Throw Away Craze

As I said before, we are going through a phase where we are cleaning things out around our house.  I feel this urgency, this pull to organize and clean out all those closets, pantries and hidden shelves.  I want everything clean and in its place.  I also feel motivated to get it done now, just in case later on I can't.

The kids have accumulated so many toys.  Every birthday and Christmas they get lots more.  We have designated an area of the basement as their play area and off and on I go down and organize the toys, only to have them play a few times down there and then I find it a mess.  I haven't cleaned out the basement toys for over a year, and so when I went down all the toys were just shoved onto shelves-- children trying to appease mom who told them to clean up.  

So I pulled every toy off the shelves and went through them one by one, throwing away the junk and trash, and putting many other toys into the 'give away' pile.  I was amazed at some of the hidden treasures.  There were old grocery lists, a tootsie roll (luckily still in its package), all the missing pieces to the alphabet puzzle, and about a million prizes from Happy Meals or birthday party goodie bags.

Once I decided what was worth keeping, I got bins and labeled them to organize the toys, and gave everything a special spot on the shelves.  I am so thrilled every time I walk down there.  It looks clean and organized, and I am working on training the children to put away one bin before they get out another one.  I also have room left over, so when Christmas and birthdays roll around, there is room to store their new favorites.  I actually enjoy going to the basement to play with the kids now!

The Moment of Truth

When I went in for my 25 week appointment when I was expecting Joseph, I was anticipating it would go like every other appointment.  Just go in for an ultrasound to make sure baby is growing and there is plenty of fluid, and then see the doctor for a few minutes before going home.  Unfortunately, it didn't quite go as planned.  I went in to the ultrasound and mentioned that I had been having a lot of contractions, which the doc explained away as Braxton Hicks.  So the ultrasound tech checked my cervix and found that I was nearly completely effaced.  Not good at 25 weeks gestation!  And thus ensued 10 weeks of bed rest and medication.

This pregnancy I have been plagued with worries of repeating this fate.  I actually started having contractions 5 weeks earlier this time than last, so for a while I felt resigned to my fate.  But I have felt my faith renewed, and feel that the Lord really is aware of me and watching over me.  I feel strengthened to deal with the challenges that come.  I know that I will be fine, one way or the other.

This week I had my 25 week appointment.  When the doctor checked my cervix, there are no changes yet. What a huge relief!!!  She was a little concerned about the size of the baby because I didn't gain any weight since my last appointment, so she did all the measurements to size the baby.  The baby is measuring right on 25 weeks and weighing 1 lb 11 oz-- the 33rd percentile for weight at this gestation!

I feel so blessed at this time.  I am so grateful that things are going well and that my efforts to take it easy are paying off.  We still have the next appointment in a couple weeks, but every week I avoid bed rest from here on out is one less than I spent there last time!

A New Do

Since we have been cleaning out different areas of the house, the kids are finding new 'treasures'.  One of the fun discoveries was a box of old Disney movies.  Normally I don't let them watch them, making them stick to more educational entertainment.  But I decided to let them watch a few that they picked out.  One that they wanted to watch was Mulan.  I didn't remember anything too objectionable  in it, so I let them.  As Jack walked through the room, he was surprised I let the kids watch that selection and asked if I wanted them to start cutting their hair.  (I had forgotten about that scene, but thought that the girls were big enough not to do it and Joseph was too little to do it.)

The next day, Miriam went to a birthday party for one of her friends from school.  They had a great time, and had fun together.  Oh, and this little girl has chin-length hair. 

                            

A couple days after the birthday party, Miriam came downstairs crying.  She told me that she wanted to have short hair like her friend, and I saw that she had cut her hair.  Not just a little bit, but a lot.  Right up to her neck.  Luckily she only had a tiny scratch on her neck from the scissors, but her hair was pretty much butchered.

After cleaning up the mess, we took a little trip to the local Cost Cutters to have some repair work done.  It had to go this short to get it evened out.  I think it turned out really cute, actually.  She has such thin hair that it seems to have so much more body with it short.

Miriam was so sad about cutting her hair, but as she was crying, I was having a hard time not laughing.  It seemed so comical to me that she would cut her hair so short when we had just been talking about getting haircuts for school.  I don't know if Mulan had anything to do with it, but we no longer own that movie!

