Needs Good Vibes!

Or prayers, your choice! :) But I'm off to the doctor tomorrow, with being so close to "full term" (Technically 2 days from now) I'm really hoping she has some good news for me tomorrow... I'm in full blown "Severe Pregancy Congestion" mode, and let me tell you - this is NOT fun. I blow my nose - literally - every 2 minutes. All. Freaking. Day. LONG. Oh, and all night long too. AHHHHHH. Benedryl does nothing, Sudefed does nothing (yes I tried a dose even though it's class C - anything to help at this point... but nope, nadda.) *SIGH*

So here's my thoughts on it all, Lizzy was 7 lbs 11 oz... my doctor that delivered her informed me that had she been any bigger I would have had to go to a C section as my body was not made to deliver big babies - she got stuck on my pelvic bone for 2 1/2 hours and we nearly had to have an E-Ceserean. No fun. Having said that... Madeline measured 6 1/2 lbs last Tuesday - nearly a week and 1/2 ago - and if memory serves me right, babies gain about a 1/2 pound a week the last 5 weeks... well... if thats true (and from her most recent "bruise the heck out of mommy" events, I think it is) then that means she's approaching 7 1/2 lbs... which is fast approaching Lizzy's weight - which means, should I go much longer, I'll likely have to have a C. And I REALLY don't want to. Sooooo I'm going to beg and plead that they remeasure her tomorrow - if she's 7 1/2 or so then I'm hoping the'll plan an induction soon... very soon. I really want a normal delivery if at all possible.

AND I tested positive for group strep B this time... (odd as I didn't last time) so they want me on the antibiotics for a few hours before I deliver... I live about a half hour from the hospital and would likely take a few hours getting there when I go into labor as I'd need to get Lizzy to my MIL's (Opposite direction 20 minutes adding on 40 minutes to the trip) meaning if they don't induce and I go naturally, then there's a good chance I'll have Maddy before they have a chance to get all the antibiotics in me... which would be bad for both her and I.

AND (not that this really amounts to much) I'm ready to have her. I'll be full term on Sunday so seriously, let's just get the show on the road shall we? I'm going to beg... and plead... and beg... and plead... and beg some more... so lots of prayers and good vibes would be wonderful. Let's hope she (my doc) gives me good news tomorrow. :)

Jay gave me free reign today to go pick up everything else we needed for Maddy... that was FUN! :D I also shopped for my sister today, but I won't post what I got her as her shower's not until next week and she reads my blog. LOL (hi beth.) :D

Anyways, got all my shopping done for sis, and I picked up a diaper depot (it attatches to the changing table - or for right now the cradle) and holds diapers, wipes etc. It's great for keeping things handy and will be very useful for those middle of the night explosions that are soon to come. :) I got some ribbon and finished Maddy's artwork for her room - I need to take some pics and upload it, it turned out SUPER cute. I can't wait to see it on the walls! I got our changing pad, and some other small things like cradle sheets, lap pads etc. Nothing too big... (our shower is Saturday so I'm going to see if we get anymore blankets or our diaper pail before picking those things up) but it was nice finally feeling almost ready for Madeline. I'm so excited to meet her! I think about it constantly. LOL

So that's that... y'all pray for me tomorrow! Thanks! :)

Over it...

Can I just say that I'm pretty much over being pregnant? Yeah, Madeline is more than welcome to come tonight... would I be prepared for her? No. But at this point. I just don't care. LOL I haven't packed my bags yet (What for? It's only going to get my hopes up.) We have lots of things we still need... the cradle is set up by my bed but is full of books and bedside items... with no sheets. We don't have a stroller yet (though I could make due with my Snap and Go as long as Liz isn't with me.) And I have one small pack of newborn diapers - yep, that's it. However... I am very excited to meet my little girl... I worry constantly that something might go wrong in the next few weeks and I have such a hard time dealing with that. I'd just rather have her here where I can check her breathing, make sure she's being fed, and know that she's okay, rather than keep reading and hearing about late pregnancy losses from other mom boards. Ooooh how I struggle with that. I just read about one mom who lost her baby at 38 weeks, and they have no idea why. Still born, perfectly formed, beautiful baby at 38 weeks... I can't even begin to imagine. I woke up this morning shaking and worrying that I hadn't felt Madeline move much over night - fortunately she answered my thoughts with a swift kick to the ribs as if to say "if you want me to give you something to feel mommy, I can certainly do some damage."

So anyway, I know that sounds like a very selfish thing to say - I should be grateful that I'm holding this little miracle... but I admit. I'm very very anxious for her to arrive.

