The last 2 1/2 weeks

I'm not entirely sure how I made it through the last 2 1/2 weeks. Thank goodness my iphone has a calendar. My goal each day was to just focus on the next place I needed to be and not worry about anything beyond that. So in short . . . here is what we have been doing.

1. Worrying -- about my mom, she is recovering from her surgery (with 3 of her sisters there to help her). I try to call her once or twice a day (which is normal). She is doing well. Thanks to so many of you who have asked how I am doing. She will be starting chemotherapy soon . . . and I am sure that will be a new adjustment but we are just grateful for the treatments that are available.

2. Doctors and Dentists and Orthodontists (oh my) -- I thought I should get all the kids caught up on everything before the baby was born. Which means that in addition to my weekly doctor appointments I have added and completed 12 additional appointments in the last 2 weeks alone. That is a lot! We have collectively endured 5 teeth cleanings, 1 tooth pulling, 4 flu shots, 3 finger pricks (which were surprisingly more dramatic than they should have been) and lots and lots of waiting. Additionally, I am still doing my daily shots of Lovenox -- and the only one not getting the flu shot so far is Trent and I am pretty sure he now has the flu. He has been down and out for 36 hours. Literally sleeping for perhaps 30 of the 36 hours. The six hours he has been awake did not help his spirits much as all he did was watch BYU lose.

3. School stuff -- 2 open houses, several parent meetings and coffees, musical auditions, musical rehearsals, homework (don't get me started on that one), 2 different schools, 2 different bus schedules, packing lunches (my most dreaded task), explaining repeatedly to my middle schooler that she cannot buy icecream for lunch, early pickups (because of all the appointments), and more . . .

4. Music -- 3 kids on piano, 1 on flute and 1 on violin -- it sometimes makes for quite the cacophany in the house.

5. Soccer -- 3 kids, 3 different practice days, 3 games each Saturday-- Today they were as spread apart as they could be, but without giving me time to go do something in between. Julianne from 9:30 to 10:30, Madelyn from 11:00 to 12:00 and Catherine from 12:30 to 1:30. They all love it though (except maybe Madelyn -- who loves to be there and loves to be with her friends, but needs constant reminding during the game to watch the ball-- or as was the case today-- remind her that the goalie does not sit down, even if the ball is on the other side of the field).

6. Being 9 months pregnant -- there is just a certain level of endurance required this last month. The ground is so very far away. I must sit so far back from the table that I seem to spill every meal and snack on me. I can't do dishes without drenching my shirt because I am so leaned up against the counter. There is nothing remotely cute about being this pregnant. Trent said (in a very loving manner) from the front and the back you look great, but if you turn to the side you kind of look like an alien. (and the reality is that he is right!)

7. Bad hair days -- about 5 weeks ago the ignitor on our propane oven apparently got weak and so in a brilliant example of bad timing, I opened the oven door just as the propane ignited (after having some time to build up because of the weak ignitor) and was able to experience first hand a huge fireball rushing at my face and hair. Fortunately I was not burned. Unfortunately my hair was not so lucky. It was pulled back, but a good centimeter around my face was entirely singed off as were my eyebrows. The eyebrows are back, and so is the hair around my face. . . the problem is that the hair just sticks straight up and is about 2 cm long. It is going to be a long process growing it out. After 3 visits by repairmen, a lot of new parts, and them showing me a dozen times that it works, I still open ovens very, very cautiously.

8. Redecorating -- I started removing the wallpaper in Adam's room (it was halfway up the wall with a baseball border). I HATE WALLPAPER. I am convinced that when it was installed that they must have run out of regular wallpaper glue and used super glue. It is a happy moment when a piece the size of a penny finally comes off. We have bought wainscoting and a chair rail and now need to paint and install it (all before the baby comes). Unfortunately, my worker has been asleep for 36 hours and so this project is lasting a long time.

9. Photography -- My little business adventure with Lillian is really doing well. I absolutely love it. I am learning so much and getting so much better with each photo shoot. And since I am having a baby soon, we have crammed in 3 days of photoshoots this month (as well as a few extra ones) and I have probably a thousand photos still to edit.

10. Nesting???-- I really want to, but I don't have the energy. The only great thing about being this busy is that despite having a large watermelon-like protrusion trying to interfere with my sleep, I am so tired that I sleep great.

To garage sale or not to garage sale

Busy, Busy day. Trent was in Dallas overnight (yes, on Valentine's day:(). I got up this morning and got Julianne to school and then came home. I was determined to get some packing done. The problem I ran into is that each closet is already so full of boxes that it is hard to know where to start packing. So, I cleared out the piano room downstairs and started moving all the packed boxes down there. It was a lot of up and down the stairs! Currently the room is about half full. It makes a huge difference. I can actually see some starting points. Meanwhile the kids were busy playing and playing. As I was carrying stuff downstairs, I came across this big pot of mine and thought I would boil the 2 frozen chickens in the freezer at the same time, rather than transfer them to the new house. So I started that and after about 3 hours I turned it off and let it cool. When I went to debone them, they were not fully cooked, so I had to turn it on again. During this time, Deann called and wanted to see if I wanted to do a garage sale. I really have pared down lately and did not think I had a lot of stuff, but I agreed to do one with her hoping that that would motivate me to go through things quicker. At 2:30, my neighbor came over because she had a showing at her house. That was nice, because then I could go get Julianne without loading up all the kids. Andrea and I were chatting and I mentioned that Deann and I were doing a gargage sale. She wanted to see all the things Deann was selling but didn't have a car to go over. She called Deann to set up a time and Deann said she needed to return some movies to me anyway and so she came over and picked up Andrea. We also swapped kids for playing. When I went to pick up Julianne and take Andrea home, Andrea had bought everything Deann was selling! So no garage sale. In many ways I am relieved. Andrea was then locked out of her house and so she came over and we all had dinner and got the kids bathed and ready for bed. Madelyn did not have a nap so she fell asleep early and so did Adam. Julianne and Catherine were really good and read on their beds. All in all it was a good day. The kids were great!

Shorthand

I have baked 200 cookies and made the frosting to top it for a primary activity.

Madelyn said -- "I hate the gym" today. It was really funny. She has not been much of a talker and then suddenly she is stating her opinion.

Catherine played with disney paper dolls for several hours today and watched Cinderella III for the fourth or fifth time.

Julianne -- is almost finished reading her first real book all by herself. Junie B Jones and the mushy gushy valentine. My favorite part about listening to her read are the words she comes up with in place of the real one. She always gets the first and last letter correct but all the ones in the middle are up for grabs! For example today she substituted bathroom for bottom -- but then again I remember seeing that when reading it really is only the first and last letter we notice and mostly match the middle part with words we know will work and make sense in context . . . so that is exactly what she is doing.

Adam -- likes his tummy now for playing. He wants it all . . . in his mouth.

Trent is working long hours and is stressed. Our home is almost finished. We close in 18 days. Moving, Busy season, recruiting, deadlines . . . it is taking a toll on him.

I am resolving to start packing more.