Still on Baby Watch

Random Picture Of the Day: Painting with a Toddler

Not much to report here. We had a nice long weekend, celebrated Jeff's Birthday and Father's Day, all while watching my feet swell to enormous proportions. Fortunately the feet have subsided somewhat in since yesterday and made things much more comfortable. The kids loved (as usual) having Uncle Phil and Auntie Rachel come down. The basic formula is my kids dragging Uncle Phil all over the yard, begging him to 'dig to China,' play water balloons, and various other shenanigans. Uncle Phil is a good sport and seems to like my kids just a wee bit, so I don't think he gets too annoyed. :) There is really no way to go wrong in my kids' minds when they are at Grammy and Chappy's house, in the backyard, with all the relatives at their disposal!

In other news, the house has been listed for a week and half and we have had 4 or 5 showings. Hopefully the right person will come along ASAP and buy it! Paying two mortgages is not all that fun. Jeff started school again last night, via an online course. This one lasts six weeks or so, and is 'African American History of the 1900's.' Right up Jeff's ally, considering his college career has consisted of class subjects such as 'Strength of Materials,' 'Chemistry,' 'Building Codes,' 'Statics and Dynamics,' and other basic rocket science-type classes. The really nice thing about this class is that it is considered 'double dipping,' and counts for two different requirements. Can't beat that!

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

Yesterday was Jeff's birthday. I keep calling him an old fart, and then reality hits and I remember that I am over a year older than him. Duh. To celebrate, I planned to make a nice dinner involving steak. I had the potatoes and steaks ready for the grill, went out and realized that sometime between when I started the grill and when I went out to use it, the gas was out! Lovely. So, we dined on everything but the steak, which was really supposed to be the main part of dinner. The kids sang the sweetest rendition of Happy Birthday I have ever heard. James knew the words pretty well; Katie sang 'happy, Daddy, happy, Daddy, amen.' The cuteness factor was pretty much over the top. Last night, James told Jeff he had a birthday present for him. He said that Jeff wanted to go to Mayor's Park and have a picnic. Who knew Jeff and James thought so much alike? ;) We went today and had a lot of fun. I just might have gone on the swings, and given James an underdog. Shhhh...don't tell the pregnancy police!

Not Yet

Every phone conversation I have with my sister must now begin promptly with 'no, I am not in labor. So, the reason I was calling....'

Its getting down to the end, folks. I am also lacking anything remotely entertaining to blog about. Speaking of blogging, can you believe its been three years this month that I started this beast?! (Thanks to my friend Erin:) Who knew people would keep reading it past the first month? I didn't. The funny thing is that the people I thought would read it, don't. And then there are my parents and my sister. Not only to they get to hear the play-by-play over the phone, they also get to read about it on the blog! Thank you all, my trusty blog readers near and far. It just wouldn't be the same without ya!

What a weekend (Wait...don't I say that every weekend lately?!)

In abbreviated form, here's the low down:

Had to pick carrots and beets early due to a mystery rodent breaking in to the garden. Later spotted mystery rodent frolicking in the grass. Identity: another blasted groundhog! This means WAR.

Jeff frosted his hair. And every other part of his body. All while painting at the house.

I am huge. See photo on left.

The stuff we had for the yard sale. Sold approximately 4% of it. Made a whopping $68.50 for all the effort. Had a 'lovely' customer who lingered forever smoking a cigarette and asking obnoxious questions and prancing around in her undersized tank top and too short shorts and lack of a certain necessary supportive undergarment. Here is a sampling from our time with her:

Lady: When was this book written?
Me: Uh, you're going to have to check the copyright date.

Lady: Oh, a scanner, where's the other one?
Me: Its a scanner, not a walkie talkie. It doesn't have an 'other one'
Lady: I know its a scanner, but where is the other one?
Me: We don't have it. (Why argue at this point?)

Lady: Do you have any small clothes?
Candi: Uh, lady, you're only fooling yourself! You are a size ten wishing you were a size four. (***She really didn't say this, but that was what we were both thinking! We may have exchanged a few eye-rolls while the lady was busy picking through our stuff***)

And after the whole ordeal, which apparently included her putting her cigarette in my lawn (good thing I missed that!), she spent a whopping 50 cents and then asked for bubble wrap.

