Maternity leave day #1

Well, it's not noon yet and I'm already wondering what to do with my time here at home on maternity leave. Sitting and relaxing is not what I do best and I keep seeing chores that need to be done. The past couple of days have been extremely uncomfortable. My back hit a new level of screwed up and my legs and knees are feeling the pressure.
Today Bella said, "Mommy's and elephant." She's has no idea how true that feels.
I want to see this baby and hold her and coddle her, but she seems to be perfectly comfortable where she is.
I did sleep in a little this morning thanks to Tommy. Bella is here with me today but there will be times when she goes to my Mom's so I can relax a little before the big day.
I feel useless for some reason. This feeling comes every time I have to bend over and can barely stand back up without pain or grunting, and when I get angry at Bella for not standing perfectly still right in front of me while I put on her shoes. I just get frustrated with myself. I used to think of myself as a kind of supermom. The working, cooking, cleaning and childcare extraordinaire. Now I know all that credit I gave myself was bogus. Now, it's time to try doing all that with a smile and with TWO kids.
Yeah.
Pray for me.

Summer Color

When we were planning the scheme for Bella's room before she was born the thought popped in our head to have a poem painted around the ceiling line. We found the perfect person to do it. She was an old friend from a restaurant we worked at for a long time. She did it for FREE! She was an art school graduate and did damn impressive work. We were in love with the way the letters looked, the stars were sweet and the level beauty in the simple decor we had shot up drastically, in our opinion.
We wanted the exact same to happen with Tori's room. We knew the same plan wouldn't fly with the poem thing, but we hoped something would come through and WOW us.

This is part of Bella's ceiling poem.


This is Tori's Summer garden. This room gets the most light in the entire house. Now that it has bright flowers, a huge tree and butterflies, it's a magical treat. And guess which artist we carefully chose....................................me. I drew the tree and my Mom drew the flowers. Beautiful things happen when you try hard and let your imagination and tensions loose. The experience was very pleasant and turned out amazing.

Sometimes you just have to play hookey!

Teeny fingers and a giant prehistoric footprint.

Listening to Bella try to say Triceratops is hilarious.

The little kids' Discovery Place was a hit too.

It was a whim and it was fun. Yesterday, Charleen and I sat in our office and talked about taking Bella to Discovery Place. It took us all of 30 seconds to decide to take the day off, pick up Bella and my Mom and catch the light rail. We ate lunch on the Fox and Hound patio, then we meandered through Discovery Place at Bella's pace. We let her look at the things she wanted to see and play as long as she wanted. We even let her skip her nap, although we paid for that later.

It was another good time had by all.

Today Tommy and my Dad will set up a play set for Bella in our backyard. We are so excited that she is doing fun things and receiving fun toys.

I'm secretly nervous that Bella will react badly to the shift when the baby comes. We are very aware of the roller coaster ride we are about to experience and I don't want her to change. She is such a good girl. She responds to discipline, listens closely most of the time and I am so grateful for this. I am just slightly concerned that we won't be able to keep up with her one-on-one entertainment the way we currently do.

Happy Father's Day to my favorite men!

Bella knows that this guy is her biggest fan. In his eyes she can do no wrong. He rarely cringes when she wails, he would rather grant her wished than squash them and there is nothing he won't do with or for her. She is blessed in so many ways including having Tommy as her father. I love you both so much!

My father has a way of making me feel loved without even doing anything. He can just look at me and I see in his eyes that I mean the world to him. He has his own way of showing me affection. He delivers fatherly advice in a way that I remember through all my days. He requires little from me except to hear that I love him and bring his Bella to visit as often as possible. I am lucky enough to see him every day at work and that is a true privilege. I love you Daddy.

Consumed

I am rapidly approaching the 38th week of pregnancy. The simple fact that there is a baby this size inside me is dumbfounding. I am feeling large and mangled inside. The preoccupation of being this pregnant keeps my brain from functioning at maximum capacity. I'm consumed.

False Alram

I did it last time and, dang it, I refuse to be bamboozled again. I felt like I was going into labor early this morning. Luckily this time I didn't drag my poor husband to the triage department for no reason.
I woke up to a contraction that wasn't painful but it was definitely different. As I laid there with my heart pounding I felt them come one after the other, each one a little more painful than the last. Then, I got out of bed.
I realized at 5 am that my bags aren't packed there were dishes in the sink and the baby clothes weren't put in the proper spot... oh, and the laundry needed to be done. So, I got to work on the laundry and the dishes and I took a shower, just in case.
The event ended around 8 am and I went back to sleep.
That sucks.
I know now that I need to get prepared for the actual labor and I will frantically tackle that task.
I still don't feel right... after all that hub- ub this morning. I feel achy, sore and ready. I'm ready for this baby to show the real signs of making her unique entrance so I can meet her face to face.
I do think this could happen again before the actual birthday and that is so annoying.

5 Good Things

I'm happy to hop on and write about 5 good things in my life because I need a pick-me-up and a reminder of how good things really are.

1. There is a high in our family as we are waiting for the new baby to make her special and original entrance into this world. There is no better feeling than knowing we are bringing new life to this world and our family. I truly don't have words for how excited I am, the anticipation is really moving.

2. My stellar family (again) rose to the occasion for me in a trying time between me and my mother. They stand with me and keep me strong.

3. The sun and warm weather warm my soul. I am no fan of Winter or a cold Spring, I'd rather have 100 degrees any day... as long as I can find air conditioned refuge.

4. Bella loves to tell Tommy and I that we are her best friends. It is the sweetest thing.

5. This blog. I am really proud that this is my 103rd post. I've kept this going by modeling it after those I read and I am proud to have it; I even printed it to keep in a notebook for the memories. Christy you deserve a big THANK YOU!

Fun in the Sun

We all had a nice time during our family getaway.

Bella bonded with her cousin Nico.

She learned how to swim with her floaties.

We all ate really great food. (This was Bella's first ice cream cone of her own.)

We went out on Grammy and Pop's boat last weekend.

And ate some delicious food there too.

We needed these chances right before the new arrival to relax and enjoy each other. I am getting bigger every day and so is the baby. I can't wait to meet her and see how she will compare to (what I remember about) Bella's arrival. Now that we are back and things are back to "normal" we will commence finishing the baby's room. Working as much as possible for as long as possible and I will spend as much time standing up so gravity has a fighting chance to bring the baby out on time. Late babies aren't allowed.