My Chunky Monkey

So today was a fun morning! We had a 3D ultrasound at MUSC this morning, just a final check to make sure everything's looking good. Madeline is reported at being a little over 6 1/2 lbs already - WOAH. 4 more weeks and she'll be a horse!

Everything is looking great and the girl even said she's fully using her lungs now which means she can come at any time now and under normal birth circumstances won't need any NICU care. Awesome news! She has a good bit of hair they said - it's almost touching her neck on the back - same as Liz. All her measurements look good - due date looks to be some time the 3rd week of February still...

now for the fun part... Look at my big lipped baby! The girl couldn't get enough of those lips - she said her nose is squished b/c the cord was in front of her face - but those lips alternated between pouty and a half smile while we were there... So no premie clothes or diapers for us! If she came today she'd be in newborns - if she comes in another month we'll be out of those 0-3 month things in No time at all! LOL

Suprise Shower! :D

So Charli invites us over for Dinner last night... it HAD to be last night. And we weren't allowed to bring anything because she came up with this long story about inviting her family to dinner and them not showing up so she had Tons of food to get rid of... yeah. sure. ;) Turns out we had a suprise baby shower last night! We showed up at Charli's and the whole house was decorated with It's a Girl stuff...
Ashley and Charli had spent all day decorating and making food just to surprise me! It was so much fun!!!! The girls wanted to plan something for me but didn't know want to wait around for everyone who kept talking about planning something - so they said heck with it, we'll just suprise her. LOL

Anyway, here's a hilarious pic - right before Jay was going to take it our kids all started bickering so here's the 3 mom's yellin at our kiddo's...

And here's the pic 10 seconds later after the mom's have had their say. ;)

I love these girls... these were the two that brought us dinner after I spent the morning in the hospital 2 weeks ago - love them love them love them. Such sweethearts!!! They got us this HUGE basket over flowing with baby items - it was so great, everything we could possibly need when Madeline first arrives - all the little things you rarely think of but they covered! I was seriously so blown away...

Here's some other pics from last night...

This is Lizzy and her cupcake - notice the cupcake part is still there while the frosting is mysteriously gone. ;)

Charli's son Trev and Lizzy eating dinner and chatting away... so funny to listen to our little people carry on a conversation now. LOL

Okay these cupcakes were SO yummy. I almost sneaked a second. :P

This last one is Emma Jane - the kids broke into the fridge right before we left... Liz and Trev were probably looking for sweets but cutie pie Emma just went for the carrot. LOL

When It Rains It Pours...

Well of course, since Jay got hurt, I got sick, and Madeline was having issues - Lizzy just couldn't be left out. Last night was Mom's Night In, Ashley brought Emery over to play with Lizzy and Linda (MIL) came over to help Jay take care of the girls while Ash and I enjoyed a mom's night out with no kiddo's in tow... Ashley ended up making dinner for Linda and Jay - so sweet - she brought meat loaf and corn over, Jay asked if we would go out more often. LOL Anyway, so Ash and I had two parties last night- the first, a baby shower for Jacquie from small group (she's due the week before me) and then we scooted over to the Mom's Night In where we all brought appetizers and got in some great conversation for a few hours. The baby shower was fun, and the MNI was a blast... but when we got home I noticed Liz was really warm - Linda had left about an hour earlier and Jay had just let the girls play and run around so we thought it might be because she'd been running so hard. I put her to bed as it was 11pm and she knocked right out... 45 minutes later she woke up screaming. I ran in and she was on fire... 103.5 tempature... I couldn't find the Tylenol (it's been a LONG time since she's needed it and I couldn't remember where we put it in the move) so Jay went to go pick up some Tylenol at midnight... he finally got back about 45 minutes later as he had to drive all around to find some place open that late at night and as soon as we gave her the meds she projectile vomitted all over her bed, pj's, hair, carpet, blanket, ect. So I had to give her a bath at almost 1:30 in the morning, she screamed and shook violently the whole time. I called the pediatrician's after hour service and the nurse told me we HAD to get Tylenol in her or else bring her into the ER if it got to 104.5... great. I pulled her out of the tub and wrapped her in a towel and rocked her for almost 2 hours until I saw the red starting to leave her face - I kept a cool towel on her forehead and that seemed to help a bit... I finally put her back to bed around 4 and then got up every 30 minutes to check on her... every time I'd walk in she'd sit right up and talk to me as if she hadn't been sleeping at all - but then I'd tuck her back in and let her sleep for 30 minutes before checking on her again... around 5:45 she woke up crying really hard so I put her in our bed (a first for her since she was about 2 weeks old) and she asked for some milk, while she was drinking I sneaked in some Tylenol and Benedryl as she was also all stuffy... she didn't throw it up this time, instead she just rolled over and fell asleep - so we all piled in our bed and knocked out until I woke up around 8:30 - Jay slept for another 2 hours and Liz slept until 11:30. I can see why some parents do the whole co-sleeping thing, there's something comforting about having your baby right next to you where you can just roll over to check their breathing and make sure they're all right... but it would never work for us on nonsick nights - not to mention I like having room to stretch out. LOL