And a few miscellaneous pictures from last week.

What happened to this week?!

No more outings for me until the baby is born, darn it! This week has been nuts. What day is it, anyway? Tuesday my sister came down and spent the day. It was absolutely glorious, but totally tiring. We started at 9:30 am, and by 3:00 pm, we had successfully made a batch of Blueberry Lime Jam, a batch of Blue-barb Jam (isn't that fun to say?!), and a batch of sugar cookies rolled in Lavendar-infused sugar. The verdict? Yum. Except the lavendar sugar wasn't exactly as potent as I'd expected. Somewhere in there we managed to talk about just about everything under the sun, and then some. By the end of the day, I felt like I was going to collapse. The next day just so happened to be a busy day too. A friend of mine has a membership to a CSA and they had unlimited strawberry picking. We went there with the kids and attempted to pick strawberries. I say attempted, because my efforts were interrupted twice due to James experiencing tummy troubles and porta-potty fears. This involved me trekking hurriedly across several muddy fields with James in tow to reach the outhouse in time, twice. Overall, it was very fun, but of course it wore me out even more. Now I have three big quarts of strawberries sitting in my fridge waiting to be made into jam. That, and I have to price a few more mountains of stuff for my yard sale tomorrow. Phew! I need to be done with all this busyness so I put my feet up for at least 2.49845 seconds before Cheepa arrives!

Random Photographs

Check it out! I had to thin my beets and carrots some more, and the beets were actually 'big enough' to cut open. (by big enough, I mean the slices are somewhere between the size of a dime and a nickle) Surprise! They really do have red and white stripes!! How cool is that? I put the tiny little slices in my omelet last night, and it made me feel so clever. Except that they tasted like dirt. I am not a fan of beets, but I am determined to like them! When I get some of actual size, I am going to try roasting them. Any other suggestions? Also in the jar, Purple Dragon Carrots, which are actually....you guessed it, purple! I can't wait!

Here is the view from here. My feet? I think they are under there somewhere.

Whoa!

Only 29 days to my due date!! Can it be?

35 Days or. ???

Thirty five days til D-day, delivery day that is. At least until my 'estimated due date.' So far, my track record is early. James was 14 days early, Katie was 7. That means, hypothetically, I could have Cheepa in 21 days, or in 28 days, or something in that neighborhood. It won't be long, that's for sure. For now, I'll worry about getting the rental house on the market, cleaning my family room, having my yard sale (please don't rain!!) and maybe somewhere in there I should pack a hospital bag. I'm not sure my technique of packing my bag while in labor is going to work with this one.

In No Particular Order...

James enjoying a bubble bath; Katie looking like a little cherub

And here are two things I've checked off my to-do list!! Katie's room is all organized; I've gone through her outgrown clothes, packed everything away and her room is no longer a greenhouse for my seeds! And the dress is one I actually finished a few weeks ago. It looks a whole lot cuter on her, but its done!!! My current project is James' room, which is nearly done. One thing at a time...and soon I'll have another baby to squeeze!

Random Bits

1. I am getting huge. Cheepa needs a name already before he is born. Its getting close!
2. James told me today 'Mommy, its right in front of your nose!'
3. Katie says 'apple,' 'all done,' 'cheese,' and lots of other new words now. And she has such a cute little way of saying them.
4. Dad is making pulled pork for my b-day party on Saturday, and I know you probably don't give a rip, but I am getting excited!
5. I have only had to make 29 trips to the girls' room today. Just kidding. More like 28. That is the one thing I miss while being pregnant, my bladder.
6. We are putting the rental house on the market.
7. Ha! Threw that one in there, didn't I? I guess I am feeling a bit ornery tonight. We have decided that the good ol' rental house is going on the market. A combination of a declining rental market, a lot of stress, profit vs. loss analysis, etc., etc., has brought us to the point that we ready to get rid of it! We will be praying that it sells quickly, as we are going to be paying two mortgages til it does. As far as the lease we have/had lined up, we are still waiting to hear back from the guy. Ordinarily, I would assume we would never hear from them again, but this guy is just on his own time schedule, and he's one of those 'do you know who I am?' type of guys. I think he thinks we are at his beckon call and he can just start the lease whenever he darn well pleases. Anyway, when/if he calls, I think he will be very angry. But hey, he never came to sign the lease and we are not legally obligated to wait around for him to make up his mind. Now, if he would like to make an offer on the house that would be a different story. :)

