Nesting

I intended to share my couponing experience, but grabbed the wrong camera! Instead, I'm sharing the boys' room. The kids stayed with my mom and dad last night and today which gave me some time to paint the shelves and get things a bit more organized. Tuan built the shelves and I'm not sold on the color, but can live with it for now. If you click on this link you can view my Facebook album with more photos of the room and happenings in our family.

Interesting Trend

So, there seems to be this pattern later on in pregnancy where I am hit with insomnia and stay up half the night. I did it with the previous two kids and here I am again. I've had some contractions, some hicks and the coffee after dinner tonight isn't helping. Plus, no. 3 enjoys lodging his foot in my ribs, back and pelvis simultaneously when I lay down.

We are thirty six weeks and five days. As I understand it, we're in the clear for proceeding with labor and anytime is a good time. I have been having contractions with this baby and I never had any with J and A (not the painful kind, at least). They are welcome--funny as that may sound.

At four o'clock in the morning, I could get up and be productive, but that just seems so wrong. I don't like to go downstairs at night anyway and don't have my Kroger receipt upstairs or I could share all the wonderful coupon bargains I got this week.

This pregnancy has been less fatiguing than the others--no choice, really. However, these last two weeks I've been so tired and in need of a nap. I've wanted to nest and madly, madly wanted to deep clean my walls and baseboards and kitchen cabinets. The spirit may have been willing, but the flesh was too weak--until this afternoon. After a post-Bible study nap, something got me going and I cleaned from four thirty until nine-thirty pausing only to eat supper which Tuan kindly cooked lest I have to surrender my magic eraser and vinegar! Okay, there were baths, too. It was so deeply satisfying to make this kind of progress. Is the laundry put away? no. Are my cabinets thoroughly clean? yes. gotta keep my priorities straight, here.

Also, this is so weird, but I have discovered that the Sonic Chicken Club Toaster is the most amazing food ever invented. It is not nourishing, nor is it low-carb or low-fat--wonder why it is so good? There is something phenomenally good about this sandwich: two slices of white bread (gasp! goes Sally Fallon), slathered with mayo (yuck says my non-prego self), and ketchup, cradling a large, fried chicken patty, tomato, bacon, lettuce and plastic cheese (again Sally Fallon gasps). I'm craving it right now as I write. I could eat two at a time, they are so good. I don't think I actually would eat two at a time, but I could if all self-control went out the window. Hmm . . . isn't Sonic open all night?

Far As the Curse is Found

I don't mean this trivially or flippantly when I say that the curse seems to extend to housekeeping. Sin affects all of life and the Lord's decree to Adam about toil and futility surely must apply to the domestic realm. On the other end, redemption, grace--common and special--have to extend to housekeeping as well (He comes to make his blessings known!). Perhaps I'm wrong, but every aid I have in housekeeping: running water, vinegar, soap, the vacuum(!) I feel must be a grace to us.

Yesterday, however, I felt more of the curse and futility than the blessings of it all. Hormones, sinfulness and weariness were running rampant in my heart and I spent so much of the day overwhelmed by it all: how one job just created another, how while I was accomplishing something in this room, the kids were annihilating another one, that vacuuming the stairs, however necessary, didn't seem to make a bit of difference in the grand scheme of life. And cooking!? I LOVE cooking, but when it makes me distracted and short-tempered with the kids, what kind of a blessing is that to anyone?

In short, I spent a lot of time crying over the laundry and being a grump. I also cried out to God--for help and forgiveness. Is there anything so convicting as hearing your son speaking to your daughter in the exact ugly tone you've been using the whole morning? I'm so thankful that God is gracious. By lunch, balm and grace poured down. A prayer request from a friend put things back in perspective. Tuan came home for lunch (another grown-up!). The house actually showed a bit of progress and I was able to "get away" for a doctor's appointment. A last-minute (and oh, so welcome) overnight guest spurred me on in housework and I had dinner alone with Tuan after the kids went to bed.

Today has been still and quiet. So different from the last! Good times with the kids and a slight reprieve from housework. My in-laws are spending the night and I get some time with other young wives and moms--so excited. What a comfort to know that God's blessings reach and are known far as the curse is found--whether in my heart or home! I'm so thankful for the ultimate blessing of Jesus, that no matter how far I fall or how miserable I feel, there is no sin He did not take and no emotion I have that can change truth.

Slo-Mo-Nesting-With-Toddlers!

Oh, I am trying to nest. It's kind of a forced thing. I don't think I've got the full fervor yet. There is so much I want to get done before Number 3 comes, along with normal stuff like keeping the house clean! Yet with toddlers and a bit of tiredness and regular housework, I feel like I am swimming in Jello!

I got the boy's room re-arranged today, cleaned and baby stuff put in drawers. I'm going to move (or have Tuan move) the porta-crib up this afternoon. We discovered the delights of a porta-crib when expecting A. It's a crib roughly the size of a pack-in-play, that folds up pretty flat and still looks like a piece of furniture. I ADORE our porta-crib. A slept in hers until she was one and a half. I think she could have gone longer, but J moved to a big-boy bed and my sister had her baby around that time and needed it more than me. It is great for when you have the baby sleeping in your room or when you have children close together and don't really want to have two humongous cribs. When A moves to her big-girl bed in a few months (years?) he can upgrade. It is also giving J more play space in his room.

So with number three I am praying that we go into labor naturally. We had incredible induction experiences with J and A, but I would so much rather it just "happen" this time. Most important, I just want a healthy baby at the end of it all! I think this one is going to be a fighter. He wiggles and squirms and kicks like nobody's business. Sometimes he startles me awake with his ferocity. Maybe we should name him Ursus or something gladiatorial?

A day in the life/Revised Expectations II

So today I caught up on our trip laundry and nearly had our laundry back on it's "routine." This involved each bedroom having a hamper along with one in the hallway for sheets/towels. I have resolved to only do one hamper at a time to make the sorting and putting away easier and the laundry more manageable. It's working really well and Johnny has learned how to put his clothes away (progress!).

With the trip laundry caught up, I decided it was time to tackle the couch slipcovers. They are off-white cotton duck and had gotten pretty dirty. I hadn't realized it until my mom came over and we were sitting in the living room in broad daylight. "Gross!" I thought, "this cannot continue!" I bought a container of Oxy Clean last night and decided to embark on a long-term soak and wash of the slipcovers. Meaning, soak each batch for at least three hours before washing in hopes of getting our slipcovers back to sparkling.

All was well and I was on the second of what appeared to be three batches of laundry when we heard cries from upstairs. Johnny had crashed in the bed with me this afternoon and had taken a long, long nap. In. Big. Boy. Pants. It was foolish of me and as my readers may have guessed the cries were a result of waking up in a small pond of pee.

Did I mention that we have a featherbed and down comforter on our bed? This has happened before and you can read about it here. But I have a feeling the next 36 hours are going to be a monotony of featherbed drying. At least the "laundry" is caught up!

http://bodene.blogspot.com/2009/06/no-life-without-wife.html