Anyway, I kept her on tylenol all day and she seemed to be alright - her fever broke about 45 minutes after she took the first dose this morning (6'ish?) as I noticed her sweating and finally all the heat left her hands and neck... I never gave it a chance to come back today as we were pretty faithful with keeping her on the meds... SO hopefully she'll sleep better tonight - she went right to bed and seemed to be in good spirits. We shall see...

*sigh* My family needs to get better... ALL OF US!!! We're all on meds now - GEESH. All I want to do is get us all better so we can function and have a life again - it seems like all we do right now is try to rest and take medicine. I'm trying to keep this in mind: This too shall pass... I'm just hoping it passes sooner than later.

Health Update.

Okay, so back from the doctor. Boy am I just a mess. LOL At least we figured out what's going on... I have a viral infection in my ears. (Basically an ear infection but not really???) I have what's called "Pregancy Congestion Illness" aka... super bad sinus infection that reaches the ears and can't be cured with anything safe for pregnant women to take. Great. So all they can do is treat the symptoms not the infection... sooooo I'm on some sort of seasickness drugs to help the neausea and diziness, and ear drops to help with "pain relief of the throat and ears" and Ambien to help me sleep. Geesh.

lol I'm in pretty good spirits though I'm really sick and tired of being sick and tired. Seriously. The last two nights in a row I've slept aproximately an hour and a half each night... and for some reason I can't nap during the day anymore, so basically I'm running on virtually no sleep during the day. I'm not supposed to drive until this thing has cleared up as I keep having dizzy spells that take away my vision and all I can see is spots...

SO. The baby has a viral infection as well... which makes no sense to me, as I thought they were surrounded in fluid anyways??? So what would a little more fluid do to her? But they said it was a residual effect and that's why she's so lethargic right now. Whatever. They're also going to be watching me closely for preclampsia as my blood pressure has gone up, I'm seeing spots and I've noticed an increase in swelling in my hands, face and legs... all warning signs - fortunately none of it is too high at the moment, so they're just going to watch me carefully and then we'll go from there.

Oh and the only cure for preclampsia? Delivering the baby. *sigh* I'll be 35 weeks on Sunday, so my next visit is next Thursday as long as the swelling and vision loss don't increase... when I go in on Thursday if my blood pressure has gone up, they might induce next week... or once again, if it all stays the same - I might be pregnant for another 5 weeks. UGHHHHHHHHH.

BUT the good news is, tonight I'm taking Ambien so I WILL be sleeping whether my body likes it or not. YAY! I need sleep... I've cried twice today over the most ridiculous things - my doctor telling me to hang in there... *bawl* and Jay telling me he was going to go pick up my meds *bawl* again... no clue why either time. Stupid hormones. I know it's also because I need rest... Jay even took Lizzy to run some errands a little bit ago but when I lay down my brain starts thinking of all the things i have to do before Madeline get's here and I'm wide awake again... Tonight I'm cutting of my liquid intake by 7 so that I can take my meds at 8 and sleep as long as my body will let me...

All in all, I'm just glad to I know what's going on... I'll watch all the symptoms carefully and call my doc if anything get's worse on the P-C stuff, and next time I post I'll hopefully have had a good nights sleep... (so please excuse any spelling errors and rambling. I blame my body for those.) ;)

My funny kiddo.

Well this is a fitting post for my 100th post on this blog... it's an upbeat and positive post. I figured I need more of those in all the messes that have been going on. LOL

So here's my funny kiddo moment for the day... Lizzy was running around the house in her PJ's this morning playing with her Little People, (she's at the age where she's really into imaginative play... so cute!) Anyway, so I was sitting on my bed checking my email, just relaxing when she walks in with her hula skirt and crocs on over her pj's... she didn't realize I was sitting there so I just watched her, she walked over to my sink - looked over, nodded her head, walked back out of the room where I hear her rustling in the hall bath, she walks back in with daddy's step stool and plants it in front of the sink, steps up, grabs her toothbrush and toothpaste, flips on the water and proceeds to brush her teeth... I was dying inside - she's never done this before, usually it's a fight to get her to stand still long enough to brush all her molars but here she was just a scrubbin like a big girl. The funny part came when she had to rinse - she looked around, mouth all foamy and didn't see a cup to rinse with so she just bends over the sink and sticks her head under the faucet...

