So we had another laundry fiasco a few weeks back… the kids again were not helping, so I quit once and for all. Bought myself 3 new baskets (reds/pinks, whites, and darks), gave them the old ones to do the same, and decided they are big boys, they can use my washer & dryer on Fri, Sat, & Sun, and I will use it Mon-Thu. That was a few weeks ago and it has taken some time getting into the routine, but they seem to be catching on. Well Monday I get my W&D back and I am relived to finally have a chance to clean Matthew’s laundry from his bout with the stomach flu, but the dryer is taking longer than normal and the clothes are cold. I knew it was likely my heating element and started calling to get someone out.

The first company I called said they could be out on Wednesday… unsatisfactory, so I called another and they said they would be out that same day. Thankfully Matthew was home trying to work out the bug still, so when it was time to pick up Austin I just *knew* he would arrive as I was trying to leave, and sure enough he did. So I let Austin do what he has been begging to do for 2 years… walk home. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, can we say lesson learned?? He NEVER wants to do that again.

Anyways, 30 minutes and $260 later I had a working dryer and I have been trying to catch up ever sense. Monday I lost most of the day, Tuesday the cat decided he would use my clean clothes as a litter box, so those clothes needed reloaded, and I also used that time to go to the store to get more kitty litter and rearrange chores so the cat boxes would now be cleaned by the other child, and the other child would do his chores. I also found a smoking deal on a cat climbing post/house that I seem to appreciate more than my ungrateful fur-butts. So what I am saying is that about 287,403,028 1/2 loads later I am *almost* done with laundry for three whole days!!

Speaking of laundry, this is the hired help… does that explain why it takes me so long to finish??

Sophie’s pediatrician’s office called back, all Sopher’s blood tests were normal… we will go back in July and see how much, if any, weight she has gained. Another reason that I am up to my eyeballs in laundry is that I decided it was time to put Sophie in 6-9 month clothes. That baby has almost worn out all her 3-6 month clothing… I did not know babies were ever IN their clothes long enough to wear them out. Unfortunately, most of her new clothes are winter clothes… so I am going to have to box them back up and then reevaluate how much we will need to go buy for the summer. We have a new Goodwill in town I have been wanting and excuse to check out.

It had me in tears I was laughing so hard!

First I had my ultrasound, and I swear little miss is camera shy because in the 15 pictures I got, she resembles a kidney in all but two. She was in the worst position possible and kept her hand in front of her face. With all the room she has she was keeping her legs straight so we could not even get a good peek to make sure she is a girl. For being camera shy, she sure picked the wrong family to be born into! So after 18 frustrating minutes with little or nothing to show for it, I moved to the check in room where they weighed me and took my blood pressure… all was fine there.

My midwife came in and I was full of questions about what the shiny new GD diagnosis means for the next 10-14 weeks of my pregnancy. In a nutshell, other than weekly non stress tests, ultrasounds, and visits with my midwife (and of course monitoring my nutrition at home by checking my blood glucose levels 4-5 times a day) it does not change much. As long as my numbers stay low, I should still be able to have an IV free, continuous monitoring free, completely mobile labor and delivery. She does not see this as a problem for me at all, and I should not need to be induced unless little Sophie starts failing her stress tests.

The frustrating part of this whole thing… I only failed the 1 hour test by 2 freaking points, if I had passed the 1 hour, and kept the same status for the 2 and 3 hour test I would not be considered a gestational diabetic. Figures huh? However this just assures me it is not going to take me eating chicken for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for me to keep my numbers under control, and the risks to my baby are probably pretty minimal.

So Thursday I tour the hospital, Friday I have my GDM class, and then every Thursday until my little cupcake arrives I will be spending an hour or so with my midwife and the staff. Hopefully Matthew does not tire of coloring books, cars, and plastic animals any time soon!

*UPDATE* I have finally condensed and uploaded her 20 minute ultrasound video into a 4 minute video you can find HERE. I literally had to cut out 16 minutes of her being completely uncooperative and have left 4 minutes of her *least* uncooperative moments.