Nesting/Crafty Fever

I'm in trouble. I am officially in the nesting phase....AND I have crafty fever. I want to get everything organized, cleaned and in its place ASAP, and I also want to sew up a storm. I have a zillion projects floating around in my mind, and at least five sewing projects I want to complete before Cheepa gets here. I had better get crackin'! I'll have to take some pictures of the progress around here. At least this time I don't have the urge to carry all my houseplants outside and dust them off this time around. Wait, I don't have any houseplants. I have kids. Only the strong survive.

My friend, 'Con-Rachel' took some really nice pregnancy photos of yours truly tonight. I am so excited to have these pictures, since I don't really have any nice pregnancy shots with the other two babes. Here is one of my favorites.

I'll post a few more tomorrow if time allows. We have two rental applications in one day, so we have to get a lot of calling done. We'll see....

67 Days?!

My trusty baby ticker thingy has informed me there are only 67 days till my due date. What?! How can this be? That's just a hair over two months, and last time I checked both my babies were early. We'll see. I can't believe the time is coming so quickly. I am starting to think more about labor, or more specifically, wondering if I'll make it to the hospital on time. I really hope I go into labor while Jeff is home. Last time, my labor was two hours, from the time I woke up to the time I had Katie. Not two hours and change. We're talking two hours flat. Now I know that my labor might be longer with this one; there's no way to tell, but I won't be waiting around to find out. I am excited to meet this new little person! It would also be nice to have my bladder back too.

Hello out there....

After another full weekend spent at....you guessed it....the rental, our list of 'to-do's' is finally getting very short. However, we have the added ISSUE of being told that the township has decided to mandate that we replace our perfectly fine stainless steel chimney liner with a new welded stainless steel chimney liner, to the tune of about $1200. I want to scream. And cry. Anyone want to a buy a house? :) I can't wait till I have my life back, and I can blog about fun and bizarre things (not like how I cleaned out the vanity at the rental this weekend and found that although there was a perfectly nice toilet right next to it, they managed to deposit both the Numeros Uno and Dos INSIDE THE VANITY CABINET! What the heck!)

Anywho, this week is hopefully the week I will plant my much anticipated garden. Its been raining, so that's why I say hopefully. My seedlings are busting at the seams and need to be planted. It is also the week I plan on relocated our pesky groundhog to some greener pastures, far away from my house. He'll have to find somewhere else to forage this summer, because if I catch him in my garden it ain't gonna be pretty. Have you ever seen a ginormous pregnant lady chasing an evil groundhog out of her garden? Me neither, and I don't want to. This years plan includes:

• Rutgers tomatoes
• Cherry tomatoes (can't remember the variety)
  
• Yellow Pear tomatoes
• Green Zebra tomatoes
• Orange Banana paste tomatoes
• Poblanos
• Anaheim chiles
• Some sort of roasting chiles
• Red Belgian bell peppers
• Green bell peppers
• Eggplant, if I can ever get some to sprout
• Tomatillos
• Cosack Pineapple Ground Cherries
• Cucumbers
• Jack-Be-Little Pumpkins
• Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans
• Purple podded pole beans
• Christmas Limas
• Black Turtle bush beans
• Sunflowers
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Dill (already outside)
• Purple Dragon Carrots (already outside)
• Chioggia Beets (already outside)
• Green Onions (already outside)

And to think this is the abbreviated 'I'm pregnant and due in July so I probably shouldn't go too overboard' list. There was so much other stuff I wanted to plant, but that'll have to wait till next year when I can double the size of my garden and reach down to pull weeds without bumping into a human being inside my ever-growing belly. (which, by the way, is garnering a lot of 'wow-you-really-popped-out' comments lately)

Like a Box of Chocolates

You never know what you're gonna get.