She still had no idea I was behind her so I grabbed my camera and snapped a quick picture before I finally had to bust out laughing. She quickly dried her mouth and looked over at me to see if she was in trouble, when she saw me holding out my arms she ran over and said "I hada bwush my teef mommy." It just melted my heart... I realize a little more every day how grown up she's getting... my 2 year old, brushing her teeth all by herself. *sniff*

So to update the last few days, I swear I have the best friends ever. After reading my blog one of my girlfriends called a couple other girls and they made us dinner the last two nights in a row... that was SO sweet. I appreciate being off my feet and just resting as much as possible right now and they just blessed me to tears suprising us with dinner, not once but two nights in a row! Part of me feels bad when someone reaches out like that but the other part of me is learning to be humble and say thank you. It's helped me so much... I'm not sleeping well at all right now and I'm afraid if I was to cook for my family we'd all end up in the ER with food poisening. LOL These last few meals have been a welcome change from all the fast food we've eaten lately.

Madeline is moving more, though I still worry about her constantly, she was moving enough that I didn't have to go in on Tuesday - but I go in tomorrow for my regular scheduled visit, they're going to retest my iron and take a look at her on the ultrasound again to make sure she's still breathing right and using her lungs like she should. It makes me so nervous - but I know I'm at the best hospital in the area so if anything should happen - no one could take care of my baby better than these people. Still... I'm praying hard that nothing happens and she continues to grow like she should. I've been feeling better from all the OJ and milk I've been drinking, so I'm hoping that her body is responding as good as mine. I think it is as she's given me a few good kicks and jabs the last couple days - definately a good sign. I'll update more once we get back tomorrow, but for now I'm just trying to enjoy my last few days alone with Lizzy and not fall on my butt from sheer exhaustion. I literally sleep less than about 3-4 hours a night right now - the rest of the time I'm wide awake with a ton on my mind... oh, and that's with 2 Tylenol PM - if I don't take those I'm up every hour on the hour without fail.

SO I'm definately ready to have this baby as soon as she's done bakin! I'll probably get more sleep after she arrives than I do now. haha. (Yeah, sure... lol) Life is crazy, but good. Charlie came over with her kids last night to drop off dinner and said (and I quote) "Your house looks beautiful!" I almost started crying - we still have SO much to do on this house, but to hear someone really appreciate all the hard work we've done to it lately just meant the world to me. It made me proud of my house, which is something I've not really had before - we've always been blessed, but often times we've lived in not so hot neighborhoods or tiny little peanut houses that are terrible for entertaining. Spreading out in this house has been so fun, and the neighborhood is great too so together that makes me excited to host some great parties in the coming months, be it birthday, just for fun or whatever - I love to entertain, so I can't wait to finish up these last few projects and host a big get together for all our friends who've supported us during the last month or so of craziness in our lives. :)

Anyway, that's all for now, I'm headed out to dinner with a friend tonight - just us 2 girls. I'm looking forward to a couple of hours of me time with Karen. :)

Bad morning.

So I woke up this morning at 6:30 thinking I heard Elizabeth's door open, I went to stand up to go check and got really weak and dizzy so I layed back down - 20 minutes later I heard it again, so I made myself get up and go check on her. Sure enough she was waiting outside my door - we don't get up that early, so I escorted her back to bed, tucked her in and then went and layed back down. I was feeling really weak and jittery but I figured it was just low blood sugar so I let myself fall back asleep until 8:30.

Well when I woke up at 8:30 I knew something was wrong... both of my arms felt like dead weights and I thought I was going to be sick. Jay got me some OJ and I waited for about 20 minutes hoping it'd pass, but instead it got worse. I realized at this point that I hadn't felt the baby move since last night... So I called the OB on call at the hospital, he told me to eat something sugary to try and wake Madeline up, wait 20 minutes after eating - if I still hadn't felt anything he wanted me to come in just to check on her though he reassured me it was just a check and she was probably resting. I ate some Lucky Charms... no movement. Still felt sick, and very very weak. Called my dad to come get Lizzy and we headed down to the hospital. When we got there I was white as a ghost and feeling like I was going to pass out - they checked me in and hooked me up to a monitor to hear the babies heart rate... they couldn't find it. They switched machines and tried again and they finally got a faint heart beat, I was sobbing at this point, scared out of my mind that something was wrong with her - they took some blood to check my blood sugar and iron levels... all the while listening to her heart. She wasn't moving still... though her heart rate was regular, it was faint.

