Waiting...

I wanted Garrett to come early because he was my first and I was excited.

I wanted Addie to come on 11/11/11 because, it's cool. And it's Paul's birthday. 

Neither happened. Both late. 

I've thought this one would come early because she's so low, and so, low. At 35 weeks I couldn't image going till 40 weeks. But here I am, 2 days from her ETA, and no signs pointing to an early baby. And I'm just fine with that. Actually I'm even ok with her being a couple of days late. Mostly because everyday, my rib feels a little better and I want to give that as much time as possible. And also, because Paul has family in town from Colorado for Poppy's birthday. There will be at least 8 visitors here on my due date for a party. And people coming and going for a couple of days after. I know they'd all love to be here when the baby's born, but it all sounds chaotic to me. I'd rather have a slow and easy going time getting the kids ready for grandparent sleepovers, etc. 

But, like most women who stay pregnant for 40+ weeks, that week leading up to the due date goes by sooo slooow. Paul's had a crazy busy week and everyday he has some commitment that makes him say, "please don't go into labor tomorrow." So far so good. I haven't made any plans or commitments this week, just in case. So that also means I've been really bored. My rib caused me to take it easy for long enough that I started feeling really lazy. So this week I've been busy. My rib hurts the most if I'm laying down, so I've spent a lot of time sitting at my sewing machine and standing in my kitchen. In the past four days I've made three dresses, six baby hair bows and headbands, three headbands for myself, and two receiving blankets. I've also made 22 freezer meals, with a couple more planned after I finish this post, and two batches of cake pops. 

I also spent a lot of time today thinking about how all of my boy newborn clothes are in Utah, and what if I need my parents to bring them out, just in case… A coworker of Paul's got a new nephew yesterday and they were told throughout the pregnancy that it was a girl. His coworker knows how shocked I was to find out it was a girl so he wanted to make sure that Paul shared that with me yesterday just to stress me out again. It really doesn't stress me out much, the thought of it being a boy. But once you have the idea in your head of what it is it still would be really weird if it ended up being a boy. Anyway, that's all, just waiting, rambling, passing time...

Oh and the kids and I killed some time at Target and at Wendy's this week on a lunch date. I love these two.  Addie chases Garrett around all the time trying to massage his shoulders.  She chants in a high voice, "massage, massage, massage!" And they both laugh.  She told me he needed a chicken nugget massage.

Project 365: Day 196-210

July 15- They're starting a band.  It's called 'White Noise.'

July 16- A play-date with baby M.  This was the best shot I could get of these on-the-move kids.

 July 17- Newport Beach.  Happy kids.

 July 18- We had a fish die and Garrett talked about it too much, so I told him we could go pick a new fish.  We ended up with a guppy and a little frog to add to the tank with Mr. Fishie.  The guppy is Go Fish, and the frog is High Jump.

 July 19- It took a minute to even tell that this guy was real.  His owner was playing the violin at the Uptown Farmer's Market.  I love finding little places that have a small-town/country feel.

July 20- Bounce house at a community car wash/bbq.

 July 21- I dropped these two off at the airport this morning.  He's spending a week getting spoiled by his Utah grandparents.

 July 22- Ya know those flip flops that you wear all the time even if they don't match?  My old ones wore out, and these are quickly becoming the new ones.  Sketchers for $14.00.

 July 23- Garrett turns three in two months, and my nephew turns one a couple weeks later, so I'm throwing a combines party for them in St. George in September.  Construction site theme!  I'm trying to get it all planned while Garrett's gone this week.  So we headed to Harbor Freight to pick up a couple things.  Addie was bored.

 July 24- Busy baking this week!  I made three dozen today for a cake walk fundraiser.  It's for an organization that donates pet food to senior living centers for residents who want to have a pet, but can't afford the food.  Who thinks of this stuff?  What a great organization!

 July 25- So many succulents centerpieces!  Party planning night!

July 26- Food truck dinner.  Supporting the local boys and girls club.

 July 27- One last swing with Mimi and Papa in Vegas before we had to say good-bye.  He had a great week!

 July 28- We had friends over for dinner tonight.  So fun!  Four kids, two and under makes it challenging to get a good picture.  Boys picking their noses, girls are over it.

