Baby bump

Melanie at 37.5 weeks.

Sleep

My best friend, right now, is sleep. (Fickle me.)

All three kids (with the odd exception of Matthew not cooperating) all let me sleep in after Phil leaves, and all let me nap after lunch. They probably understand a little just how important for their own good it is that I get rest.

Maybe time change will go smoothly.
(One can wish)

Fit

The calm after the storm.

Life is so frustrating for Matthew.

He just doesn't get it why sometimes we know what he means, and other times have no idea what he's trying to say. If after two guesses we're still completely out to lunch, and he's in "the mood", then he has a fit.

After all, why are we intentionally offering to help him in such completely irrelevant ways? It must be because we are TRYING to make his life miserable.

Maybe he should work on his communicating...

Preparations

The baby room is now all set.

But Melanie really thinks it's her room. She said she's happy to have the baby in her room so she won't have to be sad by herself anymore. Perhaps being the only one in the house who sleeps by herself has been taking it's toll on her.

Getting ready for bed:

Eeyore's birthday is the only Pooh story they want this week.

After all, birthday's are very important!
We just had one...and another one coming up any day (or week)!

Spare room downstairs; left side is my side, right side is Phil's.

The pantry shelves that he made divide it up so that we get along better.
I attacked Philip's side today, and who knew it was so very big? There's actually plenty of room for less than luxurious bedding, and the freezer door (an upright) can still open!

I'm sure the sorting and cleaning was not approved of by my husband, but as I didn't want to sacrifice MY side, I figured while he was gone at work, I'd make a sacrifice from him.

I'm so sweet.

Some day I should pack up some newborn stuff for the hospital run. Once I do that I'll be thinking "any day" instead of "any week", so I think I'll wait 'til the day of. :p

Sunny in the Rain

These past few days have been rainy. These past few days we've all had colds. So we stayed home. Usually these means I get really frustrated, but this time it's been really great! Both today and yesterday up until the last 10 minutes before Daddy came home, the kids were all playing quietly, even sharing with each other!




I've been watching the way the kids have been playing, and I've been thinking. This is how I always imagined being a stay at home mom would be like. This is just fabulous! The kids are taking turns with each other. They're laying on the floor doing puzzles, they're coming to me to help tie something or dress a doll, read a book, or answer a question. And we're all happy.
(I'm sure it won't last!)




Hopefully these are the kinds of days I'll remember when I'm old. I don't think I even got angry once today. I don't have much of a voice, so if I had wanted to yell at them, I couldn't anyways, but it's been lovely that I haven't even wanted to.



Yes, I am very grateful. For all these children. For the hope of another very soon. For so many many many things.

I should start counting.

Sheer

So this is what I've been working on. 1 out of 6 almost done. I only made two mistakes while doing it. One was sewing the heading tape on the wrong side--which I had to remove ever so carefully without ripping this delicate fabric (which makes me wonder just how long it'll survive around the kids--what were we thinking anyways??) and then sew again on the other side. Also, I chalked it on the wrong side...but from these pics I don't think you can see it.


I still need to pinch the pleats at the top, but that'll be way way easier than the other panels, since I can actually push a needle through it no problem. You can't even see on this picture the blue dressmaker's chalk. I was tired last night, and chalked on the wrong side. Oops! What's the best way to get it out without washing it?


I'm still not sure on the length. Is it too much shorter than the drapes? Or is that good? Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't.

I can't believe how easy it was to sew that sheer fabric. I was pretty worried about it, and still took ages to do it, but it wasn't even traumatizing! I don't think it bunched up any worse than the regular fabric. Yay!

Now if I get one panel done a week (or less) and if the baby is overdue (quite likely) then I still have time to finish it before the baby is here.

BUT this panel took me two or three weeks...and I'm not likely to go any faster...I can try fool myself anyways. ;)

Mistakes.

Why no knob on the door?

Well, there was one. With a lock. Turns out, we have never had a key for it. Not for the three years we've been here. Good thing it was only pajamas and a teddy that got locked in the room, and not a child! The knob is no longer functional, but at least we can tuck the boys in bed again! They all got to stay up a bit late on the night of this incident! Hard to believe we had this hazard waiting for its moment for all that time!

At least the kids know what they're doing!



(Coloring and eating, that is.)

I am a lousy housewife. I'm sure my Mom taught me better. But still I fall short. Spring cleaning is something I haven't done yet. Dusting is also very rarely and very poorly done. The consequence being

mold growth in MY bedroom. AGAIN. Disgusting. Notice, also, the peeling ceiling paint? I tackled the mildew today, but only did where it was. No big dusting spree. No huge renovation to prevent further damage. But I did put the screens away for the winter...less places for stuff to grow on. Less things to clean later. Maybe a dehumidifier would prevent this? (Dusting regularly and using the ceiling fan would be more labour intense cost effective solutions?)

Big bad boys, a bad girl, and a big bunkbed

Are you doing good?

I'm being asked this a lot more lately. And before this weekend, the answer was always, yes! Terrific in fact! Full of energy (absurdly so).

But this weekend I got a cold. I also noticed, simultaneously, that my children could use a bit of work. Behaviour therapy, if that's what you like to call it.

I'm sure that having a lot of changes in their lives all in a row does not help to make them behave better. Nor does it help having a Mom who is tired a lot.

One of the changes was the room switcheroo, and another was new beds for the boys. Bunk beds!! They are both thrilled with the arrangements!

Melanie is only a TAD jealous! (She's a little spoiled from her birthday bliss!) She has been kicked off of playing in the bunkbed a few times, twice of which, I believe, were a result of her playing with the ceiling fan. The bunkbed really dominates the room. I do believe we will be looking into an alternative light for the duration of the bunkbed use in that room, though. I think it could get a little dangerous otherwise!

I haven't been sleeping well lately either (in addition to the coughing cold and contrary children), but considering the circumstances (bloating body and terrible toddlers) I think I am still getting a moderate amount of shuteye. Still, nap time is mandatory for my daily survival now!