Mystery Mail

Another package arrived from Amazon with no note attached.  Inside was this adorable book!  Two mystery packages in one week and Kasey says this one isn't from her.  Is it from you?
Thank you, anonymous book fairy, the children love their new book and are getting very excited about baby brother's arrival!

While I was on bed rest, I did a lot of online shopping.  Hooks for the bunk bed ladder, charms and stock photos for our upcoming back-to-school family theme party, a blessing outfit for the baby, a 2nd blog book, the girls' bedding, etc.  I've gotta say, I love getting the mail, now! It's like Christmas every day when packages are arriving so often!  I'm happy to have been able to accomplish so much while forced to be sitting for 10 days straight, but Aaron is probably VERY happy that I am no longer stuck on the sofa and staring at Amazon all day!

Irony

Just now:

Aaron: Meg. How is McDonalds a sponsor of the Olympics?  Does no one see the irony here? How many of those athletes are eating McDonalds?  They're all on crazy health food diets so they can stay in shape.

Me: Hey, where's the ice cream?  Did you eat the last of the ice cream? Wait, what did you say?

My other brain works a lot better.

I put the butter away in the freezer yesterday, and I found grapes in the cabinet.  I wish I could blame it on the children, but I'm pretty sure it was me that did both of these things.  Where is my brain?!
Yesterday, we used Katie's cricut mats for our craft, because I keep forgetting to replace mine and I don't use my cricut often enough to remember that I need mats when I am at a store that carries them.  "Man, I really need to go buy some mats while they're still on sale!" I said yesterday.

And then, today, an Amazon package arrived. Inside: new cricut mats. 

Huh?  Did I order these?  I don't remember ordering these. And wasn't that just yesterday that I was saying I needed to get new mats?  Ohmygosh...did I order them in my sleep?! Am I a sleep shopper?Did sleep shopper Meg seriously pay for overnight shipping?! No way. 

I checked the box. No invoice.  A-ha! gift!  Wait. Who would mail me cricket mats?  Who even knows I need cricut mats?

So I did what I always do when I lose my mind and checked with my personal shopper/best friend.

Txt from me to Kasey: "Did you order new cricut mats for me? I just got a package of them in the mail, from Amazon. I swear I don't remember buying them! There's no invoice in the box"

Kasey: "Maybe."

Of course she ordered me new mats.  She knew I was out. She knew they are on sale at Hobby Lobby this week and she didn't want me driving there with 3 kids in tow just to get new mats while I'm on bed rest.  So she bought them and had them shipped to me.  And here I am, still trying to figure out what day of the week it is, and whether or not I was shopping in my sleep! Only Kasey would be so prepared and so thoughtful to know that after a week on bed rest I would be dying to cross something productive off my to do list, and that something would require new cricut mats.

Kasey Meadows: Online Shopping Queen/ Friend Extraordinaire.

Now, if she would text me once in awhile to remind me not to put the dish soap away in the fridge or leave the frog eye salad in the car, I'd never have to go searching for my brain again!

Deal Breaker

Aaron just put the ice cream in the microwave.  Unforgivable.

They say it comes in threes...

Great news: labor hasn't progressed much since last week. Still 2cm and zero station and I'm only 75% effaced (was 70% last week).  Bed rest actually works!  Incredible!  My doctor was so impressed with the lack of change, that he says I only need to be on rest until Friday and then I'll be 36 weeks and can resume normal activity.  Knowing that full rest practically stopped progression, we figure it will take me a week or so of regular activity before I'll go into labor on my own, between 37 and 38 weeks....which is right on track with my other deliveries.  There is a new law, and my dr. cannot induce labor before 39 weeks.  Corbin was 37 1/2 weeks and at 7lbs 11oz he got got stuck during delivery and had to be vacuumed out.  If I wait until 39 weeks I am at a pretty good risk of needing an emergency C section because I just don't have the capacity to deliver a big baby.  So we're trying to find the sweet spot between too early and too big and our formula is do absolutely nothing until friday, then get up and go and see what happens. Wouldn't life be great if we just had complete control over everything? (says the type A control freak who doesn't deal well with the unknown.)