 July 29- I made these truck shirts for the kids today.  Addie loves hers.  Garrett's is "Too big. Take it off."

Project 365: 147-155

May 27- My SIL and I spent the morning in the fabric district.  I friggin' love LA.  That yellow on the bottom is muslin, like the Aden and Anais swaddle blankets.  It was $2.50 a pound.  I think I got 6 yards for 3 dollars.

May 28- Parking lot safety.  She won't let me help her, but she always lets Garrett.  I'm usually next to Garrett, holding his other hand.  But when I shut the door and looked up to see this, I had to take a quick picture.

May 29- We had a do-nothing day.  And by 'do-nothing', I mean, two weeks worth of laundry and a lot of reading in between.  This is the first stack Garrett brought me.  And I have no idea what Addie's doing.

May 30- We call her Lulu, which has nothing to do with her real name, but we say it's short for Lu-nami.  Also, I haven't given her goldfish crackers in days, maybe weeks.  And I couldn't find a bag or container anywhere in the room.  Mystery fish/snack hoarder.

May 31- Just a typical pool party with Paul's extended family.

June 1- Harvest!  2.5 months ago these were all seeds being planted.  Gardening is so rewarding!

June 2- At the Long Beach Farmers/Street Market.  My MIL was in a spending mood, but Addie wasn't having it.  Since the kids are about the same size, Garrett stood in as a body double.

June 3- Paul worked a 12 hour shift so the kids and I went wandering around IKEA.  Garrett saw the big hot dog sign on our way out and I gave in.  two hot dogs, chips and a drink for $2.50 is easy to give into when it's 6 o'clock and you haven't thought about making dinner yet.

June 4- An evening with Cafe Rio at the beach.  Sand in my salad.  Sandy diapers.  Sand in the car seats.  So much stuff.  Ending with a trail of sand to the bathtub.  I hope I always think it's worth it, because it always is.

Project 365: 105-114

April 15- Recovery day from our whirlwind weekend in St. George.  The kids and I slept in until 9:30. then we stayed in our pj's on the couch until lunch time.

April 16- The kids' art table got a new home with a little more space.  This is what I did to the wall above it. And I already had everything around the house to out it all together.

April 17- Knott's Berry Farm.  Just me and my boys.  Addie was with Grandma White.  Paul was loving this because G usually defaults to me, and A usually defaults to him.

April 18- A puppet show!  More lke a peek-a-boo show, but close enough, and still entertaining.

April 19- These happy kids + sun, food, and music turned this day around.

April 20- Paul was at work so I took the kids to have lunch at the Whitwood fountain, a visit to the pet store, and we finished it off with fro-yo.  Paul's Grandpa really wants us to have a lefty.  Maybe Addie's his lucky charm??

April 21- Paul's grandpa loves roses and has tons of rose bushes around his yard.  He picked me a big bouquet of these beauties today.

April 22- It was impossible to get a good picture of all of my hard work, but I cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom.  5+ hours of scrubbing, going through drawers and cabinets, reorganizing stuff and getting rid of stuff.  And as you can see in my message to Paul, I planned to keep it clean for a whole day!

April 23- I bought a water noodle and cut it in half to make a marble track for each kid.  Paul and I needed to have a big Great Strides planning meeting and I thought this would be a good distraction.  This picture was taken during the two seconds that Addie left Garrett alone.  She loves her brother, and it sometimes drives us all crazy!

April 24- Three nights in a row now of horrible sleep for no good reason.  I gave up trying at 4:30 this morning and got up and made cupcakes for Paul to take to work.  By 7am I was ready to go to sleep!  To bad toddlers don't understand that.

Stir crazy/Spring Cleaning/Keeping Depression at Bay???