Anyway... Madeline has a virus they think, they asked if I'd been around anyone sick lately, and I don't think I had... they never did get her to move, but they weren't worried as they watched her on the ultrasound and said she's breathing regularly with her lungs (they like to see 30 seconds of lung movement for every 30 minutes - she did about 5 breaths but they said that's probably b/c she's not feeling well) and her heart beat is nomal, they tried and tried to wake her up and get her to use her reflexes but she never did - after almost 30 minutes on the ultrasound and over an hour and a half on the monitor they told me to go home, take it easy, drink tons of OJ - my iron was low so they put me on a perscription for that, and said count those movements.

Oh yeah, and I had a few contractions while i was there - they were mild but showed up on the monitor, and I'm a finger tip dialated... but again they weren't too worried.

Since we left she's wiggled around a bit, nothing major - but she is moving... I'm supposed to rest a lot the next few days. They said if I fight it hard with OJ and pick up my appetite (something that's dwindled over the last week or so) I'm hungry - but never eat much right now... they want me to eat 6 small meals a day and snack regularly to keep my blood sugar up and try and drink 3-4 glasses of OJ a day - hopefully I can kick this virus and neither her or I get any worse... I go back in on Thursday for my regular visit, if her movment doesn't pick up by tomorrow, I'm supposed to go back in for more tests.

UGHHHHHHH. All I want is a healthy little girl... i hate that she's sick and I can't hold her or take care of her other than drinking OJ til I pee orange. But I'm glad her heart and lungs are doing well... fluid levels were okay so that's good too. All in all they told me to pack my bags now as it's all in the air as to when she might arrive - could be as soon as tomorrow if she slows down again - or I might go another 6 weeks... fun times.

34 Weeks.

UGH. I almost decided no more pics - but I know I'll want them later... so here's my ginormous belly at almot 34 weeks. I am SOOO ready to not be pregnant anymore!

Slowly Getting There

Well, a wee bit more progress. We picked up the swing and cradle yesterday so now both of those are set up and looking ready for baby! We moved the other sofa in, so now that's finished as well. I think we'll be getting our kitchen cabinets next weekend... that'll be a HUGE project. We're still plugging away at the kids bathroom as Jay's back can only handle so much right now, but all the bead board is up - now we just need the corner trim and crown molding. Toilet should go back in tomorrow, so then that bathroom will be functional though not painted yet as I want to do it all in one coat when the trim/molding is up. But functional works for me.

I admit... I am SO overwhelmed right now. And not really the good kind... things are falling into place, but I just stress all the time about how much we still have to do and how much we want to get done before Maddy arrives, and how much we still need to do to the old house. UGH. I just stress too easily right now. Brooks (the electrician) is coming by tomorrow to rewire the stove (it has 1 aluminum wire and that's not up to code) so then we'll have our stove, and I think he's installing some new can lights over the showers and in the living room if he has time... it'll be pretty - but it's just one more project ya know? Whenever I start thinking about it all I just sort of freeze up. It freaks me out that we have a gazillion projects left to do... I'm tired. Just... tired. I feel huge, look huge and did I mention feel huge?

I worry about Jay constantly. I wonder when his back will act up again, if he'll ever heal completely, when and if we'll ever get back to work regularly... it's all just taking a toll on my emotions. I'm not depressed or anything, just overwhelmed.

And I'm stressing over this lunch/shower thing my mom and sister are planning for Madeline. I feel dumb, it's my second baby and it's another girl, just 2 years after the first. I love the idea of celebating Madeline... but aside from that the whole thing feels pointless and rude... idk. I guess I stress too easily these days.

So, didn't mean to make this a downer post. Just a lot on my mind these days. I can't decide how I want to organize the living room - so for now it's all jumbled up with no organization - and that's driving me mad. We're not using the kitchen right now so we're living out of the fridge with a couple bags of dry goods to get us through so we're not constantly eating out. AHHH. I'm just ready to skip past the next month and have Madeline in my arms with all the projects finished and behind us. Can I just snap my fingers and do that please?

(Still waiting...) lol

Oh well. Reading back I sound like an ungrateful brat... I'm just overwhelmed... grateful, but overwhelmed.

On a positive note, I'll take pics of the swing and cradle next chance I get and post them... they're super cute. :)

Madeline Update!

So I got back from the doctor today with some interesting news... they've officially moved my due date up to February 24th! And she said chances are I'll go before then. AHHH!

