... When No One Else is Watching

Proving my Point

I got in my car this morning, armed with a list of errands I wanted to accomplish and a child who allowed me to put her in a dress, which is no easy feat these days, only to find my car operating really freakishly. I got about four blocks away from my house before I called Rob to tell him that the car was not running to my satisfaction and asked him what he did to it this past weekend when he did some routine maintenance on it. He had rotated the tires and replaced the coolant and everything should be just fine he told me. Well, everything was not as fine as he thought it should be and he told me to ditch my plans and drive home and he would look at it when he got home from work. Me, being the hormonal pregnant woman that I am, was completely bummed that I wouldn't be able to run my errands and had to remind myself, before I acted completely ungrateful, about having a husband who would be able to fix my car and save us the hundreds of dollars we would otherwise have to pay a mechanic to fix whatever was wrong. At that exact moment the "check engine" light started flashing and I decided to heed Rob's advice and head for home.

Usually, I would not be aggravated by something like this, it's just that I had spent the past few days in my house cleaning and doing laundry and anything else I could think of and hadn't stepped foot outside my home. This is not normal for me. I am someone who can usually find something that needs to be accomplished outside the home, or even think of an activity to do with Avery away from the house because I'm not a good 'home-body' type of person. I like to be out and about. And now that I have less than six weeks before the new baby comes I am constantly jonesing to be out of the house, because I know there will be plenty of days when we'll be slaves to the 'three hour increment' schedule. The only thing I worried about today was, "what if Rob can't fix what is wrong with the car and I have another whole day inside my house, or worse, at the mechanics?!" Selfish people.... selfish! There are many worse things that could happen than my car breaking down!

Well, I shouldn't have worried because just like I said in my previous post, my husband can fix anything! Rob came home, and being the efficient man that he is, went straight to work on my car finding that my spark plugs needed to be replaced. He went to the auto parts store and do you know what this whole car trouble issue cost us? $14.00! If we had taken it to a mechanic I'm sure we would have had service charges and other fake charges up the wazoo and walked out $500 poorer. I love my husband. Did you hear me internet? I LOVE MY HUSBAND! He doesn't get the praise he deserves so here I am, praising him publicly. And do you know what he will say to me when he reads this? "Jen, you're embarrassing me, you should delete that post." Because if you didn't know all ready,,, he's humble too!

Resisting the Urge

So, I'm trying something new nowadays. Because I'm so ornery and huge and just an all-around miserable pregnant woman, I've decided that I don't want to put up with hand-washing my dishes. For the last two days I've been using my dishwasher. Yes... me, the woman who doesn't use the dishwasher except for maybe once every two weeks because I don't want it to break due to lack of use - which I hear can happen. Don't ask me why this has concerned me, it's not like I need the dishwasher since I don't regularly use it. But I really don't like things breaking in my house, even though I have the world's handiest husband who can fix anything... really folks, he can fix ANYTHING, he's amazing that way. I just like to know all household appliances are in working order, my life is just better this way.

Okay, so back to using the dishwasher. I feel like I'm making progress; letting this appliance do it's job, the job it's born to do. But I'm having a hard time with the voice in the back of my head saying, "the dishes aren't clean, you haven't run the dishwasher yet because there isn't a full load of dishes and the dirty dishes are going to sit in there all night and not be washed until tomorrow afternoon... HOW CAN YOU LIVE LIKE THIS!?" I so badly want to fill up the kitchen sink with some hot, soapy water and clean those damn dishes. But I won't.

I need help. Professional help.

Nesting

Yes. It has begun. I am definitely in full nesting mode. I lay awake at night thinking of all the things that need to be done before this newest daughter of ours arrives and you would think I was having her tomorrow by the sense of panic it strikes in me. This past weekend I brought up all the 0-9 month clothing I had boxed away and washed them all and they are now hanging nicely in the closet. By the way... that was actually ridiculously fun. I forgot how many cute little clothing items I had for such a small baby! It was like going shopping without having to shell out the cash at the register!

Today it was deep cleaning our refrigerator and mopping all the floors. Don't ask me why this was of such importance as both of these tasks will definitely be done many more times before Hadleigh's birth, but it makes me feel better knowing that it's done. I also went and bought formula and diapers today because those are two items that will obviously be needed. I'm also on a mission to find some really comfortable slippers for the hospital because walking around barefoot anywhere but my own home freaks me out, and my tootsies won't be touching a bare hospital floor. I'm also looking for a great set of pajamas to wear in the hospital because I don't like wearing a hospital gown any longer than I absolutely have to.

Tomorrow's items of note will be deep cleaning the bathrooms, dusting every crevice of my house and vaccuuming every square inch of carpet. I'm also going to make a list of everything I may need to have at hand for when the baby comes home.

Next week I will be packing a hospital bag because I am terrified of going into labor and then running around my house like a chicken with it's head off because I can't remember what to bring with me. I will also be placing extra towels underneath the sheets on my side of the bed so that if my water breaks I won't have to put "buy a new mattress" on the list of things to do after I have the baby.

So... am I being completely anal about all this and you would swear by reading this post I have never done this before? Sure. But at least I'll be prepared. And on another note, if it's all done in advance you can bet a million dollars that this baby won't come naturally and I will have to be induced a week overdue, just like Avery. Because that's my luck.

Now... a few pictures. For those of you who think I don't really show that much while pregnant I had Rob take a picture of me today. I'm 32 weeks 1 day pregnant. It's interesting to point out that I believe I am about as big as I was a week before I gave birth to Avery. I feel massive! The good news is I am still four pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. For most people this isn't such a great thing but since I started the pregnancy overweight it's actually a good thing for my body. My doctor isn't worried and the baby looks great in all the ultrasounds so we're doing good. Also... I hate my arms and don't ask me why I am posting a picture of me in a tank top but I guess you can say I'm "living on the edge!" I'm completely aware of my horrendous tan line. And yes... my nose is a bit red... it seems I've developed some pregnancy-related rosacea... it sucks. My dermatologist says it can be treated after birth... he's a good man.

How happy can a pregnant woman look?! I'm cheesing it up in this photo!

And for those of you who only visit to see pictures of Little Miss Avery, here are some new photos for your viewing pleasure! (This is another thing I did today... I uploaded a massive amount of photos I had sitting on my memory card!)

A Study in "Personality"

Decision Made

I know some people will completely disagree with me but I have finally decided on how I'm going to spell our newest family member's name. Rob said "this is all you" so I went with it and our little girl's name will be Hadleigh Evelyn. I think the spelling is more feminine this way and I like it so much more than any other spelling I've come across.

*Disclaimer* -  I'm pregnant, I reserve the right to change my mind.

Yummy!

Food and I are becoming friends again. I just ate my weight in chocolate flavored rice cakes... probably not the best thing to devour but I know plenty of people use rice cakes as a treat during dieting. Sure, they don't eat an entire bag but I'm not going to feel badly about it because I am still down six pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight with only nine more weeks to go. Now I'm off to go drink a bunch of water; puffed rice can make a girl thirsty!