I don't mind where we live when it's cold outside.  I don't mind were we live when it's warm outside either.  But I definitely like it less in the spring because there's not enough windows, and it also reminds me of how hard it is to get outside, when I really want to be outside more.  I'm guessing what you're thinking is, "open your door and go outside!"  We have a cute kids picnic basket, tons of sidewalk chalk, remote control cars, a bike, squirt guns, bubbles, swim suits, a mini pool... everything you can think of for warm weather, we have.  And we're ready to use it.  But our 'yard' is a mortuary parking lot.  Not appropriate for two wild toddlers running around with bubbles, cars, snacks, etc.  We go on walks, we go to the park.  But it's still a bit of a production.  Especially since I can't quite get the kids to nap at the same time yet, so there's about 4 hours of our day that consists of overlapped sleeping.  I just want a yard to play in, where the kids are safe if I leave them alone for a few minutes, or where I can be with one and a monitor while the other one naps.  Ya know?  Anyway, this is the mood April has put me in for the past 3 springs.  All of this is an explanation of the title (or three titles) of this post.  I can't tell if it's the spring-time cooped up blues, or if spring really does make me want to clean and dejunk, or if I feel a crash coming on so I'm cleaning/creating/rearranging, to stay busy so I don't crash.  Maybe a combo of all three.  Whatever it is, I'm doing good, but also doing a lot of extra stuff these days to keep things looking fresh and clean.

Here's a couple of them:

We bought the kids a water table for the porch.  We re-potted some old plants, did a little cleaning and rearranging, and made enough room for it.

I cleaned the playroom and got rid of some stuff.  I found a lot of stuff, mostly from Christmas, that we've never played with.  These puzzle cards were among the new/old stuff I found and Garrett loves them and is really good at finding the other half matches.  I've decided to implement a new rule with toys: a new one comes in, an old one (or two or three) goes to Goodwill.  It's amazing how stuff accumulates!

Garrett's wanted to help with the organizing.  He called me to his room to "show you".  I'd put a pack of new diapers on his floor and I was going to stack them in his dresser when I got around to it.  When I got to his room he said, "Me stack dipes me self."  He'd opened the pack and 'stacked' them all on his own.  Sure, I should be potty training him, but I'm just going to be proud that he knows how to restock diapers for now.

 Addie 'helped' too.  I had little piles of stuff around during my cleaning process.  Addie had: 2 phones, a camera case, a bag of photo hangers, a receipt, and sunscreen.  She was determined to climb the step stool and dive onto the couch without dropping anything.

Speaking of Addie, she's getting stronger.  Here she is with Garrett pinned to the couch.  Him yelling, "Be NICEEEE!!"  and her squealing, "Tick! Tick! Tick!" as she tickled his neck.  Never a dull moment at our house!

The kids' little table has been in the playroom but it's never had enough room for both of them to sit at.  We have this unused wall between our bar stools and front door and it was a great fit.  So I moved it and it's been used more this week, than it has the months it's been in the playroom.  And  I couldn't resist decorating the wall.  The instagram collage with washi tape is my favorite part.  (Someday I'll get around to telling you how I printed them for cheap!)

 The kids were trying out the chairs at IKEA.  Garrett said with each one, "aww, me relax the beach!"

I made this puppet show curtain for the kids.  I was going to do a tutorial, but I'm really not good at step by step instructions, especially taking pictures.  So if you want to make one, here's the measurements.  It's 5' tall and 3' wide.  It's on an adjustable tension rod so I can move it to different doorways.  The opening is about 18" X 18".  I used quilt binding to finish off the opening.  (It would have been easier to just use one piece of fabric, but I didn't have one piece big enough and I didn't want to spend any money. So I just kept piecing it until it was long enough.)  There's 3 pockets on the front to store puppets.  And the banner was no-sew.  I just cut the triangles and glued them onto bakers twine.  I made a drawstring bag to tote the puppets around in.  And I found the puppets on clearance at IKEA for 99 cents.  Oh, and the bottom of the window was a little droopy, so I glued a dowel along it on the back and it fixed it right up.  

 (The picture below is the dowel, it's covered in washi tape.  I was gonna paint it, but I'm a little obsessed with washi tape right now so I went with it.)

 Super easy to make draw string bags, I did it from start to finish while Paul bathed the kids.  I think I'll make a few more just to store more crap.

The kids got half of the puppets for Christmas, but when we were at IKEA a few nights ago and I saw them in the 99 cents clearance bin, I decided to complete the set.

 

So that's a little look into our lives this spring.  I'm sure there's more DIY and cleaning projects to come before I'm over this phase, but we'll see what I come up with.