[Disclaimer: There is nothing graphic in this video, but the song is a Psalm 23]

Well, in my Hypnobabies community there was a buzz that this woman also used Hypnobabies to aid her in dealing with the intenseness. Just beautiful.

PS. Her little boy was 10 lbs, had a 15 1/2 inch head and a 16 inch chest! Just breathtaking! *Updated* Here is a link to her birthstory in her own words!!

2. Dogs are the most annoying creatures EVER, just ask the one who lays in front of me and won’t let me move, or the one who is obsessively licking a bone and will not stop bringing it in the house no matter how many times I toss it out the door. The bone is supposed to keep her from chewing my deck, not enable her to annoy me in the house.

3. Friends are friends are friends. Be them online friends, or real life friends, it does not matter, they are there to pick you up when you are down and it works. After some encouraging emails and phone calls, I feel so much better about my day. I am not at 100% yet, but I think that won’t come until a good night’s sleep.

4. YouTube is EVIL! I watched this today and turned into a bawling puddle of tears… any of the videos they show about Soldiers or Iraq hit so close to home I just have a mini emotional breakdown. I have mentioned how much I LOVE what the Patriot Guard Riders are doing, but this tribute from an Aunt of a fallen soldier touched me even more than the news stories I have seen. I also love the Welcome Home Soldier program too. THANK YOU to our men and women serving our country, and THANK YOU to the men and women who serve those who serve or served! You are just as important as the soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen!

Enjoy your cry, I know I did.

—————-
Now playing: John Mayer Trio – I Got A Woman
via FoxyTunes

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr23tpWX8lM]

Scary huh?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfRzUZ7meY0]

My whole purpose of looking on YouTube for these videos was to find a video called ABC’S of the Swamp, all I could find is the lyrics.

Oh, and I was also obsessing over these Rube Goldberg Machines that were really interesting.

The video is very well done and makes some valid points. I believe any time you have an unbalance in anything, their is a corruption of power.

Open your mind and take a look, you may just learn a thing or two.

Well, the proof is clear, the guilty feline is FB1. 5 1/2 hours into the video, I watched her pee on a sock in my hamper. Both cats were curious, on several occasions I watched them sniffing the sock, but FB1 was the only one who acted.

Of course, this does not free FB2 of any culpability, it just means we need 2-3 more nights of surveillance to rule him out as a suspect.

In the meantime, FB1, aka ‘Pissy, the prissy-cat’ gets to visit the vet, and I get to get new laundry hampers and get to treat the area with an enzyme cleaner. I have already come up with a plan on secluding her to the 3rd bathroom if need be for behavior modification. I am also thinking of replacing the 2nd box I have now, with an uncovered box.

Anyone else have any ideas on how to deal with a cat who is urinating outside the box?

So now what do I do with my day? It’s 11am and I have a quiet house to myself. I have to wash diapers today once Matthew wakes up, and I would like to vacuum today and maybe clean out my car. After the boys get home from school it will be a rushed evening as they have Taekwondo tonight. I am also waiting on a phone call from the doctor’s office on how they want to evaluate Christopher for some sensory issues he is having.

No need to walk the dog, she’s sleeping in the kitchen right now walking herself in her sleep…LOL

So, last night I taught Matthew a new trick, and of course as soon as a whipped out the video camera he quit doing it, so daddy helped. He’s such a ham.

Its thundering outside, so I am hoping for a nice wet thunderstorm sometime soon, we really need the rain.

Bobby is all packed and ready to go tomorrow afternoon. I’m feeling pretty relaxed right now, but something tells me I am in for a few more sleepless nights before this is all over with.

Austin brought home his mancala today from art class. I will have to get a picture of it in the morning, its pretty amazing. He’s been working on it for weeks in Art and it turned out fabulous!

Christopher’s been extra sweet lately, I think he can sense my frustration with him & Austin lately about slacking on their chores.

Matthew took 6 steps tonight, unfortunatly I only for two on video.