Bad news: Last week, our master bathroom toilet started leaking and created a nice plumbing disaster under the house.  My plumber came (and fixed a few annoying loose rattling pipes while he was under there. yay!), saw the leak and said, "whoa! it's leakin' like a big dawg unda heah!" 

Luckily, we're in a drought and the ground under the house is soooo dry that the flooding dried out enough to not cause damage to our foundation. 
Plumber fixed the toilet for a very reasonable price and was on his way.  Water disaster #1.

Bad News #2: I just went into the bathroom and discovered the grossest scene ever.  Corbin tried to take off his diaper and PUT his (green, runny) poop into the toilet.  Tub, walls, rugs, trash can, carpet, tile, shower curtain, sink, cabinet, everything is covered in ultimate grossness.  I stuck him in the tub with his shirt still on and just started hosing everything down...dry heaving in the process. Blech.  So much for doing "absolutely nothing" today. I should have saved the mopping for Aaron ;)

And when I reached under the sink to get some cleaning rags to take care of the disaster, all of the towels were wet.  The sink is leaking, but I can't figure out where from.  I guess I wouldn't have discovered this plumbing disaster if Corbin hadn't had his own plumbing disaster, so it's all good in the end. Except that I had a serious mess to clean up. Waah.  I called my plumber back and he'll be over tomorrow to fix water disaster #2. 

So that's our week. Aside from the bathroom/corbin scrub down, I'm still resting, but I can already hear the freedom of friday calling my name.  I can't wait to get off this sofa and do something. anything.  

Here's hoping that "water disaster #3" will be MY water breaking in 2 weeks!

Summer Fun and Gratitude

Thanks to great friends, my kids are still enjoying their summer, even with an invalid mother.

This morning, Emily showed up and took Corbin for a walk at the lake and to play at the sand park.  He was happier than a pig in poop. Reese and Quincy cleaned the bathrooms and then I set them up with a painting activity at the kitchen table and went to bed.  Knowing that my children were all doing something fun, rather than watching tv or something, really helped me to not feel guilty about lying down, and I was able to really relax and sleep soundly for an uninterrupted hour and a half.  When Emily brought Corbin home, she had Taco Bell and a fat cup of ice for me and she swept my kitchen floor while I ate. So nice!

I went to bed and slept another 2 hours during my kids' nap time. I can't believe how exhausted and out of breath I am all the time. I'm sure it is a combo of the horrible heat, not sleeping well at night, my low blood pressure, being anemic, and just pregnancy in general, but wow. I'm suuuuper tired, and even with all of the time I'm spending off my feet, it seems to only make me want to sleep and rest even more.

Kasey built the kids a pvc sprinkler tunnel and brought over water blast tubes and a bag of water balloons that we busted out this afternoon.  The kids LOVED it!  (Don't worry, Mom, I pulled a stool up to the counter and sat while I filled the water balloons.  The only "water breaking" here was the yellow balloon that Corbin dropped on the bathroom floor.)  Thank you Kasey for spoiling my children!  I tried to sit outside with them, but it was just too hot and uncomfortable to enjoy without getting in the water. Katie came over and our kids ran wild in the backyard together for 2 hours while we sat and watched from the (air conditioned) kitchen and did a craft at the table.
Sweet Jill brought a great dinner and Terri Hansen and her family surprised us with homemade ice cream, tonight. I think Aaron has finally gotten used to the fact that I'm not cooking (like, at all) right now, and he was shocked that there was food waiting for him when he came home from work tonight.  He never complains that I'm not cooking, of course, but it made a noticeable difference in his mood to have dinner ready.

I've been put on bed rest with every single pregnancy and this is the first time I have actually been able to listen to my doctor and actually do it. This is also the first time I have legitimately been terrified that our baby would come before he's cooked and I know I need to listen to my dr.'s advice and sit sit sit.  I have a play date set up for the kids on Wednesday afternoon, and another dinner coming this week. After today, I am fully confident that I'll actually make it another week of rest without going crazy or going into labor. I really hate being idle, and I'd much rather be the one giving service than accepting it.  I am so grateful to my friends who are not only taking care of us, but just showing up and doing what needs to be done, rather than waiting for me to have to call on them or ask.  This pregnancy has not seen a single easy day (seriously, I threw up all night thursday and again friday afternoon) and again I find myself at a point where I just can't do it without the help of others. I am blessed to have such a compassionate ward with people who know I'm stubborn and would rather put myself at risk than admit that I need help. 