Madeline is measuring at 34 weeks 4 days... so that was pretty exciting! Doctor said as long as everything goes smoothly the next few weeks she'll give me the Friday evening induction on the 22nd I was hoping for! (So Jay won't have to work all weekend and can be with me and the girls.) And I finally had my gluecose test today - just about passed out in the chair as they were taking my blood. lol I seriously got all glassy eyed and the nurse had me lean my head back - I had to lay there for a minute after she was done as everything was spotty and foggy - scared Jay - but I kept saying, "just give me a sec, this happened last time too." LOL

After some apple juice and crackers I was fine though. I swear they have got to come up with a better method of checking for gestational diabetes... making preggo's go 12 hours with no food and then spiking their sugar just to make them sit for an hour just cannot be the best way to test that. I swear that test was made up by a man. ;)

Anyways, just wanted to update! Madeline's officially A LOT closer than I originally thought! LOL I adore my doctor, she's a real sweetie... and I'm officially on weekly visits now. Sucky part about that is that I have to get the cervix check every week from here on out... NO FUN. (Especially since mine is tipped... ooooh the pain... my doctor was actually apologizing as she knew I was in some mega pain from that.)

They did a 2D ultrasound today to check fluid levels and I have one more ultrasound next week (3D!) to do one last check on Madeline. Can't wait to see what she's looking like now!

Anyway, needles and doctors aside... I realized that 5 1/2 weeks is not long at all to get the rest of our house ready for baby girl!!! I've got some work to do the next couple weeks! Yikes! Mom and Beth are planning a baby "sprinkle" for me the first week of February - not a shower as I really don't need a lot, just a fun luncheon to celebrate Madeline. I'm really looking forward to that. :) That's all for this update! Hopefully I can talk the girl into giving me some pictures at next week's 3D ultrasound so I can upload them!!!

New Location!

Posting for the first time from our new house!!! Boy this has been a crazy week. Jay's continuing to feel a little better - though his back still really hurts at times, his pain meds are doing their job, MRI is in a week. We spent the week prepping the house so we could move in this weekend and spent our first night in the house last night!!! Right now we have no cable so I'm "borrowing" the internet from a neighbor and it's not all that stable, so until Comcast can come set us up in a week or so, I won't be online all that much. Hmmm... so what's new? Well our Home Group leader called us on Thursday and said "Just wanted to let you know, we cancelled group for tomorrow night, instead we're all coming to your house to help you with any projects you have left so be sure to make a list and have everything ready!" I was floored. I kept telling her over and over - y'all don't have to do that! And she replied, "I wasn't asking... I was just letting you know, have the projects ready as WE ARE COMING!" LOL She wasn't about to let us off the hook - and what a HUGE blessing that was! First the husbands showed up, our friend Brooks did all the electrical stuff we had left - outlets, hanging lights, etc - tons of projects that would have taken us days, and they were things Jay shouldn't be doing - he got them all done in half the time it would have taken us! (Brooks is a licensed electrician so he had all the right tools which made it a snap for him to do!) Then Abbies hubby Sean and Mr. Bill came over and moved a ton of furniture in the house for us - so now our sofa's, entertainment center, beds, etc are all in! Then all the wives showed up and they all grabbed paint brushes and helped me give the dining room/hall/foyer a second coat as well as attacked the trim that's been haunting me. My back starts killing me when I get down on the floor to paint the trim - so that was SO nice! The guys then finished most of the shoe molding in the dining room and the girls painted it... I attacked the second fridge with Lysol (ours has a leak in the freezer so we're using the off white one that came with the house until ours get's fixed) and cleaned it all up so we can store milk and basic stuff until our other fridge comes back. The guys also moved the stove and fridge back in the house (we had to take them out when we put in the floors)

All in all we got about 2 weeks worth of projects done in about 3 hours. Not to mention it was really fun having everyone there and chatting with all our friends. It made all the tasks fly by - things that would have taken me days on end to finish up - are all done now!!! I still can't wrap my mind around that.

All the girls loved Madline's room - and it still has a long way to go - but everyone got a kick out of her fully stocked 4 foot closet. LOL We will not be wanting for clothes for this child! Diapers, wipes and bottles maybe. I have a lot of shopping left to do in that dept. But definately not clothes. ;) Lizzy did well staying up and entertaining everyone until almost 10 last night.

She did have a hard time sleeping, the heater shut off for some reason (the whole HVAC unit is being replaced in a few weeks as this one sometimes shuts off randomly) and last night was not a good night for it to shut off - it was 36 outside and only 58 in our house - and I didn't have the space heaters here. So she woke up at midnight, one and three crying and saying she was cold. (She hasn't quite grasped the fact that you need to stay under the covers to stay warm, yet.) So I went back in every time and tucked her in, warmed her up and then sat with her until she fell back asleep - by 3:30 this morning I'd slept less than an hour straight and was EXHAUSTED. I woke up at 5 with pregancy bladder and then was up at 7 for the day. So I'm going to nap here in a little bit. I need some sleep!

