Weekly Update

So, life continues to be busy. Well, not so much for me. I just lie around. But for Robert--he is going non-stop. He has been the best husband ever. He rarely has any time to himself these days. During his lunch break and after work, he's normally running errands, shopping, doing yardwork, or cleaning. Not to mention, taking the boys to the library, park, or just playing with them. The other day he said he needed a vacation. We then looked at each other and started laughing, because we know there will be no "time off" probably for the next year. Oh, well, we can dream. Last Saturday he not only put the crib together, he removed an old ceiling fan and installed a new light fixture and rescreened our screen door. Then played tennis with Adam and Matt, prepared dinner and cleaned the house. Here's Robert and Matt repainting the baby's room. Matt helped paint the color swatches on the wall to help us decide which color to use. He was quite proud of himself. Adam was a bit bummed to see his old "Ben 10" room get painted over.

Here's the finished product. A train theme again. I've used the same one for all of our boys. Those curtains, quilts, and wall hangings (especially) were a lot of work and they still look nice, so of course, I'm using them again.

Here's an updated belly shot--36 weeks. Again, from Matt's perspective. Yesterday morning, like the past five Wednesday mornings, I was at the doctor's office. I had reached my limit--I was so sick and tired of spending my morning, sitting and waiting in the exam room.....again. I kept thinking--"I have to do this how many more times?" Mentally, I'm feeling better this morning. A good night's sleep helps a lot. The Relief Society sisters have started bringing in a couple of meals a week. It is such a kind gesture. It's been really helpful and we're very thankful. So, that's our life right now.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Holly!! Does this face really look likes it's 34? Welcome to middle-age!

Is It Time?

On Tuesday and Wednesday I had a boost of energy. I felt great and didn't have many contractions. So, I took advantage of it. I ran errands, cleaned a bit and sorted through our baby stuff. Thank goodness I did. I didn't realize how much I had given away and all the things I still need to get. I thought I had more stuff, but I don't think three swaddling blankets and five onesies will cut it. I went to bed last night but was awoken around 2am with bad contractions--bad enough to wake me up. I had them for eight hours, 'til 10 this morning, every 10 minutes. I then took a shower. I had to take Matt to the doctor for his kindergarten physical, so I figured if the contractions hadn't let up by then I would talk with the dr. and most likely head to the hospital. Thankfully they slowed down a lot by 10:30am. I only had three in two hours after that. Matt and I took it easy this afternoon--watched the movie, "UP". It's such a bummer to not be able to go about my regular schedule/activities. I'm having to forego my garden, yardwork, a clean house, good meals, etc. I keep telling myself it won't be too much longer--six weeks at most. My goal is to make it to May 1st.

Crazy Easter Weekend

We had a very full Easter weekend. It started a bit early--Thursday evening--when we attended Adam's school music program. Then Robert left town in the wee hours of the morning on Friday to drive to Kansas City to look for a van. After lunch, we heard the doorbell ring.
And this is what we found--Holly!!! My sister surprised us--big time. All of us were stunned to see her. It was great, though. She played a ton with the boys, cleaned the house, and just kept us laughing.

We colored eggs.

We had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard.

Adam and Matt enjoyed their Easter baskets this morning. The toys and candy kept them pretty reverent during General Conference.

Robert arrived home from KC with our last Easter present----a new van! Yippee!!

The Search Continues....

Well, our old van was towed away on Tuesday. It was sad to see it go. Not so much that we were super attached to it, but simply it represented the stress of having to find another van (SOON) and knowing if we don't, that three carseats will not fit in the backseat of our little Mazda. We ARE grateful that our van was valued much higher than we expected. We got $2700 more than we thought we would. We've looked around town at the miniscule supply of used minivans. As expected, there isn't much. We were trying to negotiate for one, but the dealer wouldn't budge much. That's a big no-no with Robert. He's not giving any of his hard-earned money to someone that won't negotiate. So, Robert's going up to Kansas City this weekend to try to find a van. The boys and I will be staying here. My dr. said no way could I go. And to be honest, sitting in a car for six hours sounds tortuous.

As for me, this bedrest is driving me crazy. And Matt, too. We're both tired of doing nothing.

Baby/Van Update

Life has been a bit hectic this week, working on the claim for our van, having multiple dr/hospital visits, and carpooling around in our one, little car. We've been off and on the phone with our insurance and the other driver's insurance--getting the van appraised, establishing liability, etc. This morning, in the rain/snow, Robert put our old tires back on the van. Less than two months ago, we had purchased the top-of-the-line tires for the van, thinking these would be the last tires we would have to buy for it. Because, once the tires wore out, the van would close to 200,000 miles on it. We paid $600 for them and we knew the insurance company wouldn't pay us dollar-for-dollar. However, since the back axel is broken, we could only put the front ones on. The back ones are in the garage, while the back of van is propped up on ramps. Our driveway is starting to look a bit redneck.

Monday afternoon was spent at the hospital. First I went to the Lab to have blood tests done. Because I'm Rh negative, the dr. wanted to check if my blood or the baby's had crossed over. Then I headed up to Radiology for the longest sonogram of my life. It lasted an hour. The tech had to do the standard measuring, etc, but then she had to record for 10 minutes each, the heartbeat, bloodflow, movement, and something else I forget. She did verify that he is a he. Then I was off to the OB unit, to do a stress test for another hour. The tests all show that everything seems to be okay. I had an appt. this morning with my dr. She said I have a pretty high risk of delivering early. My body already is inclined to deliver early (previous experience), and the car crash just increases the chances evenmore. She's told me I have to really limit what I do or she'll put me on bedrest, in the hospital. And, even though I'm only 32 weeks, I have to have weekly appts. now. So, life continues....in all of it's craziness.

Again.....?????

I don't even know how to make this humorous. Yes, this is our van. Yes, it is the third crash we've had in nine months. And, yes, this time it is totaled. This weekend we swapped babysitting with some friends. Rob and I went out Friday night. After dinner and some shopping we picked the boys up. We had promised Matt we would switch a toy at McDonalds that he had gotten previously. We stopped by there and then headed home. We were less than half a mile from home when I noticed an SUV was not slowing down at a stopsign--no brakelights, nothing. We didn't have time to stop and he t-boned us. He hit us hard enough that our van spun around a couple of times, broke the back tire off and shattered the back window--besides the big dent in the side. This was by far the worst of the crashes. Both Adam and Matt were quite upset afterwards. Thankfully, none of us were hurt too much. Both Adam and I banged our heads on the windows, so they are a little sore. Our shoulders/necks hurt,too, from the seatbelts. My neck is really tight and Adam's has a burn on it from the strap. As for the baby, I think everything is okay. He's been moving around as usual and I haven't had anymore than normal contractions. I'm calling my doctor tomorrow to have an ultrasound done just to make sure. How is it possible to go 35+ years without one car accident and then have three in less than a year? What are the odds of that? Are there just a bunch of 'crazy-yahoos' driving out there? Or are we the 'yahoos'?