Daddy's Big Helper

We have been going through a big "cleaning out" phase around our house.  We had an office on the main level for Jack's work, and an office upstairs for me.  We decided that the new baby will be residing in the upstairs office room, so we needed to clean out all the stuff that accumulates in a room over 4 1/2 years to accommodate a bedroom instead.  We decided to consolidate the two offices, which meant that we got to throw away a lot of stuff.  We are amazed that we were able to get things whittled down to fit comfortably in the one room.

Once we got the room all cleaned out, we moved the bed from the basement so that my niece Ali, who would be staying with us for a few weeks this summer, would have a bedroom of her own.  We figure we will keep the bed in there until we need to set up the crib, just in case.  Then we are planning on giving the bed to Jack's brother so we don't have to move it back to the basement.  It's more of that 'throwing away' thing going on.

Joseph wanted to help so much.  I had to constantly distract him while Jack was moving the delicate stuff, like the computer, or the heavy stuff, like the desk.  So he was thrilled when Jack started putting together the bed and dresser and he could help.  Joseph was so cute!  Maybe it is a boy thing, but he really liked that power screwdriver.  What fun!

Finally!!!

At our last ultrasound, the doctor couldn't tell what sex the baby was due to the position.  Luckily today the baby was cooperating with us, and we were able to find out that we are having a girl!!!  We are very excited, although Jack thought 4 to 2 were rather overwhelming odds.  The girls were hoping for another sister, so they are very excited.  Joseph doesn't really understand what's going on, so he seemed fine with the announcement.

Everything else on the ultrasound looked good, as well.  We are so grateful for how well things are going!

4th of July Fun

Since the 4th of July landed on a Sunday this year, it felt like our celebration was much more spread out.   Saturday morning we went to the church for the Boy Scout Pancake Breakfast.  The kids were quite excited to go and have breakfast in the parking lot.  Jack and I had been discussing for several days what we wanted to do and where we wanted to take the family for fireworks.  We decided to just pick up some simple fireworks from a roadside stand and let the kids experience the 4th the way we did as kids-- you know, before it was illegal to light fireworks at your house... (We did check the city's web page and it said nothing about the legality of fireworks, so we figured we were safe.)

They were so excited to see the fireworks, even the simple ones like the snakes and smoke bombs.  Saturday it ended up getting really windy, so we didn't light off any of the fountains-- we decided to save them for the next night to see if the weather improved at all.  Unfortunately, the weather was worse the next night, but Jack bravely set off the fireworks in the rain while the rest of us sat in the protection of the garage while we watched.

We also did a little barbecue for dinner with Smore's for dessert.  The kids were all very unique in how they ate them.  Rebecca just ate it like a sandwich the way it was intended.  Miriam tried to do the same, but decided it was too messy and got a plain, untoasted marshmallow instead.  And Joseph opened his up and ate it in layers-- chocolate, then marshmallow, and decided to leave the graham crackers alone.

  

Sunday night we watched fireworks from Washington, DC on TV as our fireworks show, since it was over by 8 pm and then the kids could go to bed.  All in all, a fun time!

WOW Museum with Uncle David & Hunter

Hunter came out to visit David for a couple weeks before the 4th, and we were able to take them to the WOW Children's Museum.  The kids loved playing with their cousin.  Hunter seemed to enjoy playing with all the exhibits, especially the car and the ramp to roll balls.

The kids always enjoy the bank exhibit.  Miriam and Joseph spent quite a bit of time handing out money and sending the drive-up tube to the car.  At one point Miriam asked me if she could have a loan of money for the bank because I had lots of money and the bank was running out of money.  Is that what the news is teaching the kids???  Banks are running out of money?  Hmmm....

Hunter started out at the pirate's ship.  He ran all around and had fun seeing a new place.

Rebecca learned about pulleys.  She managed to pull herself all the way to the top of the device.  It was much harder on the chairs without as many pulleys!

Jack got into the fun making a gigantic bubble around himself.  It is much easier to do without little ones in there with you!  At one point Joseph decided to get onto the platform and managed to step right in the bubble solution.  Oops!

Joseph divided most of his time between the banking area and the pirate ship.  He really liked driving the car.  Normally I don't pay to let my kids ride any rides but the penny pony at King Soopers, so to be able to ride the car over and over was like heaven for him!