It feels weird being in this house, we still have TONS of stuff to move over from the other house - storage things, christmas things, picture frames, mirrors, etc. But all the big heavy things are over so now it's just several car loads waiting for us over the next few days. It's overwhelming while we're at the old house, but feels good to be in a clean new house. Jay and his brother are attacking the beadboard this afternoon in the hall bath. It already looks SO good with the new pine floors and the little bit of beadboard they've done. I can't wait to see the finished product - I need to take some before and after pictures so y'all can see just how ugly those walls were before we finish the beadboard. LOL

Anyway... enjoying our new house - anxiously waiting Madeline's arrival! My gmail ticker finally moved to the second to last baby! Just abou 50 or so days to go until she arrives!!! I'm hoping for fewer but seeing as how Lizzy was late, I'm not counting on it. Since I'm with a doctor this time and not a midwife, they said they'd induce me the week of or before if I want... and I definately want that if they're offering! I'm hoping to schedule it for late evening so I can tuck Lizzy in at my mom's and then go to the hospital around 8'ish, labor all night, deliver some time in the early morning and have all day to enjoy visitors and such - then pass her off to the nursery so I can get one last good nights sleep before she's all mine to take care of! hahaha... wishful thinking? Probably. But I'll see if I can't swing it. It sure would make things a lot easier that way. It's funny when people ask me when i'm due and I can now say, next month! Love that!!! (Of course saying "any day now" will be great too)

Our French doors go in on Monday... hopefully in the next week or so we can start on the new kitchen cabinets. We'll see, gotta wait until Jay goes back to work and we start making money again before we'll be buying all those. Either way - we're here! And I'm loving it! :D

Stolen Meme 2008.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before? Refurb'd a house. Got pregnant with a second child.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Become a better wife and mommy... i'd like to think that i made some small progress in that area - but along with losing all my baby weight - I'm adding in the same one again.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Krystyna had Anya, Ashley had Emery, many of my new mom buddies had kiddos this year, including the newest baby Connor was born to Erica and Chris last month!

4. Did anyone close to you die? No. It was a year full of life and living for all.

5. What countries did you visit? None. Unless you count Epcot.

7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Nothing really spectacular happened this year on any one day - it was more of a generally good year.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Moving... then repacking and moving again while pregnant(the latter part isn't quite complete yet however)

9. What was your biggest failure? Not being a better housewife... I still suck at that.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Not unless you count morning sickness.

11. What was the best thing you bought? I'm pretty excited about our new house and all the fun things that are going inside!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Watching my husband grown into the man he was meant to be has been pretty amazing. My how a year can bring about such signifigant change.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Meh. Other than my FIL who is a constant embarassement to our last name - no one really.

14. Where did most of your money go? Hmmm buying a house, fixing up a house, buying a new house, fixing up the new house, getting pregnant, buying a new car, - gosh no wonder our savings isn't looking too hot. LOL

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Madeline!!!! And being all moved into our new house... and Christmas. :D

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? Rodolph the Red Nose Reindeer... Lizzy's favorite song of the moment and she knows all the hand motions - that will stay with me forever!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder? More confidant - and happier I suppose... though I'm pretty over being pregnant at the moment.

18. Thinner or fatter? Uh.... last year i was the smallest I'd been since high school - this year I'm back up to the biggest I'd ever been - so definately fatter. HUUUUUUUGE in fact. LOL

19. Richer or poorer? Definately poorer - that's what happens when you buy 2 houses in one year - espcially when you have a knack for picking fixer upper's. *bangshead*

20. What do you wish you'd done more of? Organizing - I wouldn't have such a giant project on my hands if I'd have kept everything neater from the begining.

21. What do you wish you'd done less of? Eating out.

22. How will you be spending Christmas? I spent 07 with a head cold - I'm hoping 08 goes better as I'll have two girls to spoil with presents and fun! :D

23. Did you fall in love in 2007? With the heartbeat of my second child... absolutely.... and more and more every day with my husband.

24. Any one night stands? LMAO at K's response... I'll copy hers - I've been meaning to buy new night stands for our room and Lizzy's room - I need to get on that. LOL

25. What was your favorite TV program? Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy.

26. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Nope.