About a week ago, I told Jeff that I would bet money that the attic of the rental was filled with stuff. He didn't think so. He figured they never bothered to go up there. I wasn't convinced. Well. Let me tell you. The attic was full. Of lots and lots of stuff. Boxes and boxes of videos. Family pictures. Christmas decorations. Winter gear. Craft supplies. A coffee pot. Personal information. Books. You name it, we probably have it shoved somewhere in a box. I am sure glad we didn't leave access to the storage space upstairs.

In other news, I was told by my midwife this morning that its already time to start coming in every two weeks. This means we are getting closer and closer to the arrival of Cheepa! Dang. We better come up with a name one of these days. :) I don't really feel like going in every two weeks already, but what can you do. It'll be here before I know it!

Its a Bird! Its a plane! Its....a foot?

I am officially at the really fun stage where Cheepa is big enough to really make some noise, figuratively anyway. When he kicks, I can feel him bumping up against the other side of me, and I can feel what I believe are his tiny little feet or knees pushing out on my stomach. I love to be able to put my hand on my belly and feel a firm little bump o' baby right there. Its pretty nifty. Nothing quite like feeling a human being kick you...from inside your own body. (And Erin, if you're reading this...its really not that weird! Its cool, I promise! :) To quote Jeff, its like 'there's an alien in there!' (Which he said the very first time he felt James kick)

Less Than 100 Days!!!

We're down to three months, folks! 98 days! Give or take...til bambino #3 arrives! How does time fly by so fast? I am starting to feel the need to wash and fold and sort all my little bitty baby clothes. The only technical difficulty is where to put them? Hmmm. Must find dresser. Anyway, I know the three short months will go very fast, and I am excited to meet this little guy! James is getting antsy and keeps asking if we can get Cheepa out now. :)

Looking Forward

Although its hard not to get depressed every time we go over to the pit of despair, I keep reminding myself of what I have to look forward to once the house is in order. First, my garden. The little seeds I planted a month ago are already over six inches tall! I took this picture a week ago and they have already doubled in size! I am looking forward to going produce shopping in my backyard this summer. Mmmm!

Of course, after the garden is in the ground, we will soon be welcoming another baby into our family!

And if that's not enough to look forward to, I can always remind myself that my daughter finds great joy in wearing her brother's (worn) underwear on her head!

When you're Jeff...

When you are Jeff, you don't get embarrassed easily. You don't mind looking like a blooming idiot (in the humble opinion of your wife). You will make bets with your coworkers and vow not to cut your luscious locks for a month and a half. You will then volunteer to shave only the top portion of your luscious locks, creating something of a Friar Tuck look. When you are Jeff, you will go to work looking like this and think its hilarious, not embarrassing. You will ignore your wife's loving statements, such as 'if you want to go to work looking like a complete idiot, that's your own deal.' And if you are Jeff, you will ask your wife to post pictures on the blog for all the world to see. Here you go, honey. I'm sure the world will appreciate it!

Another day with Daddy; this time, he found that the plastic thingy from the collar of a new shirt made excellent children's safety glasses. Next up, power saw lessons!

And for those of you naysayers who say Katie doesn't have enough hair: Behold, the faux hawk.



And here you go. A shot of the baby bump. Growing larger by the day.

Random Randomness

(I saw this sign on the way home from the store today. Seriously.)

• Spring is in the air! Free water ice on Friday! Things are showing signs of life.
• My truck went down in a blaze of steam and anti-freeze today.
• Fortunately, it happened in my parents' driveway, and Jeff was released early from his second day at jury duty, so guess who's spending a sunny afternoon fixing the truck?!
• Rachel, where did we find our husbands? And is that a diaper on Phil's head?

• The kids have been like two peas in a pod lately. They follow each other around and are playing together and giving each other hugs and 'tisses'
• Cheepa is taking up more and more space. Only 15 to 17 (ish) weeks to go!
• I actually won something! And its something I've really drooled over for a while: a beautiful girls' jacket pattern from a very talented lady who designs all sorts of fun clothes for her little girl. You can see the pattern here. I can't wait. I already have some fabric in mind...
• According to James, birdies are his friends, and the squirrels are Katie's friends. And he has no qualms yelling out the window at the squirrels, giving them orders such as 'Stwirrel, climb that tree!' or 'Stwirrel, you're supposed to look before you cross the road!'
• And Katie fits into the dress I made her for Christmas. I love it!
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