very rainy days. It has done absolute wonders for our moods and I'm so pleased we've gotten to literally spend hours outside.

Brent started a 24 day challenge with Advocare yesterday! He's doing really really well so far with the diet changes. I'm so excited for him and for us both as we explore the tweaking of our pantry and fridge and streamline our diets again.

32 weeks tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8 weeks or less!!! (but hopefully at least 6 more right Suga Bean?!)

xo,
Heather