So hooray for service, for dinner, for water balloons and sprinklers, for play dates, for company, and for the amazing girls who stepped in when Aaron was out of town to bathe children, join us at the movies, switch laundry, take my children to church, take out trash, and sweep my kitchen floors. I owe you all so much and I hope each of you know how full of gratitude I am for all that you've done to help me keep this baby cooking.

Contractions have been 15-20 minutes apart since 6:30 tonight.  From past experience, I know that around midnight, they'll mellow to one or two an hour.
I'll know more after my appointment tomorrow, but I think if I keep off my feet this week, I'll be able to make it another week or two before the baby comes.  We have waited so long for this little boy to join our family.  I can't wait to meet him.
37 weeks cannot come soon enough!

How to Vaycay in KC part II

Catching up, here are the rest of the pics from our mini vaycay to Kansas City last month.

We went to the Deanna Rose Homestead. It's a free farm where the kids can do all sorts of old fashioned activities. The property is basically my dream home. It reminded us a lot of Thanksgiving Point in Utah (especially since there were LDS missionaries volunteering at the venues there), but better because it was free and more interactive.

My favorite was feeding the baby goats.  They were SO cute, and very hungry.

Here is Reese who, after 20 minutes of coaxing and telling her she'd "be fine", was irresistible to the goats and they preferred to eat her skirt instead of her bottle. She freaked out and they all ran over and attacked her. I felt bad, but it was sort of funny that they left everyone else alone and chose to go after her.  She was grossed out that her skirt was wet and slimy after pulling it out of the goats' hungry little cheeks.  Then she stepped in gum about 5 minutes later and laughed and said, "Mom. I'm just a mess, today."

Corbin loved the "goat babies" and as he fed them he kept saying over and over "Awww, they're so cuuuute".

Quincy watched Reese go inside and lost all faith in our ability to protect her, and opted to feed her bottle to the babies from the outside of the fence. The goats were seriously adorable. I wanted to bring one home with me.

Next up, horsie rides!

I'm always a little nervous sending Corbin off to do these types of things if Aaron and I won't be able to stand by his side and protect him. That kid is loaded with reckless abandon...what if he decides to randomly dive off the side of the horse? He's done it on a carousel, why not a live horse?  I often feel the need to remind people of his age, because they assume from his size that he is older than he actually is and will behave differently.  Luckily, this time, my worrying was all for nothing. He did great!  Corbin loved the horse rides and sat perfectly still on the saddle the whole time. 

Aaron got a bucket of worms and took the kids pole fishing in the pond.

 It was the middle of the day, so we didn't expect anything to bite, but they caught a sun fish within minutes.  Reese wouldn't touch it, Quincy giggled hysterically as it flopped around while Aaron pulled the hook loose.  Corbin waved his bamboo stick around and shouted hello to all the fishies in the pond.

 
Corbin had one more go on the horses and Reese and Quincy bought a bag of fossils and gems to sluice. This one came with a big chart that they brought home and have had fun identifying the other treasures they've collected this summer.
We could have spent all day at this place, but it was unbearably hot and we were hungry, so we took a look at the cows and bunnies, walked through the chicken coop, but decided to skip out on the one room school house, native American dugout, hayride, and other attractions and just headed to Sonic for happy hour slushies and Chipotle for lunch (which does not live up to the hype, btw).

Our last stop of the trip was the Kansas City Temple, where we had planned on taking turns and doing sessions, but it was closed!  We didn't realize that you need to make an appointment even for regular session times on week days.  Corbin and Quincy had fallen asleep, but I got out with Reese and we walked around the grounds for a few minutes. We will have to go back, soon.

We made it home on Friday night, and spent Saturday doing absolutely nothing. It was wonderful. We lounged around in pajamas all day, watched movies, ate popsicles, napped, went to the pool, then Aaron and I watched a redbox movie after the children went to bed. 

Great times together. We love Kansas City!