27. What was the best book you read? The Christmas Pearl. Good but too short.

28. What was your greatest musical discovery? The radio. Seriously. I'd been slack with the radio the last few years - I've quite enjoyed it this last year. :)

29. What did you want and get? Pregnant! (Although once again... I'm ready to pass the torch on to someone else at this point and just have my baby. LOL)

30. What did you want and not get? What I asked for on Valentine's day and my birthday, and our anniversary last year - maybe for this Valentine's Day... (it's not to his lack of memory or for not trying, it's just kinda expensive so we haven't had the money up to now - I'm keeping my fingers crossed... I'll let y'all know what it is when I get it.) :D

31. What was your favorite film of this year? No clue. We didn't see many at all this year.

32. What did you do on your birthday? I can't remember... nothing too big obviously. LOL

33. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? It was a pretty satisfying year... I can't think of any one thing that would have made it Immeasurably more satisfying. Maybe winning the lottery? LOL Idk....

34. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Classic me combined with no more zippers for the last half of the year. (I'm not exactly Mrs. Fashion. I'm definately more in the world of "classic" over modern.)

35. What kept you sane? Knowing Madeline will be here in less than 2 months!!!! :D

36. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Captain Jack is my favorite hottie.

37. What political issue stirred you the most? Hilary Clinton. What a royal PITA.

38. Who did you miss? My grams. I haven't seen her in way too long... I miss her all the time.

39. Who was the best new person you met? I met lots of amazing people this year!

40. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007: God really can do anything. And he can handle all my problems... often times with way better results than I could ever imagine. All I have to do is hand them to Him. Which is hard for me... but when I give it over to Him - things have a way of working themselves out in no time.

Little Better...

Well Jay's making progress. He's semi mobile now, we went in this morning to the doctor, they put him on 3 MORE different meds, so now he's up to 5 pills every 6 hours. Crazy. But they're working, as he's not been in near as much paint. However the downside of him not being in as much pain is that he thinks he can do too much. Currently he's at the new house painting our new doors, this morning he installed a new light in the m/bath and ripped off the countertops so we can replace them this evening when my brother comes over to help carry in the heavy new one. Adding to that list he's given the hall bath 3 coats of polyeurothane today so far (2 more to go before we're finished) and worked on the dining/foyer/kitchen floors as we have to go over the whole thing with mineral oil b/c there's lots of little glue spots left over from where we glued the floors down. Think he's overdoing it a bit? Considering he still can barely walk? *sigh*

I'm just hoping we don't have to go back to the ER any time soon. That was awful watching him go through all that pain. His pain killers are certainly helping in that deptartment...

Anyway. In addition to all that craziness, I semi set up the nursery - or at least the crib and changing table - wait until I post pics of Madelines new closet. LOL It's hilarious... and full. I've got it all in order though so I'll have a good idea of what I still need. Right now I really need socks (I didn't save any of Lizzy's as she wore them all out as she grew), sleepers (i have a couple from Liz but she wore those winter sleep sacks most of the time as it was cold by the time she fit into sleepers well), diapers (I have one tiny pack of newborn diapers - that ought to get me through about 2 days. LOL), wipes (no wipes yet) and I need to make her bumper for the crib, recover the glider and make the curtain over her window - those are late January/early February projects. But it'll get done eventually. Lizzy's room is pretty unfinished at this point... it's painted with new outlets and blinds, the closet shelves are up but no closet doors and nothing on the walls yet - I'm leaving the decorating until after we move in. I wanted to have it done before but I'm just too pooped right now. We're hoping to spend our first night in the new house this Saturday night! Once the hall bath floors dry for 72 hours we can put up the beadboard and it'll be ready to move in!

We decided to replace ALL the cabinets/countertops in the kitchen as they're just too nasty to paint and use in their current condition - so it'll be paper plates and plastic spoons for a month or so until the kitchen is finished - hopefully not too long though. It's an expensive project but will really make the kitchen stand out when it's finished.

ANNNYWAYS! Doctors apt. for me next week, more blood work and a tour of the hospital on the 10th! I can't wait! It's feeling closer and closer as each day goes by! I need to get Lizzy on film saying Madeline. It's so precious... she half butchers the name and it ends up sounding a bit French.... lol it's so sweet. So that's that. Jay has to go back in 10 days for an MRI on his back, the xrays showed 2 slipped disks but the inflamation is going down which was the main cause of his pain. He can visit the chiropractor for a quick fix for the disks - surgery is still in the future but the MRI will tell us how soon we have to go that route... I'm hoping not until at least summertime so Madeline will be sleeping through the night and it won't be such a big deal to take off 3 or 4 weeks of work. I'll update more as we know more.